MAP Royalty, Inc.

1. Energyfolks get-together, Feb 15 in SF

2. Worldwatch MAP Sustainable Energy Fellowship Deadline Extended

3. PHEVs: "Plug-In Partners" Initiative

4. UCBerkeley Ethanol Study

5. U.S. Wind Industry Ends Most Productive Year, 2500 MW, $3 billion

6. EPA PostDoc Position in Energy Modeling

7. Bush to hail $50B energy research package in State of the Union

8. PG&E Proposes Greenhouse Gas Reductions Program

9. Air Force and Whole Foods Top EPA's List of Renewable Energy Users

*****************************************

1. Energyfolks get-together, Feb 15 in SF

It's time for another energy folks get-together! Come meet/catch up with other energy-interested folks over drinks and dinner. Please RSVP to Audrey Chang (achang@nrdc.org) so that we can make a reservation for the right number of people. Here are the details:

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

6:15 pm - drinks in the bar area

7:15 pm - dinner

Buca di Beppo

855 Howard Street (between 4th and 5th)
San Francisco CA 94103
415.543.7673

Public transit optio! ns:

Powell St. BART (walk 2 blocks south of Market to Howard)

Caltrain to 4th & King (walk about 3/4 mi north on 4th to Howard)

Hope to see you there!

****************************

2. Worldwatch MAP Sustainable Energy Fellowship Deadline Extended

Worldwatch has extended the deadline for applications for the 2006 MAP Sustainable Energy Fellowships until Tuesday, Jan. 31. Worldwatch plays a leading role in strategic policy development on renewable energy both in the United States and at the international level. The MAP Fellow will have a 6-month opportunity to work at the cutting edge of renewable energy policy issues and to work with top decision makers around the globe.

Responsibilities of the Fellow will include assisting Worldwatch energy and climate research staff with information gathering, data collection, fact checking, and analysis for Worldwatch publications, including State of the World and/or Vital Signs, possible research papers or special reports, and articles for World Watch magazine. All of the past MAP Fellows have had their names as authors or co-authors of chapters or special sections of State of the World . Current Stanford students and anyone who has graduated in the last two years are eligible to apply.

For more information on this opportunity, visit http://www.maproyalty.com/fellowships.html

*****************************************************

3. PHEVs: "Plug-In Partners" Initiative

Former CIA director, James Woolsey comment on plug in hybrids: ..a coalition of "tree huggers, do-gooders, sod busters, cheap hawks and evangelicals" and will be hard for politicians to ignore. The only infrastructure we need

is an extension cord for each household."

January 25, 2006

The so-called "Plug-In Partners" initiative, launched by the city of Austin, Texas, and its power company, Austin Energy, aims to persuade

cities and companies to commit to buy plug-in hybrids when they become available.

The goal is to send a message to the auto industry that there is demand. The mayors of Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver,

Seattle and Baltimore and 140 electric power companies have joined the effort.

Almost a dozen cities, over 100 public power utilities, businesses and a host of national policy groups have signed on to the "Plug-In Partners" campaign. Austin's template calls for cities to initiate citizen petition drives and to encourage government and businesses to issue "soft" orders or expressions of interest in

purchasing plug-ins. In Austin, 11,000 citizens have signed petitions calling on automakers to produce plug-ins, and soft orders for 600 plug-in vehicles have been received from government and businesses. For example, an area pest control company has pledged to buy up to 150 light weight plug-in trucks, once they are produced.

****************************************

4. UCBerkeley Ethanol Study

A new study claims to settle a decades-long dispute over the use of ethanol as a motor fuel, saying it can reduce dependence on foreign oil but does not yet provide significant environmental benefits.

The study, by University of California-Berkeley researchers and published in the journal Science, says earlier studies were wrong to claim ethanol is an ineffective fuel because it takes too much petroleum to produce.

But it also said that ethanol made from corn -- as is nearly all ethanol available today -- would reduce greenhouse gas emissions only marginally.

``The longstanding debate over whether ethanol is good or bad on an energy basis . . . we believe that 20-year-old argument is now solved,'' said one of the study's authors, Dan Kammen, a professor at UC-Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy.

Kammen said the future for ethanol from sources other than corn is very bright. He also said that although gasoline in California typically has no more than 10 percent ethanol, more substantial benefits could result with ethanol blends of 60 percent to 100 percent.

******************************************

5. U.S. Wind Industry Ends Most Productive Year, 2500 MW, $3 billion

The U.S. wind energy industry easily broke earlier annual installed capacity records in 2005, installing nearly 2,500 megawatts (MW) or over $3 billion worth of new generating equipment in 22 states, according to the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Instead of the slow year that has previously followed boom years for the industry, 2006 is expected to be even bigger, with installations topping 3,000 MW.

The final tally of 2,431 MW boosted the cumulative U.S. installed wind power fleet by over 35%, bringing the industry's total generating capacity to 9,149 MW(1). The previous record capacity figure was set in 2001 when 1,697 MW of new capacity was installed.

*****************************************************

6. EPA PostDoc Position in Energy Modeling

EPA's Office of Research and Development is seeking to fill a postdoc

position in energy modeling and technology assessment in Research

Triangle Park, NC.

Contact: johnson.tim@epa.gov

**************************************************

7. Bush to hail $50B energy research package in State of the Union

Lauren Morello, E&E Daily reporter

A $50 billion package of Senate bills designed to shore up U.S. energy research and development will be featured in President Bush's upcoming State of the Union address. (I think I smell a nuke)

The three bills -- collectively called the "Protecting America's Competitive Edge" Act -- would double the R&D budgets of the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and other federal laboratories and agencies over a seven-year period.

They would establish within the Energy Department a division called the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) -- modeled after research initiatives at the Defense Department -- that would sponsor "high-risk" research and development programs in the energy sector, via grants to the private sector and academia.

The bills that comprise the PACE Act would authorize increases of up to 10 percent per year over seven years for federal science agencies and laboratories. Those agencies also would be asked to plan on allocating up to 8 percent of their R&D money to high-risk research, "which falls outside the peer review and budget allocation process."

The legislation would double the federal research and development tax credit, while also making it permanent. It would direct the federal government to develop science parks as direct competition to their counterparts in Asia, using infrastructure planning grants and loan guarantees.

The bills also include provisions designed to streamline visa regulations for qualified foreign scientists and engineers and strengthen science and math education at the K-12, undergraduate and graduate levels.

************************************

8. PG&E Proposes Greenhouse Gas Reductions Program

Jan 25, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall

Pacific Gas and Electric Company has submitted a proposal to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for a new and innovative environmental program that will allow interested customers to contribute toward a cleaner California. This voluntary program would be available to most of PG&E's residential and business customers.

Through the Climate Protection Program, customers can choose to sign up and pay a small premium on their monthly utility bill which will fund independent environmental projects aimed at removing carbon dioxide from the air. The use of electricity and natural gas creates greenhouse gas emissions. The structure of the program is designed to make participating customers "climate neutral" by creating enough projects to equal the greenhouse gas emissions of their collective energy usage. Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound found in the earth's atmosphere and is the most common greenhouse gas. The emission of greenhouse gases may cause climate change impacts that disrupt existing weather patterns and have a significant impact on the physical environment.

The monthly premium, for the average residential customer who chooses to enroll, would be an increase of about three percent per month. The typical residential customer using 540 kWh of electricity and 45 therms of natural gas would pay approximately $4.31 each month. The premium is based on the energy use of participating customers, using a proposed rate of $0.00254 per kilowatt hour for electricity and $0.0653 per therm of natural gas.

PG&E anticipates its Climate Protection Program fund will receive approximately $20 million by the end of the three-year demonstration, with a goal of removing at least two million tons of carbon dioxide from the air. This reduction would be the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road for one year.

With approval from the CPUC, the program could begin as early as 2007. Customers interested in the program can call the utility to be placed on a pre-sign up list.

For More Information on Pacific Gas and Electric Company Visit www.pge.com or call 800-743-5000

************************************

9. Air Force and Whole Foods Top EPA's List of Renewable Energy Users

Washington, D.C.-January 25, 2006 The EPA 2006 Green Power Top 25 list was released today. of U.S. companies, organizations and government institutions that have voluntarily bought the most renewable energy and are part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Green Power Partnership. EPA also announced its Green Power Partners are now purchasing more than 4 million megawatt hours of renewable energy, an increase of nearly 100 percent since the end of 2004.

The 2006 Top 25 green power purchasers are buying enough energy to power more than 300,000 homes a year, which is also comparable to removing the emissions of nearly 400,000 cars from the road annually. More than half of the Top 25 EPA green power purchasers are comprised of U.S. corporations, a number that continues to increase every year.

The complete list of Top 25 EPA Green Power Partners is as follows, listed in order of purchase size:

1. U.S. Air Force 2. Whole Foods Market 3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 4. Johnson & Johnson 5. U.S Department of Energy 6. Starbucks 7. The World Bank 8. Safeway, Inc. 9. U.S. General Services Administration (Region 2) 10. HSBC North America 11. City of Sand Diego, Calif. 12. New Jersey Consolidated Energy Savings Program 13. Advanced Micro Devices/Austin, Texas Facilities 14. WhiteWave Foods 15. Staples 16. Austin (Texas) Independent School District 17. Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc 17. Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc. 18. The Tower Companies 19. FedEx Kinko's 20. U.S. Army/Fort Carson 21. University of Pennsylvania 22. Montgomery County, Md. 23. Hyatt Regency/Reunion & DFW Airport Hotels 24. Western Washington University 25. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

For more information on EPA's Top 25 list, visit: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top25.htm