Small Businesses Leading the Way in Clean Energy Innovation
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| Photo credit: Mainstream Engineering |
Internet giant Google is the poster child for demonstrating that revolutionary technologies can be developed by a small number of people on a limited budget. The company, whose name is now a household word and whose net profits exceeded $6 billion last year, was incorporated in a garage by Stanford Ph.D. students who were doing a dissertation on search engine development.
In the world of clean energy, no one knows yet which companies will be the equivalents of Google, creating the technological breakthroughs that will change the course of U.S. energy history. Read more
Administration to Make Clean Energy Key Part of Economic Recovery Strategy
SAN FRANCISCO – Phil Angelides, chairman of the Apollo Alliance, today released the following statement commending President Obama’s plan to accelerate U.S. job creation and stimulate economic growth:
“The Apollo Alliance applauds the president’s continued focus on creating jobs through investments in clean and efficient energy systems and improvements to the nation’s aging transportation infrastructure.
“America is facing twin crises of economic instability and a global clean energy race that is quickly leaving us behind. Fortunately, the president understands that these crises can also be opportunities. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a significant down payment on America’s clean energy future, but we must continue to drive short-term investment and job creation in efficiency and renewables in ways that leverage private capital over the long term and lay the foundation for a stronger, more sustainable U.S. economy.
“The president’s proposed efficiency retrofit incentives have the potential to provide a strong stimulus for immediate job creation, as does his plan to expand oversubscribed, successful Recovery Act programs. Going forward, we encourage the administration to pair these efforts with the creation of a federal financing authority that provides credit enhancement to innovative energy efficiency and renewable installation models.
“We commend the president’s focus on creating clean energy manufacturing jobs through the expansion of industrial energy efficiency programs and tax incentives for clean energy manufacturing facilities. Currently, 70 percent of America’s clean energy systems are manufactured abroad, which means valuable, well-paying jobs that should be filled by American workers are instead going overseas. We need to turn that ship around.
“We encourage the president and Congress to make a long-term commitment to the country’s clean energy manufacturing sector. By including the provisions of the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act of 2009 in any jobs creation package, we can ensure that America’s manufacturers have the funds they need to expand into the global clean energy marketplace and become more energy efficient.”
During last week’s White House Jobs Summit, the Apollo Alliance released a clean energy investment plan that, if enacted, would create up to 1.2 million domestic jobs while increasing U.S. energy security and climate stability. The 5-point plan, meant for inclusion in a larger Congressional and administration strategy to spur economic recovery and create jobs, focused on several areas the president identified as part of his short-term job growth plan, including transportation infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewables, and domestic clean energy manufacturing.
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Apollo Research |
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Governments, banks, and private investors around the world are furiously pumping capital into renewable energy, research and development, and clean energy manufacturing. |
Outside Research |
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The rate at which the United States is able to develop and deploy new energy technologies will, to a great extent, determine the ultimate speed and cost of the economic transformation. Large-scale carbon capture and sequestration, advanced batteries, plug-in hybrid vehicle technologies, next-generation biofuels for the transportation sector, and a number of other innovations will be vital to achieving a low-carbon economy, and the United States must not only develop but deploy these technologies. |
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Report examines investment trends in research and development in the energy sector. |
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Economic studies conducted before the information-technology revolution have shown that as much as 85% of measured growth in US income per capita was due to technological change. Can America repeat this performance? |
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New research by Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) and the Cleantech Venture Network shows continued strong growth in the U.S. cleantech |
With Right Grass, Biofuels Make Sense
“The beauty of switchgrass is how hearty it is and how fast it grows,” said Dr. Suleiman Bughrara, a plant breeder at Michigan State University. “One acre can yield 12 or 13 tons of grass. That can produce 500 gallons of ethanol. We have work to do. But that kind of production is possible, and pretty quickly.” Credit: Gary Howe Read more
In Michigan, Liquid Fuel From Wood
The Mascoma plant represents a breakthrough for Michigan, which has has been playing catch-up with other states in the race to attract clean energy industries and the jobs they bring with them. Read more
In Face of Soaring Energy Costs, Hawaii Turns To Sun
One new Hawaii statute establishes a ratepayer-funded solar energy rebate program. A second requires all new homes, with a few reasonable exceptions, to have solar hot water heaters starting in 2010. Read more
Gallon For Gallon
Steven P. Long, deputy director of the Energy Biosciences Institute at the University of Illinois, examines progress on a crop of miscanthus, a fast-growing plant at the center of the emerging American grass gas industry. Read more
100 MPG
CalCars and the beauty of high-mileage ideas
By Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendricks
Special to the Apollo News Service
Third in a series
To see the future of the American automobile, take a spin down to Corte Madera, California, and introduce yourself to the CalCars boys.
This group of rebels met one sunny day in April 2004 in the garage of a typical condominium ten miles north of the Golden Gate, determined to roll out a car that could be “fueled” by plugging it into a wall at night with a standard extension cord and run on gas when needed. It was a Toyota Prius when they started and a symbol of an American revolution in automobiles when they finished.
