Recently in Green Energy Category

President Elect Obama has made it clear that job creation in rebuilding the US infrastructure will be high on his agenda.  This slideshow synthesizes his energy plans from his campaign platform and recent transition activities.

Government policy and support with funding opens jobs in some areas...and closes them in other areas.  It is anticipated that military jobs could decrease and domestic infrastructure jobs could increase under the Obama administration.  This slideshow summarizes Obama's energy policies from his campaign...and points out some of the chnages due to today's economic situation.

THE WAL-MART SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARD

It’s likely that you’ll soon have to comply with your customers’ sustainability initiatives as well as your own. That's the case if you provide products for the Wal-Mart chain of retail outlets.

Wal-Mart has taken a "lifecycle approach" to packaging with objectives covering reduction in waste and renewable energy. Nine weighted parameters of Wal-Mart's sustainability scorecard are measured for their prospective and current vendors.

Wal-Mart has told its buyers that, starting in 2008, they should consider the packaging scores when choosing among various products for its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores. Matt Kistler, Vice President - Package and Product Innovations, Sam's Club Wal-Mart

Part of the challenge in rolling out greener products is informing customers about changes that affect their perception of savings. Wal-Mart's April 2008 "Earth Month" promotion is highlighting its greener products and informing customers how making better choices, especially on a large scale, can cause a difference. Wal-Mart is featuring more than 50 products in stores and 500 online, from transitional cotton shirts to mulch made from rubber to Clorox Green Works products.

The majority of Wal-Mart's environmental footprint comes from suppliers. The company has direct control on about 8 percent of its footprint, with the remaining 92 percent coming from its supply chain.

To green its supply chain the company launched a it's "Wal-Mart Packaging Scorecard" in 2007 . By filling in information about products' packaging, suppliers are rated and find out their rank in relation to peers. Kistler said Wal-Mart works with suppliers, telling them what they can do to improve and let them know what other suppliers have done to reduce packaging.

In 2007, total utility green power sales exceeded 4.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), about a 20% increase over 2006. Approximately 600,000 customers are participating in utility customer choice programs nationwide.

Green Power Marketing Industry

Utility green pricing programs are one segment of a larger green power marketing industry that counts Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities among its customers, and helps support more than 3,000 MW of new renewable electricity generation capacity.

Green Marketing Tips

NREL analysts attribute the success of many programs to persistence in marketing and creative marketing strategies, including in some cases, utility partnerships with independent green power marketers. In addition, the rate premium that customers pay for green power continues to drop.

NREL performs analyses of green power market trends and is funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle.

Energy Investment Payback Is Critical to Conservation

Energy conservation is difficult for consumers because they are caught in a "system" that promotes and benefits from more consumption.  Utility companies make more money when consumers use more energy.  Appliance manufacturers make more products when they are "sexy" with features that use more energy.  Consumers choose to be "up to date" with their neighbors and fall prey to ever growing use of energy.  They only notice it once a month on their electric bill -- and they adjust.  Conservation by family members is difficult.

Enter...a solution at the source:

Utilities may be more willing to make investments in energy savings than the average consumer. James E. Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy, supports the idea of utilities covering the upfront costs of energy-saving consumer items—such as more-efficient but costlier air conditioners for people’s homes—and then adding a small fee to the customer’s electric bill as a return on the investment.

Nancy C. Floyd of Nth Power, an investment banking firm that specializes in energy, notes that because utilities already have a relationship with individual home and building owners, they are well positioned to promote efficiency. CaliforniaGreenSolutions.com

California has changed the profit equation for utility companies -- and with a complex formula, allows utility monopolies to profit MORE from conservation than additional sales of power.