CleanTechnica

The Copenhagen Climate Conference would produce an internationally agreed climate change treaty which would be aimed at achieving significant global reduction in carbon emissions, feels the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Mr. Yvo De Boer expressed his positive views saying that there is still a lot or room for negotiations and convergence of views among the representatives of more than 190 countries meeting in the Danish capital.

Sadly, though, there are still many issues on which there is almost no consensus, quantum of emission targets being the most important one. Although the developed and developing countries have issued several emission reduction targets none comes close to the IPCC’s recommendation of 25-40 percent emission reduction in global carbon emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels. The developing countries continue pressurize the developed countries to commit to stricter emission targets while the developed countries want the developing nations to restrict their emissions output growth rate. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Wednesday, the Senate passed the Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3183), appropriating $34.3 billion in energy spending for FY2010. Although the bill made good on Obama’s campaign promise to shut down Nevada’s Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility and funds numerous Army Corps of Engineers’ water initiatives, the bill is shockingly silent with regard to Obama’s energy education program RE-ENERGYSE.

A recent article by TIME’s Bryan Walsh also calls attention to Congress’s stinginess with Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu’s proposed “energy innovation hubs,” to which the House appropriated $35 million of $280 million he suggested. This allotment is enough to pay for one hub, not the eight R&D centers called for in Chu’s proposal. Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s Note: This post is a guest contribution by Frank Sesno, Emmy-award winning journalist and former CNN Bureau Chief. ”Planet Forward” is an innovative, viewer-driven program driven by the power of ideas, as citizens make their case for what they think about the nation’s energy future. The show debuts TONIGHT (8pm), in a primetime PBS special. See Frank Sesno’s last post for CleanTechnica here.

What we’re hearing at Planet Forward is rumbles of a revolution.

Some expressions are serious, some are humorous. There are essays and poems and songs. But in almost all cases, if we take this stuff at face value, we’re hearing calls for an overthrow of the old ways we drive, work, travel, get around.  

A revolution in technology and green jobs to reduce carbon emissions, deal with climate change and improve our security.  A revolution in the energy marketplace to knock the oil-igarchs around the world down a notch.  Coincidentally, this is the bottom line of Barack Obama’s hugely ambitious energy program.  And it’s what citizens and experts alike weigh in on here at Planet Forward.  

This is a place where everyone has the chance to make their case about how we use energy, where our future energy should be, and how we should think about the issue.  We’ve heard from scientists and students, CEO’s and cab drivers, defenders of coal and oil as well as advocates of wind and solar.   We’ve even got a few politicians making their case!  It’s an orchestra of voices.

What makes Planet Forward different is that we connect some of the best ideas  – rated by the online community and reviewed by our Planet Forward editorial staff –directly to decision-makers.  Some go straight to the White House.  We do all this in a prime-time television special on PBS and through follow-on webisodes here at planetforward.org.  What’s most striking is how seriously the experts take the ideas and experiences of people out in the ‘real world.’  As they should.  

It’s been quite a year for the cleantech industry, with roller-coaster oil and stock prices, multiyear federal tax credits finally passed after more than a year of narrowly failed attempts, the beginning of a recession and the election of a new president.

“It feels like it’s been three years in one just with all the emotions,” said Michael Butler, CEO of investment bank Cascadia Capital. “A lot of people thought they were having a really good year, then they were hit with the negative economic environment. … So many people are saying ‘let’s just shut down until the end of the year.’”

Read the rest of this entry »

This week at ZapRoot: “Yes, we can change.” Obama wins the presidential election and here are our top 5 green dreams for 2009. Zero Pollutions Motors create the car of the future, and it runs on air. And, check out the latest in Green Gadgets.