Power policies needed to help promote renewable energy

Renewable energy needs help. Technological innovation has significantly reduced the cost of solar panels, wind turbines and other equipment, but renewable energy still needs serious subsidies to compete with conventional energy. Today, help comes mostly in the form of federal tax breaks.

These tax incentives, and the Congressional battle over extending them for wind projects beyond the end of this year, mean that other, more powerful policies to promote renewables are not getting the attention they deserve.

US Postal's policy struggle for clean alternative fuel

If any organization has the incentive and the scale to roll out a fleet of alternative vehicles, it should be the United States Postal Service (USPS).

The post office operates the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world, with more than 210,000 vehicles travelling almost 1.3 billion miles a year.
Its struggles to find cost-effective alternatives, however, highlight the obstacles to rolling out alternative vehicle technologies across the United States.

New Florida law creates renewable energy production tax credit

New legislation, which was allowed to become law without Florida Gov. Rick Scott's signature, contains several provisions relating to renewable energy, energy efficiency and alternative fuels for motor vehicles.

Among these provisions is a renewable energy production credit against the corporate income tax based on $0.01/kWh of renewable energy produced. The cap is $1 million per corporation and $5 million for state fiscal year 2012-2013, which is increased to $10 million for 2013-2014 through 2016-2017, with provisions for prorating credits if claims exceed the annual cap.

Proposed bill relieves retailers of E15 liability

The Domestic Fuels Act of 2012, a bipartisan bill introduced March 30 in both houses of Congress, includes a provision that would make it illegal for a retailer to be held responsible for damages that could occur as a result of misfueling by consumers, so long as the retailer has complied with the U.S. EPA’s misfueling regulations. The proposed legislation would protect retailers against potential liability should consumers use E15 in small engines, vehicles produced earlier than model year 2001, or in any other nonapproved engine and would also prevent retailers from being held liable if the consumer’s use of a fuel voids the vehicle/small engine warranty.

Florida Senate panel OKs renewable energy bill

Years of gridlock on renewable energy in the state Capitol could be easing as a bill moves through the Florida Senate that would grant tax breaks and other incentives for alternative power production.

The bill is perhaps even more notable for what it doesn’t include: the potential for power companies to raise rates.

The legislation unanimously passed its second Senate test, the Agriculture Committee, on Monday. The success so far has left renewable energy supporters hopeful of more progress.

“It’s a modest bill but it still moves the issue along” after years of inaction, said Susan Glickman, of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, after the Senate Agriculture Committee’s favorable vote.

New bill would classify ethanol derived from coal & natural gas as 'renewable resource'

Six members of the House of Representatives introduced a bill on Wednesday that would include ethanol produced by nontraditional means, such as coal- and gas-derived ethanol, in the federal renewable fuels mandate.

Ethanol derived from petroleum-based sources would be competing in a market currently dominated by corn-derived ethanol. Other biofuels have been slow to reach commercial viability, and some of the most promising next-generation fuels have yet to even leave the laboratory, so demand for new sources of ethanol has climbed higher and higher.