The Westford project is a $23 million complex, with 14,000 solar panels, and was built by Cathartes Private Investments. The site will be operated by the solar power company Nexamp. Power from the facility will go to the University of Massachusetts in Lowell.

In Swampscott, both schools have been outfitted with rooftop solar panel sites that will not only provide power for the schools but also the town. The town will purchase and receive all of the electricity generated by the solar panels at a fixed rate from Constellation Energy under a 20-year solar services agreement.

“Hosting solar generation is part of the school district’s clean energy initiatives and supports Swampscott’s long term goal to reduce overall energy costs 20 percent by 2015,” said Swampscott interim town administrator Dave Castellarin. “The solar power systems will supply an estimated 19 percent of the school district’s electricity needs annually and help to maintain stable electricity costs over the long term.”

Students and staff can monitor the amount of electricity supplied by the solar power systems via the school district’s website, as well as generation totals by week, month or year.

Coal is the most common form of energy in the US.  Environmental activists have been working for several years to reduce national dependencies in coal citing carbon emissions and mining as detrimental for both humans and the environment. Many older coal plants have shut down throughout states as the US has started exporting more natural gas than coal in recent years.

The proposed rule will not apply to existing or new power plants completed within the next year. Future plants will also have several years to meet the emission limiting standards until carbon capture technology becomes commercially available. Natural-gas plants already meet new standards by virtue of their processes.

Critics of the rule say that despite these allowances the rule effectively cuts off the creation of new coal plants as they will be unable to comply with limits. The rule itself is the result of a settlement between several states and environmental groups over carbon emissions. The exemption of existing plants may cause more suits as they are able to avoid purchasing limiting technology and account for much of the existing pollution in the US due to their age.

“Power systems are using our technology to provide real-time messaging about the state of the system,” Barnett explains. “The product can be inserted directly into censors spread throughout critical infrastructure or used as a connectionless API.”

The city of Tokyo currently uses RTI to provide travelers along its highway system with real-time traffic information via kiosks at rest stops. RTI provides a publish-subscribe middleware that is largely agnostic. Developers simply provide the RTI product with the required messaging information and it can work with wireless, copper and optical cable, power lines, or telephone wiring without using a lot of bandwidth.

“Essentially, what this allows you to do is close the loop on all of the disparate information points and exploit that information more effectively,” Barnett said.

RTI Connext connects operational systems with the data center, allowing administrators to understand the full scope of what is happening in their systems at a given point in time. For municipalities and infrastructure administrators this will improve the alignment between operational technology and IT, making systems more efficient.

The company is also working with Siemens Energy to provide support for its critical infrastructure products and projects.

Last year, Vermont lawmakers passed a $10 million appropriation to facilitate advances in wireless technology that will expand both mobile and broadband access points. The state also received $150 million in stimulus funds for its broadband project. So far over 1,500 miles of fiber has been installed through the project.

Private investors are also contributing to the build-out providing a total capital investment of over $400 million. Additional projects include work on the state’s smart grid system. According to a story in the VTDigger, FairPoint Communication, one of the lead contractors on the expansion has spent $61 million to lay 1,100 miles of fiber and provide 24,000 new DSL broadband connections in the state.

88% of Vermont has reliable mobile services. Service providers have noted that the state’s hilly geography can create challenges for providing a reliable signal. The state is working with providers to overcome this by expanding traditional forms of coverage as well as new forms of signal expansion by utilizing utility poles and other public structures to house signal boosters.

During the coming year, state agencies will work to identify changes in strategy to achieve the goals of the plan and will work with local governments on delineating areas for future state investment, growth and preservation. State officials have put together a new website and YouTube video to outline the plan and its effects.

“We need PlanMaryland because the rate of land conversion for development has grown at triple the rate of population since 1970. That is not sustainable,” said Planning Secretary Hall. “Without a smarter approach, we’ll face billions of dollars in additional cost for more road and school construction.”

The plan is the result of four years of development including meetings with more than 3,000 people across the state and thousands more reached online through surveys and social media — one of the largest outreach efforts of its kind in Maryland planning history. More than 300 comments were received during two public comment periods in summer and fall 2011. The second comment period was added after local officials in August requested more time for deliberation.

The Plan fulfills legislation from the General Assembly in 1959, 1974, 2007 and 2010 that required or laid out the process for a state development plan — a mandate that until now had gone unmet.

Maryland has been working to streamline and upgrade state services in a variety of areas including broadband and open data, these efforts will contribute to the sustainable growth plan.

The measure addresses a $3.2 billion smart grid project that local utility companies have said they need significant concessions to move forward on. The Governor said he was against any such measure but the Senate went ahead with the trailer bill which will give significant concessions to the Commonwealth Edison Co. The Governor plans to fight the bill with the help of the state Attorney General.

State lawmakers are using the bill to override an earlier veto of these concessions issued by Governor Quinn.
“Legislators who accept lots and lots of campaign donations from utility companies want to write a law to raise consumer utility bills for the next decade,” Quinn said.

Supporters of the bill, including local utility companies say that the help is needed in order to offset the expense of this project and create much needed local jobs. Quinn has argued that the concessions make an end run around utility price regulations passing on sudden unfair rate hikes. The smart grid related fees are expected to add about $3 a month to an average consumer bill.

The projects that were awarded funds are focused on accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and providing job training to individuals and college students to design and build EVs.

Through the awards, $8.5 million will go to providing additional electric vehicle charging stations and fostering public-private partnerships to deploy EVs throughout the nation. The funding recipients range from communities with extensive EV planning experience to those that are eager to begin, but have not previously had the resources to do so. Most projects awarded in this round of funding are one-year start up projects focused on creating the ideal conditions for EV deployments such as revised permitting, charging station construction and training municipal personnel.

“By developing the next generation of automotive engineers and preparing communities for plug-in electric vehicles, these projects will help reduce our nation’s dependence on oil imports, create jobs, and help America capture the growing global market for advanced vehicles,” said Department of Energy Secretary Chu.

Individuals interested in learning about where they can purchase or charge electric vehicles in their state can visit the map on the DOE website which highlights all of the clean cities funding sites so far. The effort from DOE supports other electric vehicle initiatives already moving forward in several states. So far, these initiatives been supported in larger cities – the DOE funds will help foster growth in smaller cities, adding continuity to the budding national EV infrastructure.

The grants are part of the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). REAP is the result of a 2008 Farm Bill Initiative that established funding sources to help people in rural areas mitigate the cost of being more energy efficient. REAP funds cover the purchase price and installation of renewable energy systems. USDA announced over $11 million in awards on Friday.

In order to receive funds through the REAP program award recipients must agree that grant funding will only cover 25% of the cost of implementation. No more than $500,000 can be spent on the purchase and installation of renewable energy systems and no more than $250,000 can go for implementing renewable energy measures.

“In this changing economy, our farm families and rural small business owners know they have to be innovative and resourceful to make sure their businesses grow,” said Gov. Beshear. “Their initiative in applying for these funds shows the dedication of Kentuckians to reduce our energy consumption and increase renewable energy usage.”

One bill will create the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Energy Advisory Council within the Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The council will be tasked with examining sites for and feasibility of using Lake Michigan for wind projects. The study will include both environmental and recreational impact. The Council will be comprised of state officials from various areas including energy, environment and tourism.

The council will present its recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly by June 30, 2012.

The second law creates the Renewable Energy Production District Act, which allows county boards to establish renewable energy districts or wind farm districts. Under the new law, such a district would receive approval through a voter referendum.

Illinois is working to foster a strong renewable energy sector in order to serve the state’s growing energy needs and create a new area of economic development. As CivSource reported earlier, the state is also building the larges solar field in the midwest. Governor Quinn hopes to reduce the impact of the state’s energy use while also creating new jobs in renewable energy.

“These bills give the state additional tools to further enhance Illinois’ growing renewable energy industry,” Governor Quinn said. “A thriving green energy sector will further strengthen Illinois’ economy, create jobs and boost our economic recovery.”

The project will provide and improve access to hundreds of public agencies, schools, libraries and hospitals as well as providing the infrastructure for individuals and businesses to gain broadband service.

NoaNet’s broadband network serves as the main “information highway” for the state, enabling telecommunications providers to connect with it to provide Internet service to local communities and organizations.

The project will make enhanced 911 services available to virtually every inhabited location in the state. The ability to transfer real-time data over wireless networks will allow EMTs to communicate with hospital physicians en route from injury sites. All told, the new network will reach more than 170 communities.

In addition to this project, a $38 million pilot project is getting underway in in the city of Pullman, Washington, and the nearby community of Albion which will demonstrate the benefits of smart grid technology. The project, led by Avista Utlity Corp utilizes a jointly developed smart grid solution from Tropos Networks and Itron Inc to demonstrate energy distribution system automation.

The project will provide a smart metering infrastructure for both communities serving Avista’s 13,000 electric and 5,000 gas customers.

The pilot is part of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project, led by Battelle, which is funded through stimulus grants from the US Department of Energy and matching state funds. The project will take five-years and cost nearly $20 million.