Elizabethan Era Bank Buys First Carbon Credits From the New World

By Susan Kraemer, RePosted from Clean Technica The venerable British bank, Barclay’s, founded four centuries ago right at the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and NRG Energy Inc, the largest US independent power producer, have just completed a deal for the very first carbon permits to be offered by California’s planned cap and trade program to reduce pollution in its AB32 climate legislation, according to Bloomberg News. The permits will be delivered in December 2012, according to the head of US emissions trading at Barclays in the UK, which has been involved in (EU) carbon trading for some time. The trading begins in 2012 for utilities and manufacturers, and by 2015, for vehicles. (Tesla has already benefited from carbon trading, receiving $13 million from Honda in carbon trades, since electric vehicles reduce greenhouse gases. Honda has been one of the last of the major car manufacturers to move to develop electric vehicles, so by 2015, it may still need permits to produce gas cars.) The first permits are offered at $11.50 a ton, but by 2020, could reach as high as $30 a ton. Market conditions can only determine the price to pollute, so the cost (to polluters) and the benefit (to innovators) can vary. By contrast, pollution limits are fixed. They cannot be exceeded. The advantage of cap and trade over carbon taxes is certainty. Pollution is capped and reduced. The cap: a total pollution allowance, is set in advance and reduced each year, in order to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets. Read MORE on CleanTechnica.com.... Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have another four centuries of civilization? If widely adopted, cap and trade would make this possible, by simply capping and reducing the dangerous greenhouse gases that foreclose our future. Queen Elizabeth’s legislative heritage, and the longevity of Barclay’s Bank shows us that good legislation like AB32 builds real civilizations that last. Read More...SusanKraemer@Twitter Follow Us On Twitter@GreeningHollywd The Green Blog Network Green Blog Network * Greening Hollywood Greening Vancouver   Greening Beauty   Facebook/GreenBlogNetwork Recycle, Reuse, Rejoice!

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Elizabethan Era Bank Buys First Carbon Credits From the New World

American Idol And Clean Energy

Image: Stage lights by Richard Anderson on flickr.com

By Tina Casey    [Originally on CleanTechnica]

In a high tech, low key twist on American Idol, green technology competitions are springing up all over the country.  Among the newer ones is the Clean Energy Prize sponsored by the University of Michigan and DTE Energy, and it offers some clues about the technology stars of the sustainable energy future.  For one thing, they better be prepared to go on stage and pitch their talent – one element of the competition is an oral presentation before a panel of judges.

DTE’s involvement is another interesting aspect of the competition.  A large part of the company is a conventional natural gas utility, Detroit Edison, but an emerging part is DTE Energy Ventures, which focuses on sustainable energy tech.  That puts DTE among a growing list of large energy companies that are turning more investment resources over to sustainable fuels – yet another indicator that peak times for fossil fuels are on the horizon.

The Clean Energy Prize Competition

The competition has already winnowed the starting field of 32 hopefuls down to eight teams from six different Michigan colleges and universities.  The projects include advanced energy storage, services that help consumers manage energy consumption (especially peak demand), kinetic energy for wireless devices, biogas digesters/composters for restaurants, and “green” silane gas production (silane is used in electronics, flat screen displays and solar panels).  Like California’s Cleantech Open, the competition focuses squarely on commercialization.  Advancement in the competition is based on a written business plan, and the prize money is targeted towards jump starting new clean energy businesses.

Conventional Utilities and Emerging Clean Energy

DTE is by no means the first conventional utility to jump from fossil fuels into sustainable energy.  Industry giant Duke Energy already owns more than 700 megawatts of wind power and last year it announced plans to build hundreds of mini-solar energy plants in North Carolina.  Just this month Duke also announced the purchase of a 14 megawatt solar plant that will provide energy for San Antonio, Texas.

Start-Ups and Clean Tech Competitions

Clearly the big players see a potential gold mine in moving away from fossil fuels, and they have the resources to go after it.  The emergence of clean tech competitions helps start-ups get in on the sustainable energy action, providing seed money in the form of prizes or investment opportunities (the ZINO Society is a good example).  They can play an especially important role in developing sustainable technologies that are scaled to individuals and small sites, which are an essential part of the sustainable energy puzzle but may not represent an attractive market for larger companies.

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American Idol And Clean Energy