Energy

Don’t let Solyndra fool you: Solar PV is on fire

This post was written by J. Matthew Roney, research associate for the Earth Policy Institute. Additional resources at www.earth-policy.org. Solar photovoltaic (PV) companies manufactured a record 24,000 megawatts (MW) of PV cells worldwide in 2010, more than doubling their 2009 output. Annual PV production has grown nearly 100-fold since 2000, when just 277 MW of […]

Earth Policy Institute Energy

Why ‘market-based’ is poor criteria for solar policy

The energy market isn’t as free as we’d like to believe.Photo: USDAThis post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. When it comes to solar policy in the U.S., there are three flavors: tax or cash incentives, long-term CLEAN Contracts, and solar renewable energy credit […]

John Farrell Energy

The Obama admin opens up the best lands in the west for solar development

The Obama administration is putting forward 285,000 acres of public land in the West as prime territory for solar development. About half of the land is in California; the rest is spread over five states, including Nevada and Utah. These sites, the administration says, have no looming environmental or cultural conflicts, and they're close to […]

Sarah Laskow Energy

The New York Times joins the energy and climate ignorati

The New York Times has its head in the sand when it comes to climate and energy.Here are excerpts from two erroneous and contradictory pieces in this week’s dreadful New York Times special section on energy: NYT 1: According to the most recent estimates of the Energy Department, world energy demand is going to increase […]

Joseph Romm Energy

Leaded gas goes the way of the dodo

The sign on the gas pump saying "unleaded" will soon be a quaint anachronism, like the sign on the plane saying "No Smoking." A successful push by the Natural Resources Defense Council to phase out leaded gas worldwide is rushing leaded gas towards the same fate as smallpox — total elimination by a public health […]

Jess Zimmerman Energy

Which are cheaper — tradeable credits or feed-in tariffs?

Cross-posted from Climate Progress. A few years ago, a heated debate started within the U.S. solar industry about which was more cost-effective: solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) or feed-in tariffs (FITs). Now that we’ve had more experience with both policies, the question is again being asked. Researchers at the Institute for Local Self Reliance (ILSR) […]

Stephen Lacey Energy

Critical List: Rina heads to Cancun; French wildflowers are disappearing

Hurricane Rina is heading towards Cancun. The U.S. wants to start trade wars all over the place. First, the solar industry goes toe to toe with China, and now the House of Representatives is mixing it up by trying to exempt U.S. airlines from the EU emissions scheme. Multinational energy companies who want to exploit […]

Sarah Laskow Energy

Rep. Ralph Hall attacks his own badly designed clean energy standard

Ralph Hall.Photo: vexroboticsCross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), the science-denying chairman of the House science committee, says a federal clean energy standard would be an “expensive new electricity tax on the American people,” based on a study he requested. An analysis by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of a clean energy standard (CES) […]

Brad Johnson Energy

Top Obama official warns of consequences of Arctic drilling

Photo: NASACross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. Jane Lubchenco, a top marine ecologist and senior Obama administration official, is concerned that opening the Arctic to oil and gas development brings unknown risks to human civilization. In an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress Green, Lubchenco, the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), discussed the vicious circle […]