U.S. Renewable Credit Market May Pass Before Carbon, Group Says

U.S. lawmakers who are struggling to win support for a cap-and-trade emissions market will probably settle this year on a smaller proposal that forces more electricity to be produced by wind farms, solar panels and other low-carbon sources, an emissions trading group said.

A national renewable electricity standard might pass Congress this year as a stand-alone measure, Thaddeus Huetteman, chairman of the Environmental Markets Association, said in an e- mail. Such a standard was part of cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House last year and stalled in the Senate.

Banks Lured By ‘Sexy’ Solar, Wind Energy Projects

About 30 banks including BNP Paribas SA and Rabobank Nederland NV are being lured back into financing “sexy” U.S. renewable energy projects following an $80 billion government investment in the industry, a project manager said.

Debt financing may return to the 2008 level of about $6 billion in 2010, after falling to $3.2 billion last year, as banks lend more to wind and solar energy projects in the U.S., said Bruno Mejean, a managing director in New York at Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale AG, a state-owned German lender.

Renewables 61% Of New EU Power Generation Capacity In 2009

MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Renewable energy made up the bulk of new power generation capacity added in the European Union last year, the European Wind Energy Association, or EWEA, said Wednesday.

Renewables accounted for 61% of new electricity generating capacity in 2009. Of the total new capacity, 39% was from wind power and 16% was from photovoltaic solar power, EWEA said.

Investment Dollars Flow to Green Energy Start-Ups

Start-ups developing products aimed at wringing every last drop of efficiency from green technologies have become the standouts in the increasingly crowded field of renewable energy.

These companies are gaining favor, in part because they don’t require a lot of cash to bootstrap, a big draw at a time when there’s not much financing available.

Other winners in the investor sweepstakes are companies seeking to replace existing power grids to allow utilities to interact with home appliances, turning them on when power demand is low and electricity is cheaper.

China Wind, Solar Co’s Seek Growth in U.S., Europe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chinese wind and solar companies told a renewable energy conference on Thursday they were looking abroad for burgeoning markets in renewable energy.

Chinese renewable energy companies have been among the fastest growing in the world as subsidies in their home market, Europe and the United States and generous loans from Beijing have spurred a boom in manufacturing of the clean power systems.

Obama Eyes Biofuels, Clean Coal in New Climate Push

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama laid out new steps on Wednesday to nudge the United States toward energy independence, backing measures to boost production of biofuels and bury pollution from coal.

Using the new initiatives to garner support for a climate and energy bill stalled in the U.S. Senate, Obama met with a handful of state governors to press his policies to fight global warming and wean the nation from imported fossil fuels.

Clean Energy: B.C.’s new economic opportunity

The Copenhagen summit demonstrated that while global warming remains top of mind at home and abroad, achieving a global consensus on strategies and actions to confront this critical issue is a daunting task.

But despite the absence of a realistic and effective international plan to tackle climate change, it’s reassuring to know that British Columbia is taking real leadership and action through various measures, including the carbon tax, cap and trade, legislated greenhouse-gas reductions, a carbon-neutral public service and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to name a few.

Report: Appalachian States Should Look Beyond Coal

Coal production in Central Appalachia is likely to continue its 12-year decline, and an environmental consulting firm said Tuesday it’s time policy makers and legislators in four states work to diversify the region’s economy.

A report issued by Downstream Strategies of Morgantown predicts production in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee will fall nearly 50 percent within a decade and urges those states to adopt laws, low-interest loan programs and other measures to support the development of renewable energy sources.

Can the Eastern U.S.Get a Fifth of its Power From Wind by 2024?

Major upgrades to the transmission infrastructure and a sizable chunk of cash from private investors and the government are necessary for the Midwest and East Coast to move to 20% wind power by 2024, according to a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The federal lab, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, released its Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study after more than two years of analyzing the economic, operational and technical implications of different scenarios.

India Unveils Policy For Trade In Renewable Energy Certificates

MUMBAI -(Dow Jones)- India’s federal electricity regulator Monday announced a policy for regulating tradable energy instruments–called renewable energy certificates–to help boost power generation from water, wind and other such clean energy sources in the country.

The policy will create a national level market for buying and selling such certificates, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission said in a statement.