Word: solarization
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...details of their planned $825 billion stimulus package on Thursday, renewable energy advocates were watching closely. On the campaign trail, President-elect Barack Obama had promised to boost spending on alternative power and energy efficiency, not only to combat climate change but also to promote "green jobs" - like solar panel manufacture and weatherizing of buildings. With spiking unemployment, green jobs would have to be the solution for saving the Earth - and the economy...
...that $825 billion, Democrats said, $54 billion would go toward renewable power production, improving energy efficiency and upgrading the country's antiquated electrical grid; that includes $20 billion dedicated to tax credits to the alternative energy industry, like solar and wind, which often still needs subsidies to compete with fossil fuels. "It's an intensely Darwinian environment for small-scale solar," says Arno Harris, the CEO of Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco solar project developer. (See the top 10 green ideas...
...credits couldn't come at a better time, but the question is, are they enough? Even as the environmental community prepares to celebrate the inauguration of perhaps the first truly green President, the renewable energy industry - especially young solar manufacturers - is struggling to survive. The recession has already claimed victims: Three Western solar manufacturers, OptiSolar, HelioVolt and SunEdison, are reportedly cutting jobs in the face of declining demand. Where there was a glut of orders for new solar systems as recently as the past summer, prices for rooftop solar arrays have dropped 8% to 10% since October, and are likely...
...economy is clearly the main culprit - with houses and jobs at risk, fewer consumers are willing to make a long-term bet on a solar system - but so have ebbing subsidies for solar in Europe, where manufacturers in the U.S. still send most of their product abroad. Without Spain and Germany - leaders in European solar - soaking up systems, the research firm New Energy Finance estimates an oversupply in the industry of nearly 4 gigawatts in 2009. "There's real concern about the policy risks in Europe," says Christopher O'Brien, the head of North American market development for Oerlikon Solar...
...rest of Obama's stimulus will be New Deal-style government spending on needed goods and services, often with modern twists. That means smart meters and weatherization programs to prevent wasting energy; transmission lines and solar panels to promote alternative energy; green school buildings and sewage-treatment plants; wetlands restoration in the Everglades and coastal Louisiana; repairs for aging dams, bridges and airports - plus broadband networks, research, job training and, as Obama has suggested, anything else that seems like a good idea. This is an ideal time for the government to spend money on infrastructure, because labor and equipment...