Archive for January, 2011

Cost reduction is the key objective of the photovoltaics (PV) industry as it strives to position solar power as a low-cost choice for new energy capacity. Three years ago, silicon wafer prices were high and PV modules were in short supply. With.......

I know, I’m one of the few people who actually waited until the beginning of 2011 to do a 2010 top 10 list. Hope that you haven’t seen enough of them by now.

A top 10 list of clean tech stories is pretty hard to come up with these days, given the extremely rapid growth in this industry. Here’s a shot at it:

10. Electric Vehicles Roll Out in U.S.

From the Nissan Leaf to the Chevy Volt to the charging stations that make electric vehicles possible, 2010 ushered in a new era of automobiles and related infrastructure. I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of that in 2011.

9. Solar-Nuclear Crossover

This caught a lot of people’s attention when the news broke. And for good reason. More of a symbolic thing than anything else, the point that solar has come so far is really something. Oh yeah, the specific story I’m referencing is that a report showed that solar energy costs are now lower than nuclear energy costs. Extremely rapid growth of the solar energy industry is an obvious result and another top news story that ties into this (I’m combining these for the purpose of this list). “Solar is now the fastest growing energy industry in the U.S., employing nearly 100,000 Americans and generating billions of dollars of economic growth for our economy.”

8. 2010 U.S. Elections

Well, it was expected, given that our economy could not recover economically from 8 years of Bush as president in less than 2. Nonetheless, the Republican (and even Tea Party) wins of 2010 are going to make for a rough couple of years. Republican obstructionism in the name of… nothing.. is a threat to the future of the U.S. One of the biggest threats in the history of the country I would say. As we saw just recently, these politicians are willing to hold the whole country’s prosperity and growth hostage for no other purpose than making the rich richer. And as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently annouced, “if they think it’s bad now, wait till next year.” Read more here: NY Times on GOP’s Intention to Attack EPA & Country

Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey

On the last day of 2010, Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles set the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit for 2020. Given a range of 10% below to 25% below 1990 levels, Bowles has now selected the maximum authorized by the Act.

The 2008 Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act had required him to decide where to set the 2020 goal by January 1, 2011, based on what might be deemed achievable at that (then) future date.

As a mark of how easy it is to actually achieve these goals – despite the media hysteria the idea of greenhouse gas reductions seems to evoke – he set it at the most ambitious target, noting that measures already in place are already close to getting Massachusetts much of the way toward getting 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 anyway.

Last month, New Mexico passed 25% below 1990 by 2020 legislation using cap and trade and California held onto its landmark cap and trade plans to reach the same goal, despite a ballot measure designed to kill it.

The three states have plans to meet the target that scientists say we must achieve by 2050 or face dangerous climate destabilization that could lead to permanent runaway global warming for a 100,000 years or more.

In each of these cases, the 2020 goal is the first step towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.

This amounts to an average of just 2% a year, if adopted early, as Massachusetts has done. The longer states leave it, the more draconian and unaffordable the cuts will be, and the more scarce the materials will be to make the necessary changes. China has already clamped down on the rare earth exports needed to build wind turbines and electric cars.

Massachusetts is already operating in a cap and trade economy as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which uses funds from polluters to pay for the needed changes to energy efficient buildings and clean energy sources like solar and wind, to achieve the 2020 goal.

His department was also required to issue a plan for achieving those reductions while growing the clean energy economy. (Massachusetts GWSA plan PDF)

Among some new policy ideas is an interesting pilot program for Pay As You Drive auto insurance, intended to incentivize drivers to reduce miles driven where possible with lower premiums for staying under a quota.

But the current ideas are already very effective.

Like New Jersey and several other RGGI states, Massachusetts residents can already earn cash from solar with SRECs. Overall, Massachusetts has among the best solar incentives in the nation.

Image: GWSA plan PDF

Susan Kraemer@Twitter

More on achieving GHG goals:
4 US States Have Lowered Greenhouse Gas Emissions Below 1990 Levels
Scotland on Track to Get 80% Renewable Energy by 2020

The National Hockey League has picked the Pittsburgh Penguin’s brand new LEED Gold hockey stadium as the “perfect place” to kick off its new recycling campaign, which will focus on getting tailgaters to recycle their cans and bottles when they attend the 2011 NHL Winter Classic game today. It’s yet another example of the leadership role that major league sports are taking to claim the American civic landscape as a platform for  sustainable choices.

Pittsburgh Sports and Recycling

The Penguins are one-third of Pittsburgh’s major league franchises, rounded out by the Steelers and the Pirates, and all three teams have stepped up their sustainability game in recent years. The Steelers’s new pre-game recycling activities included treating tailgaters to a solar powered tire pump, and the Pirates are into the third year of a comprehensive sustainability program that includes food waste composting (Marc Gunther of CNN notes that the Pirates’ ownership is from the same publishing family that gave us Mother Earth News, by the way).

Sustainable Pittsburgh

The city’s sports teams are not operating in a vacuum, by any means. Local aluminum industry giant (and emerging solar energy powerhouse) Alcoa is heavily involved the new recycling activities, which are taking place in the context of a long-running sustainability effort that involves the city government and a consortium of environmental groups, businesses, educational institutions and non-profits. The goal is to promote long term economic growth without a repeat of the devastating environmental problems that plagued the city during the height of its industrial period.

Local Leadership and the National Picture

As for any prospect of meaningful national action on climate change, many members of the incoming Congress continue to advocate for high-risk fossil fuels and insist on pussyfooting around sustainability issues, as if they’re afraid to talk with the American public like grownups. Fortunately, if we can’t look to our legislative leaders for leadership, at least the American sports industry is more than willing to pick up the ball.

Image: Penguins by HighlandBlade on flickr.com.