Influential Women in Cleantech: Top 10 Women of Sustainability
 In this second installment in our series on leading women in cleantech and sustainability sectors, we offer up our top picks for the sustainability sector. Quite often this category is dominated by women working in Corporate Social Responsibility, as it’s a sector where women have made great strides to gain leadership roles in the last few de |
Obama's Budget Good for Energy Efficiency
 President Obama’s 2013 budget caused a lot of smiles this week among energy efficiency advocates — even if it is more of a wish list than anything else. Obama calls for about $1.2 billion in spending for energy efficiency.
What does this mean for the energy efficiency industry?
Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save E |
Excellence in Renewable Energy Awards Announced! Check out Video Coverage of the Winners Here
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/video?categoryId=62 |
Clean Tech's Challenge of "The Disconnect"
 Who's harder to educate, investors or politicians? |
Opportunities for Energy Innovators
 For a long time "clean" and "green" marked the forward trend in the energy industry. Then came the quest for "smart" energy. And now "innovation" is the buzzword.
It’s easy to see why. As Americans, we believe our ability to innovate sets us apart in today’s international market. Sure China can manufacture compu |
MIT Research: Liquid Batteries for Utilities Could Make Renewables Competitive
 The biggest drawback to many real or proposed sources of clean, renewable energy is their intermittency: The wind doesn't always blow, the sun doesn't always shine, and so the power they produce may not be available at the times it's needed. A major goal of energy research has been to find ways to help smooth out these erratic supplies. |
Clean Energy: How Much Hot Air?
 NewScientist’s January 28 issue is likely to unsettle clean energy advocates — but it is worth the read.
The cover article, “Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever,” posits that even renewable energy can warm the planet, and eventually change climate, if we continue to ratchet up power production to serve our ever |
Much Light, Little Heat Efficiency
 Energy efficiency in the U.S. is much light and little heat — literally. Government policy pays a great deal of attention to saving electricity, but focuses little on the thermal energy we waste.
“Policy is electricity-centric in the U.S. Unless you are making kilowatts, the most efficient investments are off the radar,” sa |
Understanding Manufacturing Economics for Grid-scale Energy Storage
 I have a new favorite word — aggregation. At the risk of sounding like a reporter, I'm going to summarize a pre-holiday news story you might have missed but need to know about. |
Smart Grid Initiatives Address Cyber Security, Renewable Energy Intermittency
 Securitizing renewable energy networks from cyber-attacks is not complicated by their oft-cited operational headache of intermittency, but rather by their separation from a utility's control system, said smart grid executives at the Gridwise Global Forum in Washington, DC in early November. Though renewable intermittency adds to the challenge of stabilizing a grid, the forum revealed new evidence of real-world smart grid load shifting that continues to chip away at the tired argument that renewable energy cannot successfully integrate into a legacy grid. |
Three Jokers in the Energy Deck
 This is the era of Big Oil. Could the next be the era of Big Efficiency?
A new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy suggests the possibility. Re-invented with today’s smart energy technologies, energy efficiency could displace 40 to 60 percent of our total energy needs by the year 2050, according to The Long-Te |
When We Struggle, We Learn
 If there was one key takeaway from the most recent RenewableEnergyWorld.com and Solar Power-gen webcast it was that the year ahead will be difficult for large-scale solar power development due to poor access to capital, an uncertain policy landscape, the pending trade case against China and module prices that are too low to support a healthy indust |
Electric Vehicles: No House of Cards
 Once again, John Petersen has gone too far with his petrol-head arguments against Electric Vehicles (EVs.) |
Tackling the Renewable Energy Transmission Tiger - Is There Hope? Is There Help?
 Building transmission to accommodate utility-scale renewable energy generation in the U.S. is seen as essential by much of the renewable energy industry. But can it be justified? Doing so will necessarily involve constructing some of the longest stretches of wire ever undertaken in this country. Much of the best wind and solar resource is located quite distant from the load. Ultimately, thousands of miles of huge power lines will have to be built. It is not illogical to ask whether investment in such massive infrastructure "costs too much and provides too little." It is also not illogical to answer "no," not if the value proposition is laid out appropriately and a well crafted policy and regulatory approach can be established that effectively addresses the issues. |
Energy Storage: Four Break Out Stocks and a Short Circuit
 On December 16th I wrote: "My favorites for a strong 2012 include AONE, MXWL, AXPW.OB, ZBB, JCI, ENS, ACPW and XIDE. They all merit serious attention from investors who want exposure to the energy storage sector." Since then four of my favorites have bottomed and turned sharply higher while the Pride of Palo Alto endures a short circuit. The following table compares today's closing prices with the December 16th closing prices for those five companies. |
U.S. Beats Expectations Saving Energy
 Americans tend to beat themselves up over their imperfections. We eat too much, watch too much TV and owe China too much money. Despite all of our sloth, we can feel good about one area: our progress saving energy.
A report issued this week by the Institute for Electric Efficiency found that we saved enough electricity to power almost 10 |
Can We Achieve a "Smart Home" Future?
 The concept of the smart grid continues to mystify both utilities and consumers alike. Is it cost-effective? What is the best method for deployment? Is the public ready for it? Do we actually need it? |
A Cleantech VC Unconvinced of Man-made Climate Change
 Go ahead -- call me a hypocrite. I claim to be a cleantech venture capitalist yet I tell you here and now that I am not convinced of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change (aka global warming). And I will audaciously tell you that my convictions on climate change in no way run contrary to my strong belief in the need for a cleantech revolution. |
On-bill Financing: Why Isn't Everybody Doing It?
 If someone told me they could improve the efficiency of my computer so that it operates quicker, at no extra cost to me, I can’t imagine I’d turn them away. Yet, the energy efficiency industry offers a similar option for homes and businesses and at least so far, consumers aren’t flocking to the programs.
On-bill financing gives c |
Baby Steps in Climate Negotiations are Still Steps in the Right Direction
 I wasn’t able to attend the [frustrating] climate change talks in Durban, South Africa this year, although I would have loved to. South Africa is an incredible place to visit.
I say the talks are frustrating because they always seem to go the same way. The European nations and some smaller countries attend the meeting armed with serious data |