Green Energy News | March 4, 2001

March 4, 2001 – Vol.5 No.49

ENERGIES... week of March 4, 2001

GREEN MONEY. Scrounging for loose change under government sofa cushions and breaking into agency piggy banks, the United Kingdom is finding ways to fund its pledge to build enough green energy capacity to supply 10 percent of its power needs by 2010. The latest sources of cash are $73 million from the National Lottery and $81 million from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Monies from the Lottery will come from the New Opportunities Fund and will be used for the development of offshore wind power, energy crops (biofuels) and combined heat and power projects. Funds from DTI will be used for wind, solar and biofuel projects, with some of the money put into research for technologies such as fuel cells.

But that’s not all. A few days earlier, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced $147 million in funding aimed to trigger private investment in green energy and help sprout a new money-making industry. Last October Blair also came up with $57 million for offshore wind development, and in the same month the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) found $18 million for energy crop development.

Since last fall $376 million has been collected to be spent over the next three years. Not a large sum by U.S. standards, for example, but the U.K. economy is a fraction of that of the colonies it created. Visit DTI at http://www.dti.gov.uk/ , MAFF at http://www.maff.gov.uk/

SOLAR MONEY. With money from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) Solar Electric Incentive Program, skin care product manufacturer Neutrogena will install two 100 kilowatt solar systems on its corporate headquarters in that city. Combined, the 200 kilowatt system will be the largest in L.A. and cover 24,000 square feet of rooftop. Of the $1.4 million project cost, $1 million will come from the Program - the maximum available for a single commercial solar project. The installation will reduce dependence on grid-supplied power by 20 percent.

The systems will be designed and installed by PowerLight with solar modules supplied by Siemens Solar. Neutrogena will receive the maximum incentive from LADWP of $5 per watt since Siemens has a manufacturing facility inside L.A. city lines. Had system components been manufactured elsewhere, Neutrogena would receive only $3 per watt or $600,000 for this project.

Neutrogena, a division of Johnson and Johnson, is the first company in Los Angeles to take advantage of the Incentive Program. Visit PowerLight at http://www.powerlight.com/ .

BIOMASS FOR THE MASSES. News reports this winter indicated that wood pellets - fuel for pellet stoves - had become difficult to find in parts of the U.S. Colder than normal temperatures and high natural gas prices had driven up demand.

Recognizing that wood pellets are a popular form of alternative fuel for home owners, Premium Pellet has opened a new production facility in British Columbia. The company expects to produce 50,000 tons of wood pellets from white-wood residue in 2001. Helping to keep the biomass fuel carbon-neutral - the reabsorption of carbon dioxide into new growth - Premium Pellet’s partner L&M Lumber plants 2 million seedings each year in its forest management areas. Visit Premium Pellet at http://www.premiumpellet.com/ .