For wind-energy companies across the U.S., the pace of business in 2008 may depend a lot on dealmaking in Washington. The latest round of debate, centering on an economic stimulus bill, has taken the wind out of them. The extension of a key tax credit for wind energy set to expire at the end of 2008 was left out of the economic stimulus package, reviving uncertainty about expansion of the renewable power source at a time of record-high prices for traditional energy. ...While more than 3,000 new turbines were installed in 2007, concern about the expiration of the tax credits underscores the economic limitations of this form of alternative energy, although supporters say wind power eventually will be competitive without the help of tax credits.

In the past year, Americans spent an estimated $73 million on an invisible, intangible commodity, a "product" that's as tough to get your head around as it is to get your hands on. It's called a carbon offset, greenhouse gas allowance or half a dozen other names. In theory, it amounts to a promise to save or remove from the atmosphere the equivalent of a ton of carbon dioxide, and thus lower the threat of global warming. In Europe, where government regulation of greenhouse gases has already begun, the market for these offsets has reached nearly $70 billion a year. Should the U.S. government adopt the cap-and-trade approach Congress is now considering, America's domestic market alone could be worth $100 billion a year. But for all the money involved, Congress and U.S business interests still can't agree on what qualifies as a carbon offset or even how to measure a "negative ton" of an invisible gas - emissions that, after all, don't exist. ...Analysts predict that if Congress enacts a cap-and-trade system, this ad hoc trading will quickly evolve into the largest regulated carbon market in the world , potentially generating $20 billion of business in its first year of operation. But that kind of trade volume makes it all the more urgent to sort through in some systematic way the many claims mounted by companies that insist they are removing carbon from the air. "We're on the brink of addressing this in a mandatory way . . . but we're still dealing with the legacy of almost two decades of thinking this is a voluntary issue,"

Congress' failure to include a renewable energy tax credit in the much-touted energy bill passed late last year could chill wind-farm development in the Columbia River Gorge and elsewhere, industry and utility leaders say. For several years, wind developers have taken advantage of a tax credit based on the amount of energy a project generates. That incentive is to expire at the end of this year. "Manufacturers need to plan far beyond that," said Ditlev Engel, chief executive of the world's largest wind turbine supplier, Vestas Wind Systems of Denmark. Engel was in Portland Wednesday to address the Portland Business Alliance. The production tax credit has helped fuel three record-breaking years of wind-farm development. The American Wind Energy Association says 5,244 megawatts of wind energy were installed last year, more than double the previous two years combined.

Ontario is preparing to lift a controversial moratorium on the development of offshore wind projects in the Great Lakes that has been in place for nearly 14 months, the Toronto Star has learned. A Ministry of Natural Resources official says the department is "getting ready" to make an announcement and that new minister Donna Cansfield is "anxious to demonstrate leadership in the area." Jamie Rilett, a spokesperson in Cansfield's office, confirmed that the ministry is currently revisiting the moratorium. He said a decision would be made "shortly." Industry sources also confirmed the moratorium's end is imminent.

You can almost hear the gnashing of teeth. A Spanish company, Iberdrola, is about to acquire Energy East, the parent of New York State Electric & Gas Corp. The company has received needed approvals from the federal agencies, and it is close to receiving the endorsement of four of the five state regulatory agencies. A decision from New York regulators is still some way off. Critics of the deal express anxiety that a foreign company may eventually control electric distribution to 3 million customers in the Northeast. They wonder if it's wise to have such critical infrastructure out of the hands of a domestic owner. But the reality is that the fragmented electric industry will undergo a vast restructuring over the next decade or two.

Despite some bad news in the energy bill signed by President George W. Bush last week, construction will continue on Bureau County's wind farms, at least for now. By large margins, both the House and Senate approved the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. Biofuels boosters were heartened by a five-fold increase in the production of ethanol. The mandate for U.S.-grown biofuels is 36 billion gallons per year by 2022, up from the current level of about six billion gallons. On the other side of the coin, those looking for power from the wind lost out with the loss of the production tax credit.

Democratic party leaders in the U.S. Congress Tuesday vowed to revisit a renewable energy mandate and tax breaks in the new year. After heavy lobbying by the oil industry and the White House, Senate Republicans were able to last week block inclusion of a renewable energy standard and tax breaks meant to encourage renewable energy projects such as wind turbine and solar cell farms. "We will go back to the (renewable mandate) and try to get that legislation in the next year," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at the signing of the energy bill. "Of course, we need to have the tax credits for the private sector too," she said.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed an energy bill that lacked many alternative energy measures in the House's version, avoiding a presidential veto but missing an opportunity to boost the role of renewables in the country, according to alternative energy advocates. ...The Senate dropped a $21 billion package of tax breaks for alternative energy, which would have been paid for mostly by repealing tax breaks for big oil. The Senate's version also left out the renewable portfolio standard, which called for 15 percent of electricity generation to come from renewable sources by 2020. Mr. Wilder said there would now be less incentive for investment in the wind and solar industries. He said wind in particular needs the tax credits to make it viable.

On Capitol Hill, the Audubon Society is leading the fight to increase production of climate-friendly power. So why are Audubon enthusiasts battling a wind farm that could help meet that goal? For one thing, there are trout in nearby streams, which activists say are at risk from chemical and sediment runoff from construction of 30 turbines, each soaring about 400 feet -- taller than the Statue of Liberty. Then there are the bats and hawks, which might be puréed by the giant blades that would catch the wind gusting along the Allegheny Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. "They're enormous," says Tom Dick, a retired veterinarian who founded the local Audubon chapter. "When you start looking at this, it's like, 'hell, this is not right.'"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., late Wednesday formally moved for the second time to try to get around Republican opposition to a wide-ranging energy bill, but the fate of his effort hangs in doubt amid threats of a White House veto and resistance from a number of lawmakers. ..."It's a very close call," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM. the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who plans to vote against proceeding to the bill because he opposes measures that would raise $21.8 billion in taxes. "Even if we lose, we win," he said, noting that President George W. Bush will veto the bill. The Senate convenes at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday and holds its first vote at 9:15 a.m. Eastern time. It was expected to vote on whether to proceed to the energy bill shortly after.

Democratic leaders in the Senate plan to bring an energy bill back to the floor on Thursday, after dropping a provision that would have required utilities to generate a portion of their electricity using renewable energy sources. "We're not going to be able to keep in the bill the renewable electricity standard," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today. "That's too bad."

The Senate today threw into legislative limbo an energy bill that boosts vehicle fuel mileage standards and raises oil company taxes after failing to cut off debate on the measure. ...Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the bill would amount to a "massive tax hike and a utility rate increase for consumers across the Southeast." Senators are now expected to pare out provisions that do not have general support and come up with a streamlined bill, perhaps by next week. If that effort is successful, the measure would then have to go back to the House.

Many elements that were in the version of the energy bill passed in August by the House -- such as a requirement for utilities to use minimum amounts of renewable fuels ... -- seemed unlikely to be included, congressional sources said. ...Companies in the wind and solar energy businesses have been lobbying hard for the extension of production tax credits worth about 1.9 cents a kilowatt hour. The credits are set to expire at the end of 2008, but companies said they need an extension to plan new projects. "If that goes away, you'll see a shrinkage in the size of the industry at time when we need fuel diversity," said Peter C. Duprey, chief executive of Acciona Energy North America, a unit of a big Spanish corporation expanding in the U.S. wind and solar markets.

After two years of studying the economic impact of climate change, asset management firm AllianceBernstein has come to a seemingly paradoxical conclusion: one of the dirtiest fuels around--coal--has a bright future. Its findings, released Friday, are one of several reports issued by investment firms over the past two years which explore how industries can benefit or be harmed by climate change.

For decades, coal-fired power stations have been among the biggest contributors to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Now, as climate change moves near the top of the world agenda, a sizeable investment opportunity is emerging for coal power equipment manufacturers and companies that build power plants and coal producers. This is one of many conclusions reached at AllianceBernstein after two years of research into the investment implications of climate change. Our analysts conducted more than 500 visits and interviews with companies, consultants, scientists and legislators. ...But renewable energy is not the cure for the world's addiction to fossil fuels, our research found. Wind power, solar energy and hydropower have compelling advantages, such as inexhaustible fuel supply and minimal emissions of CO2. But initial costs, reliability and transmission problems are severe disadvantages. We expect renewable energy, including hydropower, to gain market share, growing from 17% of global electric output this year to 19.5% in 2030. But wind power will supply only 5% of total world electricity in 2030, even after a 10-fold leap in global production.

Looking east into Gilliam County and north into Washington, turbines are strung over ridgelines as far as the eye can see. And there are nowhere near enough of them. ...West Coast utilities and independent power producers are locked in a land rush to secure the best wind sites and the power they produce. Coupled with a worldwide shortage of turbines and a falling dollar, the resulting scarcity is driving up the cost of wind power, a burden electricity ratepayers will shoulder.

The University of Michigan's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. Greenhouse Gas Reductions or Greenwash? looks at utility companies that participate in the Department of Energy's Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Registry to determine if their claimed CO2 reductions equal their actual reductions. ("Greenwashing" is when a company purports to be environmentally friendly, but its actions indicate the opposite.) ..."They report on a project level, so they chose to tell you good things, but they don't tell you the bad," says Lyon, a professor of sustainable science, technology and commerce and of economics, public policy and natural resources at the University of Michigan. "We weren't trying to call out the worst companies," he says. "We're trying to show that this is pretty much a worthless number."

Shares in renewable energy companies with assets in the US could see further declines tomorrow on ongoing fears that the US energy bill might be passed this week without including tax incentives for generators and promoters of renewable energy, market sources said. ...Yesterday, website renewableenergyaccess.com reported that the Democrat house leaders in the US are preparing to cede to demands from Republicans and remove all tax breaks for renewable energy companies from the bill in order to push it through parliament before the Thanksgiving break on November 16.

Carney called the federal plan “ill-conceived and premature,” saying, “It runs counter to forward-thinking energy policies to promote sustainable ‘green’ energy alternatives that are right for Delaware and the nation.” Federal energy officials seek to establish high-energy corridors in parts of the country that suffer significant constraint on transmission or congestion problems. They say the corridors will keep reliable supplies of electricity flowing.

A provision in the national energy bill that has been stalled by Texas' two senators would probably boost the market for one of the state's fastest-growing sources of power: wind. ...Although wind farms remain expensive to build, they benefit from a federal tax incentive and have become attractive to both traditional utilities and green-power start-ups. But a national standard is opposed by many large utilities and several members of the House from Texas, including Joe Barton of Ennis. ...Skeptics who are against the renewable standard said that wind power doesn't need any more incentives. The technology has taken off so quickly that there is a two-year waiting list to buy wind turbines, said Sen. Pete Domenici, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.