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Vermont Approves Wide-Ranging Clean Energy Bill
Vermont Governor Jim Douglas approved a bill that will promote energy efficiency and renewable energy throughout the state. Called the Energy Efficiency and Affordability Act of 2008, the new legislation creates a new $4 million fuel efficiency fund that will be financed from existing revenues and from the sale of emission credits under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The fund will provide energy efficiency services to the state's consumers of heating and process fuels. The state will use a competitive process to award the funds to service providers under performance-based contracts. The new legislation also assures that the state's residential and commercial building energy standards are upgraded to keep pace with changes to the International Energy Conservation Code, and it doubles the spending cap for weatherization projects in homes of low-income families.
Regarding renewable and distributed energy use, the bill expands net metering to include renewable energy systems up to 250 kilowatts in capacity, up from only 15 kilowatts, and allows for combined heat and power systems up to 20 kilowatts in capacity. Net-metered systems earn credit for power fed back into the utility grid. The bill also doubles the cap on net-metered systems to 2% of the peak demand as of 1996. It allows farms to have all their electric meters consolidated on paper into one net-metered system, and it also takes the innovative step of allowing groups of buildings, such as all the municipal buildings in one town, or all the schools in a district, to be consolidated on paper into one net-metered system. Individuals, such as residents of an apartment building or a subdivision, can apply to be treated as a group, with all their electric meters consolidated on paper into one net-metered system. Such group net metering could encourage people to band together to install a large renewable energy system that will serve them all.
For customers that don't want to own their own renewable energy systems, the bill requires all utilities to offer a voluntary green power program. It also establishes an alternate education property tax of 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour for wind energy facilities that are at least 5 megawatts in capacity, and allows businesses to earn solar energy tax credits. And it encourages the state to use more biodiesel in its vehicles and buildings. See the governor's press release (http://governor.vermont.gov/tools/index.php?topic=GovPressReleases&id=2863&v=Article) and the full text of the bill, S 209 (http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2008/bills/passed/S-209.HTM).
DOE Selects 12 Solar America Cities to Receive up to $2.4 Million
DOE announced its selection of 12 cities across the country as Solar America Cities. Each city will receive $200,000 to integrate a variety of solar technologies, such as solar water heating, solar photovoltaic electric systems, and large-scale solar thermal electric systems, which are also known as concentrating solar power. Combined with industry cost sharing and funding from each city, the total amount invested will be approximately $12.1 million. The 12 cities include Sacramento, San Jose, and Santa Rosa, California; Denver, Colorado; Orlando, Florida; the combined "twin cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Knoxville, Tennessee; Houston and San Antonio, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In addition to the funding, DOE also will provide hands-on assistance from technical experts to help cities integrate solar technologies into their energy planning, zoning, and facilities; streamline local regulations and practices that affect solar adoption; provide solar financing options; and promote solar technology among residents and local businesses through outreach, curriculum development, and incentive programs. DOE selected 13 Solar America Cities in 2007, so the latest selection brings the total number of Solar America Cities to 25. See the DOE press release (http://www.energy.gov/news/6099.htm) and the Solar America Cities Web site (http://www.solaramericacities.energy.gov/).
Report: Buildings Easiest Source for Reduced CO2
Promoting the green design, construction, renovation and operation of buildings could cut North American greenhouse gas emissions more deeply, quickly and cheaply than any other available measure, according to a new report, Green Building in North America: Opportunities and Challenges, issued by the International Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The report says rapid market uptake of currently available and emerging advanced energy-saving technologies could result in over 1,700 fewer megatons of CO2 emissions in 2030, compared to projected emissions that year following a business-as-usual approach. A cut of that size would nearly equal the CO2 emitted by the entire US transportation sector in 2000.
Even with rapid growth projected in the green building market across all three countries, the report says public and private sectors must embrace substantial changes to the planning, development and financing of commercial and residential buildings to overcome what it says are significant barriers to the widespread adoption of high-performance buildings throughout North America.
Report authors describe a number of disincentives to green building to be overcome. For example, how to encourage developers to incur the marginal cost of green building features when the long-term energy-saving benefits will be passed on to the new owners or tenants.
They recommend ways to accelerate the market uptake of green building and make it the standard practice for all new construction and renovation of existing buildings in North America. Among its recommendations, the report calls upon North American government, industry and nongovernmental leaders to:
- Create national, multi-stakeholder task forces charged with achieving a vision for green building in North America;
- Support the creation of a North American set of principles and planning tools for green building;
- Set clear targets to achieve the most rapid possible adoption of green building in North America, including aggressive targets for carbon-neutral or net zero-energy buildings, together with performance monitoring to track progress towards these targets;
- Enhance ongoing or new support for green building, including efforts to promote private sector investment and proper valuation methods; and
- Increase knowledge of green building through research and development, capacity building, and the use of labels and disclosures on green building performance. The recommendations complement ongoing efforts by federal, state/provincial and local governments as well as industry and trade associations and nongovernmental organizations.
The CEC study notes several government and industry initiatives that promote aggressive energy performance improvements in the building sector. One study completed for the report signals the potential of green building to yield tremendous energy improvements and greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the building sector by 2030, and suggests a path toward zero net-energy and carbon-neutral buildings.
The report and associated background reports, along with a portfolio of selected green buildings in Canada, Mexico and the United States is available at http://www.cec.org/greenbuilding/.
ASHRAE and USGBC Cosponsor Washington Fellowship
ASHRAE and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) have joined forces to sponsor a one-year fellowship in Washington, D.C., that will allow the participant to work in the federal government in a technical advisory role. Members of ASHRAE or USGBC may apply.
Possible placement areas include Congress, a federal agency such as the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency or the General Services Administration, or the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The fellowship runs from September through August 2009, and an orientation is conducted through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A $50,000 stipend will be provided to the selected fellow.
Candidates should possess a doctoral or other terminal degree in engineering or another building-related scientific discipline. Final placement of the selected fellow depends on the needs of the government offices and agencies at the time as well as on the skills and experience of the applicant.
The deadline for applications is May 1, 2008. ASHRAE or USGBC members interested in applying for the fellowship should contact Doug Read, ASHRAE program director of government affairs, at 202-833-1830 or dread@ashrae.org.
