According to fresh data released by the Environmental Protection Agency, a record 1.1 billion gallons were produced in 2011, a milestone for the biodiesel industry in the U.S. The target required by the agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was 800 million gallons. (more…)

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 (more…)

Bill Moore, editor of EVWorld.com has written a splendid article on the failure of certain of the early electric vehicle companies, in which he points out:

Breaking into the automotive business can be relatively easy; making a success of it is pretty damned near impossible, regardless of what type of (more…)

When a form of technology becomes outdated, jobs in that industry are inevitably lost. However, this is only one side of the coin, as jobs are often created in the exact same way and, the good news is, that these jobs require previously unconsidered skill sets. It almost goes without saying that with the shift (more…)

The Production Tax Credit may not be America’s best policy tool for incentivizing clean energy development, but it’s what we’ve got — and it must be renewed

There are three letters on the minds of those in America’s renewable energy sector: PTC. The acronym stands for Production Tax Credit, a critical (more…)

The vast majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to energy policy and want more leadership when it comes to dealing with future needs, according to a new poll. In survey of 3,406 Americans conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, less than 14 percent of respondents said they think the country is (more…)

In most countries solar power is often perceived as synonymous with solar photovoltaic (PV), the classic rooftop panels that convert sunlight to electricity through solar cells. But that could be a misconception, says Environmental Protection, since solar thermal, which gets less attention than PV, actually is more efficient. (more…)

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. (more…)

Heidelberg, Germany has been seen as at the top of environmental protection throughout Europe as it has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15,000 tons annually in municipal buildings since the year 1993. Furthermore, the city developed a complete energy (more…)

A recent debate on EU energy policy for post-2020 concluded that a 45% renewable energy target for 2030 would create the future policy-stability that is necessary for the alternative energy sector.

According to a post on European Wind Energy Association’s blog, these new energy policies must (more…)