WASHINGTON (Reuters Wed Sep 17, 2008) - The Bush administration plans to release $121 million in aid to eligible low-income households to meet their energy needs as the winter approaches, the White House said on Wednesday.

“The money is being released now so that states can plan and buy the fuel they will need,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

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LONDON (Reuters Mon Sep 15, 2008) - The renewable energy sector will see a 21 billion euro ($29.43 billion) shortfall in debt finance by 2020, following the credit crisis and a brake on lending, a senior banker said on Monday.

Investors at a renewable energy finance conference in London tried to digest the implications of a banking hiatus following Lehman Brothers’ filing for bankruptcy and Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

“The credit crunch will have a major impact on the renewable energy sector,” Cuppen said. “I think we haven’t had the worst yet.”

“Debt markets are much tighter than 12 months ago and are set to get tighter,” said Ian Simm, chief executive of Impax Asset Management, which invests in clean energy, water and waste.

The result has been “the worst liquidity crisis in recent memory“, said Andrew Marsden, managing director for Europe at GE Capital, which has a $4 billion portfolio of renewable energy assets.

Investors have been paying too much for undeveloped offshore sites that only have planning permission, failing to take into account the soaring cost of wind turbines and cables, he said.

“I think that very many of the projects being developed now will be hugely out of the money,” said McCullough.

ST. PAUL (Reuters Mon Sep 1, 2008 10:07pm EDT ) - U.S. Republicans called on Monday for an end to a controversial requirement that gasoline contain a set amount of ethanol, a policy backed by the Bush administration that critics say has helped drive up world food prices.

In their 2008 platform detailing policy positions, Republicans said markets — not government — should determine how much ethanol is blended into gasoline, and pushed for development of a cellulosic version, which could be made from grasses rather than corn.

“The U.S. government should end mandates for ethanol and let the free market work,” the platform said. It was unanimously passed at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The position marks a major change from the 2004 platform, which supported expanding the use of ethanol as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil and increase revenues for farmers.

While farm income has risen, food companies have complained that ethanol demand diverts corn from the food supply, driving up commodity costs and hurting their business. Many have raised prices, hitting consumers with heftier grocery bills as the economy fades and unemployment rises.

FOOD VERSUS FUEL

In August, U.S. regulators rejected a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to halve the ethanol mandate, which he blamed for driving up the price of corn and making it more expensive for farmers to feed their livestock.

Corn prices have retreated from a late-June peak of $7.79 per bushel, but are still up some 50 percent from a year ago.

High food prices have become a global problem, pushing some poor countries to the brink of starvation and creating headaches for policymakers in rich nations struggling to contain rising inflation.

The World Bank has warned that soaring food costs threaten to undermine years of poverty-reduction work. A top World Bank economist said in July that biofuels production in the United States and Europe was the main reason behind the steep rise in global food prices.

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