From the earliest days of the Obama administration, we have been working to promote innovation and competitiveness in high-growth sectors like renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE&EE). President Obama’s Recovery (more…)

It’s no secret that, regardless of how the world addresses the challenge of reducing global carbon emissions, buildings are going to be a central part of the puzzle. Buildings represent about one-third of emissions worldwide and provide some of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions. (more…)

Check out Google Earth – the ‘view from above’ of your favorite American city. And look at the roofs of the office buildings, warehouses, shopping centers, and even the homes. Most of them are probably pretty dark in color – and this means they heat up a lot when the weather is warm – up to 50 degrees hotter than light roofs. All of those dark roofs mean that as a nation (more…)

To offset their own carbon emissions, European companies have been wildly overpaying China to incinerate a powerful greenhouse gas known as hfc 23. And in a bizarre twist, those payments have spurred the manufacture of a harmful refrigerant that is being smuggled into the U.S. and used illegally. (more…)

In a previous post, I wrote about the wind energy eco-mark suit between two competing Minnesota wind system companies, Jacobs Wind Electric Co. (Jacobs) and Wind Turbine Industries Corp. (WTIC), over rights to the JACOBS word mark and the JACOBS WIND ENERGY SYSTEMS ”whale tail” design mark (shown above) (collectively “JACOBS marks”). (more…)

It did not attract as much media attention as COP15 in Copenhagen did in 2009. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, COP16 folded on a slightly more positive note than the disappointing edition of the previous year. But the agreement reached may have saved the UN process, Greenpeace said, but not the climate.

In an official press release, the UNFCCC (more…)

When Gerry Cunningham started building his Southern Arizona zero-energy home in the 1980s, he likely never dreamed that, after his death this year at the age of 88, his solar-powered house would become famous not for its earth-friendly footprint, but as a contender for one of the nation’s weirdest homes.

The contest is called Top 10 Weirdest (more…)

With all the electric vehicles that are being made available now and in the years to come, many are hailing the changing point towards a greener transportation industry as starting right here and now. Most electric cars also boast about how quickly they can be charged, frequently offering a quick charge mode and an overnight figure. The key to all of that, however, is the very (more…)

I notice that Shai Agassi of Project Better Place was interviewed on NPR again this morning. Holy cow, that guy has wonderful PR; it’s hard to turn around without running into him presenting his idea (ubiquitous electric vehicle battery swapping stations).

But does it seem practical for a landmass the size of the US? Agassi’s talking point is (more…)

With the price of everything seeming to go up, as well as a slow economy and escalating public debt, Ontarians can be forgiven for any negative reactions they may have expressed toward the Green Energy Act and the provincial government’s commitment of public money to renewable energy generation. However, less than two years after the Act was signed into law, it (more…)