April 23, 2008

It's part politics. It's part reality. But the sum total equates to a fundamental shift in national policy as it relates to global warming.

The Bush administration now says that the growth of greenhouse gas emissions must be halted by 2025. After years of opposing any such regulations, the White House is laying out what might become the general framework for new discussions. It's a necessary move, as political candidates and businesses alike realize that carbon constraints are becoming increasingly real. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, meantime, requires the administration to take action if it deems the release of those emissions as harmful to human health and the environment.

April 9, 2008

A government watchdog agency is attacking federal energy regulators, saying that that they are not properly monitoring the convergence among electric and gas utilities -- something that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says is "inaccurate" and reflects a "misunderstanding" of the issues.

The debate centers on whether repeal of the Public Utility Holding Co. Act of 1935 (PUHCA) has worked. By rescinding the law in 2005, both Congress and the administration reasoned it would attract much-needed investment to the utility world by allowing companies to combine operations more easily. But others have feared it might make oversight of the united companies more problematic.

The board of directors of the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce Friday announced that it favored a Michigan energy policy that preserves electric competition, promotes renewable energy and energy efficiency, and also provides the opportunity for businesses to generate and sell energy into the grid.

In short, the chamber said, its members have benefited from the state Customer Choice and Electric Reliability Act of 2000. The chamber policy opposes current efforts to eliminate or restrict the current electric choice program which has benefited many of its members and has helped make Michigan more competitive with neighboring states.

The IRS has had tax deductions in place through the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which allow taxpayers to deduct the cost of energy-efficient equipment installed in commercial buildings they own. But publicly-owned buildings aren't taxed, and therefore, there is no additional tax savings to the building owner. However, the law allows the designer of the energy-saving portion of a public building to claim the tax credit.

Originally the term 'designer' was undefined, and it was unclear who could claim this deduction and how it could be applied. But the AIA has reported that the IRS has recently provided updated interpretation rulings that help clarify the Act and spell out how this rule may be applied.

By Craig DiLouie, Lighting Controls Association

Published November 2005

While new fluorescent ballast efficiency rules went into effect earlier this year, another batch of rules have just been passed that will affect lighting systems starting in 2009. This time, the efficacy standards have been set high enough that the vast majority of magnetic ballasts-including ballasts operating energy-saving T12 lamps-will no longer comply.

In September 2000, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published the Fluorescent Lamp Ballast Energy Conservation Standards (10 CFR, Part 430), which established new minimum ballast efficacy factor (BEF) standards that would go into effect starting in 2005. Ballasts that did not pass the standards would be phased out of production and sale in the United States.

March 12, 2008

It's the tale of two philosophies. Progressives are favoring more generous government subsidies for sustainable fuel production while conservatives are leaning the other way and supporting the current tax breaks given to oil companies.

The debate now rages in Congress where the U.S. House voted for the third time in more than a year to limit tax credits and raise additional taxes on oil companies. Members would then take the $18.1 billion in new revenue and shift that money over a 10-year period into renewable energy and energy conservation causes.

March 10, 2008

Energy policy isn't just consuming U.S. lawmakers. It's also dominating the Canadian agenda as well and particularly the province of Ontario.

The current government there recently unveiled its long-term supply roadmap that plans to double the amount of renewable energy by 2025 and refurbish or replace the province's base-load nuclear capacity. But it also expects to phase-out the use of coal-fired generation by 2014 -- a strategy that had to be put off for seven years.