Having achieved a “historic” year in terms of photovoltaic installations in 2011, the U.S. solar market is estimated to be worth over US$8.4 billion. Declining system prices and improved financing options were […]
PI News Feed
Norway’s green battery vs. hydrogen storage
According to the industry experts present at the first “Energy Storage” conference, held this week in Düsseldorf, Germany, either technology could win the race to enable Germany’s renewable energy future. “It is […]
SCIEnergy Buys Transcend Equity: Watch Out, Serious Energy
Looks like the competition in bundling building energy efficiency technology and financing in a single platform is heating up. SCIEnergy, a startup with a combo software and energy services approach to building […]
ESA Renewables debuts production guarantee program under O&M division
ESA Renewables is taking solar guarantees one step further with the launch of their Solar Power Production Guarantee program, which promises specific monthly energy production for solar energy systems under an ESA […]
Efficiency Standards To Save Americans More Than $1 Trillion By 2035

Sadly, America’s wildly successful energy efficiency standards have fallen victim to politics in recent years. Despite being used over the decades as a way to encourage innovation, increase customer choice, and reduce […]
Ken Caldeira: Natural Gas Is ‘A Bridge To A World With High CO2 Levels’, Deployment Is To R&D As Elephant To Mouse

Earlier, I wrote about a paper co-authored by climatologist Ken Caldeira. A key point of the study is that we can’t slow projected warming with natural gas, you need “rapid and massive […]
Solar, Wind, and Biofuels Markets Rise 31 Percent to $246.1 Billion
Clean-energy markets continued to expand rapidly in 2011, even against a tough economic and political climate, increased industry consolidation, and downward pricing pressures on manufacturers. Combined global revenue for solar PV, wind […]
Idling Volt Was Easy for GM; Now Comes the Hard Decision

General Motors’ decision to stop making Chevy Volts for the time being was an easy one. February’s sales uptick was only a dead-cat bounce for its controversial near-EV, and GM still needs […]
Fraunhofer ISE Debuts Hydrogen Filling Station
Solar and water will power cars that fill up at Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems’ first solar hydrogen filling station. Using electricity generated from solar or wind power, hydrogen is produced […]
The Six Ways to Create Venture Capital Returns in Cleantech
In my last column, I rushed us through my take on 15 years of cleantech venture capital history. Because if we’re going to look at the path forward, we need to understand […]