Get on the PTC bus!

Once again it's a roller coaster ride to the end of the legislative session and the fate of the Production Tax Credits (AKA PTC). Wind has bi-partisan support; it's not a just Birkenstock and ponytail thing any more. So it should be a shoo-in, right? But then the PTC gets incorporated into some other, bigger bill that doesn't have bipartisan support (i.e. Energy Bill). Just when we thought the financial meltdown had completely absorbed Congress, a Friend of Renewables tucked the PTC into Son of Big Scary Bailout, which is basically the same as Big Scary Bailout 1 plus lipstick. So, if the voters of America are content that Congress (and now just the House, as the Senate has already passed it) felt their pain enough to vote the bailout down last week, but trust them to vote yes this week, we will have a Production Tax Credit and a robust renewables industry next year. If not, well, see you at CanWEA and BWEA next month!

Second Wind signed onto this coalition of renewable companies in favor of the PTC - don't know if it helps, but it's worth a try. The PTC may not be the best way to encourage development of wind plants, but it's the only one we have, compared to plenty of incentives for conventional energy sources.

Oh...My...God

When I opened my paper yesterday morning and saw this picture, my first words were "Oh...my...God". The first impression was that wind energy is really mainstream now. It's not that long ago that only a Ralph Nader would seek a photo op at a wind facility - renewables were the province of those latte-loving, Volvo-driving, elitist tree-huggers. And look at us now! A self-described conservative Republican is not only recognizing that renewable energy can be an economic force, but even acknowledging that global warming exists. Whether this is lip service or not, the idea that McCain perceives acknowledging the warming of our planet to be an asset, not a liability is a milestone. And even more, that it might be OK to stand with the rest of the civilized world that agrees with that idea.

Jon Stewart definitely agreed with me, as he used the same exclamation to greet the same photo on the Daily Show last night.

The second thing, that is definitely not on Jon Stewart's radar screen, is that Vestas is moving in a big way for national household recognition. Vestas ran a full page ad in the Boston Globe about the time of the MMS public hearings on Cape Wind with a photo of a worker buffing a big, beautiful blade and the simple headline "WIND = JOBS". This is the same message I've been trying to convey in the Cape Wind discussion and does deserve a wider audience. This week's New Yorker magazine had another full page ad. More power to them, I say.