The European Union has taken the lead on many climate change issues - from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol to passing laws to require and encourage the development of renewable energy. Why, then, are so many European energy companies looking to invest in the United States? For António Mexia, the chief executive of Energías de Portugal, the answer is simple. "The United States is the fastest-growing market in the world for wind power," he said. "If we want to be a leader, we have to be here." ..."In America you can put up a 200- or 300-megawatt wind park," Mexia said. "You can't do that in Europe" because of the lack of open space for such large wind farms. There is also more potential for growth in the United States, where wind farms account for barely 1 percent of installed generating capacity. In some EU countries, that figure is as high as 10 percent.

Environmental issues are not the only dark clouds dimming wind power's appeal. Demand for wind power is driving up the price of wind turbines substantially, further raising the already-high costs of wind-generated power. The U.S. Department of Energy reports the average cost of a turbine per megawatt of power generated rose 17 percent in 2006 and will likely rise by more than 14 percent this year. Because utilities have no control over these costs, ratepayers or taxpayers end up paying the final bill. In addition, wind farms have already been constructed in the most productive wind sites, leaving less-productive and less-reliable sites available for current and future wind farm construction.

The dairy farm became a supplier of "offsets," marketable credits purchased by companies or others trying to compensate for the amount of carbon dioxide, methane or other greenhouse gases they emit. His manure-digesting system has generated a stash of greenhouse gas offsets -- some of which Morris has sold, some of which he's keeping -- worth nearly $250,000 at current market prices. ...The Cincinnati Reds went to bat for a wind farm in India, buying enough credits to offset the carbon emitted at a single home game. Why are they buying? Largely to placate customers, shareholders and employees who are nudging them to get serious about global warming.

Energias de Portugal plans to monetize about 650 MW of tax equity credits by the end of 2007 that it gained through its acquisition of Horizon Wind Energy from Goldman Sachs in July, Antonio Mexia, EDP CEO, told Platts Friday. On the eve of its $3-billion acquisition of Horizon Wind, EDP monetized the 722 MW of Horizon's operational wind farms by selling them for $700 million in deal facilitated by a Citigroup-led group of banks.

On the Internet, erasing your role in climate change seems as easy as ordering a DVD -- and cheaper than a cup of coffee a day. With a click, a credit card and $99, visitors can pay a Silver Spring nonprofit group, Carbonfund.org, to "offset" a year's worth of greenhouse-gas emissions. Whatever the customer put into the atmosphere -- by flying, driving, using electricity -- the site promises to cancel out, by funding projects that reduce pollutants. Sites such as this one, offering absolution from the modern nag of climate guilt, have created a $55 million industry that once would have been beyond the greenest of imaginations. The market for "voluntary carbon offsets" now encompasses dozens of sellers and thousands of buyers, including individuals and corporations. But in some cases, these customers may be buying good feelings and little else.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $16-billion tax bill Saturday that would extend renewable energy tax credits and encourage energy efficiency, paying for itself by axing tax breaks to oil and gas companies. The White House said in a policy statement Friday U.S. President George W. Bush would veto the measure if approved, because it would, along with a broad energy package passed earlier by the House, "lead to less domestic oil and gas production, higher energy costs, and higher and higher taxes." Along with the House energy legislation, the two bills form a package that will go to conference for melding with a major energy bill the Senate approved in June.

WASHINGTON -- Declaring a new direction in energy policy, the House on Saturday approved $16 billion in taxes on oil companies, while providing billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for renewable energy and conservation efforts. Republican opponents said the legislation ignored the need to produce more domestic oil, natural gas and coal. One GOP lawmaker bemoaned "the pure venom ... against the oil and gas industry." The House passed the tax provisions by a vote of 221-189. Earlier it had approved, 241-172, a companion energy package aimed at boosting energy efficiency and expanding use of biofuels, wind power and other renewable energy sources.

Eric Carlson sells an invisible commodity: the soothing of guilt over global warming. And these days, business is hot. His Maryland-based nonprofit organization, Carbonfund.org, which acts as a middleman for donors who want to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution, saw its revenue jump 20-fold last year, to $850,000. The 3-year-old group, benefiting from mounting public concern about climate change, is one of eight or more fast-growing firms across the country that sell "carbon offsets." The industry works this way: People who feel bad about the carbon dioxide pollution created by their lifestyles - for example, flying across the country or driving to the beach - give donations to Carbonfund or other groups, which in turn passes the money on to pollution-fighting projects. In return, donors get bumper stickers proclaiming they've done their part to "fight climate change."

In its official policy statement, the White House said the energy bill and its related tax package would "fail to deliver American consumers or businesses more energy security, but rather would lead to less domestic oil and gas production, higher energy costs, and higher taxes."

WASHINGTON -- A rebellion by oil-state Democrats over $16 billion in new taxes on oil companies is threatening to upend House Democratic leaders' plans to swiftly pass energy legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remained confident she would have the votes to pass the energy package Friday ahead of Congress' monthlong summer recess, according to her aides. But she needs solid Democratic support to overcome staunch GOP opposition. "I know they're looking for votes," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, one of the Democrats who has balked over the oil industry tax increases. Green said some of the "Blue Dog" Democrats - moderate to conservatives, including lawmakers from oil producing states - were threatening to withhold their support. "I think it's too much to hit one industry with," Green said in an interview.

GREEN CITY Are you carbon neutral yet? Al Gore says he is. The concert tours for the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews, and other big acts say they are too. Indeed, going neutral is hot these days as, almost overnight, the fledgling market in carbon offsets has burgeoned into a multimillion-dollar industry. The method is simple, at least in theory. For a fee, companies will balance, or offset, the greenhouse gases emitted by your car or home by spending money on climate-healing initiatives such as renewable energy, forestation projects, and capturing deleterious gases like methane from farms and landfills. But the sheer number of offset firms out there is staggering, with hundreds of companies vying for your dollars. And as the industry has exploded in popularity, questions have arisen about its reliability and whether the millions of dollars being spent are really making it to worthwhile projects.

WASHINGTON: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi solidified Democratic support behind her energy initiatives and quieted rebellious party members who feared U.S. energy production would be hurt. Democratic leaders reached agreement on legislation that would impose nearly $16 billion (€11.71 billion) in additional taxes on oil companies over 10 years and use the money to promote renewable energy programs and energy conservation and efficiency. To garner broader Democratic support, Pelosi scrapped proposed changes in the way royalties are collected from offshore federal oil and gas leases. Also dropped was a provision that would have made it harder for the federal government to designate nationally significant corridors for pipelines and electric power lines. Pelosi, bowing to Democratic lawmakers in oil-producing regions, agreed to some changes in the way permits are issued for energy leases on federal land.

WASHINGTON - For years, the United States has looked to the sun and the wind as renewable energy sources. But legislation moving through Congress would authorize $250 million in federal grants to develop ocean wave energy. The measure would be the nation's first major investment in wave energy, which converts the rise and fall of ocean swells into electrical power. A related technology, tidal energy, extracts energy from the movement of the sea's tides.

WASHINGTON, July 6 - A powerful House Democrat said on Friday that he planned to propose a steep new "carbon tax" that would raise the cost of burning oil, gas and coal, in a move that could shake up the political debate on global warming. The proposal came from Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and it runs directly counter to the view of most Democrats that any tax on energy would be a politically disastrous approach to slowing global warming.

CHEERLEADERS for renewable energy are fond of pointing out that patches of desert receive enough energy each year from sunlight to power the entire world. But few deign to explain how the construction of the millions of solar cells required to convert that energy into electricity would be financed. Utility bosses and policymakers tend to dismiss wind and solar power as noble but expensive distractions, sustainable only through lavish subsidies. But new studies suggest that renewables might not be as dear as sceptics suspect...These figures, of course, rely on all sorts of questionable assumptions.

A program aided by the U.S. Department of Energy seeks to place small wind turbines at several rural Kansas high schools in the next three years. Wind for Schools is a national outreach effort of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, where organizers hope to familiarize rural America with a cheap local source of power. The program will help selected schools construct a 1.8-megawatt wind generator on a 60-foot tower. In addition, they'll provide educational support for all school levels to create lessons based on the turbine.

The Energy Department announced Monday it will provide $4 million to two projects in Texas and Massachusetts for research into designing and building the next generation of large wind turbine blades.

Senate Democrats' efforts to impose $29 billion in taxes on oil companies as part of larger energy reform bill collapsed Thursday when they failed to break a Republican-led filibuster. Hours later a mandate that utilities get 15% of their energy from renewable resources by 2020, apparently also was out of the bill. Jude McCartin, spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the provision's lead sponsor, said time to add the renewables provision had run out now that the overall bill was headed towards a final vote, expected late Friday. The provision had drawn opposition from Republicans who claimed it was tilted toward wind power and would hurt Southern states not suited for it. The Senate did approve a compromise deal on raising fuel economy standards late Thursday.

A panel chaired by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus on Tuesday approved an energy-tax package designed to boost alternative energy production and conservation - partially at the expense of big oil-and-gas producers. "This is a significant victory in our efforts to become more energy independent," said Baucus, D-Mont., who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. "We have more to do to address climate change, lower gas prices at the pump and wean America off of foreign sources of energy." The Finance Committee approved the $28.5 billion, 10-year tax package, which is expected to become part of a larger energy bill before the U.S. Senate this week. The package includes tax credits to encourage production of wind power, solar power, gas-electric hybrid cars, biodiesel fuel and "cellulosic" ethanol, which is produced from agricultural waste products.

Washington (AP) Senator John Thune is pushing provisions that would promote the development of wind energy as the Senate debates a new energy bill. The Senate today passed a Thune amendment that would promote the development of energy transmission infrastructure. It would promote the creation of "energy corridors" that would make it easier to transfer wind energy to high-demand areas. Thune says South Dakota already has the wind energy and that the missing link is the way to deliver the energy. Also today, the Senate Finance Committee passed energy legislation that would extend a production tax credit for wind energy. That bill will be added to the energy legislation being considered by the full Senate.