President Obama's AUD$155 Billion Green Kickstart

 

Of the AUD$1.4 trillion economic stimulus package planned for the USA by President Obama and currently being debated in Congress, over AUD$155 Billion is earmarked for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives.

According to CNN, here's how the total grants and tax breaks will be distributed (all figures are approximations in Australian dollars at current exchange rates):

Building energy efficiency - $23 billion - $35 billion. Projects including adding insulation to government buildings and low to middle income homes.

Public transportation - $13 billion - $20 billion. Extending train lines, creating new bus routes and upgrades to existing infrastructure.

Renewable energy loans - $13 - $15 billion. The US renewables industry is facing somewhat of a credit crunch with previous lenders tightening purse strings. This funding will allow for stalled projects to continue and new projects to be launched.

Transmission lines - $10 billion - upgrades to power line infrastructure to allow for electricity generated by remote renewable energy projects into cities.

Nuclear waste - $10 billion to go towards cleaning up nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities.

Smart grid - $7 billion to go towards a more intuitive and "digitised" power grid.

Green transport - $4.97 billion in grants for the development of vehicles that reduce the reliance on fossil fuel and for the development of electric car battery technologies.

National parks - $4.6 billion - cleanup and improvements to park infrastructure.

Wind power - $20 billion for a three-year extension of tax credits for large scale wind energy projects.

Large renewable projects - $17 billion for tax credits against prior profits.

Home energy efficiency - $6.68 billion in tax incentives for home owners who purchase goods and services that contribute to energy efficiency for their homes.

Renewable energy bonds - $2.3 billion

Renewable energy manufacturing - $2.1 billion in tax credits for companies who manufacture renewable energy components such as solar panels and wind turbines who invest in new machinery.

Small scale renewables - $1.5 - a removal of the cap on the 30% tax credit for home owners and businesses investing in solar power and wind energy systems.

The green component of Obama's green stimulus package has met with mixed reactions, some noting the absence of any sort of federally funded feed in tariff program which has been demonstrated in many other countries to significantly boost the uptake of solar power and to stimulate local economies. 

Wind Power Uptake Blows Away Records

 

According to a recent report from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) the USA has surpassed Germany and is now the leader in wind power installations.

Total global installations last year exceeded 27,000 MW, 36% more than in 2007, mainly due to massive growth in  Europe, North America and Asia.

Wind energy capacity increased by 28.8% last year, reaching a total more than 120.8 GW at the end of 2008 installed world-wide. 

The global market for turbine installations during 2007 had an estimated value of  was worth about 36.5bn EUR or AUD$ 74 billion.

Nearly a third of all new capacity in 2008 was installed in Asia, with China leading the way by doubling its installed capacity through the addition of approximately 6.3 GW, reaching a total of 12.2 GW.

Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association (CREIA), stated that during 2009 installed capacity is expected to nearly double again, making up at least a third of the world’s total new installed capacity for the year. The GWEC believes that at current rates, China would have met its 2020 target of 30 GW a decade ahead of time
 
Almost 8.9.GW worth of new wind turbines were brought online in Europe during 2008,  bringing total wind power generation capacity close to 66 GW. This makes wind power the most popular power source for new generation capacity.

While favourable winds seem to be forecast for the industry during 2009, the global economic crisis does threaten to cast shadows and becalm the industry to a degree as does a lack of political will. According to  Steve Sawyer, Secretary General of GWEC, the wind industry is well on the way to meeting a goal it set of  saving 1.5 billion tons of CO2 per year by 2020, but a strong, global signal from governments that they are serious about moving away from fossil fuels is still needed.

The full report can be viewed here

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