New England Clean Energy Council

NewScientist’s January 28 issue is likely to unsettle clean energy advocates — but it is worth the read. The cover article, “Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever,” posits that even renewable energy can warm the planet, and eventually change climate, if we continue to ratchet up power production to serve our ever

It's easy to think about modules as singular units of power output, but the reality is that they are a collection of diverse components, each with influence over the end system's total cost and performance. For DuPont, its focus is of course on the materials side, from metallization pastes used to form contacts on the solar cell, to backsheet materials that protect the panels themselves.

The Obama Administration's $60 billion Loan Guarantee Program (LGP) for renewable energy is considered a failure because of Solyndra, Beacon Power, and potential 2012 bankruptcies. What is not well known is that 75 percent of the program's deployed funds went to relatively low risk power plants that will catapult the U.S. to a leadership role in the utility-scale solar sector. This is hardly the hallmark of a "failed program." The program is akin to Shakespeare's King Henry V, who said as a delinquent Prince: "I'll so offend as to make offense a skill, redeeming time when men think least I will."

In a series of deals the investor-owned utility says is good for consumers' wallets, American Electric Power subsidiary Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) recently signed long-term power purchase agreements for a total of 358.65 MW of capacity from wind projects in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

Miasolé says it has created a 17.3 percent "champion" thin-film copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) solar photovoltaic device, results obtained in its own labs and not (yet) independently verified.

Today the Obama administration moved forward with plans to develop the enormous offshore wind energy resources along the Mid-Atlantic coast, using a "Smart for the Start" approach designed to expedite the siting process while incorporating strong environmental protections.

By late February the renewable energy industry should have direction from the Ontario government on some of the major changes ahead for the province’s landmark feed-in tariff program. “I am hoping we will have an announcement then with the megawatt (MW) targets and pricing, then new rules and contracts in March, and application processi

You may have heard it before, but it is worth mentioning again: In residential communities, solar is contagious. But a recent study, "Peer Effects in the Diffusion of Solar Photovoltaic Panels," conducted by Bryan Bollinger of the NYU Stern School of Business and Kenneth Gillingham of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, published in December sheds some new light on the phenomenon.

Renewable energy in the United States is at a crossroads. With several federal tax grants set to expire by the end of 2012, utilities are trying to decide if the falling prices of solar and wind technology makes renewable energy competitive enough to invest in despite vanishing federal aid.

Wind energy is becoming one of the most widely used sources of renewable energy. In fact, according to the American Wind Energy Association, the wind energy industry has added more than 35 percent of all the new power generating capacity since 2007. As the industry grows in popularity, new developers continue to enter the market, and existing developers may likely expand their investments in wind farms.

Two reports out in the past week examine Europe's solar PV market in 2011, indicating slowing growth in the flagship countries and promise in some smaller regions for 2012 and beyond. Note that the data that follows is preliminary; final 2011 numbers won't be known until later in the first quarter, including some likely revisions thanks to a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter in several key regions (more on that below).

A recent report has generated lots of buzz by finding that as many as 50,000 jobs could be lost over the next three years if a 100 percent tariff is placed on Chinese solar panels. Yet from where I'm sitting, I see a far different number from the same report: The industry could add 15,000 jobs by 2014.

Twenty years ago, international leaders descended on Brazil to lay the groundwork for what would eventually become the Kyoto Protocol. This summer, a 20-member United Nations panel will once again head to Rio de Janeiro with an even more ambitious agenda.

Due to growing urbanization and resulting environmental threats, China has invested nearly US$50 billion annually into its renewable energy sector since 2009. China's five-year investment in environmental protection is on track to reach 3.1 trillion yuan (US$454 billion). By 2015, its environmental protection industry is expected to top 2 trillion yuan (US$317 billion).

Nine years from now, in early 2022, the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard will have reached its intended target, 36 billion gallons of biofuel blended into the U.S. domestic auto and truck fuel supply.

Concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) is an upcoming renewable market that promises to provide cost-effective power generation at high levels of efficiency. The performance of a CPV system is dependant on the direct normal irradiance (DNI). Because of this major performance parameter, the number of regions ideal for CPV system installations is limited. According to Prof. Humayun Mughal, the potential market destinations based on DNI for the CPV technology are Southwest US, Mexico, Chile, Southern Peru, Southwest Bolivia, Northwest Argentina, and Mediterranean countries, Australia, North Africa, Middle East, Western India and Western China.

With developers having made their final end-of-year push through the last day of December, the January ritual of announcements concerning new projects entering commercial operation and new PPAs kicking in continued this week.

Earlier this month, I attended EUCI’s Utilizing Clean Power Development Conference in Philadelphia.  The conference attracted a variety of large institutions (hospitals, municipalities, universities, etc.), developers, and financers to discuss the opportunity and challenges surrounding deployment of on-site renewable energy.  Instit

North America is at an inflection point in managing organic materials. Just as paper, metal and plastics were the darlings of the recycling industry a couple decades ago, our society is defining a new relationship with organic materials: one that harnesses the full carbon, energy and nutrient potential of organics. In order to help shape that new relationship, industry leaders are cultivating North America's awareness and understanding of anaerobic digestion's features, benefits and potential role in society.