Chances are you’ve heard that we’re using a lot of energy every day and need to, you know, slow our roll. We’ve done an excellent job figuring out how to use fossil fuels, but what about our other natural resources? Wind, some say, is our next best thing.

An infographic created by QuinStreet street below shows that in the last 62 years alone, our energy consumption has increased by 46 percent. Every home is using up more energy charging, lighting, and Internet browsing, that we need to start branching out for energy sources. The good news is, we have!

Since last year, we’ve upped our use of hydro, solar, and wind usage. But while solar powering is still a greentech favorite with nearly a 34 percent increase in usage, wind is creeping up there with a 16 percent increase.

And we’re not just talking far-off wind collectors that only provide energy for facilities willing to use it. Some, such as Oceana.com, believe the energy will trickle all the way down to machines used every day like our cars.

The U.S. Department of Energy current supports seven project sites for six-year-long off-shore wind “initiative.” If Congress allows it, each sit will be given up to $47 million over four years to work on wind energy. These projects are located in Austin, Tx.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Cleveland, Ohio; Seattle, Wash.; Stamford, Conn.; Monhegan Island, Maine.; and Virginia Beach, Va.

Check out the infographic for more on how wind energy has advanced:

Courtesy of: WorldWideLearn.com

Wind energy image via Shutterstock

“Tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good,” the president said.

There has been some progress already, Obama said, saying that four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market — and the jobs that come with it. Just one example is Germany, which has invested heavily in solar energy and has succeeding in powering up to half the country at times in the past year.

That foreign leadership of greentech is starting to change.

“Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America,” Obama said.

President Obama

The technology industry has been leading the way. Google recently invested $200 million in a new wind energy project that brings the company’s total green power total to two gigawatts. Mobile rival Apple has also invested heavily in green energy, and CEO Tim Cook talked about its efforts today at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference

“I’m proud that we’re better at being environmentally friendly, and that we have the largest solar farm anywhere and can run our data center on renewable energy,” Cook said.

President Obama also wants to drive solar power, reduce the amount of power that is wasted by inefficient buildings.

Oil interests can take some comfort, perhaps in knowing that Obama also promised to “keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.”

Here’s the full text of Obama’s comments on greentech:

Four years ago, other countries dominated the clean energy market and the jobs that came with it.  We’ve begun to change that.  Last year, wind energy added nearly half of all new power capacity in America.  So let’s generate even more.  Solar energy gets cheaper by the year – so let’s drive costs down even further.  As long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.

In the meantime, the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence.  That’s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.  But I also want to work with this Congress to encourage the research and technology that helps natural gas burn even cleaner and protects our air and water.

Indeed, much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together.  So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.  If a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we.  Let’s take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we’ve put up with for far too long.  I’m also issuing a new goal for America: let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years.  The states with the best ideas to create jobs and lower energy bills by constructing more efficient buildings will receive federal support to help make it happen.

photo credits: andjohan via photopin cc, jmtimages via photopin cc

The average cost of installing new wind power held steady in 2010, while the cost of other forms of electricity fell, according to the report.

The cost of installing wind turbines and transmission lines also hasn’t yet caught up with the declining prices of wind turbines. Most wind turbines produced today use a three-blade design, but a number of companies are experimenting with two-blade designs and other designs that are cheaper to manufacture and generate an equivalent amount of electricity.

“Over time everybody coalesced around the same design, but we’re starting to see a lot of diversity again,” said Peter Asmus, a senior analyst with clean technology research firm Pike Research. “We’re seeing lots of vertical axis machines, which a lot of people are skeptical of, and we’re also starting to see some two-bladed machines coming back in.”

The key problems remain building and maintaining new transmission lines, according to the report. It’s easy enough to generate electricity from a wind turbine, but more difficult to move it from point A to point B. It’s a problem that all new types of renewable energy face, Asmus said.

Wind power providers also face concerns about “not-in-my-backyard” complaints from residents in rural areas. There are concerns from a lot of rural residents that the sounds from the wind turbines are disruptive, and that the turbines make for flickering lights because they block out the sun. That has a lot to do with the location of the turbine, because on paper the turbines should not generate that much noise, Asmus said.

“Generally what I’ve heard is that the sound of the wind itself drowns out the sound of the turbine,” Asmus said. “It’s about terrain, the residents get reflections of sound, or they live in something like a valley where the sound ricochets off rocks.”

An independent study by the Maine Department of Environment Protection found the noise from the wind turbines on Vinalhaven registered somewhere between 46 and 47 decibels. The night-time noise pollution limit for areas in Maine is 45 decibels. A typical conversation registers in at around 60 decibels, while typical street traffic registers in at around 70 decibels.

A University of California Berkeley study funded by the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy  showed property values were, at worst, unaffected when wind power farms were installed near each home. While there was a chance that individual homes would be impacted, home sale prices as a whole were not impacted by the placement of wind turbines in the area. Recent complaints show that wind power companies are not doing a good enough job showing the overall impact of wind power turbines on local property taxes.

The United States fell far behind China in terms of wind power added last year as well. China added 18,928 megawatts worth of wind power last year, compared to 5,113 megawatts worth of wind power in the U.S. That means China now generates more electricity from wind power than the United States as of the end of last year. China now generates 44,781 megawatts worth of wind power, compared to 40,267 megawatts worth of wind power generated in the United States.

Solyndra raises $75 million in credit facility – The solar manufacturer’s latest round of financing to shore up its capital needs come in the form of a secured credit facility underwritten by existing investors. The company makes cylindrical solar rooftop systems and is a now-controversial recipient of a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy. The company’s president and CEO Brian Harrison released a statement today that said the company’s annual revenues topped $140 million last year, and is seeing growth in U.S. and European markets. Solyndra has shipped nearly 100 megawatts of panels and expects to reach an installed system cost-of-goods sold price of about $2 per watt in the first quarter of 2013. It has also finished construction of its second factory; the company closed its first facility last year.

GlassPoint drills for oil with solar — The oil recovery company uses solar panels to generate steam (pictured), which is then pumped into wells to help extract oil. GlassPoint says prices of the system are now attractive enough that it is using the solar-powered system for economic reasons rather than environmental ones, CNET reports.

Audi to offer electric car and hybrid options — The company is reportedly working on a successor to its A2 all-aluminum hatchback, and will offer electric and plug-in hybrid options on the vehicle once released, Green Car Reports writes.

U.K. considers solar subsidy cuts — The U.K. government is looking at cutting solar incentives and project sizes over concerns that the attractive incentives in place through April 2012 may lead to an oversupply of solar projects, Bloomberg reports. Some European countries are looking to trim solar incentives to avoid the boom and crash of solar that happened in Spain, and a similar solar bust is expected to happen in the Czech Republic. The world’s largest solar market, Germany, recently decided to cut its subsidies by 15 percent starting in July.

Reno sets up turbine experiment — The Nevada city, home to strong winds, has set up nine wind turbines around the city and is measuring how they perform compared to manufacturer’s claims, the WSJ reports. Instruments will measure wind speed and energy production, and the data will be made publicly available online. The city wants to make the information on performance and cost of maintenance and repairs available publicly, which is also expected to help Reno residents figure out what wind turbines and Reno locations take the best advantage of Nevada winds.

Transmission lines and infrastructure that enable renewable energies to get to customers are a crucial part of the cleantech sector. They’re particularly important for developers of large-scale renewable projects, which need lines to transmit electricity across the state or even over state lines in order to build a wind farm or solar installation. We wrote last year about a handful of efforts that were made in 2010 to construct transmission lines to service and enable wind energy projects in Texas, the Atlantic Coast, and the southern U.S.

This particular line, called the ON Line project — short for One Nevada Transmission Line — will have the capacity to carry about 600 megawatts. The loan guarantee is supported by the Recovery Act and is the DOE’s first loan guarantee for a transmission project.

“As our country increases its use of alternative energy sources, new transmissions lines like the ON Line project will play a vital role in moving clean energy from one region to another,” said DOE Secretary Steven Chu in a statement. “This project will create jobs, increase the reliability of the grid, and save money through greater efficiencies in the grid.”

The line is jointly owned by Great  Basin Transmission South and NV Energy, a Nevada utility that has been pursuing the smart grid aggressively lately. It recently chose Control4 to provide a residential demand response program, a smart grid-enabled feature that allows utilities to offer financial incentives for customers who agree to reduce energy use during peak times. NV Energy is also working with IBM on a smart grid and meter deployment and systems integration, backed by $138 million in stimlus funds.

[Image via Flickr/BFS Man]

Solar and wind prices have dropped — Increased manufacturing in China and the financial crisis has led to over-capacity and pushed prices down over the last three years, according to a Reuters analysis. Prices of turbines fell by a fifth and solar panels by a half since 2007. and expected to fall another 10 to 25 percent this year. The drop in price is expected to accelerate adoption from renewable energies.

Solar Junction reaches efficiency milestone — Solar Junction said today it has reached a 41.4 percent efficiency certification on its solar cells, just a month after hitting 40.9 percent efficiency. The company makes high-efficiency multijunction cells for the concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) purposes, a form of solar by which mirrors or magnifying lenses are used to intensify the effect of the sun onto photovoltaic materials. It is a finalist for a Department of Energy loan guarantee for a 250 megawatt capacity manufacturing plant in San Jose, Calif. and plans to begin shipping commercial cells this year.

Nokia Siemens to offer electric car roaming — The two companies’ joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks announced this week they will team with a German public utility to develop an authentication and authorization service called e-clearing.net to enable electric car drivers to “roam” between various electric car charging providers.

California to lead in plug-in hybrid sales — Sales of plug-in hybrids in California will total more than sales in the next top five states combined, according to a report by the Center of Automotive Research. Other states expected to have strong demand include Florida, Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland and Utah.

[Image via Flickr/Mark Florence]

Solazyme to IPO soon — Algal biofuels and oils startup Solazyme is expected to submit an S-1 — the paperwork to kick off an IPO filing — sometime next month, according to sources cited by Greentech Media. Some venture capitalists like Alan Salzman of VantagePoint have predicted this will be a good year for IPOs and M&A deals in cleantech. Biofuels company Gevo raised $107 million in public markets earlier this week; an LED company also filed to go public today.

GE buys Wind Tower Systems (WTS) — WTS’s next generation technology is expected to enable taller wind turbine towers. The need for taller, cost-efficient towers is becoming an important factor in the wind industry as blade lengths increase, GE says. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

IBM launches energy efficient cell towers — The deal with Bharti Infratel, an Indian cell company, will use IBM’s sensors, software and data analytics to network together 32,000 of Bharti’s cell towers. The upgrades will allow Bharti better maintain the towers and identify areas where energy efficiency savings can be achieved.

Air Force approves biofuels — For the first time, the U.S. airforce will allow an aircraft unlimited usage of blended bio- jet fuels. The Air Force approved an aircraft called the C-17 Globemaster III for biofuels use. The move comes a few weeks after a report by RAND found that biofuels provide no tangible benefit to the  military.

[Image via Flickr/suicine]

MiaSolé accused of patent infringement — The solar startup has been served a patent infringement lawsuit by solar technology company Solannex. The suit alleges that MiaSolé lifted aspects of Solannex’s patented solar array interconnection structure technology after initial meetings in which Solannex’s founder demonstrated and provided samples of the technology. MiaSolé makes thin-film copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) modules.

Nissan shows off Esflow electric sports car — The company plans to debut the car at the International Motorshow in Geneva next month. The model is a two-seat all-electric sports car that can go 150 miles on a full battery charge and can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than five seconds. The Esflow, pictured, has two motors that propel each of its real wheels.

Electric cars could attract rodents — While plugged into to recharge, electric car battery packs could become a magnet for nesting rodents seeking warmth, Green Car Reports writes. One automotive writer has already reported a rat causing $600 of damage by chewing through part of the wiring harness in his Chevrolet Volt test car. Since rats are considered an act of nature, the damage wasn’t covered by the Volt’s warranty.

Salazar calls for more renewables support from Congress — Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar credited new permitting and financial incentives with success in boosting renewable projects but called for more support from Congress to ensure future development, Greenwire reports. As an example of the need to create more stable renewables policy, Salazar spoke of last year’s grant program largely benefitting solar and wind projects that nearly expired but were extended at the last minute for just one more year.

Nissan admits to Leaf delays – VentureBeat first reported on expected delays of the all-electric Nissan Leaf last year. Now the automaker has formally acknowledged Leaf delivery delays due to bottlenecks in the quality assurance and distribution process, the Financial Times reports. The company delivered 19 cars to customers in December and 87 last month, and expects delivery issues to ease by April for the 20,000 customers on the Leaf waiting list.

A123 nabs energy storage deal in Chile – The battery maker has won a deal worth 20 megawatts of its advanced energy storage solutions from AES Gener, one of the top electricity generators in Chile. A123′s batteries will be used to store reserve energy at one of AES Gener’s plants. The two companies also have a reserve capacity project in New York, slated for completion this year.

LS9 inks Procter & Gamble partnership — The biofuels company announced today its second partnership with consumer goods giant Procter and Gamble, which will focus on expanding on renewable chemicals made by LS9 for use in P&G products. The project expands on the renewable chemicals partnership announced between the two companies in 2009.

Wind offset Super Bowl energy use – Energy consumed at yesterday’s Super Bowl was offset by the purchase of wind credits in Texas, which is the top producer of wind energy in the country. A Texas grid official also highlighted wind power contributing to the state’s peak electricity generation in last week’s statewide rolling blackouts, which were mandated by officials to reduce strain on the grid after several power plants unexpectedly shut down in the cold weather.

Control4 raises $15 million — The home energy management module-maker has raised the cash out of a planned $25 million round. Control4 recently teamed with smart grid company Silver Spring Networks to roll out several home smart grid applications.

McPhy grabs hydrogen storage deal – The company has signed a deal to supply a solid hydrogen storage solution to  Enel Group, Italy’s largest power company. The system can hold 2 kilograms of solid hydrogen, stored in the form of magnesium hydrides, and results in a reversible hydrogen storage system.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the initiative today, which aims to spur growth in offshore wind development. It’s an area that has been predicted to be slow in growth, although the government started plugging it last year ahead of President Obama’s call last month for 80 percent clean energy by 2035. Last year, Salazar said the Department of the Interior would be streamlining permits for offshore wind projects, and today he outlined “wind energy areas” off the coasts off New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and Maryland.

Offshore wind also got a high-profile boost last year from Google, which, along with Good Energies, took a majority stake in the initial phase of what will become a billion-dollar project to build a transmission cable to serve and spur development of offshore wind on the Atlantic Coast.

The benefit of offshore wind is that it removes the unsightly turbines from sight, easing complaints from environmentalists and homeowners that the turbines spoil scenery and lower property values. Wind typically blows steadier and stronger offshore. But offshore wind projects are expensive and, in the case of New England’s proposed Cape Wind project, have sparked heated opposition. The project currently has several lawsuits filed against it, has become the subject of a documentary film and has raised the ire of residents over the environmental impact and  potential increases in electricity rates.

The Department of Energy’s offshore wind deployment goals include development on the Pacific and Gulf Coasts in addition to the Great Lakes and Hawaiian areas. If goals are met, then the U.S. would generate enough offshore wind energy to power 2.8 million average American homes by 2020 and 15.2 million homes by 2030, according to a Department of the Interior statement.

The money will be allocated to three areas — technology development, in particular advancements that may bring costs down ($25 million over five years), research to remove market barriers such as environmental risk reduction, supply chain development and transmission planning ($18 million over three years) and next-generation designs for wind turbine drivetrains ($7.5 million over three years).

[Image via Flickr/phault]

Think City electric car recalled — The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recalled 39 of the 2011 Think City two-seater electric cars (pictured), Green Car Reports writes. Sixteen of the models have an issue with a seatbelt missing the component to properly hold a child’s seat, while 23 may have inadequate defroster systems. The recall calls for the removal and replacement of the insufficient parts.

Khosla predicts disruptive new energy sources — Cleantech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla recently told an audience that he doesn’t believe there will be a lithium ion battery by 2025 because there isn’t enough available lithium in the world to power the batteries needed for electric vehicles. He’s also betting that a cheaper alternative to the silicon-based solar cell will have emerged by that time, Forbes reports.

Power-One opens plant in Phoenix — The facility is the first North American manufacturing plant for Power-One, the second-largest power inverter maker in the world. Inverters are a key part of renewable energy, converting the direct current (DC) energy generated by solar panels and wind turbines into the alternating current (AC) electricity for the grid. The plant will reach a capacity of 1 gigawatt in production by the end of the year.

Control4 lands NV Energy deal for home energy management-- Control4 will deploy its home energy management devices as part of a smart grid project for Nevada utility NV Energy. The devices (example pictured, right) will allow NV Energy to manage residential energy load and in particular deploy demand response solutions on a large scale. Demand response offerings allow residents to opt into programs to earn rebates for dialing back electricity use during peak load times.

Solar player Heliovolt raises $8.5 million in debt — The Austin, Tex.-based thin-film solar panel manufacturing startup has $1.5 million to go before it reaches its $10 million goal, according to an SEC filing. The company plans to begin shipping modules in the second quarter of this year, Earth2Tech reports.

OriginOil lands deal with MBD Energy — Carbon capture company MBD Energy said it will test out OriginOil’s algae oil extraction system at three of Australia’s largest coal-fired power plants. The pilots will take concentrated CO2 emissions to produce oil-rich algae via MBD’s technology. OriginOil’s technology will then harvest algae oil and biomass from the mix, which can be used to produce oil and petroleum-based products like plastics. If all goes well, the projects have the potential to grow to commercial-scale.

BrightSource Energy raises $1.75 million — According to an SEC filing, the solar thermal power company, which is a rumored IPO candidate this year, has raised a small round of cash. The money appears to have been raised from BrightSource’s executive officers and directors. Its technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a tower, using the heat to generate steam to turn electrical turbines. BrightSource recently broke ground on its 392-megawatt Ivanpah plant in the Mojave Desert.

Germany will keep reducing solar subsidies – The country, whose generous subsidies allowed it to make up about half of last year’s solar PV demand, has created some trepidation in the market with its plans to cut back. Reuters reports Germany will, as scheduled, reduce its solar power feed-in tariffs by up to 12 percentage points by July 1.

KLD Energy closes on $2 million of a planned $10 million round – The company is focusing on the Chinese market and electric scooters; KLD makes an electric drive system for two and three-wheeled vehicles, Earth2Tech reports. The company’s CTO was the former science director for Tesla.

Intematix launches new LED tech, shoots for IPO – The company announced today a new line of blue-to-white-light converting phosphor composites that are separated from the blue LED energy source, marking a break from conventional LED manufacturing. Intematix says its new ChromaLit line (pictured) can simplify manufacturing for LEDs and stabilize LED performance over a lifetime. The company is also considering a public offering in the next 12 months, Greentech Media reports.

Power Assure and Packet Power team up for greener servers – The two companies have developed a wireless power monitoring system to allow data center managers to monitor and adjust power use. It’s a combination of Packet Power’s wireless monitoring devices with Power Assure’s software, and marks the latest offering in the hot green data center market that incorporates wireless sensors.

Toyota is developing an induction motor without using rare earth minerals — The move shows the automaker is developing a contingency plan should the current shortage of rare earth minerals continue. It also suggests that Toyota is bearish on the prospect of China easing its export restrictions in the future.

China overtakes U.S. as largest wind energy producer — That’s according to new figures from China, New Energy World Network writes. But shares of Chinese wind companies haven’t seen much of a boost by the news. Chinese wind company Sinovel aims to beat number-one Vestas (of Denmark) by 2015.

GE will acquire Lineage Power for $520 million — GE is purchasing the company from Gores Group in a move to expand its energy business. Lineage Power makes high-efficiency power conversion technology used in data centers and telecom.

SoloPower awaits $20 million loan for Oregon factory — Thin-film solar manufacturer SoloPower recently raised $51 million and is now awaiting a decision on its application for a $20 million loan for a 75-megawatt factory from Oregon’s State Energy Loan Program, the Oregonian writes. The decision should be handed down today, so stay tuned to GreenBeat.

Ford not a fan of Better Place’s battery switch — Electric vehicle infrastructure company Better Place wants to popularize a battery switching technology that allows for the five-minute swap of a depleted electric car battery with a fully-charged one. It has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and partnered with GE in the process, but the switching requires automakers to make electric vehicles compatible with Better Place’s switch stations. Ford said this week that doing so wouldn’t make sense for them because it would hold the company back from progressing to new electric vehicle battery technology, Fast Company reports.

Toyota will mass produce plug-in hybrid batteries — Toyota’s Prius plug-in hybrid is slated for limited release in 2012, but according to reports, Toyota will be manufacturing batteries for plug-in hybrids at the rate of 100,000 a year. The company is making lithium ion batteries for the first time ever in one of its own plants and at a factory operated with Panasonic that will cost $120 million, according to the Nikkei business daily (and re-reported by Reuters).

Electric hybrid Chevy Volt technology may come to a GM minivan — That’s according to GM CEO Dan Akerson’s comments published in Autoblog Green. Akerson says he wants 10 percent of GM’s cars to be plug-in or hybrids within 10 to 15 years, and he expects one car within each of GM’s divisions (Buick, Cadillac, etc.) to eventually use technology from Chevrolet’s Volt electric car. Remember what we said about the revenge of the American automaker hinging on green cars? Looks like it’s in full swing.

Texas loses EPA suit, increases wind power share – A federal court denied Texas’s request to not adhere with federal greenhouse gas rules that include the EPA’s plan to issue greenhouse gas permits in the state. Texas still has other lawsuits pending to challenge the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases, the Texas Tribune reports. On the state’s environmentally friendly side, it has increased production from wind farms so that wind now makes up 7.8 percent of the state’s electricity supply.

The latest numbers show cleantech is still growing and attracting money, fueled in large part by government investment and favorable policies, such as Germany’s solar subsidies. Venture capital flowing into the sector also had a record $7.8 billion year, according to the Cleantech Group. But the last half of 2010 saw two consecutive quarters of decline in venture dollars invested, showing that venture capitalists are starting to pull back and look for more capital-efficient investments.

Big drivers for global activity in 2010 were China, which has put significant resources into renewables, offshore wind and European rooftop solar, which jumped 91 percent last year to nearly $60 billion, most notably in Germany (but the U.S., Czech Republic and Italy were also big markets). While offshore wind has struggled to get off the ground in the U.S., it had better luck in Europe last year, with a $1.7 million deal inked in Belgium and a $1 billion deal in Germany.

So, what’s next? Here are the predictions VentureBeat culled from the experts in the past few weeks:

A down year by solar standards — Last year marked a blockbuster year for the global solar industry, which grew more than 100 percent to 16.3 gigawatts, according to research company SolarBuzz, which expects 20.4 gigawatts to be installed this year thanks to some cutbacks on favorable solar policies from the strong market of Germany. But BNEF solar analyst Nathaniel Bullard predicts this will be a down year by solar standards — meaning 25 percent growth compared to the 40 to 100 percent growth seen in previous years.

Smaller financing rounds — The average global cleantech venture deal in recent quarters is now around $12 million, according to research firm Kachan and Co. According to managing partner Dallas Kachan, cleantech round sizes in the past few quarters have declined to “almost their lowest level in recorded history. And that’s good. More cleantech companies are now getting capital than in the days of the large, exclusionary government stimulus grants and loans that skewed investment last year towards larger deals.”

Biofuels shift strategies — The technology works, but biofuels have proven expensive and tough to scale. One big trend is that companies are shifting towards is making biochemicals — which sell at a higher price than fuels — and food additives. Indeed, BNEF reports that biofuels had almost a flat year last year, with overall investment down slightly to $7.9 billion from $8.1 billion in 2009. Biomass and waste‐to‐energy was also flat, at $11.6 billion, compared to $12 billion the previous year.

A good year for IPOs, possibly maybe — This is debatable, but at least one VC, Nat Goldhaber of Claremont Creek Ventures, has been banging the drum for IPOs in 2011, listing names like SunRun, Ice Energy, BrightSource Energy and Silver Spring Networks as potentials. Others aren’t so sure the market is ready for that yet.

Energy efficiency is king — Remember how investors are looking for capital-efficient investments to get more bang for their buck? Enter energy efficiency, which typically requires less capital than, say, a giant solar plant in the desert. Venture capitalists and market watchers have been predicting ad nauseam a good year for energy efficiency. Many of the most promising lighting, building controls and energy efficiency software startups have found success pitching to corporations and commercial building owners looking to cut their costs.

China dominates — What else is new here? With a giant population and booming energy needs, China has put billions into the smart grid and cleantech. Just today news hit that the Chinese government plans to double the country’s existing wind energy capacity by 2015. As many observers and stakeholders and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu have pointed out, boosting cleantech in the U.S.  will take the combined efforts of businesses, governments and environmental interests working together.

Building controls and demand response heat up — This is a class getting increasingly crowded, with big names and startups alike wading into the fray. Schneider Electric, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Lockheed Martin, GE and smart grid superstar startup Silver Spring Networks all have plays running in these sectors.

Big names and startups alike vie for a slice of electric car charging infrastructure market – As we reported earlier this week, big global companies like ABB and Siemens have partnered with or put millions into electric car charging station startups. Others, like GE and Eaton, are working to develop their own technology.

[Image via Flickr/xJasonRogersx]

China to double installed wind power – The country has been aggressively pursuing renewable energy and plans to more than double installed wind capacity by 2015, from 40 gigawatts in 2010 to 100 gigawatts, Bloomberg reports. It will promote the development of offshore wind, and expects solar capacity to be five gigawatts by 2015.

Production of natural gas to get a lift — We’ve written before about how natural gas is forecast to take over coal as an energy source and potentially even threaten the appetite for wind and solar projects. Bloomberg reports that prices for natural gas byproducts like propane have hit an 11-month high this week and increased 42 percent since July. The result is natural gas companies are boosting production.

Evergreen Solar to close plant — The troubled solar company, which has come under threat of being unlisted on the Nasdaq and is trying to restructure its debt, is closing its Devens Plant. It will lay off 800 employees after receiving $58 million in state incentives for the Massachusetts factory, Greentech Media reports.

Range Fuels lays off workers – The cellulosic ethanol producer confirmed it has laid off a “handful” of people in Colorado and Georgia, but did not give reasons, Earth2Tech reports. The company says it will meet its 2011 ethanol production goal set by the EPA.

5N Plus acquires majority stake in Sylarus Technologies — 5N plus produces metals and semiconductor compounds and does the vast majority of its business with global solar panel leader First Solar, Greentech Media reports. It took a majority interest in Sylarus, which produces germanium substrates used in solar cells for concentrating solar, where mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight onto a small point, yielding more sunlight harvest and heat than traditional photovoltaics.

IKEA makes push for LEDs — The company announced today it has stopped selling all incandescent light bulbs, Cleantechnica reports. Sounds like good news for energy-efficient LEDs, which are set to surge this year.

Solar Power raises $6.08 million — According to an SEC filing pointed out by TechCrunch, Solar Power Technologies has raised the money for its technology, which optimizes the harvest of large solar arrays. The company claims its systems can increase the amount of sunlight harvested by 15 to 20 percent over 20 years. Its investors in this round include Austin Ventures and Oxantium Ventures.

Cleantech venture capital in 2010 totaled $400 million — That’s according to a tally by Greentech Media. Venture capital going into the sector was down sharply in the third quarter of last year (compared to the third quarter of 2009), leading analysts and some venture capitalists to argue that the market was shifting towards more capital-efficient investments.

Wind makes big business for Siemens — The company’s annual report revealed that its renewable energy division increased sales by 48 percent in the quarter ended Sept. 30, making $1.3 billion, more than any other Siemens division, and also increased new orders by 85 percent, the New York Times reports. Profit margins for the wind business are still less than ideal —  10.6 percent compared to a target of 12 to 16 percent. Siemens aims to become one of the top three wind equipment players in the world; it currently resides at eighth or ninth, the article notes.

BayWa buys Focused Energy – The German international trading group has announced it is entering the U.S. market through its subsidiary, BayWa r.e, which acquired an 80 percent stake in solar wholesaler Focused Energy. The Santa Fe-based company sells solar equipment to installers for use in small to mid-size commercial and residential installations. The company reports a revenue of $43 million in 2010.

Stion to place thin-film solar factory in Mississippi — The venture-backed company will open a 100-megawatt factory in Hattiesburg, according to the Hattiesburg American. It’s the first phase of a total $500 million project to ramp up production and is expected to generate 1,000 jobs. The state also offered Stion a $75 million loan and tax incentives.

Electric cars vs. public charging infrastructure — Electric cars for the masses are arriving. The Nissan Leaf and partially electric Chevrolet Volt already arrived as of December. Other models from Ford and Toyota are coming within the next year or two, along with releases from Tesla, Coda, Wheego and Think. Advocates argue that the cars will be fine without public charging stations thanks to home charging, while skeptics say sales will be stunted by leery customers until charging infrastructure is built out. Companies like Ecotality and Coulomb are currently rolling out about 20,000 chargers nationwide with the aid of Department of Energy funds. Power plant company NRG Energy has also launched a privately financed charging system in Houston, Tex. with various charging plans.

Atlantic Wind Connection — Trans-Elect is planning a transmission backbone that will run from New Jersey to Virginia to enable offshore wind on the Atlantic Coast. Google and Good Energies have taken majority stakes in the first phase of what is estimated to be a $5 billion project, which seems to have gotten good feedback from the government and environmentalists. But is it too big a risk? Wind expert and former Massachusetts assistant environmental secretary R.J. Lyman, who advocates for smaller wind projects, outlined the risks and rewards:

“The Atlantic connection is an important contributor to some of the infrastructure challenges. That’s like building a highway out into the cornfields of Iowa and hoping that McDonalds and Walmart and homebuilders will build on the interchanges. It’s a big bet. Maybe they’re right. But they’ve never done anything anywhere near this scale. Their largest project was one-tenth a size of this but … you have to start somewhere.”

Offshore wind — Offshore wind would solve a multitude of landbound wind farms’ ills — wind is typically stronger and steadier offshore, and turbines could be located far enough out of sight to avoid complaints about marring the landscape. This isn’t quite an infrastructure project, but could spur them —  the U.S. government is streamlining the permitting process for offshore wind development on the Outer Continental Shelf on the East Coast, which could provide more than 1,000 gigawatts in wind energy, according to Bloomberg.

Biofuels stations – Clean-fuel company Propel announced plans to build 75 biofuel stations across California by 2011, thanks to $10.9 million in federal and state funding. The stations will sell E85 and biodiesel.

Wind energy for the Southern U.S. — Pattern Energy  is proposing a 400-mile transmission line to export wind from West Texas, which is the top wind-producing region in the country. If it’s successful, buildings in the Southeast could be wind-powered by 2016.

Wind energy within Texas — Texas regulators have assigned $4.93 billion of transmission projects to transport wind from the West Texas and Panhandle regions to more highly populated areas like Dallas and Austin. The state’s Public Utility Commission says the projects will eventually transmit 18,456 megawatts of wind power. Dallas utility Oncor is planning to build about 850 miles of transmission lines to transport wind from West Texas.

[Image via Flickr/robstephaustralia]

Warren Buffet’s MidAmerican Energy to install wind power in Iowa — The company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, plans to install 593 megawatts of wind power in Iowa, enough to power 190,000 homes, CNET reports.. The project will consist of 258 wind turbines supplied by Siemens Energy, to be installed throughout the state by the end of next year.

China defends cutting rare metal exports, boosting Molycorp stock — Rare metals are used in wind turbines and hybrid cars, so it’s bad news for both that prices for those metals have been soaring since this summer, when China slashed its exports by 40 percent. The country, which produces about 97 percent of the world’s metals for high-tech products, is defending its decision to the global community, which is calling the move a potential World Trade Organization violation, Reuters reports. On the other hand, U.S. rare earth mining company Molycorp’s stock is soaring, Earth2Tech notes. The company plans to start mining again in California next year and was also bolstered by a joint venture with Japanese mining firm Hitachi Metals.

India to quadruple renewable energy capacity – The country plans to reach the goal of 72,400 megawatts of power generation capacity from clean energy by 2022, the Wall Street Journal reports. India is expected to be the second-largest cause of global energy demand rising by 2035, with its consumption more than doubling by that time.

Verizon launches home monitoring and controls — The company announced a trial phase to become available in the first half of 2011. The service lets you lock doors remotely and set, adjust and control lights, smart thermostats and smart appliances using Fios, Verizon’s fiber-optic network.

Australia’s new clean energy projects drop sharply — The country is generally considered progressive in its pursuit of smart grid upgrades and renewable energies. Australia’s electricity output from new wind, hydro and solar power plants dropped almost 80 percent this year due to struggles to raise financing, according to an industry group; the industry added 210 megawatts of capacity in 2010, compared to 933 megawatts in 2009. The government plans to adjust incentives to meet its goal of 20 percent renewable energy by 2020, Bloomberg reports.

Think launches four-seat version of electric car (pictured) — The Norwegian company recently started producing its classic two-seat electric car in the U.S. It has announced it has added two more seats to the original Think City car without making it much bigger, Green Car Reports notes. The four-seat version won’t be available in the US anytime soon.

Wind turbines could be a boon for crops — Turbines are often criticized as a visual blight in rural areas. But a new report from Iowa State University finds that the turbulence created by the turbines’ blades could help corn and soybean plants stay cooler, dryer, healthier and more productive in extracting carbon dioxide from the earth and atmosphere, Reuters writes.

Smart grid’s Trilliant broadens Asia reach with UMC investment — Smart grid communications company Trilliant announced an investment from the venture arm of the Taiwanese semiconducter foundry company United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). It will also broaden its Asia reach by opening an office in Asia, and will get some unspecified assistance from UMC in its regional expansion. The release states that Trilliant has an advantage in international expansion thanks to its technology being based on an international spectrum.

[Image via Green Car Reports]

Offshore wind farm Cape Wind needs buyers for its power — The large, expensive and controversial Massachusetts wind farm needs customers, the Associated Press writes. Half of its 468-megawatt capacity has been sold to National Grid, but the other half has been turned down by top state utility NStar, which said it could find cheaper alternative energy elsewhere. Siemens is in talks to help finance the project, Bloomberg reports. The wind farm would use 130 of Siemens’ wind turbines.

Honda could launch electric car in China — The company unveiled the electric version of its Fit at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and plans to roll out electric vehicles in 2012 in Japan and the U.S. China has a “good chance” of seeing Honda’s electric cars, the company president said, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The Chinese government has made a strong commitment to electric vehicles, though BYD’s electrid hybrid reportedly stumbled due to the lack of charging infrastructure — so Honda must be assuming that will be in place by 2012 and beyond.

California to create carbon market — State regulators have approved the development of an exchange that will allow the top pollution emitters to use a market-based system to reduce emissions, Triple Pundit reports. The market would set allowances on emissions for top polluters that will decrease annually after 2014, and help set a price point that would drive long-term investment into energy efficiency and cleantech.

Tobacco could help build highly efficient batteries – Researchers at the University of Maryland have used a virus hosted by tobacco to improve energy capacity of batteries, CleanTechnica reports. The result is a battery that has 10 times the energy capacity of a traditional lithium-ion battery.

China plans to invest $601 billion in the smart grid –The money will go to develop the smart grid over the next decade, according to China Securities Journal. The program would promote applications like smart appliances, virtual health care and vehicle-to-vehicle communications, eco-business.com reports.

DOE grants world’s largest windfarm $1.3 billion – The Department of Energy has finalized a partial loan guarantee for the Caithness Shepherds Flat project, an 845-megawatt plant in eastern Oregon. The wind farm is sponsored by Caithness Energy and GE Energy Financial Services and will use 338 GE wind turbines. All energy generated from the farm will be sold to Southern California Edison at a fixed price in a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Cadillac plans luxury plug-in hybrid — GM is developing the car based on its Cadillac SRX crossover, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters. The car would share technology used in the Chevrolet Volt. It looks like the new GM might be a cleantech play after all.

California approves feed-in tariff for renewable energy – The two-year program is called renewable auction mechanism, which aims to drive small to mid-scale renewable energy development. It mandates that the top state utilities purchase electricity from renewable energy sources by holding auctions twice a year and signing agreements with the cheapest bidders, Earth2Tech writes.

Tessera could sell troubled plants – On the heels of a court-granted delay of its Imperial Valley solar project and other corporate troubles, Tessera would likely sell the projects, Greentech Media suggests. A likely buyer, it points out, would be NRG Solar, which has purchased solar thermal plants in the past and has been on something of a buying spree lately.

Government proposes 24 special zones for solar – The areas would be on public lands in six western states that the administration has deemed prime spots for utility-scale solar facilities, Reuters reports. The Interior Department is studying the environmental effects of locations that could generate power without a negative environmental impact. The proposed zones are in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.

SolarReserve cleared for 150-megawatt solar plant and salt-based storage — The California Energy Commission has approved the plant, which will be near Blythe, Calif. and will have the capacity to supply the equivalent of 68,000 homes a year, CNET writes. It has a 25-year power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric. The company is unique in its use of a molten salt mixture to store and release energy after sunset. Greentech Media notes one pitfall: salt can clump and require more energy to circulate through pipes.

Trina Solar shoots for 10 percent market share – The Chinese company is the world’s No. 2 solar panel maker and plans to invest $400 million to ramp up production in an effort to take at least 10 percent of the global market, Reuters reports. Its current global market share is about 8 percent and plans to double shipments to the U.S. next year.

Cost of home solar at an all-time low — The average cost of a system fell to an all-time low of $4.10 per watt in 2009, and costs fell again in 2010, according to a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Earth2Tech notes that the decrease in price coincided with a change in federal policy that allowed solar system owners to receive a tax credit for 30 percent of the system’s cost.

Solar and wind Treasury grant program wins one-year reprieve – After a fierce, last-minute push in Congress, the Senate has cleared a one-year extension of a Treasury federal tax grant program that solar and wind associations credit with bringing many jobs and projects online, Greentech Media reports. Wind and solar executives were divided on how crucial the program is, while industry associations warned of a negative impact on jobs and projects.

Another delay for a Tessera solar plant – On the heels of quickly re-winning approval for its Calico plant, Tessera Solar announced that a court has delayed the start of construction on its Imperial Valley Solar plant in California — the first utility-scale solar project approved for public lands. The delay was granted on behalf of the Quechan Tribe, which sued government entities over what it claimed was insufficient consultation during the permitting process. The project has been in development for over five years and has cost about $20 million so far. Greentech Media has reported before that Tessera is troubled, having lost executives and laid off staff. (Tessera’s Suncatcher technology is pictured above.)

Why Google needs the video digital-rights technology behind Netflix — Google recently announced that it has purchased Widevine, a video digital rights management company mostly known as the technology behind Netflix’s video protection. Why does Google suddenly need a credible DRM solution? Webtrends’ Peter Yared explains.

Why Facebook’s playing a dangerous game with the Winklevoss brothers — Usually, Facebook’s public-relations officials can be relied on for a good old-fashioned “no comment” on truly sensitive matters. That makes the company’s response to a recent wave of reporting about ongoing litigation with Harvard classmates of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg more than a bit surprising.

In another stunner, OnLive enables game spectating and Windows 7 apps on your iPad — OnLive is announced Tuesday that a limited version of its online game service is now available for the iPad and a beta version for Android devices will soon be available. You’ll even be able to use the OnLive app to run Windows 7 apps on your iPhone.

Viber gets 1M downloads in 3 days for dead simple iPhone VoIP calls — Just when you thought Voice over IP (VoIP) couldn’t be exciting again, along comes Viber with its free iPhone app.

Google finally spills the beans on Nexus S, coming Dec. 16 on T-Mobile — Get ready for the new Android king.

And here are five more posts we think are important, thought-provoking, fun, or all of the above:

Why your TV is the new app battleground — As our televisions are getting smarter, TVs are quickly beginning to parallel the development of smartphones.

Microsoft’s Hotmail, struggling to fight Gmail et al, looks to Reddit users for hope — The team behind Microsoft’s oft-maligned email service, Hotmail, is hoping to score back some of its users from the titans in the industry like Gmail by doing something Google hasn’t quite pulled off: showing they are human.

Three reasons you might actually buy a Chrome OS netbook — I’m finally starting to understand why someone would buy one of these devices.

One expert’s take on fixing wind energy: Think smaller – Think smaller, says R.J. Lyman, a partner at law firm Goodwin Procter and former Massachusetts assistant environmental secretary. Nix the massive utility-scale projects.

Worried about your reputation? Intelius now lets you track it online — The new subscription service will help people track their online “footprint” and gain greater control over the information available about them through public records, social networking profiles, and other sources that could affect someone’s reputation.

GE likes ZigBee best for smart appliances — GE released a white paper yesterday that declared ZigBee-based communications are best for home area networks. GE has already adopted the technology for its own smart appliances, Greentech Media notes. The paper also evaluated WiFi, Bluetooth and power line carrier-based communications.

Deepwater Wind proposes 1,000-megawatt wind farm — The ambitious project would cover 270 square miles and be located between Rhode Island and Long Island in New York, the New York Times reports. The farm would be connected to grids in New England and could allow for cheaper electricity to flow into the pricier New York markets.

First Solar to tap Indian market — The company announced yesterday a deal to ship 15 megawatts by March to the state of Gujarat, Earth2Tech reports. The Indian government has a national goal to install 20 gigawatts of solar by 2022 and also has plans to institute solar subsidies.

Texas building up wind energy – Texas regulators have budgeted $4.93 billion for wind transmission line projects in selected Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, awarding the bulk of projects to Dallas utility Oncor (about 850 miles’ worth), Greentech media writes. But regulators also blocked planned wind lines from crossing the Palo Duro Canyon, meaning that wind energy will cost more and have to travel further to get to ratepayers, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The latest salvo fired came today from the American Council on Renewable Energy, which warned that 104,000 U.S. jobs are at risk if the program is not renewed. In danger is a Treasury grant program that covers up to 30 percent of the cost in cash rebates of alternative energy projects. Industry associations have warned that 15,000 wind jobs are at risk if the program isn’t extended, and that 2,000 megawatts of solar energy slated to come online in the U.S. could be cut to just 800 megawatts if supports expire.

In California, the looming deadline — and uncertainty of whether or not the program will win renewal — has set off a race to approve solar projects before the end of this year, leading The New York Times to question whether some risky ventures are getting clearance in the scramble.

It’s no secret that cleantech relies heavily on the government for support, whether that’s in the form of subsidies, tax credits or massive conditional loan guarantees that have been granted to solar companies like BrightSource and Solyndra. At hand is the question of whether or not other sources of funding for renewable energy projects will be enough to make up for the shortfall in investment.

Nope, says Lux Research analyst Matt Feinstein — by his firm’s calculations, there’s not enough tax equity on the market to make up for the predicted shortfall in government support. Given that the U.S. is a big market for solar and that Germany — the world’s largest market for solar — has recently began cutting its generous subsidies, companies may have to turn to Asia and emerging renewable energy countries for business.

“The (solar) industry as a whole is 100 percent reliant on subsidies, and this is by far the best one,” Feinstein said. “If the grant is just not extended and we stay without it, that’s a huge blow.”

Solar developer Silverado Power CEO John Cheney doesn’t see the situation as so dire. His company recently won a deal with Southern California Edison for 113 megawatts’ worth of solar power.

“There is absolutely no shortage of money worldwide, nor in California. It’s the difficulty of getting projects done and the lack of speed and the lack of policies that are being implemented,” Cheney told me last week. He agrees with Feinstein’s assessment that there’s not enough tax equity on the market and that the expiration of the program would cause “momentary shrinkage” in funding sources, but argues that the supply of tax equity financing in the U.S. is building back up.

Residential solar company Sungevity CEO Danny Kennedy says that the program helps solar in increasing the supply of available capital.

“While not fatal to the industry, the cash grant issue is important for us achieving our potential,” Kennedy said. He echoed the argument made by many in cleantech that renewable energy needs long-term, stable policies in order to thrive.

Silverado’s Cheney also adds that the endangered grant program has helped more wind projects than solar.

“Wind was the largest beneficiary and now is a bit under water with hundreds of stranded projects in the U.S.,” Cheney said. “Solar is not dead at all and in fact is growing rapidly.”

One wind expert has been advocating for smaller, less ambitious wind projects to keep the wind waters churning — R.J. Lyman, a partner at law firm Goodwin Procter and former Massachusetts assistant environmental secretary. Lyman asserts that there will always be governmental support in some way or another for wind energy.

“I do not happen to believe there is a major risk of a catastrophic collapse,” Lyman said. ‘”The government has been trying to feed everybody steroids. We appreciate that, but you can’t do that forever.”

Residential solar company SunRun CEO Edward Fenster is advocating for the Treasury grant program’s renewal. He estimates that an extension of the grant program would allow his company to create 6,000 jobs and build 36,000 more residential solar installations — and currently allows SunRun to charge three cents per kilowatt-hour less for solar-generated electricity than it would otherwise.

[Image via Flickr/waffler]

New wind installations in the U.S. were at a three-year low last quarter, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The U.S. wind energy industry also pales in comparison to that of China, which is fast becoming a green energy leader, thanks in part to wind. One out of every two wind turbines installed this year will be in China, CNET reports.

Two of China’s largest wind companies are also preparing for IPOs this week that look to raise funds in the $1 billion range. Meanwhile, one American wind IPO in recent memory went sour when First Wind pulled its filing, saying it couldn’t get the pricing it wanted. And recent reports have found that natural gas — a fossil fuel, albeit a much cleaner one than coal – could challenge the growth of wind and solar. The regulatory environment is also uncertain, given the gains Republicans made in Congress and in state leadership in November.

One expert has an idea for wind: Think smaller, says R.J. Lyman, a partner at law firm Goodwin Procter and former Massachusetts assistant environmental secretary. Nix the massive utility-scale projects. And even though there’s offshore wind potential in the U.S. (supported by the government through recent streamlined permitting process and by a Google-backed effort to develop a major offshore wind transmission backbone), they are big, expensive projects that still have kinks to work out — like how to anchor a turbine in the deep sea.

“Less is more and boring is good,” Lyman says. “We’ve never built something out there in the deep water. We haven’t yet laid the cables to run the stuff back here.”

“If you want to get to the point of selling power to the grid so you make money, simplify, simplify, simplify.”

Lyman advocates for smaller wind farms and smaller technologies, placed close to the source to avoid the inherent line losses that come when you transport, say, wind energy from West Texas to the other side of the country. Shoot for fewer gigawatts, projects with costs in the single-digit millions, rather than projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to get started.

“You hit a lot of singles and doubles and a lot of runners eventually make it across the plate. If you swing for the fence every time — there’s been a lot of failures with the ‘swing for the fences’ strategy,” Lyman said.

He added that the American wind sector’s performance of late can be attributed in part to the fact that wind is a trailing economic indicator. Projects rely on government support and take a long time to implement — so the industry is just now experiencing the fallout from the economic crisis that other industries were experiencing in 2008 and 2009.

Lyman also believes that there has been more need for replacement and repair of wind turbine components than financiers expected, increasing operating expenses or resulting in downtime for turbines while they’re being repaired. Many turbine manufacturers offer 2o-year warranties, a strategy also taken by other cleantech manufacturers to offset the inherent risk in trying an innovative product. But Lyman says the length of the warranties are based on three years of lab testing — meaning stuff breaks more often than buyers had thought. The technology kinks have been a turn-off to new investors.

There’s also an inherent issue with wind in that it’s intermittent — which will limit its growth, according to a recent analysis by Boston Consulting Group. Wind typically blows stronger at the off-peak time of evenings — one executive from Texas utility Oncor suggested that wind energy could be the perfect solution to charging electric vehicles since most will be plugged in at night. There are also infrastructure “catch-up” issues that need to be worked out such as finding good wind sites that match up with transmission capacity.

All in all, it looks like wind in the U.S. is experiencing some growing pains. Whether investors will continue to have an appetite for big projects remains to be seen.

[Image from Flickr/vaxomatic]

Troubled Evergreen Solar to try recapitalization — The company said yesterday that its board of directors has approved a plan to recapitalize the company, Bloomberg reports. The plan aims to slash outstanding debt and interest expenses and lower the cost and due date on longer-term debt. The company (one of its solar installations pictured, left) would also raise capital by selling up to $40 million of its cash notes.

Germany to install a record 8 gigawatts of solar this year — This widens Germany’s already substantial lead in the global solar marketplace. A cut in solar subsidies earlier this year didn’t cause a market collapse, as some had feared, but a slowdown. In future years, growth could cool down to three to five gigawatts a year, Reuters writes.

AT&T to buy Xanboo — The mobile and broadband company is edging into the home energy market with this purchase, Earth2Tech reports. Xanboo is a decade-old firm that automates home energy and allows residents to monitor security and energy usage across multiple devices.

EnerNOC to buy Global Energy Partners — Demand response leader EnerNOC said that its purchase of the company would be its biggest deal yet, Earth2Tech reports. Global Energy Partners designs and implements demand response and energy efficiency solutions for utilities.

First Wind nabs $98 million for wind project – The wind developer secured $98 million for a 60-megawatt wind project in Maine. First Wind pulled IPO plans in November. The company has raised $357 million in financing since the end of September and repaid $118 million in short-term turbine supply loans, Sustainable Business writes.

As VentureBeat reported last week, analysts are forecasting that natural gas will move to beat out solar and wind, even though it’s a fossil fuel and not a renewable resource. It emits a lot less carbon than coal, and is likely to play a bigger role next year in federal energy policies and green entrepreneurship, according to consulting firm Kachan & Co.

Last month, Chevron acquired natural gas company Atlas Energy for $3.2 billion. And a year ago, Exxon spent $25 billion to buy natural gas producer XTO Energy.

Natural gas expansion looks like part of the Middle East’s efforts to go greener. The United Arab Emirates’ state-run Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority plans to build several 500-megawatt natural gas power plants, but it will also be able to defer the construction thanks to energy efficiency gains promised by the implementation of Hara’s energy efficiency software. (The company announced the multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal today.)

And as we mentioned last week, consulting firm Black & Veatch reports that coal market share will be cut in half in the next 25 years because companies will retire coal-fired equipment rather than face the cost of complying with pending air quality regulations in 2015 and beyond. (See Black & Veatch’s projections below.) The ebbing tide of coal will be made up for by a doubling in natural gas, which is expected to rise from 21 percent of U.S. energy use in 2011 to 40 percent in 2035. And a recent Ernst & Young report found that low natural gas prices in the U.S. have made it tougher for solar and wind projects to win financing.

The good thing about natural gas is that there’s existing infrastructure for it, and hundreds of years left in the supply. And if some early-stage technology is able to scale up to commercial production, makers of renewable natural gas — that is, synthetic natural gas created from renewable feedstocks — could pose a big threat to solar and wind companies, according to Dallas Kachan, managing partner at Kachan & Co.

One hiccup in the rise of natural gas, though, could be environmental concerns. The problem with natural gas, as Black & Veatch points out, is that the hydraulic fracturing process of harvesting the natural gas has caused issues at the massive Marcellus Shale site in the northeast U.S. There have also been issues with the handling of wastewater and fluids used in the fracturing process — leading Pennsylvania authorities to fine natural gas companies and shut down some of the wells.

What’s clear so far is this: American wind installations last quarter hit a three-year low, although there’s over 4,000 gigawatts of potential for offshore wind development, and the government is streamlining the permitting process to help spur growth. Solar appears to be healthy and poised to rise in the U.S., with large-scale solar installations for utilities expected to double each year between now and 2015. And a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group predicted that solar and biofuels would be the first renewable energies to become competitive with traditional energy sources like coal — possibly within the next five to 10 years.

But could natural gas disrupt it all? According to consulting group Kachan & Co., it’s very possible. The company forecast that natural gas — a fossil fuel will emerge to threaten solar and wind for utility green power generation. And in the next few years, the firm sees renewable natural gas — that is, synthetic natural gas created from renewable feedstocks — emerging to rival the reigning clean energies.

They’re not alone in forecasting the rise of natural gas. An upcoming report from Black & Veatch finds that coal market share will be cut in half in the next 25 years — which will be made up for by the doubling in natural gas, which is expected to rise from 21 percent of U.S. energy use in 2011 to 40 percent in 2035. And a recent Ernst & Young report found that low natural gas prices in the U.S. have made it tougher for solar and wind projects to win financing.

“We really believe that natural gas is going to be on the lips of a lot more cleantech people next year,” said Dallas Kachan, Kachan & Co.’s managing partner. “There will be more cleantech entrepreneurs and investors looking at ways to piggyback on enthusiasm for natural gas.”

Kachan also predicted more federal and policy support for natural gas, saying it is possible natural gas may be included in a federal renewable energy portfolio standard — a little ironic considering that it’s a fossil fuel, but one that’s in abundant supply, Kachan says — somewhere in the ballpark of “a few hundred years” worth of reserves.

Natural gas has the advantage of already-existing infrastructure, and it isn’t intermittent like wind and solar. While natural gas isn’t an entirely clean energy because there are carbon emissions associated with its use, it is much cleaner than coal-based energy — the “lesser of the fossil evils,” as Kachan put it.

The government does seem to be leaning in that direction. The Department of Energy last week granted a $50 million conditional loan guarantee to a natural gas vehicle company —  thanks in part to the urgings of T. Boone Pickens, a big natural gas supporter. The Wall Street Journal even speculated earlier this week that natural gas vehicles could be poised to earn the favor of China — although the country is already on the electric car warpath with a decree that five million electric cars be on the roads by 2020, with $17 billion pledged to those efforts.

Still, “T. Boone Pickens might get his way,” Kachan said.

While many major automakers and a number of startups have gone on an electric vehicle spree as of late, Mercedes-Benz and Honda have also gotten on the natural gas vehicle path. Mercedes will be leasing 70 hydrogen fuel-cell cars in California, while Honda plans to lease about 200 its hydrogen fuel-cell Clarity cars over the next three years, also primarily in Southern California.

There’s a bit of rain on the natural gas parade, though — and it’s a similar to the problem that haunts geothermal energy. Both involve drilling into the earth, and natural gas drilling companies have been faulted for spills and contaminating drinking water in Pennsylvania at the site of the Marcellus Shale, resulting in fines and a government-ordered closure of some of the drilling operations.

Kachan says he’s excited by the potential for renewable natural gas, which can be distributed through existing pipelines. While the technology is still lab-scale and years away from being commercial scale, he said startups in that space are getting tremendous interest from utilities who have to meet renewable portfolio standards.

“If utilities are able to simply write a purchase order to their gas providers and burn natural gas at their existing natural gas plants, then they don’t need to go put steel in the ground for solar and wind,” Kachan said.

Kleiner Perkins appears to be refocusing its portfolio back on the Internet and away from cleantech, according to Fortune. Earth2Tech notes Kleiner partner John Doerr has pointed out that while Google IPO’d for $25 million, the company’s fuel cell investment Bloom Energy has taken $250 million and could take nine years to get to a successful offering.

Natural gas vehicles are gaining the most traction in developing markets like Pakistan, Iran, Argentina and Brazil. The areas have narrow oil refining capacity and some face the risk of sanctions decreasing oil supply, but hey have abundant natural gas reserves, the WSJ writes.

Companies are pushing to grab a piece of the smart grid pie in China, which is estimated to be worth $100 billion over the next five years, Reuters writes.

Google is working on a solar thermal power generation project, and the company’s green energy czar Bill Weihl told the Wall Street Journal the technology should be ready to be commercialized in a couple of years. “Most likely we’d license it to get it to market,” Weihl said.

Honeywell is launching a small, residential wind turbine at Ace hardware stores. The unit is called Windtronics and will sell for $6,500, according to Green Building Elements.

Electric vehicle startup KleenSpeed has launched a $15,000 electric car system, Earth2Tech writes.

[Image via Flickr/stevendepolo]