The future of electric-powered automotive transportation is already sitting in the showroom of the Indianapolis Smart car
dealership at 4000 E. 96th St. It’s a European version of the plug-in Smart.
Central Indiana might be in line to tap hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and loan guarantees to energize
the rollout of plug-in electric cars and trucks. Both chambers of Congress are considering measures that would require the
Department of Energy to select up to 15 cities nationwide to participate in a national electric vehicle deployment program.
Expecting to be burned by greenhouse gas legislation that will make electricity generated from coal costly, Indianapolis Power
& Light is studying whether to buy power from two hydroelectric projects proposed for the Ohio River, near Evansville.
Indianapolis Power & Light tilted at wind farm developer by terminating its contract. Now a new agreement avoids the potential
$190 million in damages enXco sought against the local utility.
For years, ethanol fuel derived from corn was almost politically untouchable, thanks to powerful advocates on Capitol Hill.
The ethanol industry has consequently exploded over the last decade, thanks to government subsidies and incentives. But skepticism
about ethanol is rising, prompted by fluctuating food prices and an organized campaign by anti-ethanol advocates to discredit
the industry.
Federal money will help create programs at community college and Purdue University to offer skills in smart-grid technologies.
Indiana saw a 700-percent increase in total wind-generated power in 2009, an increase second only to Utah, according to the
U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report.
Alternative energy developers are looking at potential wind farm sites in Tippecanoe County and portions of neighboring Fountain
and Montgomery counties.
The tiny town of Reynolds had big plans when Gov. Mitch Daniels touted it in 2005 as the location of BioTown USA, the state's
first project to make a community produce enough energy to become self-sufficient.
Experts
say Indianapolis is moving forward on recycling, that environmental research is discovering promising technologies, and that
manufacturers are finding new things to make. Local cognoscenti from the green community testify to these developments in
five included videos.
Plans by Washington, D.C.-based D'Arcinoff Group to manufacture wind turbines in an idled plant in New Castle could create
1,800 jobs in the next two years.
More industrial construction is going on in Indiana than in any nearby state.
Converting the U.S. trucking industry to natural gas will benefit manufacturers including Columbus-based Cummins Inc., T. Boone Pickens says.
A bill aimed at utility customers who install renewable power sources is seriously flawed and would hurt Indiana’s renewable
energy movement, advocates say.
The word “nuclear” isn’t even mentioned, but Senate Bill 69 is a virtual launch code for reviving attempts
at commercial nuclear power in Indiana.
The Hoosier Environmental Council and Citizens Action Coalition see an expansion of the state’s
“net metering” policy as achievable during the short legislative session that starts Jan.
5.
Legislation that could bring more wind turbines and solar power projects to the state failed in the last session’s closing
hours.
By issuing “voluntary environmental improvement bonds,”, local and state governments could
create special taxing districts that finance homeowner purchases of everything from solar panels to rain
gardens.
California-based WindStream Technologies Inc. plans to locate a development and production facility at Purdue Research Park
of Southeast Indiana, creating more than 260 jobs by 2012.
At full tilt, the units of Meadow Lake I Wind Farm in Brookston can generate about 200 megawatts, enough
to power 60,000 average size homes in a year.
