...much of the real greening of America is taking place at the state level. Driving the action are mandates - known ‘renewable portfolio standards' (RPS) and adopted by 30 states, as well as D.C. - that set targets, and timelines, for reaching a certain percent of overall power generation from renewable energy sources. ...Renewable energy remains more costly than conventional source of energy but that equation is quickly shifting in favor of renewables, and state mandates are accelerating that trend by driving adoption in the market, at initially moderate rates.

The idea was that, in the intervening years, electricity produced with renewable energy technologies would grow to the point that the shift away from nuclear would hardly be noticed. That, though, is looking increasingly unlikely. Despite a decade of massive investment and generous programs established to promote wind, solar and biomass power generation, green energy sources make up just 14 percent of the country's energy supply. Even if that were to double in the near future, the lion's share of Germany's energy consumption would have to come from elsewhere. Without nuclear power, "elsewhere" in Germany necessarily means coal-fired power plants.

The Bush administration on Friday rejected regulating greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, saying it would damage the U.S. economy and cause too many job losses. In a 588-page federal notice, the Environmental Protection Agency made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health, reversing an earlier conclusion at the insistence of the White House and officially kicking any decision on a solution to the next president and Congress. The White House on Thursday rejected EPA's conclusion three weeks earlier that the 1970 Clean Air Act can be both workable and effective for addressing global climate change. Instead, EPA said Friday that law is "ill-suited" for dealing with climate change.

A company that wants to build a floating wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard has received a boost from the state's congressional delegation. In a letter dated June 26, the entire Massachusetts delegation asked the U.S. Minerals Management Service to review an application by Blue H USA LLC for a lease to test floating platform technology and collect data at the site for the proposed wind farm. The company announced the congressional support for its application at its U.S. headquarters in Boston yesterday.

Under increasing public pressure over its decision to temporarily halt all new solar development on public land, the Bureau of Land Management said Wednesday that it was lifting the freeze, barely a month after it was put into effect. The bureau had announced on May 29 that it was no longer processing new applications to build solar power plants on land it oversees in six Western states after federal officials said they needed first to study the environmental effects of solar energy, a process that would take two years. But amid concerns from the solar power industry, members of Congress and the general public that the freeze would stymie solar development during a particularly critical time for energy policy, the bureau abruptly reconsidered.

Governors from several western U.S. states and Canadian provinces met Sunday to discuss strategies for protecting wildlife that roams their region while also capitalizing on immense energy resources. ...The council´s task will be to identify key wildlife corridors and habitats for wildlife, such as pronghorn antelope, sage grouse and bear. The council will also study ways to protect animal habitat in the face of ever-increasing demand for domestic energy development _ both in the form of oil and gas drilling and new construction of solar and wind generation plants _ the building of new infrastructure for the region´s growing population and the effects of climate change.

Wind farms are springing up in Midwestern fields, along Appalachian ridgelines, and even in Texas backyards. They're everywhere, it seems, except in the windy coastal waters that lap at some of America's largest, most power-hungry cities. That's partly because the first large-scale effort to harness sea breezes in the U.S. hit resistance from an army led by the rich and famous, waging a not-on-my-beach campaign. For almost eight years the critics have stalled the project, called Cape Wind, which aims to place 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound about five miles south of Cape Cod.

Edison Electric Institute President Thomas Kuhn told the subcommittee that under any scenario, the emissions reductions in the cap-and-trade bills before Congress will be expensive. ...Kuhn warned that if targets and timetables are not aligned with the expanded use of energy efficiency and renewables in the short term and with widespread deployment of new nuclear plants and advanced coal and carbon capture and storage technologies in the long term, "the costs of compliance would become astronomical and consumers would be compelled to curtail their use of electricity dramatically, with resulting consequences to the economy and the standard of living."

The US may be entering a period of "significantly higher power prices that will last for years," Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff said Thursday. In a report presented to commission members Thursday, staff said forward power prices are pointing upward in anticipation of high fuel prices and construction costs, with natural gas-fired power at the leading edge of those trends. Commmissioners responded with expressions of hope for competitive forces and energy conservation but also suggested rising power prices are for the most part inescapable. ...The FERC report also cited the North American Electric Reliability Corp. for a projection of net load growth of 14% through 2016 in the US. For the next few years, "natural gas will be crucial," Whitmore said. While wind farms are being built rapidly, gas most likely will be the dominant power source for additional generation capacity over the next decade, he said.

A Department of Energy official and a South Dakota utility regulator were among several public and private sector officials who told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 17 that the nation needs regional transmission planning and siting to meet the challenge of delivering renewable energy to population centers. ...To achieve grid reliability and support the development of clean energy, "we must harmonize the multitude of local, state and federal regulatory rules such that they complement, not conflict with each other.

Sapec SA, the third-largest supplier of crop-protection products on the Iberian Peninsula, plans to raise cash for construction of U.S. wind farms by selling other alternative-energy projects after they are completed this year. ...The wind farm projects in the U.S. are facing delays amid uncertainty about the extension of renewable-energy tax credits and problems getting the turbines from Spain, according to Velge. Naturener, which had planned to install 210 megawatts of capacity in Montana this year, will complete only 107 megawatts of the Glacier Wind project this year. The first project in Canada will not be completed until 2010, rather than in 2009.

Amid voter frustration over record-high fuel prices, U.S. Senate Democrats plan to bring up on Tuesday legislation that takes aim at oil companies, speculators and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The vote marks the Democratic party's most comprehensive response to rising gasoline, jet fuel and diesel prices, and will kick off a debate that is expected to last at least until the presidential elections in November. Republicans are expected to block the plan ...The U.S. Senate is also voting this week on whether to proceed with a tax bill that would extend tax credits for projects to generate energy from solar power, wind, and other sources of renewable energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has created a collaboration with the six leading wind turbine makers to promote advanced research and development. ...The agreement builds on the recently released DOE report '20 Percent Wind Energy in 2030' that examines the technical feasibility of harnessing wind power to provide up to 20% of the nation's total electricity needs by 2030.

State regulators welcomed wind farms into Texas' unfettered wholesale power market through a special process to designate the best wind-power production zones and to accelerate construction of power lines -- costing from $3 billion to $6 billion -- needed to link those remote areas to more populated areas of the state. However, problems that surfaced in the Texas wholesale market as wind's influence reached a critical level this spring should be a warning for the rest of the nation, said Lawrence Makovich, vice president and senior power adviser at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "Wind is not a direct substitute for conventional power supply," said Makovich. ...Wind is attractive if added in moderation, Makovich said. "It has a desirable environmental profile, but you want to incorporate a smart amount of wind," he said. "If you add too much, you may impose too much additional cost."

A local company has lost out on part of a $45 million project in the Midwest because federal tax incentives for renewable energy sources - an integral part of the economics of all renewable energy projects - are set to expire on Dec. 31. Roughly $200 million invested in two Pittsfield projects that would produce up to 50 megawatts of energy and 50 million gallons of biodiesel is also likely to be affected. Two wind turbine projects in North County that would collectively produce nearly 38 megawatts of energy could also face significant funding obstacles. ...If the extension fails, Fairbank, of EOS, said, on Jan. 1, "the industry just takes a massive blow because you just can't make the economics of these projects work without incentives."

For unscrupulous stock promoters, the ascent of clean and renewable forms of energy opens a window for investment scams. U.S. securities regulators are beginning to look at companies engaged in renewable energy, which involves generating electricity or producing fuels from sources such as the sun, the wind or switchgrass. As record-high prices for fossil fuels such as crude oil force the U.S. to rethink its reliance on traditional energy, alternative sources are getting promoted as a solution - with possible risks for investors. "The fraudsters follow the headlines, so they would be greatly remiss if they didn't package their frauds to follow the interest in renewable energy," said Denise Voigt Crawford, the Texas securities commissioner.

In Berkshire County, where three paper mills have closed and a water bottling company has balked on plans for a new facility all because of the high cost of power, small and medium-size businesses are reeling. Local economic development officials are seeing the hills that they must climb to attract new businesses — and retain existing ones — grow ever steeper as Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) continues to increase its commercial rates for power. This is the setting that U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry chose for a field hearing of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, during which local business leaders will testify on the cost of energy and the effect it is having on their ability to make a profit and maintain employment levels.

A study paid for by a group that represents oil refiners found that the global warming bill, co-authored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), would raise pump prices by around 48 cents (in 2007 currency) by 2030. It also found that the bill would increase gas prices by as much as 13 cents over the next four years. The debate highlights the difficulty lawmakers will face in trying to tackle global warming as they simultaneously try to provide economic relief to the nation's drivers. ...Opponents will use more than costs to lobby against the Warner-Lieberman bill. The NPRA study also questions whether the emissions curbs called for in Warner-Lieberman are achievable.

In an April 28 white paper on expected near-term cost increases in natural gas and electricity, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory said opposition to new coal-fired power plants is threatening a generation capacity shortage in many areas of the country and is endangering U.S. energy security in the near term. The opposition is also leading to a "dash to gas" and quickly causing a rise in natural gas prices at a time when federal climate change legislation could immediately lead to a doubling of natural gas consumption for power generation.

With northern Logan County embroiled in a controversy over a plan that would dot the rural landscape with 400-foot-tall wind turbines, a new government report is predicting that in two decades, Americans could get as much electricity from windmills as from nuclear power plants. ...If achieved, it would be an astounding leap. Wind energy today accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation's electricity, although the industry has been on a growth binge with a 45 percent jump in production last year. ...But the report cautioned that its findings were not meant to predict that such growth would, in fact, be achieved, but only that it is technically possible.