photo: Sungevity I wrote this post for Grist, where it first appeared. On Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency effectively shut down an innovative green financing program called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, by restricting the ability of homeowners to take out loans to install solar panels and make other energy efficiency improvements. Now [...]
Posts Tagged ‘solar energy’
Treasury Department piles on PACE solar loan restrictions
Posted in alternative energy, green financing, green policy, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged energy efficiency, Fannie Mae, FHFA, Freddie Mac, PACE, Property Assessed Clean Energy, solar energy, solar loans, Treasury Department on July 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Loan giants decide to block PACE solar loan program
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green policy, renewable energy, solar energy, tagged Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, PACE, solar energy on July 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In Sunday’s New York Times, I have an update on the controversy surrounding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s blocking of the PACE solar loan program: Two government-chartered mortgage finance companies are unlikely to accept loans on homes that are part of a special program that lets homeowners repay the cost of energy improvements through a [...]
Partying like it’s 2008: Green tech investment surges
Posted in alternative energy, corporate green, environment, green financing, green tech, solar energy, tagged China, Cleantech Group, solar energy, venture capital on July 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This post first appeared on Grist. Green tech is back in the green. Global venture capital investment in green technology companies reached $4.04 billion in the first half of 2010, exceeding – slightly — the record set in the boom year of 2008, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Cleantech Group and [...]
Fannie and Freddie derail PACE solar financing program
Posted in alternative energy, environment, green policy, solar energy, tagged Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, PACE, Renewable Funding, solar energy on June 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Sonoma County In Thursday’s New York Times, I write about how government-chartered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are derailing an innovative program called Property Assessed Clean Energy. PACE programs finance the installation of solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades and let homeowners repay the loans through a 20-year surcharge on their property [...]
Batteries included: California passes energy storage bill
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, green grid, green policy, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged California, California Public Utilities Commission, energy storage, solar energy, wind energy on June 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: Todd Woody This post first appeared on Grist. The California Assembly has passed legislation that takes the first step to requiring that a percentage of electricity generated in the state be stored. Electricity, of course, is the ultimate perishable commodity. If the bill is approved by the California Senate and signed by Gov. Arnold [...]
Transmission constraints derail California solar project
Posted in alternative energy, energy, environment, eSolar, PG&E, renewable energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged eSolar, NRG Energy, PG&E, solar energy, solar power plants, transmission on June 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »
photo: eSolar This post first appeared on Grist. Amid all the hope and hype about the nascent solar boom under way in California, there’s long been an elephant in the room – transmission. Billions and billions of dollars must be spent to build and upgrade transmission lines to connect dozens of proposed solar power plants [...]
French energy giant jumps into solar market.
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, corporate green, energy, environment, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Alstom, BrightSource Enegy, John Woolard, solar energy on May 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
photo: BrightSource Energy In last Thursday’s New York Times, I wrote about French industrial conglomerate Alstom’s $55 million investment in BrightSource Energy, a California-based solar power plant builder: Alstom, the French energy giant, has taken a $55 million stake in BrightSource Energy, a solar power plant builder backed by Google, Morgan Stanley and other investors. [...]
Aluminum giant Alcoa develops new solar technology
Posted in alternative energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Alcoa, parabolic trough, SkyFuel, solar energy, solar power plants, solar trough on March 19, 2010 | 2 Comments »
photo: Alcoa In The New York Times on Thursday, I wrote about how aluminum giant Alcoa has become the latest industrial behemoth to jump into the solar business: Alcoa, the aluminum giant, is testing a new type of solar technology that the company said it believed will lower the cost of renewable energy. The company [...]
Big California solar power plant moves forward
Posted in alternative energy, BrightSource Energy, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged BrightSource Energy, California Energy Commission, Ivanpah, solar energy, solar power plants on March 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Photo: BrightSource Energy In The New York Times on Wednesday I write that California regulators have recommended approval of BrightSource Energy’s 392-megawatt solar thermal power plant, the first large-scale project in the state in two decades: California regulators on Wednesday recommended that the state’s first new big solar power plant in nearly two decades be [...]
An interview with eSolar’s Bill Gross
Posted in alternative energy, energy, enviro capitalism, enviro startups, environment, eSolar, Google, green startups, green tech, solar energy, solar power plants, tagged Bill Gross, eSolar, green technology, solar energy, solar power plants on March 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
photo: Todd Woody In an interview I did with green tech entrepreneur Bill Gross for Yale Environment 360, Gross talks about the future of solar energy, his relationship with Google, and how to avoid battles over building large solar farms in the deserts of the Southwest: Bill Gross is not your typical solar energy entrepreneur. [...]
