Solyndra
-
America must not back down on sustainable energy
Clockwise from top left: Sens. John Kerry, Sheldon Whitehouse, Barbara Boxer, and Bernie Sanders.If you read just the headlines these days, you might think renewable energy in America is going the way of Solyndra. Don’t take our word for it: A recent headline from Fox News declared “ENTIRE Solar Industry on Brink of Collapse.” We […]
-
The top green and Gristy stories of 2011
Sharing systems are all the rage Can less consumption be more fun? Yes, when it’s social. The “collaborative consumption” trend didn’t start this year (the Zipcar car-sharing service launched way back in 2000), but the sharing movement has blossomed big-time. Airbnb, which lets you rent your home to travelers, made the biggest splash in 2011. […]
-
Critical List: Solar will go on military housing; U.S. net petroleum imports
Who needs government loan guarantees? SolarCity is going to put solar panels on 120,000 military houses with financing from Bank of America-owned Merrill Lynch. (Er, down with the banks?) Environmental regulations have "benefits and costs." They do kill jobs, but they also create new ones. The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. is close […]
-
Critical List: IPCC says humans causing bad weather; physics causes cyclists to breeze by stop signs
The IPCC is officially saying that human-generated emissions are screwing up the weather. Fukushima rice that was supposed to be safe has unacceptably high levels of radiation. Energy Secretary Steven Chu survived five hours of questioning from Congress about Solyndra. Can we let it go now? The Green Car of the Year is the Honda […]
-
From Solyndra circus to clean energy reform
Steven Chu appears before the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.Cross-posted from the Breakthrough Institute. Step right up to see the latest chapter in the ongoing political circus surrounding the bankruptcy of solar manufacturer and federal loan guarantee recipient Solyndra. Today’s main attraction: Secretary of Energy Steven Chu’s long-awaited appearance before the eager Republican members […]
-
Surprise! Koch-funded anti-Solyndra ad is ‘mostly false’
Here's an anti-Solyndra ad put out by Americans For Prosperity. It is wrong. And it's been viewed 1 million times on YouTube alone, not to mention millions more on television. Which just goes to show you that if you give the people what they want, they will eat it up like delicious candied bacon, because […]
-
Critical List: Carbon regulation starting; Chu to testify on Solyndra
A plant in Texas has qualified for the first greenhouse-gas permit in the United States. Any new project that affects greenhouse-gas concentrations will need to have one in the future — though, unlike this one, the permits won’t usually come from the EPA. Texas has just refused to issue its own greenhouse permits. Because we […]
-
Clean energy has highest return rate of any federal program
Cross-posted from Climate Progress. The National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2001 that a handful of clean energy technologies returned about $30 billion on a research and development (R&D) investment of about $400 million. The United States is an amazing venture capitalist when it comes to clean energy R&D. But the all-Solyndra, all-the-time stenographers of […]
-
Critical List: Republicans say enviros threaten border safety; Climate change will kill the Nile
Republicans aren't against environmental protections just because those laws "kill jobs." Supposedly they also damage national security. Canada sticks its fingers in its ears, sticks out its tongue, and tells the U.S. it'll just sell its tar sands oil to China. Forget Solyndra: California-based NRG Energy is a much more typical — and much more […]