April 14, 2010

Some clouds have lifted but the solar energy still has to contend with rough weather ahead. Industry advocates say that less restrictive financing and more access to public lands would brighten their day.

The industry, in truth, has grown exponentially and continued to win a goodly share of the venture capital dollars entering clean energy markets. But it remains a tiny sliver of the overall electricity mix, pushing the sector to ask more of its government by allowing it to develop utility-scale solar energy projects on public lands and to speed up loan guarantees promised in the stimulus bill to such plants.

April 12, 2010

Nuclear energy development in this country is getting a big boost now that the nuclear loan guarantees are being processed. Southern Co., which snagged the first $8 billion of what will be $54 billion pie, still has to wait about a year for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to okay its license application.

As part of his green agenda whereby the country rescues itself from economic despair and the hazards of climate change, President Obama has started to come on strong for nuclear energy that has relatively few greenhouse gases associated with it. It's a simple but realistic equation: Besides coal, nuclear energy is the only other source of base-load power that can run continuously and serve large populations. By guaranteeing the loans, the government has agreed to pay them off if any private builder should default.

April 09, 2010

No issue has been as politically polarizing as climate change. With the positions of both the right and the left mostly predictable, the power is now in the hands of the political and industrial moderates.

Legislation to curb greenhouse gases may be stalled on Capitol Hill where the administration has lost its filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. But regulations released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce such heat-trapping emissions are moving forward. That should force Congress' hand, which can either step up and write its own rules or live by what the federal agency is imposing.

April 07, 2010

Coal's long term future is up in the air. But if it is to continue to serve the American economy and to provide the preponderance of fuel that generates electricity, it is clear that the utilities using it will have to make it much cleaner.

The status quo won't do. Utilities that rely on coal recognize the pressures on them. Some are now investing in the kinds of technologies that seek to reduce emissions and to capture carbon emissions that many say are tied to global warming. To achieve such goals, however, takes time and money -- issues that both state and federal lawmakers must acknowledge and subsequently incorporate into energy laws.

April 05, 2010

When major institutional investors and venture capitalists start investing in alternative and low-carbon energy companies, it is noteworthy.

Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres, a Boston-based coalition of 80 investors who support climate change legislation and manage over $8 trillion of assets, said 85 percent of funding for alternative energy companies will stem from large institutional investors, pension and hedge funds and private equity firms, not governmental support.