Barack Obama promised change and hope. He’s bringing it when it comes to the mercury control industry.

If you haven’t heard, the new president has directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to drop an appeal of a Bush administration mercury control plan for coal-fired power plants.

Coal, the backbone of America’s electrical grid, runs about 1,100 plants in the U.S., but also spews out about 48 tons of mercury per year. The element is a potent toxic substance that affects brain development. It settles in our rivers and lakes and most people are exposed to it by eating fish.

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Hold on to your hat. It’s getting breezy out there.

Seems everywhere you go on the Internet, they’re remembering a great year for wind in 2008 and predicting a decent one in 2009. What? In this economy? Yes.

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One of the more common green stories over the last month has focused on the question of whether the poor economic conditions are going to dampen the clean tech industry.  Other stories revolve around the new US administration’s policies.

There seem to be four main story lines:

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If you are tight on time jump over to 1:50; President-Elect Obama sees upgrades to the US’ infrastructure, the development of alternative energy and the implementation of alternative energy projects as critical components to the country’s economic recovery.

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After Obama’s win, it did not take long for the first blog and news articles to appear speculating about the future of CleanTech.

One of these articles is coming from the Cleantech Group asking ”Does Obama’s win spell victory for ethanol and carbon trading?” (link to article):

Cleantech awaits word on cabinet members as certain sectors expect boost with new presidency.

As Democrat Barack Obama handily won the U.S. presidency Tuesday night, cleantech insiders began projecting corn-based ethanol, carbon trading and transportation as winners too.

Obama and opponent John McCain were both considered as having favorable policies toward cleantech, said Neal Dikeman, founding partner at Jane Capital Partners.

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