Tag Archives: economics
SolarCity Earnings = MEH
SolarCity (SCTY) has been one of the hottest alternative energy stocks since its Initial Public Offering five short months ago. Yesterday it shot up 24% in one day, on the largest one-day volume since it opened, in anticipation of its quarterly earnings release. It is up 95% in the past three months, and has more [...]
In Focus: The Battle Between Solar Energy and Trees
Solar energy and planting trees are both important for the betterment of the environment and another fact regarding the two is that they are often in conflict with one another as one has to be stopped for the other to flourish. If you plant more and more trees then the light of sun gets [...]
The Future of Green Banks
As America’s clean energy industry takes up position in a no-man’s land between subsidies and sustainability, the idea of “Green Banks” is being touted as a life-line that will push the industry into maturity, but it’s an idea that will only work on a state level and by empowering states to make their own clean [...]
In Focus: The Collaborative Economy
Can sharing goods and services help save the planet? That was one of a number of provocative questions posed by Van Jones in a Master class offered by the Presidio Graduate School. You may recall Jones as the passionate human rights and green jobs proponent who served briefly in the Obama Administration. The problem statement [...]
Catching up to the German Solar Machine
Germany only gets as much sunlight as Alaska, yet it is the largest solar market in the world. The cost of installing solar is much cheaper in Germany – up to 48% less at $3.08 per watt versus $5.90 per watt in the United States, according to recent data from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). [...]
Broken Promise? Solar Panels Still Not on White House Roof
It’s the season of campaigns and campaign promises, but for the solar industry, an unfulfilled presidential promise from nearly three years ago is still rankling. In 2011, President Obama announced that he was bringing back solar panels to the White House. Over twenty years before, in 1979, President Jimmy Carter installed a solar hot water [...]
European Solar Dispute Against China Continues
Encouraged by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it looks like the European Union (EU) is holding a dialogue aimed at resolving its solar trade dispute with China. The EU is threatening to impose tariffs on Chinese panel imports, echoing action taken by the US earlier this year. It moved to launch a formal investigation in early [...]
In Focus: China’s Energy Consumption
It’s worth another look, especially as the DOE EIA has published a new country analysis on China and energy. Shall we start with the good news? “China’s government plans to boost nuclear capacity to at least 70 GW by 2020. As of mid-2012, China had 15 operating reactors and 30 reactors with over 33 GW [...]
Energy Efficiency: Is It The Real Deal?
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), peak electric loads in the U.S. are 20,800 MW lower than they would be without utility energy efficiency programs[1]. If it is correct it represents perhaps 100 power plants that did not need built that would have otherwise been required. Similarly, the EIA data shows that electric usage [...]