Bank of America recently announced that it will supply $10 million in grant money to Community Development Financial Institutions and other nonprofit microlenders to propel around $100 million in small business lending. This is an extremely momentous occasion, and quite possibly a move that could strengthen America’s weakened economy, as it is the first time the financial institution will be giving (not loaning) cash. The grant must be used toward sustaining loan loss reserves which are needed to access funds from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Agriculture Department. Both bureaus require CDFIs — organizations that are certified by the Treasury Department — to set aside roughly 10 percent of the capital they provide in reserves (eg. for each $10 a microlender offers, it must save a dollar to cover losses). “We started hearing that the availability of money was tied up because of the lack of reserves and thought this [initiative] was the best way to address it,” said David Darnell, president of global commercial banking at Bank of America.


As large commercial banks have taken an indefinite break from small-business lending, smaller community institutions have had to stir the pot despite a significant decline in funding options. “For a lot of CDFIs, the ability to lend is dependent upon having that slice of grant support to fund the loan loss reserves,” said Shari Berenbach, president and chief executive of Bethesda-based Calvert Foundation, a financial intermediary that funds such reserves. “This kind of a grant is incredibly catalytic.” According to Bank of America, these grants will help around 8,000 businesses secure new loans. The company will be initiating the program in mid-August to assist organizations that can draw down reserves in the current fiscal year ending September 30th. The remaining funds will mark CDFIs that are eligible the following fiscal year. “We want the grants to be out in 12 months, so the [institutions] are able to draw down the funds from the SBA so that we are looking at $100 million in the hands of small businesses in 12 months, “said Dan Letendre, director of community lending and investing at Bank of America. Some other large financial institutions invest in CDFIs, including TD Bank and Wells Fargo. In May, Citigroup allocated $200 million to the Calvert Foundation for microloans. “The answer to the challenges and opportunities before us as a nation is an intelligent pairing of public and private resources to meet the needs of small businesses,” said Berenbach. “If we want to create jobs, we have to be providing financing to small business.”

In what seems like an attempt to frustrate programs that support home energy retrofit funding via property taxes, the California Energy Commission recently announced that it will reallocate $30 million in public funds apportioned to help stimulate those initiatives. The Federal Housing Finance Agency persuasively blocked the programs when it alleged that such programs would interfere with mortgage loan payments and warned banks not to issue loans on homes tied to the public financing. Elected officials at the state and federal level have sued the federal agency and introduced legislation to reverse the judgment. However, if the money is not distributed by September 30th, the state Energy Commission risks losing federal stimulus funds for the energy efficient projects. “We support all the efforts to get this changed, but we are operating with the understanding that we could lose the (federal) funds by the end of the month,” said Susanne Garfield, a spokeswoman for the California Energy Commission. “Knowing how long lawsuits and legislation can take, we’re trying to be vigilant and not wait until the 11th hour.” According to Garfield, the $30 million which would have been distributed to Property Assessed Clean Energy Programs (PACE), will now be redirected to other energy development financing mechanisms. She says decisions will be made in the coming weeks about where to allocate the cash. She also added that the funds could be given to programs that include PACE as one financial form, among others. If the federal agency’s decision is withdrawn, the money could later be used solely for the innovative PACE programs. As it now stands, however, five California counties — Los Angeles, Humboldt, Sacramento, San Francisco and Sonoma — will not receive the federal disbursements and job creation they were expecting. The Energy Commission estimated that the five counties would have added 4,353 jobs, saved more than 336 kilowatt-hours of energy and thwarted 187,264 tons of greenhouse gases for the first two years of their programs. “This is a major blow and it traces right back to the … decision on July 6 to kill PACE programs,” said Cliff Staton, vice president of marketing for Renewable Funding, LLC, which designs, finances and administers PACE programs. Staton attests that the public investment could have created hundreds of millions of dollars of investments by homeowners and helped to revitalize an otherwise stagnant economy.

According to a statement released Tuesday, General Motors Co. will be charging a whopping $41,000 for its brand new Chevy Volt EV when it goes on sale in November. The price will be roughly $8,000 more than its adversary, the Nissan LEAF, although GM says it will offer a $350/month lease deal that is relatively identical. GM said it is confident that the payment plan will help put the Volt within reach of many people. To boot, both EVs are eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit that will benefit consumers looking to switch from standard gas guzzlers to a cleaner mode of transport. With the credit, the Volt’s price would drop down to $33,500, while the LEAF’s would fall to $25,280. Certain states — like California, Georgia and Oregon — even offer additional tax breaks that reduce the cost even further. The 4-door Volt sedan drives on battery power for up to 40 miles but has a small gasoline engine to generate electricity once the battery runs low. The gas engine can generate power to run the car another 300 miles. In order that the car appeal to a wider audience, GM says that drivers must know “they’re not going to get stranded.” That may be a beneficial selling point for worried consumers, but it certainly wont sit well with environmentalists who would like to see fossil fuels completely stamped out of the picture. Nissan’s LEAF, however, does not have a gas engine and simply runs on a lithium-ion battery which lasts up to ten years. Not to mention, after the battery wears out, it can be reused in a number of renewable energy applications. The LEAF can go up to 100 miles on a single charge, and as more charging stations sprout up around the country, the prospect of eliminating our dependence on oil has never been so bright. GM’s lease deal is $350/month for 36 months with $2,500 down. Nissan’s lease plan is $349/month for the same length of time with only $1,995 down. Katherine Zachary, a Nissan spokeswoman, said the LEAF itself emits no pollution and is intended for people whose daily travels are within its range — or are traveling on routes within range of charging stations.

Jeff Wilcox, a businessman in California’s Bay Area, recently persuaded Oakland to legalize industrial-sized cannabis farms by promoting a study which promises millions in city taxes and hundreds of high-paying union jobs. According to Wilcox, his nonprofit business model will be less like Google or Apple and more like Trader Joe’s — a low cost California gourmet grocery chain. The store’s most notorious product is its $2 per bottle Charles Shaw wine, known as “Two Buck Chuck”, and is considered a great selection for the price. “The new Two Buck Chuck will be $40 an ounce pot,” Wilcox said in an interview. He explained that botique growers could produce the high-end stuff in their “gardens”, while he supplied the public with a clean, controlled, great-value product.


Economists view mass-legalization and sale of marijuana as a multi-billion dollar market that could potentially bail the entire U.S. out of its deficit and position the nation as a superpower once again. Not to mention, the legalization would halt the illicit and harmful activities of drug cartels. One recent study predicted California marijuana would under price high-quality Mexican imports in virtually every city in the United States, even including the costs of smuggling and state taxes. There will always be opposers to such a delicate subject, though, and the probability of the drug being legalized throughout all of America is highly unlikely. A more promising path to legalization, however, is Proposition 19, which would allow local governments to decide whether and how to regulate sales and cultivation of marijuana and would let anyone in the state 21 years or older use it at their discretion. A newly-released study by the independent state Legislative Analyst’s Office says that Prop 19 could potentially raise hundreds of millions of dollars over time. The legalization and taxation of cannabis has been gaining support for years. According to state accountants, if a bill in the state legislature would legalize pot and charge $50 an ounce tax, the profit margin would be around $1.4 billion annually.

Targeted at the video and film production communities, the Panasonic AF100 delivers the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of a large imager, with the flexibility and cost advantages of use with a growing line of professional quality, industry standard micro 4/3-inch lenses, filters, and adapters. The full 1080 and 720 production camera offers superior video handling, native 1080/24p recording, variable frame rates, professional audio capabilities, and compatibility with SDHC and SDXC media.

The design of the AF100’s micro 4/3-inch sensor affords depth of field and field of view similar to that of 35mm movie cameras in a less expensive camera body. Equipped with an interchangeable lens mount, the AF100 can utilize an array of low-cost, widely-available still camera lenses as well as film-style lenses with fixed focal lengths and primes.

“Designed in consultation with the filmmaking community, the AF100 eclipses the video performance of other cameras in this price range,” said Joe Facchini, Vice President of Sales & Product Management, Media & Production Services, Panasonic Solutions Company. “Ideal for film schools and independent filmmakers, this affordable, digital cinematography camera employs an advanced professional AVC/ H.264 Hi Profile AVCHD codec compatible with a wide range of editing tools and affordable players.”

The AF100 incorporates a 4/3-inch, 16:9 MOS imager. The camcorder records 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) in AVCHD’s highest-quality PH mode (maximum 24Mbps). Ready for global production standards, the camcorder is 60Hz and 50Hz switchable.

The AF100 maximizes the potential of its high-resolution imager with built-in ND filtering and dramatically reduced video aliasing. Standard professional interfaces include HD-SDI out, HDMI, time code recording, built-in stereo microphone and USB 2.0. The AF100 features two XLR inputs with +48V Phantom Power capability, 48-kHz/16-bit two-channel digital audio recording and supports LPCM/Dolby-AC3.

This newest Panasonic AVCCAM camcorder is the first to enjoy the benefits of advanced SDXC media card compatibility in addition to existing SDHC card support. (SDXC is the newest SD memory card specification that supports memory capacities above 32GB up to 2TB). With two SD slots, the AF100 can record up to 12 hours on two 64GB SDXC cards in PH mode. Pricing is expected to come in at around $6,000 USD.


Via Green Energy News


** WB FINANCIAL offers video equipment leasing options that allow filmmakers and production companies to take possession of the latest gear with minimal upfront costs. Please visit their video equipment leasing page for more info and a free equipment leasing quote. **

While certain financial institutions are emerging on the up and up compared to this time last year and beginning to repay government issued TARP funds, there are still exceptionally diminutive means to starting up a green business. Opportunely, there are many resources for struggling business pioneers that can help gain strong financial foothold in the industry. As most well know, competition to receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funded projects is rigid at best, giving way to the optimal resource in green initiatives; Onvia Recovery Contacts Sourcebook. Onvia offers access to over 17,000 stimulus decision-makers and buyers with active or approved economic recovery projects through May 2009, and provides direct e-mail and phone contacts. However, this list is not free, so unite with a few other green capitalists and pitch in on fees to lower initial outlay.

In making direct connections with clean tech businesses and investors there is the Clean Tech Capital Portal, which offers partnership between global cleantech investors, including cleantech share traders, fund to fund investments, cleantech company investments and cleantech projects. Additional funding resources include the Community Conservation Enterprise, which works closely with tourism businesses to help them thrive while conserving biodiversity and providing a boost to local economies. Green Seed Money Grants are offered to budding social entrepreneurs to initiate new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions; with the group having invested over $28 million in seed funding to over 471 social capitalists. As the U.S. leader in microfinance, Accion works to bring affordable small business loans to microentrepreneurs – with about $117 million invested in over 18,500 microloans since its establishment in 1991.

Not to mention, there are also modest lending organizations willing to finance equipment for new business ventures with sufficient credit and background, such as WB FINANCIAL. Located in Southern California, WB offers a wide range of business financing resources throughout the U.S. and Canada, and provides the most comprehensive commercial equipment leasing programs available on the market today. There are more groups and private lenders who are willing and able to financially assist green entrepreneurs, however the market is still as constricted as ever and will remain so until major financial institutions once again open their doors to stable lending practices.

General Motors has recently selected Chris Liddell – Microsoft Corp’s chief finance officer – as vice chairman and CFO to replace Ray Young. Liddell, age 51, has been CFO at Microsoft Corporation since May 2005 but is leaving his position there as of December 31st. Despite his demotion, Ray Young is staying with the company as vice president of international operations; leading the unit’s finance projects, with additional responsibilities to be “clarified in the near term,” GM said. Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. pay czar, placed salary caps on the financially-assisted company which affected GM executive salaries by 31 percent and allowed only one senior manager – apart from then CEO Fritz Henderson – to receive more than $500,000 in 2009. GM has not yet acknowledged that executive. Chairman and interim CEO for GM, Ed Whitacre, expressed last month that the salary cap made hiring from the outside challenging, and urged Feinberg to re-evaluate the restrictions. Soon after, the pay czar said he would be open to flexing the limits for new hires.

According to the Fitch Ratings 2010 outlook report, U.S. structured finance sectors indicate a significant instability even with recent signs of economic recovery. The Fitch credit rating report also specifies that U.S. consumer heath and unemployment will play an important part in consumer ABS (asset backed securities) performance in 2010. Fitch expects unemployment rates reaching 10.5 percent by mid 2010, credit card charge-off rates at 12 percent, and annualized auto net losses between 2 and 25 percent. However despite regression in ABS security performance, Fitch anticipates that U.S. ratings will remain strong for credit card and auto ABS. Primary concerns for next year were shown in the CMBS (commercial mortgage backed securities) division, where Fitch illustrated the risks associated with protracted illiquidity and refinancing. In the RMBS (residential mortgage-backed securities) sector, increasing delinquencies and losses will counteract financial aid from provisional government assistance programs.

“Negative equity, high re-default rates on modified loans and additional rises in unemployment may deter any positive momentum for RMBS,” said Senior Director Grant Bailey. Fitch assesses that home cost will drop an additional 10 percent nationwide, while modification redefaults will be 50 percent for Prime and 60 to 75 percent on Alt-A and subprime. Recovery rates for distressed prime RMBS is anticipated at 95 percent; jointly, recovery rates for distressed Alt-A RMBS will reach 80 percent while distressed subprime RMBS will see a 50 percent recovery rate. Fitch’s report also acknowledged refinance risk as a main problem for CLOs (collateralized loan obligation). Managing Director Kevin Kendra states, “High yield bond issuance and maturity extensions in 2009 have addressed less than 10% of the leverage loans requiring refinancing by the end of 2014.” He continues, “Traditional bank loan activity will remain challenged as tighter lending standards limit refinancing opportunities to the higher quality borrowers.”

President Obama recently held a meeting with some of the nation’s largest commercial banking groups, stressing the importance of taking “extraordinary” steps to restore the U.S. economy after obtaining taxpayer bailout dollars. Financial service institutions were monetarily assisted by taxpayers to avoid bankruptcy, which was “largely of their own making,” he said; rendering them indebted to homeowners and small businesses alike. “America’s banks received extraordinary assistance from American taxpayers… Now that they’re back on their feet, we expect an extraordinary commitment from them to help rebuild the economy,” Obama said in comments after the White House session.

Among the crowd were CEOs of U.S. Bancorp, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., who afterwards announced that they would substantially expand their lending. “Every bank in that room talked about adding many, many small business originators, and setting very aggressive goals for small business lending next year,” said Richard Davis, the chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp. Wells Fargo also announced plans to increase lending in 2010 as much as 25 percent – to more than $16 billion – for businesses with $20 million or less in annual revenue, according to Sarah E. Toffoli, VP and communications manager. However while White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that all the banks determined to take “second looks” at loans that had been previously refused, some executives warned that they still need to proceed sensibly. “Not everyone is credit worthy in today’s world,” said Robert Kelly, chairman and chief executive of Bank of New York Mellon, on CNBC after the meeting. The U.S. economy is recuperating, he said, “but it’s really fragile.”

Southern Nevada’s existing solar array at Nellis Air Force Base is currently the largest operating solar PV plant in the United States. The new project, expected to be completed in 2010, is larger in scale and will employ 120+ people during the construction phase alone. Details of the PPA were not readily available, but this is great news to Nevada residents who have become frustrated with their state’s reluctance to adopt renewable energy reform. Despite the  great potential to produce solar power in Nevada, inadequate transmission lines connecting the state’s northern and southern power grids have held back development in the past. NV Energy reported that ALL of the power generated by the production facility will go to consumers in their southern service territory.