Grist | Topics | 104 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 104
Page:1 2 3 4 5
Headline	Author	Published	Section
Show Us That You CAAE New business coalition wants cheaper energy, stat		15 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 1:40 PM on 15 Jul 2008 A group of businesses has kicked off a new campaign with the goal of making energy cheaper by whatever means possible. The new Coalition for Affordable American Energy -- not to be confused with, ahem, the existing Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy or Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Energy -- is backed by various business associations, including the Business Roundtable, National As ...
Topics: business, energy, news, oil and gas drilling, renewable energy (all these topics)

Help wanted: A Bill Gates for distributed generation Framing the energy revolution like the computer generation	Joseph Romm	02 Jul 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Kari Manlove, fellows assistant at the Center for American Progress. This week's issue of the Economist features a commemorative piece on Bill Gates, who stepped down from his position as Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft last week. Gates had an arguably turbulent career, due to his aggressive or monopolistic business tactics as the lead in the industry, but one that has been inconceivably successful and world-changi ...
Topics: business, energy, renewable energy, tech (all these topics)

The Wings Beneath Our Wind Investment in renewable energy skyrockets		02 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 10:19 AM on 02 Jul 2008 Global investment in renewable energy was a record $148 billion in 2007, jumping 60 percent from 2006, the United Nations reported Tuesday. About one-third of the investment went to wind power; solar power was the fastest-growing clean-energy sector from 2006 to 2007, with investment nearly doubling to hit $28.6 billion. Investment in biofuels dropped in the same time period, falling to $2.1 bi ...
Topics: business, energy, investing, news, renewable energy, United Nations (all these topics)

Sustainable economy 101 Lessons from Europe and Japan	Jon Rynn	23 Jun 2008	Gristmill
The following article appeared in Foreign Policy in Focus, and was reposted at commondreams.org. When New York City wanted to make the biggest purchase of subway cars in U.S. history in the late 1990s -- more than $3 billion worth -- the only companies that were able to bid on the contract were foreign. The same problem applies to high-speed rail today: Only European or Japanese companies can build any of the proposed rail networks in the United States. The U.S. has als ...
Topics: solar voltaic power, economy, energy, solar thermal power, business, wind power, greenish companies, renewable energy (all these topics)

Entreprenews you can use: Sungevity 'Dell of solar' seeks to make it cheap and user-friendly to get rooftop PV	David Roberts	23 Jun 2008	Gristmill
Today, a company called Sungevity announced the availability of what they're calling the cheapest solar system in the world: a rooftop solar panel system, fully installed, for $2,000. That's as much as I paid for my computer. For that price, the average home will save $21,000 in electricity over 25 years -- a 45 percent return on investment. From a simple web interface, customers can plug in their address and Sungevity will use satellite and aerial imagery to asse ...
Topics: business, energy, greenish companies, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

Entreprenews you can use: eSolar First deal inked for maker of modular, utility-scale solar thermal power plants	David Roberts	10 Jun 2008	Gristmill
In the transition to a clean, green economy, one milestone promises to be the most symbolically powerful. It's the one adopted as an official target by Google: renewable energy cheaper than coal, or RE<C. When it announced its campaign, Google also announced the recipients of its initial investments. One was eSolar, a Pasadena, Calif.-based company spun off from business incubator Idealab. "Our view of what it takes to make solar power viable and a widespread ...
Topics: business, energy, greenish companies, renewable energy, solar thermal power (all these topics)

Green pay day Green-collar jobs are real	Anna Fahey	27 Apr 2008	Gristmill
There's lots of buzz about green-collar jobs these days (sort of like blue-collar jobs, but with a sustainable edge) -- whether you're listening to Obama, McCain, or Clinton; Gregoire, Kulongoski, or Schwarzenegger. You hear this kind of thing a lot: A study conducted by the RAND Corporation and the University of Tennessee found that producing 25 percent of all American energy fuel and electricity from renewables by the year 2025 would produce the following: '$700 billio ...
Topics: business, climate, economy, green jobs, renewable energy (all these topics)

Fly on the Wall Street Finance, energy, and the environment: markets and opportunities	Emily Gertz	25 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Last night, I went to a panel at the Museum of American Finance on Wall Street (no, really!) on what's financially hot or soon will be in non-coal, non-oil energy technologies. I love these kinds of events; typically, what comes of them is reality-based information, dealing with who has the money, where it's going (or ought to go), and what will get it there, in order to transform our energy system. I come away from these things more hopeful than from any number of poli ...
Topics: business, energy, politics, renewable energy, Sierra Club (all these topics)

The education of Warren Buffett Why did the guru cancel six coal plants?	Ted Nace	15 Apr 2008	Gristmill
One of the biggest climate stories of 2007 never made it to the business pages. It's about how Warren Buffett, with no fanfare, quietly walked away from coal, cancelling six proposed plants. Warren Buffet. Buffett used to love coal. His involvement with it began when Berkshire Hathaway bought MidAmerican Energy Holdings in 1999. MidAmerican was a big operator of coal plants, and with natural gas prices edging toward a huge leap upwards -- bringing coal back in ...
Topics: business, coal, energy, fossil fuels, renewable energy (all these topics)

Ausra	David Roberts	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Via Deathridesahorse, here's a video of Ausra ('utility-scale solar power') CEO David Mills explaining Ausra's solar thermal technology:
Topics: business, energy, energy at home, renewable energy, solar thermal power (all these topics)

Markets, not technologies A long-term extension of the solar investment tax credit is vital	Adam Browning	14 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Joe is correct to point out that solar energy is not a monolith -- but he's got the categories wrong. The relevant division is not between technologies but markets. Market No. 1 is distributed generation solar -- that is, solar sited on the customer side of the meter, serving on-site load. Think rooftops. This market will be served almost exclusively by photovoltaics (for electricity -- hot water is another case) -- and the relevant cost comparison is the retail pr ...
Topics: business, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

Succeeding in the free market	David Roberts	13 Apr 2008	Gristmill
One of my favorite writers, Jonathan Chait, has an article in The New Republic on 'the latest in global warming denialism' (the latest being acknowledging it exists but refusing to do anything about it). It mostly goes over familiar ground, but I wanted to call out one part where Chait makes an unwarranted concession. Discussing recent efforts to repeal some oil industry tax breaks in order to fund tax credits for renewable energy, Chait writes: Objection number one ...
Topics: business, climate change skepticism, energy, fossil fuels, renewable energy (all these topics)

Do we need a massive government program to generate breakthroughs to make solar energy cost-competitive? Concentrated solar power is already doing great; no breakthroughs needed	Joseph Romm	11 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Almost certainly not and absolutely not. I give two answers here because there are two very different types of solar energy: Solar photovoltaics, PV, which is direct conversion of sunlight to electricity. It is well known, high-tech, uneconomically expensive in most parts of this country (but poised to resume dropping sharply in price), and intermittent (power only when the sun shines). Solar thermal electric or concentrated solar power (CSP), which uses mi ...
Topics: business, Department of Energy, energy, renewable energy, solar thermal power, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

Steel Yourself Labor and enviros join up for green-jobs campaign		08 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 12:40 PM on 08 Apr 2008 A new green-jobs campaign has been launched by the Sierra Club, NRDC, the United Steelworkers, and the Blue Green Alliance (itself a project of the Sierra Club and the steelworkers union). The Green Jobs for America campaign, moving forward on the momentum of last month's Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference, will be focused in 12 states and will aim to raise public awareness, encourage private investm ...
Topics: business, energy, grassroots activism, green jobs, news, NRDC, renewable energy, Sierra Club (all these topics)

Solar's new mega-plants	David Roberts	03 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Good stuff.(Thanks, Brian)
Topics: business, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

Casten gospel reaches NYT	David Roberts	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Congrats to our own Sean Casten for getting the following letter to the editor in The New York Times: Re "States' Battles Over Energy Grow Fiercer With U.S. in a Policy Gridlock" ("The Energy Challenge" series, March 20): Proponents of coal-fired power argue falsely that coal is cheap. Coal is a cheap fuel. But who cares? Coal can't run an iPod. And electricity from coal -- which also includes fuel, maintenance and capital recovery costs -- ...
Topics: business, coal, energy, renewable energy (all these topics)

Don't look now, but clean tech is contributing to climate progress New report on massive growth of renewables last year	Joseph Romm	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Climate Progress is the title of my blog posts' main home, as much as the 'progress' part strains credulity at times. I only see two major quantitative areas of sustained progress: clean energy deployment (especially in Europe) and private sector clean-tech funding. Those folk at Clean Edge, who wrote the best 2007 book on clean tech, The Clean Tech Revolution, have quantified these gains -- and made predictions about the future -- in a new report you can read here. S ...
Topics: biofuels, business, energy, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics)

Another entrant in the $1/watt solar sweepstakes Cost of solar cells may be driven down dramatically	David Roberts	26 Mar 2008	Gristmill
Well lookie here! A series of manufacturing process improvements could make the cost of electricity from silicon-based solar cells comparable to today's prices for coal generation within about four years, according to a company emerging out of stealth today. The company, 1366 Technologies, will be using technologies developed in MIT labs to reduce the manufacturing costs of standard-issue multi-crystalline silicon solar cells. They say they can ultimately reduce ...
Topics: business, carbon sequestration, coal, energy, renewable energy, solar voltaic power (all these topics)

Next Up on the Panel ... Solar-panel manufacturers dumping toxic waste in China		10 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 4:54 PM on 10 Mar 2008 Solar panels may look bright and shiny, but they have a dark underbelly: production of polysilicon for panels gives off a highly toxic byproduct called silicon tetrachloride. In China, where factories are rushing to alleviate a polysilicon shortage that's cramping the global solar-panel industry, the bubbly white liquid is often just dumped in nearby villages. "The land where yo ...
Topics: business, China, energy, news, renewable energy, solar voltaic power, toxics (all these topics)

Sick of Cell Anemia? Startup company makes thin-film solar cells via new process		07 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 7:03 AM on 07 Mar 2008 Solar company Konarka has announced that it successfully developed a new process to manufacture solar cells that could lead to a range of new solar-powered products and applications. The solar cells are made without silicon and are manufactured into a thin, light film via an inkjet printer, which means they don't need to be born in a clean room like traditional silicon cells. One dr ...
Topics: business, news, renewable energy, solar voltaic power, tech (all these topics)

How high must oil go before we end subsidies? Bush's refusal to consider clean technologies could be repeated by McCain	Joseph Romm	06 Mar 2008	Gristmill
So, who said: With $55 oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There are plenty of incentives. Yes, that would be our president, three years ago. And yet with oil at nearly twice that price, Bush still refuses to cut subsidies and shift that money to clean technologies. And he still claims that the solution to our energy and climate problems is 'technology, technology, technology, blah, blah.' But, as we've seen, that is all just rhetoric ...
Topics: Big Oil, business, energy, George Bush, politics, renewable energy (all these topics)

Blow by Blow Company creates global map of wind patterns		04 Mar 2008	News
Posted at 10:11 AM on 04 Mar 2008 Any way the wind blows, weather-consulting service 3Tier wants to map it. The company has created a global map of weather patterns that's available free on the internet, allowing anyone to check whether there's strong enough air movement -- and transmission capacity -- to power property in a certain area. 3Tier plans to do a similar project to show the potential of solar energy, to keep the renewable-energ ...
Topics: business, energy, greenish companies, innovation, news, renewable energy, solar voltaic power, wind power (all these topics)

A trillion here, a trillion there Another day, another trillion dollars for the clean-tech industry	Mark Pawlosky	19 Feb 2008	Gristmill
It seems that a day doesn't slip by without someone raising the stakes in the alternative-energy poker game. The most recent bombshell wager: Cambridge Energy Research Associates report that alternative energy investments will -- hold on to your hats! -- top $7 trillion by 2030. That's an audacious number by any measure, and normally it would be enough to suck the oxygen right out of a convention of wind-farm enthusiasts. But that's not the half of it. The most sta ...
Topics: business, economy, energy, investing, renewable energy, tech (all these topics)

The subsidy tease, part I Congress needs to stop flirting with the renewable energy industry	Joseph Romm	13 Feb 2008	Gristmill
This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project. ----- When it comes to relationships, Congress is a big tease. Or so it must seem to the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. Just when they think they're about to go to the altar with the federal government, Congress becomes the runaway bride. Everyone who's anyone acknowledges that energy efficiency and renewable energy a ...
Topics: business, climate, energy, innovation, legislation, politics, renewable energy, tech (all these topics)

Boogie Woogie Google Boy An interview with Google's green energy czar, Bill Weihl	Amanda Griscom Little	07 Feb 2008	Grist Feature
The phrase "to Google" has become synonymous with "to search." But soon it may connote something altogether different: "to green." That is, if the internet titan can successfully pull off its latest world-changing endeavor. Bill Weihl. In late 2007, the dot-com giant announced its intention to make renewable energy cheaper than coal. The RE<C pro ...
Topics: business, carbon neutral, carbon offsets, coal, energy, energy efficiency, greening biz operations, greenish companies, interview, renewable energy, solar thermal power (all these topics)

Page:1 2 3 4 5		Results 1 – 25 of 104

Stories About: business AND renewable energy