By Geoff Styles - Info Provided by: scotty,Scotts Contracting, Green Builder St Louis 'Renewable Energy' Missouri
The implications for the oil industry from the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill are already taking shape, with the administration calling for a Challenger-style investigation and rewriting the playbook for oil & gas leasing and the issuance of safety and environmental permits for offshore drilling. It's less clear how the spill might affect other aspects of energy, beyond boosting the public's interest in pursuing clean energy options. However, it would be ironic if a problem perceived to have arisen because of a "cozy relationship" between oil companies and regulators resulted in an even cozier relationship between the government and the ethanol industry that depends on it for both financial support and the rules that mandate the use of its product. Yet that's exactly what could happen as the administration decides whether to increase the allowable percentage of ethanol in gasoline. read more:
Provided by:Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information
5.20.2010
Retrofitting Your Home for Passive Solar: Adding Thermal Mass
In previous blogs in this series, I’ve been describing one way to solarize your home: by adding passive solar. The strategy I’ve been describing requires installation of windows on the south-facing walls of your home or business to allow the low-angled winter sun to enter, warming your home in the winter.
Sunroom If you end up dramatically increasing the amount of south-facing glass, however, you may need to add thermal mass inside your home or business. Thermal mass is any material that can absorb solar energy during the day and release it at night and on cold days. It serves as a heat sponge that prevents overheating. It helps maintain a more constant internal temperature. Tile, brick, concrete block, adobe blocks and concrete floors are good examples of thermal mass.
Thermal mass is easiest to install in new construction, and much more challenging to install in retrofits. Tiling floor or adding brick facing to nearby walls may help.
For best results, the thermal mass must be in direct contact with the sun. Adding a second layer of drywall to existing walls in direct contact with the incoming solar radiation works well, too. Mass should be a darker color to increase absorption of sunlight.
One note of caution in all of this: for best results, the south-facing windows you install should be shaded by eaves (overhang) to prevent heat gain in the cooling season. You may need to build eaves over these windows if there is no overhang on the south side of the building, or install retractable awnings that can be employed in the summer to prevent overheating.
Adding new windows is relatively inexpensive, though not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. It will help improve the energy performance and comfort of your home, if done correctly, and will increase the amount of daylighting. This, in turn, could reduce electrical costs by reducing the amount of artificial lighting.
Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information
Sunroom If you end up dramatically increasing the amount of south-facing glass, however, you may need to add thermal mass inside your home or business. Thermal mass is any material that can absorb solar energy during the day and release it at night and on cold days. It serves as a heat sponge that prevents overheating. It helps maintain a more constant internal temperature. Tile, brick, concrete block, adobe blocks and concrete floors are good examples of thermal mass.
Thermal mass is easiest to install in new construction, and much more challenging to install in retrofits. Tiling floor or adding brick facing to nearby walls may help.
For best results, the thermal mass must be in direct contact with the sun. Adding a second layer of drywall to existing walls in direct contact with the incoming solar radiation works well, too. Mass should be a darker color to increase absorption of sunlight.
One note of caution in all of this: for best results, the south-facing windows you install should be shaded by eaves (overhang) to prevent heat gain in the cooling season. You may need to build eaves over these windows if there is no overhang on the south side of the building, or install retractable awnings that can be employed in the summer to prevent overheating.
Adding new windows is relatively inexpensive, though not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. It will help improve the energy performance and comfort of your home, if done correctly, and will increase the amount of daylighting. This, in turn, could reduce electrical costs by reducing the amount of artificial lighting.
Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information
New Financing Option for Wind Developers
by David Wagman, Chief Editor, REWNA Magazine
Published: May 17, 2010
Wind power plant developers have an additional financing option available to them, thanks to changes in federal tax law. Previously, production tax credits were available to parties that owned, operated and sold electricity generated by the wind project. The changes now allow for leasing entities not directly engaged in project operations to claim either investment tax credits or to qualify for an ITC cash grant in lieu of production tax credits. This additional flexibility broadens the financing options available to project developers.
And that opens a new source of money for developers, said Lance Markowitz, senior vice president and manager of the Leasing and Asset Finance Division of Union Bank, N.A., which has been in the power business for close to 30 years. Markowitz, a Los Angeles native who graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, leads a division that focuses on providing finance to the renewable energy sector, largely in the U.S. and Canada. The division also actively provides construction and term loans for renewable energy projects.
In 2009, the unit served as lead arranger for eight construction and/or term-debt financings totaling some $1.7 billion and representing 950 MW of capacity. It also was a lead investor in nine wind and solar projects. Union Bank has partnership or lease investments in 20 renewable energy projects aggregating over 1,750 MW and $3.7 billion in value.
Leasing options can be attractive because they can provide more incremental financing and help clarify the extent of a firm's financial obligation, Markowitz said.
"In a flip structure the cash is either shut off or turned on," he said. As a result, a developer may see no cash at all. Under a rental obligation, certain coverages relative to cash flow are targeted. The result is more consistency across the project lifetime. "We're getting rents, tax benefits and residual benefits" which, when compared with the loan or partnership over 10 years, result in a larger financing amount, he said.
Markowitz set up a lease structure for a portfolio of four photovoltaic projects totaling 6 MW. Each project was bought individually, but the cash flow went into a waterfall structure made up of revenue collected, expenses paid and rent dispersed on the transaction.
"The developer got fairly significant financing," Markowitz said. A key component to writing a lease is to pay market value for the assets. For solar photovoltaic assets he said that was around $6 a watt "and prices are going down significantly."
Union Bank is part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's (MUFG) project finance effort. Some clients include Acciona, AES, Enel, EnXco, Infigen, SunEdison, Terra-Gen Power and EME.
Markowitz and his two-person team, who include Melisa Wilson, senior vice president, and Kenji Ogawa, vice president, look for fully developed projects with a well-defined outlook. In evaluating a loan opportunity the bank considers the quality of the developer, the terms and quality of the resource power purchase agreement, the quality of the technology and the adequacy of the resource.
"We need to have confidence in the resource projections," he said. Land rights and water rights are also important review criteria.
Apart from its lending activities and partnership investments, Union Bank, N.A., has been active during the past decade in underwriting leasing solutions for the power sector. To date, Union Bank has been a lead investor in 14 power generation facilities that use a lease structure. These facilities aggregate over 4,500 MW and $4.3 billion in value.
For example, a U.S.-based chemical company wanted a 750 MW cogeneration facility, including steam for its own internal use and power to sell to the local distribution grid. Union Bank bought the project and leased it back to the chemical manufacturer for 20 years. The lessor earns a stream of rents and monetizes the depreciation and residual interest in the facility.
"We have interests in 5,000 to 6,000 MW through partnerships and leases," Markowitz said.
Leasing clients include AES, SunEdison, First Energy, Mirant and Calpine. While leasing in the renewable energy market remains nascent, Union Bank believes that leasing will become an increasingly important financing tool due to certain changes to the tax code as well as continued growth in the renewable energy market.
UnionBanCal Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., which itself is a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.
Info Provided by:Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information
Published: May 17, 2010
Wind power plant developers have an additional financing option available to them, thanks to changes in federal tax law. Previously, production tax credits were available to parties that owned, operated and sold electricity generated by the wind project. The changes now allow for leasing entities not directly engaged in project operations to claim either investment tax credits or to qualify for an ITC cash grant in lieu of production tax credits. This additional flexibility broadens the financing options available to project developers.
And that opens a new source of money for developers, said Lance Markowitz, senior vice president and manager of the Leasing and Asset Finance Division of Union Bank, N.A., which has been in the power business for close to 30 years. Markowitz, a Los Angeles native who graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, leads a division that focuses on providing finance to the renewable energy sector, largely in the U.S. and Canada. The division also actively provides construction and term loans for renewable energy projects.
In 2009, the unit served as lead arranger for eight construction and/or term-debt financings totaling some $1.7 billion and representing 950 MW of capacity. It also was a lead investor in nine wind and solar projects. Union Bank has partnership or lease investments in 20 renewable energy projects aggregating over 1,750 MW and $3.7 billion in value.
Leasing options can be attractive because they can provide more incremental financing and help clarify the extent of a firm's financial obligation, Markowitz said.
"In a flip structure the cash is either shut off or turned on," he said. As a result, a developer may see no cash at all. Under a rental obligation, certain coverages relative to cash flow are targeted. The result is more consistency across the project lifetime. "We're getting rents, tax benefits and residual benefits" which, when compared with the loan or partnership over 10 years, result in a larger financing amount, he said.
Markowitz set up a lease structure for a portfolio of four photovoltaic projects totaling 6 MW. Each project was bought individually, but the cash flow went into a waterfall structure made up of revenue collected, expenses paid and rent dispersed on the transaction.
"The developer got fairly significant financing," Markowitz said. A key component to writing a lease is to pay market value for the assets. For solar photovoltaic assets he said that was around $6 a watt "and prices are going down significantly."
Union Bank is part of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's (MUFG) project finance effort. Some clients include Acciona, AES, Enel, EnXco, Infigen, SunEdison, Terra-Gen Power and EME.
Markowitz and his two-person team, who include Melisa Wilson, senior vice president, and Kenji Ogawa, vice president, look for fully developed projects with a well-defined outlook. In evaluating a loan opportunity the bank considers the quality of the developer, the terms and quality of the resource power purchase agreement, the quality of the technology and the adequacy of the resource.
"We need to have confidence in the resource projections," he said. Land rights and water rights are also important review criteria.
Apart from its lending activities and partnership investments, Union Bank, N.A., has been active during the past decade in underwriting leasing solutions for the power sector. To date, Union Bank has been a lead investor in 14 power generation facilities that use a lease structure. These facilities aggregate over 4,500 MW and $4.3 billion in value.
For example, a U.S.-based chemical company wanted a 750 MW cogeneration facility, including steam for its own internal use and power to sell to the local distribution grid. Union Bank bought the project and leased it back to the chemical manufacturer for 20 years. The lessor earns a stream of rents and monetizes the depreciation and residual interest in the facility.
"We have interests in 5,000 to 6,000 MW through partnerships and leases," Markowitz said.
Leasing clients include AES, SunEdison, First Energy, Mirant and Calpine. While leasing in the renewable energy market remains nascent, Union Bank believes that leasing will become an increasingly important financing tool due to certain changes to the tax code as well as continued growth in the renewable energy market.
UnionBanCal Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., which itself is a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc.
Info Provided by:Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com, contact scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com for additional information
5.19.2010
Stop Senator Murkowski's 'Dirty Air Act' twice in the last year. And with your help, we can do it again.
Scotty,
Senator Lisa Murkowski just doesn't take no for an answer. Right now, she's preparing to re-launch her lobbyist-penned, oil-company-supported, science-denying attack on the Clean Air Act -- with a vote as soon as this week.
The Murkowski "Dirty Air Act," written by the fossil fuel lobby1, would strip the Clean Air Act -- one of our most proven, effective tools to keep our air and water clean -- of the ability to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.
What's even more outrageous is that it does so by legislating against science: Murkowski's resolution overturns a comprehensive scientific finding that greenhouse gases hurt human health and welfare. Put simply: it would literally establish as the law of the land that greenhouse gases and climate change are not bad for people.
Sign our urgent petition calling on your Senators to Vote NO on Senator Murkowski's attack on the Clean Air Act.
Send a Message
We can't let Senator Murkowski or her fossil fuel-funded agenda succeed in gutting the Clean Air Act.
Unfortunately, Murkowski only needs 51 votes in the Senate to get her way, and it's going to be very close. There is some good news, though: Senator Murkowski only has until June 7 to push her resolution through. That's why it's vital for each of us to put as much pressure on our Senators as we can this week.
We know Repower America members like you can make a difference: We've already helped stop Senator Murkowski's "Dirty Air Act" twice in the last year. And with your help, we can do it again.
Sign the petition demanding that your Senators stand up to Senator Murkowski and the fossil fuel lobby -- and Repower America members like you will deliver your petition in-person to Senate offices around the country this week.
If we lose this vote, it will be a massive blow to efforts to solve the climate crisis and promote clean energy. And the national media will undoubtedly use this loss to suggest that climate and clean energy legislation lacks the momentum to pass this year.
We're too close to a comprehensive clean energy bill to get derailed by big oil or their allies in Congress.
Please add your voice now. Sign the urgent petition asking your Senator to protect the Clean Air Act.
Thanks,
Dave Boundy
Campaign Manager
The Climate Protection Action Fund's Repower America campaign
P.S. As if her support for the Dirty Air Act isn't enough, Senator Murkowski also just single-handedly delayed the consideration of a Senate bill that would have raised the liability cap for oil companies during offshore oil spills2 -- trying to make sure that the oil industry doesn't pay for contaminating our oceans and coastline, destroying our jobs and our environment. Our elected representatives should work for us, not for big oil. Tell your Senators to vote against Senator Murkowski's Dirty Air Act.
[1] Juliet Eilperin, "Murkowski and her lobbyist allies," The Washington Post, January 11, 2010. http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/01/murkowski_and_her_lobbyist_allies.html
[2] Richard Simon and Margot Roosevelt, "Democrats' effort to increase oil spill liability stalls," Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2010. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/14/nation/la-na-oil-spill-new-20100514
info provided by: Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.
Senator Lisa Murkowski just doesn't take no for an answer. Right now, she's preparing to re-launch her lobbyist-penned, oil-company-supported, science-denying attack on the Clean Air Act -- with a vote as soon as this week.
The Murkowski "Dirty Air Act," written by the fossil fuel lobby1, would strip the Clean Air Act -- one of our most proven, effective tools to keep our air and water clean -- of the ability to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.
What's even more outrageous is that it does so by legislating against science: Murkowski's resolution overturns a comprehensive scientific finding that greenhouse gases hurt human health and welfare. Put simply: it would literally establish as the law of the land that greenhouse gases and climate change are not bad for people.
Sign our urgent petition calling on your Senators to Vote NO on Senator Murkowski's attack on the Clean Air Act.
Send a Message
We can't let Senator Murkowski or her fossil fuel-funded agenda succeed in gutting the Clean Air Act.
Unfortunately, Murkowski only needs 51 votes in the Senate to get her way, and it's going to be very close. There is some good news, though: Senator Murkowski only has until June 7 to push her resolution through. That's why it's vital for each of us to put as much pressure on our Senators as we can this week.
We know Repower America members like you can make a difference: We've already helped stop Senator Murkowski's "Dirty Air Act" twice in the last year. And with your help, we can do it again.
Sign the petition demanding that your Senators stand up to Senator Murkowski and the fossil fuel lobby -- and Repower America members like you will deliver your petition in-person to Senate offices around the country this week.
If we lose this vote, it will be a massive blow to efforts to solve the climate crisis and promote clean energy. And the national media will undoubtedly use this loss to suggest that climate and clean energy legislation lacks the momentum to pass this year.
We're too close to a comprehensive clean energy bill to get derailed by big oil or their allies in Congress.
Please add your voice now. Sign the urgent petition asking your Senator to protect the Clean Air Act.
Thanks,
Dave Boundy
Campaign Manager
The Climate Protection Action Fund's Repower America campaign
P.S. As if her support for the Dirty Air Act isn't enough, Senator Murkowski also just single-handedly delayed the consideration of a Senate bill that would have raised the liability cap for oil companies during offshore oil spills2 -- trying to make sure that the oil industry doesn't pay for contaminating our oceans and coastline, destroying our jobs and our environment. Our elected representatives should work for us, not for big oil. Tell your Senators to vote against Senator Murkowski's Dirty Air Act.
[1] Juliet Eilperin, "Murkowski and her lobbyist allies," The Washington Post, January 11, 2010. http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/01/murkowski_and_her_lobbyist_allies.html
[2] Richard Simon and Margot Roosevelt, "Democrats' effort to increase oil spill liability stalls," Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2010. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/14/nation/la-na-oil-spill-new-20100514
info provided by: Scott's Contracting GREEN BUILDER, St Louis "Renewable Energy" Missouri.
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