The study found that a 35-percent target for wind and solar is technically feasible and does not necessitate extensive additional infrastructure, but does require key changes to current operational practice.

A full copy of the 536 page report is available on NREL’s website.

According to the Associated Press, the Administration now estimates that the TARP will cost about $200 billion less than the $341 billion the White House estimated in August. The lower estimate reflects faster repayments by big banks and less spending on some of the rescue programs as the financial sector recovered from its free fall more quickly than anticipated.

In the world of make-believe money, that means $200 billion available to spend on other programs. The President announced three focus areas: assistance to small businesses through tax cuts and other financial incentives to hire workers; additional infrastructure (e.g., highway, transit, rail, aviation, and water) investments; and energy efficiency and clean energy investments.

For the third focus area, here’s a White House summary:

New incentives for consumers who invest in energy efficient retrofits in their homes. Smart, targeted investments in energy efficiency can help create jobs while improving our energy security and saving consumers money. The President today called on Congress to consider a new program to provide rebates for consumers who make energy efficiency retrofits. Such a program will harness the power of the private sector to help drive consumers to make cost-saving investments in their homes.

Expansion of successful oversubscribed Recovery Act programs to leverage private investment in energy efficiency and create clean energy manufacturing jobs. The Recovery Act included historic investments that have helped to build the foundation for a clean energy economy. The Administration supports expanding programs for which additional federal dollars will leverage private investment and create jobs quickly, such as industrial energy efficiency investments and tax incentives for investing in renewable manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

Consumer incentives for energy efficiency improvements are similar to the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. To date, the DOE has awarded more than 1,700 grants, totaling over $1.9 billion. A running list of U.S. states, territories, local governments, and Indian tribes that have received monies is available on the program website. The redirected TARP money would be expected to fund additional programs.

Some DOE stimulus programs have been oversubscribed resulting in the cancellation of anticipated funding rounds,  such as with Phases II and III of the Smart Grid Investment Grants. Additional TARP monies will be used to fund certain programs, with the President calling out industrial energy efficiency and renewable manufacturing facilities.

The industrial funding appears to be in addition to the $155 million directed to industrial energy efficiency projects at 41 locations across the country announced in November. The renewable manufacturing component seems to be in addition to ARRA’s previous $2 billion worth of energy related manufacturing investment tax credits. Those credits are aimed at projects creating or retooling manufacturing facilities to make components used to generate renewable energy, storage systems for use in electric or hybrid-electric cars, power grid components supporting addition of renewable sources, and equipment for carbon capture and storage.

Faster repayment by big banks of TARP monies is welcome. Strategically allocating repaid TARP monies to fund energy infrastructure programs with long-term benefits is worthwhile.

• large-scale energy storage
• smart meters
• distribution and transmission system monitoring devices
• range of other smart technologies

A complete project list (pdf) is available on the DOE website.

Big winners appear to be Battelle Memorial Institute ($88 million), AEP Ohio ($75 million), LADWP ($60 million), and ConEd ($45 million), among others. The goal of the funding is to demonstrate technologies in regions across the U.S. that “embody essential and salient characteristics of each region and present a suite of use cases for national implementation and replication.”

Last month, the Department announced $3.4 billion in funding as part of its smart grid investment program.

Secretary Chu also released a video to YouTube discussing the benefits of Smart Grid.

On Monday, he signed SBX7-2 at a ceremony at Friant Dam in Fresno County. The $11.14 billion water bond measure must still be approved by voters on the November 2010 ballot.

Where exactly does all that money go? Here’s a breakdown via the Fresno Bee newspaper:

Drought Relief – $455 million

• $190 million to reduce drought impacts and impacts of reduced Delta diversions ($100 million to San Diego County).
• $90 million to disadvantaged and economically stressed areas.
• $75 million to small community wastewater treatment projects.
• $80 million for deposit to Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund ($8 million for city of Maywood water supply infrastructure upgrades).
• $20 million for water quality/public health projects on the New River.

Regional Water Supply – $1.4 billion

• $350 million local/regional water conveyance projects.
• $1.05 billion for integrated regional water management projects, distributed as follows:

• North Coast: $45 million
• San Francisco Bay: $132 million
• Central Coast: $58 million
• Los Angeles/Ventura counties subregion: $198 million
• Santa Ana subregion (Santa Ana River watershed and southern Orange County): $128 million
• San Diego County subregion: $87 million
• Sacramento River: $76 million
• San Joaquin River: $64 million
• Tulare/Kern: $70 million
• North/South Lahontan: $51 million
• Colorado River Basin: $47 million
• Mountain Counties Overlay: $44 million
• Interregional: $50 million ($10 million for UC Sierra Nevada Research Institute to analyze water supply impacts on snowpack/runoff)

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Sustainability – $2.25 billion

• $1.5 billion for Bay Delta Conservation Plan ecosystem restoration projects; acquisition of water rights and removal of invasive species; reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Delta soils; reduce mercury contamination.
• $750 million for Delta counties/cities for flood protection; water quality projects, agriculture preservation, and to mitigate the effects of water conveyance and ecosystem restoration (including $50 million to improve wastewater treatment facilities upstream of the Delta; $250 million to assist local government and the farm economy upon loss of farmlands for ecosystem restoration).

Water Supply – $3 billion

• Only for public benefits associated with water storage projects, including: ecosystem and water quality improvements, flood control, emergency response, recreation. Surface or groundwater storage projects selected competitively by the California Water Commission based on the magnitude of public benefits provided. Eligible projects include Sites Reservoir in Colusa County, Temperance Flat Reservoir in Fresno County, and enlarging Los Vaqueros Reservoir in Contra Costa County.

Groundwater Protection/Water Quality – $1 billion

• All to Department of Public Health to prevent or reduce groundwater contamination via local grants.

Water Recycling/Conservation – $1.25 billion

• $1 billion for water recycling and advanced treatment projects, including desalination.
• $250 million for urban and agricultural water conservation and efficiency projects.

Conservation/Watershed Protection – $1.785 billion

• $250 million to California Coastal Conservancy, including:

• $40 million for projects in San Diego County ($20 million for San Diego River Conservancy).
• $40 million for Santa Ana River Parkway; $20 million for Bolsa Chica Wetlands.

• $100 million to Wildlife Conservation Board for water rights to benefit migratory birds.
• $215 million to Wildlife Conservation Board to protect watershed lands, rivers, streams that support endangered species, including:

• $25 million to San Joaquin River Conservancy for river parkway projects.
• $20 million for Ventura County watershed projection projects.

• $75 million for San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.
• $75 million to Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for watershed protection activities in upper Los Angeles River.
• $20 million for Baldwin Hills Conservancy.
• $25 million for Santa Monica Bay watershed projects.
• $50 million for coastal salmon projects.
• $100 million for Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program.
• $20 million to California Farmland Conservancy Program.
• $50 million for projects associated with California River Parkways Act of 2004 (including $20 million for Urban Streams Restoration Program).
• $75 million for Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
• $100 million for Salton Sea restoration.
• $10 million to Natural Resources Agency for watershed protections to address climate change.
• $30 million to state parks for watershed education (including $20 million for education centers in urban areas over 1 million population).
• $10 million for California Waterfowl Habitat Program.
• $100 million to Cal Fire for fuel treatment, forest restoration to protect watersheds tributary to reservoirs; to protect life and property; and for climate change adaptation (including $67 million for grants to public agencies and nonprofits for fuel treatment; $25 million for technical assistance for eligible landowners; $8 million to reimburse Cal Fire costs for pilot projects to use thinned fuels for energy or wood products; and for conservation camp crews).
• $250 million for dam removal in the Klamath River watershed.
• $20 million to Siskiyou County for economic development.
• $50 million to California State University for farm water-related research and education.
• $50 million to Coastal Conservancy for Ocean Protection Act projects.
• $60 million for salmon passage in Sacramento River watershed.
• $50 million to Wildlife Conservation Board to improve effectiveness of infrastructure mitigation.

An important theme of the announcement was the incremental generation potential of the projects. No new dams were being built. Rather, older turbines would be replaced with newer more efficient models.

Barker Dam Construction in Boulder Canyon (1909)

If generated using traditional means, the additional 187,000 MWh/year would cause 110,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide. The equipment change-out was expected to produce only marginal carbon emissions, mainly from equipment production.

As the stimulus funding is designed to create jobs, the announcement highlighted the retention of 40 jobs at Voith Hydro, a turbine manufacturer.

The seven grant projects included:

• Alcoa Inc.’s Tapoca Cheoah Hydro Plant (Robbinsville, NC): Replace four 90-year old turbines to increase generation by 95,000 MWh, a 23% increase ($13 million)
• Alabama Power Coosa River Plants (Mitchell, AL): Upgrade four units at three hydroelectric plants to increase generation by 36,087 MWh annually, a 7.3% increase ($6 million)
• City of Tacoma Public Utilities (Potlatch, WA): Install two additional turbines to generate 23,500 MWh annually, a 14% increase, plus an upstream native fish habitat project ($4.67 million)
• City of Boulder, Colorado: Upgrade 100-year-old Boulder Canyon Hydroelectric Project by replacing two older turbines with a single, high-efficiency unit to increase generation by 11,000 MWh annually, a 30% increase ($1.18 million)
• Los Alamos, New Mexico: Add a low flow turbine to increase plant capacity and generate an additional 6,462 MWh annually, a 22% increase ($4.56 million)
• Energy Northwest (Packwood, WA): Install a new Pelton Wheel turbine at the Packwood Lake Hydroelectric facility to increase generation by 5,868 MWh annually, a 6% increase ($800,000)
• North Little Rock Electric Department (Little Rock, AR): Install a new automated intake maintenance device to clear debris obstructing the intake and allow operation at peak efficiency ($450,000).

While these grants are small, they demonstrate the incremental improvements that we can make to our aging infrastructure.

The White House held a press briefing on Monday evening to announce that President Obama would be awarding $3.4 billion in Smart Grid grants. Administration officials included Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change; Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to the Vice President; and Matt Rogers, Department of Energy.

Obama will announce the grants on Tuesday after completing a tour of Florida Power & Light’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, the largest photovoltaic electricity facility in the country, around lunchtime. Local media is expected to stream the announcement around 12:15pm EST.

A few early recipients announced include Constellation Energy’s Baltimore Gas and Electric Co ($200 million) and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co subsidiary ($28.1 million).

According to an overnight Reuters article, here are some basic details about the announcement:

• $3.4 billion government investment
• $4.7 billion private investment
• $400,000 to $200 million range
• 100 companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and other partners in 49 states.
• 18 million smart meters
• 700 automated substations
• 200,000 smart transformers

More details as they are announced.

Listen to the stories (accessible here) or click on the interactive grid map to identify existing and proposed energy infrastructure in your area. You can also easily see your state's generation mix. For example, California's power comes from the following sources:

• Natural Gas (47%)
• Hydro (20%)
• Nuclear(18%)
• Geothermal (7%)
• Biomass (3%)
• Wind (2%)
• Oil (1%)
• Coal (less than 1%) 
• Solar (less than 1%) 
• Other (1%) 

According to Rob's website, he 'intends to remind people of the dignity, courage and importance of some of America's truth tellers…" The portraits, along with short bios, are available on his website. A collection of the first 50 portraits are assembled in a book with a downloadable school curriculum. 

One of more recent portraits is of Van Jones from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. The Ella Baker Center recently launched the Green For All campaign focused on green-collar job training in order to lift 250,000 people out of poverty across the country.

I encourage everyone to check out both the portraits and the Green For All campaign.  

• United States: 44,312
• Qatar: 117,064
• France: 13,668
• India: 2,645
• Kenya: 440

Start the Slate Green Challenge and post your annual emissions in the comment section. I challenge you. 

We're pleased to announce that Planet Relations has been selected for Who's Green 2007, published by Ecotone Publishing. According to Ecotone, Who’s Green© 2007 is an annual directory "designed to serve as the pre-eminent resource book for locating firms, companies, organizations and institutions that are actively participating in the growth of the green building industry.[It] serves as the definitive clearinghouse of contact information for the best talent and knowledge inthe sustainable design and construction field in North America."