Tag Archives: china
How China Will Transform The Energy Industry
When I started in the energy business back in the early 1980’s, the utility paradigm was to continually build more power plants to serve growing customer loads. This lead to environmental and economic difficulties, especially as the cost of completing planned nuclear power plants skyrocketed. At the utility where I worked, Pacific Gas and Electric, [...]
Fracking and Solar
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” has been widely criticized by environmentalists who cite concerns with water pollution and methane leakage from this high-volume method of extracting natural gas. However, the burning of natural gas is undoubtedly better for the planet than the burning of coal. Some experts are now saying that—toxic chemicals and contaminated water aside—fracking [...]
BYD Sets Up Shop in California
In a time when cities are clamoring for manufacturing facilities and the high-value jobs they bring, one California city lured a major Chinese battery manufacturer to town with its reputation of deep support for clean technology, solar energy and innovation. BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, announced this week that it will establish two [...]
Suntech Update: Still Alive, but Badly Injured
Suntech, once the globe’s solar panel leader, recently declared insolvency. Yingli has replaced Suntech as the global solar panel leader. We are watching Suntech’s “ambiguous bankruptcy” as the company struggles to survive or transform. China’s Suntech is looking for more time to restate its full-year 2012 financials while revealing that its 2012 revenue halved to [...]
China: Getting Greener Across the Board
In recent years, China has been blasted for its failure to instate solar energy systems at an appropriate rate. It was easy for watch groups to condemn the nation since, after all, it has been the leading manufacturer of solar panels and other solar devices. The logic of the criticism was clear—if the country does [...]
75% of New Energy Investments Are Renewable
In a striking keynote, Michael Liebreich President of BNEF spoke about the continued compound growth in renewables and the disconnect between GDP and electricity consumption. In the last 5 years, Electricity consumption in Australia and California have disconnected from GDP growth and that trend is now spreading through the developed world. Rising efficiency in motor [...]
The Solar Rooftop Boom in NYC
Things move fast in the city that never sleeps and solar’s been keeping pace. By the end of 2012, the amount of rooftop solar photovoltaic installations in New York City had boomed to 14 megawatts from 5.5 megawatts at the end of 2011—an increase of 8.5 megawatts in a year. That’s according to recent data [...]
Will Suntech Power Survive?
It’s hard to believe the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer, Suntech (NYSE: STP) could go bankrupt, but right now its chances are greater than 50/50 – and it could file next week. When Suntech missed last week’s deadline to repay $540 million in bonds that came due, bondholders gave it another two months, but it doesn’t have the cash to make payments. [...]
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang: Pollution Will Be Addressed
This year, we’ve covered quite a bit on China’s pollution problem and the importance of tackling it as soon as possible. Long story short (okay, maybe not so short): China’s air pollution levels broke records this year and reached dangerous levels. So much so that the Chinese media has taken a stand on air pollution in China by calling on [...]