Free Republic

The European Union pushed forward on Tuesday with a major clean tech industrial plan which not only should keep the continent in the vanguard of plotting a greener future but also guarantee its economic survival as it faces challenges from China and the United States. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the outlines for her “Green Deal Industrial Plan” that will make it much easier to push through subsidies for green industries and pool EU-wide projects that are boosted with major funding as the EU pursues the goal of being climate neutral by 2050. “We know that we...

Steve Westly's career has long straddled the worlds of progressive politics and alternative energy. Now Westly's roles bankrolling green-energy-firms such as Tesla Motors (TSLA) and alternative energy-friendly politicians such as President Obama have drawn questions about whether the former eBay (EBAY) executive and Democratic state controller's investments unduly benefitted from his political connections. An investigative report this week by the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., and ABC News suggested that after Westly raised $500,000 for Obama's presidential bid, cleantech firms backed by his Menlo Park venture capital firm clinched more than a half-billion dollars in federal aid....

While the United States has the largest consumer economy in the world, manufacturers of renewable energy products and energy-efficient machines—industries that fall under the broad category of "cleantech"—face a frustrating paradox: The greatest potential demand for their products, be they wind turbines, solar panels, super high-efficiency appliances, or computer-aided ventilation systems, is beyond our shores. Cleantech companies represent one of America's brightest hopes in terms of export potential, but suppliers in this nascent market have a number of hurdles to overcome before realizing its potential.

Coordinating and executing a long term national industrial policy is a complicated challenge even under the best of circumstances. Doing so on top of a fractious and shifting political ecosystem riven by fundamental disagreements about the underlying problem, the urgency with which that problem must be addressed, and the cost and efficacy of proposed solutions can only happen in a nation enjoying rapid economic growth living under dictatorial one-party rule. Does this sound like the United States? But wait, it gets worse. Try sustaining an industrial policy when nearly all the early experiments have been fiascos whose costs have vastly...

California is making waves today by announcing a first-of-its-kind space-based solar project that will transmit energy down to earth from space. According to estimates from developers, the project will generate enough electricity to power 250,000 homes per year. SolarFeeds.com: California’s biggest energy utility PG&E has announced that they would purchase 200MW off solar power that will be beamed from space by 2016.

West Berkeley activists are dead set against the mayor's "green corridor" vision, saying it will cause gentrification, too much density, and high rents. The vision of a denser San Pablo Avenue won't come to pass if area residents have their way. Fifty years from now, after the polar ice caps melt and West Berkeley is under water, people might look back on 2009 and say, "What the hell were they thinking?" Why were old hippies in what could be the most liberal city in America working overtime to block the widespread proliferation of green-tech businesses and dense urban development in...

SAN FRANCISCO - Venture capitalist John Doerr made his name and fortune with early investments in Netscape Communications Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Google Inc. and other pioneering tech firms that went from scrappy startups to household names. Now Doerr and his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, are placing big bets on an emerging sector he calls "green technology," one he believes could become as lucrative as information technology and biotechnology. Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins plans to set aside $100 million of its latest $600 million fund for technologies that help provide cleaner energy, transportation, air and water. That's on top...