Verde Summer 2010

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DATELOS ANGELES

JANUARY 23-25,

2011



Select videos from VX2010: The

VERDEXCHANGE Green Marketmakers

Conference are available at verdexchange.org.

Newly-elected Prime Minister of Great

Britain David Cameron and Deputy PrimeMinister Nick Clegg vowed to make the

formation of a low-carbon economy one of

the centerpieces of their coalition government,

pledging to deliver a “full programme of

measures” designed to deliver deep cuts in

greenhouse gas emissions.

Christiana Figueres, a veteran climate

change negotiator from Costa Rica, has been

appointed as the United Nation’s head climate

change negotiator. She replaces Yvo de Boer,

who is leaving after four years as head of the

United Nations’s Framework Convention

on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for a job atKPMG.

Roelof van Ark, a senior executive with

more than 30 years experience as an engineer

and manager for some of the world’s leading

transportation companies, has been named

as CEO of the California High-Speed Rail

Authority.

L.A. Metro General Manager Art Leahy

announced that Martha Welbourne will

be head of planning for the L.A. County

transportation agency.

United Airlines filled one engine of an

Airbus 319 with a 40/60 mix of synthetic jet

fuel during a commercial flight, a first for the

industry.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has ac-

quired London-based Climate Exchange in a

£397 million deal.

BYD-America announced recently that it

will base North American operations in Los

Angeles. The BYD headquarters will focus

on marketing, sales, technical support and lo-

cal product design and training and sales ser-

vice for BYD’s green vehicles, solar panels

and battery storage stations.Offshore Valuation Group completed the

first study to put a financial value on the UK’s

offshore renewable energy resource, conclud-

ing that the nascent sector could transform the

country into a net energy exporter by 2050.

Vestas, the Danish wind turbine manufac-

turer, has announced the largest deal in its

history, an agreement to provide Portuguese

wind power firm EDP Renovaveis with at

least 1,500 megawatts worth of turbines.

Electric vehicle maker Fisker Automotive

is nearing the $1 billion mark in funding.

Heal the Bay honored AECOM Executive

Jack Baylis this month for his eight years of

service to the environmental organization.

The U.K. has installed 1 gigawatt worth of

offshore wind farms, enough to power 700,000homes. The U.K. now has 11 offshore wind

farms with a total of 336 installed turbines.

Cisco has replaced IBM in the top spot of

the latest Greenpeace Cool IT Leaderboard.

The leaderboard evaluates IT companies

based on their tech-enabled solutions to help

make companies greener.

Swiss engineering firm ABB has announced

plans to acquire U.S.-based smart grid software

specialist Ventyx in a $1 billion deal.

The U.S. EPA has asked Congress to

support “polluter pays” legislation mirroring

the Superfund Reinvestment Act. Passing thislegislation would not only remove the burden

on taxpayers for cleaning up hazardous waste,

but would also rehabilitate property for

development and address community health

issues such as contaminated groundwater.

U.S.-based solar installation and financing

company SolarCity has announced the

acquisition of Building Solutions, a green

building firm specializing in home energy

evaluations. The move signals a shift into the

energy efficiency business for SolarCity.

2010 is on track to be the hottest year ever

according to data published by the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Solar Energy Industry Association

(SEIA) has published a report suggesting

that extending the Treasury Grant Program

by two years would boost investment in solar

projects by $21 billion between 2010 and

2016, creating another 67,000 jobs by 2015.

Moreover, the extension would deliver a

net boost to tax revenues over the next five

years.

The Republican candidate for governor in

California, Meg Whitman, has not as yetendorsed a November ballot initiative that

would repeal AB 32, despite an earlier call for

a one-year moratorium on AB 32.

Frederick O. Terrell has rejoined Credit

Suisse as vice chairman of the Investment

Banking Department.

The UN has issued a warning that unless

the recycling rates for rare earth metals are

significantly increased, resources for use in

solar panels, electric car batteries, and other

clean technologies could become nearly un-

available. •••









A recent report by Apollo Alliance and Good Jobs

First called, “Winning the Race: How AmericaCan Lead the Global Clean Energy Economy”

found the U.S. could miss out on 100,000 clean

energy manufacturing jobs by 2015 and 250,000

by 2030 if it fails to commit to developing

a domestic manufacturing sector capable of

meeting demand for the parts, systems and

components of the clean energy economy. China

is currently the winning the race to become the

global leader of the clean energy manufacturing

sector. China’s investment in clean energy

technology is estimated to equal $12.6 million

every hour. Together, Japan and South Korea

have invested more than four times as much

in clean energy than the U.S. The American

Recovery and Reinvestment Act invested $110

billion in clean energy. The report cites Obama

administration statistics estimating that 826,000

clean energy jobs have already by created by

the stimulus package. The Recovery Act is also

expected to create 30,000 manufacturing jobs in

the clean energy sector.

Reacting to the defeat of a Republican plan toblock the Environmental Protection Agency

from regulating climate-changing emissions,

President Obama again cited the urgent need

to pass clean-energy and climate legislation

and said that the time has come to put a price

on carbon dioxide pollution, vowing to find the

votes for legislation supporting such action this

year. According to reports, however, behind

the scenes, his advisers are working on a more

modest package of energy-saving measures

that stop well short of an effort to cap carbon

emissions across all sectors of the economy.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic

leader, has also signaled that he is open to

patching together a series of limited energy

measures rather than trying to push through a big

climate bill like one sponsored by Senators John

Kerry (D-Massachusetts) and Joe Lieberman

(I-Connecticut).

Vice President Biden announced the dispersal

of $106 million in Recovery Act funding for

“disruptive” clean technology projects in the

fields of carbon capture, biofuels, electric

vehicle batteries, and fuel cells. The funding was

distributed to 37 clean tech projects in 17 statesthrough the Department of Energy’s Advanced

Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

Institutions receiving portions of the funding

include Harvard University, the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, and the GE Global

Research Center.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

has issued a report entitled “Climate Change

Indicators in the United States”, which measures

24 separate indicators showing how climatechange affects the health and environment of U.S.

citizens. According to the assistant administrator

for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, the

indicators demonstrate that climate change is a

very real problem with impacts that are already

being seen and felt today.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA),

an independent federal statistics and analysis

agency has reported that the United States

achieved a record setting 7 percent decline in

CO2 emission in 2009. The 7 percent drop is

the largest absolute and the largest percentage

decline since the EIA began keeping records in

1949. The EIA report points to the economic

downturn as well as a general trend toward a less

energy intensive economy and energy supply as

the main reasons for the decline in greenhouse

gas emissions.

China’s largest wind power producer, LongyuanPower Group, is reportedly planning to invest

approximately 92 billion yuan to develop clean

energy over the next five years. Company

president Xie Changjun said in an interview with

Bloomberg that Longyuan plans to install at least

16 gigawatts worth of wind turbines in China

and overseas by 2015. The firm is the fifth largest

producer of wind power globally and has a goal

of becoming the third largest by 2012. Longyuan

uses primarily Chinese suppliers whose prices are

roughly 20 percent less than their foreign rivals.

AWS Truewind, in collaboration with the Natio

Renewable Energy Laboratory, has released n

wind resource maps and wind potential tables the Unites States. The new data marks the fi

state-by-state update of wind energy potent

since 1993. The data now makes it easier for st

and federal agencies to provide valid evidence

wind potential when promoting the renewab

energy source. The estimates and maps we

created with a weather modeling system a

further advanced with data from wind monitori

stations.

Massachusetts utility National Grid and Ca

Wind have announced an agreement for the util

to buy 50 percent of the power generated by t

controversial 130-turbine beginning in 2013. T

could result in an average monthly utility b

increase of about $1.59 for a typical resident

customer. Cape Wind won federal approval

complete the offshore wind farm after a nine-y

review process. National Grid will pay 20.7 ce

per kilowatt hour for power and energy credits

2013, and their payments will increase 3.5 perc

each year thereafter. The agreement covers abo

half of the planned output.

The Governors of California, Oregon, a

Washington have released eight issue-speci

work plans to improve and sustain the hea

of the three states’ shared coastal and oce

resources and the communities that depe

on them. With $500,000 in new funding fro

the federal government, projects funded

existing federal and state investments w

continue and the three states will begin

look at which projects to start next. In 200

governors Schwarzenegger, Kulongoski, a

Gregoire committed to taking action to prote

the states’ shared coastal and ocean resources

July 2008, the three governors released a W

Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Hea

(WCGA) Action Plan that identified comm

ocean and coastal management priorities. T

regional agreement was the first of its kind

the West Coast and also aligns well with fede

planning efforts currently under way under t

Obama administration’s Ocean Policy Ta

Force, established in 2009.



According to new data from the Geothermal

Energy Association (GEA), the U.S. geothermal

power industry enjoyed strong growth in 2009.Their report shows that geothermal developers

completed seven new projects in 2009, adding

nearly 176 megawatts of geothermal energy

capacity in five different states, up from just

61 megawatts added on 2008. Additionally, the

number of confirmed projects in development

has risen to 152, a 26 percent increase from last

year. Nevada leads the way with three gigawatts

worth of projects in development. GEA chief

executive director Karl Gawell explained that

the sector had been driven by federal stimulus

funds, tax incentives, and strong state renewable

standards.

The U.S. military and Department of Defense, who

account for 80 percent of the government’s total

energy consumption, have pledged to invest in the

“Great Green Fleet” and to reduce their dependence

on oil and coal, according to a report by the Pew

Charitable Trusts. The report states that the military

has found that climate change may lead to domestic

and international instability by threatening water

and food supplies. Pew also reports that for every

$10 that the price of oil rises, Department of Defense costs increase an additional $1.3 billion

per year on average.

As a result of the damage caused to the environment

by the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,

Governor Schwarzenegger has abandoned support

of any proposed offshore drilling off the coast of

Santa Barbara County. The governor no longer

included funding for the proposed Tranquillon

Ridge project in the revised budget proposal that

he submitted in late May. His January budget plan

included $100 million in advance royalties for the

project and counted on that revenue to prevent

cutbacks in state parks.

An analysis of 2000-2008 census data by the

Brookings Institute found that in a reversal of

previous trends, America’s suburbs are now more

likely to be home to minorities, the poor, and the

elderly, as younger, educated whites move into

cities for jobs. For the first time, a majority of

racial and ethnic groups in large metropolitan

areas live outside the city limits. The suburbs

also now claim the largest poor population andare home to the vast majority of baby boomers

age 55 to 64. Brookings’ recommendations

for the nation’s growing race and age divide

include affordable housing and social services

for older people in the suburbs, better transit

systems to link cities and suburbs, and a new

federal office that would serve the education and

citizenship needs of a rapidly growing immigrant

community.

In a loss for the measure’s main backer, PacificGas and Electric Co., voters in California

narrowly defeated a ballot initiative that would

have limited the ability of local governments

to enter the electricity business. PG&E,

California’s largest utility, sank more than $46

million into its campaign for Proposition 16,

which would have forced cities and counties to

win the approval of two-thirds of voters before

spending public money to start or join a public

power agency.

Tesla Motors Inc. announced that it will making

electric cars next year in the Fremont, CA,

Nummi auto factory that Toyota and General

Motors Co. recently closed. Toyota Motor Corp.

is investing $50-million in Tesla Motors Inc. to

help finalize the deal. The Fremont plant closed

in April. The closure displaced about 5,000 auto

workers, many of whom were members of the

United Auto Workers union. When it reopens,

the plant will employ about 1,000 workers, who

will assemble Tesla’s Model S electric sedan.

Tesla previously considered locating its factoryin Downey, Long Beach, and cities outside of

California. The move disappointed Downey

officials who had been hoping the company would

locate manufacturing in a closed facility that had

been used to manufacture the space shuttle.

In January of this year, Project Better Place

announced that it was the midst of raising $350

million in order to help build out its network

of electric battery charging and swap stations

nations like Israel and Denmark. According

a filing by the SEC, Better Place has achiev

its goal, marking one of the largest rounds fclean tech in history. The round was led by HSB

Group, which will put in $125 million and ow

ten percent of the company’s shares. Founder a

CEO Shai Agassi has stated that the company

planning to deploy between 15,000 and 20,0

charging stations for both Israel and Denmark

Solar developer First Solar has moved to reinfor

its dominance of the U.S. solar market by acquiri

rival solar farm developer NextLight in a deal wo

nearly $285 million. The acquisition will giFirstSolar access to a 1,100 megawatt solar proje

pipeline in the southwestern U.S. and cement

position as the largest solar utility operator

North America. The deal will give FirstSolar 5

megawatts worth of NextLight projects, includi

a number of deals with Pacific Gas & Electric.

Solar Millennium LLC will develop three sol

project sites in the deserts of California that w

have the capacity to generate enough electricity

power more than 500,000 households. According

Governor Schwarzenegger’s office, the electric

generated by each plant will also prevent a quar

megaton of greenhouse gas emissions from bei

emitted into the atmosphere. This reduction

equivalent to taking roughly 40,000 cars off t

road each year. The Californian desert is a prim

location for solar installations due to its high so

radiation levels—more than 300 cloudless da

per year—and proximity to major load centers

California, Arizona, and Nevada.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven C

today announced the selections of projects f

investment of up to $62 million over five years

research, develop, and demonstrate concentrati

solar power (CSP) systems capable of providi

low-cost electrical power. The funding w

support improvements in CSP systems a

components as well as improvements in therm

energy storage to accelerate the market-readine

of CSP technology. •••











CODA Automotive

CODA announced May 19 the close of a $58 million Series C investment round,

increasing total invested capital to more than $125 million. Funding will be used

to support the market entry of CODA’s all-electric sedan and to commercialize

production of CODA’s transportation and utility application lithium-ion battery

systems within Lio Energy Systems, CODA’s battery system manufacturing joint

venture with Lishen Power Battery.

























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Verde Summer 2010