Renewable energy saves money, gets millions in funding, and employs in the U.S.
U.S. Department of Energy’s Calculator for Energy Saving…
The U.S. Department of Energy has made available a State Savings Calculator to help analyze energy standards’ savings with national and custom state-level data. The calculator can tailor cost-efficiency data by mimicking DOE methods at state-level for better economic understanding of implications that vary with each state. It accounts for local price adjustments, energy prices and escalation rates, inflation, taxes, loan terms, and the overall time period for analysis.
New York Proposes 50 Percent Renewable Plan with Governor’s $5B Clean Energy Fund…
The state joins the likes of Hawaii, California, Vermont, and Oregon by ramping up clean energy targets. Governor Cuomo teamed up with New York Department of Public Service to create the “50 by 30” Clean Energy Standard, which sets the gold standard for targeting and enforcement of policy objectives. It is financed by a $5.3 billion clean energy fund, which is also allocated for strengthening New York’s energy efficiency, clean energy, and programs for energy innovation.
New energy standards include:
- A steep increase in renewable electricity supply, featuring a 10-year target for energy efficiency savings of 10.6 million MWh of electricity and 13.4 million MMBtu of fuel consumption, 133 million tons of CO2e reductions, $39 billion in customer bill savings, and $29 billion in private investment.
- Support for renewables and zero emissions initiatives
- New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and investor-owned utilities have committed to supply long-term, competitive procurement for certain tiers to ensure price stability, project financing, and a compliance cost cuts.
- Establishing renewable energy credits and zero emission credits for qualified nuclear generation—all tracked by the newly established New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
- Initial goals of 26.8 percent renewables by 2017, 29.5 percent renewables by 2020, and 50 percent renewables by 2030
U.S. Solar Jobs Overshadow Oil and Gas Extraction…
Over the course of 2015, the U.S. solar industry created jobs 12 times faster than the rest of the economy. For the third year straight, The Solar Foundation found that the solar industry workplace—which employs over 200,000 people—grew 20 percent in the U.S. Soaring solar job growth continues in the face of diminishing fossil fuel employment: just U.S. solar panel installation jobs employed 77 percent more people than the coal mining industry alone.
The Solar Jobs Census also concluded:
- Solar industry added jobs twelve times faster than the rest of the economy, totalling more jobs than those created by the oil and gas extraction and pipeline sectors combined.
- There were 35,052 additional jobs, totalling 208,859, with 31,000 jobs added the year before, and 23,600 added the year before that.
- Solar installers have reported the most job growth by far, with project development, sales, and distribution on the rise.
What’s the $2 Billion Secret Behind Fuel Cells?
Did you know that 9 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 23 percent of Fortune 100 companies use fuel cells in some aspect of their business? The industrial fuel cell market is currently worth $2 billion, including over 13,500 units in use. Common uses for the fuel cells are power generation and material handling equipment, and for good reason. Fuel cells’ backup power capabilities are touted as reliable, clean, and easily managed, as well as reducing operations’ costs of energy.
- Health food and beverage producer, the Wonderful Company estimated $63 million in savings over 20 years after an initial investment of $16 million—which should pay for itself just over 6 years.
- Apple’s Malden, North Carolina facility was able to shift completely off the grid by using fuel cells, solar, and other renewable energy sources, not to mention saving 93,306 metric tons of CO2 all the while.
- South Korea is one of the world’s top five importers of liquefied natural gas, coal, crude oil, and refined products. In Daegu City, Fuel Cell Energy is focused on the installation of fuel cell units in large scale utility grid-connected markets throughout the country. Its molten carbonate fuel cells are able to simultaneously capture carbon dioxide during power production.
Natural Gas Takes Hit as Indoor-Heating Demand Forecasts Oversupply…
With warm February weather, the indoor-heating market is pushed into winter oversupply.
- Futures for March delivery recently fell 2.1 cents, or 1.2%, to $1.80 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
- Stockpiles as of Feb. 12 stood 26% above the five-year average for this time of year.
