Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Algae-derived gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel sound like the imaginings of science fiction, but a growing number of entrepreneurs, investors, scientists, and policy makers are trying to make them reality. If developed sustainably, the algae biofuel industry may be able...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Last week, the Energy Information Administration or EIA (the non-partisan energy data and analysis unit of the federal government) released its Monthly Energy Review, which covers a wide range of energy statistics, including pricing, generation, consumption and CO2 emissions. In...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
The second round of 30% cash grants for renewable projects was awarded today by DOE and Treasury. I gave some context for these grants, as well as discussing potential concerns in a post a few weeks back covering the first...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
The Woodrow Wilson Center and Environmental Law Institute today released a collaborative new study looking at both energy subsidies and U.S. energy flows. (A presentation on the report which includes a comparison of energy flows in 1992 and 2007 is...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Today, the Department of Energy and Treasury Department announced the first set of cash grant recipients to take advantage of a new Stimulus program for renewable projects. (The cash grant program allows renewable developers or associated parties to receive an...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Came across some PV data on the CEC (California Energy Commission) website that I thought worth sharing. Forecasting based solely on historical growth rates typically leads to overaggressive and mostly inaccurate results absent learning rates, annual and cum capacity limits...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Today, President Obama’s new budget was officially released. Those interested only in the energy provisions can skip here, although a look at the actual draft budget is extremely informative. As usual, more industrious and well-connected sorts have beaten me to...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Given that President Obama signed the Stimulus bill in Colorado yesterday (after touring a solar facility), I thought it might be useful to discuss some of the major renewable energy provisions within the Stimulus package, and provide some detail as...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
One can be forgiven for fearing the demise of our clean energy industry. Recent headlines spell out the rather dour mood in the clean energy sector: “Will Green Energy Wilt from Lack of Funds?” asks BusinessWeek while the NY Times...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Those interested in investing the solar industry may want to check out a recent NREL report on the topic: “A Historical Analysis of Investment in Solar Energy Technologies”. The report analyzes global investment growth patterns in order to shed light...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Just some quick thoughts on news that has been piling up over the last couple weeks. San Francisco Solar Map Lets You Spy on Your Neighbor: Treehugger informs us of the truly epic SF solar map, an example of...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Here are some interesting highlights from this WSJ/NBC poll on energy, which also points to some of the frustrations ahead in developing and communicating policy solutions. 72% of the respondents said developing alternative energy sources could "accomplish a great deal."Regarding...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Yesterday, I attended the well-publicized National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. Launched by Sen. Harry Reid, the Summit was held to focus attention on the importance of developing clean energy solutions that can positively impact our economy and energy...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
Pacific Gas & Electric, a California based utility, has agreed to purchase 800 MW in solar power from 2 solar companies – OptiSolar and SunPower. This is exciting news for the solar industry, and advocates of clean energy, as it...
Posted by Cai Steger in Moving Beyond Oil
The rapidity of change in the solar sector (both distributed and concentrated photovoltaic) can perhaps best be measured from the first sentence of the “Introductory Note” found in a July 2008 National Renewable Energy Laboratory report on the concentrated photovoltaic...
