Recently in Renewable energy Category

A close reading of the Environmental Protection Agency's 97-page final rule setting 2012 production requirement for renewable fuels reveals that when it comes to the futuristic area of cellulosic biofuels, the EPA is crossing its fingers, knocking on wood and blowing on dice.

The final rule, issued December 27, boosts cellulosic requirements next year by 31% to 8.65 million gallons. The EPA is relying on production from six facilities, five of which have yet to come online.

The Obama administration has made no secret of its support for renewable energy, but in the case of the offshore wind there's a question of whether the administration has enough tools at its disposal to get the industry -- which still doesn't really exist in the US -- off the ground.

A big part of the problem is that offshore wind, like most renewables, is a policy-dependant industry dealing with a dysfunctional Congress. 

Twenty-five years ago, consumer had a wide array of choices in personal computers. An electronics store might stock IBM PCs, Apple IIs or Macs, the TRS-80, Commodore 64s or Amigas, Atari 1200s or, in the UK, Acorns and Amstrads, all running different technologies and operating systems.

Today IBM is out of the personal computer business, and consumers essentially have a choice between various PC clones and Macs.

The price of carbon emissions has fallen in Europe. Does that mean the system is failing, or does that mean it's working? In this week's Regulation and the Environment column from Platts Oilgram News, Frank Watson looks at the issue.

Count on the United States Marines. One might forget to look there for visions of the energy future, but... comes a reminder: email from Camp Lejeune, the Experimental Forward Operating Base, ExFOB.

It's about "wearable electric power systems."

If there is one thing the renewable fuels industry is full of, it's dynamism.  And ideas -- lots of them. 

A whole tankful of ideas were presented at Platts' sixth annual Next Generation Biofuels conference this week where a handful of innovative tech companies outlined plans to turn all sorts of non-food crops and wastes into fuels.

In recent years US and European clean-energy companies have rushed to cash in on China's renewables boom, selling solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines as fast as Chinese authorities could erect them.

Now that relationship has turned sour, as Western companies complain that China is unfairly subsidizing its domestic renewables industry and stealing technology.