An Ignoble Experiment

2. Wind industry could see renewed energy

Globally, residential and commercial buildings account for 35 to 40 percent of total energy consumption, with commercial buildings consuming considerable energy related to HVAC, lighting, water heating, and other building systems. The need to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) have led to increasing deployments of energy efficiency retrofits. In fact, the worldwide market for energy efficiency retrofits in commercial and public buildings will grow from $68.2 billion in 2014 to $127.5 billion by 2023, according to Navigant Research – presenting a huge opportunity for utilities to promote energy efficiency to their customers.

Credit: Hvpuser/Wikimedia Commons

Climate change continues to be a challenge worldwide, and more countries are implementing measures to reduce energy use and GHG emissions. The increasing deployment of energy efficiency retrofits for commercial and public buildings can increase energy security, decrease energy demand and the demand for new energy production and distribution facilities, and reduce GHG emissions.

However, for the majority of building owners and managers, energy efficiency retrofits are driven by system replacements rather than improving energy efficiency, according Navigant who estimates that approximately 15 percent of all retrofits are initiated with increasing energy efficiency as the primary motivator, while the remaining 85 percent are initiated for other reasons.

"Because the existing building stock dwarfs the amount of new building space being added on an annual basis, energy efficiency retrofits are a critical pathway to greening the world's commercial buildings," said Eric Bloom, principal research analyst, Navigant Research. "Enrollment in voluntary green building certification programs has been on the rise around the world, even as regulatory and policy measures in a growing number of regions provide strong support for energy efficiency retrofits."

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. EPRI, ENEC collaboration to serve global nuclear

Policy uncertainty has been the biggest roadblock to clean energy in the recent past, but Congressional action taken recently could address many of the tax extenders that expired earlier this year. The tax extenders bill considers extending expiring and expired tax measures. The renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) were included with bipartisan support to a modified "Chairman's mark" after an earlier draft left them and several other provisions for further negotiation.

Credit: Bodoklecksel/Wikimedia Commons

Uncertainly over the extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) at the end of 2012 resulted in decreased investment and deployment for several sectors in 2013. Solar, however, was not one of them, due in large part to a stable investment tax credit (ITC). The tax credit helped lead to a 50 percent increase in cumulative solar installations, according to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE).

"The Business Council for Sustainable Energy is pleased that a number of clean energy tax measures were included in the tax extenders bill that was reported by the Senate Finance Committee… and, importantly, that these extensions run through the end of 2015," said BCSE President Lisa Jacobson. "Our national energy policy has been driven in large part by federal tax policy, which has been as effective as any state or federal energy policy mechanism in helping to ensure an adequate, reliable, safe, clean supply of energy resources."

The Senate Finance Committee's package of tax extenders includes a two-year extension of an ITC for distributed wind, as well as a PTC for utility-scale wind power.

"This provides a critical signal for our industry -- which has created up to 85,000 jobs and has a bright future ahead -- as we grow from four percent of the U.S. power grid to an expected 20 percent and beyond, so long as we have a predictable business climate," said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. "Passage by the full Congress will preserve an essential incentive for private investment that has averaged $15 billion a year into new U.S. wind farms, and create more orders for over 550 American factories in the supply chain."

Extension on the terms in the Senate Finance Committee markup would allow projects to qualify if they begin construction by the end of 2015, instead of the end of 2013, supporting the wind energy industry as well as the other renewable power sectors that qualify for the tax credits.

"A renewed ITC will provide business certainty to the community and distributed wind segments of the wind industry that are generally unable to utilize the PTC, and enable them to continue to drive economic development across farms, schools, business, and communities across the country -- often a multiplier of economic impact to the local community," said Jennifer Jenkins, executive director of the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA).

Distributed wind projects exist in all 50 states -- installed commonly at residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and community sites -- ranging from a few hundred watts to several kilowatts to multi megawatts. The tax credits now advance toward extension, along with more than 50 other expired provisions of the tax code, in the absence of a comprehensive tax reform deal in Congress.

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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4. U.S. promoting CHP to reduce coal

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has joined the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) nuclear research program, enabling ENEC to access EPRI research results and technical guidance that can inform the development and operation of the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) commercial nuclear energy program. The collaboration will also enable EPRI to collect data and draw conclusions from ENEC's plants under construction -- data that can be used by the broader nuclear industry.

Credit: Lothar Neumann, Gernsbach/Wikimedia Commons

ENEC specializes in the deployment, ownership and operation of civil nuclear energy plants within the UAE, with a goal of delivering electricity to the UAE grid in 2017.

Energy demand in the UAE is growing at an annual rate of 9 percent -- three times the worldwide average. In late 2009, ENEC selected a team led by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to design, build and help operate four 1,400 MW civilian nuclear power units. The first is scheduled to begin providing electricity to the grid in 2017. The remaining three units are expected to be completed by 2020.

"ENEC's membership in EPRI is a clear demonstration of its commitment to the open exchange of information among the global nuclear community," said Neil Wilmshurst, EPRI vice president and chief nuclear officer. "EPRI's collaborative model provides a two-way mechanism through which we can learn from them and they can learn from us. We expect the collaboration to be strong from the beginning, especially since we already have strong ties with the South Korean nuclear program."

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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