New Certified Homes Command 18% Price Premium in
2009-2010 More Than One in Five Homes
Achieve a Sustainability Standard

PORTLAND, Ore., June 16, 2010 - While fewer new homes were built in the past year in the Portland metropolitan area than in the previous year, the market share of third party certified homes increased. Twenty three percent (23%) of all newly constructed homes in the Portland metropolitan area sold between May 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010 received a third party certification. This finding is based upon data reported by the Portland area RMLS to Earth Advantage Institute.

The term “certified home” refers to homes that received an Earth Advantage, Energy Star, or LEED for Homes designation, or a combined Earth Advantage/Energy Star designation. Certification and sales information is reported by participating real estate brokers to RMLS. The Portland metropolitan area region includes Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia, Washington and Yamhill Counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington.

This finding continues a three year trend in which the market share of certified homes in the Portland region has increased. Please see Table One below for detail.

Homes with a third party certification sold for more than their non-certified counterparts, both in the new home and existing home markets. New homes in the six county Portland region sold for 18% more, while existing homes with a certification sold for 23% more.

“As energy efficiency and healthier homes gain more attention, builders and homeowners increasingly place value on home certification,” said Sean Penrith, executive director, Earth Advantage Institute. “It is very encouraging to see the market share of certified homes continue to rise over the past three years despite the difficulties in residential markets.”

RMLS reports sales data by county. Table Three below provides more detailed information on the range of price premiums observed in different parts of the Portland metropolitan area. Clark County, WA was the one area in the metropolitan region where newly constructed certified homes did not sell for more. However, certified existing homes in Clark County continued the trend. As a group, existing homes with a sustainable certification in Clark County sold for an average of $278,400 versus $234,100 for homes without such a certification, or 16% more.

The Portland area RMLS first began collecting information about home certification in the spring of 2007. It is the first RMLS in the country to do so.

About Earth Advantage Institute
Earth Advantage Institute works with homeowners, homebuyers, builders, and developers to bring the most energy efficient, sustainable, and healthy homes to the market. The organization is an independent, nonprofit resource group that certifies homes and communities based on conformance to ENERGY STAR®, Earth Advantage®, or LEED® for Homes standards. Earth Advantage Institute also offers education classes and has a showroom at its national center in Portland, Oregon. Earth Advantage Institute has certified more than 11,000 new homes. Earth Advantage Institute would like to thank the Portland Regional Multiple Listing Service for its assistance in compiling this information. For more information, contact Tom Breunig, Director of Marketing tbreunig@earthadvantage.org (503) 968-7160 x 36.

1.  Foreclosures need a huge amount of work.  92 percent of consumers expressed that if they bought a foreclosure, they would be willing to make home improvements after they closed the deal, with 65 percent being willing to invest 20 percent or less of the purchase price.  Although stories of foreclosures missing plumbing and every electrical fixture are very memorable, many foreclosed homes need only the (relatively inexpensive) cosmetics that many new homeowners want to customize no matter what kind of home they’re buying: paint, carpet, etc.

2.  Foreclosures sell at massive discounts, compared to other homes.  Almost every member – 95 percent – of the surveyed group expected to pay less for a foreclosed home than for a similar, non-foreclosed home; 18 percent had realistic expectations of less than a 25 percent discount.  However, 36 percent expected to receive a bargain basement discount of 50 percent or more off the value of a similar non-foreclosure.  Reality check: while foreclosures might be discounted massively from what the former owner paid or owed, their discounts are much more modest when compared to their value on today’s market and the prices of similar homes.

3.  Buying a foreclosure is risky.  49% of respondents said they perceived buying a foreclosure as risky.  And yes - buying a foreclosure at the auction on the county courthouse steps can have risks, including the risk the new owner will take on the former’s owner’s liens and other loans.  But most buyers looking for foreclosures are looking at bank-owned properties, which are listed on the open market with other, ‘regular’ homes.  Buying these homes is really no more risky than buying a non-foreclosed home.

4.  You can’t get inspections on the property when you buy a foreclosed home.  County auction foreclosures don’t often offer the ability for buyers to have the homes inspected.  But virtually all bank-owned properties for sale on the open market not only allow, but encourage buyers to obtain every inspection they deem necessary. This is because almost every bank sells their foreclosed homes as-is, and they want to avoid later liability.  It’s in everyone’s best interests to make sure that the buyer has full information about the property’s condition before they close the deal.

5.  There are hidden costs to watch out for when buying a foreclosed home.  Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents who felt there is a negative stigma to buying a foreclosure expressed the concern that buying a foreclosure poses the danger of hidden costs. At some foreclosure auctions, there are buyer’s premiums and other hefty fees that can really add up and take a chunk out of the effective savings the buyer stood to realize. However, when you buy a bank-owned property that is listed for sale with a real estate agent, the closing costs are the same as they would be if you bought a non-foreclosed home. Overdue property taxes, HOA dues and other bills left behind by the defaulting homeowner are cleared by the bank that owns a foreclosed home before it is sold on the market, though these items should be watched out for if you buy a home at the county foreclosure auction.

6.  Foreclosures are more likely to lose their value than “regular” homes. Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults who believed there are downsides to buying foreclosed properties believed this myth. In fact, because foreclosures often offer a discount from the home’s current market value, they may offer some degree of insulation from further depreciation.  Whether a home loses its value or not has to do with the dynamics of the local market, including the area’s supply of homes, demand for homes, interest rates and the health of the employment market – not with whether the home was or was not a foreclosure at the time it was purchased.

7.  Most foreclosures happen when homeowners just walk away.  Out of homeowners with a mortgage, only 1 percent said walking away from their home would be their first choice if they were unable to pay their mortgage.  And a whopping 59 percent of mortgage-holders said they wouldn’t walk away from their home – no matter how upside down they were on their mortgage. Most foreclosures happen when the owners lose their jobs or their mortgage adjusts to the point where they absolutely cannot pay the mortgage, no matter how hard they try.  Voluntary ‘walk-away’s are simply not as popular as many people think.

8.  When you buy a foreclosure, you should lowball the bank – they are desperate to get these homes off their books.  Stories about in the press abound about the large numbers of foreclosed homes the banks have on their books.  We’ve all heard the adage that banks have no interest in owning these properties.  But the real deal is that they’re simply not desperate enough to give these places away.  Also, the banks mostly service the defaulted loans – they don’t own them.  Various groups of investors do, and they hold the banks accountable to selling the bank-owned property at as high a price as possible, helping them cut their losses.  Many banks won’t even consider lowball offers, and many bank-owned properties actually sell for above the asking price.  Before a bank will take a lowball offer, they will almost always reduce the list price first, and see if that attracts a higher offer than the lowball one they have in hand.

9.  You need to be able to pay in cash in order to buy a foreclosure.  Again, if you buy a foreclosed home on the county courthouse steps, you might need to bring a cashier’s check and be ready to pay for the place on the spot.  By contrast, bank-owned homes are bought through a more normal real estate transaction, which means buyers can obtain a mortgage to finance the home just like they would if the home weren’t a foreclosure. It is true, though, that in some markets, banks prefer offers from cash buyers, but this tends to be in situations where the property’s condition is pretty dire, and the bank knows this may make it hard for a buyer to obtain financing.

10.  It’s easier to buy a foreclosure with bad credit if you get a mortgage with the same bank that owns the property.  Think about it: why would the bank want to end up with the same property as a foreclosure, again? Well, that’s what would happen if they allowed buyers with low credit scores to buy their foreclosures just to earn the interest on the mortgage. In reality, many banks do offer incentives like lower fees or closing cost credits for buyers who use their bank for their mortgage. But the buyers must meet the same credit, income and other qualification standards as anyone else would to seal the deal. 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)—If you’re delinquent on your mortgage, your credit score will suffer. Everyone knows that. The question is, by how much?

Until recently, those answers were hard to come by. Credit bureaus were uncommunicative about expressing, in points, just how much impact different foreclosure types of mortgage delinquencies have on scores.

Recently, Fair Isaac, which developed FICO scores, pulled back the curtain a bit, revealing some estimates of point-score declines following mortgage delinquency problems.

Here are the average hit your credit will take:

30 days late: 40 - 110 points

90 days late: 70 - 135 points

Foreclosure, short sale or deed-in-lieu: 85 - 160

Bankruptcy: 130 - 240

To come to these figures, Fair Isaac created two hypothetical consumers, one who starts out with a fair-to-middling score of 680 and the other with a very good one of 780. (FICO scores range from 300 to 850.)

The hypothetical person with the 780 FICO has 10 credit accounts versus six for the 580, plus a longer credit history, lower utilization of total credit limit and no missed payments on any account. The other consumer has two slightly damaged accounts. Neither have any accounts in collection or adverse public records.

See the chart above to see how each scenario affected each borrower.

Notice that for both borrowers a single one-time black mark results in steep drops, but it is when they fall further behind that things get really harsh, according to Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair Isaac.

“The lending industry tends to regard an account differently when it has become 90 or more days late,” he said, “The likelihood that consumers will resume paying their overdue obligations drops off significantly after the delinquencies have reached 90 days.”

One reason credit companies were so closed-mouthed is that they often can’t definitively state how much each delinquencies will affect scores because there are too many variables.

Some borrowers will fall much more steeply than others for the same payment problem, according to Maxine Sweet, vice president for public education at Experian, one of the nation’s main credit bureaus.

“If you picture someone who has just one mortgage and one other credit account versus a mature credit user like me with 15 accounts, if they miss one payment that would impact their scores a lot more,” she said. “For me, one missed payment would just be a blip.”

The point loss also depends on the borrower’s starting point: People with very high credit scores have more to lose than low-score borrowers; the impact of a single blemish on an 800 score is more than on a 500.

0:00 /2:23Homeowners overtaxed
Of course, it just gets worse when you face foreclosure.

Mortgage borrowers can lose their homes three basic ways: a foreclosure; a short sale, where the home is sold for less than than is owed and the bank (generally) forgives the difference; or a deed-in-lieu, in which the borrower gives back the property and the bank again forgives any unpaid balance.

Sweet said credit bureaus generally slash scores equally for those three resolutions to someone losing their home. The important factor, she said, is that “it’s reported that you paid less on a settled account.”

Some borrowers may think that because they never missed a payment, they can “walk away” from their homes with relatively little impact on scores. Not true. “When a deed-in-lieu or short sale is reported as a partial payment, it’s treated as a serious delinquency,” Watts said, “just like a foreclosure.”

Even if borrowers made payments faithfully for years before short selling or doing a deed-in-lieu, their credit score will still take a hit. The total decline will run about 85 points for the 680 score borrower to as much as 160 for the 780 score.

Mortgage debt, combined with other financial problems, can send borrowers into bankruptcy, the worst thing that can happen to your credit score.

The effects are long-lasting, according to Sweet. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which involves partial repayment over several years, the stain will take seven years to remove. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which involves liquidation, takes 10 years to get over.

It’s gonna cost you
Absorbing a big credit-score hit can make many transactions more costly. It’s not just paying more for credit card debt and auto loans, insurance can cost more as well.

The average savings for someone with a good versus mediocre credit score is about $115 a year for auto insurance and $60 for home, according to Loretta Sorters, of the Insurance Information Institute.

A low credit score can even make it harder to rent a home because landlords often use credit scores to weed out prospective renters.

Despite the problems a poor credit score can cause, Experian’s Sweet recommends that people who are in financial dead ends, like totally unaffordable mortgages, it’s better to recognize that and cut your losses quickly; don’t prolong the problem.

“You need to do what you need to do to get your finances back in order,” she said. “Don’t worry about your credit score

Thursday, March 18, 2010, 10:56am EDT
Duke study links high fructose corn syrup with liver damage
Triangle Business Journal - by James Gallagher

The corn industry is facing a new challenge over the health risks posed by high fructose corn syrup. A new study out of the Duke University Medical Center indicates that high consumption of the controversial sugar substitute is associated with liver scarring or fibrosis, similar to the damage caused by heavy consumption of alcohol.

Dr. Manal Abdelmalek, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology, says a study of 427 adults who suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, indicated that those who consumed more high-fructose corn syrup were more likely to have increased liver scarring or fibrosis.

NAFLD, which is present in about 30 percent of all adults, is a condition in which fat accumulates in the cells of the liver, which could lead to inflammation or scarring, also known as fibrosis. The damage is similar to that caused by heavy consumption of alcohol, but NAFLD occurs in people who are not alcoholics.

“Unfortunately, there is no therapy for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease,” said Dr. Abdelmalek. “My hope is to see if we can find a factor, such as increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup, which if modified, can decrease the risk of liver disease.”

High fructose corn syrup has been targeted by health officials as a potential cause of the growing rate of obesity. The syrup came into vogue in the 1970s as a cheaper alternative for sugar. It is now commonly found in soft drinks and other processed foods.

“There is an increasing amount of data that suggests high fructose corn syrup is fueling the fire of the obesity epidemic, but until now, no one has ever suggested that it contributes to liver disease and/or liver injury.” Abdelmalek said the next step is more studies looking at the mechanisms of liver injury.

The corn industry has recently begun an advertising campaign touting the merits and safety of the syrup.

Other authors on the study include Duke researchers Ayako Suzuki, Cynthia Guy and Anna Mae Diehl; Aynur Unalp-Arida and Ryan Colvin of Johns Hopkins University; and Richard Johnson of the University of Colorado.

Reporter e-mail: jgallagher@bizjournals.com.

ShowerTek’s new “Green Choice” showerheads giving consumers more control over how, when they save water in the shower.
The average American spends about eight minutes in the shower and with Federal regulations now limiting showerheads to a maximum flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute, that means people consume roughly 20 gallons of water every time they hop in the shower. If the average person takes 6 showers per week, that comes out to 6,240 gallons per year. Factor in kids, roommates and significant others, and that water use in the shower can really add up — as can the energy required to make it hot.
But beyond simply wanting to conserve water and energy for environmental and economic reasons, some people might need to conserve water for very practical reasons, like making sure there’s enough hot water for the next person.
For those people who want a little more control over how much water they use in the shower, they might want to check out the new Green Choice showerheads from ShowerTek.
The review
Since I couldn’t very well take my laptop into the shower with me, I thought the next best thing to do would be to hunker down to write the review with the shower experience fresh in my head. Plus it was fun doing a little research while I was getting clean.
My first thoughts were that the pressure coming out of the Green Choice was actually a step-up from my older one. Even though the ShowerTek is actually a low-flow, it didn’t feel that way.
The showerhead has a little green dial on top of it that lets you control the water pressure during your shower. In theory, you’re supposed to be able to turn it way down (but stay warm) while you lather up and shampoo, then turn the pressure back up to normal as you rinse off. The little knob is the selling point of the Green Choice showerheads — and for good reason. I found it particularly useful when I wanted to rinse soap off my face, I could easily find the knob and adjust the stream so my eyeballs weren’t punished by the full-flow setting.
According to ShowerTek, a family of 4 that spends $400 per year on showers along can cut that figure in half by setting water flow to 1GPM instead of 2.5GPM. But I found the trickle of the lowest setting insufficient for most purposes, but that may also be a function of lower than average water pressure in my home in general. Similarly, the other massage settings on the showerhead didn’t do a whole lot to massage, but I imagine that would be different in a different plumbing scenario.
So while the Green Choice from ShowerTek may be great for people who want to conserve water, it might be even better for people who need to save water:  large families, vacation houses, college roommates, or really anyone who might be constricted by the size of their hot water heater. The showerhead will do wonders for people who want to finish getting that soap out of their hair while the water is still hot.
Pros:
Easy to switch between high and low pressure — could even do it with my eyes closed.
Stainless steel hose on massage unit.
Kicks up pressure in low-flow houses — I actually felt like I was getting more water than my previous showerhead when I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.
Water saving feature great for small hot water tanks
Reasonably priced: $24.95 for the standard wall unit and $29.95 for the handheld massage unit
Cons:
Plastic housing on showerhead
Excessive and redundant molded plastic packaging
Couldn’t get the full benefits of the massage feature at full pressure (though that could be a function of lower pressure at my house)

Starting in 2010, Portland metro area residents will see major changes related to sustainable and green practices. These changes will occur as the city begins to implement its Climate Action Plan, which was developed in 2009. Climate change is a serious problem that affects the world, and carbon emissions are a major contributing factor. Although the comprehensive Climate Action Plan aims to improve the sustainability and quality of life in many different areas of the community, the overall goal is to reduce carbon emissions in the Portland metro area 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.

The Climate Action Plan will improve the city of Portland environmentally, socially, and economically. A fundamental consideration of the plan was to create an economic development strategy, including the creation of local jobs. Specifically, the city recognized that the Portland metro area boasts many companies that provide green products and services. The focus will be on integrating these local companies into projects that may have previously outsourced similar products or services. A larger and economically sound workforce will provide the city with more resources to achieve the environmental and social objectives outlined in the Climate Action Plan.

Because carbon emissions are directly related to fossil fuel consumption, reducing residents’ dependence on fossil fuels is a common goal of every objective in the Climate Action Plan. Other important objectives of the plan are to improve social equity by ensuring that the most vulnerable communities are given priority for Climate Action Plan measures and that these communities are integrated in a meaningful and engaging way. Also, the city hopes to create healthier residents by improving the walkability of neighborhoods and enriching the quality of local forests, watersheds, and ecosystems.

Implementing the Climate Action Plan will be a serious undertaking. The State of Oregon and its local governments are going to be the primary entities responsible for this implementation. The framework of the Climate Action Plan is broken down into objectives; each objective is then broken down into the actions that are necessary for its completion. Currently, the deadline to meet all of the objectives is 2012. Because of the complexity and dynamic scope of sustainable practices, the city will evaluate and modify individual objectives every three years with a complete plan revision scheduled for 2020.

The following are some of the actions that will take place in the Portland metro area between now and 2012:

The establishment of a business tax credit for the simultaneous installation of solar panels and an eco roof.

The city will collaborate with private companies to reduce carbon fuel sources, including coal and natural gas, from Portland’s electricity mix.

Diesel fuel will start containing at least 10% biodiesel. Half of the biodiesel must be produced in Oregon.

The city of Portland will assist 1,000 businesses every year to improve compliance with the city’s paper, metal, and glass recycling requirements

State and local governments will replace street lighting, water pumps, water treatment systems, and other energy dependent systems with energy efficient technologies.

The city of Portland will collaborate with companies or individuals to develop and implement an outreach campaign to residents about the benefits of trees, watershed health, and green infrastructure.

The city will develop a more balanced funding mechanism and adopt a schedule for public investments to make neighborhoods highly walkable and bikable.

Overall, the Climate Action Plan lays the groundwork for a healthier, happier Portland. It will not be an easy task, but with everyone’s participation, the city can create the diverse network of businesses and individuals necessary to complete such a progressive plan. To see the complete plan, visit http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cfm?c=49989&a=268612 .

WASHINGTON, DC, January 8, 2010 (ENS) – President Barack Obama today announced the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for 183 clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States.

“Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” said President Obama. “The Recovery Act awards I am announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security.”

Scientist Harv Mahan makes anodes for litium-ion batteries. (Photo by Jack Dempsey courtesy NREL)

“Harnessing new forms of energy will be one of the defining challenges of the 21st century,” said the President. “And unfortunately, right now the United States, the nation that pioneered the use of clean energy, is being outpaced by nations around the world. It’s China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient.”

“We spearheaded the development of solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it,” Obama said. “And almost all of the batteries that we use to power our hybrid vehicles are still manufactured by Japanese companies or in Asia – though, because of steps like the one we’re taking today, we’re beginning to produce more of these batteries here at home.”

The investment tax credits, worth up to 30 percent of each planned project, will leverage private capital for a total investment of nearly $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing in the United States, administration officials said.

Qualifying manufacturers will produce solar, wind, and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines, and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support the transmission of renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Worker examines aluminum parts at the National Renewable Energy Lab. (Photo by Pat Corkery courtesy NREL)

“By investing in innovative clean energy manufacturing projects like these, we are not only creating good jobs now, but helping lay a new foundation to keep America competitive in the 21st century economy,” said Vice President Joe Biden. “This is what the Recovery Act is all about.”

Projects in 43 states are expected to create tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs.

“There is no greater priority for this administration than getting Americans back to work,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “The awards announced today, together with the more than $5 billion in private sector capital spurred by our investment, will drive significant growth in the renewable energy and clean technology manufacturing sectors, good jobs, an energized private sector marketplace and a leadership role for the U.S. in these crucial high-growth markets.”

These credits move the country towards meeting the President’s goal of doubling the amount of renewable energy America uses in the next three years with wind turbines and solar panels built in the United States.

“The world urgently needs to move toward clean energy technologies, and the United States has the opportunity to lead in this new industrial revolution,” said Secretary Chu. “Today’s awards will create new jobs and jumpstart the industries we need to both solve the energy problem and ensure America’s future competitiveness.”

Awardees will use the funding to create new products large and small that will make energy manufacture and consumption cleaner and cheaper. On the solar side, a random sampling of the 183 selected projects finds:

Amonix will manufacture low-cost solar electricity systems using inexpensive plastic lenses that concentrate sunlight. The systems generate 500 times more solar electric power from small, high-efficiency solar cells.

Dow will produce photovoltaic cells built into residential and commercial roofing and siding products. Dow’s technology imbeds solar cells into shingles, sidings, and other building materials.

GreenRay will manufacture a simplified “plug and play” AC solar electricity system for residential rooftops.

Nanosolar will factory-produce tools for the manufacturing of low-cost, low-GHG emission solar cells, using nanotechnology-enabled roll-to-roll processes.

PPG Industries will produce a double anti-reflective coating for glass that will permit increased light transmittance in solar modules. At their Louisiana facility, PPG will produce a special tire tread component that reduces rolling resistance and improves fuel economy.

On the wind side:

Eagle Claw will manufacture large wind turbine towers, a component piece of wind turbine systems used to generate electricity from wind energy. Towers are typically 250 to 400 feet high.

Great Lakes Industry will manufacture component precision gears for multi-megawatt wind turbine gearboxes.

Ingeteam Inc. will manufacture wind turbine generators in various technologies and will also manufacture power converter and control systems.

Johnson Plate & Tower Fabrication will establish and design a facility to manufacture commercial wind towers.

Martifer-Hirschfeld Energy Systems LLC will develop a factory for the production of steel towers for wind turbine generators.

Merrill Technologies Group will invest $73 million in advanced manufacturing equipment to support the production of nacelles for Northern Power’s new 2.2 MW utility-scale wind turbines.

Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Inc. will create a new facility that will manufacture nacelles for 2.4MW wind turbines.

Siemens Energy Inc. will expand a wind turbine blade manufacturing facility.

TPI Composites, Inc., a developer and volume manufacturer of large-scale composite structures for the wind energy, transportation and military vehicle markets, is building a new manufacturing facility in Nebraska to produce next generation wind turbine blades, creating over 200 new jobs.

Companies receiving tax credits for other technologies include:

CalStar Products will manufacture bricks and pavers from coal power plant fly ash. The process uses 88 percent less energy than traditional “fired” clay products, while avoiding the CO2 emission associated with concrete, and makes beneficial use of fly ash.

GEMX will re-equip an existing manufacturing facility to produce sodium metal halide batteries for electricity grid support and regulation and help increase efficiency by reduced peak power demands.

General Electric will redevelop manufacturing facilities to produce Energy Star compliant heat pump electric water heaters, heat pump clothes dryers, and efficient refrigerators, resulting in greenhouse gas emissions and energy savings.

W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is producing an advanced membrane for high efficiency fuel cells for buildings and vehicles. The company’s products can help enable lower-cost fuel cells for use in electric vehicles or to power homes and businesses. They are also manufacturing an advanced turbine filter to improve the performance of gas turbines to produce greater outputs at lower cost and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

While projects selected for this tax credit generally must be placed in service by 2014, approximately 30 percent of them will be completed in 2010.

These Smart Grid Investment Grant awards represent the largest group of Recovery Act awards ever made in a single day and the largest batch of Recovery Act clean energy grant awards to date. The end result is expected to be energy-saving choices for consumers, increased efficiency, and the growth of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

FPL’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center (Photo courtesy FPL)

To announce the Smart Grid Investment Grant awards, President Obama joined FPL Group and Florida Power & Light Company officials for the commissioning of the largest photovoltaic solar facility in the nation.

The DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia uses more than 90,000 photovoltaic panels that turn the Sun’s rays into electricity to power more than 3,000 homes.

“Today we’re taking the first step into the new clean energy economy of the 21st century,” said FPL Group Chairman and CEO Lew Hay. “It’s high-tech, it’s low emissions, and it empowers consumers to control their energy usage.”

Congratulating FPL on the new solar facility, President Obama said, “We’ve got to do more than just add extra solar megawatts to our electrical grid. That’s because this grid - which is made up of everything from power lines to generators to the meters in your home - still runs on century-old technology. It wastes too much energy, it costs us too much money, and it’s too susceptible to outages and blackouts.”

Obama said the smart grid will save some of the $150 billion the country loses each year during power outages and put America on a path to source 20 percent of the country’s energy needs from renewables by 2020.

President Barack Obama, October 27, 2009 (Photo credit unknown)

“It will allow us to more effectively transport renewable energy generated in remote places to large population centers, so that a wind farm in rural South Dakota can power homes in Chicago,” he said. “And by facilitating the creation of a clean energy economy, building this 21st century energy infrastructure will help us lay a foundation for lasting growth and prosperity.”

The smart grid investment grants are funded by the Recovery Act economic stimulus package and will be matched by industry funding for a total public-private investment worth over $8 billion.

Such an investment will create new pathways for energy and new green jobs, said Obama. “It’s expected to create tens of thousands of new jobs all across America in areas ranging from manufacturing and construction to IT and the installation of new equipment in homes and in businesses.”

The smart grid is expected to save consumers more than $20 billion on their utility bills by 2030. An analysis by the Electric Power Research Institute estimates that the implementation of smart grid technologies could reduce electricity use by more than four percent by 2030. That would mean a savings of $20.4 billion for businesses and consumers around the country.

Among the 100 smart grid grant recipients is Florida Power & Light, which will use its $200 million in funding to install 2.6 million smart meters and other technology that will cut energy costs for its customers.

In the coming days, Cabinet members and other administration officials will visit awardee sites across the country to discuss how this investment will create jobs, improve the reliability and efficiency of the electrical grid, and help bring clean energy sources from high-production states to those with less renewable generating capacity.

Today’s announcement includes:

Reducing Energy Bills - Investments worth $1 billion will create the infrastructure and expand access to smart meters and customer systems so that consumers will be able to access dynamic pricing information and have the ability to save money by programming smart appliances and equipment to run when rates are lowest. This will help reduce energy bills for everyone by helping drive down “peak demand” and limiting the need for “stand-by” power plants – the most expensive power generation there is.
Making Electricity Distribution and Transmission More Efficient - The administration is investing $400 million to fund grid modernization projects across the country that will reduce the amount of power wasted from the time it is produced to the time it reaches end users. By deploying digital monitoring devices and increasing grid automation, these awards will increase the efficiency, reliability and security of the system, and will help link renewable energy resources with the grid. This will make it easier for a wind farm in Montana to instantaneously pick up the slack when the wind stops blowing in Missouri or a cloud rolls over a solar array in Arizona.
Integrating and Crosscutting Across Different Components of a Smart Grid - Investments worth $2 billion will enable smart grid components to work together. The administration is funding a range of projects that will incorporate these various components into one system or cut across various project areas, including smart meters, smart thermostats and appliances, syncrophasors, automated substations, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and renewable energy sources.
Building a Smart Grid Manufacturing Industry - Investments of $25 million will help expand the U.S. manufacturing base of companies that can produce the smart meters, smart appliances, synchrophasors, smart transformers, and other components for smart grid systems here and around the world – representing a significant and growing export opportunity for the United States and new jobs for American workers.
The combined effect of the investments announced today, when the projects are fully implemented, will:

Install more than 850 sensors - called ‘Phasor Measurement Units’ - that will cover 100 percent of the U.S. electric grid and make it possible for grid operators to better monitor grid conditions and prevent minor disturbances in the electrical system from cascading into local or regional power outages or blackouts. This monitoring ability will also help the grid to incorporate large blocks of intermittent renewable energy, like wind and solar power, to take advantage of clean energy resources when they are available and make adjustments when they’re not.
Install more than 200,000 smart transformers that will make it possible for power companies to replace units before they fail thus saving money and reducing power outages.
Install almost 700 automated substations, representing about 5 percent of the nation’s total that will make it possible for power companies to respond faster and more effectively to restore service when bad weather knocks down power lines or causes electricity disruptions.
Power companies today typically do not know there has been a power outage until a customer calls to report it. With these smart grid devices, power companies will have the tools they need for better outage prevention and faster response to make repairs when outages do occur.
Empower consumers to cut their electricity bills. The Recovery Act combined with private investment will put us on pace to deploy more than 40 million smart meters in American homes and businesses over the next few years that will help consumers cut their utility bills.
Install more than one million in-home displays, 170,000 smart thermostats, and 175,000 other load control devices to enable consumers to reduce their energy use. Funding will also help expand the market for smart washers, dryers, and dishwashers, so that American consumers can further control their energy use and lower their electricity bills.
Reduce peak electricity demand by more than 1400 MW, which is the equivalent of several larger power plants and can save ratepayers more than $1.5 billion in capital costs and help lower utility bills. Since peak electricity is the most expensive energy – and requires the use of standby power generation plants – the economic and environmental savings for even a small reduction are significant. In fact, some of the power plants for meeting peak demand operate for only a few hundred hours a year, which means the power they generate can be 5-10 times more expensive than the average price per kilowatt hour paid by most consumers.

With the recently finalized WaterSense specification for flushing urinals, you will soon see WaterSense labeled products in commercial and institutional restrooms.

WaterSense labeled urinals have the potential to help save businesses and institutions water and money on utility bills. If all urinals installed before 1994 were replaced with WaterSense labeled models, it would save nearly 36 billion gallons of water annually—equal to the flow over Niagara Falls in 20 hours.

To earn the WaterSense label, urinals must flush using no more than half a gallon, well below the current federal standard of 1.0 gallon per flush (gpf). Older models installed before regulations were in place can use even more water—as much as 5.0 gpf. As with all WaterSense labeled products, urinals must undergo independent, third-party testing and certification before earning the WaterSense label.

Schools, restaurants, businesses, and other commercial buildings can benefit from the financial savings of WaterSense labeled urinals. If a high school of 1,000 students replaced its inefficient urinals, for example, it could save enough to supply water for nearly 700 households.

EPA estimates that there are about 12 million urinals currently in use in the United States, and up to 65 percent of them are inefficient models that use significantly more than the federal standard. For every inefficient urinal replaced with a WaterSense labeled model, 4,600 gallons are saved annually. Learn more about the WaterSense specification for flushing urinals.

If a college with 10,000 students installed WaterSense labeled urinals in its classroom buildings,
it could save 700,000 gallons in a year—enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool!