By Vicky Portwain, August 30, 2011

A coalition of 24 US governors from the major parties and each region of the country has asked the administration to take steps to provide a more favourable business climate for the expansion of wind...

By Geoffrey Styles

With the US economy stuck in the doldrums, weakening the demand for oil and its products, and with the fall of at least portions of Tripoli foreshadowing the eventual return of Libyan oil exports to the market, it must seem puzzling that US gasoline prices haven't dropped farther in the last few weeks. As of Monday, the national average price for...

By Christine Hertzog, August 29, 2011

Silicon Valley is always chasing the next killer app, and it’s an activity that is very relevant to the Smart Grid.  What are the killer apps?  It depends on your perspective.  In some cases, the answer will be a technology breakthrough in materials science rather than an innovation in software or communications – which will be the case for energy storage or solar power.  The...

By Amy Westervelt, August 29, 2011

Every week for the last few months, we've seen news from solar manufacturers that are feeling the pinch from dropping polysilicon prices. The price of the stuff, the key ingredient in photovoltaic panels, has dropped 89 percent since February 2008, which is great news for the solar proponents cheering the drop as a major step toward grid parity.

By Lauren Craig, August 27, 2011

There's been a lot of talk recently about the U.S. military getting a “green” makeover. Now, Proton OnSite, a manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cells and fueling systems...

IBM is testing how the smart grid can change consumer behavior with a project letting 1,000 households see real-time, detailed energy data.

IBM has been working with ...

by Pete Danko, August 25, 2011

The long process of developing wind resources on the Outer Continental Shelf inched into Rhode Island and Massachusetts this month, as the Obama administration called on developers to identify possible lease locations. The agency overseeing the process, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), also invited public comment on the environmental impact of...

After the BP oil spill in the spring of 2010, President Obama ordered a moratorium on off-shore drilling, and millions rallied in support...

Letting a revenue stream slip away from you, and actually paying someone to take it away, sounds like bad business. But that's what companies do when they send their trash to get dumped in a landfill.

...

The budget brinksmanship that, amazingly, lasted all the way into the first days of August pushed me over the edge. Whether a willful choice, or some kind of subliminal denial, I opted for a partial mental vacation in recent weeks, trying to tune out from the mostly dismal news about elections, energy and environment.

by Aaron Colter, August 24, 2011

There’s more good news for high-speed rail plans in the United States, even as problems plague China’s efforts: The Obama administration has announced that $745 million in funding will go toward upgrades and construction in the heavily populated Northeast Corridor.

Earlier this year, we noted that...

by Pete Danko, August 22, 2011

An innovative concept of using solar panels as both sails and photovoltaic energy producers on ships is moving forward to the “detailed design” phase, according to developer Eco Marine Power. The Fukuoka, Japan-based company is promoting its concept as a way for shipping lines to green up their operations.

As envisioned, Eco Marine’s Aquarius System works by putting an...

by Lauren Craig, August 22, 2011

What state has the third-largest land area, plenty of sunshine, the largest population and more solar-power capacity than the next six highest states combined? If you’ve been paying attention to the photovoltaic (PV) market at all for the past decade, you know it’s California.

Installed PV capacity in California is projected to reach 967...

Across the board, Americans are less concerned about climate change than they used to be. But with Republicans far outpacing Democrats in terms of concern about climate change and (dis)belief that humans are causing it, never...

Although electric vehicles are riding high on the hype -- and enthusiasm -- cycle of late, there is still a long road ahead to build the smart support system that will speed and spread adoption of EVs in the United States.

Among the biggest barriers:

• Developing a comprehensive network of charging stations and facilities.
• Creating systems that alert drivers...

The U.S. Postal Service may be losing money hand over fist, but it's working harder than ever to get its environmental and economic costs down.

by Steve Duda, August 21, 2011

According to the environmental advocacy group Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture), the administration of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has been putting the state’s clean energy jobs and businesses at risk by making cuts to programs that save money and support the clean energy economy. To counter this direction, PennFuture has launched a...

I live in Dallas, TX, and it's been hot this year -- scorching hot -- not unlike many other cities across the U.S. As people crank up their air conditioners in attempt to find relief, the utility's solution for preventing rolling blackouts has been a simple request to customers: "please turn off your electronics."

By Claudia Girrbach, August 17, 2011

"Passive" construction is an innovative building technique that reduces energy requirements for heating, cooling and ventilating up to 80 percent. The occupants are more comfortable since a passive building provides consistent temperatures, eliminates drafts and circulates fresh, filtered air. Impressive!

by Susan DeFreitas, August 17, 2011

We’ve covered a lot of green schools here at EarthTechling, and a whole lot of LEED certified green dorms–but Western Oregon University can now claim a first in this area, as its Ackerman Hall was recently recognized with Platinum certification, making it the first...

Looking 30 years into the future, Boeing, GE, and Georgia Tech have teamed up to design an aircraft that can reduce fuel emissions by 70% and total energy use by 55%.

For many sustainability executives, their toughest challenge is to engage employees and persuade them to buy into their company's commitment. Mike Lynch's message is no different, but his toughest audience isn't his organization, industry or its fans. Often, it's his peers.

Last week, Interbrand released its inaugural list of the Best Global Green Brands of 2011 following...

The U.S. Army has high hopes of using renewable energy to fulfill a quarter of its energy needs by 2025. But it can't get there without adding large-scale renewable energy projects to its arsenal, so the Army has launched a special task force to enlist the private sector for the challenge...

First, the bad news - China's constrained rare earth supplies will be an "irreversible trend" and prices will remain at high levels, according to Zhang Zhong, general manager of Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co.

Zhang should know, as his concern is China’s leading rare earths producer – the Baatou mine produces more than 95 percent of China’s...

Clean vehicle research, development, and production are already creating over 150,000 jobs in the US, but another 150,000 are expected from new vehicle emissions standards.

Let's start off with the simple equation that many in the cleantech industry realize but too many politicians (ahem,.. Tea...

The business of intelligent transportation -- everything from traffic and transit controls to sophisticated telematic systems for connecting EVs to the smart grid -- is a quiet but growing industry poised for a...

The Obama administration has announced new fuel efficiency standards for cars & trucks that will save consumers billions at the gas pump. But what many people don't realize is those standards will also sustain thousands of jobs in states like...

Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann calls the Environmental Protection Agency the “job-killing organization of America” and has threatened to have the agency’s...

Climate Counts has been making headlines ever since it began rating big-name companies on their climate...

A lot of people in our country earn their living in the clean economy -- 2.7 million, according to a recent Brookings Institution study. They are working in wind, solar and bio-fuel; in smart power grids...

The Chicago suburb of Libertyville (population 22,000) is about to get a compact, highly walkable bit of infill development, just a block off the town’s main commercial street and only five blocks or so from a commuter rail station.  The three-acre project of 41 homes (26 single-family, 15 loft units) is also going to get a design well-suited to the character of its community, led by the popular architect Sarah Susanka, whose “not so big” series of...

As the U.S. moves toward adopting a smart grid, is its workforce smart enough to keep up?

That's the underlying question of a new report from the ...

We are today faced with a great infrastructure challenge, one that is compounded by climate change. It is no longer enough to build new transport networks or establish waste management systems. We have to use smart technologies while doing so, to minimize the impact on the environment, and also make the infrastructure resilient to extreme weather.

The big question is: where’s the money? The...

The second quarter of 2010 was a record-breaking era for investment in clean technology companies, which makes this year's numbers seem all the worse.

According to just-published research from ...

Guest post by Brittany Mauriss*

Solar power: it’s clean, renewable and becoming more cost-effective every day. But in a political landscape so mired by fossil fuels that our government has gifted Big Oil over $150 billion in tax breaks and subsidies since 1950, solar power’s progress has been slow-going, to say the least.

And yet, the amount of federal, state, and local incentives for solar installations have grown exponentially over the past 15 years. Where a 4-kilowatt home solar array would have cost you $600,000 in 1970, that figure has dropped...

Sen. Mark Warner's "Gang of Six" budget plan would've repealed the CLASS Act, part of the 2010 health reform law designed to help seniors who need help...

Researchers at MIT are designing a new method of building concentrating solar power plants with thermal storage that they say could lower the cost of energy by 50% compared with existing technologies.

Last month, a 19.9 MW power-tower concentrating solar power plant in Spain became the first...

• “At some point, if you want to be a leader then you gotta lead” — President Obama, 7-22-2011
• “No way.  Not gonna happen.  Excuse me, NEVER!” — Tea Party or my 4-year-old daughter (various times)

...

As debates and negotiations over the debt ceiling have been consuming congressional leaders, policymakers’ minds are probably far from Smart Grid and the future of our energy systems -- at least right now. But, for the electricity industry, the ways in which the economics of Smart Grid contribute to our long-term energy security and independence — well, that should be at the top of their collective consciousness.

As national energy policy is slow to move, how will...

I originally wrote the article below almost 3 years ago in the Fall of 2008!  It was before I started this blog, but it was one of my first forays into writing articles to help people understand the basics of electric power generation.  It was right before I had the inspiration for Mapawatt (the original idea – which was very...

Secondary use of electric vehicle (EV) batteries is a topic that has been long discussed, often accompanied by a smirk or a rolling of the eyes.  The issue, of course, is what to do with advanced lithium-ion automotive batteries after they have been removed from the vehicle in which they were originally installed.  Finding a new use for those batteries is important, since any residual value captured by that reuse effectively reduces the price that a consumer must pay for the...

My organization, the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is an energy efficiency think tank in Washington, D.C. and has just released a landmark report on building energy...