David J Hughes writes:

With just a little bit of research, one can quickly determine that there is a strong and growing groundswell of interest in renewable energy. Leaving politics out of it, many people are simply interested in making their homes more energy efficient and thereby saving money on heating and cooling bills.

Renewable energy generally includes solar power, wind power, and biofuels. For all categories, there are ways to integrate them into your daily life and into your home to make yourself more energy efficient. These changes will certainly save you money over the long run–and in some case in the short term—but they will also help reduce the massive strain that is being placed on the planet in general.

There are a large number of companies, both large and small, that advertise their specific product or service that fits into the renewable energy industry. There are a great number of businesses that manufacture, install and repair all types of solar panels. Likewise, there are a corresponding number of businesses that sell, service and install systems designed to capture wind power. Still more companies are out there manufacturing and selling various forms of biofuels. Biofuels include bio diesel and ethanol. There are also a very few companies engaged in research and development of hydrogen furnaces which run on biomass, often barnyard waste. While all these companies are in business to make money, the combined effect of what they are selling and producing is a positive one for the environment. Renewable energy is an undeniable fact of life for us now, and we all have a form of social responsibility to do our part to advance it into the mainstream. Regardless if the motivation is purely financial—to either make or save money—the end result is the same; a reduction in the emissions and pollution produced by traditional fossil fuels, and a cleaner, more sustainable environment and economy.

Trends toward renewable energy are taking hold on a more widespread basis every day. One will hear more frequent mention of terms like “green construction” or “green companies”. These terms refer to building houses in an environmentally friendly manner, making as much use of renewable energy technology as possible and to businesses that have adopted an organized and serious policy to reducing their environmental impact through use of renewable energy.

Renewable energy has become such a popular subject, that it is seen as a constant theme in contemporary media, including major movies, TV programs and in music. The growing awareness and concern with environmental issues is fueling the fundamental shift toward being more environmentally conscious and toward using renewable energy whenever possible. There is still much pollution and waste in the world today, but there has never been such a high and growing level of awareness and motivation to change our fundamental lifestyles in order to save and cure our climate. Renewable energy is a fundamental piece of the puzzle for not only a healthy planet, but a healthy life as well.

Matthew Hick writes:

It’s certainly no secret: the cost of renewable energy production and its implementation can be extremely high. This is the very reason why tax credits are often used to enable renewable energy sources to compete with fossil fuels.

With rising oil and natural gas prices, the war in Iraq and environmental problems centering on global warming and air pollution, our nation is concerned about their energy security and environmental issues. The United States is recognizing the need and power of renewable energy and is supporting its development through federal income tax credits and incentives.

President George Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law on August 8, 2005. It took over four years for Congress to pass after reviewing several different versions. It extended tax credits for wind and biomass energies for two more years and included additional tax credits for solar, geothermal and ocean energy.

Solar tax credits apply to residential and business users. This tax credit would pertain to eligible equipment installed between 1/1/06 and 12/31/08. The equipment installed would include those solar systems that generate electricity, heat and cool or provide hot water to structures. It must also be operational in the first year the credit is taken and the taxpayer must be the original user. The credit is 30% with a $2,000 cap for each unit for residential taxpayers and it is 30% with a no business cap specified for corporate users. After 12/31/08 the corporate tax credit will return to 10%.

The geothermal corporate credit remains at 10% with no maximum stated. This credit does not apply to geothermal heat pumps and is limited to geothermal energy equipment that produces, uses or distributes energy derived from geothermal deposits. A personal tax credit of 10% with a $300 maximum can be taken for geothermal heat pumps.

The federal government also included production tax credits for renewable energies. These credits allow companies to invest in renewable technologies and write the investment off against other investments. This was a major push of support for renewable energy technologies. The credit was extended until December 31, 2008. The credits are 1.9 cents per kWh for wind, geothermal, closed-loop biomass and 1.0 cent per kWh for hydroelectric power, landfill gas, municipal solid waste and open-loop biomass. These pertain to the first ten years of operation

Similar to production tax credits, there were also provisions for renewable energy production incentives (REPI) for state and local governments, as well as, nonprofit electrical cooperatives. The enacted law included new qualifying energy generation facilities for solar, wind, biomass (excluding municipal solid waste combustion) landfill gas and certain types of dry steam geothermal energy. It was extended through fiscal year 2016 and also included ocean and wave energy.

These credits will be applied to any amount that remains after any other state or utility incentives have been taken. There are numerous states that do offer incentives also. Some new state incentives include a California state rebate program for photovoltaics, an Illinois state grant program for wind energy, a New Jersey state rebate program for geothermal heat pumps and a Pennsylvania property tax assessment for wind energy. These are just a few of the many state incentives that exist.

The United States government and the individual states are promoting renewable energy sources as an energy source to be encouraged. With all the incentives available, this may be one of the best times to make your air cleaner with a commitment toward this energy. With everyone’s support we can recharge renewable energy’s development.

Shirlyn Dee writes:

A renewable energy company should be able to harness available resources in the production of electricity for daily consumption of individual consumers. Whether it is largely produced in a power plant or installed on homes, a renewable energy company should share its endeavor to conserve non-renewable energy sources.

It is without a doubt that the world is changing. Further increase in global temperature might affect life on earth. So here are three eco-friendly tips to jet start a renewable energy company.

1. Stay true with what the vision of the company is

Every renewable energy company would have to meet customer satisfaction as well as commercial success. Be always reminded that individual consumers who have trusted their homes, automobiles and electric production and consumption to the use of renewable energy expect to harvest the fruits of their conservation measures. Never compromise quality over profit.

Even if the products should be maintained on a monthly basis, keep in mind that they paid good money for it and have high expectations with it. Remember that as a company of good will it should be of top priority to meet up with environmental and ethical standards.

2. Reinvent and keep it fresh

Surpass standards and always keep up with the latest innovations. Renewable energy marketing requires brilliant product designs. That would be able to move the consumers into buying the product. Specialization of equipments choosing beyond the wide range of available sources would be a smart choice. Before a company could expand and explore other sources of renewable energy such as solar, wind or thermal choosing one and specializing in it, will help your company be distinguished amongst many other. Marketing does not limit itself with just the distribution of products. It requires communication with the consumers and decoding of the needs to meet both ends. Strategic promotion combined with a highly marketable product keeps you on the biz no matter how many competitors spring up over night.

3. Promote alternative solutions for a better future

As unpredictable as it is, the environment drastically changed in a span of one hundred years. Climate change together with the extinction of current energy sources should be taken as a challenge to change the perception of world towards renewable energy. To face against all odds in order to meet soaring energy demands for the future without harming the environment any further.

Other than production of energy it should be put in mind that conservation of energy is on top most priority. Renewable energy solutions include low carbon consumption for the depletion of greenhouse gases emission. Clean energy production that can promote a healthier lifestyle and a place that can support life on earth.

Sustainable future should be the ultimate goal of a renewable energy company. It should continuously inspire individuals to care a little bit more to the environment. To be completely dependent on renewable energy might be ambitious at the moment. But a small step could mobilize this ambitious dream.

John Gimigliano writes:

In 1859, Charles Dickens famously penned the opening lines to “A Tale of Two Cities”: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…

Dickens was not, of course, referring to the outlook for the renewables sector in 2009, but he easily could have been. The outlook for the renewables sector is a remarkable juxtaposition of a rosy future and a grim present. On the one hand, the growing public and political consensus around the dangers of climate change coupled with the rousing endorsement from Congress in the broad renewables tax package enacted in October 2008 all bode well for the sector. On the other, the dramatic downturn in the financial sector suggests that obtaining project-level financing is going to be tough sledding throughout 2009.

This “best of times, worst of times” dynamic suggests the coming year may well be the year that the renewables sector proves its mettle to the market, showing remarkable resilience in the face of extreme financial uncertainty. To do so, it will need a little help from Capitol Hill— and Congress may well deliver.

Prospects for Climate Change Legislation in 2009

During the 2008 presidential campaign, President-Elect Obama endorsed a cap-and-trade program as the preferred approach to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Likewise, both the House and the Senate are poised to resume consideration of various cap-and-trade proposals early in 2009. While many economists, including the Congressional Budget Office, prefer the simplicity of a carbon tax, most observers believe that a cap-and-trade system is the most likely political outcome.

If a cap-and-trade regime is inevitable, the next question to ask is when it might be enacted. The answer to this question depends largely on the health of the economy. Many believe that the Obama Administration will be reluctant to burden an already soft economy with the higher energy prices that a cap-and-trade program would almost certainly bring. If the economy remains mired in recession throughout 2009 and 2010, comprehensive climate change legislation could be shelved until a possible Obama second term.

Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency

If comprehensive climate change legislation is tabled for the short term, it seems likely that Congress and the Obama Administration will redouble efforts on more narrow policy goals or regulatory reforms that have long been at the forefront of environmental policy in the United States. Indeed, the appointment of Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior; Carol Browner as head of the newly formed National Energy Council; and appointments at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy (DOE), and other agencies all point to a determined effort to chart an aggressive course on environmental policy. In particular, the likelihood for a federal renewable energy standard (RES) is enhanced by the convergence of large Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress and a Democrat in the White House. President-Elect Obama was supportive of a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard throughout the presidential campaign, and the House of Representatives passed a similar RES on several occasions. The Senate, long a stumbling block to this legislation, will have a decidedly greener point of view in the incoming Congress.

The most recent House version of an RES, in H.R. 6899 from the 110th Congress, likely represents the jumping- off point for legislative efforts in the 111th Congress. Interestingly, that version allows for energy efficiency measures to be treated as qualifying under the RES standard. This would bode well for energy efficiency technologies, particularly in the Southeast where other renewable resources appear to be less abundant.

Likely, other areas to be considered will be modified Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for the automobile industry and new and more flexible tax credits for clean and alternative energy. Likewise, the incoming Obama Administration had pledged to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure including areas such as smart grid, biofuels pipelines, and mass transit. This infrastructure spending could be authorized quickly in 2009 in the promised economic stimulus bill currently under consideration by House and Senate leadership. The stimulus bill could also include large grants, tax incentives, and other authorizations for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and technology.

The Future of Renewable Energy Tax Incentives

To date, the principal approach to encouraging renewables development in the United States has been through the tax code. The production tax credit (PTC) has helped fuel remarkable increases in U.S. wind generation in recent years. Likewise, the energy investment tax credit (ITC) is largely responsible for the current boom in the solar sector. The same can be said of renewable energy tax credits for biofuels, biomass, geothermal, fuel cells, hybrid automobiles, and so on.

This approach has worked well… until now. The rapid decline of the financial sector throughout 2008 has all but eliminated the erstwhile renewables financiers from the marketplace. Even those financial institutions that still have cash on hand often have current financial and tax losses, making tax credits all but useless. Without these traditional sources of project-level financing, many planned wind, solar, and other renewables projects may never get beyond the planning phase.

It is against this backdrop that Congress is considering a revision of renewables tax incentives to make them more effective in the current financial climate. Congress will likely revisit energy tax legislation in 2009 to, at a minimum, extend the production tax credit for wind that expires on December 31 of that year. While considering that extension, Congress has indicated that it will consider making the PTC and possibly the ITC refundable. Unlike the current-law tax credits, the holder of a refundable tax credit need not have a tax liability to capture the value of the tax credit. Rather, the holder of the tax credit can apply for a refund from the federal government in an amount equal to the credit.

This approach would allow developers and project investors who do not have sufficient tax liability to capture the value of the tax credits to nevertheless do so in the form of refunds from the federal government. This change could significantly expand the universe of potential project investors from the handful (that have both the capital on hand and the tax liability to utilize the project tax credits) that exist today. Such an approach, if enacted, would push the United States a step closer to the feed-in tariff approach so common in Europe. One lingering complexity to be resolved is whether the accelerated tax depreciation (five years for wind and solar projects) would be refundable as well. On the one hand, this accelerated cost recovery represents a sizeable portion of the tax benefits that attract investors. On the other hand, Congress may be reluctant to set a precedent for other industries that depreciation and cost recovery can be a refundable item.

An alternative proposal put forward by the incoming Obama Administration would allow claimants of renewable energy tax credits to carry them back to the preceding five tax years. This would allow these project developers and investors to wipe out taxes paid in earlier years and claim a tax refund from the federal government. While this approach is likely to be helpful to many potential investors, it is unlikely to have the broader stimulus effect of a generally refundable credit.

Meanwhile, it seems likely that other industries will enter into the renewables tax financing market. In particular, public utilities appear to be a good choice to take up some of the slack. As regulated companies, utilities tend to have both cash and tax liability. In addition, the renewable energy sector is a natural fit for the core competency of these entities. Utilities know project development, power purchase agreements, transmission interconnects, and other fundamentals around power production (even if the underlying technology is new to most traditional utilities).

Conclusions

Despite momentum in public opinion, political circles, and discussions among strategic investors, the renewables sector faces a challenging year like most sectors of the economy. While comprehensive climate change legislation may have to wait for firmer economic footing, other help may be on the way. A federal RES would create demand for renewables on a national basis. This coupled with revamped refundable tax credits could shake loose project-level investment that has been lacking in recent months. These legislative changes could change the outlook from “A Tale of Two Cities” to another great Dickens book: “Great Expectations.”

This article was first published by the KPMG Global Energy Institute in 2009 prior to the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It is reprinted here with permission of the publisher.

About the KPMG Global Energy Institute This article is provided by the KPMG Global Energy Institute. The Institute’s goal is to provide an open forum where industry financial executives can share knowledge, gain insights and access thought leadership about global energy industry issues and emerging trends. To access a regularly updated library of thought leadership, video and audio Web casts, podcasts and conferences and events, please visit http://www.kpmgglobalenergyinstitute.com/.

James Copper writes:

The United States Department of Energy has devoted itself to the cause of renewable energy promotion with its creation of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado.

This renewable energy program facility offers programs in a wide variety of renewable power topics which span the various green energy resources such as wind, water, sun, biomass and even nuclear. NREL also conducts ongoing research and development in the areas of energy efficiency and renewable power. Each area of research is further enhanced by functions that cut across the various programs and reach out to industries for partnerships. These collaborations on renewable energy could include the transfer of technology, energy analysis and the integration of the various programs of each collaborator.

The 12 program areas of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are wind and hydropower technology intergovernmental projects on weatherization the technology of solar energy industrial power efficient technology the technology of fuel cells, hydrogen and building infrastructures geothermal technology the technology of vehicles and the Freedom Car energy management by the U.S. federal government energy-efficient building systems biomass and analytic studies. Each of these NREL programs is conducted by technology management experts whose capabilities and expertise span the programs wide renewable power technology range.

The Analytic Studies Program at NREL studies a wide variety of renewable energy analysis to support the programs and initiatives in place at the Lab. It also works with the Department of Educations Office for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy EERE as well as the energy analysis community at large. The labs Office of Energy Analysis integrates this analysis and supports its functions and the functions of the various research programs and centres of technology throughout the NREL.

Those who study renewable power analysis do so in five major interest areas. They look at the technologies involved in renewable energy, the benefits of the initiatives, and the markets for renewable energy, the policies that affect its implementation and embracement, and the analysis of the various programs. Many research programs are covered that include assessments of life cycles, vehicular systems, Web-based applications to assess renewable power possibilities and programs. The aim of this analysis is to understand how technology, policy, markets and the various software applications can interactive to the success of expansive and continuing renewable energy programs.

The study of biomass is an important ingredient in the renewable power implementation. Biomass offers a terrific opportunity to make use of sustainable as well as domestic resources for the production of power and fuel and the meeting of chemical needs through plants and t he material derived from them. Biomass starts with grasses, trees, biological material and agriculture. These can be used as renewable energy, either solid or through conversion to liquid or gas. These can produce electricity, chemicals, fuel or heat.

An important part of this NREL program is the development of energy-efficient and cost effective biomass technology that will reduce the U.S. dependence on oil from foreign countries, while it grows rural economies in our own country and improves the quality of our air.