Jim Brumm: Long-Term Thinking for a Short-Sighted World

Schools are a black hole for energy consumption. The buildings, which often serve as the hub of communities, are open from early morning to late at night. With air conditioning or heating systems that run continually, it is not unusual for a single building to use hundreds of thousands of gallons of fossil fuel each year. While this energy consumption is a major concern to students, teachers, administrators and the community – who all wish to lessen dependence on fossil fuels – school systems are moving at a glacial pace when it comes to making environmentally conscious decision regarding what technologies should power their facilities.

Dr Abdullah, the Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy of India demonstrated the commitment of the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy to the concentrated solar thermal power industry by opening the inaugural CSP TODAY INDIA event.

In an effort to promote trade and investment in the solar industry between the U.S. and India the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) was formed this week. The USIBC is comprised of private-sector companies and seeks to help the United States' export solar technologies while furthering India's goal of reducing its dependence on imported coal and fossil fuels through the use of solar energy. The USIBC Solar Task Force is a subcommittee of USIBC's Energy, Environment, Enterprise (EEE) Executive Committee, which is comprised of more than 100 members.

Remember back in the good 'ol days of 2008 when manufacturing solar PV below a dollar a watt was a big deal? How quaint that vision seems today.

From PV data and market growth to state solar and regulatory policies, from DOE and Solar ABCs updates to clean energy workforce development and credentialing, IREC has again assembled some of the best in the business to share the latest information on these issues at its 2010 Annual Meeting on Monday, October 11, in Los Angeles.

A group of businessmen, farmers and renewable energy advocates who met today to support Alex Sink for Governor, were abruptly met with an attack from the Rick Scott campaign.

What about a recently laid-off woman who now pushes a reel mower yard to yard to make money? Would lawn lady's be a green job created, a general job lost, or would the two cancel one another for a net job gain of zero?

The evolving discussion over renewable energy technologies has a tendency to get a bit technical. Most of us who work in the renewable energy space take for granted that many potential customers, investors and partners haven't spent any time in academia studying photovaltaics or wind turbines. In fact, they may not have a background in general energy metrics. Terms that once belonged to the realm of industry-insider jargon are quickly becoming standard. Thus, anyone who wants to follow the renewable versus traditional energy debate needs to know what we mean when we say "watt." Here, then, is a brief crash course in energy lingo.

A significant piece of good news for the ambitious €400 billion (Dh1.87 trillion, US $509 billion) scheme came in April, when one of its members, Germany's Solar Millennium, said its 150 MW Kuraymat project in Egypt was nearing completion and could serve as a template for other north African solar farms.

A new low-cost etching technique developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory can put a trillion holes in a silicon wafer the size of a compact disc.

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. is pleased to announce the Shine-On Solar edition of the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) by the firm's Cleantech Group.

Remember back in the good 'ol days of 2008 when manufacturing solar PV below a dollar a watt was a big deal? How quaint that vision seems today.

In what they are calling a "clear and easy choice" for the future of the renewable energy industry, the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy (FARE), announced today their endorsement of State CFO Alex Sink for Governor and encouraged every organization, business and individual involved in the renewable energy industry to do the same.

Schneider Electric announced today its participation at the 25th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC), the world's largest international conference for solar technology, in Valencia, Spain, from September 6-9, 2010. Schneider Electric will display its global solutions for a wide array of photovoltaic (PV) markets including solar farms, large commercial, residential, off-grid and backup power. These solutions range from inverters, switchgear, and monitoring to security products from Schneider Electric's vast offering of electrical and energy management solutions.