Brown to Green: A New Use For Blighted Industrial Sites

Brown to Green: A New Use For Blighted Industrial Sites

Few places in the U.S. are as well suited to developing renewable energy as the contaminated sites known as “brownfields.” But as communities from Philadelphia to California are discovering, government support is critical to enable solar and wind entrepreneurs to make use of these abandoned lands.

Big Concentrating Solar Tower Project in Nevada Gets DOE Loan Guarantee

Big Concentrating Solar Tower Project in Nevada Gets DOE Loan Guarantee

This post reports on the newly announced loan guarantees for the concentrated solar power (CSP) Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project that is to be built in Nevada. This kind of solar power, because it is paired with a molten salt thermal energy storage capacity has the ability to be a load following generation source that is somewhat insulated from intermittency issues as well. For large concentrated solar thermal energy this decoupling of the energy collection from electricity generation makes a lot of sense, because the molten salt is already being used as the working fluid that captures the sun’s heat.

DOE SunShot Initiative Aims for Cost Competitive Solar Energy by 2020

DOE SunShot Initiative Aims for Cost Competitive Solar Energy by 2020

The DOE’s “SunShot” initiative which is modeled after the highly successful Apollo moon shot program aims to spur innovations and rationalizations that will together slash the total system cost of solar photovoltaic systems by three quarters within this decade. If it manages to achieve these goals then solar PV would become cost competitive with other […]

Election Does Not Spell Cleantech Doom

Election Does Not Spell Cleantech Doom

The loss of the Democratically controlled Congress, does not spell doom for cleantech.  Republicans and Democrats can find common ground in areas like energy efficiency, renewable energy standards, R&D, government procurement, and a gas tax.  Additionally, global macro-economic trends will continue to have an impact on our energy policy. by David Gold, Lead Partner for […]

Celebrating Eight Women in Cleantech – Add Your Favorites to the List

Celebrating Eight Women in Cleantech – Add Your Favorites to the List

All during this month we have been spotlighting the achievements of women in green careers.  So far, we have profiled 29 women who are excelling in solar and wind power, sustainability, and conservation.  Today, we are showcasing women who have found success in the cleantech sector in the United States.  While men dominate in pretty […]

States Can Create Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs

States Can Create Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs

After feed-in tariff legal uncertainty, a January 2010 report by the National Regulatory Research Institute finds that states can successfully and legally implement feed-in tariff programs to accelerate renewable energy projects.

Five Promising Thin Film Solar Startups

Five Promising Thin Film Solar Startups

It is a rough time to be a startup in the Solar Photovoltaic sector. The financial crisis and deep recession has not only dried up capital, but has also hit demand for solar panels, which has lead to a global supply glut and a price collapse. In this very difficult environment startups must compete with much larger established global suppliers that have factories of hundreds of megawatts each, an established customer base and well developed brand names and sales channels. In this post we look at five promising CIGS thin film Solar PV startups based in the US and try to catalog their unique strengths and accomplishments.

DOE Announces $104 Million to Establish Clean Energy Research and Testing Facilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $104.7 million in funding for seven new research and testing facilities located in DOE national laboratories. The announced projects will support the development and improvement of clean energy and efficiency technologies that are in the US strategic national interest. The new funding is supporting research in techniques to reduce the cost to manufacture carbon fiber on a large scale; finding ways to improve efficiency and lower costs for car batteries; and for developing net-zero energy building technologies.

ALERT: Two DOE Webinars Tomorrow: PACE and State of the States 2009

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program is hosting two Webinars tomorrow, Wednesday, November 18. The first targets recipients of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG), and the second targets state and local officials interested in the role of policy in renewable energy market development.