Politics & Legislation posts, articles, and infographics

The Art of PV War

May 18, 2012 by Nigel Morris
with 299 views

The U.S. Department of Commerce today handed down it’s preliminary report on alleged dumping by Chinese solar manufacturers in the US market.The landmark findings handed down concluded that Chinese manufacturers were guilty of dumping solar cells and panels into the U.S. market, and imposed preliminary margins of 31.14 %... [read more]

Vehicle Emissions Standards: A Regulatory Success Story

May 18, 2012 by James Coan
with 167 views

Recent estimates from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) show that emissions of air pollutants that harm human health in the Houston region are falling dramatically. This excellent development is largely the result of very successful national regulations to reduce tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles. As the startling... [read more]

Rethinking the role of government in cleantech

May 17, 2012 by Dallas Kachan
with 126 views

Arkady/Shutterstock

Another year, another wringing of the hands over tax credits and incentives for clean technology. It’s time to end government handouts in clean technology, policymakers need to focus on setting mandates and standards and start ratcheting back subsidies and credits. [read more]

In an Election Year, Time to Talk Energy

May 17, 2012 by Mark Green
with 121 views

Just a thought, but how great would it be if one of this fall’s presidential debates focused solely on energy issues?Past presidential debates have discussed the economy and jobs, national security and foreign policy, and of course all of those are important. Yet, when you think about it, energy is the nexus where all come together.... [read more]

The Opportunities And Pitfalls Of Managing Smart Grid Data

May 16, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 143 views

At the advent of the Internet 30 years ago, having large amounts of personal information accessible on a shared network would have been unthinkable — even if that network would make our lives easier. But we found a way to navigate this privacy minefield with one straightforward idea: Entrust our personal information to certain entities... [read more]

Svinicki nomination at the Senate

May 16, 2012 by Dan Yurman
with 183 views

The White House finds itself in the role of supporting a Republican for reappointment to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory CommissionThe pretzel politics of life in Washington took on new twists this month. The White House nominated sitting NRC Commissioner Kristine Svinicki for another term over the objections of Senate Majority Leader Harry... [read more]

Continuing the Dialogue with the White House

May 15, 2012 by Mark Green
with 96 views

Tom Grundy/Shutterstock

Takeaways from White House energy and climate adviser Heather Zichal’s appearance at Monday’s hydraulic fracturing workshop in Washington, D.C., hosted by API:Outreach – The oil and natural gas industry agrees with the Zichal and the administration that constructive dialog on energy issues is, well, constructive. Zichal:“I give [API... [read more]

Clean Tech Headed for Stagnation

May 14, 2012 by Matthew Stepp
with 466 views

To be sure, the U.S. clean energy industry has been in a period of rapid growth, largely due to historic federal investments in the research, development, deployment, and manufacture of clean technologies. From 2009 through 2014, the federal government will invest a total of $150 billion, or the equivalent in magnitude to government... [read more]

Conservative Confidential Memo: Wind Power the Next Target

May 14, 2012 by Nathanael Baker
with 447 views

Nightman1965/Shutterstock

Conservative America's fight against the advancement of a new energy economy continues to evolve. The latest development is a concerted campaign to discredit the wind industry and shift public opinion against the technology.A confidential memo published by The Guardian highlights a proposal crafted by John Droz, a fellow at the... [read more]

Saudi Arabia to Unleash Solar by Investing $109 Billion

May 14, 2012 by Rhys Clay
with 826 views

cofkocof/Shutterstock

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil plans to install a solar capacity of 41,000 megawatts by 2032. Critics have noted that to achieve this, Saudi Arabia would need to produce and export approximately half of the world’s total annual installed capacity of solar. Can the country achieve this ambitious target? [read more]

Why Storage?

May 14, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 263 views

cardiae /Shutterstock

It is not clear that the automotive market alone will provide an advanced battery market of sufficient size and immediacy to attract the necessary capital and innovation. Using a potentially larger market for the deployment of similar batteries in DES systems on the grid to leverage the automotive market, however, would make for a large, combined market. [read more]

Utilities need to offer innovative energy services or risk being sidelined

May 14, 2012 by Tom Raftery
with 129 views

The EU has mandated a rollout of smart meters to at least 80% of households by 2020. What are some of the transformative ways we will we use the extra energy consumption information these meters will bring? [read more]

A Tale of Two Agencies: How the BLM and EPA Will (and Won't) Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing

May 11, 2012 by Briana Mordick
with 217 views

NeonLight /Shutterstock

Despite being similar processes and posing similar risks to the environment, the way hydraulic fracturing is regulated is very different from the way the underground injection of other fluids is regulated. This difference was made even more apparent when, on the same day, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the... [read more]

Where Gas is Already $10 per Gallon

May 9, 2012 by Geoffrey Styles
with 705 views

Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock

I've just returned from a business trip to Norway. One of the first things I noticed upon my arrival there, on the way into town from the airport, was the price of gasoline. Since Norway still uses its own currency rather than the Euro--lucky them--I had to look up the exchange rate before I could calculate that 15.40 Norwegian Kroner per liter equated to a penny or two under $10 per gallon. [read more]

Japan Without Nuclear Power: What Does it Mean for Them, and For Us?

May 9, 2012 by Christina Nunez
with 394 views

Maxx-Studio/Shutterstock

One of our fathers had a sign in his garage: “If you don’t have time now to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”That line comes to mind with the latest energy news from Japan, which is embarking on a massive switch in its energy policy, on the fly.Once the proud operator of 52 commercial nuclear reactors, as of Saturday... [read more]