I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Installation of new wind power capacity in the United States is expected to decline 39 percent this year, according to a report released Thursday. Now that would be a brutal blow for any industry battered by a vicious recession. But it’s particularly bad news for [...]
Archive for the ‘green policy’ Category
Tilting at turbines: China takes the wind out of the U.S.
Posted in green policy, wind power, tagged Bloomberg New Energy Finance on October 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Recipe for U.S. solar boom: policy, money + a little sunshine
Posted in alternative energy, climate change, energy, environment, global warming, green financing, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Bloomberg New Energy Finance on October 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The United States is on the verge of a solar boom that could provide 4.3 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2020, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. There’s just a 12-figure catch: Investors need to put $100 [...]
Silicon Valley’s solar strategy to compete with China
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, Solyndra, SunPower on October 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times Green blog on Wednesday, I follow up on my print story about the impact of low-cost Chinese solar manufacturers on high-tech Silicon Valley startups: In an article in Wednesday’s paper, I write about how high-tech Silicon Valley solar companies are retooling their strategies to compete with low-cost [...]
Big Green outspends Big Oil in California’s Prop 23 fight
Posted in green policy, Proposition 23 on October 11, 2010 | 2 Comments »
In The New York Times on Monday, I write about how opponents of Proposition 23, the California ballot measure that would suspend the state’s global warming law, are outspending the oil industry interests backing the initiative: At the start of the campaign for California’s Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would suspend the state’s global [...]
Not just a photo(voltaic) op: Maldives leader goes solar
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, renewable energy, solar energy, Sungevity, tagged Maldives, President Mohamed Nasheed on October 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed (on right in above photo), didn’t just agree to have solar panels installed on the presidential mansion; he helped put them in. Nasheed scrambled up to the roof this week, screwdriver in hand, and joined the crew from [...]
First solar projects on federal land approved
Posted in alternative energy, energy, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, tagged Chevron, Department of the Interior on October 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday gave the green light to the first two big solar power plants to be built on federal land in the California desert, promising more approvals of solar projects in the coming weeks. The granting of leases [...]
Iowa gets smart about water meters
Posted in green policy, IBM, water tech, tagged Dubuque, IBM, Iowa, smart water meters on October 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In The New York Times on Tuesday, I write about an IBM pilot project in Dubuque, Iowa, to install smart water meters in 311 homes to give residents’ real-time information on their water consumption: While some California cities move to ban smart electricity meters over fears about their impact on human health, residents of Dubuque, [...]
Prop 23 foes collect $5 million last week, oil industry $10k
Posted in green policy, Proposition 23 on October 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. When Silicon Valley’s elite gathered at Google’s headquarters in August to rally opposition to Proposition 23, the ballot measure that would suspend the state’s global warming law, one speaker darkly warned that the Texas oil companies backing the initiative would spend as much as $50 [...]
Green tech investment plummets, California hit hard
Posted in alternative energy, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, green financing, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy on October 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In The New York Times on Friday, I write about a report showing venture capital investment in green technology companies nose-dived in the third quarter of 2010, with California taking a big hit: Has the green tech recovery stalled? Global venture capital investment in green technology companies fell 30 percent, to $1.53 [...]
