Cleantech News: Logitech Solar Keyboard Offerings Expanded; Nest Now in Canada; Green Bike Lanes Work in LA; Romney Lost on Green Jobs…

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Solar, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and other cleantech news from around the internet:

Solar News

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 (Photo: Business Wire)

Logitech Expands Solar Power Keyboard to Mac, iPad, and iPhone: Today Logitech (SIX:LOGN) (NASDAQ:LOGI) announced the expansion of its solar offering with the new Logitech® Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 for Mac®, iPad® or iPhone®. A continuation of Logitech’s solar series, which started with the Logitech® Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 and has continued with the Logitech® Solar Keyboard Folio for iPad, this new keyboard adds Bluetooth® connectivity with an easy-switching capability. It allows you to simultaneously pair multiple devices and quickly switch among them with the push of a button.

Unirac and Bella Energy Complete Milestone Solar Project on Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, UT. (PRNewsFoto/Unirac, Inc.)

Salt Palace Convention Center Gets Large Solar Array: “Unirac, Inc., a Hilti Group Company and North America’s leading provider of infrastructure for solar power systems, was selected by Bella Energy, a nationwide commercial solar developer and project engineering firm, as the solar mounting supplier for a 1.65 MW roof mount on the Salt Palace Convention Center, in Salt Lake City Utah,” PR Newswire writes. “The completed array is the largest commercial roof mount PV system in the state of Utah and provides more than 18% of the 675,000 square foot convention center’s power needs.”

Solar-Powered Micro-Grid Coming to Albuquerque, New Mexico Courtesy of Japanese: “A Japanese consortium showcases a self-sustaining, solar, energy storage and backup turbine-powered project in Albuquerque, with Forest City as host.”

Chinese Solar Companies Launch the Solar Energy Promotion Alliance: China’s four largest solar photovoltaic manufacturers have launched the Solar Energy Promotion Alliance (SEPA) to defend attacks on Chinese solar panel companies and subsidies, and perhaps go on the offensive as well.

Clean Transportation News

Jennifer Klausner (left) and Alexis Lantz (right) of the LACBC (Credit: Women on Bikes SoCal)

Green Bike Lane in LA Boosts Women Cyclists 100% on Weekdays, 650% on Weekends: “Overall, riding went up 52 percent after the green lane was installed, with a particularly big jump on the weekends (250 percent). But even more eye-opening was the gender shift,” Carolyn Szczepanski of the League of American Bicyclists writes. “The number of female cyclists on the weekday went up 100% after the green lane was installed. On the weekend, the percentage increase was a massive 650%,” the LACBC writes.

Green Lane Project to Spread the Word about Good Bicycle Planning: “For the next two years, the Green Lane Project will lend expertise and support to Austin, Chicago, Memphis, Portland, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. as those cities implement the type of infrastructure that has proven successful at leading people to take up biking for transportation,” Streetsblog DC writes. “The Green Lane Project — which officially kicks off [today] with an event in Chicago — will also make an impact beyond those six cities. By broadly disseminating the Urban Bikeway Design Guide, a pioneering document released last year by the National Association of City Transportation Officials, the project will reach a critical audience in places that may not have the level of political support for bike infrastructure found in the six cities receiving direct assistance.”

Energy Efficiency News

Nest Now in Canada: The Nest Learning Thermostat is now available in Canada, as of yesterday.

EnergySavvy Expands into East Coast: Seattle-based cleantech company Energy Savvy, which builds software to support utility and governmental energy efficiency programs, is opening up its first East Coast office, in Boston.

Cleantech Policy News

Romney Campaigns Against Green Jobs while Solar Industry Flourishing in His State: “The Romney campaign released yet another ad today on Solyndra and the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program. Romney’s ad repeats the same half-truths and lies about stimulus funding that factcheckers have repeatedly debunked,” Rebecca Leber of Think Progress writes. “During the campaign, Romney has routinely dismissed the nation’s 3.1 million clean energy jobs while intensifying his attacks on the industry. Ironically, the clean energy industry is booming in his home state of Massachusetts, creating 64,000 jobs across the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors.”

Romney Attacks Green Energy Jobs in Colorado, Which Has Over 70,000 Green Jobs: How far off your rocker do you have to be to campaign like this? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Colorado had 72,452 “green goods and services” jobs in 2010. Nonetheless, Romney decided to say this in a speech in Colorado yesterday: “[Obama] said he was going to create some 5 million green energy jobs.  Have you seen those around here anywhere?  No, as a matter of fact he’s gone after energy.”

Other

UK Green Energy Investments Hit Almost £7 billion in Last Fiscal Year: “DECC figures show renewable industry announcements in 2011/12 of confirmed and planned investments could create 20,800 jobs,” Jessica Shankleman of Business Green writes. “In the last financial year, renewable energy companies unveiled plans to invest nearly £7bn across the UK.”

Ernst & Young Releases Latest Quarterly Global Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices Report (CAI): “The short to medium term global sector outlook is generally downbeat as the ongoing problems with Sovereign debt issues and increased competition from Asian manufacturers continues to focus the minds of European policy makers and the growth in shale gas and political resistance to tax credit extensions continue to pose significant challenges to the US market. However, as more mature technologies move ever closer to grid parity with traditional energy sources, there is good reason for longer term optimism for the global renewable energy sector.”


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Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

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