Blogs and News
EPA Finalizes the Nation’s First Greenhouse Gas Reporting System/Monitoring to begin in 2010
Release date: 09/22/2009
WASHINGTON – On January 1, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will, for the first time, require large emitters of heat-trapping emissions to begin collecting greenhouse gas (GHG) data under a new reporting system. This new program will cover approximately 85 percent of the nation’s GHG emissions and apply to roughly 10,000 facilities. More details..
‘Cleantech’ and Smart Grid System to become part of energy future
Q&A with Paul Dickerson, Joule Labs Advisory Board Member, published in the Houston Business Journal - Sept 5, 2009
Like it or not, the concept of “cleantech” has come to stay. A relatively new term, cleantech describes products or services that improve operation while reducing costs, energy consumption and waste. In 2008, Haynes and Boone LLP Partner Paul Dickerson launched the law firm’s cleantech practice group, a new concentration for the firm focusing on technology, financing and other legal issues faced by companies in the burgeoning industry.
Dickerson, who served as CEO of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from 2006 until his return to Haynes and Boone, where he worked as an associate from 2000 to 2005, worked to move alternative and renewable energy technologies from the “vision stage” to development. Dickerson has also served as chief of staff for the United States and Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Today, as the leader of his firm’s cleantech group, Dickerson lives in Houston, which he says is not just the hub of oil and gas, but a world leader in biofuels, wind energy and energy efficiency. “When you consider that Texas had virtually no developed renewable energy resources just 10 years ago, and today it’s the No. 1 state in the land for wind power, it’s just staggering,” he says. “And the beauty of this transformation is that Texas seems to be connecting the dots to profitability along the way — something few states have been able to replicate.”
Here, Dickerson addresses questions about the cleantech era and its effect locally.
Q: How do you think Texas is positioned to compete in the clean technology market?
A: Honestly, I don’t think there’s another state in the land with as much potential as we have here in Texas. As I travel the country, I am repeatedly asked by venture investors if I know any traditional energy experts willing to jump ship and join a renewable energy enterprise. On top of that, federal and state policymakers continue to reach out to academics at our world-class universities for help in solving the industry’s major roadblocks. For example, earlier this summer the Department of Energy asked two teams of scientists at UT for help in solving key hurdles in solar energy and the use of waste byproducts.
Q: What role do you see oil and gas companies playing in the renewable energy sector? In what ways do you think they could be more involved?
A: The clean technology industry is entering a phase of its development that oil and gas producers know all too well. Having proven their technologies in the laboratory, clean tech entrepreneurs are now looking to “scale up,” or move to the production phase of their development. Oil companies know this drill. They have a long track record of planning, financing and overseeing large projects — and coming in under budget and on time. There are many areas for potential technical collaboration, as well. In Europe, for example, oil companies have already begun partnering with renewable energy developers to bring their deepwater infrastructure expertise to offshore wind farms. And in just the past few weeks, Royal Dutch Shell joined a consortium to compete for government money to build the U.K.’s first commercial-scale clean-coal plant.
Q: In your mind, what is the biggest near-term hurdle for this industry to overcome?
A: Clearly it’s access to capital. If this recent economic period has taught us anything, it’s that the cost of capital is as important as the cost of oil when it comes to clean energy’s expansion. Clean technology entrepreneurs, like their counterparts in so many other industries, took it on the chin during this downturn. While we’re seeing some evidence that the thaw is lifting, lenders are still pretty reluctant to put additional capital to work, particularly on such a nascent industry. This funding paralysis is leading many companies to take themselves out of the game, meaning they’re sitting on their hands — cutting jobs and spending — while they wait for the markets to right themselves or federal financial support to come to the rescue.
Q: Renewable energy makes up only a small percentage of our nation’s current energy production. How is that going to change?
A: This is one area where we would all benefit from a fresh dose of perspective. Those who argue that solar and wind energy still account for only a small portion of our energy mix ignore those technologies’ amazing growth rates over the past few years. The fact is that renewable energy technologies now account for more than a third of our annual increases in new electricity capacity, and that growth rate is accelerating. Here in Texas, we now have more than 8,000 megawatts of wind power installed, compared with 12,000 megawatts in all of China.
Q: What technologies or technology areas do you think hold the greatest promise over the next decade?
A: I could spend a day on this subject, but in the interest of time I’ll talk about one incredibly promising area, and that’s the smart grid. As our recent bout with high temperatures underscores, we have to come up with ways to keep our energy demand in check and keep utilities from having to build costly coal-fired plants that exist merely to help us meet our summertime peaks in demand. That’s where the smart grid comes in. It helps utilities shave energy use during times of peak demand, by enabling them to temporarily turn off noncritical energy consuming appliances and other devices. Smart grid applications are going to enable a slew of cross-industry partnerships, among technology companies, utilities, electric vehicle manufacturers and governments. In July, Texas utility Oncor said it had partnered with IBM and software-maker Ecologic Analytics to help build out the network infrastructure for its smart meters. This is just a taste of things to come.
Q: What about nuclear energy? Should it be considered a clean technology, or at least a bridge technology to the future?
A: It’s a clean energy source in that it’s virtually carbon-free. No other electricity source in the country did as much to reduce carbon emissions last year. Nuclear power contributed nearly 75 percent of our emissions-free electricity last year, while providing power to one out of every five U.S. homes and businesses. If we don’t invest in new nuclear capacity, that contribution is going to tail off significantly in the coming years, which will put us in an even deeper hole in terms of meeting our surging energy demand. We will have to move forward with all of the 26 reactors currently under consideration just to keep those percentages constant. What’s giving everyone pause is the waste disposal issue. Few people realize that spent nuclear fuel has been safely and securely stored at reactor sites across the country for decades. But we simply have to increase our efforts to reprocess that waste. We are way behind other countries in this respect, like France, Japan and the U.K., which have been safely and securely reprocessing spent uranium for years.
LG Demonstrates Environmental Leadership while Growing Sales - August 24th 2009
LG provides clear evidence that a Company can grow while showing leadership in its environmental strategy by reducing 2008 greenhouse gas emissions 8.1 percent at its corporate operations in Korea, with scope 1 emissions falling from 13.2 percent of the total to just 10.5 percent, according to the electronics firm’s 2008 sustainability report (PDF). LG, which had a record $49.3 billion in sales in 2008, earlier this year set a goal to reduce its manufacturing greenhouse gas emissions 150,000 tons by 2020. In 2008, LG joined a pilot project to label products as to their carbon footprints. LG has added several products that feature reduced energy use, and those figure prominently into the report.
For full story see http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/08/24/amidst-record-revenues-lg-slashes-corporate-emissions-8
Nations to be Graded on Ability of ICT to Cut Emissions - August 10th 2009
Environmental Leader reports that IDC has just announced a new grading system will look at nations’ information and communications technology (ICT) abilities as they relate to the ability to cut emissions. The grading system, being launched by private firm IDC, will result in the ICT Sustainability Index, which will be released prior to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Dec. 7-18, 2009, in Copenhagen. In addition to population and gross domestic product data, the index correlates a country’s energy profile with its ICT investment and spending patterns to help make climate change targets attainable, according to a press release.
European ministers announced in February 2007 a plan to cut overall carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent by 2020, adding that they were ready to go to 30 percent if other industrialized nations matched their efforts. EU members still need to agree on what cuts each country mustmake in order for the EU to reach that goal. Germany, for one, said its parliament has already backed a 40 percent cut. The new grading system may add further pressure for other countries to fall into line and support similar initiatives.
This is likely to drive national economies to pay increased attention to their GHG emissions and carbon footprint, which in turn will impact enterprises and businesses. The need for a new class of software to support countries and companies develop comprehensive strategies and goals to help achieve sustainable energy management becomes increasingly evident, not just to report and analyze existing emissions, but also to develop effective go forward strategies and goals to meet these declared targets.
Too Many Enterprises Are in Denial About Carbon Management – February 17 2009
A recent Gartner survey indicates that fewer than 20% of enterprises worldwide are considering carbon pricing. A high proportion of IT professionals responsible for "green IT" programs are unsure whether their enterprises are considering carbon pricing, according to Gartner, Inc. A recent Gartner survey found that 36 per cent of respondents that were responsible for green IT programs in enterprises said it was possible, or they didn’t know, if carbon pricing was influencing their organization’s planning for the next 24 months. A total of 45.7 per cent of respondents said that carbon pricing was not influencing their organizations planning, while 18.3 per cent said it was influencing their organization’s planning for the next 24 months.
Australia has made the most rapid progress overall in implementing energy solutions in the last 15 months, and Gartner expects that to continue during the next 18 months. The proportion of enterprises anticipating implementing carbon management tools during the next 18 months in the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region was low at 17 per cent and the U.S. was slightly more than 18 per cent.
“Enterprises all over the world need to get more serious about greenhouse gas reporting,” Gartner Analyst Simon Mingay said. “Despite the lack of specific regulations, midsize and large enterprises in developed economies need to recognize that they will be paying for their emissions at some point — it’s just a matter of when, how much and through what kind of mechanism. Regardless of the recession, enterprises will find themselves under increasing pressure from stakeholders, including investors and customers, to be more transparent about emissions and reduction programs.”
These organizations are examples of companies that should take advantage of strategic energy management and optimization. As organizations begin to gather GHG emissions and other associated data, they can quickly determine current compliance status. They then face the challenge of determining optimal strategies with associated goals in order to meet their stated objectives. This is where physical and econometric modeling can play a critical role in their overall sustainable energy management.