Renewable Energy News
31 Percent Anti-Dumping Tariffs Announced for Chinese Solar Panels
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday announced stiff anti-dumping tariffs of around 31 percent on crystalline silicon solar panels imported from China, leading to a new round of concerns on how the duties will impact the growing American solar industry.
Domestic Module Manufacturing: PV Globalization or Political Vote-Seeking?
Despite 2011 having been a particularly challenging year for PV cell and module manufacturers, new small-scale module manufacturing facilities continue to be implemented, especially in emerging markets. In some cases, these companies/facilities are either aligned to local government policies or are implemented purely as diversification strategies. Other examples are joint-ventures between private and government entities. Such JV's are intended to represent "national" centers-of-excellence to serve domestic or regional market demand.
Can the Voice of Solar Shine Brighter?
Solar manufacturers and installers face the same challenge as many business owners: How can a company make time for media outreach as part of their overall marketing strategy? With so many other tasks vying for our time and dollars, making connections with the media, which is one of the best forms of free publicity, is often forgotten about. Why?
Mission Critical: A Clean Energy Call to Arms
They say nothing can get done in Washington, D.C. on the issue of clean energy, which has become a political lightening rod over the last year. With Congress at a high watermark of partisanship, accusations abound on Capitol Hill that American energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and the policies that support them are job killers and a money-wasting hoax on taxpayers. And yet, there's reason for optimism about energy innovation in this country. Why? Because the most powerful force in the world, the U.S. military, is mobilizing on a clean energy mission — and I believe they're going to win this war.
Rethinking the Role of Government in Cleantech
Another year, another wringing of the hands over tax credits and incentives for clean technology.
Lobbyists and vendors in the U.S. are once again singing the blues, calling for continued and expanding government investments in clean technology. At the same time, political challengers continue their Solyndra hootenanny, raking the curren
Five Shining Examples of Renewable Energy Innovation and Investment
Sinking revenues and shrinking policy support may be causing a bit of a haze on the renewable energy horizon, but there's plenty of sunshine trying to peek through if you look hard enough.
Proposed New Jersey Solar Bill May Not Solve SREC Woes
Senators Bob Smith and Stephen Sweeny recently introduced New Jersey Senate Bill 1925. The bill proposes to amend New Jersey's current solar Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements in an attempt to help stabilize the oversupplied SREC market. The bill is currently in draft form and is scheduled to be heard
House Armed Services Committee Proposes Ban on Biofuels
Just one month before the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) in Hawaii, the world's largest international maritime exercise, the biofuels industry has encountered a possible roadblock. The House Armed Services Committee issued its report on next year's Pentagon budget, which inclues a measure that would exclude the development and purchase of biofuels that cost more than traditional fossil fuels.
Solar FIT Fallout: Germany's Environment Minister Forced Out
The European shake-up continues as Germany's powerful Minister of the Environment Norbert Roettgen was fired Thursday as Chancellor Angela Merkel looks to hold onto power following her party's regional election loss over the weekend.
The $6 Gasoline That Almost Was
A landmark 2009 study, conducted by researchers at Iowa State's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, and updated this week for impacts through 2011, found that US ethanol production reduced wholesale gasoline prices by an average of $1.09 per gallon, in 2011.
