11 March '10
7:45 AM EST
No Comments
Policy

Reblog: How Green Is China’s Stimulus Package? [VIDEO]

There is obviously a lot of interest in China’s growing renewable energy industry. Over the past year, China’s $586 billion green stimulus has emerged as a serious contender to win the global clean energy race at the expense of the U.S.  In a recent post for the Green Leap Forward,  Chief Editor Julian Wong dissects the Chinese stimulus and asks how green it really is. Wong is also a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

– By Julian Wong

I had the opportunity to answer this question as a member of a panel discussion at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a Washington DC foreign policy think tank, two weeks ago.   The event was held on February 17 to mark the one year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and sought to explore the effectiveness economic stimulus packages in the US and globally in catalyzing green investments (Wong’s remarks start at about 24′21).

My simple answer?  There is no simple answer.  The lack of transparency of what exactly is being allocated, how those allocations are being spent, and how the uncertainty around the lesser known story of bank lending (or monetary policy), that is separate from the fiscal stimulus figures into clean energy investments makes it nearly impossible to know just how much money is hitting the clean energy road in China. Read More »

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9 October '09
8:20 AM EDT
No Comments
Funding
Policy

Invest in Green Energy or Suffer, U.K. Regulator Says

The U.K. needs to promote investment in green energy or potentially face a catastrophic rise in domestic energy prices, according to the country’s energy regulator.

The report from Ofgem, released this morning, predicts that the country will need to plow £200 billion into the energy sector over the next 15 years to secure energy supplies and meet climate change targets.

The regulator has drawn up four energy scenarios for the next 10-15 years: in two of them, an investment in green energy limits hikes in consumer energy bills by 2020 to 23 percent over 2009 levels– if the economy rebounds – and 14 percent – if growth is slow.

Without an investment in green energy, bills will skyrocket to 60 percent by 2016, but fall back by 2020 – again, if the economy rebounds – and 22 percent – if growth is slow. Read More »

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8 October '09
8:39 AM EDT
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Cleantech
Solar

Ground Floor Investment Opportunity on the National Mall

Oh Alberta!

Alberta, Alberta...

Here’s something fun to distract us from the drudgery of legislative wrangling and the death of oil.

GreenTech reports that the 20 teams in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon have started building their green homes of the future on the National Mall. Energy Secretary Steven Chu is talking to the groups today and the homes will be open to the public tomorrow.

These 800-square-foot Frankensteins are all powered by solar energy, but they vary widely in their design. Some are pret-a-porter and can be built with materials from Home Depot, while others are couture models. Read More »

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5 October '09
11:33 AM EDT
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Cleantech
Funding
Policy

Subcommittee to Tackle Cleantech Competitiveness

E&E Daily (sub. req.) reports that a house committee will be tackling the issue of American competitiveness in the cleantech industry on Wednesday.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will try to figure out how to keep an edge on greentech when other countries are spending large sums on R&D and setting energy use targets.

The hearings come as investment in cleantech has continued to rebound from its abysmal lows late last year, with $1.59 billion in investments in Q3, according to this release last week from The Cleantech Group. The Q3 numbers were up 10 percent over Q2.

The release credited government spending (particularly in the U.S.) for spurring investment:

“The billions in government funding being allocated globally in clean technology have begun emboldening private capital, which has in turn helped propel clean technology to the leading venture investment sector, now eclipsing biotech and IT,” said Dallas Kachan, Managing Director, Cleantech Group.

A General Electric executive who will testify on Wednesday suggests talking to the European Union and other countries about eliminating trade tariffs on clean energy goods and services, E&E reports.

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15 July '09
9:56 AM EDT
2 Comments
Policy

Britain “Sets the Standard” in Green Energy Plans

Have we entered a new era of competitive conservationism by industrial democracies?

Britain’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband rolled out a plan today that requires the country to get 40 percent of its energy from low carbon sources – what he calls the “trinity” of renewables, nuclear and clean fossil fuelds – by 2020.

The plan also calls for the country to further cut carbon emissions 18 percent by 2020, a commitment officials have made previously. The full plan is available here.

Miliband is the latest politician to wrap his low carbon plan in the language of economic stimulus. He told the BBC:

“We think the environmental industries in Britain can generate about an extra 400,000 jobs by 2015.”

The move comes in advance of the Copenhagen climate summit and has support from both of the major opposition parties. Flush with at least momentary success, the secretary found the time to engage in a bit of green one-upmanship with the U.S., claiming:

The Transition Plan is the most systematic response to climate change of any major developed economy, and sets the standard for others in the run up to crucial global climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

Any response, Henry Waxman?

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