RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Tax Policy Update: The Emerging Fall Fiscal Cliff
By Jayne Fitzgerald, Robert Leonard, Jeffrey McMillen, Arshi Siddiqui, Matthew Thomas - Akin Gump.
If you read one thing...
Congress’ tax and budget challenges include funding the government for FY 2016 and a required federal debt ceiling increase to avoid catastrophic default on the nation’s debt. These legislative challenges echo the 2012-2013 “fiscal cliff” debate—only resolved through much time and difficult negotiations.
- Calendar deadlines to drive the fall tax and budget agenda: (1) September 30—expiration of governmental funding and funding for the Federal Aviation Administration; (2) October 29—expiration of the Federal Highway Program; (3) late fall-debt ceiling limit hit; and (4) December 31—tax extenders require extension.
- Looming over all these issues is the revenue question and whether offsets will be needed for a variety of policy initiatives or legislative compromises. In addition, significant tax issues will also be actively debated, including the possibility of international tax reform.
Your Next United Flight Might Be Powered By Farm Waste
By Adele Peters, Fast Company.
If you happen to get on a United flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco this fall, you might be traveling on leftovers from the farm. The airline will be the first in the country to start flying regular passenger flights on alternative jet fuel—in the case, made from a mix of non-edible oils and agricultural waste blended with traditional fuel.
"We believe that one of our greatest opportunities to reduce the aviation industry’s environmental footprint is through sustainable alternative fuels," says Angela Foster-Rice, United’s managing director for environmental affairs and sustainability.
United flew the first biofuel test flight in the U.S. in 2009 (using algae), and the first commercial flight in 2011. The company signed an agreement with AltAir Fuels—the company supplying the new fuel to LAX—six years ago. But it's only now that the biofuel industry is beginning to get to the point to supply regular flights. The challenges of scaling up have involved the cost alternative fuel feedstock and raising sufficient capital investments, Foster-Rice says.
CA Governor, top lawmakers ready to modify climate change measure
By Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times.
Facing resistance from even some fellow Democrats, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders were scrambling Tuesday to find a compromise on a controversial bill that embodies some of the governor's most ambitious environmental goals.
With the end of this year's legislative session set for Friday, Brown’s senior aides have been holding private meetings to hash out final details on the measure, intended to slow climate change by slashing gasoline use on state roads, increasing energy efficiency and boosting renewable energy in California.
Possible modifications, reviewed by The Times and described by Capitol sources, would impose new limits on environmental regulators and alter the approach to cutting the volume of gas burned by California drivers.
Cost-effective catalyst converts CO2 into natural gas
By PTI Staff, The Free Press Journal.
Scientists have developed a new cost-effective method that can convert greenhouse gas CO2 into natural gas and also help store renewable energy. Research at the Leiden University in the Netherlands shows how this process can be implemented in a cost-effective and controllable way.
The conversion of the greenhouse gas CO2 into natural gas is achieved using a chemical process in which CO2 is bubbled through an acid solution. The solution contains a graphite electrode – to which a small negative voltage is applied – with a cobalt-porphyrin catalyst attached to it.
It was already known that this catalyst can convert CO2 into carbon monoxide and methane, but the reaction always released unwanted hydrogen. In their investigation, Professor Marc Koper and PhD student Jing Shen show for the first time how the process works.
France launches a tender for biogas projects
By Tildy Bayar, Cogeneration & On-site Power Production.
France’s environment and energy management agency ADEME has launched a tender for biogas projects in the country’s southern Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (PACA) region.
The tender was launched in co-operation with the Groupe Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarites (GERES), an environmental NGO. Finance partners for the tender include the regional branch of ADEME, the PACA local government, and GDF Suez, according to GERES.
Applications are due by 1 December for projects using organic waste materials for cogeneration, heating or fuel. Companies within the agricultural, industrial and food sectors are eligible to apply, as are community projects.
Biogas plant to begin operations at Toronto Zoo by late next year
By Mike Adler, InsideToronto.com.
A proposed bio-gas plant at the Toronto Zoo jumped a final hurdle last week when Ontario’s government approved its operation.
ZooShare Biogas Co-operative signed an agreement with the zoo to start converting zoo animal manure and grocery store waste into compost and electricity in 2014, but construction dates were later revised.
The Toronto non-profit’s 500-kilowatt anaerobic digester will replace the zoo’s open-air composting operation, and give the zoo $50,000 a year, or 10 per cent of its profits, for 20 years.
Int’l energy agency to become ‘central bank’ for renewable energy
By Merve Erdil, Harriet Daily News.
New International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Dr. Fatih Birol has said he plans to focus on boosting renewable energy in addition to fossil fuels by turning the agency into “a kind of central bank” in renewable energy technologies, during his first interview since assuming the position.
Birol took office on Sept. 1 as the new executive director of the IEA after years as a chief economist at the agency, ushering in a new era for the global energy authority. He was the first IEA chief who was elected by the support of all 29 member countries.
“The latest developments in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, Yemen and Syria, may be signaling tougher days ahead for the energy markets. As the IEA head, there are two things I want to achieve. We have 29 members from the United States to Japan, but some of the leading energy players are not a member, such as China, India and Mexico. My first aim is to attract such countries to our agency. In this vein, I’ll make my first official visit to Beijing, not to Brussels or Washington. I want to be able to make China, India and Mexico IAE members,” he said.
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Low emission biogas also produces fertilizer
By Jim Drury, Reuters.
A Canadian chemical engineer has devised a product that transforms the waste generated by biogas production into fertilizer. Andrew White says his SulfaCHAR system eliminates chemical waste from the biogas process, while increasing renewable gas plants' profitability and stopping the degradation to gas engines caused by hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Biogas can help create electricity or be used as a replacement for natural gas and is often cited as a clean and carbon-neutral alternative to fossil fuels. Yet the decomposition process generates carbon dioxide and other dangerous, unpleasant smelling gases, causing an annual global clean-up bill of $1.2 billion USD.
New York Governor announces large-scale Long Island AD project
By Robin Whitlock, Renewable Energy Magazine.
The first large-scale anaerobic digester in the New York City Metropolitan Area to process food waste into clean energy has been announced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The AD plant will help to advance communities in New York City towards a more sustainable future as well as serving as an innovative model of how clean, on-site power can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project is in alignment with Governor Cuomo’s Reforming the Energy Vision, the state’s comprehensive energy strategy to build a clean future for all New Yorkers.
“This exciting project is yet one more way we’re investing in a sustainable energy future and building a cleaner and greener New York” Governor Cuomo said. “This first-of-its kind project for Long Island and the greater New York metropolitan area will build upon this administration’s commitment to expand the state’s use of renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint.”
Advocates back bill to prevent limits on reimbursements for alternative energy
By Laura Legere / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Advocates of turning cow manure and other waste into energy are backing a bill introduced in the Pennsylvania House that would forbid putting caps on how much electricity those systems can sell to the grid.
The bill is aimed at a proposal still being developed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission meant to limit reimbursements to customers who generate power from alternative sources — a dairy farmer with a methane digester, for example, or a homeowner with solar panels on the roof.
Such customers would only be eligible for reimbursements if they have systems designed to produce no more than 200 percent of the electricity they normally use at their farm or home in a year.
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