South Korea has made big moves on the solar front. Posco, the steel giant, is in talks to purchase a major supplier of silicon for solar panels. Korea’s solar business will only grow in the coming years.
While most European Union member states are flummoxed in trying to reach that 20% renewables goal by 2020, Spain is quietly a leader in the race. The country aims to have 30% of its electricity needs met by renewables by the end of 2010. Spain is only second behind Germany in sourcing wind energy, and [...]
The country in Eastern Europe to which I’d move in a heartbeat is Slovenia. I’ve never seen so many shades of green, and for a nation smaller than New Jersey, Slovenia offers much for the visitor: countless hiking opportunities, enchanting lakes such as Bled, a slice of the Adriatic coastline, and once you learn how [...]
The mini-midterm elections have come and gone, which means I am not turning on the TV today (except for Dr. Nancy at 9am, I’m a convert!), because all the chatter of what this election means will drive me mad. So if you’re wondering what last night’s returns meant, I will save you time by telling [...]
We’re almost into November, which means planning the holidays, scoring last minute Halloween candy, and readying the house for winter, even if you live in Los Angeles. It’s also the time to sort out your favorite charities for tax-deductible donations, max out your health insurance plans, and scrounge for purchases for which you can get [...]
I don’t understand the fuss over hapless Richard Heene and his wife. They should not be going to jail, because clearly, they were conducting an experiment to see how solar-powered balloons could generate power for homes without the eyesore and noise of those humongous wind towers. Balloon boy, sadly, only hid in the rafters because [...]
When one thinks of China, “green” does not come into mind, unless it’s the 50 yuan note, or the algae that often infests its water: by most accounts, two-thirds of China’s rivers and lakes are contaminated. Most of the nation’s electricity needs come from coal, a scary prospect from a nation of over one billion [...]
Having grown up in Silicon Valley, I am proud of how this area has reinvented itself time and time again. Santa Clara County (sorry, San Francisco and San Mateo County, you’re not the valley) survived the defense industry meltdown of the 1990s, the dot-com bust earlier this decade, and now will be the nerve center [...]
We’ve been teasing ourselves about solar since the 1970s, when Jimmy Carter installed solar panels on the White House roof. With oil prices skyrocketing last year, and their creeping rise this year, there’s much talk about solar power being the wave (or ray?) of the future. Recently I’ve been to several solar conferences, and the [...]
Pity New Jersey. The state has an identity crisis, overshadowed by New York. It’s the rear end of constant jokes. Television gave it plenty of exposure—thanks to The Sopranos. Its politicians always get caught up in corruption scandals, including the one last week that even ensnared some rabbis! But there’s more to Jersey than the [...]
Everyone agrees that workers on public works projects should be paid a fare wage. And with all due respect to ditch diggers . . . solar and wind farms–or any renewable energy projects for that matter– don’t just need brawn. They need brains. Installing solar panels and other analogous jobs requires special training, which is [...]
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