I’ve been working on environmental issues for decades: activist with the Sierra Club, working for NYSDEC in New York City, teaching at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, and writing all along the way. I like to think I’ve been reasonably effective over time. Continue reading
With so
lar power blossoming in the United States and the Biden Administration’s Day One vow to supercharge renewables, it came as a shock to learn in late March that the Commerce Department was throwing sand in the gears. Based on what turned out to be a largely inaccurate interpretation of data offered by an American solar panel manufacturer, Commerce began an investigation that effectively blocked the importing of solar products from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The impact was immediate and devastating according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA): forecasts for this year and next year being cut by 46%. The 700 responses from an SEIA survey of industry businesses showed that 318 projects accounting for 51 GW of solar capacity and 6 GWh of attached battery storage were being cancelled or delayed, putting $52 billion of private investment and tens of thousands of jobs at risk. An independent analysis, from Rystad Energy, found similar catastrophic disruptions as a result. Continue reading
I wrote in April about Germany’s ambitious goal of deriving 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050. It seems to me that they’re going to get there a lot sooner than 2050.
Solar electricity world record: Germany cranks half its power with PV was the headline recently from SmartPlanet. Germany hit a breathtaking 22.15 gigawatts of PV output on May 25th. There are several astonishing things about that, one of which is that the US may get to 3 GW of installed capacity this year, a drop in the bucket compared to Germany’s herculean output. Continue reading
