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From the Heartland, a Microcosm of Energy Transition
by Clint Wilder
Although I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where clean tech is front and center, I spend time during this part of the year in a very different place. Every summer of my life, I've visited Chautauqua, N.Y., a 134-year-old cultural community on a lakeshore in the westernmost county of New York state – birthplace of the famous Chautauqua Movement that brought education and culture throughout rural America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The nearest major cities are Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland.
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August 5, 2008 12:30PM PDT |
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7/25 48 State Governors Urge Congress to Renew PTC/ITC
Governors from 48 US states have called on the US Congress to extend federal tax credits considered critical of the development of US renewable energy.
New Energy Finance |
7/24 Pennsylvania Governor Signs $650 Million Energy Fund
Pennsyvania Governor Edward G. Rendell recently signed into law a new fund intended to save families and small businesses money on their energy bills by supporting investments in energy conservation and efficiency.
Clean Edge News |
7/22 New Commercial-Scale Tidal Turbine Feeds Grid in Northern Ireland
SeaGen, a new commercial-scale tidal turbine, located in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough and developed by British tidal energy company, Marine Current Turbines (MCT), has delivered electricity into the grid for the first time.
Clean Edge News |
7/22 General Motors and Electric Utility Industry Launch Major Collaboration to Commercialize Plug-in Vehicles
General Motors recently announced that it will collaborate with the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) - more than 30 of the top electric utilities in the United States and Canada -- to accelerate the introduction of plug-in electric vehicles.
Clean Edge News |
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7/18 Texas Approves Transmission Plan to Serve 11.6GW More Wind
Texas regulators have approved plans for a USD 4.9bn, 18.5GW transmission network intended to interconnect 11.6GW of new wind capacity in the state.
New Energy Finance |
7/17 Recurrent Raises $75 Million for Solar
Recurrent Energy, recently raised $75 Million from Hudson Clean Energy Partners.
Clean Edge News |
7/16 Coal Industry Hands Out Pink Slips While Green Collar Jobs Take Off
A transition to renewable energy sources promises significant global job gains at a time when the coal industry has been hemorrhaging jobs for years, according to the latest Vital Signs Update released by the Worldwatch Institute.
Worldwatch.org |
7/15 CPUC Issues Draft Strategic Plan for Energy Efficiency
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently issued for comment its Draft Strategic Plan for Energy Efficiency, which continues the state's efforts to ensure efficient use of energy resources through 2020 and beyond.
Clean Edge News |
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Senate Voting Records on Extension of the PTC/ITC
Last week was the most recent of 8 failed attempts by Congress to extend the federal investment and production tax credits since June 2007. The Solar Energy Industry Association has published a list of how all Senators voted on those bills. In a very disturbing trend, John McCain did not cast a 'yea or nay' vote in a single one of those attempts. In the painfully close 59-40 defeat of the motion to include the incentives in the December 2007 energy bill, McCain was the only one in the entire Senate who registered 'not voting' into the historical record.
Barack Obama, despite voting 'yea' in that narrow defeat of the energy bill and in the first three attempts at extending the PTC and ITC, has not voted in the last five attempts. Together, Obama and McCain account for 40 percent of the 32 'not voting' tallies in those 8 attempts since last summer. The only other Senators to record more than one ‘not voting’ were Senators Ted Kennedy (4 - likely due to recent bout with cancer) and Hillary Clinton (3).
Only by candidates casting their votes on important issues do we get the opportunity to see through the campaign fog and hold them accountable. Congress is now taking a month long vacation while clean energy companies hustle to complete projects before the end of the year when the PTC and ITC expire. At the root of many of our country's economic and political ills, America needs a candidate that is going to take clean energy seriously – and consistently show us where they stand. In an election where we have heard so much about 'change' - 'not voting' sounds a lot like the status quo.
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