Another year, another wringing of the hands over tax credits and incentives for clean technology. Lobbyists and vendors in the U.S. are once again singing the blues, calling for continued and expanding government investments in clean technology. At the same time, political challengers continue their Solyndra hootenanny, raking the curren

I dropped by the Bundestag office of Germany’s Green MP Hans-Josef Fell the other day. Fell is a fascinating character and is one of the figures hailed as “the father of the feed-in tariff (FiT)” — Germany’s law that guarantees private producers of renewable energy a fixed, higher-than-market rate for their e

According to a recent Pew Charitable Trust report entitled, “Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race,” the United States overtook China in green energy investments during 2011 after lagging behind for the previous two years.  When you add up asset finance, public markets, venture capital, and small distributed investments together, we

For several years now, we’ve been making the case that the clean energy industry has to dramatically scale its advocacy investment to meet an aggressive disinformation campaign trained against it by the fossil lobby. We’ve found increasing receptiveness to that message, but we still run into people who think we’ve got tin foil on

If you care about the future of the American renewable energy industry, you need to learn what the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calls “passive activities.”  Because these important rules mean that as long as the U.S. relies on the tax code to provide renewable energy incentives, renewable energy can only grow as fast as Wall

I love finding guerrilla marketing examples on YouTube. Unfortunately, I rarely find ones that are related to solar. Bummer. Nevertheless, it’s always great to get inspired, and below is a wonderful model that you might be able to adapt…if you’re willing to push that button. Watch this video first, and then we’ll discuss

In picking South Africa for last year's meet-up, the COP-17 climate change talks prompted some inevitable grumbles. Why was the global climate change industry holding its jamboree in a country that, despite its commitment to renewables, pumps out so much CO2?

Exhibitors and attendees at PennWell's 2012 events in the U.S. can become sponsors of the Wall of Honor.

In May 2011 Carlos Slim, the Mexican business magnate, predicted that Chile will be the first Latin American nation to attain the status of a developed country. Chile's GDP per capita of US$15,400 in 2010 puts it far ahead of most of its neighbours and with economic growth for 2011 slated at 6.5 percent, the country would appear to be well on course to achieve Slim's forecast.

In a New York Times Sunday Review piece last month — Drawing the Line at Power Lines — Elisabeth Rosenthal suggested that our desire for clean energy will require significant tradeoffs: There are pipelines, trains, trucks and high-voltage transmission lines. None of them are pretty, and all have environmental drawbac

United States Senator Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bingaman (D-NM) has just introduced his clean energy standard legislation, and yes, it has every energy source in it, except energy efficiency. Can a clean energy standard include all energy sources - and should it?

Poland’s biogas sector is very much in its infancy, but the sector is poised for explosive growth in the coming years. At least 300 agricultural plants are thought to be in advanced planning stages, and the Polish Government is targeting an ambitious uptake of 2500 projects by 2020. With a vast resource potential and an attractive certificati

Last Tuesday, March 13, Congress failed to act to renew the 1603 Treasury Grant program, and that’s not only a loss for the entire solar industry, but other renewables too. Some may see 1603 as a program that only benefits large scale solar, but 1603 indirectly benefits the residential solar community, as well as solar thermal, and all other

The concept of zero net energy buildings and communities—designed to produce as much energy from onsite renewable resources annually as they consume—is gaining momentum across the U.S. in both the residential and commercial sectors. Signs of the increased interest in zero net energy (ZNE) building concepts are everywhere. Last year, TD

A new report released today by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research shows that Minnesota can meet 100% of its electricity needs with in-state wind and solar power, and (with ample energy efficiency investments) at a comparable cost to its existing electricity supply. The notion that solar and wind energy cannot be the mainstay o

A recent check of the California Solar Initiative’s database reveals that there are currently 2,244 rebate-eligible solar PV installers in California. And on the solar hot water side? Only 374! That lack of competition for solar water heating services in a huge state like California is startling. Despite the recent — and generous &mdas

Canadian mining company Dia Bras Exploration Inc. has completed the sale of its hydroelectric assets to Volcan Compania Minera S.A.A. via its Peruvian subsidiary Sociedad Minera Corona S.A.

For those who are counting, it’s March already, and Americans are struggling to make sense of the mood swings surrounding both the weather and the Republican primaries.  The GEA’s U.S. Geothermal Power Production and Development survey and report is another cultural staple in a new season of submissions and updates.  In geoth

With the solar bubble apparently bursting around the industry's ears in late 2011, as 2012 opens its doors for business much attention has been focused on the sector. The markets are certainly wise to be cautious given the impact of the downturn, regulatory instability and an increasingly price-competitive and oversupplied market.

Global economic woes have taken their toll, but investment in renewable projects is still strong and since 2010 has surpassed investment in new fossil fuel plants.