November 2012 will be remembered in the history books for not only President Obama's reelection, but also for a storm that swept the northeastern seaboard after wreaking havoc in the Caribbean in late October. Superstorm Sandy (as it is being called now) claimed 125 lives and has caused an estimated $62 billion in damage in the United States, becoming the second costliest storm after Hurricane Katrina that caused $128 billion in damage in inflation-adjusted dollars. It was only in August this year when I was writing about Hurricane Isaac which left more than 750,000 people across several southern states without power.

While places like New York City have fascinating buildings and structures that are hailed as technical marvels, the energy supply system around them has not really been designed to withstand such harsh forces of nature. State and local government officials are seeking federal aid to not only help with the repair and rebuilding efforts, but also to make existing infrastructure more "storm proof." For example, New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo has asked to look into how electrical transformers and backup power equipment may be relocated to higher floors of the buildings instead of their current placement on lower floors or in the basements, which may be more prone to flooding. The climate change debate is figuring in heavily on what the best course of action is to deal with the predicted rise of the sea levels and potential for additional severe storms.

During my visit to New Jersey over the Thanksgiving holidays, I noticed that a lot of electrical utility poles there have a single solar panel mounted on them. Upon  further research, I learned these panels are a part of the local utility, Public Service Electric & Gas Company's (PSE&G), "Solar 4 All" program that will install 40 megawatts of pole-mounted power generation by early 2013. These panels have an on-board inverter which converts the DC power generated into AC and feeds into the power lines coming to the poles. These panels are expected to provide enough electricity to power about 6,600 average homes in New Jersey. The question I have not been able to find the answer to is how these panels performed during the Superstorm Sandy and could this type of distributed system be a model for other parts of the country as well. I hope to report on that in our next month's newsletter.

In the meantime, I hope you check out the stories we have for you in this newsletter. My favorite is the Biofuels Digest's analysis of the top 10 funding pathways for biofuels companies which spans the gamut from IPOs to venture capital to strategic investors. I know Jim Lane personally, and I am always impressed with the quality and timeliness of the information he presents in the daily digest. I hope to include some of his analysis in our upcoming Renewable Energy Venture Development course which will be held December 9 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, as part of the PowerGen International and Renewable Energy World North America Conference. Please see details below on how to register for these events and workshops.

I also urge you to check out the exclusive interview with Gary Jones, director of Rural Business Cooperative Services for USDA Rural Development in the Jackson, Mississippi, office. The USDA has been on an aggressive course over the last nine years to support renewable energy across the country and on multiple platforms, including biomass, solar, wind and geothermal, along with energy efficiency. As per the USDA, over $1.1 billion has been invested through the Rural Development, which has helped replace the equivalent of 77.9 billion barrels of oil while saving or creating almost 7,000 jobs along the way.

The energy sector in general is highly dependent on policy and the future of many renewable energy programs in the current Farm Bill is in question as the federal law makers debate the heavy issues surrounding the impending fiscal cliff. The aviation biofuels industry scored a big victory when the senate voted after Thanksgiving to allow the Department of Defense to continue seeking the use of biofuels. On the other hand, President Obama signed an order just a couple of days ago that exempts the U.S. airlines from the carbon tax on commercial airplane flights in and out of the European Union. What is clear is that we do not have a comprehensive energy strategy for the country and my hope is that the federal jockeying over the next few days goes beyond just a discussion on tax rates for different segments of the population and we start looking at meaningful reform across the two most critical and largest sectors of our economy: energy and health.

Sumesh Arora, Ph.D.