Climate Change and Alternative Energy Program - Part 5

Our first of four meetings was with Climate Solutions (CS). They are a not for profit organisation seeking practical solutions to climate change in the Pacific North West (Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana). CS is funded by Foundation money and contributions from other organisations such as industry.

NOTE: Whilst Idaho is included, they are not active because they have a staunch Republican Governor - it was quite obvious to us that they are only included because they border with Montana and therefore it would be odd if they were excluded.

CS reiterated many of the points we have already heard regarding the state of play of climate legislation and also the fact that much of the recovery funds is going to large companies rather than SMEs.

CS are engaged in a number of activities in partnership with others. An example is a recently launched report "Carbon free prosperity 2025" which highlights opportunities for the NW alongside a refreshingly honest approach to capacity to deliver.

CS are engaged with an organisation, New Energy Solutions, to develop energy efficiency strategies bespoke to different communities. For example they are working with high end (middle class) and lower end (manufacturing) communities to understand and implement measures that will be most effective in efficiency gains. For example, in the high end communities, people prefer a whole house service, delivered by trusted tradesmen.

CS also work at the Federal level also, keeping up to date on current policy. They have found that the best mechanism to have impact is to cultivate relationships with stakeholders who can access Senators. One such group is Business Leaders for Climate Change which comprises over 100 business leaders.

Interestingly CS had a better handle on policy impacts than I am used to seeing. For example, their work contributed to Republican Senators voting for the Waxman - Markey Bill.

Our next visit was to an SME - Bionavitas. The company specialises in technology to grow algal biomass. Their basic technology is to use fibre optic cables to permeate light through algae growth tanks resulting in a greatly enhanced (factor of 10) yield per unit light.

The company is founded and funded by a board of business angels, of which there are many in Washington (for example Microsoft started here).

Whilst Bionavitas is interested in biofuels, their core business is remediation. Washington State has a number of phosphorus mines which are leaching selenium into water sources causing downstream problems. Bionavitas are growing algae that remove and fix selenium and filtering the water.

Another profitable line is to grow astaxanthin producing algae. Astaxanthin is the nutrient that turns salmon flesh pink (it's found in shrimp etc) and is a valuable commodity for fish farms.

The CEO noted that it is difficult to raise funds from Federal money as the application process is complicated and long (100 page plus proposals). Some recovery money is slightly easier to access.

Our final meeting was with Democratic State Representative John McCoy.

Washington State has 49 districts and each or these has two Representatives (98 total) and one Senator. The legislative system is similar to Congress in that legislation must pass through both houses. There is a Governor who signs off the final bill. Don't get confused here with the 2 senators and several representatives who sit in Congress in DC and represent Washington…we did!

John is Chair of the Committee on Transport, Energy and Climate Change and was therefore knowledgeable on all the issues we had previously heard about. He agreed with us that the numerous utility companies did not make for easy application of legislation and initiatives in energy and climate change and hinted he would like a single state utility to do everything. Of course, as a realist, he was sceptical about this ever happening, but has commissioned some university research to examine the possibility.

There is interest in a feed in tariff type mechanism, which is often called a Standard Offer Contract. The idea is to enter into a contract for say 20 years with a price of unit electricity delivered based on the technology and with allowance for a small profit by end of contract. There are a large number of issues with this proposal at both federal and state level, so I wouldn't expect to see any movement soon.

We also learned that the utility penalty of $50 per MW for missing RPS is to be paid to State funds and will be used to deploy new renewable technologies or energy efficiency measures.

Washington State has a silicon business providing materials for solar PV and is interested in bringing other aspects of the supply chain to the State. There is also interest from Boeing on biofuels and wind power. There is also interest in electric vehicles and there is ongoing work on the recharging infrastructure.

Our final appointment of the day was dinner with Joe McDermott, a State Senator, who was kind enough to answer all my questions about the political system. I’ll not summarise this here, but feel free to ask me about it.