20 Countries Pledge “Mission Innovation” at #COP21

Joanna Schroeder

Leading up to the World Climate Summit and #COP21 that kicked off in Paris today, three major announcements were make regarding the acceleration of technological developments in clean energy and clean technologies. The first announcement came from Bill Gates about the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, that will will working directly with Mission Innovation, a “pledge” by 20 countries to commit to doubling its governmental and/or state-directed clean energy research and development investment over the next five years. More countries are encouraged to join the efforts.

Screen Shot 2015-11-30 at 11.29.02 AMThe third announcement came from President Obama who announced the U.S. will be participating in the Mission Innovation initiative.

According to the Mission Innovation website, all new investments will be focused on transformational clean energy technology innovations that can be scalable to varying economic and energy market conditions that exist in participating countries and in the broader world. The goal of the initiative is to reinvigorate and accelerate global clean energy innovation with the objective to make clean energy widely affordable.

The Mission Innovation website states that accelerating widespread clean energy innovation is:

  • An indispensable part of an effective, long term global response to our shared climate challenge;
  • Necessary to provide affordable and reliable energy for everyone and to promote economic growth; and
  • Critical for energy security.

In line with the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, Mission Innovation was formed to fill accelerate the time between innovation, scale-up and commercial scale availability.

Alternative energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Environment, International

Gates Launches Breakthrough Energy Coalition @ #COP21

Joanna Schroeder

In Paris this past weekend, leading up to COP21 and the World Climate Summit, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame, launched a new clean energy initiative, The Breakthrough Energy Coalition. Gates announced the news on his blog, “Gates Notes,” where he wrote that a global group of investors are taking innovative clean-energy ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace. The primary goal of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, says Gates, is as much to accelerate progress on clean energy as it is to make a profit.

The Principles of the Organization:

Technology will help solve our energy issues. The urgency of climate change and the energy needs in the poorest parts of the world require an aggressive global program for zero-emission energy innovation. The new model will be a public-private partnership between governments, research institutions, and investors. Scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs can invent and scale the innovative technologies that will limit the impact of climate change while providing affordable and reliable energy to everyone. The existing system of basic research, clean energy investment, regulatory frameworks, and subsidies fails to sufficiently mobilize investment in truly transformative energy solutions for the future. We can’t wait for the system to change through normal cycles.

The foundation of this program must be large funding commitments for basic and applied research, and here governments play the key role. Only our governments have the mandate to protect the public interest as well as the resources and mechanisms to do this. We know government investment in research can lead to the creation of industries that advance the common good and are driven by private capital. We have seen big successes before with government-funded research programs in space, defense, technology, and medical research, seeding private creativity which has produced many of the innovations that define our current way of life. The political will is emerging to do this again, through aggressive increases in government funding for basic and applied energy research, which can lead to breakthrough technologies for our energy future. However, current governmental funding levels for clean energy are simply insufficient to meet the challenges before us.

Gates writes that the Coalition will focus on early state companies that have the potential of energy future that produces near zero carbon emissions while providing everyone with affordable, reliable energy. He also announced the Breakthrough Energy Coalition will work in conjunction with Mission Innovation, a commitment by more than ten countries to invest more in research on clean energy that was also announced this weekend.

Watch Bill Gates’ video to learn more about why these global tech leaders launched Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

Alternative energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Environment, Solar, Video, Wind

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) will present recent reports on carbon mitigation in the U.S. transportation sector achieved under the Renewable Fuel Standard during the World Climate Summit. The panel, “Building a Sustainable Bioeconomy,” will provide informal input into the COP21 agenda; showcase the potential of biobased products and low carbon biofuels to help mitigate climate change; and identify policy measures that can enable the low carbon economy.
  • Martifer Solar, a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, has added 8 PV rooftop plants in a total of 7 MW of new third party O&M contracts to its portfolio in Italy. The plants are located in the North East of Italy and are being supervised and provided O&M Services for the company Garnell.
  • CNH Industrial N.V. has been recognised for its efforts to provide sustainable innovations in the transport sector. The Vision concept van, designed for the Company’s commercial vehicles brand Iveco, received the 2016 European Transport Prize for Sustainability in the distribution vehicles category from Huss-Medien. The prototype features a dual power electric/hybrid engine that would allow the vehicle to move from an out-of-town distribution hub into and around zero emission cities and back again.
  • Kaplan, creator of the test prep industry and its leading player, has acquired CleanEdison, a leading vocational school as a service platform specializing in the clean energy industry. The new unit, rebranded as Kaplan Clean Technology Education, offers job skills training and certification programs focused on energy efficiency, sustainable building, the solar thermal and photovoltaic sectors, and other clean energy related issues.
Bioenergy Bytes

On #givingTuesday, Give to Biodiesel’s Future

John Davis

NBFTomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 1, is what is known as Giving Tuesday, a day during this time of year when you are asked to give to charitable causes. The National Biodiesel Foundation asks you consider giving to the future of biodiesel.

Interested in helping young scientists get involved with biodiesel? Your donation to the National Biodiesel Foundation on Giving Tuesday, December 1, will do just that. This year’s proceeds specifically support the Next Generation Scientists/Dallas Hanks Memorial Fund. NBF is proud to announce that your donation on Giving Tuesday will go further through a generous matching donation. Please make this unique opportunity count.

More information on the fund and how to donate to it are available here.

Biodiesel, NBB

Emerging Nations Hit Record Clean Energy Investments

Joanna Schroeder

According to the new report Climatescope, developing nations have surpassed the world’s wealthiest countries in securing more renewable energy investments. Climatescope is a clean energy country competitiveness index, interactive report and online tool supported by the U.S., U.K. and Inter-American Development Bank Group. The report unveils a portrait of clean energy activity in 55 emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America Climatescope2015and the Caribbean. The group includes major developing nations China, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as dozens of others. Energy solutions reviewed included solar, wind, small hydro, geothermal, biomass, and other zero-carbon emitting technologies (excluding large hydro).

The news came shortly before a round of UN-organized climate negotiations kicked off in Paris prior to the start of COP21. Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which released the report, says these talks often focus on the question of how much capital wealthier countries should make available to lesser developed countries to address the climate challenge.

Climatescope’s key findings include:

  • For the first time ever, over half of all new annual investment into clean energy power generating projects globally went toward projects in emerging markets, rather than toward wealthier countries.
  • New investment in renewables soared in 2014 in the 55 Climatescope countries assessed to hit a record annual high of $126bn – up $35.5bn, or 39%, from 2013 levels.
  • The results were substantially bolstered by the remarkable growth in China, which added 35GW of new renewable power generating capacity all on its own – more than the 2014 clean energy build in the US, UK, and France combined.
  • Meanwhile, “South-South” investment (funds deployed in Climatescope nations from banks or other financial institutions based in those countries) surged to $79bn in 2014 from $53bn the year prior.
  • Continuing declines in clean energy costs appear to be driving growth. Costs associated with solar photovoltaic power have ticked down 15% year-on-year globally. Solar is particularly competitive in emerging markets which often suffer from very high power prices from fossil generation while also enjoying very sunny conditions.
  • A total of 50.4 gigawatts (GW) of new clean capacity was built in Climatescope countries, marking a 21% uptick from the prior year. In another first, renewables capacity deployed in emerging markets topped that in wealthier Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations.
  • On a percentage basis, clean energy capacity is growing twice as quickly in Climatescope nations compared to OECD ones.

The report found that progress was achieved during 2014 despite a number of countries in the survey seeing economic growth rates slow. Average gross domestic product growth across Climatescope nations slipped to 5.7 percent in 2014 from 6.4 percent in 2013 with the slow-down most apparent in major nations, Brazil, South Africa, and China. Despite the pullback, these three countries attracted a total of $103bn in new clean energy investment in 2014.

biomass, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Geothermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1Iberdrola Renewables announced it has resumed full construction of the El Cabo Wind Farm in Torrance County, New Mexico. The 298 MW project will feature up to 149 wind turbines and is slated for commercial operation in the second half of 2017. The on-site construction effort will now ramp back up, including civil and road work on the combined 56,000 acre project area comprised of private and state trust land managed by the New Mexico State Land Office.
  • The Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) is hosting a webinar, “Advanced Energy Year in Review: Everything You Need to Know About Advanced Energy Policy in 2015,” on Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 1 pm ET. Robert Keough, AEE’s VP of Communications, will lead a virtual panel of advanced energy experts on key policy developments from around the country. The panel will share their insight on EPA’s Clean Power Plan, New York REV, net metering, FERC 745, RPS/EERS battles in the states, and California’s SB 350.
  • As part of Masdar’s Innovation Week activities, Masdar, BP and Masdar Institute launched The Catalyst, the region’s first technology startup accelerator focused on sustainability and clean tech. The Catalyst, which is supported by $5 million in funding from BP, will help startups accelerate their business through funding, training and mentorship.
  • Enerkem Inc., a waste-to-biofuels and chemicals producer, has been selected by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Institut national de la propriété industrielle to take part in Solutions COP21, a major public event featuring innovative solutions put forward by some sixty companies from around the world to fight climate change. The Solutions COP21 exhibition will be held from December 4 to 11 at the Grand Palais in Paris, at the same time as the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
Bioenergy Bytes

Canada Commits to Greater Wind Energy Use

Joanna Schroeder

The Alberta government has made a commitment to use renewable energy to replace two-thirds of the electricity currently produced by coal-fired electricity generation. As part of this plan, the government has indicated that wind energy will be the primary source of this new energy mix. The Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) applauded the news.

Photo Credit: Canadian Wind Energy Association

Photo Credit: Canadian Wind Energy Association

“Wind energy is one of the most cost-competitive ways to generate new electricity in Alberta and Alberta is wise to draw on its tremendous wind energy resources to help replace coal-fired electricity in the province,” said CanWEA President Robert Hornung. “Wind energy can also ensure that greenhouse gas emission reductions in electricity generation are sustainable and long-term and can contribute to the creation of a low carbon electricity grid that can ultimately help reduce emissions in other sectors of the economy.”

CanWEA cites that while the new renewable energy targets are ambitious, they are achievable without negatively affecting the electricity grid. Today, wind energy supplies 4 percent of power needs but the organization says more than 10 countries and U.S. states have already seen wind energy contribute more than 15 percent and they believe Alberta’s ability will be no different.

“Alberta has said it will use an auction process to bring new renewable energy on-line and such competitive processes have been used successfully in many Canadian jurisdictions,” said Hornung. “Experience has shown that these processes are intensively competitive and ensure that ratepayers receive the lowest cost power.”

CanWEA looks forward to working with the Government of Alberta and key stakeholders on the detailed design and implementation of policy measures that will facilitate the deployment of high quality and cost-competitive new wind energy projects in the province.

Hornung added, “Alberta’s decision to move away from coal-fired electricity generation and dramatically increase its use of renewable energy reflects a trend happening in countries all over the world. More renewable energy in Alberta will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean the air, and produce significant new investment and jobs – particularly in rural areas of the province.”

Clean Energy, Electricity, Wind

#Thankful4Ag Today and Everyday

Cindy Zimmerman

As we contemplate our full plates and full bellies on Thanksgiving, remember that all the food we are blessed to have in this country is brought to you by farmers and ranchers, with a lot of help from our Creator. Thanksgiving blessings to all!
bayer-thankful

ZimmComm

GRID Alternatives Helps Bring Solar to Families in Need

Joanna Schroeder

Mitsubishi Electric Green Team volunteers, students from CSULB Disabled Student Services and GRID Alternatives project leader pose in front of a newly installed 3.24kW solar system in Los Angeles. (Photo: Business Wire)

Mitsubishi Electric Green Team volunteers, students from CSULB Disabled Student Services and GRID Alternatives project leader pose in front of a newly installed 3.24kW solar system in Los Angeles. (Photo: Business Wire)

When we think of Thanksgiving and helping those in need, many people take action to help provide food. Yet this holiday, thanks to GRID Alternatives, employees from Mitsubishi Electric and California State University Long Beach’s Disabled Student Services, two low-income families now have access to affordable, clean energy. The group installed solar electric systems with the PV modules donated by Mitsubishi Electric US.

While Mitsubishi Electric US donated 6kW of Diamond Premium high performance monocrystalline PV modules bundled with inverters donated by SolarEdge and racking donated by Orion Solar Racking, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation provided financial support for the installations with a grant to GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles. The solar package is bundled as the Diamond Kit as provides a simpler way for residential homeowners to install solar energy and save money. The grant provides hands-on training and education in renewable energy for the student volunteers, most of whom are interested in pursuing careers in the solar industry.

At the second installation, volunteers installed a 2.7kW solar system. (Photo: Business Wire)

At the second installation, volunteers installed a 2.7kW solar system. (Photo: Business Wire)

“We are pleased to extend our reach this year to two families in need,” said Gina Heng, vice president and general manager of Mitsubishi Electric U.S., Inc.’s Photovoltaic Division. “We appreciate the generosity of SolarEdge and Orion Solar Racking, and the leadership of GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles, for making these installations possible.”

The photovoltaic systems were installed in the homes of Edward Wong, a CSULB alumnus, and his family, of Los Angeles, and Zelmira Medina of East Los Angeles. “As a CSULB graduate, it was great to connect with these student volunteers from my alma mater,” said Mr. Wong. “On behalf of my family, I also want to thank all the companies for giving us the gift of solar energy for our new home.”

Kevin Webb, director of the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, added, “GRID Alternatives gave us the opportunity to further our mission to help youth with disabilities maximize their potential and participation in society. I’m impressed by the students’ interest in solar technology. We’re proud to continue our support of GRID Alternatives not only to help these students get practical experience in their chosen careers, but also to assist them to serve their community.”

Clean Energy, Education, Electricity, Solar

Rubio Commits to Supporting RFS

Joanna Schroeder

At a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa this week, presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio committed to supporting the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) through 2022. According to America’s Renewable Future (ARF), this is the most in-depth answer Sen. Rubio has given on the subject saying, “Whether you like it or not, it isn’t fair to yank away something in the middle of it, after people have invested in it based on an existing government program. So, what I have argued is since it is already in place until 2022, let it stay in place until 2022 to respect the investment that people have made.”

ARF Co-Chair Rep. Annette Sweeney, said of his remarks, “Sen. Rubio’s comments show that he has spent time learning about this issue and we’re glad to see that he understands that the government needs to keep a promise to the Main Street investments made with the RFS. We’re also thankful that he is committed to supporting the law through 2022 and certainly hope to hear more from him on the topic.”

Rubio recently received a “needs work” rating from ARF on its midterm report card. The comments from senator come following the airing of ARF’s digital ads calling on the senator to stand up for Iowa farmers and support the RFS.

biofuels, Ethanol, RFS, Video