Comments on: Energy Dept. aims to give out stimulus loans by summer

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announces he is implementing changes in the department to more quickly distribute loans from the stimulus package.

[Commander_Spock]

This CNET NEWS article states in part: re: "The changes Rogers will implement include rolling out appraisals of applications for loan guarantees, rather than waiting for the application deadline to evaluate them. Loan application forms will be simplified and the department will speed up loan underwriting by using outside partners..." Why not have the applications evaluated in real-time (or partial real-time) the Depart of Energy, the Outside Partners (assuming that these are "consultants" being talked here) and the applicant all working collaboratively and in real-time on the project proposals. The advantages being: A faster completion time for project evaluation, reduced cost of project appraisals, a faster time for project implementation....

"To Boldly Go (At Warp Speed) Where None Has Gone Before"!

[Commander_Spock]

This should read: "the Department of Energy" instead of "the Depart of Energy"!

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "Among other things, the department also intends to establish a Web site to provide more assistance to applicants and add transparency to the process..."

It will be interesting to know within what time frame the "Web site" being mentioned here will be up and running!!!

[kacirooroo]

There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent! We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources. Create cheap clean energy, new badly needed green jobs, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. The cost of fuel effects every facet of consumer goods from production to shipping costs. After a brief reprieve gas is inching back up. OPEC will continue to cut production until they achieve their desired 80-100. per barrel. If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. There is a really good new book out by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now

[Commander_Spock]

Re: "[... There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent! We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources...]"

Agreed 100%; also, this should include all forms of energy - bio-mass, bio-gas, garbage, wood waste, ethanol, hydro-electricity generation... plus a host of other forms of renewable energy resources.

[Commander_Spock]

Will "international considerations" be required during the "evaluation" of these proposed projects (whether these are "new" projects; or "on-going" projects) that would be seeking financing???

[Commander_Spock]

What safeguards will be put in place for the "security/protection" of data (personal information, intellectual property...) that will be held by the U. S. Department of Energy since as it has been reported by CNET NEWS that:-

re: "Nearly 70 computers missing from Los Alamos nuclear lab" (see the below attached link):

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10163715-83.html?tag=mncol

Thus the above to be addressed and to the extent that there are no such spill overs (as was mentioned) in relation to the proposed renewable energy development projects related to the recently passed "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act".

[Commander_Spock]

What collaborative plans are/will be in place for collaborative efforts (information sharing et cetera, et cetera...) between the United States of America and other countries around the world such as Brazil (famous for its production and utilization of Ethanol 85 - E85 to meet that country's "energy" needs) in order that the best known and most "economical" methods of renewable energy production and usage will be employed in the USA?

[Robb_Henshaw]

It's great to see such a commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency in this stimulus package. It's also interesting to see how many of the areas receiving funding open up huge opportunities for the energy monitoring market. The grants for smart grid, HUD, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block, State Energy Programs, transmission systems upgrades, GSA, and many more -- all of these initiatives will require open energy monitoring platforms that can ensure maximum efficiency and performance across all renewable energy systems. Technologies from companies like Fat Spaniel Technologies -- www.fatspaniel.com -- that provide open platforms that can monitor all renewable energy systems using one central console will likely become a key/required component for ensuring that the systems paid for by the stimulus grants are operating as optimally as possible, while also providing max energy efficiency.

These technologies are essential for ensuring the cost-effectiveness of the systems deployed, and providing oversight and accountability. Especially in this economy, it's not enough to just deploy "green" technology and use renewable energy -- you need to oversee those systems and get the most of them. We must combine eco responsibility with fiscal responsibility.

Fat Spaniel was the first open energy monitoring platform on the market, and already monitors over 2,000 energy systems in 15 countries. Our platform enables the integration of many different vendors? hardware devices ? such as inverters, solar modules, wind turbines, environmental sensors, combiner boxes ? into the intelligent energy management infrastructure. So, regardless of the hardware components organizations choose to use for their renewable energy initiatives, they can rest assured that they'll have one single platform to manage everything, giving them a holistic view of their systems to ensure that everything is operating optimally. If you'd like to learn more or have any questions, please visit us at www.fatspaniel.com. We'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

[Brownermustgo]

Carol Browner?s History of Discrimination at EPA

In 2000, a jury found that the EPA, under then-administrator Carol Browner, was guilty of race, sex, and color-based discrimination, and that Ms. Browner tolerated a hostile work environment. During subsequent oversight hearings of the Congressional Science Committee, the Chairman instructed Browner to clean up the working conditions at EPA so the next administrator wouldn?t get handed ?a garbage can.?

Despite promising to do so under oath, Ms. Browner never accepted the jury?s findings as EPA Administrator. She never disciplined any of the senior managers under her supervision at EPA who were implicated in Coleman-Adebayo v. Carol Browner. She never stopped the appeal process in the case. It was her successor, Christine Todd Whitman, in her 1st act as EPA Administrator, who announced that the verdict in Coleman-Adebayo would not be appealed, and that the Agency would accept the jury?s findings.

Congress was so outraged by the conditions within EPA, that it passed unanimously in both houses the NoFEAR Act (Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation) 2001 and mandated that all Federal new hires be instructed in Coleman-Adebayo v Browner within 90 days, and that all Federal workers receive the instruction every 2 years.

Apparently, being found guilty of discrimination by a jury of her peers, having Congress enact legislation to outlaw her administrative behavior, and mandate that all Federal workers be instructed in Coleman-Adebayo v Browner was not enough to derail Ms.Browner?s career, or to prevent the retaliation against Dr. Coleman-Adebayo from the EPA that continues to this day.

These are not ?allegations,? they are matters of public record.

The core of the case in Coleman-Adebayo v Carol Browner was Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. President Obama is a civil rights attorney. The question of justice in this matter has not been adequately addressed, with Ms. Browner?s ascension back into the heights of power, while Dr. Coleman-Adebayo, who stood up for civil rights for all Federal employees was thrown under the bus where Rosa Parks, a generation before her, took her stand.

The media need to start asking the president, Ms. Browner, and new EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, what the public is to make of this regrettable case of a whistleblower being vilified, while her tormentors, Carol M. Browner, and the staff she left behind at EPA are still retaliating, still discriminating against whistleblowers (who may be able to prevent poisonous peanuts from killing people), and still thrive within the EPA.