Energy & Sustainability

This week, two highly anticipated visits have captivated the attention of the nation’s capital and the world. President Obama welcomed both Pope Francis and Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington, with climate change concerns on top of each agenda.

Although there are a variety of barriers to expanding clean technology’s reach across the United States, there are also numerous ways to optimize policy that will streamline renewable energy and cleantech at ever greater scales.

This week, the House had hearings on several energy policy issues, including the crude oil export ban, the electric grid, and a broad bipartisan energy package. Also in D.C., President Obama continues his busy fall climate agenda as he prepares for Pope Francis’ visit, which will partly center on the Pope’s environmentally focused encyclical Laudato Si.

On Thursday, September 10, The New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC) hosted its third annual Legislative Roundup. The event brought together clean energy advocates and technology developers from around the Northeast to discuss the region’s latest policies and their impact on residents, businesses, and other key entities.

Mintz attorney Kristin Gerber garnered recognition in a Huffington Post article last week for her work in the social entrepreneurship sector.  Kristin was highlighted as one of the Hult Prize Foundation’s “Great Partners” – people who have engaged directly with teams competing for the Hult Prize to create value – for the services she has provided to Hult Prize competitors over the past few months. 

Interested in upcoming events in the energy technology industry? Look no further! Our blog features an events page dedicated to listing happenings around the globe. Click here to view it – and feel free to add this page to your favorites list!

Congress is officially back in session, and several important energy-related issues loom on the horizon, including TSCA reform and a tax extenders package that could potentially impact renewable energy tax credits. 

With Congress out of session over the past few weeks, President Obama continued to make climate change and clean energy a key part of his agenda. In addition to visits to New Orleans and Alaska focused on climate change, the president also announced a number of key initiatives designed to incentivize and reward innovators in the clean technology sector.   

On August 24, President Obama directed the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to allow homeowners to purchase and refinance properties with Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans when those loans are subordinated to an FHA-insured mortgage. 

The Obama Administration’s release of the final Clean Power Plan kicked off a busy second half of the year for climate and energy policy issues.

In late July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a ruling to help ISO-New England more effectively manage congestion on its grid due to growing renewable energy generation.

In August, the U.S. Department of Energy released its 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report. The report, released annually for the past three years, tracks American progress in wind related areas including installed capacity, prices, jobs, and technological trends, among several others.

After an action packed few weeks for energy and environmental policy in Washington, Congress is in recess until after Labor Day. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is currently managing reactions to the Clean Power Plan – both positive and negative.

Great clean energy ideas need venture capital to build, scale, and make revenue – but who knows how it really works? Last week, our own VC attorney Jeremy Glaser sat down with Oren Klaff, author of Pitch Anything, on his Done Deal web video series.

This week in Washington was filled with long awaited energy and climate developments. The Obama Administration revealed the final Clean Power Plan after a lengthy rulemaking and comment process.

Last Wednesday UPS agreed to purchase up to 46 million gallons of renewable diesel over the course of the next three years from the energy companies Neste, Renewable Energy Group, and Solazyme. 

President Obama unveiled the final Clean Power Plan (CPP) this past weekend – the first ever national standard to address CO2 pollution from power plants. The CPP sets strong standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 while maintaining energy reliability and affordability.  For the plan highlights and analysis, read on!

As Congress closes in on the August recess, bipartisan energy bills have emerged from both the House and Senate. While these and tax extenders are on Capitol Hill's energy related agenda, the Obama Administration prepares to publish the much anticipated final Clean Power Plan. For more, click here for the latest update from ML Strategies.

On July 8, the U.S. Energy Department, during the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative’s Southeast Regional Summit, announced the national laboratories who will take the lead in implementing a new Small Businesses Vouchers Pilot.

Congress is hard at work leading up to the August recess, with major focuses that include No Child Left Behind reform, tax extenders, and broad energy packages.