Clean Energy | featured news

The American wind sector has been buffeted by weak demand for electricity, stiff competition from gas and uncertainty over a tax credit that has become a campaign wedge issue.

Carbon dioxide emissions hit an unexpected 20-year low earlier this year, mainly because utilities have switched from coal to natural gas.

A unique airplane has just completed a 4,000-mile journey, making the first solar-powered intercontinental round-trip air journey. Traveling between Europe and Africa, the Solar Impulse experimental solar airplane landed in Payerne, Switzerland at 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET) on Tuesday. The odyssey began two months ago, on May 24. This wasn't a test to see how fast the plane could make the trip, but to assess its endurance and reliability.

It’s a mistake to assume that just because Goldman thinks there are many profitable opportunities in green tech, all opportunities in green tech will be profitable. Right now, I think the most profitable investments are likely to be investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency deployment: wind and solar farms, and upgrades to facilities to make them more energy efficient.

After more than $400 million in outlays and months behind schedule, dozens of electric cars have hit the road in Israel, the test site Agassi chose for his Better Place venture. Four stations where the cars can get a new dose of juice when their batteries run out are operating, and the plan is to ramp that number up within months.

Renewables can be a cheap form of energy within years, Prime Minister David Cameron says, as governments aim for global spread of clean power.

Solar panels prices have kept marching lower this year, extending steep declines seen in 2011 and keeping pressure on hard-hit manufacturers who have struggled to eke out profits, industry experts said.

Paris, in its latest bid to be an innovator of the City of Tomorrow, is launching an electric car-sharing program to cut air and noise pollution on the city's medieval cobblestone streets and beyond.

The Energy Department plans to give $156 million in grants on Thursday after it has been under scrutiny for arranging $528 million in loans to Solyndra, a company that went bankrupt.

Industry analysts and government auditors say the administration failed to take note of trouble already evident in the solar energy marketplace.