photo: Todd Woody I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. If you want a birds-eye view of the future of power, scramble up to the roof of a 562,089-square-foot warehouse in Ontario, a city that sits in the smoggy heart of Southern California’s Inland Empire east of Los Angeles. On a roof [...]
Archive for the ‘green tech’ Category
Why the green energy revolution needs the smart grid
Posted in alternative energy, environment, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Southern California Edison, tagged Sacramento Municipal Utility District on November 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
China syndrome: California’s Solyndra to close solar factory
Posted in energy, environment, green policy, green tech, solar energy, Solyndra, tagged President Obama on November 2, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: White House In Wednesday’s New York Times, I have an exlusive about Silicon Valley solar startup Solyndra’s move to shutter a factory and lay off workers just weeks after it opened a state-of the art plant built with a half-billion-dollar federal loan guarantee: SAN FRANCISCO — Solyndra, a Silicon Valley solar-panel maker that won [...]
Megawatt mania: California approves seventh Big Solar farm
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, Tessera Solar, tagged California Energy Commission on October 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In a follow up to my story in Friday’s New York Times on the beginning of a solar building boom in the desert Southwest, I take a look at California regulators’ approval of the seventh Big Solar farm in two months, the 663.5-megawatt Calico project: In an article in Friday’s paper, I [...]
Desert solar boom begins, may be short-lived
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, energy, environment, global warming, green policy, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, Solar Millennium, solar power plants, Tessera Solar on October 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody In Friday’s New York Times, I write about the beginning of the long-awaited solar boom in the Mojave Desert and how it may well be short-lived if crucial federal incentives for renewable energy are allowed to expire in the coming months: NIPTON, Calif. — The long-promised solar building boom in the desert [...]
Ground broken on U.S’ first big solar power plant in 20 years
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, climate change, environment, global warming, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged John Woolard on October 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo of desert tortoise tagged with a radio transmitter at the Ivanpah solar farm site: Todd Woody In Yale Environment 360 on Wednesday, I interview John Woolard, chief executive of BrightSource Energy, the California solar developer that has begun construction of the first large-scale solar thermal power plant to be built in the United States [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
GE plugs into Better Place, Sharp buys U.S. solar developer
Posted in alternative energy, Better Place, electric cars, energy, environment, green tech, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged GE on September 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: GE I wrote this story for Grist, where it first appeared. General Electric on Wednesday gave a jump-start to Better Place, the Silicon Valley startup developing an electric car infrastructure in several countries. Better Place plans to deploy a network of urban charging posts and swapping stations where drivers can exchange depleted company-owned batteries [...]
