Clean energy connection: darrel issa

Californian companies did exceptionally well out of Steven Chu’s “SunShot” announcement on Friday to award $27m to nine companies in the US to drive down the cost of solar. And as Vice President Joe Biden announces $53bn for high speed rail today, it looks like Barack Obama is following through with his clean energy commitments made in his "Sputnik" state of the union.

The US energy secretary announced details of the Department of Energy's SunShot initiative to reduce the cost of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75% by 2020, to $1 a watt.

SunShot will focus on four areas:

Technologies for solar cells and arrays that convert sunlight to energy;
Electronics that optimize the performance of the installation;
Improvements in the efficiency of solar manufacturing processes;
Installation, design and permitting for solar energy systems.

Dirty politics & clean power

Welcome to my blog where I will share my thoughts on all the latest clean tech developments in California from a European perspective.

In the absence of a globally binding agreement or federal policy on climate change, subnational governments, companies and non-profits are filling the void with great strides in clean tech & renewable energy and innovative approaches to climate policy & the transition to a low carbon economy.

While the EU leads the world on climate change legislation, California and other west coast states are not without their own suite of innovative policies. Some of the best technological developments in renewable energy started in the US, but companies in Europe are leagues ahead in areas such as wave and tidal power.

This blog aims to synthesise what's really happening between Europe and the US and what lessons can be learned from each side - and occasionally explain why some policies just don't travel well across the Atlantic.

I am a journalist, and the discussions on this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of the publications I write for. I will use my blog to share nuggets of information that wouldn't fit in a news story, or my observations on the attitudes of government and the general public to climate change, transport and energy.

As a Brit, I encounter something fascinating almost every day by living and working on the west coast of the US.

You can also find my stories in other publications at felicitycarus.com

I look forward to hearing from you if you'd like to comment on my humble observations…

Felicity

Clean energy connection

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

California wins SunShot dollars while GOP trains sights on clean energy

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