The Leaf-Chronicle

By Jimmy Settle

Published: December 29, 2008

 

In the business community, the year 2008 both began and ended with landmark events that will forever change the course of Clarksville life and commerce. In between the community felt some of the disturbing effects of an historic national economic recession, bordering on total meltdown in some areas of the country as Wall Street and Main Street both took a hard fall. Some economists have even hinted at a second Great Depression.

The Wall Street Journal

By William Tucker

Published: December 29, 2008

 

There isn't much doubt that Congress and incoming President Barack Obama will try to impose some kind of limits on carbon emissions. The Republicans, girding in opposition, are denouncing global warming as a fraud, and claiming that either a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system will impose an unacceptable burden on the economy.

The New York Times

By Ken Belson

Published: December 29, 2008

 

It is an inscrutable abbreviation often overlooked on electric bills: SBC/RPS. For the typical New York City apartment dweller, it amounts to $1.08 a month, barely enough for a cup of coffee. But the SBC portion, which stands for System Benefits Charge, helped an entrepreneurial couple in Binghamton revive a foreclosed ice rink, created a $1 million-a-year cottage industry of energy audits for a midsize engineering firm near Albany and has provided rebates to at least 19 laundromats that bought energy-efficient air-conditioners and lights.

The Leaf-Chronicle

Published: December 29, 2008

 

Funny how scoring a touchdown makes the quarterback want to cross the goal line again immediately. That's the way it must have been for Gov. Phil Bredesen recently when he exhorted the Governor's Energy Policy Task Force to get busy and figure out how to lure more alternative energy firms to Tennessee.

The Associated Press

Published: December 28, 2008

 

Johnson City officials are studying whether wind power is a feasible local energy source in the area. The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy will be testing wind for most of 2009 on Buffalo Mountain, according to Johnson City Public Works Director Phil Pindzola. "We just want to see if there is enough wind generation up there to create a revenue stream that would justify placement of wind turbines," he said.

The New York Times

By Bob Inglis and Arthur B. Laffer

Published: December 28, 2008

 

Conservatives don’t support tax increases that are veiled as “cap and trade” schemes for pollution permits. But offer us a tax swap, and we could become the new administration’s best allies on climate change. A climate-change bill withered in Congress this summer because families don’t need an enormous, and hidden, tax increase. If the bill’s authors had instead proposed a simple carbon tax coupled with an equal, offsetting reduction in income taxes or payroll taxes, a dynamic new energy security policy could have taken root.

The Tennessean

By Christina Sanchez

Published: December 27, 2008

 

Tennessee is opening its HOV lanes to solo drivers, but don't swerve to the left just yet. The new privilege is reserved for owners of hybrid vehicles — and not all of them qualify. Tennessee is joining about seven other states, including California and Arizona, which have passed laws permitting hybrids to travel in high occupancy vehicle lanes regardless of the number of passengers.

The New York Times

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

Published: December 27, 2008

 

From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.

The New York Times

By Thomas L. Friedman

Published: December 27, 2008

 

How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way? Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes, consumers stop buying those cars, the oil producers celebrate, we remain addicted to oil and prices gradually go up again, petro-dictators get rich, we lose. I’ve already seen this play three times in my life. Trust me: It always ends the same way — badly.

The Houston Chronicle

By Glenn English and Jackson E. Reasor Jr.

Published: December 27, 2008

 

The lights might go out in Virginia in two years. As media reports have noted, blackouts are likely in the commonwealth by 2011 because demand for electricity is outstripping supply and the state needs access to new sources of power. Sadly, Virginia's predicament can be seen around the country. The United States faces an energy crisis: More power generation and more transmission lines are needed, and all this must be created quickly while also meeting climate change goals.

The New York Times

By Kate Galbraith

Published: December 26, 2008

 

Old Man Winter, it turns out, is no friend of renewable energy. This time of year, wind turbine blades ice up, biodiesel congeals in tanks and solar panels produce less power because there is not as much sun. And perhaps most irritating to the people who own them, the panels become covered with snow, rendering them useless even in bright winter sunshine.

The Wall Street Journal

By Ben Casselman

Published: December 26, 2008

 

Frigid temperatures and winter storms have blanketed the country from New Orleans to Chicago this month, weather that usually leads to a spike in the price of the most popular fuel for home heating, natural gas. But not this year. Natural-gas prices remain in a slump because manufacturers, which are even bigger users of gas than chilly homeowners, have cut back their operations in response to the recession. And low demand means low prices.

The Wall Street Journal

By Russell Gold

Published: December 26, 2008

 

While Exxon Mobil Corp. has been among the most vocal skeptics of man-made causes of climate change, the company has spent the last two decades forging an expertise in one of the key technologies to combat the problem: capturing and storing carbon-dioxide emissions. Since the 1980s, an Exxon natural-gas processing plant in Wyoming has been doing just what many environmentalists say needs to happen on a global scale: capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground instead of venting it into the air. Indeed, Exxon's La Barge, Wyo., facility, for years has captured more carbon dioxide -- the most abundant greenhouse gas -- than any other facility in North America.

WBIR-TV (Knoxville)

By Kristin Abouelata

Published: December 26, 2008

 

In the past few months, energy consumption has crossed a lot of minds. It seems to be a topic of conversation among many groups of people, not just the ones you figure are conversing about it. I'm talking about people who recycled before we had curbside service, hauling their smelly milk cartons and bottles to the local recycling center. Dedicated and environmentally conscience. Now, it seems to be the talk of the town, even among those people who think a triangle with a "1" inside of it is an answer that floats up from the bottom of the Magic Eight Ball.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Published: December 26, 2008

 

The Knox Housing Partnership is proving that you don't have to be a millionaire to afford the real cost savings of energy-efficient housing.  The nonprofit recently completed construction of seven new homes in East Knoxville's Park City area, all of which have received one of the highest energy efficiency ratings in the housing industry, yet still offer affordability.

CNN Money

By Steve Hargreaves

Published: December 24, 2008

 

It looks like America may be getting a whole lot more energy efficient as part of any new stimulus plan. But how exactly will that happen? While new light bulbs, insulation and air conditioners may play well with homeowners, will they actually put enough people to work to jumpstart the economy? The energy-saving plan is expected as part of a stimulus package from lawmakers set for early January that could top $800 billion and include everything from tax breaks to road repairs.

The Washington Post

By Paul Kane and Michael D. Shear

Published: December 24, 2008

 

In one of the first internal struggles of the incoming Obama administration, environmentalists and smart-growth advocates are trying to shift the priorities of the economic stimulus plan that will be introduced in Congress next month away from allocating tens of billions of dollars to highways, bridges and other traditional infrastructure spending to more projects that create "green-collar" jobs.

The Leaf-Chronicle

Published: December 23, 2008

 

Shortly after the New Year, the first dirt will be moved at Commerce Park, signaling Clarksville's new global leadership role in the alternative energy movement. Polycrystalline silicon will be manufactured in Clarksville by 2012 when construction on the massive new plant is completed. The first 500 employees of Hemlock Semiconductor Group's planned $1.2 billion plant will create a product vital to emerging solar energy technologies and expanding electronics industries.

The Los Angeles Times

By Jim Tankersley

Published: December 23, 2008

 

Breaking America's foreign-oil addiction was all the rage on Capitol Hill when gas cost $4 a gallon. Now that it's under $2 and falling, history suggests that the enthusiasm for alternative fuels and more efficient cars will subside. It did that in the mid-1970s and again in the 1980s and 1990s. But this time could be different.

Knoxville News Sentinel

Published: December 23, 2008

 

Knox County government expects to save almost $1.5 million in utility costs in 2009 thanks to energy saving procedures being implemented at 10 county schools. Ultimately, a $10.2 million infrastructure-improvement plan was developed and is expected to save the schools more than $16 million during 15 years. The project is funded by utility savings, which is guaranteed by Trane, the county statement said.