Apps were created for two reasons: to entertain you and to make your life easier. There are thousands of different apps for the Droid and iPhone market to make every aspects of your life simpler like travel, shopping, eating and exercising. But there are apps out there that can not only help you but the world we live in. Downloading apps that could potentially help your quest to save the environment just got easier; here are few apps to download:

Light Bulb Finder: A huge way to help the environment (and your energy bill) is too change out your home’s light bulbs to more energy efficient bulbs. Light Bulb Finder is easy to use and helps you to find the best and most energy efficient bulb replacement for whatever type of light you own. Another feature is the ability to purchase the light bulb through the app or help you find at your local retail store! Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

iRecycle: Just about anything and everything can be recycled or reused. iRecycle is an easy to use recycling app that shows you how to and where to recycle an item or product. Choose from their menu and based on your location or zip code, find where to drop off your item. Also you can read eco-friendly news and articles with this app. Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Locavore: An awesome app for the foodies out there. Based on your location, Locavore will point you to the nearest farm or farmers market. Also find out what foods are in season and view a delicious collection of recipes displaying different in season foods. Sounds yummy! Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Treehugger: Based on the very popular and ecofriendly, the team from www.treehugger.com created an app and good one at that! Stay abreast of all things green with news stories, Twitter feeds, podcasts and special articles. Now go hug the nearest tree. Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Not only are all these apps free and available for iPhones and Android users, but they are apps that actually make a difference. Download now and save the environment one app at a time. Happy green downloading!

Article by Laura Backes. Laura enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet providers in her area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8@gmail.com.

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Mythbuster Woman, joining you for a second installment of Debunking Energy Myths. I’ve taken a few moments out of my busy schedule of leaping tall buildings (in a single bound, of course) to answer those of you who challenged me with more myths.

We heard from many of you following my past post regarding energy-related myths. I’ve taken a crack at answering a few of your questions.

Myth #1: Is it true turning your computer on and off decreases its lifespan?
Answer to the Myth: True…with a catch.

While turning your computer on and off does decrease the lifespan of your computer (as well as many other appliances), the reality is that the effect is minimal. Fact is, you’ll probably need to replace or upgrade your computer well before any of the adverse affects would be noticed.

As we’ve said many times before, it’s always a good idea to turn off non-essential appliances, when possible. The energy savings you’ll achieve by hitting the off button far outweighs any wear-and-tear you’d experience.

What’s more, leaving your PC on can actually have a negative effect. When powered on, a PC produces heat, which builds up fairly quickly and both the heat and the cooling mechanism effort increase the wear and tear on your computer. Unless you’re like my dad who still has his Compaq Presario from 1994 (and I’m not judging!), your short-term energy bill is more significant than your long-term computer life.

Myth #2: I’ve heard you should leave your air conditioning on and windows closed when there is a short-term drop in outside air temperature, as it takes more energy to cool your house down again when the weather warms. Is this true?

Answer to the Myth: Not true! says George Spargo, one of the many Energy Efficiency Engineers/Superhero Friends here at Xcel Energy. According to George, short-term dips during the summer months do not have a dramatic affect on your energy bill. So when the temperature drops outside, it is best to turn your AC off and use the free cooling from Mother Nature.

Thanks, George! Now, if I could just find a tip that would turn my Chevy Gremlin into an energy efficient Invisible Plane?

Myth #3: This one comes to us from Fred C., who wrote “One of my favorite (myths) is, ‘Fill your ice cube trays with hot water, it will freeze faster.’”

Answer to the Myth: You’re right, Fred! In some circumstances, warm water actually does freeze faster than cold water. How do we know this? Well, Erasto Mpemba first documented the phenomenon in 1969. Today, it’s known as the Mpemba Effect.

Unfortunately, this little factoid doesn’t exactly save energy because 1) it doesn’t always work and 2) the amount of energy used to heat the water makes up for energy saved in cooling it faster.

I hope you’ve all enjoy my encore performance as Mythbuster Woman. Keep your comments coming, and I will dedicate myself to debunking energy hoaxes, thwarting scams and educating energy users everywhere. (Cue patriotic music)

Article by Mary LaLone, appearing courtesy Xcel Energy Blog.

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Like most people, I like a good urban myth. For many years, I believed if I went to bed with my hair wet I would catch a cold (thanks Mom!).

But we also see many myths when it comes to energy efficiency. Unfortunately, most folks have neither the time nor the, ahem, energy to investigate which efficiency “myths” are real and which ones are just a bunch of hot air.

So to help, we’ve investigated a few popular energy efficiency myths. Hopefully you’ll find the answers informative, while also saving a little energy of your own.

Myth #1: If you program your thermostat to reduce the temperature while you’re asleep, your heater has to work very hard to get the temperature back up in the morning. Therefore, it’s better to keep the thermostat set higher all the time.

Answer to the Myth: False. The amount of energy it takes to heat your home back up in the morning is just about the same as the amount you save while your house cools down in the evening. During those six to eight hours in between, when your house is 10 degrees lower, you’ll be saving a good deal of energy. And unless you are a night owl, you won’t know the difference.

Myth #2: While we know electronics and appliances use energy whenever they are plugged in (even if powered down or not in use), using a power strip to turn appliances off when not in use doesn’t help save energy because power strips also use a great deal of power.

Answer to the Myth: While it is true some types of power strips do use a small amount of electricity even when switched off, it doesn’t mean you should avoid using them whenever possible to cut down on energy waste. In fact, the energy wasted from off-but-plugged-in appliances is much greater than the waste from the power strip.

Myth #3: Replacing my windows with a more energy efficient model is the best investment I can make to lower my energy bill.

Answer to the Myth: Not necessarily. People often assume that if their windows are drafty, they must be in need of replacement. A draft felt near a window is often the result of air falling after contacting a cold surface (the window glass). The phenomenon is called a convective loop and can fool you into thinking your windows are leaky.

According to Lightly Treading, Inc., window replacement is rarely the first thing that a home energy auditor would recommend after assessing a home and its energy use. Usually, there are several cost-effective measures to take before making a major investment in replacing windows.

There are good reasons to replace windows, such as aesthetics or security and, when you’re ready, replace them with the most energy efficient ones you can afford.

Myth #4: It takes a lot of energy to turn on a light bulb. Therefore, you should keep lights on you use most often.

Answer to the Myth. False. This myth comes from the idea that when you turn on an electric device, a surge of power is needed. The MythBusters, episode 69, calculated the power surge from turning on a CFL, LED or an incandescent light would only consume as much power as leaving it on for a fraction of a second. Additionally, turning a light on and off repeatedly doesn’t significantly reduce the bulb’s total life span. Therefore, on this one, your parents were right, it is far more economical to turn a light off when you leave a room.

I hope you found this list of energy myths helpful. In a future issue, we’ll conquer Roswell, NYC sewer gators and the dangers of swallowing a watermelon seed.

Article by Mary Lalone, appearing courtesy Xcel Energy Blog.

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• Debunking the “Fuel Cells Are Always Ten Years Away” Myth
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• Breaking Light Bulb Myths

Not sure if you’ve heard, but it’s summer here in Vancouver. By “summer”, I mean ‘it’s-been-mostly-terrible-weather-but-after-two-months-of-rain-and-cloud-we’re-finally-seeing-the-sun’. We’re not bitter…I swear. Ok, that’s a lie. We’re totally bitter about it. But, it’s out of our control, West-Coasters, so get out and enjoy the sun while it deigns to show its face! The bitterness comes from watching summer happen all over the rest of our continent. They have been experiencing some very warm (ok, very hot) weather. However, while we West-Coasters may have want for a little more heat, we also know that a lot more heat can indeed be dangerous. Safety first, people.

Extreme levels of heat swept over two thirds of the US and a large chunk of Canada this summer. People need to cool off and, just like in the winter, we tend to use electricity to bring temperatures in our homes and offices within comfortable levels. Extreme temperature can elicit some pretty high energy bills as air conditioners and fans run constantly to try to bring temperatures down. So, what can be done in the home to keep the costs of energy down while still keeping us nice and cool? We’ll be addressing this over the next couple blog posts.

The California Energy Commission has some tips to answer that question. While they may not all be applicable to all people, we should all be able to adopt at least some of these ideas. Let’s start with everyone’s preferred choice – the free ones. They suggest washing your laundry in warm or cold water settings, as opposed to hot, and always using cold water to rinse your clothes. This can save you 4% on your energy bill. A further 5% can be saved if you line dry your clothes. Bam! That’s 9% right there in laundry energy alone! We can round the savings up to 10% if we apply the air drying technique to your dishwasher too, as long as you make sure that it’s always full when you run it.

If you’re lucky enough to have a pool to fall into, you can save 1-2% per hour if you reduce the operating time of your pool’s filter and its automatic cleaning sweeper from always on to 4-5 hours on. On that note, can I come over for a swim?

Next, we move on to the logical, but not always practiced way to save electricity: turn stuff off if you’re not using it! Turning off appliances, lights and equipment can save you up to 2% in energy costs. And here’s a fun fact: did you know that most chargers still pull energy out of the wall if they’re plugged in, but not charging anything? Unplugging electronic devices and charges when they’re not in use can save up to 2% as well. A handy way to make this easier (and thereby more likely to happen) is to plug these devices into power strip and just switch the power strip on and off when you need to use your electronics. Easy as pie.

Last on the California Energy Commission’s free-to-implement list could be sitting in your garage. And it’s a good one. If you have a spare refrigerator in the garage and you don’t really need it (do you need it?), you can unplug and recycle that bad boy and save yourself approximately $150 per year! 10-20%!

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Late last week New York lawmakers went home for the summer without passing the NY Solar Jobs Act that we all worked so hard to advance. Friends, we are disappointed that we don’t have a brand new big solar program to celebrate, but there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about a bright future for solar in the Empire State.

As we have remarked before the effort to make New York a solar powerhouse has been an incredible ride.

* The bill’s many economic and environmental benefits gained strong bi-partisan support from legislators. In the senate alone there were 31 sponsors and co-sponsors. That’s nearly half the body!
* Our grassroots coalition helped encourage New York voters to send more than 10,000 emails and 31,500 letters to lawmakers.
* Our industry campaign elicited memos of support from well over 100 organizations including biggies like Dow, GE, and Staples.
* NY sports heroes and reality TV stars upped the wattage with their public support.
* Times Square got a little sunnier thanks to our photo contest that drew submissions from solar fans from upstate and down.
* And that all earned the campaign tons of great press coverage in New York and beyond.

And yet, between a race to get the state budget passed on time and earn a high-profile victory for gay marriage, NY lawmakers did not pass the Solar Jobs Act. However, in the final days of their busy session, Albany did pass an omnibus energy bill, the Power NY Act, which touches on a number of issues that are relevant to the state’s clean economy. It streamlines power plant siting (this includes wind and solar projects), allows on-bill financing for the Green Jobs/Green NY efficiency retrofit program and . . . drumroll please . . . orders a cost/benefit study for the very solar goals that were set forth in the NY Solar Jobs Act.

That’s right, lawmakers heard your call for a solar powered NY, and ended the tale of this year’s session with a big bookmark in the form of a solar study that must be delivered by January 1, 2012. And you can bet that we’ll be working to speed this along so that New Yorkers can begin to reap the benefits of a strong solar market sooner rather than later.

Needless to say we are disappointed by the delay in the bill’s passage – a move that means New York will miss out on immediate opportunities for federal funding, economic development and new job opportunities as neighboring states continue to charge ahead. However, NY legislators’ attention to solar over the course of the 2011 session as well as the ultimate inclusion of the solar study provision in Power NY Act indicate real interest in advancing New York’s solar economy.

We couldn’t have come this far without the tremendous support and hard work of our fellow advocates, businesses and individual solar fans. With your continued help, we’re confident that we’ll get ‘em yet!

And so, this summer we plan on taking these lemons and turning them into … delicious solar powered margaritas.

Vote Solar is a non-profit grassroots organization working to fight climate change and foster economic opportunity by bringing solar energy into the mainstream.

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Tom Steyer has a vision. It’s a vision for a national dialogue about energy production and consumption. At the 2011 gathering of the Clean-tech Investor Summit in Palm Springs, California, Steyer shared his perspective on the defeat of Proposition 23, along with how that outcome can inform the national conversation on clean energy issues.

Steyer is an unlikely spokesperson in the clean energy movement. As the founder and co-managing partner of Farallon Capital Management, he has built a career around institutional investing for schools, foundations and high-net-wealth individuals.

“I have been a professional investor for the last 30 years, not having to do with clean energy,” said Steyer. “When Prop 23 was proposed, I was assuming that I would do absolutely nothing. When everyone else took the exact same tack as I took, which was to do absolutely nothing, eventually I got so upset and angry that I decided that I would spend my time and put up some money to try and change the dynamic about how this proposition was going to work.”

The Spark of Proposition 23
As Texas oil companies mobilized a campaign to pass Prop 23, Steyer observed that the general lack of an organized coalition against Prop 23 was leading to a tragedy of the commons. “I don’t think I was doing anything smart. I don’t think I was doing anything calculated. I think I just lost my temper and said I’m damned if this is going to happen in our face,” said Steyer.

It was at that moment he decided to take a stand and encourage others to do the same. For Steyer, there was a deep seeded sense of conviction and confidence in his message.

“Do not be disinclined to engage the other side or be intimidated by their brains or their money, because my experience from this and from previous campaigns is we have the brains and we can find the money,” said Steyer.

Coalition Building
With a keen and masterful sense of the importance of stakeholder engagement, Steyer served as co-chair of the “No on 23” campaign together with a staunch political polar opposite, former Secretary of State George Shultz. The coalition itself was a demonstration of co-mingled ideologies and strange bedfellows.

“To get a coalition, you need visible leaders so that you can go to the people who are part of their constituency and make your pitch and not be thrown out of the room without a hearing,” said Steyer.

The new clean energy coalition, according to Steyer, needs to be comprised of four essential groups: Business People, Republicans, People of Faith and National Security Professionals (such as the military and Department of Defense).

“I think our goal has to be to build the coalition,” said Steyer. “In order to win this national argument, we have to be able to reach out to the people who aren’t our natural allies and convince them not just that we’re right, but that it’s really important that they be on our side. If we had these four groups, we’d have the passion and we could go anywhere in the United States and make this argument.”

The National Stage
Rather than blaming Washington, DC, Steyer takes the position that the capital will respond to the engagement of the American people at a grassroots level. “Things happen in DC after the country decides what it wants,” said Steyer. “DC is not going to lead. DC is going to be the validation of the conversation that goes on across the country.”

On the national stage, Steyer sees the lack of federal energy policy as a reflection of the public’s lack of engagement in the discussion. “One of the reasons I felt so strongly that we’d never get a major energy bill in 2010 is [that] I can’t believe it’s going to happen without a huge conversation at the national level,” said Steyer.

“If you think about the health care bill, if you think about civil rights, if you think about when we’ve changed massively, there has been a huge conversation with everybody participating, with people airing all their views with a close examination of what’s going on… and there hasn’t been that kind of conversation [around energy].”

Of course, the difference with health care and civil rights is the direct connection that Americans feel with those issues. For most people, on the other hand, energy is an abstraction. We understand that energy turns the lights on and keeps the beer cold, but how it’s made and where it comes from is beyond the familiar patterns of our daily conversations. The key to engagement seems to be in how we make energy issues more approachable.

Winning Hearts, Minds and Solar Panels
“So when we think about this conversation, salience is really important,” said Steyer. “People have to understand, ‘Oh my gosh, this is totally relevant for me. This is an important thing. This is going to change my vote. This is going to change my life.’”

“Until that happens, I do not believe that we will be able to get [changes made]. This is not a minor change. Energy runs through every part of our day and every part of our economy. To change this is going to take a massive change of attitude.”

If ever there was a person capable of inspiring that massive change of attitude, it might just be Tom Steyer. The roadmap he presented at the Clean-tech Investor Summit was credible, well-constructed and achievable. Is he up for the challenge? Despite his attempts at self-deprecation, Steyer clearly has a knack for community building and a deep intuitive talent for understanding the dynamics of personal engagement. In California, he was been battle tested with Proposition 23 and came out victorious. What’s next for Tom Steyer? Hopefully more of the same.

A web archive of Mr. Steyer’s presentation is available here.

Lee Barken, CPA, LEED-AP is the Energy and Cleantech practice leader at Haskell & White, LLP and serves on the board of directors of CleanTECH San Diego and as Vice-Chair of the WREGIS Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Lee writes and speaks on the topics of renewable energy project finance, green building, IT audit compliance and wireless LAN technology. You can reach him at 858-350-4215 or lbarken@hwcpa.com.

This article originally appeared on Triple Pundit.

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Last fall, the Middle Class Task Force and the Council on Environmental Quality released a report called Recovery Through Retrofit, which identified the key barriers standing in the way of strong and sustainable home energy-efficiency industry.  For the past year, we have been working with our partners across the federal government to address these barriers, and on Tuesday, the Vice President announced three new initiatives that will grow this industry and help middle-class families save money on their energy bills.

First, homeowners don’t have access to clear and reliable information about their home’s energy performance and how to improve it.  So on Tuesday, the Department of Energy announced a program called Home Energy Score.

Using a new software tool, trained contractors will be able to go through a house in an hour or less and generate a report with two critical components:

First, an easy to understand graphic showing where the home’s energy performance rates on a scale of 1 to 10 and how that score compares to other homes in the area.   It’s like a miles-per-gallon label for your house.

Second, a customized list of recommended improvements, with information on how much the homeowner’s energy bill would be reduced by each change.

To see a sample Home Energy Score, click here.

Homeowners armed with this information will be motivated to invest in energy upgrades. But even for motivated homeowners, there simply aren’t enough consumer-friendly financing options.  That’s the second big barrier and that’s why the Department of Housing and Urban Development has created a new program called PowerSaver to connect more homeowners with affordable, federally-insured loans for home energy upgrades.

This federal insurance is the key because it will draw private lenders in off the sidelines.   PowerSaver loans will have interest rates as low or lower than comparable financing options, and they will be more widely available because of the added incentive for lenders.

Finally, homeowners investing in a retrofit want to be sure that the work will be done right and produce the expected savings.  So the Department of Energy, the Department of Labor and other agencies worked closely with industry experts to draft a comprehensive set of workforce guidelines that are being released today.  Training providers can use the guidelines to strengthen existing courses or develop new ones.

More and better training options will lead to a stronger workforce and greater consumer confidence.  And more consumer confidence leads to more demand for home energy upgrades, which leads to new jobs and more savings for middle-class families.

For more information on all these new initiatives, click here.

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If your electric rates are high, there is a silver lining. Chances are you live in a state that offers some of the greatest innovations and incentives for energy efficiency – or soon will. By taking advantage of these programs, you can reduce your bill.

Take a look at the chart below that I put together after reading the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s “2010 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard.” I list the ten most expensive states for household electricity and note where each stands in ACEEE’s scorecard, a report that ranks states from best to worst for their energy efficiency efforts.

Not surprising, seven of the most expensive states also are launching the most ambitious energy efficiency efforts. Several of these states are in the pricey Northeast, now one of the best markets for the energy efficiency industry.

It would be nice if these states would just reduce their electric rates, but for a variety of reasons that is unlikely to occur, at least in any dramatic way. The pricey states are often plagued by old energy infrastructure, transmission line congestion, and lack of indigenous fossil fuels, all factors that drive up energy costs.

As a result, policymakers in these states now talk not so much about reducing electric rates, but about reducing electric bills. If you’re a New Yorker, your electric rate may stay at 19 cents/kWh, but your monthly bill will drop if your home is better insulated or your refrigerator new and efficient. This is why the pricey states are so motivated to achieve energy savings.

The high-cost energy states may be among the most aggressive when it comes to energy efficiency, but they are not alone in their pursuit. The latest ACEEE scorecard comes at a time when states in general – not the federal government – are leading the way in bringing unprecedented energy efficiency incentives to consumers. Congress has contemplated some policy innovations over the last two years to spur energy savings, but has been unable to pass an energy bill. Steven Nadel, ACEEE executive director, says that “the overall story here is one of states getting done what Congress has so far failed to do.”

ACEEE points out that the US – thanks to the states – has never experienced an energy efficiency boom as large as this one. During the last efficiency boom (a boomlet really) in 1993, ratepayer-funded efficiency programs amounted to $1.8 billion, before slacking off to about $900 million in 1998. By 2009, the number was $4.3 billion. ACEEE expects the state programs to keep growing, possibly reaching $12.4 billion by 2020. And this does not include the one-time injection of $30 billion in federal stimulus money, the largest single investment in energy efficiency in US history.

ACEEE’s full report is available for free download here.

Comparison of electric rates and ACEEE state ranking

*Source: Energy Information Administration, June 2010

Note: The chart above ranks only the lower 48 states. Because of their remote locations, Hawaii and Alaska face unusual energy challenges.

Elisa Wood is a long-time energy writer whose work appears in many of the industry’s top magazines and newsletters. She is publisher of the Energy Efficiency Markets podcast and newsletter.

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RIP, Energy Bill: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he didn’t have the votes to pass a climate-change bill that puts a price on greenhouse gases. With that statement one of Obama’s major campaign promises crashed to earth, along with hopes for slowing global warming or using cleantech to jump-start the U.S. economy. In place of a real energy bill is an “energy bill” that gives homeowners efficiency rebates and regulates deepwater oil drilling. But with a midterm election in the offing and more Republicans likely heading to Congress, the notion of cap-and-trade is, well, cap-and-dead.

BP Plugs the Spew in Gulf, Boardroom: Having capped its oil spill for what might be for good, BP replaced its foot-in-mouth CEO Tony Hayward with Robert Dudley, an American who says he’ll make safety his top goal. Meanwhile, while no one was paying attention, Obama became the first president to take a stab at managing the oceans.

NYC Water’s Hot, McDonald’s Not: When it comes to local sourcing, in New York City tap water we trust. McDonald’s, not so much.

LEAF is Cheaper, Volt Goes Farther. Who Wins? General Motors finally named a price for the Chevy Volt: $41,000, or about $8K more than its electric rival, the Nissan LEAF. In its defense, Chevy argues that the Volt can go 340 miles with its “extended range” gas engine, while the LEAF’s battery dies after 100 miles. Who will go the distance with buyers? Time will tell.

Blow, Google, Blow: The king of search officially became a utility as it arranged to mainline 114 megawatts of power from an Iowa windfarm. Also this week, the Alta Wind Energy Center in the California foothills announced it had secured the funds to grow to 1,550 gigawatts and so become the largest windfarm in the world.

Take the NASA Quiz: This week, NASA unveiled snazzy maps that reveal the answers to two not-so-trivial questions: Where are the tallest trees in the world, and where are the biggest dead zones in the ocean? Let’s tackle the second question first. The U.S. East Coast and Northern Europe have the largest dead zones, victims of too much chemical fertilizer leaking off the farms. The tallest trees (which sequester the most carbon) are in Southeast Asia and in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

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(Reuters) – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will unveil as early as Monday a slimmed-down energy bill seeking to make offshore drilling safer and convert trucks to run on domestic natural gas.

The full Senate could begin consideration of Reid’s bill on Tuesday and Democrats would like to pass it by the early part of the following week.

With time running short ahead of a month-long recess starting Aug 6, Democrats abandoned efforts last week to put climate-control measures in the bill. Reid said then that he had no Republican votes for items such as carbon caps and mandates requiring utilities to generate some of their power from alternatives sources such as wind and solar.

Reid said Congress could revisit climate legislation in September but lawmakers and analysts doubt there will be much appetite ahead of the mid-term elections in November.

And if Republicans pick up seats, as expected, the effort to put a price on carbon and cut emissions could be stalled for years, which would also hamper the Obama Administration’s efforts to take a lead role at the world climate talks.

The narrowed-down bill would hold BP Plc accountable for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and seek to prevent similar disasters, Reid said last week.

It will very likely include provisions to force companies to dole out more money to cover the costs of oil spills. The liability cap, which is currently $75 million, will likely be raised to $10 billion or more. One Senate committee passed a bill last month to lift all caps on liabilities.

The bill will also contain incentives to convert trucks to run on natural gas and to increase energy efficiency.

Analyst Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners LLC, said he expects the energy efficiency measure known as Home Star to include $5 billion in incentives for plugging window leaks and insulating attics.

The natural gas trucks incentives could cost the government $4.1 billion, compared to the $19 billion price tag for an earlier bill that had been endorsed by energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, Book said.

To pay for these measures, lawmakers may consider raising taxes on the oil and gas industry.

“One possibility would be to raise the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund tax from 8 cents per barrel to 49 cents per barrel, which would raise approximately $18 billion,” said analyst Whitney Stanco of the Washington Research Group.

This fund, created in the aftermath of the Exxon-Valdez accident, helps pay claims for financial or property losses caused by oil spills.

Many expect the bill to pass as lawmakers may be eager to take action on the oil spill ahead of the elections.

Interest groups are lobbying to get measures boosting various energy sources attached to the bill. Environmentalists and clean energy advocates, in particular, are pushing to add a renewable power mandate, saying that without such measures, China would surpass the United States in alternative energy. But it’s unclear whether the groups have the support to accomplish this.

Article by Timothy Gardner and Ayesha Rascoe; edited by Eric Walsh; appearing courtesy Reuters.

photo: David Paul Ohmer

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