Tag Archives: department of energy
Ernie Moniz To Lead the U.S. DOE
It’s hard to know what to make of this week’s unanimous Senate vote, confirming Ernie Moniz as the new U.S. Energy Secretary, replacing the outgoing Steven Chu. If you’re a fan of a sustainable energy policy, it’s certainly not a good sign when 100% of Senate Republicans like the way a certain person thinks. Of [...]
3-D Printing and Energy Efficiency
3-D printing, also known by its technical name of “additive manufacturing,” is a concept that makes tech-heads and entrepreneurs bubble with excitement. President Obama even gave 3-D printing a shout-out in his recent State of the Union address, talking about a government-sponsored lab in Ohio for testing and scaling new technologies: “There’s no reason this [...]
DOE Treasury Throws $150M at Clean Energy Manufacturing
In an effort to spur more U.S.-based solar, wind and other clean energy manufacturing, the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department teamed up to offer $150 million in tax credits. Under the offer, announced today, Feb. 7, the Treasury Department is allocating credits to the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits program that weren’t previously [...]
20 New Clean Cities Projects Announced by DOE
Last week the United States’ Department of Energy announced that it would fund 20 new projects through its Clean Cities Initiative. The funding, which in sum is estimated to be about $11 million, is intended to support state and local governments in their efforts to make their cities more accessible to alternative fuel vehicles. The [...]
Solyndra: Solar’s Poster Child For Failure
If solar industry had a poster child for failure, Solyndra is to solar as Jared Fogle is to Subway. Yes, solar had its share of flops, failures, and fiascos. Wall Street bashes the solar manufacturers for its low margins, huge debts, and of course, its constant political war different countries around the world. On top [...]
CleanTech PatentEdge Launches First Online Green Patent Database
For over a year now I’ve had the pleasure of using a beta version of CleanTech PatentEdge, a powerful database of green technology patents and published applications. Now you can use it too! IP Checkups, the Berkeley patent analytics firm that created CleanTech PatentEdge, recently announced the official launch of the database. The only comprehensive online [...]
The Dark Side of Solar
The Los Angeles Times is talking about the dark side of all the huge, utility-scaled projects shooting up across California’s desert. Experts are predicting that consumers’ utility bills could go up by 50 percent as renewable energy produced in the state boosts electricity rates 10 – 20 percent. Last year, California Governor Jerry Brown approved [...]
China: Spending $372B on Energy Conservation
China is spending $372 billion on energy conservation and anti-pollution measures over the next three-and-a-half years, reports Reuters. The measures, meant to reduce China’s dependence on fossil fuels and slow down its carbon emissions, are part of the so-called 12th five-year plan. They will center on energy-efficiency, emissions reduction and recycling projects, says the China [...]
Transportation Fuel Consumption Through 2035
More than a quarter (26 of 98 quads) of our energy consumption in 2011 was for transportation. The vast majority (64%) was for light duty vehicles–the family cars. This was followed by heavy duty vehicles (19%), air travel (10%), marine (5%) and rail (2%). The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration predicts that energy [...]
Amonix Closes Nevada Factory
After the recent news of Amonix closing its North Las Vegas, NV factory and the other bad news from Amonix, I am returning to my practice of labeling concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) “The zero-billion-dollar market.” I had shelved that phrase, and in a rare instance of optimism, had tried to be patient and understanding with PV’s [...]
My Problem with DOE’s “Annual Energy Outlook for 2012″
Well, I’m out of the analyst’s cave. I have sent off the report I was working on, looked out the window and noticed it was July. How did that happen? I also noticed that the U.S. Department of Energy has released their Annual Energy Outlook for 2012 with projections for 2035. And I’m numbered out. [...]
DOE Creates Efficiency Committee
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has formed an interagency committee to test and evaluate energy efficient technologies that can be deployed across the federal government and save taxpayer money. The goal is to accelerate and integrate the use of innovative products and technologies in the federal government. The Senior Executive Committee for Technology Deployment includes people from the DOE, General Services [...]