Browsing Tag Oil And Gas Prices

New Delhi, One of the most debated topics today is the future scenario of energy use. The focus is now on a range of technologies that are expected to emerge in the coming years and decades. There is universal recognition of the fact that new technologies and much greater use of some that already exist provide the most hopeful prospects for mitigation of emissions of gases that threatens our planet.

The good news, experts agree, is that renewable energy can deliver half of the world’s energy needs by 2050.Some reports show that it is economically feasible to cut global CO2 emissions by almost 50% within the next 43 years. They also agree that commercial production of renewable energy on large to massive scales is technically possible.

Alongside global warming, other challenges have become just as pressing. Worldwide energy demand is growing at a staggering rate. Over-reliance on energy imports from a few

countries and volatile oil and gas prices have together pushed security of energy supply to the top of the global energy-economy agenda.

Renewable energy is not a dream for the future – it is real, mature and can be deployed on a large scale. Decades of technological progress have seen renewable energy technologies such

as wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels, biomass power plants and solar thermal collectors move steadily into the mainstream. The global market for renewable energy is growing dramatically; in 2006 its turnover was US$ 38 billion, 26% more than the previous year.

Supplies of all fossil fuels – oil, gas and coal – are becoming scarcer and more expensive to produce. Uranium, the fuel for nuclear power, is also a finite resource. By contrast, the reserves of renewable energy that are technically accessible globally are large enough to provide about six times more energy than the world currently consumes – forever.

Renewable energy technologies vary widely in their technical and economic maturity, but there are a range of sources which offer increasingly attractive options. These sources include wind, biomass, photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal, ocean and hydroelectric power. Their common feature is that they produce little or no greenhouse gases, and rely on virtually

inexhaustible natural sources for their “fuel”.

The forecast is that by 2050, 50% of primary energy demand in India will be covered by renewable energy sources.

Source: ‘Energy [R]evolution: A sustainable India Energy Outlook’

The alternative energy consultants tell us that the transition from the petroleum-driven economy and society will not be a smooth one, on the whole. The amount of new technologies and infrastructures that need to be developed and built is staggering-even as Germany achieves powering 10% of the entire nation through the use of wind turbines and solar arrays, even as corporation after corporation is springing up, helped by various governments’ tax breaks and rebate incentives, to drive forward the alternative energy mission. We have lain dormant on alternative energy on the grand scale for so long that we now have to scramble to play catch-up as access to cheap oil lurks ever closer to being a thing of the past.

Consultants on alternative energy also tell us that we need multilateral, international efforts in concert with one another in the direction of getting away from the heavy-almost total-dependence on fossil fuels. They are poised to become too expensive, burning them is polluting the atmosphere, and digging for them is disrupting the natural environment. We have about 30 years left of reasonably cheap oil and gas-and consultants say that within 20 years beyond that point, we had better be at least 90% independent of them. Unfortunately, at the present time the world is mostly not acting as if this is the case. The thirst for oil is growing, not slaking, and it is growing faster now than it did even in the 1970s.

One of the major problems of transition, the consultants point out, is that higher oil and gas prices stimulate the economy (This flies in the face of what many energy so-called “experts” and many members of the public believe, but the fact is that oil and gas are found and manufactured and transported by huge corporations who employ multitudes of staff workers and contractors; and from their huge profits their stocks remain lucrative on Wall Street.). Alternative, or “green” energy has to become more marketplace friendly, more profitable to investors and would-be employers. Wall Street does not like change; so there is resistance to this much-needed economic transition. It is because of this that many consultants are saying that we need an international, governments-backed initiative put into place; we are told that we cannot expect the new economy to spring forth overnight, all clean and polished and perfected, from the black ashes of the fossil fuel economy phoenix.

It is most imperative that the wealthy, big-production nations such as the US, Japan, Western Europe, and others be the ones to spearhead the effort to get off of the fossil fuel dependence. Smaller, poorer nations are very simply never going to achieve the level of energy production through coal and oil that these nations have-for by the time they would be ready to, the cheap access to the fossil fuels will be gone, and they will never be able to sustain their newly-risen civilizations at that time as we have been able to do. The time for transition from black to green is now.

Renewable energy tax credits are financial benefits that are available to people who make use of such energy forms. The different forms of tax credits and the benefits that can be derived from them are considered here.

Renewable energy production facilities can cost a lot to install and operate. Though certain companies have made substantial steps in reducing the costs of installation and operation, tax credits are essential on order to place them on a level playing field with fossil fuels.

Rising prices in terms of the costs of oil and gas prices as well as the war in Iraq and other environmental problems have led to different problems. The United States is also concerned about the energy security of all our power sources. The United States recognizes the need and power of renewable energy as an alternative fuel solution and has consistently supported its development through the use of federal income tax credits as well as incentives.

In the year 2005 President George Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law. The Congress took about four years to pass after reviewing several versions of the policy. It extended tax credits for winds and biomass energies for an additional period of two more years. It also included additional tax credits for solar, geothermal and ocean energy as well.

Solar tax credits apply to both residential and business users. However, these tax credits only apply to equipment installed between 1/1/06 and 12/31/08. Equipment that is installed includes solar systems which generate electricity and heat, cool and provide hot water to structures. This equipment should also be operational in the first year that credit is taken and the taxpayer should be the original user. The credit is about 30% with a $2,000 cap for each particular unit used by a residential user. The credit is 30% with no business cap specified for corporate users. At the end of the grace period the corporate tax credit will return to its previous level of 10%.

Geothermal corporate credit remains an 10% and has no stated maximum. This credit doesn’t apply to geothermal heat pumps and it is only limited to geothermal energy equipment which produces, uses and distributes energy that comes from geothermal deposits. A personal tax credit of 10% with a $300 maximum can also be taken for geothermal heat pumps.
The federal government also includes production tax credits for renewable energies. These renewable energies tend to have credits that permit companies to write off the investment against other investments. This was due to a major push of support for certain renewable energy technologies. The credit available was then extended up till December 31 2008. Credits available are 1.9 cents per kwH of geothermal, wind, closed looped biomass and 1 cent per Kwh for hydroelectric power, landfill gas, municipal soled waste and open loop biomass for the first ten years of operation.

Somewhat similar to the production tax credits were the provisions for renewable energy production incentives known as REPI for state as well as local governments along with nonprofit electrical cooperatives. The subsequently enacted law also include