Archive for February 11th, 2013

Credit: Tax Credits Photos.

During his inaugural address last month, President Barack Obama declared that addressing the issue of climate change and sustainability were moral imperatives that require immediate action. As part of that action, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Thursday the availability of additional funds for cleantech manufacturers under the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program. Manufacturers in the cleantech industry responded to the announcement with minimal enthusiasm. Read the rest of this entry »

Forbidden City, Beijing. Credit: phileole, CC BY 2.0.

The U.S. is losing the sustainable energy technology race to China. So says Chris Martenson, an economic researcher and futurist specializing in energy and resource depletion. Martinson publishes the PeakProsperity web site and is known for his video seminar, The Crash Course, and his book of the same title. Actually, Martenson claims we’re not even really trying to compete. Advances in solar, wind, and thorium are being ceded to our biggest competitor.

I spoke with Martenson to find out what he meant by that contrarian statement. Martenson has much more to say about the energy future of the U.S. and the world, but around the U.S.-China cleantech competition, his first comment was “I’m a big believer in action more than words,” and in his view, U.S. policymakers are showing by their actions that they are not behind cleantech innovation and development. Read the rest of this entry »