A couple of quick links referenced in the podcast: Jeff mentioned some links to sites where people who want to help address the spill can get involved. His post is here. He gave special mention to Geoff Livingston's post on Mashable here. (Geoff is a good guy.)

I also specifically mentioned the issue of censoring scientists:  I wrote about it here and I found posts about it on Huffington Post and Rachel Maddow's blog.

Podcast time is 16:45.

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Offshore wind energy in the U.S. has been slow to develop. (Photo: © Yobidaba | Dreamstime.com)

Bill would provide stable tax incentives for offshore wind industry

As more than a hundred wind industry representatives descended on Capitol Hill today for a coordinated lobbying effort to support a national renewable energy standard, there is a different proposal also now on the table, one that would provide incentive for the more elusive deepwater wind energy potential off the United States coast.

The bipartisan Carper-Snowe-Brown-Collins Deepwater Offshore Wind Incentive Act would provide a tax credit of 3.04 cents per kilowatt for the first 6,000 megawatts of deepwater offshore wind production in the United States. The tax credit would be in place until 2030.

"If we are to be serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing clean energy jobs we must provide dependability and consistency to tax policies that have a history of working," said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the bill's co-sponsors.

Deepwater wind, defined as those structures in water depths of greater than 60 meters, not only captures a larger and more consistent wind energy resource, it avoids NIMBY issues related to view shed and perceived impact on property values.

The greatest offshore wind energy potential in the U.S. lies off the Atlantic Coast which holds 1,000 gigawatts of electricity, or one quarter of national demand. On the west coast, approximately 900 gigawatts of wind energy capacity sits in the deep waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.

Deepwater wind energy development like the HyWind project in Norway employs floating turbines that are counterweighted with a deep ballast and moored to the bottom of the ocean so they can sway and absorb the pressure of the ocean waves -- waves that would snap a traditional steel turbine tower planted in the bottom of the ocean.

Follow Tim Hurst on twitter @ecopolitologist

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Solar power could meet 15% of U.S. electricity needs by 2020. (Photo: Jeff Kubina/flickr CC 2.0)

After a busy day in Copenhagen saw U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu launch a $350 million clean energy technology transfer program, a consortium of solar industry trade groups released a report indicating that solar photovoltaics could provide up to 12 percent of Europe's electricity and the combination of PV, concentrated solar power and solar thermal could deliver 15 percent of electricity in the U.S. by 2020.

According to the report (pdf), released today in Copenhagen by U.S.-based Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the European Photovoltaic Industry Association and twenty other industry trade groups from around the world, advancements in the solar industry--ones that are ready to take place right now--would reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 1 billion tons annually and create 6.3 million jobs.

"Solar is ready today. It's not a 2040 technology, it's a today technology," SEIA president Rhone Resch told reporters on a conference call from Copenhagen on Monday. "While nations negotiate details of a climate treaty, we need to be sure policies are in place so that solar can get to work now," added Resch.

Solar growth dependent on advances in policy

Solar, wind and other renewable energy industries have assembled in Copenhagen to advocate for policies that would accelerate deployment of their technologies. The 15% and 12% solar targets outlined in the report for the U.S. and E.U. respectively, are "entirely dependent on advances in policy," said Resch. "We can be a disruptive technology, but we need policies across the globe that need to be changed."

To advance those policies, SEIA and EPIA announced the launch of SolarCOP15, a unified industry voice to make the case for solar energy as a simple, practical, and cost-effective solution to reduce carbon emissions now and into the future.

Solar COP15's s policy imperatives in Copenhagen include: the adoption of binding targets for CO2 emission reductions that entail the uptake of solar power; the establishment of technology transfer mechanisms; and a commitment to finance strategies for solar technology deployment.

The foundation for the policy recommendations needed to reach the targets are outlined in the Solar Bill of Rights, released in late October by SEIA. In essence, the solar industry would like to see a lowering of subsidies to fossil fuel industries, or a raising of subsidies for solar and other renewables; and a streamlining of the grid interconnection process in the U.S. and around the world.

"We want to make solar as easy to connect to your home as it is to connect internet," said Resch.

Resch said that there was a "tone of cautious optimism" in Copenhagen about reaching binding targets, but that even if binding targets were not agreed upon, "The presence of wind and solar here has never been larger, and it's a very impressive sight."

Follow Tim Hurst on twitter
Photo: Jeff Kubina

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SunRun is now offering solar leases to Colorado homeowners. (Photo: Pink Dispatcher)

The rooftop solar industry just got a huge shot in the arm on Tuesday when San Francisco-based SunRun announced it would be offering Colorado homeowners solar-power leases for as little as $1,000 down. The new program is the first of its kind in Colorado and can help with the high initial start-up costs of installing solar panels,  as well as with installing, maintaining them and repairing them.

Most people will see payback from their initial installation fee in less than three years," said Lynn Jurich, president and co-founder of SunRun in a statement.

The new leasing schemes were made possible by a law passed in April. Colorado Senate Bill 51 allows solar companies to own and maintain solar panels on residential roofs and for homeowners to pay for solar power via leasing programs.  "With great support from the Legislature, we've passed some of the most forward-thinking legislation in the country to help us attract companies like SunRun to Colorado," said Gov. Ritter in a statement earlier this week. Senate Bill 51 is one of several legislative initiatives from Ritter to grow green jobs and attract clean energy companies to Colorado

Colorado joins other states including Massachusetts, California and to offer solar leasing laws for homeowners.

SunRun will be working with Colorado solar installers Namaste Solar, REC Solar, and Real Goods Solar to offer the solar leasing plan.

Follow Tim Hurst on twitter
Image via Pink Dispatcher

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First it was Massachusetts, then Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York all made noise in the race to become the first U.S. state to have an offshore wind farm. Now, North Carolina may steal the show by becoming the first state to put a turbine in its waters.

One of the U.S.' largest utilities, Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), will partner with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to place up to three demonstration wind turbines in Pamlico Sound off the coast of North Carolina.

The pilot project builds on a nine-month study completed in June 2009 by UNC which found that North Carolina is well positioned to develop utility-scale wind energy production. According to UNC and Duke Energy, the project's turbines may actually be the first turbines placed in water in the United States — leapfrogging the long-embattled and politically contentious Cape Wind project in Massachusetts.

“This project is a great example of how university research can expand our understanding of an issue – in this case, wind energy,” said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp.

Duke Energy says it will pay for the turbines and their installation, and UNC will continue its research throughout the project.

Duke Energy/UNC to test wind turbines in Pamlico Sound (location approximated).

The UNC researchers will conduct research on measuring and predicting the wind resource, quantifying ecological impacts, and demonstrating turbine performance in tropical storm conditions, which shouldn't be hard as the Outer Banks are regularly slammed by tropical storms and hurricanes.

Over the coming weeks and months, UNC and Duke Energy will continue to seek out community comments and answer questions about the project.

“We are looking forward to working with UNC and residents of the Outer Banks to determine if and how we can use wind energy on a larger scale,” said Brett Carter, president of Duke Energy Carolinas.

The project creates an opportunity "for community feedback and collaboration, and it will be a very positive information-finding effort," said North Carolina Senator Marc Basnight. "People will be able to view the turbines working and we will gain a greater understanding of how to use wind as a renewable energy source. What we learn from this project will chart the future of offshore wind energy for our state, and I am excited that the Outer Banks is a part of this effort.”

A recent report from the U.S. Department of the Interior showed shallow-water offshore wind farms could supply as much as 20% of the electricity in most coastal states. While the deep waters along the Pacific coast make offshore wind development a long way off, the relatively shallow waters along the eastern seaboard are another story.

In North Carolina, where the shallow waters and high winds in and around the Outer Banks are legendary, state legislators and some coastal counties are already preparing standards for where to allow wind farms. It is those very waters that Duke and UNC will be placing the test turbines.

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