Clean Tech Business Policy Update (March 18)

— filed under: Featured

CALENDAR

Gov. Bev Perdue (North Carolina)

Silicon Valley & San Francisco

March 11-12

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Sen. Tom Carper (D-Delaware)

Silicon Valley & San Francisco

Monday, March 21 / contact: dfowler@gmail.com

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VoteSolar’s Annual Equinox Party

March 21 in San Francisco

www.votesolar.org

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SolarTech’s Annual Solar Summit

March 29-30 in Silicon Valley

www.solartech.org

News Summary

Government & Politics

At House E.P.A. Hearing, Both Sides Claim Science, New York Times
Some House GOP Freshmen, Faced With a Choice, Prefer Spending Cuts Over Suspending EPA Climate Rules, New York Times
America's Grim Budget Outlook Shortchanges Investment, Washington Post
Chamber of Commerce: Red Tape is Costing Green Jobs, USA Today
The End of Incumbent Capitalism? Opinion by Carl Pope, Sierra Chairman
California: Utilities Close to Meeting Renewables Goals, Los Angeles Times
Rush to Renewable Energy Generates Financial Questions in Europe, New York Times
Silicon Valley Backs Visa Effort for Foreign Entrepreneurs, New York Times
Public Opinion Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for Clean-Energy Loan Guarantees, NEI

Science, Jobs, & Investment

Clean-Tech: A Decade of Explosive Growth With More to Come, Los Angeles Times
$6-billion Solar Industry Logs Another Record Year, Los Angeles Times
ACORE Releases Updated Report On Renewable Energy For 2011, North American Windpower
China in the Lead, Al Gore Blog

Articles

Government & Politics

At House E.P.A. Hearing, Both Sides Claim Science / New York Times, March 9

Science and politics rarely play nicely together, and a House hearing Tuesday on a bill to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions proved no exception. Despite some fireworks, the handful of members from both parties who attended the hearing left with the views they arrived with.

America's Grim Budget Outlook Shortchanges Investment / Washington Post, March 6

America's growth and prosperity over the past few decades have been consequences of major investments made in the 1950s and 1960s. Some of those are the interstate highway system; a public education system that was the envy of the world; massive funding for science and technology that produced the semi-conductor industry, large-scale computing, the Internet and the global positioning system. When we look back in 20 years, what investments will we point to that created the next generation of growth for the next generation of Americans?

Some House GOP Freshmen, Faced With a Choice, Prefer Spending Cuts Over Suspending EPA Climate Rules / New York Times, March 3

Freshman Republican representatives may speak bitterly of U.S. EPA -- one claims it's a "Gestapo" agency -- but some appear unwilling to risk the wider spending cuts they're pursuing for the sake of freezing climate regulations.

Chamber of Commerce: Red Tape is Costing Green Jobs / USA Today, March 9

"The discussion is beginning in Washington about improving the regulatory process and restoring some much-needed balance. What is urgently needed now is a careful consideration of how all these permitting obstacles, uncertainties, and time delays can be addressed to speed up the processing, approval decisions, and development of many of the job-creating projects whose progress has so far been denied. Private investors and developers are prepared to fund, build, and operate energy projects that could materially increase GDP and create many jobs — but only if policymakers remove obstacles.

The End of Incumbent Capitalism? / Opinion by Carl Pope, Sierra Chairman, March 4

While the "Eco:nomics -- Creating Environmental Capital" conference is hosted by The Wall Street Journal, the anti-government bias that dominates the Journal's editorial page was slammed by speaker after speaker, beginning with venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. Khosla went after what he called "incumbent capitalism," in which government policy and incentives are designed not to encourage competition and innovation but to protect entrenched incumbent interests, with coal, oil, nuclear, and utility monopolies being the most spectacular beneficiaries of this bias against innovation.

California: Utilities Close to Meeting Renewables Goals / Los Angeles Times, March 3

“The state's three biggest investor-owned utilities, led by Southern California Edison Co., are edging closer to meeting their mandated goal of producing 20% of their electric power from renewable energy sources,” reports Marc Lifsher. “Edison at the end of 2010 generated 19.4% of its electricity from wind, solar and geothermal sources, up from 17.4% in 2009, according to a report issued Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission.”

Rush to Renewable Energy Generates Financial Questions in Europe / NY Times, March 3

The spectacular growth in recent years in the number and size of renewable energy sources across the European Union -- particularly wind and solar power -- driven by high subsidies and government rhetoric on climate change has left the national electricity grids scrambling to cope.

Silicon Valley Backs Visa Effort for Foreign Entrepreneurs, New York Times, March 17

A new bill — introduced on Monday by Senators John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat; Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican; and Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat — aims to give two-year visas to foreign entrepreneurs if they secure at least $100,000 in financing from qualified investors. After two years, the start-up must have at least five employees and $500,000. “For too long, Silicon Valley thought it was immune to Washington policy, that we could innovate on our own,” said Shervin Pishevar, a founder of the Social Gaming Network. “Now, we realize that we have to engage, that we have to be part of the policy-making process.

Polling: Overwhelming Support for Clean-Energy Loan Guarantees / NEI, Feb 17

By a four-to-one margin, an overwhelming majority of Americans support the use of federal loan guarantees to encourage investment in the clean-energy technologies identified by President Obama in his recent State of the Union address, a new national survey shows. The survey found that 79 percent of respondents agree that, “to jump-start investment and maintain U.S. competitiveness, the federal government should provide guarantees backing loans for building solar, wind, advanced-design nuclear power plants or other energy technology that reduces greenhouse gases.” Nineteen percent of those surveyed do not agree, and two percent don’t know.

Business, Science, & Investment

Clean-Tech: A Decade of Explosive Growth With More to Come / LA Times, March 14

What a difference a decade makes. Once shunned as an industry only a tree-hugger could love, clean-tech has blossomed into an economic heavyweight, according to a report from research firm Clean Edge Inc. Companies working on green construction and the smart grid are proliferating, the study said. From less than 10,000 hybrid electric vehicles in 2000, now more than 1.4 million are speeding around U.S. roads. The solar photovoltaics market grew an average of 40% each year over the past decade . The average cost of installing a photovoltaic system back then was $9 per peak watt; it’s now $4.82. The wind industry saw similar growth, jumping an average of 30% each year . Nearly a quarter of all venture capital in the U.S. goes into clean-tech ventures now, compared with less than 1% in 2000.

$6-billion Solar Industry Logs Another Record Year / LA Times, March 10

The solar industry seems to have turned in yet another record-breaking year in 2010, as the total market value of the sector spiked 67% to $6 billion from $3.6 billion in 2009. Companies installed 878 megawatts of photovoltaic solar and 78 megawatts of concentrating solar power facilities, enough to power about 200,000 homes, according to trade group Solar Energy Industries Assn. and GTM Research on Thursday.

The Top 10 Clean-Tech Companies / Wall Street Journal, March 4

A company that rewards consumers for recycling, Recyclebank, led The Wall Street Journal's second-annual ranking of venture-backed clean-tech companies. Two solar-power firms, Suniva Inc. of Norcross, Ga., and eSolar Inc. of Burbank, Calif., came in second and third, respectively. No. 4 MiaSolé of Santa Clara, Calif., a maker of thin-film solar cells; No. 5 Opower Inc. of Arlington, Va., a developer of software for utility companies that helps consumers boost energy efficiency; No. 6 GreatPoint Energy Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., which makes technology that converts coal, petroleum coke and biomass into natural gas; No. 7 SeaMicro Inc. of Santa Clara, a provider of low-power servers for data centers; No. 8 Boston-Power Inc. of Westborough, Mass., a maker of lithium-ion batteries; No. 9 Luxim Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., a provider of energy-efficient lighting technology; and No. 10 Sapphire Energy Inc. of San Diego, a producer of "green crude" from algae, sunlight and carbon dioxide.

China in the Lead / Al Gore & Repower America Blog

One of the most alarming realities of our government's failure to take real action to solve the climate crisis: the Chinese have jumped into the lead. Here are five ways in which China is a player in the clean energy arena:

1. Admitting it has a carbon problem
2. Significantly growing wind energy capacity
3. Surpassing the U.S. as the most attractive market for renewables investment
4. Setting targets to reduce its carbon intensity
5. Doing something about coal-fired plants