Our nation’s capital is swirling with hot air about the fate of energy-related jobs, from fossil fuel (the high-profile Keystone XL pipeline) and wind energy, specifically the expiration of the federal production tax credit (PTC) for wind and geothermal power facilities.

February 21st was the deadline established by (more…)

The Obama administration – and every parent with a child in college – is concerned about the ever-escalating cost of higher education. And for good reason. Tuition, room and board rose 37 percent for undergraduates at public colleges and 25 percent at private colleges (adjusted for inflation) from 2000 to 2010, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (more…)

The amounts of pollution produced by tar sands excavation sites are comparable to those of a medium-sized city or a large power plant, according to a new study by Environment Canada, the nation’s environmental agency.

Using satellite remote sensing observations, scientists (more…)

Dallas is the third largest city in all of the state of Texas, as well as the ninth largest city in the United States. The Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the entire South and the fourth largest in the United States. The city is known for its historical importance throughout the cotton and oil industries as well as the focal point for the interstate (more…)

How Waste = Food

Imagine if we could create a super-efficient world where there was no waste… Actually, there’s no need to imagine it: nature is already ahead of us on this one.

In nature, almost all “waste” from one organism can be used as “food” or fuel by another organism—a (more…)

Our electricity system is designed around central station, dispatchable (i.e. they turn on at the flip of a switch) generators. Transitioning to a system that is principally powered by renewable energy, many of which have variable production profiles, will require changes. (more…)

The Small Wind Certification Council (SWCC) has issued its first two full certifications and consumer labels to the Bergey Windpower Excel 10 and the Southwest Windpower Skystream 3.7.

The two small wind turbines were tested by engineers at West Texas A&M University’s Alternative Energy (more…)

Beacon Power is a Massachusetts company that makes flywheel-based energy storage systems.

Rockland Capital, a private equity firm, recently purchased Beacon Power, including a Stephentown, New York, flywheel plant project. The purpose of the project is to allow excess (more…)

A cool-down in European solar markets combined with an over-supply of panels from China has led to a massive decline in solar panel prices. Over the last year, prices for solar panels have fallen 50 percent. In the U.S., falling prices spell competition, and many solar providers are hustling to position themselves to take advantage of a rapidly changing solar industry.

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This month’s issue of Wired magazine includes a long feature, written by Washington Post national environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin, headlined “Why the Clean Tech Boom Went Bust.” (Disclosure: I’m a contributing editor at Wired, and Eilperin is an acquaintance.) The story, which joins a lengthening list of obits for the cleantech industries, has a certain (more…)