July 31, 2008
Despite the efforts of advocacy groups, trade associations and public-interest groups, including over 3500 Solar Citizens, Congress failed this week for the eighth time since June 2007 to pass legislation extending tax credits for ordinary Americans investing in renewable energy.
In parliamentary language, the motion to invoke cloture on the bill (S.3335) was defeated on the Senate floor by a vote of 51-43. In everyday language, Democrats and Republicans could not, after all this time, come to agreement on whether the clean energy tax credits should or should not be funded by tax revenue garnered elsewhere. In this standoff, Senate Republicans were standing squarely with the Bush Administration, which firmly believes they should not.
With but a week to run before Congress’ August recess, it seems likely that our senators will vacate Washington next Friday without resolving this vital piece of business. And as for hoping they’ll do a better job in September, let’s not forget that thirty of them will be focused on a re-election race in their home state in November, rather than business on the Senate floor.
It’s not Solar Nation’s role to throw blame at one political party or another, but given that our senators have had over a year to get this vital legislation enacted and have signally failed to do so, we can legitimately label this Congress as non-functioning, impotent, and of no use to the American people. The losers, as always, are the people, made to stand at the very back of the line as their representatives in government scrap with each other for first place.
We’d like to say how much we admire our elected legislators in Washington.
No, really, we’d like to be able to say that. Trouble is……
July 29, 2008
Obama supports a bold market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce dependence on foreign oil and combat climate change. Obama will also dramatically increase investment in clean energy technologies and energy efficiency. He proposes increasing fuel efficiency standards, biofuels, electricity from renewable sources, and a low carbon fuel standard.
July 24, 2008
The Guardian, UK
In the May issue of Solar Citizen we reported an article appearing in Germany’s Spiegel magazine that described an EU plan to build massive solar installations in the Sahara desert; these solar farms would be linked to a smart grid in Europe via high-voltage DC cables, to provide all of Europe’s electricity needs.
In a follow-up story in the UK’s guardian.co.uk, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicholas Sarkozy have thrown their official weight behind the plan.
Read the guardian.co.uk story here.
July 17, 2008
Perhaps it’s a testament to the potential strength of the solar market that, like any industry that shows signs of growth and consumer take-up, it’s beginning to attract some less desirable elements.
That’s an opening that definitely needs to be explained. Let’s use the example of the great cabbage patch kid hoax at the height of consumer hysteria over that obnoxious toy: in a media announcement, would-be doll purchasers were instructed to present themselves at a certain public venue at a pre-arranged time and, when a special aircraft flew overhead, to hold up their credit cards for airborne inspection. The purchases would be duly recorded, and dolls would be promptly shipped to the desperate (and decidedly gullible) parents.
What’s the connection, I hope you’re asking, to the output of the solar industry? Simply that both are examples of products experiencing a huge surge of interest concentrated into a short period of time. In the case of the doleful-faced dolls, this may have been caused by parental fear of an unsatisfied child at Christmas; with solar installations, it’s been occasioned by the abrupt escalation in energy prices, the possible discontinuation of federal clean energy tax credits at year’s end, and—in certain states—more enlightened rebate/assistance policies for homeowners investing in solar power. The point of the illustration is to show how a sudden spike of demand over supply can lead to consumers being less diligent than they should be when evaluating suppliers. And that’s when the ‘less desirable elements’—the hoaxers and/or scam artists—can enter the picture. (more…)
July 17, 2008
We’ve been hearing since February about the number of lost job opportunities (some 116,000) and lost investment (approx. $19 billion) that would be suffered by the PV and wind industries in the event of production and investment tax credits not being extended past the end of this year (see Navigant Consulting report here).
We’ve also been spectators at the many rounds of the Capitol Hill egg-throwing contest that have passed for debate on this very issue for most of the 110th Congress. Perhaps it’s time, now, to put some meat on the bones of that economic study, and give our Congresspersons some focus. Or, at least, ask them some pointed questions.
Let’s take a tour of the country, and see what it will mean in real terms in just a dozen states, if the ITC is not extended.
(more…)
