By KATIE FEHRENBACHER, GigaOm,  February 20, 2009

The most important provision in the stimulus package for promoting energy efficiency in the U.S. could be a piece of ambiguous language wrapped up in a section on state energy grants. A few sentences encourages states to consider a policy for utilities known as decoupling (though the stimulus text doesn’t name it specifically) in return for energy grants. Decoupling, a strategy that has proven successful at promoting energy efficiency in states like California, disconnects utilities’ sales from their profits, and thus encourages utilities to implement energy efficiency programs. The text in the stimulus bill doesn’t require decoupling per se in order to get funds, but requires the state governors to get certification from their respective commissions that the states in question will:Skip to next paragraph

“…seek to implement…a general policy that ensures that utility financial incentives are aligned with helping their customers use energy more efficiently and that provide timely cost recovery and a timely earnings opportunity for utilities associated with cost-effective and verifiable efficiency savings, in a way that sustains or enhances utility customers’ incentives to use energy more efficiently.”

Yeah it’s ambiguous, but industry watchers say if that text has the desired effect it could be a landmark on two fronts: For one of the first times in years, the federal government will lead the states in terms of energy conservation, and energy efficiency programs will get a dramatic boost over the long term by encouraging reform of state utility policy.

Fans of energy efficiency were electrified when House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) introduced “decoupling” as a condition for state energy grants in the House’s version of the stimulus package. But the language in the final package, which Obama signed into law this week, was toned down from Waxman’s original provision.

Before the stimulus package passed the Alliance to Save Energy, the Edison Electric Institute, the Energy Future Coalition, and the Natural Resources Defense Council all called for this provision and said that major changes to utility regulation in the stimulus package would “create long-term incentives to encourage major investments in energy efficiency. Without making such long-term changes, the benefits of federal funding under the block grant program likely would not be as sustainable.” Reid Detchon, executive director of the Energy Future Coalition, said: “Most utilities make more money by selling more energy than they do by saving it. Flipping that incentive structure is the key to unlocking greater national investment in energy efficiency.”

So did the final language that passed into law meet those goals? While the language in the provision is open to interpretation and is just starting to be studied, Joe Fagan an attorney for the law firm Pillsbury, says that “decoupling is clearly the intent.” Fagan says the language is as strong as it could possibly be given the federal government doesn’t have authority to regulate state utilities’ prices and cost recovery.

Lowell W. Ungar, the director of policy for the Alliance to Save Energy, which supports the decoupling provision, explains the nuance of the sentences further:

As the bill is intended to get the money to the states within a few weeks, Congress could only set criteria that the states can meet right now. But it typically takes months (or longer) to reform utility rates or to update building energy codes. Thus the key limitation is that Congress could only require that governors make a statement about future action, in some cases action by other government bodies.

But Ungar is heartened by Congress’s move to highlight the need for regulation reform at the state level, saying, “We hope that states will follow through on their commitments and actually implement these changes, which are critical to the success of the billions of dollars for energy efficiency in the stimulus, and to the future growth of the clean energy economy after the stimulus funding goes away.”

Of course not everyone supports the provision. Opponents argue that it will lead to higher electricity rates for consumers, while others say it infringes on states’ rights. Rob Thormeyer, director of communications for The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), which does not support federal decoupling policies, released a statement that said:

[T]he language agreed to by House and Senate lawmakers conditions federal funding for energy efficiency programs on State commissioners providing advance assurances on how regulatory matters will be addressed — assurances that, by law, many regulators cannot make. These ambiguous conditions will create confusion and legal uncertainty and will likely delay or preclude the release of these critical funds. This benefits neither the States the utilities, nor, most importantly, the citizens they serve.

Overall, advocates of decoupling see the stimulus package language as a very significant step that could open doors for state-level utility reform, but that the effect will largely depend on how state utility regulators respond. And states can’t implement policies overnight — it will take time. But with the promise of more funds and many states facing budget crises, we don’t see how the states could pass this up.

Copyright 2009 GigaOm. All Rights Reserved

A New Gang Comes to Los Angeles: Solar-Panel Installers

By MIRIAM JORDAN – Wall Street Journal – Feb 14, 2009

LOS ANGELES — When Albert Ortega was released from prison four months ago, he was determined to turn his life around. So he went green.

Mr. Ortega sports tattoos of an Aztec warrior on his back, a dragon on his chest and the name of his former gang, the East Side Wilmas, rings his biceps. Drug trafficking kept him locked up for most of the past seven years, he says. But after serving his last term, for 18 months, he heard about a solar-panel installation course.

“I wanted a new way of life,” says the tall, brawny 34-year-old. “Solar puts me on the cutting edge.”

See the Video :Solar Panels for Ex-Cons 2:46

A training program in East Los Angeles is teaching ex-cons to install solar panels so they can improve their skill set and market themselves for the new green economy. 

In the race to train America’s “green-collar” work force, a group composed mostly of former Los Angeles gang members on parole is an early participant. Their training is funded by Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles nonprofit that helps people with criminal pasts find employment.

President Barack Obama has made the production of renewable energy one of the pillars of job creation. All sorts of people are now rushing to acquire skills to launch careers in the budding sector.

For years, Homeboy Industries put former felons to work at a bakery and cafe it runs in East Los Angeles. Last summer, founder Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest, was approached by a supporter about the idea of preparing them for the green economy.

Because job-placement for ex-convicts is especially difficult in a recession, “I leapt at the opportunity,” says Father Boyle, who started Homeboy two decades ago.

Homeboy joined forces with the East Los Angeles Skills Center, a public vocational school that offers a hands-on program to teach the design, construction and installation of solar panels. The course is one of only a few such programs in California and commands a months-long waiting list.

The center created an intensive course for Homeboy. “I loved the idea of doing something for these guys,” says Brian Hurd, the senior instructor who designed it. “My best student ever was a Homeboy referral” in a construction course, “who needed a second chance.”

Homeboy, funded by individuals, community groups and revenue from its businesses, pays the $131 tuition for each student; it also pays participants an hourly wage of $8. The class meets for two months, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“I was so motivated, I would fall asleep with the books on my bed,” says Mr. Ortega. Determined to get into the course, he phoned or visited Father Boyle for two weeks, until he was asked to take a drug test. Mr. Ortega passed and was offered a spot in the class.

“I knew I was good at wiring,” says Mr. Ortega, who once installed car-stereo systems. “I was always good at math.”

On a recent morning, some 30 tattoo-coated students sat at desks in a basement classroom, taking notes as their instructor scrawled algebra equations and geometry problems on a chalkboard. Then they figured out such things as the area of a house’s roof and the angle at which solar panels should be mounted on it.

Manuel Delgado, 42, who dropped out of high school, said he struggled at first. But, four weeks into the class, he’s doing “real good,” he says. “I got 76% on my last math test.”

Another student, Jessica Espinoza, 23, says she couldn’t find a job after being locked up for two years because she helped a felon escape from a courthouse. “The minute they saw I went to jail, employers didn’t give me the time of day,” she says. “Hopefully I can take what this school gave me and make a career in this new industry.”

In the afternoon, the students donned protective goggles and got to work on solar panels and electrical circuits in the workshop. At one station, they drilled holes through aluminum rails where panels are mounted; others drove bolts into metal racks. A few studied the layout of a roof to figure out sizing for pipes.

Homeboy Industries, a Los Angeles nonprofit, helps prepare students to enter the ‘green-collar’ work force

Mr. Ortega helped his classmates wire up a panel. One was Ken Chung, a general contractor who decided to train for a career in solar energy after his business of building homes and pools began to dry up.

After months searching for a training program, Mr. Chung decided the Homeboy course would give him the skills he needed. But when he informed his wife that most of his classmates would be ex-felons, she was worried. “I told her, ‘Honey, just give me a week to try and see,’ ” he recalls.

On his first day, he says a fellow student asked: “What were you in for?” Mr. Chung, a 45-year-old Malaysian immigrant, didn’t understand. “I asked him to repeat the question.”

The East L.A. Skills Center offers a night class in photovoltaic installation (the official name of solar-panel installation) that is open to the general public, but there’s a long waiting list. That’s why some “regular folks” have been clamoring to get into the Homeboy class, says Ed Ruiz, the instructor. “Most of them take one look and say ‘no thanks,’ ” he says.

Doug Lincoln, 61, who once managed luxury-car dealerships, was offered admission to the Homeboy course after he inquired about a faster-paced class. On hearing it was mainly for ex-cons, “I thought it was a joke,” he says.

Now, Mr. Lincoln is about to graduate. He plans to start a solar-panel-installation firm, he says, and hire some of his former Homeboy classmates. “These guys are more motivated than hundreds of employees I’ve managed,” in the car business, he says.

Mr. Chung, the contractor, has also thrived in the class. He and Mr. Ortega get together for lunch on the weekends, either tacos or Chinese noodles. “Albert has taught me many things,” says Mr. Chung. They challenge each other to design solar-energy systems for homes and then critique each other’s work. “I know about his kids. He knows about mine,” says Mr. Ortega.

Last month, Mr. Ortega passed an exam that qualifies him to install solar panels nationwide. He says he has already been approached by employers. But he says he is waiting until Feb. 16, when he’s off parole, before starting work, because until then he can’t travel out of Los Angeles County. When that happens, he says, “I’ll be just another citizen.”

Several of his classmates who completed the course are already working, earning about $15 an hour; experienced installers can make upwards of $30 an hour. Philippe Hartley, general manager of Phat Energy, a Los Angeles solar company, has hired several Homeboy graduates. The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to start hiring some graduates of the program to install 50 megawatts of solar power on its campuses. “Being former gang members doesn’t preclude them from building a career in solar technology,” says Veronica Soto, a school-district director.

Others are also interested. “We expect to hire out of the program as quickly as they can get them to us,” says Gabriel Bork, a vice president at Golden State Power, a solar-panel installation company. “These guys are much better trained than many others I have hired.”

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer Karl Ritter, 2/4/2009

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, left, and fellow coalition members Maud Olofsson, center, and … STOCKHOLM – The Swedish government agreed Thursday to scrap a three-decade ban on building new nuclear reactors, saying it needs to avoid producing more greenhouse gases.

Sweden is a leader on renewable energy but is struggling to develop alternative source like hydropower and wind to meet its growing energy demands. If parliament approves scrapping the ban, Sweden would join a growing list of countries rethinking nuclear power as a source of energy amid concerns over global warming and the reliability of energy suppliers such as Russia. Britain, France and Poland are planning new reactors and Finland is currently building Europe’s first new atomic plant in over a decade.

The agreement was made possible after a compromise by the Center Party, a junior coalition member which has long held a skeptical stance toward nuclear power.

“I’m doing this for the sake of my children and grandchildren,” said party leader Maud Olofsson. “I can live with the fact that nuclear power will be part of our electricity supply system in the foreseeable future.”

Lawmakers decided after a 1980 referendum to phase out nuclear power, which provides about half of Sweden’s electricity.

The 1980 referendum came about at time of mounting concerns about nuclear safety in the wake of a partial meltdown a year earlier at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

Only two of the 12 reactors have been closed and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said he didn’t feel bound by the referendum because it didn’t specify how to replace nuclear energy.

The center-right coalition government’s proposal, which needs approval from Parliament, calls for new reactors to be built at existing plants to replace the 10 operational reactors when they are taken out of service.

The government’s energy plans calls for renewable energy to account for 50 percent of Sweden’s energy in 2020. Today that figure is roughly 40 percent, one of the highest in Europe, mostly because of hydropower.

The government also said it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, partly by expanding wind power and raising taxes on fossil fuels.

Swedish public opinion polls have shown growing support for nuclear energy in recent years because of the lack of alternatives.

By John Sawyer and Michael Sawyer

Buffalo News - 5/5/09 - Another Voice / Energy production

In his recent speech about the economy, President Obama called for “new investments in renewable energy and technology that will create new jobs and new industries.”

Here in Western New York, one example of this environmentally and economically sustainable energy future is in the Town of Shelby.

Opened in 2007, the Western New York Energy plant produces more than 50 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol a year. In addition, the plant produces three valuable co-products: 160,000 tons of high-quality distillers grains; 1.5 million gallons of crude corn oil, which is used for biodiesel; and 100,000 tons of food-grade carbon dioxide, which is used for beverage carbonation, food processing and other industrial applications. The plant provides more than 40 well-paying jobs, from chemists and engineers to operators and managers, and creates new markets for local grain farmers and a valuable feed product for dairy and cattle farmers.

Throughout the nation, the ethanol industry is making progress economically and environmentally. In 2008, American ethanol producers supplied more than 9.2 billion gallons of clean-burning ethanol, equivalent to 7 percent of the domestic gasoline supply. This record production supported nearly 500,000 jobs. It added $21 billion in tax payments to federal, state and local coffers. It displaced 321 million barrels of imported oil — equal to 10 months of imports from Venezuela.

Between 2001 and 2006, water consumption at U. S. ethanol plants decreased by 27 percent, electricity use dropped by 16 percent and total energy utilization declined by 22 percent. For instance, the Shelby plant uses only about 2.5 gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol that is produced — an even lower rate than the average of three gallons of water for one gallon of ethanol in the entire industry.

Improvements in current ethanol technologies can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 60 percent compared to gasoline. New technologies hold the potential for even greater climate benefits, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With an abundance of “biomass” — wood wastes, fast-growing trees, corn stalks and other materials that are usually discarded — New York is poised to be a leader in renewable fuel production.

For example, researchers at the State University of New York School of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse are developing technologies to grow, harvest and convert fast-growing poplar trees into renewable fuels. Others are looking at garbage, grasses and other waste materials.

Increasing domestic production of clean-burning and low-cost renewable fuels from a wide array of technologies and feedstocks will reduce our reliance on imported oil and expand economic opportunities, just as is happening in Orleans County today.

John Sawyer is the chief executive officer of Western New York Energy. His son Michael is the executive vice president.

WASHINGTON (AP) 02/03/09 — Ford Motor Co. said Johnson Controls-Saft will supply the battery system for the automaker’s first production plug-in hybrid electric vehicle beginning in 2012.

The lithium-ion battery system being designed by Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls will include cells along with mechanical, electrical, electronic and thermal components.

Ford is also expanding its test program to include several utilities around the nation to speed up the commercialization of plug-in hybrid vehicles. The partnerships, being announced today at the Washington Auto Show, are part of Ford’s strategy to bring a battery-electric vehicle van to market in 2010 for commercial use, a small battery-electric sedan by 2011 and a plug-in electric vehicle by 2012.

In the tests, Ford said the utilities were joining its partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute to conduct tests on a fleet of Ford Escape plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The utilities include the New York Power Authority, Consolidated Edison of New York and the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority.

By John Seewer - ASSOCIATED PRESS -Updated: 06/24/09 07:31 AM

PERRYSBURG, Ohio — A new government council will help auto industry workers transition to new manufacturing opportunities, including jobs in alternative energy, Vice President Biden said Tuesday.

Biden toured the northwestern Ohio headquarters of the Willard & Kelsey Solar Group, which plans to begin large-scale production of solar panels this year. The Toledo area has been hit hard by job losses in the auto industry and is banking on more green factory jobs.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this. Manufacturing is facing one of its toughest periods, in at least my lifetime,” Biden said. But, he said, U. S. manufacturing can be successful again if, for example, auto workers are trained to work in the solar, wind or biotech industries.

There are close to 10 companies that are turning Toledo into a research hub for converting sunlight into energy.

President Barack Obama was expected to sign an executive order this week that establishes the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers. The council will be chaired by one of the president’s top economic advisers, Lawrence Summers, and his labor secretary, Hilda Solis.

The executive director will be Obama’s director of recovery for auto communities and workers, Ed Montgomery.

The recession has been particularly hard on the auto industry, which has lost more than 400,000 jobs in the last decade.

Ohio has taken hits from both the big automakers who have announced two plant closings in recent months and the small auto suppliers who have been forced to slow production. The state ranks first in the country in the number of suppliers.

The Obama administration is expanding its program to help link auto suppliers with companies that are making wind turbines, solar panels and robotics, Biden said.

The auto suppliers, he said, already have the technology and skilled workers that can help them transition into making alternative energy products. “This program is going to put them on a self-sustaining path,” he continued.

Biden noted that the solar company he toured Tuesday is using technology developed in Ohio to produce and ship a product overseas. “That’s the America I grew up in,” he said.

Willard & Kelsey hopes to hire about 400 employees this year to increase production, said Gary Faykosh, the company’s head of research and development. But everything is on hold because of the tight credit market, he said. “We’re ready to go,” Faykosh said.

The solar technology startups in the Toledo area have become a popular backdrop for politicians promoting alternative energy.

As the Republican Party vice-presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a campaign stop in October at a company that is developing flexible solar panels. Earlier this month, Solis and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland toured a factory that produces machines that make glass for the auto and solar industries.

By David Robinson – BUFFALO NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER - 6/11/09

National Grid plans to spend an additional $1 billion over the next five years to upgrade its electricity transmission system in upstate New York, the utility said Wednesday.

The improvements, which are in addition to another five-year $1.5 billion transmission system upgrade project that began in 2006, said Patrick Stella, a National Grid spokesman.

The system upgrade announced Wednesday is expected to create as many as 500 new jobs across upstate New York, from engineers to the workers installing the new power lines and equipment.

Some of that work will be done in Western New York, Stella said. But just how much of that work, and how many of those jobs, will be located in Western New York isn’t known yet because the specific project list and its timetable has not been completed. Work on the first projects is expected to begin within a few weeks.

National Grid has signed a contract with the NorthEast Power Alliance to do part of the upgrade work. The alliance is a joint venture between consulting and engineering services firm AMEC, R. G. Vanderweil Engineers and contractor Michaels Corp. National Grid also will hire additional workers on a per-project basis, Stella said.

National Grid owns more than 8,600 miles of electricity transmission lines and about 1,000 substations across upstate New York and New England. Much of that infrastructure is aging and in need of replacement to improve the system’s reliability. Other portions of the transmission system need upgrades to handle additional electricity demands, Stella said.

National Grid has been fined repeatedly by the state Public Service Commission in the mid- 2000s for having too many power outages that lasted too long.

drobinson@buffnews.com

By Jennifer Liu -  Fox News - May 18, 2009

Scientists at the Mascoma Corporation — a Lebanon, N.H. company founded by two Dartmouth professors — have successfully demonstrated a new and more cost-effective way to produce biofuel from plant matter by reprogramming bacteria and yeast cells to digest the organic material, the company announced earlier this month.

“Mascoma was formed to develop this technology,” Jim Flatt, executive vice president of research, development and operations at the company, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.

The advances make biofuel production more commercially viable, he said.

Mascoma has developed the technique of consolidated bioprocessing, which integrates a multi-step process for producing ethanol into a single step.

The company’s hallmark technology utilizes the metabolic capabilities of microorganisms to convert plant matter into renewable fuel.

A 2005 U.S. Department of Energy research agenda stated that “[Consolidated bioprocessing] is widely considered to be the ultimate low-cost configuration for cellulose hydrolysis and fermentation.”

The Mascoma research team’s next step is to scale up its technology for practical use, Flatt said. Engineers and operators at the company’s plant in Rome, N.Y., will adapt the methods developed in the Lebanon laboratory for use on larger equipment.

Mascoma plans to launch a commercial venture using its technology by the end of next year, Flatt said. Company officials are in the process of identifying a location for a commercial office and securing funding for the project, he said.

“Our principal goal, both technology- and business-wise, is to make renewable second-generation cellulosic feedstocks available for production of transportation fuels and eventually chemical fuels,” he said, referring to the use of non-food plants like switchgrass and wood products to produce alternatives to fossil fuels.

One of the announced advancements involves the bacterium Clostridium thermocellum, which is naturally found in compost, Flatt said.

Unmodified, the bacterium efficiently degrades cellulose to produce a mixture of ethanol and other organic waste products. Scientists at Mascoma have genetically altered the bacteria to produce predominantly ethanol, significantly reducing unwanted waste products and increasing the amount of ethanol that can be produced, Flatt said.

The genetically modified bacteria now produce almost 6-percent weight by volume ethanol from cellulose, an increase of 60 percent in what Mascoma scientists reported last year, according to a Mascoma press release.

Mascoma was also able to genetically alter brewing yeast, enabling it to convert cellulose into ethanol, according to the release.

Mascoma scientists achieved this by introducing genes that code for cellulase — an enzyme that breaks down cellulose — into the yeast genome, Flatt said.

Previous methods for producing biofuels have relied on complex chemical processes that require expensive equipment and produce unusable by-products, Flatt said.

“By integrating those activities in one sort of microbial operating system, we’re able to, in principal, significantly reduce the complexity of the process and of operating and capital costs, which are the current barriers,” he said.

The technology reflects work conducted at Mascoma’s laboratory at the Dartmouth Regional Technology Center in Lebanon as well as at partner research facilities, including VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Mascoma collaborates with Thayer School of Engineering professor Lee Lynd, whose research team contributed to the results announced earlier this month, Flatt said. Lynd, one of Mascoma’s co-founders, currently serves as chief scientific officer of the company.

Other biofuel companies use different techniques to produce ethanol that may currently be more commercially viable, Flatt said, though he added he believes Mascoma is still a leader in the field.

“There are only a handful of companies that both have the critical mass and are sufficiently advanced and that have built facilities to prove that,” he said. “Mascoma is in that group.”

This story was filed by UWIRE, which offers reporting from more than 800 colleges and universities worldwide. Read more at www.uwire.com.

David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer - March 12, 2008

The alternative energy business is starting to make real money.

Worldwide sales for companies specializing in biofuels, wind farms, solar panels and fuel cells grew 40 percent in 2007 to reach $77.3 billion, according to an annual report issued Tuesday by Clean Edge, a research firm that studies the green technology industry.

That’s significant revenue for an industry crowded with startups, many of which don’t yet have finished products to sell. But other companies - including major corporations such as General Electric - have waded into the field, selling their wind turbines and solar panels around the globe.

Revenue in the wind power industry alone jumped 68 percent in 2007 to reach $30.1 billion as new wind farms sprouted across the United States and China. Sales of ethanol and biodiesel, together, grew about 24 percent to hit $25.4 billion. Solar photovoltaic sales grew 30 percent, totaling $20.3 billion.

As imposing as those figures might seem, they’re small by the standards of the traditional energy business, especially when individual oil companies report annual sales greater than $100 billion. But for green tech, the increasing revenues suggest that the young industry is gaining traction.

“Clean energy has moved from the margins to the mainstream, and the proof is in these numbers,” said Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge. The firm, based in San Francisco and Portland, Ore., provides research to businesses and investors looking to profit from the green tech industry.

Alternative energy companies are riding a wave of interest started by the rise in the price of oil, which has more than tripled in five years. Their fortunes also have been buoyed by concern about global warming, which most scientists blame on the carbon dioxide that comes from burning fossil fuels. Investors have been pumping money into alternative energy companies, many of them based in the Bay Area.

With oil setting yet another all-time price record Tuesday - topping $108 per barrel - the report’s authors expect alternative energy’s rapid growth to continue. Clean Edge projects that the industry’s annual, global revenues will hit $254.5 billion by 2017, while the industry will continue to soak up venture capital investments.

“As the price of oil goes up, up and up, that obviously makes investments in clean energy alternatives more attractive to investors of all shapes and sizes,” said Clint Wilder, one of the report’s authors.

And yet, alternative energy revenue remains a small piece of the world’s overall energy market.

For a sense of scale, look no further than the oil industry, which many alternative energy enthusiasts would love to replace. Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest international oil company, reported $404.5 billion in sales last year - more than five times the entire alternative energy industry combined. And that’s just one company.

Alternative energy revenue “is a tiny fraction of what we spend on oil,” said James Sweeney, an energy economist with Stanford University. “And that’s not counting what we spend on natural gas and coal.”

But that disparity is one of the reasons entrepreneurs and investors are delving into alternative energy. They see room to grow.

“People see these market niches available, and they’re still niches, but niches have this wonderful way of growing over time,” Sweeney said.

Just how much they’ll grow is difficult to predict.

A lot will depend on federal policies concerning energy and climate change. The Clean Edge report’s authors warned that if Congress doesn’t renew tax credits used by renewable energy developers, companies that specialize in solar and wind power will be hard hit. The House has approved an extension, but the Senate so far has not.

“If these credits are not extended by the time they expire at the end of this year, we could see the growth of solar and wind come to a standstill in the U.S.,” Pernick said.

All three leading presidential contenders have called for limiting carbon dioxide emissions and letting companies buy and sell credits to emit the gas. That kind of cap-and-trade system would increase the cost of energy derived from fossil fuels and make alternative energy sources more attractive.

“What that will do to the economics of all these companies is it will make them all much more competitive,” said Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund advocacy group and author of a new book on the alternative energy business, “Earth: The Sequel.” Krupp was not involved in the Clean Edge study.

“I would predict that the revenue growth is going to continue to explode,” he said.

The report also included a list of alternative energy trends to watch in 2008:

– Interest in the next generation of electric vehicles will continue to grow, driven in large part by innovations from small companies, not the major automakers.

– Geothermal power, which uses the Earth’s heat to generate electricity, will continue its recent renaissance, particularly in the western United States.

– And foreign companies will become an increasing presence in the American wind power industry, building wind farms and manufacturing plants in the United States.

E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

Upon completion, Buffalo Recycling Enterprises LLC’s new 80,000 square-foot recycling plant will house 40 to 45 employees on two shifts.

Bill Wippert/Buffalo News

By Jonathan D. Epstein – BUFFALO NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER- 5/04/09

Construction on a new recycling facility in South Buffalo is well underway and “moving forward,” with plans calling for completion of the $15 million project and opening of the plant by July 1, one of the company’s owners said this week.

Buffalo Recycling Enterprises LLC is building a 39,500-square-foot addition to an existing 26,000- square-foot waste handling facility at 266 Hopkins Street, just off Tifft Street.

That includes installation of a $10 million, state-of-the-art, “single-stream” recycling system that can handle a range of materials — newspaper, cardboard, cans, bottles, milk jugs, cottage cheese containers, pizza boxes and even pots and pans.

Such a system allows consumers to toss all recyclable materials into a single bin at the curb and have them automatically separated at the plant. That eliminates the time-consuming need for people to separate them at the curb for pickup, and also reduces the pickup time for the trucks to seconds instead of minutes, said John Hawthorne, principal and managing partner of Buffalo Recycling.

“Just put anything in the curbside bin,” he said. “Don’t separate it. Don’t tie it together.”

Workers have already cleared the back of the property, laid the concrete walls for the foundation of the new building, and are leveling and preparing the ground for the arrival of the steel beams shortly. In the meantime, the green recycling machines are already on site, and many of the pieces have been installed for the two-story system, including some sorters and conveyor belts.

Upon completion, the 80,000 square-foot building will house 40 to 45 employees on two shifts, with multiple belts and recycling lines running at once. All are new positions, to be filled locally, Hawthorne said.

The company already hired a general manager, Clarence resident and retired Navy commander Greg Gjurich, and will hold a job fair on site May 30. Positions include sorters, forklift operators and heavy equipment drivers, as well as clerical, maintenance and supervisory staff.

But the real focus for the 51- year-old Hawthorne is the bigger picture — encouraging and increasing recycling efforts in Buffalo and the Western New York area. The plant will not be limited in its market area.

“We’re very passionate about it,” he said. “Our effort is to put a curbside recycling bin in every home in America. Our goal is to make the recycling pie bigger. If we do that, everybody wins.”

Currently, residents in Buffalo recycle 10.5 percent of their trash, or 12,500 tons last year, including yard waste. That’s an improvement over past levels, and basically meets the city’s initial target of achieving a double- digit rate. It’s now ranked 14th for medium-sized cities nationwide, city officials say.

But it’s well below the state’s standards. Hawthorne and city officials are betting that the construction of a single-stream curbside recycling facility within the city will help.

“We think it’s a great thing,” said city public works commissioner Stephen Stepniak. “When you’ve got members of your community working at a recycling plant, that helps promote it.”

The city currently contracts with Allied Waste in Tonawanda, but it’s putting its contract out for bid, with the goal of going to single-stream and doing more to promote recycling. Hawthorne said the introduction of single-stream in a community typically boosts recycling rates by 50 percent.

“Single-stream seems to be working all over the country, and that’s the direction we’re going in,” Stepniak said. “When people talk about recycling, they tend to recycle more.”

Just for good measure, the company plans to construct a mezzanine level with a conference room, visitors’ center and educational program for schoolchildren. “We’re trying to change hearts and minds about recycling,” Hawthorne said.

Buffalo Recycling is a partnership formed by individuals in the waste and recycling industry, including from Niagara Falls-based waste hauler Modern Corp. and from Great Lakes International Recycling of Roseville, Mich. Hawthorne and Gary E. Smith from Modern are the managing partners.

The new venture is not owned by or tied to either firm, said Hawthorne, who is chief operating officer of Great Lakes. Modern operates a recycling facility in Lewiston, while Great Lakes runs operations in North Tonawanda and Michigan.

However, Buffalo Recycling is much larger and newer than those facilities, and is focused only on single-stream “curbside” recycling from consumers, delivered by waste haulers. It will not handle commercial recycling and will not be a drop-off site.

Buffalo Recycling will make money by selling the materials back to paper mills, corrugated mills, steel and aluminum smelters, and plastics regrinders. The materials are commodities, so the higher the market value, the more the company will earn.

The new facility will be capable of processing 10,000 tons a month, using a series of optical sensors, magnets, filters and screens to separate the materials into their respective categories. That’s more than twice the capacity of most facilities.

Trucks will dump their loads outside the building, directly onto the first belts, which will carry the material through a series of rubber “star screens,” sorters and magnets that separate fiber materials like paper from bottles and cans.

An optical sorting machine will use infrared beams to take a molecular picture of every piece of plastic so it can identify what category it belongs in. The computer will then turn on a series of air jets on the belt that will shoot each piece into the proper direction for the next stage.

The various materials are then dropped into separate bunkers, which will open up one at a time to send their contents along a belt to a baler machine that compacts it into cubes and ties it up for transport.

“This facility is the absolute cutting-edge,” Hawthorne said.

jepstein@buffnews.com