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.

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.

Paul Iskalo, founder and CEO of Iskalo Development Corp., stands on the site of a 82,000-square-foot, multi-tenant office building under construction on North Forest Road in Amherst.

Developer seeks LEED certificationfor Amherst project

By Jonathan D. Epstein -BUFFALO NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER 6/1/2009

Paul B. Iskalo’s new multi-tenant office building on North Forest Road should be ready for occupancy in late fall, even as the Williamsville developer prepares to start a new project at the former Kane Doyle Jeep Eagle dealership in Kenmore.

The 82,000-square-foot, three-story office building at 2410 N. Forest Road is under construction. The $15 million project is located next to the University Ramada Inn, at the intersection with John J. Audubon Parkway, next to the University at Buffalo’s North Campus.

The new building will feature an atrium on the third floor, where law firm HoganWillig will be located, and an on-site fitness center. It also will have an additional underground level for 50 enclosed parking spaces, with a self-service car wash in the basement.

And it will share additional surface parking with the Ramada, since the office building and hotel operate at different peak times of the day and week.

Most significantly, though, Iskalo Development Corp. is seeking to obtain “silver” certification for the building under the guidelines of the U. S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

That would give it a much-desired, Earth-friendly stamp of approval for its tenants, and make it the area’s first LEED-certified multi-tenant office building, Iskalo said.

It’s “affirmation that we made the right choices,” he said. It “will be of interest to those progressive businesses that understand that their corporate facilities play a critical role in maximizing the productivity of their employees which represent their greatest investment.”

Specifically, the new project will feature underfloor air distribution, with diffusers that allow convection to take the air up and clear away contaminants instead of using forced air through ceiling vents.

Ten-foot ceilings will also be standard throughout the building, with floor-to-ceiling glass to allow natural light to penetrate to the center. Office lights will dim during the day to conserve power, but ambient light sensors will activate them when it gets dark at night or because of storms. And the building comes with full backup power.

“We tried to go after the features and amenities that would show the most benefit for our tenants,” said Jonathan Gill, Iskalo’s marketing manager.

Also, Iskalo hopes to start work this summer on a mixed-use medical office and retail building in the former Kane Doyle dealership on Delaware Avenue, near Kenmore Avenue.

Plans call for putting up a 21,000-square-foot, two-story building at 2780 Delaware Avenue, with the facility and a surrounding L-shaped parking lot occupying the entire block in the Village of Kenmore. The firm is negotiating with several medical practices and prospective retail tenants, but has not lined any up, Iskalo said.

Iskalo also owns three-fourths of the next block, but has no plans yet for that space. “As demand warrants, we’ll put a second building up,” he said.

Finally, he’s still trying to finish leasing space at the recently completed $4.5 million medical office building at 52 South Union Road in Williamsville.

Both the North Forest and South Union projects received tax benefits from the Amherst Industrial Development Agency. So far, the North Forest building’s only signed occupant is HoganWillig, which will move its approximately 80 employees, including 28 attorneys, from directly across the street.

The law firm will expand from its 16,000 square feet now to 28,000 square feet, gaining more room and the ability to grow to 100 employees.

“It’s exciting on a lot of different fronts,” said Diane Tiveron, managing partner. “We need more room, there’s no doubt about it. But we do foresee expansion as well.”

The trio of projects mark the latest development efforts by the 42-year-old Iskalo, a Kenmore native who got his start in real estate while a student at University of Rochester.

Perhaps most visible among his projects is the Electric Tower downtown. Iskalo purchased the 14-story former office of Niagara Mohawk in 2004 and began renovations in 2006 after the utility moved out. It was rededicated, with a restored lobby, in August 2007. The building is 60 percent occupied.

jepstein@buffnews.com

The Swedish company EcoEnergy Scandinavia and the Ukrainian government signed an agreement on June 15 to construct and operate waste incineration plants in the country.

“With state of the art technology, these plants will lead to large environmental advantages as well as a new cost efficient energy source for Ukraine,” the company said in its media release.

EcoEnergy will construct and operate up to 14 local plants for incineration of all sorts of waste to produce electricity, heating/cooling and biogas. The environmentally friendly technology used by the company enables carbon dioxide neutral production and operation.

EcoEnergy said it intended to bring third party investors and partners to speed up the implementation of its ambition plan that requires an investment of up to 20 billion euros. The project for the first two cities is planned to start up in the second half of this year.

“High-tech waste-to-energy plants will give us access to a renewable energy source that will be developed in a larger scale – something that will contribute to an increased independence regarding energy supply and for the country as a whole,” said Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

EcoEnergy is a Swedish supplier of waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities. The company’s engineering team has been involved in the construction of most of the large scale WTE facilities in Sweden during the last decade.

March 19, 2007

SunPower makes the best solar panels in the world and Kaco makes the best inverters in the world and Direct Power and Water makes the best mounting systems in the world, according to new research conducted by ENF among directors of photovoltaic installation companies in 45 different countries.

The directors were asked to name which brands of photovoltaic components they have purchased in the last 12 months, and rate the products for their quality and value for money.  An average of these two scores has been used to find the companies whose customers thought most highly of their products. 

The top ranking companies receiving awards are:

Solar Panels
No.1 in World -? SunPower (USA)
No.2 in World -? Schott Solar (Germany)
No.3 in World -? SolarWorld (Germany)

Best Product Quality -? Sanyo (Japan)

Best Value for Money -? Suntech (China)

Solar Inverters
No.1 in World -? Kaco (Germany)
No.2 in World -? OutBack (USA)
No.3 in World -? Mastervolt (USA)

Best Product Quality -? OutBack (USA)

Best Value for Money -? Kaco (Germany)

Solar Mounting Systems
No.1 in World -? Direct Power and Water (USA)
No.2 in World -? UniRac (USA)
No.3 in World -? SchA?A??A?AA¼co (Germany)

Solar Trackers
No.1 in World -? Zomeworks (USA)

Solar PV Systems
No.1 in World -? Sharp (Japan)

The research found that 49 percent of companies thought the cell brand in a panel was important, and the most commonly named cell brands that installation companies thought were high quality were Sharp, Q-Cells and BP Solar.

Another key finding was that the average price installers paid for their solar panels in 2006 was $4.16 per Watt.  Installers in Europe paid on average 10 percent more for their panels than installers in Asia Pacific.

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