Renewable Energy Now

I watched the tech boom with fascination: seeing companies go from zero to billions in months, seeing their products hit the market and our world change, and watching their stock prices explode (and for many crash).

A few years ago when I realized that the world needed an entirely new clean energy system, it occurred to me that we could see something like the tech's boom and innovation. Lets call it the "clean energy wave". It makes me feel very hopeful.

And here is one of the signs it is happening:

California Competition Courts Clean Energy Entrepreneurs
March 23, 2006

San Francisco, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Organizers announced the inaugural California Clean Tech Open, a competition that will gather entrepreneurs in September to vie for the nation's largest cash and service prize devoted to innovations that have a positive impact on the environment. Venture Capitol firms are backing the event partly as a way to identify new opportunities in clean and renewable energy.

source: http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=44431

Get in early in the "clean energy wave" - invest in and support clean energy companies now. Please don't invest or promote in the radioactive future, i.e., nuclear energy.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) energy efforts - a shell game

A friend from the US DOE recently wrote this
"As you know, DOE is talking up energy and renewables, but the available budgets remain the same (a net zero sum game). They rearrange the deck chairs constantly depending on the flavor of the day. Solar and biomass programs will be doubling in size next year with the Industrial and weatherization efforts shrinking. Congressional earmarks continue to erode program $ from all programs -- it is becoming a serious problem.

Two recent "deck chair" headlines (solar is in)
1. Budget Cuts Threaten Distributed Energy Program
2. DOE Solar America Initiatve Set to Fund Solar PV Development

Chineses Renewable Energy IPOs

"While investors have devoured shares of Chinese solar gear maker Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP), clean technology IPOs out of China have been sparse."

"Going forward, China Clean Energy Fund's Ye expects to see more solar issues as clean technology IPO issues from China pickup. "One reason the solar PV market is going well is because the government has given it lots of subsidies." Chinese wind technology, such as advanced blades, is another market benefiting from subsidies and expected to "quickly" pick up over the next couple of years. In addition to large export opportunities, demand in the domestic market is increasing as GDP growth continues to outpace the rest of the world."
source: http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=44304

Despite Constraints PV Sales Grow

Preliminary estimates for 2005 show global photovoltaic (PV) cell production increased more than 40% from nearly 1200 MW in 2004 to 1727 MW in 2005.

Remember there is both a silicon and PV cell manufacturing capacity shortage.

If solar electric systems are to meet and significant share of the world's electricity needs, in the next decade, growth will have to be increase beyond 40%. But 40% growth is impressive.