Cleantech Update

In mid-October, President Obama moved to raise the amount of credit extended to small businesses. If Congress approves his plan, the measures would enable community banks to borrow at low rates from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). It would also raise loan caps on some Small Business Administration (SBA) programs. To qualify, the banks would have to show how they would increase lending to small enterprises. The relief could not come a moment too soon. The job-creation engine known as small business has been slammed, not only because of falling demand but also because the normal flow of financing has slowed to a trickle. Small enterprises have created two-thirds of all new jobs since 1994 and they employ more than half of all private-sector employees. (The SBA's definition of a small enterprise is "an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.") In September, for the second straight month, they laid off more workers th...

Green-energy provider Lichtblick and German automaker Volkswagen are joining forces and promising to stir up the energy market with an unusual plan. Instead of relying on massive energy facilities, the average consumer may soon have a miniature power station in their basement. Chief executives of Germany's major energy suppliers usually don't have much time for their junior counterpart, Lichtblick. The Hamburg-based green-electricity provider's half a million customers may be "impressive," they say, but Lichtblick works in a niche market and is no competition for the larger companies in the industry. But things may be about to change. In the next couple of days, the relatively small company is due to reveal a new business model that could shake up the energy market quite a bit -- and not only in Germany. So, despite the fact that they currently have large power plants and considerable power over the market, things may soon turn a little less comfortable for e...

20-year fixed interest rate on SBA 504 loan projects has hit a new record low, and this is the fourth time it's happened in the last six months. I feel a bit like a broken record. Every time I turn around I'm blogging about this, emailing someone about it, or talking to another financial news outlet about it . This really is a HUGE deal. This is the first time the 20-year fixed interest rate on SBA 504 loans has dropped below 5.00% to 4.86%. The Rest @ Blue MauMau These loans can be used for comercial property purchases, including energy efficiency refinanaces. -Editor

Clean Edge Did a Cleantech Job Status Report.  Here is a summary -Editor 1 San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA 2 Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA 3 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA 4 Boston-Worcester-Lawrence-Lowell-Brockton, MA-NH 5 Washington-Baltimore, D.C.-MD-VA-WV 6 Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO 7 Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA 8 Portland-Salem, OR 9 Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI 10 Sacramento-Yolo County, CA 11 San Diego, CA 12 Austin-San Marcos, TX 13 Phoenix, AZ 14 Detroit-Ann Arbor, MI 15 Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX Solar Biofuels and Biomaterials Conservation and Efficiency Smart Grid Wind Power In Clean Edge's report, they considered the following sectors: Renewable Energy (e.g., Solar, Wind) Energy Storage Energy Conservation and Efficiency Smart Grid Devices and Networks Electric Transmission and Grid Infrastructure Biomass and Sustainable Biofuels Energy-Efficient Desalination UV Filtration Reverse ...

From the Interatinal Statesman WHAT was the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century? The motor car, perhaps, or the computer? In 2000 America’s National Academy of Engineering gave a different answer: “the vast networks of electrification”. These, the academy concluded, made most of the century’s other advances possible. But whereas cars, computers and so forth have become ever more sophisticated, power grids have remained, in essence, sets of dumb wires. Thomas Edison, a pioneer of electrification in the 1880s, would be able to run them. Power is fed into the grid from power stations in the hope that it will arrive in factories, offices and homes. To this day most utilities rely on consumers to tell them that the power is out—and may then have to put in a lot of detective work to discover the cause. This may be changing at last. A global movement is afoot to make grids “smart”. This means adding all kinds of information technology, such as sensors, digital meters an...

Thanks to Texzon Energy for puting  me onto this new program... Funding for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program under the Recovery Act totals $3.2 billion. Of this amount, approximately $2.7 billion will be awarded through formula grants. This Program was only approved three weeks ago on 9/14/09   SECO will receive approximately $45 million under the EECBG to administer to cities and counties not receiving direct EECBG allocations from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). See if your city or county received a direct EECBG allocation.   Federal Amount Available: $3.2 billion, nationally   Direct Allocations to "entitlement" Cities and Counties in Texas: $163,121,800 (Cities over 35,000/Counties over 200,000)   State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) Allocated: $45,638,100 (Cities under 35,000/Counties under 200,000)       Use of Funds   Grants can be used for energy efficiency and conservatio...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Our economy sure could use the Next Big Thing. Something on the scale of railroads, automobiles or the Internet - the kind of breakthrough that emerges every so often and builds industries, generates jobs and mints fortunes. Silicon Valley investors are pointing to something called cleantech - alternative energy, more efficient power distribution and new ways to store electricity, all with minimal impact to the environment - as a candidate for the next boom. And while no two booms are exactly alike, some hallmarks are already showing up. Despite last fall's financial meltdown, public and private investments are pouring in, fueling startups and reinvigorating established companies. The political and social climates are favorable. If it takes off, cleantech could seep into every part of the economy and our lives. Some of the biggest booms first blossomed during recessions. The telephone and phonograph were developed during the depression of the 1870s. T...