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Call it the copycat syndrome or marketing burnout wherein a company has a success with one product at which point every company in the space copies the effort leaving a market dotted with me-too products with little differentiation other than price. Eventually through this process value is suctioned out of the product or service, demand wanes, and consumers move on. It is almost impossible to satisfy consumer desire for the cheapest or most innovative product/technology/service/oh-heck-anything, particularly because in the end the equilibrium price may well be zero and innovation may be defined as simply announcing that something is innovative.

The issue of energy may have been overshadowed by that of tax at yesterday’s EU summit of Heads of State in Brussels, but its growing importance and impact on Europe’s economy is one that cannot be ignored. As the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, Europeans are paying a lot for their energy – prices are 37% higher than those in the US and 20% hi

A proposed $500 million fund to help developers of geothermal power explore new sites for projects may leverage about $9.6 billion of new investment, unleashing as much as 2,400 megawatts of capacity, a report found.

Since 2007, more than 40,000 MW of new wind generation has been built in the U.S., according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Tens of thousands of new turbines are operating, a testament to the entrepreneurial and engineering spirit of renewable development firms, equipment suppliers and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies.

Many American Indian tribes have been considering business opportunities in connection with solar projects. To date, most of the focus has been with respect to the siting of utility scale solar projects on tribal land in the desert. For instance, the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians have leased land on their Nevada reservation for a 250 MW solar project being developed by kRoad Solar.

With the amount of energy required to produce a vehicle, it makes sense that automobile manufacturers are exploring solar power to help cut costs and position themselves as environmentally-conscious companies. Incorporating solar energy into their operations is already popular among European vehicle manufacturers: from SEAT’s 10.6 megawatts (MW) of

Rockland Capital has raised $120 million in financing to support solar installations in nine towns along Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The financing will allow Broadway Electrical to install more than 37 megawatts of photovoltaic (PV) projects throughout the region, including projects on landfills and rooftops. The projects have

Extending its already deep reach into renewable energy, Google reportedly has acquired a startup and its flying-kite wind turbines that promise to tap better wind energy resources at higher altitudes with far lower costs and more efficient output.

A new online database created by Colorado State University’s (CSU) Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) aims to serve anyone interested in clean energy legislation in any state in the U.S., or even those who are crafting policy themselves.

Britain, under pressure to build new power stations, could save as much as 100 billion pounds ($150 billion) through 2050 by spending on wind, nuclear and carbon capture rather than gas, the government’s climate adviser said.

The European Union is poised to penalize imports of Chinese solar products, a move that would increase Europe’s cost for most photovoltaic panels an estimated 45 percent overnight.

A new analysis shows that the nation’s land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to 25 billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country’s yearly needs.

A recent report from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) looks at how the permitting process can impact the costs and time it takes to install solar. The report, “The Impact of City-level Permitting Processes on Residential Photovoltaic Installation Prices and Development Times: An Empirical Analysis of Solar Systems in California Citie

There’s finally been some good news for a change: According to a recent analysis performed by market research company IHS, the market for photovoltaic storage systems is about to boom. In Germany alone, the total capacity is set to increase from eight to 4,900 megawatts (MW) between now and 2017. The success of storage systems is dependent on one condition, however: They must be able to pay for themselves within the estimated 20-year lifetime of a solar plant, as well as operate reliably in basements throughout the year.

U.S. electric vehicle maker Telsa Motors has paid back its 2010 loan awarded by the Department of Energy. Following payments made in 2012 and earlier in 2013, the May 22 payment of $451.8 million repays the full loan amount with interest.

First came the Wright Brothers. Then it was Charles Lindbergh crossing the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis. In 1990, Eric Raymond made aviation history to much less fanfare with the first solar airplane crossing of the United States. Now it is Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg making history by flying across America in SOLAR IMPULSE, a 100

If short-term traders really have hijacked the sector, which seems probable, it would mark a relatively big setback for stocks that were once popular among aggressive longer-term investors who liked the strong prospects of solar energy. Of course that doesn’t mean that serious investors will never return to the sector if it ever manages to stabiliz

UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey has warned that Scotland will damage its standing as a prime mover in renewable energy if it votes to become independent.

Until recently, the potential rate impact of all the new contracts for renewable energy being added to meet California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard since 2006 has been a matter of some concern. According to the Division of Ratepayer Advocates in early 2012, an estimated $20.8 billion will have been spent in California on contracts for new renewable generation by 2020, and the rate impact was a big unknown.