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...nascent alternative energy sector untouched. Developers here say that financing for new wind farms and solar plants remains all but frozen, halting tentative plans in the U.S. and Europe to expand clean power. The WilderHill New Energy Index - a fund that tracks the stock performance of selected clean tech companies - is down more than 60% since its peak in November of 2007, slammed by the double blow of the loss of venture capital and the reduced urgency for energy alternatives as the price of oil has tumbled. Clean tech startups have already shed jobs, and weaker ones are certain...
...tariff, which guarantees that utility companies will buy renewably generated power at above market rates. But further growth could stall. Corn ethanol in the U.S. - which many environmentalists believe doesn't deserve the term "renewable" - has cratered, also hurt by rapidly falling gas prices. Most of all, however, clean tech businesses generally lack the political weight to jostle for the bailout funds won by older and bigger industries like the automobile manufacturers. "It's just tough for them to be heard," says Steve Sawyer, the director general of the Global Wind Energy Council...
Seeing the Fluorescent Light Thank you, TIME, for giving us solid reasons to be hopeful on the crucial energy issue [Jan. 12]. With incentives for energy efficiency, the economy would hum with millions of local projects requiring little or no government planning. Moreover, by choosing a relatively low-tech policy that the world could readily copy, we would at last become leaders in climate protection. Egan O'Connor, SAN FRANCISCO...
...Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park, Taiwan's version of Silicon Valley, where more than 90% of the world's notebook computers, motherboards and cable modems, to name a few leading products, are made. It's also where most U.S. companies turn to subcontract manufacturing of their high-tech goods. (See the worst business deals...
...That won't erase the uneasiness permeating the high-tech park. Some companies are cutting bonuses, which can amount to more than 40% of workers' pay; when reduced work hours are factored in, some employees are suffering pay cuts of up to 50%. And despite efforts to keep staff on payrolls, the number of layoffs at Hsinchu tripled last year, to 4,400, compared with layoffs in 2007. "Everyone's insecure about their future," says a saleswoman at United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), who requested anonymity. "I came to Hsinchu 10 years ago for the money. Everyone felt this industry...