Energy Law

A Brattleboro building project is in hot water with the federal government for solar hot water panels on the roof.

The Times Argus in Barre says the historic factory building was boarded up after several uses over the years. In the latest renovation, the Windham Housing Trust decided to put solar panels on the roof to reduce the cost of heating water for the building.

Global investments in renewable energy surged 31 percent in the first quarter from the same period last year, driven by wind power and demand in China, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

New spending on wind, solar and geothermal power through share offerings, venture capital and asset finance totaled $27.3 billion in the three months through March compared with $20.8 billion in the first quarter of 2009, New Energy Finance said today in an e-mailed statement.

Arno Harris, over at the Clean Energy Future Blog, addresses the argument that ARRA clean energy funds aren't working as intended:

The reality is that despite the low outflows of ARRA funds to date, the stimulus program is playing an important role in maintaining business continuity for developers of solar and wind projects in the US. In fact, the expiration of the program at the end of this year poses a major disruptive threat to the progress that's been made in renewable energy in the US over the last few years. It's critical that we get the program extended for a couple more years to enable the industry to recover fully.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has awarded $204 million to eight large-scale renewable electricity-generating projects.

A House committee gave approval Friday to a bill that uses tax breaks, government-backed loans and $400 million of electricity rate hikes in an attempt to spark a renewable energy revolution in Florida and drive down the use of dirty fossil fuels.

China moves ahead with a major wind farm (and promises many more), while here in the U.S. the nine-year old Cape Wind project remains stuck in a never ending regulatory morass.