Energy Efficiency Tax Credits Are Back Just in Time | The Energy Collective Daily

Just in time for tax season, Congress has given American homeowners and businesses a chance to keep a little more of their hard-earned money. Late on January 1, 2013, the “fiscal cliff showdown” ended with the House passing a bill to avert income tax increases for Americans and large cuts in spending for government programs.

Can Maryland create a utility of the future that is more reliable & customer responsive?That question has been posed by the now newly re-elected Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley. He is seeking a “viable method to explore the contours of the utility of the future” with a pilot program to be proposed by March 15, 2013.Utility of the future, in Maryland, you ask?That was my reaction because the very grandiose wording of it suggests O’Malley either:

Thousands of contaminated tracts of land labeled brownfields by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may eventually provide the valuable real estate needed for renewable energy projects, and New Jersey is at the forefront of using such sites to bolster its status as a leader in solar energy.

In previous posts we’ve discussed the urgent need to create an effective and positive narrative to motivate action on climate change. Achieving such a narrative isn’t about facts – facts don’t matter – because we are a species driven by narrative, by a compelling story. Last summer Climate One convened three experts in human behavior, environment, and narrative storytelling.

Now that President Obama has nominated candidates to head the CIA and the Departments of Defense, State, and Treasury in his second term, attention now shifts to his choices for the rest of the Cabinet, including Energy Secretary.

This special report from viEUws – the EU Policy Broadcaster – deals with the European Union’s Energy Infrastructure. Leading energy journalist Hughes Belin, explains the key aspects in the development of the European Energy Infrastructure and its implications.

The US-DOE is envisioning the US having at least 20% of its energy from IWTs by 2050. Most of these would be located in the Great Plains, where are the good to excellent winds. 

by Daniel J. Weiss