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5.15.2011

End Taxpayer Subsidies for Big Oil Companies

You and your fellow Americans have been paying oil companies more than $4 per gallon at the pump this spring. It's outrageous, and it hurts people.
And as if it wasn't bad enough, did you know you're paying oil companies another $4,000,000,000 on top of those sky-high pump prices? It's true.
Today, I helped introduce legislation in the Senate that will take away the $4 billion in subsidies American taxpayers hand to the most profitable corporations in the world -- the big oil companies -- every year, but I need your help to pass it.
Help me pass legislation taking away taxpayer subsidies to oil companies -- click here to sign my petition today.
The top five multi-national oil companies have raked in nearly $1 trillion in profits over the last ten years. They've broken their own records for the most profits several times over.
That kind of money buys a lot of power in Washington, and Big Oil will do everything it can to keep its outrageous taxpayer subsidies.
Unless we shine a light on them.
We need to build citizen support for this legislation to take away oil company subsidies, especially at a time when we're getting gouged at the pump and need every penny we can get to preserve programs and reduce the deficit.
Build citizen support for taking away oil company subsidies. Sign my petition today, and ask your friends and family to sign it, too.
We don't need to be paying oil companies twice. We need to end these subsidies. Thank you for joining with me today.
All the best,

Claire McCaskill
Sign the Petition
Paid for by McCaskill for Missouri 2012


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*Scott's Contracting*
http://stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com
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5.14.2011

Round Sketch Up Front Porch Curb Appeal

CAD Wrap Around Porch Design by Scotts Contracting
Scotts Contracting-Round Porch Design- Google Sketch-Up

Scotts Contracting-Round Porch Design- Google Sketch-Up


Wrap Around Porch Design by Scotts Contracting-Google Sketch-Up


How To Add Curb Appeal and Save on Home Energy Needs

Power Point Presentation of how Incorporating Green Building Practices can 

Add Curb Appeal and Save on Home Energy Use

Both of which will Add Value to your Home in Comfort and Appraisal Value

This Wrap Around Porch was 

Designed and Built by Scotty, Scotts Contracting

The Final Photos will be added soon!








Thank you for stopping by St Louis Renewable Energy. Feel free to comment in the section below or contact Scotty for any Home Improvement Projects or Energy Reducing Needs for your Home or Business in the Greater St Louis Area and Scotty, Scotts Contracting will respond ASAP.

5.12.2011

Solar Homes Receive Premium Sales Numbers

PV Systems Boost Home Prices -Lawrence Berkeley Lab Study:




The Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has published research showing that Californian homes with PV systems installed sell for a premium over homes without such systems.

"We find compelling evidence that solar PV systems in California have boosted home sales prices," says the lead author Ben Hoen, a researcher at Berkeley Lab. "These average sales price premiums appear to be comparable with the average investment that homeowners have made to install PV systems in California, and of course homeowners also benefit from energy bill savings after PV system installation and prior to home sale."

The premium has amounted to between $3.90 and $6.40 per watt installed, or approximately $17,000 for a 3.1-kW PV system.

First of its Kind

The Berkeley Lab research is the first to empirically explore the existence and magnitude of residential PV sales price impacts across a large number of homes and over a wide geographic area. The research analyzed a dataset of more than 72,000 California homes that sold from 2000 through mid-2009, approximately 2,000 of which had a PV system at the time of sale. "This is the most comprehensive and data-rich analysis to date of the potential influence of PV systems on home sales prices," says co-author and San Diego State University Economics Department Chair Mark Thayer.

Solar Nation wonders, in conjunction with our recent coverage of the attitude of Home Owners' Associations (HOAs) toward residential solar installations (including those 30,000 Californian HOAs that forbid them), how much more intelligence the HOA community is going to need about the enhancing effect of Solar on home values before gaining some intelligence of its own.


Apr 27, 2011 Solar Nation

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*Scott's Contracting*

Green Me UP-Scotty <http://greenmeupscotty.wordpress.com>
scottscontracting@gmail.com
http://stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com<http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com>
http://scottscontracting.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/StLHandyMan
https://www.facebook.com/GreenMeUPScotty


Re: Big Oil says you're "Un-American"

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 7:17 AM, Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International <info@priceofoil.org> wrote:
Oil Change International  
Dear ScottsContracting,
Can you believe the nerve of these oil executives? This morning the CEOs of America's biggest and most profitable oil companies are coming to the Senate to argue that they still deserve billions in government handouts.
Oil giant Conoco Phillips even went so far yesterday as to call the effort to end these corporate giveaways "Un-American". That's right. The very same companies that have made almost 1 trillion dollars in profits over the past ten years, while shirking their fair share of taxes, are trying to take billions more of our tax dollars while wrapping themselves in the American flag. Don't let them get away with it!
These greedy CEOs will be using every scare tactic in the book to frighten your Senators into giving them more of our money.  And they are hoping that the millions of dollars in campaign contributions that they have showered on our elected leaders will keep these taxpayer funds flowing to Big Oil. Don't let them get away with it!

Big Oil knows that the vast majority of Americans support ending corporate welfare to these outrageously profitable industries. They are counting on the fact that Members of Congress are too scared to bite the hands that feed them.
Ending subsidies to Big Oil won't lower domestic production, raise gas prices, or cost jobs.  These are just the same old scare tactics by a greedy industry bent on trying to keep America dependent on oil. Don't let them get away with it.
The United States can't drill our way to energy independence.  The way to end our nation's crippling addiction to oil is not to drill for more oil or give more taxpayer money to the oil industry – as a country we need to consume less oil.
We have the technology; we know how to do this.  All we need is the political will.

Join us – tell Congress loud and clear that you expect them to end all government handouts to oil, gas and coal companies and reject campaign contributions from these Dirty Energy industries. Remind them that they should represent the people, not Big Oil.

Peace,
Steve Kretzmann
Executive Director
Oil Change International
Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming barriers to that transition.
We are a 501c3 organization and all donations are fully tax deductible.
Check out our blog at PriceOfOil.org and find out how much oil and coal money your Representatives take at DirtyEnergyMoney.com.


empowered by Salsa

5.07.2011

Porch Roof Replacement

Photos and Project Descriptions of Roof Replacement on Front Porch of Investment Property in South St Louis MO
  • CertainTeed Ashphalt Shingles, Drip Edge, Lumber, and Misc Materials

Porch Roof Replacement (6 Square Roof)
Scotts Contracting-Porch Roof Replacement

5.05.2011

Nega Watts- Energy Efficiency News

  •  birth of the negawatt – a tradable resource now gaining prominence in the industry
  • energy efficiency resource portfolio standards with targets to reduce electricity demand over time
  • standards will take a 6% bite out of retail electricity sales nationwide by 2020
Estimating the imact of US energy efficiency programmes

May 5, 2011 Risk . net

 Increased interest in energy efficiency and demand response programmes in the US power markets has led to the birth of the negawatt – a tradable resource now gaining prominence in the industry. But estimating the impact of these programmes is not easy, as Elisa Wood discovers


Many US states are now mandating deep cuts in power use through energy efficiency programmes. However, for suppliers and utilities, working out the impact these programmes will have on their business models is proving extremely difficult.



Twenty-six US states, which account for 65% of the country’s electricity demand, now have energy efficiency resource portfolio standards with targets to reduce electricity demand over time. If achieved, the standards will take a 6% bite out of retail electricity sales nationwide by 2020, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).



Because these, and other efficiency and demand reduction programmes, effectively increase supply, they have given birth to a new virtual resource – the negawatt – energy saved via energy efficiency measures. The negawatt is fast becoming a recognised tradable resource that can be used to bid in some of the US regional wholesale power markets head to head against power resources. The first to accept such bids was ISO New England in its forward capacity market. These negawatts have contributed to significant flattening of demand for capacity in New England.


Negawatts have not, however, created power markets that are any less complicated when it comes to navigating risk and reward, according to Daniel Allegretti, vice-president for energy policy with Maryland-based Constellation Energy, which operates in both wholesale and retail electric markets. In fact, they have added yet another wrinkle.



“As we’re seeing more demand response coming in flattening things out, we are also seeing more intermittent supply [such as wind and solar] come in. So I don’t think the markets are becoming less volatile from a trading perspective,” he says. “To understand it, to predict and see where to take a position, is becoming increasingly challenging,” he adds. “I wouldn’t say there is a magical algorithm.”


Indeed, it is ultimately the “grey matter” that must determine a supplier’s market position by taking in the many data points that influence demand, such as weather, rule changes, energy imports, regional transmission organisation information and new utility programmes, he says.



All these variables make trying to calculate the impact of energy efficiency and demand response extremely tricky. “The prevailing conventional wisdom is that energy efficiency will put downward pressure on demand and prices. I don’t think anyone argues with that. The $64,000 question is, of what magnitude,” says Martin Kushler, senior fellow at the ACEEE.



Overall demand appears set to rise despite energy efficiency programmes, due to a growing use of air conditioners and electronic devices. However, the rise is forecast at just 1% per year, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).


Retail electricity rates also appear to be levelling and may even fall, according to the EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, published in March 2011. Household electricity prices showed no growth from 2009 and 2010, hovering around an average 11.58 cents/kWh, not an unexpected event during a period of slow economic activity and low natural gas prices. The same forecast shows electricity prices rising by 1% in 2011 and 0.5% in 2012.


But over the long term, prices may actually fall. An early release of EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2011 projects that real average delivered electricity prices will drop to as low as 8.9 cents/kWh in 2016.
_______________
Scotty writes: I'll believe a decrease in Electricity Rates when It happens.  From all I read about Ameren UE's agenda- they will not be lowering the Electricity Rates for St Louis anytime soon.

5.04.2011

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