NY Times - U.S. Military Orders Less Dependence on Fossil Fuels

Ok, so this article isn't Miami.  Not even Florida, but important to us none-the-less.

Fuel supply convoys have been the Achilles heel of our military operations since the first Gulf War.  The Defense Department knows this, which is why they are sinking tons of money into refining mobile renewable energy solutions including solar backpacks, tents, and other off-grid equipment.  The Army actually pioneered an electric HUMVEE that outperformed the diesel version.  Each wheel had an electric motor providing intense torque and silent operation.  Pretty cool stuff.

The latest attack on fuel convoys makes finding ways to make our troops less vulnerable and protect these poor guys who have to drive these bombs on wheels all the more critical.

New York Times

By Elisabeth Rosenthal, October 4, 2010

With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.

Last week, a Marine company from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: portable solar panels that fold up into boxes; energy-conserving lights; solar tent shields that provide shade and electricity; solar chargers for computers and communications equipment.

The 150 Marines of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, will be the first to take renewable technology into a battle zone, where the new equipment will replace diesel and kerosene-based fuels that would ordinarily generate power to run their encampment.

Even as Congress has struggled unsuccessfully to pass an energy bill and many states have put renewable energy on hold because of the recession, the military this year has pushed rapidly forward. After a decade of waging wars in remote corners of the globe where fuel is not readily available, senior commanders have come to see overdependence on fossil fuel as a big liability, and renewable technologies — which have become more reliable and less expensive over the past few years — as providing a potential answer. These new types of renewable energy now account for only a small percentage of the power used by the armed forces, but military leaders plan to rapidly expand their use over the next decade.

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Feds screw up local innovation - PACE on hold throughout the country

I've tried to keep this blog confined to city, county, and state solar news, but I can't keep quiet about the infuriating stupidity coming out of Washington DC these days.

The mortgage Goliath Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have taken a very serious swipe at the David of solar financing - PACE.  The newly hatched plan by local governments to use their taxing authority to come up with clever ways to break through the "first cost" barrier for energy efficiency and small scale solar, wind, geo, etc. was dealt a huge blow back in March when Fannie/Freddie announced that they wouldn't buy any mortgage with a PACE lien on it.

This is an extraordinary over-reach into the taxing authority of local governments.  Basically, the mortgage giants are determining which government taxes they believe are worthy and which aren't.  It really isn't that simple, but it is potentially precedent setting.  Fannie/Freddie don't like this tax lien "cutting in line" in front of the mortgage repayment in case of default.  That would be fine if PACE were truly a traditional loan instrument, but it isn't.  It behaves like a taxing district like a storm-water, garbage collection or street lighting improvement district.  The improvement is passed along with the property instead of having to be paid off upon sale of the property.

Having Fannie/Freddie dis PACE like this had an immediate chilling effect on these programs everywhere.  Boulder backed out of their next bond issue and returned deposits to people, San Francisco just launched and then aborted their PACE program.

Other PACE programs in the works, including local governments here have been waiting for the promised "clarification" from the mortgage backer's regulatory parent - Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) - but were shocked when the agency made a bigger mess of things with their letter.

Most people in the business see the FHFA letter as the final blow to an administrative fix and now believe the only way to fix this once and for all is to seek a legislative remedy - Congress.  That should be quick and easy right?

The Department of Energy - a backer and early proponent of the widespread implementation of PACE - now is telling block grant recipients that were using those funds for PACE start-up to rethink that strategy.

All is not lost though.  The PACE concept is readily accepted by both political parties, so it actually has a shot in Congress unless it gets stuck to a more controversial bill.  And FHFA doesn't touch the commercial market, so PACE could still be used to help improve office parks, industrial buildings and other non-residential properties.  This isn't the major focus of PACE, but could keep it alive long enough to show that it is a successful model for the rapid deployment of efficiency and small scale renewables.

Enough ranting for now - next time I hope to have information about local plans to deal with this mess.

Related articles:

New York Times, July 3rd -Loan Giants Opt to Block Energy Programs

Grist, July 6th -Fannie and Freddie to clean-energy program: Drop dead
Environmental Leader, July 7th - Fannie, Freddie Kill PACE Program

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Miami Herald Drops Ball on Secretary of Labor visit

The AFL-CIO Executive Council had a big meeting in Miami back in early March. I'm not in the solar business directly (just a big advocate), so I didn't hear a peep. Hilda Solis, then recently confirmed as Secretary of Labor, visited the group as one of her first acts on the job.

Why is her visit a solar energy story? Well, after addressing the Executive Council, she went to visit a training center for the IBEW where they're preparing future electricians to be the skilled "green jobs" workforce we need to successfully install solar photovoltaic and other "new" technologies.

Did you read about it in the Herald? I didn't. I found a link by accident to an online video of the visit on the IBEW's website: Sec Solis Visits LU 349 I have no idea how I got there, but glad I found the video none the less.

Curious how I'd missed such a big deal since I'm pretty good at scouring the local rag for energy stories, I ran a search of the Herald online and could only dig up a story in the Business Section (beacuse there's no such thing as a labor section) that came close: Labor secretary inspires union crowd in Miami, March 3, 2009

That story is just a bunch of piffle - no substance - about a rally of union members just happy to have someone at the DOL that might actually advocate for labor (organized or otherwise).

Nice to see the local electrical workers union wasn't waiting for stimulus funds or for the local markets to catch onto solar before they started their training programs. Very encouraging, even in the absence of the local press.