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…

According to the “AWEA: Mid-Year 2010 Market Report,” released by the American Wind Energy Association, only 700 megawatts (MW) of US wind power installations were added in the second quarter of 2010, dropping by 57% and 71% from 2008 and 2009 levels, respectively.

As the release stated: “Wind power’s boom-and-bust cycles not only cause layoffs but also discourage investment in new manufacturing facilities. In effect, the US is losing the clean energy manufacturing race to Europe and China, which have firm, long-term renewable energy targets and policy commitments in place.”

As the New York Times blog Green put it, “What a difference an oil spill makes.”

Californians’ wariness of offshore drilling dates back to the Santa Barbara spill of 1969, but the Gulf of Mexico spill seems to have shifted public sentiment in the state quickly, even father away from offshore drilling—and toward a more activist view on global warming.

A poll taken by Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) shows that after favoring offshore drilling for the past two years, Californians now oppose drilling off the coast, 59% to 36%.

That is a sizable 16-point shift in opinion from last year, when only 43% were opposed to offshore drilling.

/// Read more…

For more charts from the GE report cited above, see 88% of US Consumers Favor the Use of Smart Grid Devices.

The NBC News / WSJ poll found that seven in 10 Americans are worried the Gulf oil spill will have a major effect on the economy, and 50% disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the disaster.

Blame it on the poor pelicans, but a New York Times/CBS News poll that examined public reaction to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico found the vast majority of Americans think the US needs to fundamentally overhaul its energy policies.

Only 6% of respondents felt US energy policy was basically sound.

/// Read more…

Note: “29% of FTSE Eurofirst300 listed companies have some commitment to linking remuneration to ESG performance—although concerns exists around the extent to which performance targets are set as ’soft targets’ thereby guaranteeing a minimum level of bonus.” Quoted from Eurosif Remuneration theme report press release.

On Tuesday, April 20, the first reports came in: the offshore drilling platform Deepwater Horizon had exploded and was on fire. Eleven oil workers lost their lives. Since then, after the rig collapsed into the sea and an oil slick slowly spread across the Gulf of Mexico to endanger wildlife and livelihoods in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, the public has been transfixed—and pollsters have been hard at work.

Previously in favor of offshore drilling (see Green Chart of the Day: 4/19/10), public opinion has shifted. US consumers—and voters— now want environmental protection legislation.

A poll for the Clean Energy Works, conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group, showed 61% of 2010 voters would now support a bill to “limit pollution, invest in domestic energy sources and encourage companies to use and develop clean energy.”

/// Read more…

Canada is losing out on 66,000 jobs because the country is not matching renewable energy investments made by the US government.

At least that is the point of view of a report, “Falling Behind: Canada’s Lost Clean Energy Jobs,” released by BlueGreen Canada, an alliance of the United Steelworkers and Environmental Defense Canada group.

In fact, according to figures from the “Taking Stock of the Green Stimulus” report, issued in November 2009 by HSBC, Canada lags behind the US in green stimulus funds (as measured in US dollars) $2.8 billion to $94.1 billion.

/// Read more…

Only “one-third of the roughly $90 billion ($60.7 billion in direct spending and $29.5 billion in tax incentives) targeting the clean-energy sector has actually hit the street.”
—Christian Science Monitor, February 18, 2010.

In February, eMarketerGreen covered the introduction of the five-cent bag tax in Washington DC (see Does Anyone Use Reusable Bags?). The results have been nothing short of astounding.

Based on numbers released by the Washington Post, in the months prior to the tax—on average—22.5 million bags were used each month. In January 2010, the first month after implementation, only 3 million bags were handed out.

That equates to an 87% reduction in plastic bag use.

/// Read more…

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are over 9,000 Energy Star buildings in the US, and the city with the most of them is Los Angeles, followed by the nation’s capital, Washington DC.

/// Read more…