Michigan’s Governor Jennifer Granholm has found out to her horror that one of the companies she has awarded tax credits to in order to create hundreds of jobs with a new renewable energy factory was a scam. Rick Short said his company RASCO was going to make renewable energy equipment and telecommunications systems for export [...]

March 17 , 2010 www.Water-Stocks.com, reports on China listed water stocks for investors following the water sector.

World Water Day, held March 22, 2010 addresses global water issues including pollution and scarcity. With China facing both issues at a rapidly growing pace, Chinese water stocks are getting investor attention.

According to a recent article in China Peoples Daily, entitled “Drought continues to wreak havoc in southwestern China “ ( http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90783/91300/6922884.html)
the number of people effected is serious. It said the worst-hit areas include Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan provinces, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chongqing Municipality. More than 20 million people in total were suffering water shortages.

China Listed Water Stocks :

Zhejiang Leo Co (Shanghai:002131.SZ) is the largest manufacturer and exporter of small pumps and garden machinesin China, located in Wenling, Zhejiang. Not only a manufacturer, Leo also aims to be a global solution provider for water pumps and garden machines. It continuously diversifies its products range according to customer needs, now with more than 550 items.

Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing Co. (Shanghai:600416.SH) is a company engaged in the manufacture and sale of mechanical and electrical products. The Company’s pump industry division includes hot water pumps, submersible pumps and marine pumps among others.

Qianjiang Water Resources Development Co., Ltd. (SHA:600283) China-is principally engaged in the generation and supply of tap water, as well as the development and operation of real estate. The Company also provides electric power, pipe installation services and digital products.

Anhui Water Resources Development Co., (Shanghai:600502.SH) is principally engaged in the undertaking of engineering projects, the development of real estate, the utilization of water resources, the generation of hydroelectric power, build-transfer (BT) investment and new building materials business. During the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company won 71 bids of engineering projects, conducted Bailianya hydropower station project and Longzi Lake water resource developing project and continued to develop BESTWAY residential building system. The Company operates its business in domestic markets and to overseas markets.

Research water stocks with the water stocks directory: http://www.investorideas.com/Water-Stocks/Stock_List.asp

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The Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing soon to take input on the County’s proposed wind zoning ordinance for both small and utility-scale turbines. According to the Lake County News Sun:

The ordinance includes regulations that are more strict than state standards, and sets limits on height, decibel levels and shadow flicker from turbine blades, according to the county’s senior planner, David Husemoller.

The ordinance specifies that any turbines higher than 175 feet must be located on parcels of at least 5 acres and will require a conditional-use permit.

It sets a height limit of 400 feet, although it also says heights of 500 feet could be considered. Decibel levels would be restrictive in residential areas and lower at night than during the day. The ordinance would also prohibit reflection of turbine blade shadow flicker on houses.

The separate decibel level requirements may be very detrimental to wind development of all types, as such a requirement would essentially owners to shut down their turbines overnight. Because nighttime hours are the windiest, this would deprive owners of the highest-producing hours, thereby reducing payback times and making wind turbines a less-attractive investment for homeowners and businesses.

Anyone interested in installing wind turbines in Lake County should keep their eye on the Illinois Wind Daily to know when the hearing will be held.

From the Peoria Journal-Star:

EUREKA — The Woodford County Board on Tuesday agreed to allow Iberdrola Renewables place two meteorological towers as a precursor to a wind farm project near Benson.

The meteorological towers will be 197 feet tall and will be held down by guy wires.

The board followed the recommendation of the Woodford County Zoning Board of Appeals, which had earlier held a public hearing on Iberdrola’s petition.

This project was originally begun by Navitas Energy in 2006. It had been given permission to set up three such towers. Navitas sold the project to Iberdrola in mid-2007.

“We hope to place one (meteorological) tower in Linn Township and one in eastern Green Township, in order to get a more representative sampling of the wind resource,” Paul Copleman, spokesman for Iberdrola, said in an e-mail.

A news release from the Public Service Commission:The Public Service Commission (PSC) today announced appointments to Wisconsin’s Wind Siting Council, an advisory body created by 2009 Wisconsin Act 40 (Act 40). Act 40 directs the PSC to develop admi…

A Quad-Cities Economic Development organization is seeking to promote the area as a hub for wind component manufacturing, says an article in the Quad Cities Business Journal:

[T]he area’s new economic development partnership has identified wind energy as one of the key markets to pursue for job growth and new investment.

“There is capital out there looking for a place to land,” said Nathan Sondegroth, Quad-Cities First’s vice president of regional business development. “These jobs fit in so well to our local economy.”

Sondegroth staffs the organization’s advisory council, the Wind Discovery Council, made up of a variety of industry experts all interested in promoting the area for wind energy. 

“The wind generation market in North America is in the process of being created,” he said. “We’re trying to tell our story on why companies should place their production here.” [...]

“We don’t have to land one of the large OEMs (original equipment manufacturers),” Mann said. “We’re positioned very well for manufacturing the components, which could be several hundred jobs. We’re prime for manufacturing, assembly and repair.”

Advocates champion the central location of the Quad-Cities as well as its trained work force and transportation strengths — from the Mississippi River to the railroads and highways system — as attributes that could attract the wind energy industry.

In addition to luring new manufacturing, Sondegroth said Quad-Cities First also is focused on helping existing businesses enter the wind energy supply chain. “Our niche is manufacturing. There are products we already make that companies can retool to make for turbines.” [...]

Sondegroth said the fact the Quad-Cities is home to Interstate 80 — the only transcontinental U.S. highway — is not lost on the prospects. “We sit right where I-80 crosses the Mississippi and we’re the only place in the country that can claim that.”

The area also has several industrial sites large enough to accommodate a components manufacturer, he said.

Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics (1997) delivered this speech “Meeting the Energy and Climate Challenge” at Stanford University on March 7, 2010, where he was formerly a professor.

Dr. Chu called on the students and faculty to take part in a new Industrial Revolution. At the epicenter of Silicon Valley, Stanford has been at the heart of the Information Technology Revolution – a catalyst for innovators such as Intel, Cisco, and Google. “America has the opportunity to lead the world in a new industrial revolution,” he was quoted in the Stanford Report.

Humans are causing Global Warming

The Novel Laureate discussed the irrefutable case for anthropogenic climate change. “There is a mountain of climate data going back to 1860.” Climate deniers say that humans are not causing global warming; rather it is a variance of solar energy including sun spots. Dr. Chu presented a chart showing the long-term continued rise in the global surface temperature while the solar energy reaching the atmosphere followed a predictable 11-year cycle of 1366 and 1367 watts per square meter (W/m²).

CO2 concentration has increased 40% since the start of the first industrial revolution, including all GHG such as methane the equivalent increase has been 50%. Irrevocable effects are under way. The Earth must warm until a new equilibrium is reached in about 150 years due to time lags such as deeper ocean warming. Added temperature increase will result from the long life of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, and from increased emissions.

The effects of warming can be measured. Satellites can now measure with good precision the mass of the earth. Dr. Chu observed that the ice mass is decreasing quadratically in the Greenland and decreasing in the Antarctic.

He also pointed to potential tipping points. There are huge uncertainties with the risk of 3.5 to 6 degree temperature increases.

United States Innovation in Energy Efficiency, Renewables, and Transportation
“The U.S. innovation machine is the greatest in the world,” said Dr. Chu. “When given the right incentives, [it] will respond.” Energy efficiency and renewables present major opportunities.

The U.S. market share of photovoltaics peaked in 1996 at over 40 percent of global production;
it is now less than 10%. Asia has the lead in batteries. China is spending $9 billion a month on clean energy. For example, the State Grid is investing $44 billion by 2012 and $88B by 2020 in UHV transmission lines with transmission losses over 2,000 kilometers that are less than 5%. China is committed to produce 100GW of wind power by 2020.

The United States Recovery Act is making an $80 billion down payment on a clean energy economy to regain our global competitiveness and create U.S. jobs. Dr. Chu described how the United States could be the world’s innovative leader. The most immediate opportunity is in energy efficiency.

Since 1975, the electricity saved from energy efficient refrigerators with smaller compressors exceeds the total energy produced from wind and solar. Consumers respond to Energy Star ratings. We are expanding our energy efficiency standards to include buildings. In answering a question, Dr. Chu noted that energy efficiency can be extended beyond buildings to city blocks and cities themselves. The Energy Secretary got laughs from the students when he demonstrated how to adjust the sleep mode settings on their PCs and Macs.

Optimistic about Research Breakthroughs

There is good reason for optimism for renewable energy. The cost factor of wind power has decreased by a power of ten. Learning curves for photovoltaics has also declined by over a factor of ten. On a large roof, the installed solar cost is still around $4 per watt. If you get to $1.50 per watt installed, solar takes off without subsidy.

Because renewables are variable they benefit from local and grid storage, and from a smart grid. Pumped water storage is often 75% efficient; compressed air has the potential to be 60 percent efficient. The DOE has funded research for a variety of grid and vehicle battery chemistries.
Currently the United States is dependent on oil. Most proven reserves for oil majors such as Exxon, BP, Shell, are now off-shore. It will cost more to extract from tar sands and with more CO2 emissions.

Transportation is the hardest area to improve, mused Dr. Chu. Liquid petroleum fuels have excellent energy density. A Boeing 777 departs with 45% of its weight in jet fuel which has an energy density of 43 Mj/kg and 32 Mj/liter; a lithium battery, only .54 Mj/kg and 0.9 Mj/liter, yet batteries can compete in cars because of the efficiency of electric drive systems and learning curve improvements. We need an automotive battery pack for less than $10,000 with 5,000 deep discharges and 5X higher storage capacity, stated Dr. Chu.
We need breakthroughs. Much can from great research labs, such as Dr. Chu’s former Bell Labs. Scientific research for new breakthroughs will be encouraged with multiple programs:

Energy Frontier Research Centers = university sponsored scientific research for
innovative energy solutions.
Energy Innovation Hubs = multi-disciplinary,
highly collaborative teams working under one roof.
Advanced Research Projects
Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) = short term, high risk – high reward research
projects

Energy Secretary Chu concluded with the first view of Earth from the Apollo 8 orbit of the lunar surface and with these two quotations:

“We came all this way to explore the moon and the most important thing is that
we discovered the Earth. – U.S. Astronaut Bill Anders (Dec 24, 1968)

“…We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.” – Dr. Martin Luther King (1967)

Video of Dr. Chu’s Speech at Stanford

John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report and speaks at conferences. He is the author of the new book – Save Gas, Save the Planet – now selling at Amazon and other booksellers.

Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com. Also check out http://www.cleantech.org

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Seeking to expand its renewable power portfolio beyond wind farms, We Energies on Monday filed an application with state regulators to build a $255 million biomass power plant near Wausau…

From a letter to the Wisconsin legislature from Public Service Commission (PSC) Chair Eric Callisto:Yesterday [March 12, 2010], several interest groups wrote legislators urging opposition to the Clean Energy Jobs Act. The groups warned that the cost of…

The Chicago Tribune covered the ongoing controversy surrounding NextEra’s Lee-DeKalb wind farm this weekend, running an article in Sunday’s edition featuring opponents’ wild claims of negative impacts from turbines. According to the article:

$50 million in payments is expected to be made to landowners over the 30-year life of the project.

But such windfalls haven’t assuaged people who claim the turbines have harmed their health. They say noise from turbines is disrupting sleep, and they blame the strobe-like flashes produced by the whirling blades in sunlight — “shadow flicker” — for everything from vertigo to migraine headaches.

A group of 36 people who live near the turbines has sued DeKalb County and 75 landowners who leased land for the turbines. They claim the county illegally granted zoning variances and want the turbines taken down. NextEra is seeking to dismiss the suit based on “vague allegations of hypothetical harms.”

The article also gives the impression that a “study” claiming negative impacts of wind farms is legitimate, although the research is remarkably flawed and has been dismissed both by the British Government and the American Wind Energy Association.

While the article does give creedence to opponents wilder claims (i.e. wind turbines kill goats), the Tribune does discuss the significant positive aspects of wind development, such as the millions of dollars going to farmers leasing land to the project, or the millions in new property tax reveune going to local schools.

by Richard T. Stuebi

Shawn Lesser of Sustainable World Capital recently posted on the CleanTech Group‘s website his list of Top 10 CleanTech Cluster Organizations. I was pleasantly surprised to see that four of the ten listings were from the U.S. — in the places you’d probably suspect: Boston, New York (Upstate), California (both Northern and Southern). Interestingly, no place in China made the cut.

As Lesser notes, “creating a cluster is no simple task.” In my research, I really haven’t found any predictable formula or recipe for nurturing along a cluster’s formation. I recall once asking a serious student of regional economic clusters, Ned Hill of Cleveland State University, for his insights. In his view, there are three necessities that must be in place for a cluster to emerge in a given geographic area:

• First, there must be a critical mass of people and organizations within and between which leading-edge knowledge transfer occurs.
• Second, the people and organizations that set the standards for the industry must be present.
• Third, an extensive set of pilot and demonstration projects must exist at which experimentation can be conducted to develop real-world improvements.

Without these three factors in place, it’s very much an uphill push to create an industry cluster.

Here in Northeast Ohio, NorTech — the economic development organization leading efforts to nurture technology-based clusters in our region — has recently launched an initiative in partnership with The Cleveland Foundation called Energy Enterprise to help spur subclusters of activity in our region in various segments of the advanced energy technology spectrum.

In planning the activities of Energy Enterprise, we’ve often talked about what it takes to build a cluster, sometimes getting frustrated at all of the factors beyond the control of any agency aiming to be a catalyst for cluster growth. Although we at Energy Enterprise don’t have a definitive playbook, we take some solace that cluster-building is inevitably a struggle for everyone. We have no illusions that we can enter such a top-10 list very quickly, having come a bit late to the game relative to others, but aspire that we can eventually get there in the years to come.

Richard T. Stuebi is a founding principal of Energy Enterprise, the advanced energy initiative at NorTech, where he is on loan from The Cleveland Foundation as its Fellow of Energy and Environmental Advancement. He is also a Managing Director in charge of cleantech investment activities at Early Stage Partners, a Cleveland-based venture capital firm.

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Your mission, if you choose to accept it, document the problems and promise of America’s environment.

Nearly 40 years ago, the Nixon Administration EPA set 100 photographers out on this mission.
Those photos help change the national psyche then.
They have been put onto Fickr.
Can they help us today?

For a National Archives discussion of the [...]

Wind developers are actively prospecting wind sites in Lincoln & Logan Counties, the Director of the regional economic development organization told the Lincoln Courier this week, but details on the projects and developers are still unclear. According to the article:

In what [Lincoln-Logan Economic Development Partnership Director Joel] Smiley labeled has Project Two and Project Three, companies are now pursuing sites within the county.

Project Two — with the possibility of being set in the Mount Pulaski area — has representatives who are “actively looking and meeting with residents.” Smiley said he expects this company to install meteorological towers within the next 90 days.

Project Three involves what may be a possible overflow of a wind operation in DeWitt County.

Smiley said the numbers range around a “dozen or so” wind towers placed in Logan County, depending on the size of the project in DeWitt Co.

A project Smiley did mention by name was Sugar Creek Wind One.

The company has already initiated its study for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and has been conducting wind studies with meteorological towers since last summer in the New Holland/Middletown area. [...]

Smiley said two other wind companies are also looking at Logan County and are very interested.

“The Railsplitter Wind Farm is putting us on the map,” said Smiley.

An group calling itself Lee County Informed held a “symposium” last week in Ogle County, providing an opportunity for anti-wind activists to whip themselves into a frenzy with misinformation about wind farms. For over two hours, speakers made wild claims about the impact of wind farms, mostly stating the same, long-disproved myths common to such meetings. According to an article in the Ashton Gazette:

“It sounds like a 747 parked in your backyard,” rural Shabbona resident Mel Hass said about the sound of the turbines. [...]

Waterman resident Ron Flex said the turbines have made he and his family physically ill since being turned on. Flex said his wife became nauseous the first day they were turned on. Something he attributes to the shadow flicker from the rotating of the propellers. [...]

Also included in the list of complaints with the turbines are lower property values, speculation about tax revenue, the inability to negotiate the contracts with the companies, and negative effects on livestock and other wildlife.

Despite the group’s claim last week to present “both sides” of the issue, a representative of wind developer RES Americas was “cut short” when attempting to speak, the article says. An anti-wind activist even snatched the microphone from Lila’s hands when he attempted to pose a question, one attendee told IWEA after the event.

And where there’s wind opposition, there’s attorney Rich Porter, whose law practice increasingly involves suing wind farm developers. Porter opened the meeting with his standard anti-wind presentation, said an article in the Ogle County News, a speech that could help him drum up new clients to sue more developers working in the area.

The Oregonian discussed the difficult subject of biomass carbon emissions yesterday, revealing some concerns about a 18MW biomass project being built at the Seneca wood products site in Eugene, Oregon. The article discloses the concerns of the local water and electric board, which is looking to buy power from the Seneca facility. It states: The [...]

Solar installations in the U.S. will be cheaper than ever, if Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has his way. He’s working on the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act that could create one million well-paying jobs and provide 10% of U.S. energy. If the bill passes, we’d see federal rebates of $1.75 per watt to cover up [...]

BOSTON – Companies must make immediate and meaningful social and environmental improvements if they are to win in the resource-constrained 21st century. That’s the message of a new Ceres report outlining the urgency, vision and competitive adva…

Nobel Prize-winning economists and scientists will deliver a letter to the U.S. Senate today, urging lawmakers to require immediate cuts in global warming emissions.

While Congressmen are facing a barrage of lobbying from the clean energy sector in Washington DC this week over the need for a national Renewable Energy Standard, Louisiana’s regulators are discussing their own version. But in Louisiana, the proposal on the table is for a voluntary standard, which begs the obvious question – what’s the [...]

In reaction to the claims of a local anti-wind activist, the Adams County Board has announced plans to revisit the setback and public-notification requirements in their wind siting ordinance.

The activist, Jeff Rasche, has urged the county to enact half-mile setbacks, a regulation that would almost certainly prevent Acciona from completing their plans to develop wind projects and deprive the area of much-needed economic development and jobs.

According to an article in the Quincy Herald Whig:

The board Tuesday directed its Transportation, Building and Technology Committee to take another look at the wind energy ordinance to review concerns voiced by residents since the ordinance was adopted in January.

Board member Lyle Nichols, R-7, who made the motion to send the matter back to the committee, said he felt the ordinance needed more review in light of the many calls and e-mails he and other board members have received in recent weeks expressing concerns.

The ordinance — adopted with little public notice or comment — currently allows wind farm developers to erect turbines no closer than 1,000 feet from a neighboring home. However, some people feel the minimum setback requirement should be lengthened.

Jeff Rasche of rural Camp Point, one of three people who spoke to the County Board on the wind issue Tuesday, said he would like to see the setback distance increased to 2,640 feet (a half mile) from schools and non-participating properties. However, he realizes such a long setback may not be practical and believes a 1,500-foot minimum setback might be an acceptable compromise.

The Whig article noted that details of the time and location will be announced later, and that the meeting will be open to the public.

From a commentary by Guy Selsmeyer, president of Northern Biogas, in the Wausau Daily Herald:One sector of the Wisconsin economy, renewable energy, continues to create jobs, despite the economic recession. Already this year, three new businesses in ren…