ICF Energy Study Sees Significant Shift to Renewable, Gas, and Nuclear Energy Sources
Coal-fired Facilities to Retire, Bottom-line Generation Costs to Rise
BusinessWire, July 2010

FAIRFAX, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ICF International’s newly released, second quarter Integrated Energy Outlook projects a significant shift to renewable, gas, and nuclear sources of energy should new carbon legislation be passed by the U.S. Congress.

Energy experts at ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI), a leading provider of consulting services and technology solutions to government and commercial clients, foresee the retirement of a substantial number of coal-fired electric generation facilities because Hazardous Air Pollution (HAPS) regulations will require large capital outlays for pollution control equipment.

“Uncertainty has become a constant in the energy industry in the wake of unstable commodity prices, price volatility, and looming environmental regulations,” said John Blaney, senior vice president for ICF International. “The ICF Integrated Energy Outlook provides thorough analysis by energy experts and gives guidance that makes sense of the complicated energy landscape.”

The latest version of ICF’s quarterly Integrated Energy Outlook seeks to answer the key industry questions of whether energy market prices will continue to recover or slip back to 2009 levels, and how energy prices and new regulations will influence power markets.

Key findings of ICF’s second quarter Integrated Energy Outlook include:

• The CO₂ allowance price ceiling will be binding in some, but not all, years should Congress pass the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act.
• HAPS regulations will require large capital outlays on pollution control equipment and the retirement of a substantial amount of coal-fired electric generation capacity.
• Robust growth in gas demand will apply upward pressure on natural gas prices.
• New combined cycle generating capacity will not be economically viable over the next five years, although the timing varies across regions.
• California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard may be the most aggressive in the country, but the sheer size of the PJM Interconnection market contributes to greater overall renewable energy demand.
• Coal prices are expected to rise in the near term because of growing domestic and international demand.

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Viability lead staff members Ryan Summers and Dan Kuipers will attend the OFA Short Course Trade Show, which is considered one of the most prominent events in the nation for growers, technology vendors, and green-thumb enthusiasts alike. Held in Columbus, Ohio, leaders within the horticulture industry can network, grow their knowledge of the industry, and explore new ideas and business solutions. The event consists of 500 companies at a 1,500-booth trade show, with 150 speakers from across the world and 150 sessions for all segments of the horticulture industry.

Date: July 10-13, 2010
Location: Columbus Convention Center
Sponsor: OFA – an Association of Agriculture Professionals
Important Information: To learn more about this event, visit the OFA short course website. This event does require registration, and on-site registration begins Friday, July 9.

If you would like to connect with Viability staff at OFA, please email ryan@viabilityonline.com or call (616) 396-6101.

Contact:  Dan Kuipers, Senior Carbon Specialist
616-396-6101, dan@viabilityonline.com

Viability, LLC Achieves First Domestic Voluntary Carbon Standard Validation for Biomass Thermal Project

Viability, an economic development firm centered around renewable energy and energy efficiency projects recently had its project design document for the fuel switch from natural gas to renewable biomass for thermal purposes validated under the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).

This project is the first US based project to become validated under the VCS using UNFCCC approved methodology AMS-I.C.  The AMS-I.C. methodology specifically addresses end users of thermal energy and/or electricity to adopt less intensive Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission measures through application of specific technological or management approaches.

Under AMS-I.C. renewable biomass is considered to have a net GHG emission factor of zero, as any GHG emissions resulting from the combustion of biomass material is less than or equal to the amount of GHGs absorbed through photosynthetic processes.

This project will reduce carbon emissions by approximately 100,000 metric tons over its lifetime and is a key source of revenue that supports the use of non-traditional fuels for energy purposes.

The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) was created as a globally recognizable standard providing a transparent and credible process for creating carbon offsets for voluntary projects that reduce GHG emissions.

ABOUT VIABILITY

Since 2003, Viability, LLC has partnered with a wide range of businesses in over 20
states and secured millions in grants and incentives.  Viability’s comprehensive services include domestic and international carbon credit development, grant and incentive research and preparation, and ViAlign, a free incentives eligibility tool.

For more information on Viability, LLC, please visit www.viabilityllc.com

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Thought Leader in Energy Dan Kuipers: Demonstrating what works
By Mark Sanchez
Business Review West Michigan, May 12, 2010

Dan Kuipers, Senior Carbon Specialist

Dan Kuipers started at Viability as an intern three years ago — a position he parlayed into a permanent job with the Holland company, where he works with clients on biomass energy projects.

“How do we find a way to actually effect change?” Kuipers said. “The way we do that is to demonstrate the technology actually works.”

What sparked your interest in alternative energy?

My background is in natural resources management. I view the world through an ecological lens with a keen understanding of the many interwoven complexities between energy, resources, people, the environment, and economic equality.

Working on the very simple pretense that more people equates to more resource consumption, and that more resource consumption typically leads to increased environmental degradation, financial incentives must be leveraged in order to generate new approaches to solving old problems, jump start promising technologies and projects, and to “level the playing field” for technologies that currently are not as financially attractive as traditional energy-generation technologies.

What is your greatest accomplishment in alternative energy?

Authoring the first project-design document in the United States validated under the Voluntary Carbon Standard utilizing AMS I.C. — “Thermal energy without electricity production” — for a large greenhouse production facility.

This project will create carbon credits annually for 10 years that the greenhouse will be able to use as an additional revenue stream to make the installation and implementation of a large biomass boiler system a financially feasible option.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Contact:  Chris Byrnes, President
616-396-6101, chris@viabilityonline.com

West Michigan Business to Present at United Nations Forum in Kenya, Share Environmental Insight
Members of Viability, LLC will travel East Africa to meet with clean energy project developers and explore carbon credit ventures

HOLLAND, MI – February 24, 2010 – Three members of Viability, LLC, a West Michigan-based financial incentives firm, will be participating in the United Nations sponsored Africa Carbon Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, March 3-5, 2010. Dr. David Armstrong, Dan Kuipers and Kyle Denning will be representing Viability at the international event, including a presentation by Denning entitled, “Using carbon finance to fight poverty and environmental degradation.”

Viability’s participation and presentation at the Africa Carbon Forum is part of a larger two-week clean energy project analysis throughout East Africa.

The Africa Carbon Forum engages multiple United Nations agencies, public and private sector experts and local and national government officials to address the development of clean energy projects in Africa.

During the forum’s three days of speakers, Viability will use its expertise to speak on the importance and effectiveness of small, community focused carbon reduction projects and building smart infrastructure.

“We [at Viability] want to develop an understanding of the technologies, impact, and financial incentives for renewable energy projects in East Africa,” shares Kyle Denning, who leads Viability’s international development efforts and will present on the final day of the event.  “These projects go beyond being a green energy source and truly make a difference in the lives of individuals, families, communities and even nations.”

According to the Africa Carbon Forum, Africa accounts for less than two percent of the 2,000-plus registered Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects worldwide.

After the forum, Viability’s contingent will meet with other renewable energy developers in Kenya and Rwanda to discuss possible wind, solar, and hydroelectric projects.

PiSAT Solar of Grand Rapids, MI, will be among the organizations to meet with Viability while in Rwanda.  Viability is currently helping PiSAT develop a program to fund and distribute thousands of durable K-Light solar powered lanterns to Rwandans. The project will remove harmful kerosene emissions from home environments, reduce greenhouse gases and provide a source of lighting with zero fuel cost.

Viability will post updates and photos both during and after the trip on its Twitter account (@viabilityllc) and blog (http://viabilityloop.wordpress.com/).

Armstrong, Kuipers and Denning will depart for Kenya on March 1 and return March 15.

ABOUT VIABILITY
Since 2003, Viability, LLC has partnered with a wide range of businesses in over 20 states and secured millions in grants and incentives.  Viability’s comprehensive services include domestic and international carbon credit development, grant and incentive research and preparation, and ViAlign, a free incentives eligibility tool.

For more information on the Africa Carbon Forum, please visit http://www.africacarbonforum.com/2009/english/index.htm.

For more information on Viability, LLC, please visit www.viabilityllc.com

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Click here to download a PDF of this release

As part of their upcoming international business trip through Kenya and Rwanda, Viability’s Dr. David Armstrong, Kyle Denning Dan Kuipers will be participating and presenting on the role of small, community based carbon reduction and renewable energy projects at the three-day long Africa Carbon Forum.  Specifically, Denning will give a presentation entitled, “Using carbon finance to fight poverty and environmental degradation.”  The Africa Carbon Forum brings together project developers, environmental experts, local and international government leaders, and others to address issues surrounding the implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects throughout Africa.  Kenya is hosting 2010′s forum; Senegal hosted the first forum in 2008.

Click here to read the Press Release

Date: March 3-5, 2010
Time: Viability-hosted social event on the 3rd, and Denning’s presentation on the 5th
Location: United Nations Gigiri Compounds in Nairobi, Kenya
Sponsor: The government of Kenya and several United Nation’s related organizations, including UNFCC, UNEP, UNDP, UNITAR, and UNCTAD
Important Information: To learn more about the event, visit Africa Carbon Forum’s website.  You can also follow Viability’s updates on its Twitter (@viabilityllc) and blog

[Viability is able to work with greenhouses to secure financial incentives for biomass heating systems]

Fueling a Movement
By Kevin Yanik, Associate Editor
Greenhouse Grower magazine, February 2010

Fuel oil prices were becoming too expensive and natural gas wasn’t an option because it was not being piped into the area. So Grower Direct Farms, a wholesale greenhouse operation in Somers, Conn., began looking seriously at alternative energy sources for its facilities more than a year ago.

Wind. Solar. Geothermal. The list of energy source options available stretched beyond the fossil fuels growers historically had used. Renewable resources were becoming more viable, Grower Direct Farms found, and the more growers were gravitating toward them the closer newer options were to becoming mainstream.

For Grower Direct Farms, biomass was the renewable resource of choice and wood chips became its fuel. Now, the operation primarily uses wood chips to heat its greenhouses, and fuel oil is its secondary source. And like most growers who’ve moved to alternative energy systems, Grower Direct Farms largely made the transition because of rising fuel costs.

“Energy is one of the most important areas of our business in terms of the cost of our product,” says Sam Smith, sales manager at Grower Direct Farms. “Not just in the way we heat our greenhouses, but the fuel we put in our trucks to move our product, the electricity we consume to light the product we grow and just to do basic things like run our offices and computers.”

Heating greenhouses is one of a grower’s most costly expenses, though. And the more burdensome fossil fuel costs get, the more growers are turning to alternative energy solutions.

“Energy usage has been and will continue to be an area of concern for growers,” says Randy Monhemius, an Ohio-based business program specialist for USDA’s Rural Development program. “I believe growers are looking to save money, or at least manage costs better through the installation of energy-efficient improvements or renewable energy.”

From Propane To Wood [thumbshot url=http://greenhousegrower.com/magazine/?storyid=2969]
Rick Webb, owner of Webb Perennials in Logan, Ohio, was one grower looking for cost savings when propane approached $2.50 a gallon last year. Propane simply isn’t affordable for his small operation when it’s over $2 a gallon, Webb says, so he sought relief in the form of biomass.

Nearby Hocking College hosted a biomass workshop that introduced different systems to him. Webb got a few ideas, did some research on his own and tried to determine which wood form would produce the best, most-efficient heat for Webb Perennials.

“I’ve done a fair amount of research looking at different options,” Webb says. “The (wood) chip system would have been nice if my operation was a little bigger. I was looking at a system but then we got up to like $120,000 potentially and I still didn’t have a front-end loader to handle them.”

Eventually, Webb settled on logs and he installed a wood gasification boiler to accommodate them. His system is not automated – he loads logs into the boiler by hand – but automation did not make financial sense for Webb because he only needed to heat a facility that’s less than a half-acre.

“I live in an area where there’s a lot of firewood,” he says. “It’s Southeast Ohio – 90 percent forested area. There is a lot of firewood available. By the time I finished and built a barn to store wood, I only put $32,000 into it.”
Midway through the process, Webb Perennials was awarded an $8,000 USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grant. It ultimately paid for one-fourth of Webb’s system.

Now that Webb’s system is up and running, he’s using wood as his primary fuel with propane as the backup.

“If I don’t get out in time to stoke the wood boiler, the propane kicks in,” Webb says. “I’ve used 300 gallons of propane (as of January 5) and I probably would have used 3,000 gallons so far. I have my wood delivered and split. We stack it here. And I’ve figured the equivalent to 3,000 gallons in propane costs $1,000 in wood.”

Click here to Read Full Article

Resetting the Clock: RPS and Realizing Energy Independence
The most pressing questions surrounding energy policy now are: 1) How do we reach these goals? And 2) Are they even attainable? Advocates from both sides of the aisle and in many industries, such as wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, and even domestically sourced natural gas and clean coal, have all thrown their hats in the ring professing that their technological approach is the way to go if there is any hope of truly changing the energy landscape.

In 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act was legislated by the US House and Senate as a means to promote petroleum based independence and alternative forms of energy in the United States. While originally intended to directly affect the federal and institutional subsidization of the oil industry, effectively “leveling” the playing field for new technologies and innovative ways of thinking, political negotiations necessary for the act’s passage significantly limited and altered the final version of the bill that we know today. Instead, this roadmap now focuses mainly on automobile fuel economy, development of bio-fuels and efficiency measures in public buildings.

The policy has steps in the right direction, and coupled with aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) mandates in at least 25 states, the future of those working in the renewable energy sector appears rather sunny (pun intended). Goals have now been set within the energy generation sector of our economy as they relate to increasing the use of renewable fuels, and a de facto line in the sand has been drawn. Meanwhile, the clock continues to tick and impending target dates, most notably the year 2020, are getting closer and closer.

Reassessing Priorities
The most pressing questions surrounding energy policy now are: 1) How do we reach these goals? And 2) Are they even attainable? Advocates from both sides of the aisle and in many industries, such as wind, solar, biomass, nuclear, and even domestically sourced natural gas and clean coal, have all thrown their hats in the ring professing that their technological approach is the way to go if there is any hope of truly changing the energy landscape. However, as this argument continues to be broadcast live on nightly news programs, CSPAN floor votes, and The Daily Show, no single front-runner has emerged. And the clock keeps ticking.

Author and NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman speaks of this quest for cheap, abundant, clean, reliable electrons as the next truly world changing industry. As global populations continue to grow exponentially and energy demand sets new records with each passing year, it is evident that there currently is no silver bullet when it comes to solving our looming energy and environmental crisis. In many ways it is very similar to the IT bubble of the 1990’s and the oil bubble at the turn of the century: AOL Search or Google, Betamax or VHS. Each had its own internally perceived competitive advantage and unique business model, but it’s clear who won out in these instances.

This illustrates that what is needed is a combination of public/private partnerships, interaction of market forces and new innovative companies offering superior solutions to carve out niches in ways that have defined the American Dream and the capitalistic ideals that this country was founded on. These are great words, but still there is no demonstrable proof that these goals will be met on time, despite state and federal progress reports indicating movement towards RPS attainment in some states.

Click here to Read Full Article

$113K grant to light up downtown
By Andrea Goodell, City Hall Reporter
The Holland Sentinel, Jan. 26, 2010

Holland, MI —LED light will soon illuminate the paths of downtown pedestrians.

A $113,000 grant announced by the state Monday will pay for the majority of the demonstration project along Eighth Street’s main business corridor.

The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth awarded $17.4 million in grants to 125 municipalities for energy efficiency projects. The state Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“This funding will support a pipeline of projects, offer the option of bulk purchasing and encourage increased manufacturing,” state agency Director Stanley Pruss said in a written statement released Monday.

The city worked with Viability LLC, an economic development and energy consulting firm, on the grant proposal. “The grant really helps to offset the investment amount, so the payoff is a lot sooner,” Viability grant writer Amanda Burmeister said.

Dennis R.J. Geppert/The Holland Sentinel

The LED, or light emitting diode, technology directs more light downward, reducing light pollution of the night sky and increasing efficiency, she said.

The projects are intended to create and retain jobs, save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while they demonstrate market demand and attract LED and solid state lighting manufacturing to the state.

“These Recovery Act funds will assist our ongoing efforts in moving to a clean energy economy,” Gov. Jennifer Granholm said in a prepared statement.

The city of Holland’s proposal included as many LED pedestrian street lamps as the grant would buy depending on the market.

If 100 lamps are installed (assuming 74-watt fixtures), the project will save 136-watts per unit or 38,080 kilowatt hours and 59,519 pounds of carbon dioxide each year. The lights will save the city about $5,071 each year in electricity and maintenance costs.

An educational campaign will demonstrate the viability of LED technology. Work on the project will start as funding announcements have officially been made and will be wrapped up before the end of 2010.

Click here to access originally posted story

Contact:  Chris Byrnes, President
616-396-6101, chris@viabilityonline.com

Calvin Grad Brings International Lessons, Perspective to Viability
Local engineer is using rural development skills from year volunteering in Southeast Asia

HOLLAND, MI. – Jan. 13, 2010 – Viability LLC, a West Michigan-based energy and environmental consulting firm, announced the hiring of Calvin graduate Jonathan Cooper to its engineering staff.

Jonathan Cooper is a Kalamazoo native and Calvin engineering graduate.

Amid a competitive job market, it was Cooper’s yearlong rural engineering improvement and sustainable development volunteer work in Cambodia that distinguished him from other applicants.

“After studying in Cambodia during my senior year, experiencing that culture and seeing the healing that is taking place there, I was called back to serve there,” said Cooper.  “After a few months in the country, there was an opportunity to work in a rural area doing water management in an agricultural setting which I got very excited about.”

While working in Cambodia, Cooper had applied as a US delegate to the International Youth Forum on Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Seoul, South Korea.  When he returned stateside, Cooper was selected as one of 115 participants from 31 countries.

“At the forum, a group of students and young professionals from across the globe came together to share ideas concerning development,” said Cooper.  “I sought out Viability because they create opportunities for industries to respond to these global challenges.”

Cooper’s ground experience provides him an advantage over other engineers in the field of sustainability, shares Viability Partner David Armstrong.

“We [at Viability] believe in developing our engineers internally, and acquiring someone like Jonathan who brings perspective and creativity benefits both the company and our industry,” said Armstrong.

Cooper will be working with Viability’s domestic and international business clients to evaluate, design and implement renewable and energy efficiency projects in addition to carbon credit development.

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ABOUT VIABILITY
Since 2003, Viability, LLC has partnered with a wide range of businesses in over 20 states and secured millions in grants and incentives.  Viability’s comprehensive energy solutions include domestic and international carbon credit development, grant and incentive research, citywide carbon action plans and renewable energy project implementation.

For more information on Viability, please visit http://www.viabilityllc.com

Click here to read a PDF of this release