ACORE in the News

At the Western Governors Association's annual meeting yesterday, senior-level administration officials, including Secretaries Chu, Salazar, and Vilsack, announced a number of measures to help develop the West's renewable energy resource potential and bring the renewable electricity to population centers.  The measures include funding for regional transmission planning, state electricity regulators, biomass utilization, and increased grid reliability.  The announcement also called for the creation of renewable energy zones in eleven states.  These measures are expected to increase the rate of project development in Western states, including transmission upgrades and development.

In the last 15 years, the top five oil companies have spent around $5 billion to develop sources of renewable energy, according to Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy, an industry trade group. This represents only 10 percent of the roughly $50 billion funneled into the clean-energy sector by venture capital funds and corporate investors during that period, he said.

“Big Oil does not consider renewable energy to be a mainstream business,” Mr. Eckhart said. “It’s a side business for them.”

Read the full story in the New York Times.

At the founding conference for IRENA, pv magazine spoke with Michael Eckhart, president and founder of ACORE (American Council on Renewable Energy) about how the agency should be organized and what it will take to get the United States on board.

View the article. 

The end-users of renewable energy equipment and services in the
rural areas will create a domestic market for China's renewable energy
industry. This will be a breakthrough. China will reposition itself
from an exporter to a domestic supplier of renewable energy equipment.
Additionally, with increased domestic implementation of clean
technologies, Chinese consumers will benefit from reduced prices
through economies of scale. To meet this end, China will protect itself
from the fluctuating international oil prices and a diminished export
market. National security, energy security, and economic security can
be realized simultaneously.

Renewable and alternative energy advocates looking to score politically by
moving their issue into the realm of national security debates notched a victory
Monday when President-elect Barack Obama picked
retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones to become his national security adviser.