The solar industry is changing as it grows, providing a rare opportunity to see an evolving market at work.
For those firms facing bankruptcies and operational problems, the change can seem daunting, but for firms backed by significant balance sheets and buoyed by robust development pipelines, the changes only highlight the opportunities. Keep reading →
When the lights switch on and the fountains rise, the World Trade Center will take on a new life that deepens the poignancy of the complex as more than buildings, but as a place of national renewal and remembrance.
For the last eight years, engineers from infrastructure giant Siemens have been working with the World Trade Center design team to guarantee that when the site comes back to life, it will be ahead of its time as a showpiece of the energy future in New York and the US. Keep reading →
The end of the summer brings with it the sense, if not always the reality, of the western world returning to work.
For a lot of people in the US today, there simply is no work, as unemployment numbers and straggling economic growth continue to make clear. President Obama gathered Congress together to announce his own plan for the war on unemployment, and his suggestions met with mixed response from the energy industry. In previous speeches, Obama has singled out the energy business as a major provider of jobs; in this one, with the exception of a passing reference to an Infrastructure Bank, he largely avoided the subject. Keep reading →
The real question with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is asked in this podcast: How did it go so wrong?
The Northeastern US carbon dioxide trading system was proposed in 2003, less than a decade ago but a lifecycle ago in climate change politics. At the time, dealing with global warming was a top priority, and Republicans were seeking market solutions to what was perceived as a huge threat. Keep reading →
As Solyndra Inc. made its bankruptcy filing official on Tuesday afternoon, Victoria Sanville, a prominent lobbyist who helped secure hundreds of millions of dollars in government money for the California solar company, is on the market for a job. Once touted as a model of green energy, Solyndra received a $535 million federal loan guarantee from the U.S. government in 2009. The company has since laid off 1,100 workers and is now filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Solyndra is currently $783.8 million in debt and says failing any new interest from buyers, it will be forced to shut down and sell off assets within the month.
With job creation taking center stage in American politics, the oil industry Wednesday made a pitch for drilling more widely. With looser restrictions, the industry says it could deliver 1.4 million new jobs, boost tax rolls by $800 billion, and increase domestic energy production almost 50%.
To hit those numbers, the industry would need to drill off the East and West Coasts, in waters off Florida’s Gulf Coast, in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and on most federal public land that’s not a national park. These areas are currently off limits to drilling, except for some public land in these regions. Keep reading →
Talk about the US electricity generation sector and most people refer to national trends, but the fact is that in recent years state and regional policy has been crucial to unique local energy developments, as this Breaking Energy infographic, using US government data, shows.
Click on the picture above for a full size version, or to download. Keep reading →
The green economy is more than quietly turning windmills and grand visions of new infrastructure; it is also construction boots on the ground in public buildings across the US.
With budget constraints looming on the mind of government officials at every level, the question of how to pay for mandated or wished-for infrastructure improvements that cut energy usage in public buildings has grown ever more pressing. The use of energy savings performance contracts may be part of the solution to that quandary. Keep reading →
After a tumultuous year, the International Energy Agency has a new Executive Director in former Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven.
As the energy arm of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, representing developed-country interests, the IEA was until recently largely viewed as a statistics-gathering and research operation. The group occasionally moved markets or influenced policies through its release of compelling numbers, and has been at the forefront of moves by the industry to embrace more renewable generation sources and grapple with limiting emissions that cause climate change. Keep reading →
