As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in February 2009, Congress provided $3.2 billion in stimulus funds to promote energy and conservation projects at the state and local levels. Both investors and environmentalists were jubilant.

Now the cheers have turned to groans.

According to a Department of Energy audit report, as of August 1st, only $269.7 million of the funds had been spent—a mere 8.4% of the total.

/// Read more…

Consumers are thinking twice about investing in oil companies.

According to a survey from Edward Jones, 65% of Americans are reluctant to buy oil company stocks, and women are more wary than men.

/// Read more…

Investors and managers involved in sustainability businesses do not operate in a vacuum, cut off from indicators in the broader economy, so when the Dow fell 268.22 points yesterday, due to a “a sharp decline in US consumer confidence add[ing] to investors’ worries about the global economy,” as the Wall Street Journal reported, everyone notices.

But, when looked at over the course of the year, while the consumer index did drop in June after rising for three months, it is not even at the year’s low. In fact, it about where it stood at the end of 2009, 53.9.

No real surprise.

“Until the pace of job growth picks up, consumer confidence is not likely to pick up,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

The numbers are based on what was happening three years ago, but they are from the latest Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) report, “Measuring the Green Economy.”

According to the ESA, in 2007 green services and businesses jobs ranged from 1.8 million (narrow) to 2.4 million (broad) green jobs—less than 2% of the total US work force.

/// Read more…

The government works in a different time frame than most businessespeople.

The “Measuring the Green Economy” report, just issued by the Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), contains the US government’s latest estimate of the size of the green market—it’s for 2007.

The ESA estimates that—at best—green products and services comprised only 2% of the private US business economy in 2007. Measured on a broad scale, that would put the total US green market for the year at $516 billion.

/// Read more…

A couple from Pennsylvania installed a small-scale solar panel on their roof reducing their energy use by one metric ton of carbon. The low-carbon energy produced earned them a personal carbon credit which they sold for $17.20 to My Emissions Exchange, a carbon-credit aggregator. An equipment manufacture in Ohio then purchased the voluntary carbon credit to off-set its own emissions.

From such small beginnings a new consumer market is arising—the personal carbon credit.

Ecosystem Marketplace and New Energy Finance, a division of Bloomberg, estimated the personal carbon credit market more than doubled in 2008, reaching $704.8 million.

/// Read more…

What if wind comprised 20% of the nation’s energy profile by 2030?

According to the “20% Wind Energy by 2030″ report, issued by the Department of Energy (DOE), greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 825 million metric tons annually, 4 trillion gallons of water would be saved, and over 1.75 million jobs would be created.

The cost? The DOE estimates that the 20% wind scenario will cost roughly 2% more than the $2 trillion necessary to keep the US powered under the “no new wind” scenario which keeps wind at 2006 levels—an incremental investment of $43 billion.

But, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), current installed capacity is only slightly more than 35,000 megawatts, a far cry from the over 300,000 megawatts required for 20% wind energy by 2030.

/// Read more…

As a result of corporations’ increasing focus on energy efficiency and the availability of funding, the Energy Service Company (ESCO) market is projected to grow 250% by 2020.

Pike Research estimates that the market will reach $37.6 billion by 2020 with accelerated Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing.

Without the additional bond financing Pike estimates the ESCO market will reach $19.9 billion.

/// Read more…