Clean Edge - The Clean-Tech Market Authority

Clean Energy Trends 2009

Clean Edge's recently launched Clean-Energy Trends 2009 report is now available free to download. The annual report is chock-full of key industry data and analysis for 2008 as well as insight into five key trends to watch for 2009.

The report includes the following charts and projections:

-- Global Clean-Energy Market Growth 2008-2018
-- Global Clean-Energy Jobs 2008-2018
-- Clean-Energy Venture Capital Investments in U.S.-Based Companies as Percent of Total
-- New Global Investments in Clean Energy 2008
-- U.S. Top 10 Disclosed Energy-Tech Venture Deals




The five trends to watch featured this year include:

-- The Grid Goes Online
-- Technologies Save Clean Energy for a Rainy (Or Calm) Day
-- New Clean Energy Markets Emerge Around the Globe
-- Grid Infrastructure Grabs the Spotlight
-- Micropower Shows it is no Small Thing




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Wind Jobs Surpass Key Milestone Amidst a Flurry of Clean-Tech Layoffs and Cutbacks

The good news is that according to a recent AWEA report, total US wind jobs now outnumber that of the coal industry. At more than 85,000 jobs in 2008 (compared to 81,000 jobs in the coal industry). That's good news, but wind, solar, and other clean-tech industries have also seen their share of layoffs in recent months - showing that the sector isn't immune to the market downturn. Even after the recent extension of the PTC/ITC, credit-constrained markets and softening demand are starting to take their toll:

-- Ausra Scales Back Plans to Build Huge Solar Plants
-- Optisolar Lays off 300, Half the Staff
-- Day4 Energy lays off one-third of workforce
-- SunEdison Has Layoffs Too; About 50, Says Former Employee
-- SunTech delays 2,000 new recruits and lays off 800 staffs
-- Solar-cell maker halts construction plans for new plant in Hillsboro
-- Update: Clipper Windpower Confirms Layoff at Cedar Rapids Plant
-- Gamesa: Bigger role for Ebensburg plant
-- DMI Industries reduces workforce as credit difficulties impact wind energy development
-- Think halts electric car production, plans layoffs
-- Tesla Says It Will Lay Off Employees and Delay Its All-Electric Sedan Until 2011
-- GreenFuel Hit By Big Layoffs - Nearly Half Staff Let Go This Morning
-- Biofuel company Mascoma cuts staff, including president

What's in Store for Clean Tech as Part of the Economic Stimulus Package?

On Saturday, President-Elect Obama made the case for his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan during his weekly video address. Without too many details, he said he planned to "double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more efficient". We will be hearing much more about this in the week to come, but here are some specifics compiled by our friends at Greentech Media on what various clean-tech industries are asking for.

Here is an update from Obama's January 10 address:

Below is the list of the clean-tech investments included in summary of the House version of the stimulus on January 15:

-$32 billion to transform the nation's energy transmission, distribution, and production systems by allowing for a smarter and better grid and focusing investment in renewable technology.

-$16 billion to repair public housing and make key energy efficiency retrofits.

-$6 billion to weatherize modest-income homes.

A Closer Look at Clean Energy and the Sunshine State

Enterprise Florida, an organization promoting economic development in Florida, recently released a Clean Energy Market Brief depicting the state's regional strengths as a manufacturer, consumer, and innovator of clean-energy technology.

Florida's clean energy industry - which according to New Energy Finance ranked 12th in the U.S. for total investments in 2007 with $76.7 Million - has a number of things going for it, including: enthusiastic government leadership, strong business and research presence, and a specialized arsenal of clean-energy technologies.

Highlights include:

- Power generation equipment manufacturers Siemens Energy, Inc. and Mitsubishi Power Systems, both with headquarters in Florida, give the state an added energy industry presence.
- Florida's role in clean energy innovation is also showcased by the recently established $50 million Florida Energy Systems Consortium, which brings together the state's research universities to work on renewable energy technologies.
- Florida Power & Light recently announced new solar energy projects that include the world's largest photovoltaic solar plant and first "hybrid" energy center, coupling solar thermal technology with an existing combined-cycle generation unit.

To learn more about Florida's clean energy initiatives, download Enterprise Florida's Clean Energy Market Brief. Enterprise Florida is a sponsor of Clean Edge.

Solar Industry Leaders Discuss the Future of Solar Energy in Videos from Solar Power International 2008

The solar energy industry is positioned at a crossroads. High demand hints at continued market growth, yet a credit crisis threatens to cutback project financing. Extension of production and investment tax credits allows for long-term planning, yet regulatory uncertainty remains. At the recent Solar Power International 2008 conference, industry leaders came together to discuss how these and other factors will impact the solar energy industry. The video links below showcase some valuable highlights of the conference:

- The Financial Crisis and Solar Energy
- Gen. Wesley Clark Talks Renewable Energy
- Solar Perspectives Roundtable Discussion
- CEO Panel - Market Development

Videos from the Clinton Global Initiative: Poverty Alleviation , Clean Energy, and Health

For those of us that were not as fortunate as Clean Edge contributing editor, Clint Wilder, to attend the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), the CGI website provides videos of all of the major speeches and roundtable discussions. In reviewing these sessions it is immediately apparent that poverty alleviation, clean energy, and health dominated the event. It should come as no surprise as the world's greatest challenges also provide the world's greatest opportunities. Below is a selection of some of the most interesting:

- A Call to Action
- Energy and Climate Change: Local Leadership
- The Global Impact of Rural Innovation
- Energy and Climate Change - Renewables Revolution - Part 1 | Part 2
- Energy & Climate Change - Clean Transport - Part 1 | Part 2
- Climate Change and Poverty

Big Ambitious Plans Worthy of a Look

This month we thought it would be interesting to point out some of the most ambitious clean-energy initiatives in the works. These plans mostly fall into 2 buckets: the 'roadmap' category and the 'this is a challenge/opportunity, not a roadmap' category. If you're a policymaker, entrepreneur, investor, or other interested party looking for big ideas and inspiration, this is the place to start. Though costly at the onset, ideas of this scale would generate long-term economic growth for U.S. companies while hopefully reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to the levels required to stave off the worst effects of global warming.

- Al Gore's Challenge to Reach 100% US Clean Energy by 2010
- The Pickens Plan - 20% of Total US Electricity from Wind by 2030
- Utility Solar Assessment: 10% of Total US Electricity from Solar by 2025
- Masdar Initiative
- A Solar Grand Plan: 69% of Total US Electricity, 35% of its Total Energy by 2050

Senate Voting Records on Extension of the PTC/ITC

Last week was the most recent of 8 failed attempts by Congress to extend the federal investment and production tax credits since June 2007. The Solar Energy Industry Association has published a list of how all Senators voted on those bills. In a very disturbing trend, John McCain did not cast a 'yea or nay' vote in a single one of those attempts. In the painfully close 59-40 defeat of the motion to include the incentives in the December 2007 energy bill, McCain was the only one in the entire Senate who registered 'not voting' into the historical record.

Barack Obama, despite voting 'yea' in that narrow defeat of the energy bill and in the first three attempts at extending the PTC and ITC, has not voted in the last five attempts. Together, Obama and McCain account for 40 percent of the 32 'not voting' tallies in those 8 attempts since last summer. The only other Senators to record more than one 'not voting' were Senators Ted Kennedy (4 - likely due to recent bout with cancer) and Hillary Clinton (3).

Only by candidates casting their votes on important issues do we get the opportunity to see through the campaign fog and hold them accountable. Congress is now taking a month long vacation while clean energy companies hustle to complete projects before the end of the year when the PTC and ITC expire. At the root of many of our country's economic and political ills, America needs a candidate that is going to take clean energy seriously - and consistently show us where they stand. In an election where we have heard so much about 'change' - 'not voting' sounds a lot like the status quo.

BLM CSP Gold Rush in Jeopardy?

In a potential setback to utility scale solar project developers, the US Bureau of Land Management has suspended any new applications for large-scale solar projects in the Southwest until the completion of an expected 2 year "Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement." During the work on the PEIS, according to a BLM press release, "the BLM will focus attention on the 125 applications already received for rights-of-way for solar energy development" on a 'case by case' basis.

The California Energy Commission website shows close to 6 GW capacity of solar projects have been proposed via press release, started the application process, or are under review by the CEC . While we do not know how many of these projects are on BLM land, the impact of the BLM decision could be considerable. Concentrating solar power (CSP) companies such as Solel, BrightSource Energy, and Ausra have all announced major plans in the Southwest.

The BLM has setup a website dedicated to the PEIS, and the last public meetings are scheduled for July 8, 9, and 10. There is also a web-based comment form.

Report: "Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?"

The McKinsey and Company report "Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much at What Cost?" really drives home the need for comprehensive national action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and an end to fragmented policies. Looking at over 200 abatement strategies, the report paints the clearest and most compelling picture to date of how no one single policy alone can be deemed the solution to the climate crisis. The report demonstrates that we need a rapidly enacted slate of efficiency measures across buildings, electricity generation, transmission and distribution, and transportation; a regulatory environment with a price on carbon that creates enough incentives to actually change consumer behavior; and predictable, long-term incentives for investment in renewables. This 'silver buckshot' approach at the national is the only way to make a major impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and unlock the real long-term economic opportunities inherent in shifting to a clean-energy economy.

Download the report

The Vulcan Project (Click here for video)

The University of Purdue recently released maps showing carbon emissions across the United States. The maps are the result of three years of work and provide an unprecedented level of detail. The Vulcan project offers maps that show emissions data at the level of individual factories, powerplants, roadways and neighborhoods and is quantified at the level of fuel type, economic sub-sector, and county/state identification.

The project is complementary to NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory project which is collecting carbon data via satellites and is expected to provide a similar worldwide carbon map later this year, or early 2009.

Since you can't manage what you can't measure - the Vulcan Project is an excellent contribution to crafting effective carbon policy. The new maps will not only help in providing a baseline for emissions, but could provide a critical 'check' to data reported under any future regulatory system.

For more information visit the Vulcan website where you can actually download portions of the data that went into the map. Also be sure to check out the video.

2008 Presidential Candidates Environmental Scorecards

As we approach the end of the 2008 presidential primaries and caucuses, renewable energy and conservation are becoming major campaign issues. In recent months, the House has passed extensions for renewable energy tax credits twice, but the Senate has fallen just short of being able to send the bill to the President's desk. Bush has said he would likely veto either of those bills. But with the election this November the public is increasingly looking ahead to see what each party's nominee would do if elected into office. The League of Conservation Voters publishes a 'Scorecard' that clearly compares each candidates record on important environmental issues including carbon cap and trade, investment in renewable energy, and conservation. See their rankings and overviews for Senators Clinton, McCain, and Obama for more information.

Clean Energy Trends 2008 - Free Report

Amid a challenging economic outlook - plummeting housing prices, rising foreclosure rates, record-high oil prices, sinking consumer confidence, looming recession - 2007 was another banner year for clean energy, with no signs of a slowdown in 2008. Solar, wind, biofuels, geothermal, energy intelligence, hybrid- and all-electric vehicles, advanced batteries, green buildings, and other clean-energy-related technologies and markets provided bright spots in an otherwise sluggish economy.

Download the full report.