The news out of Washington is that the leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has changed its leadership, from Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).

Election day gave Washington D.C. a new president-elect and a clear transition in party control of the government. The combination has made for a great deal of personnel changes in major (and minor) positions throughout the government. These are the kind of moves that can be lost in the post-election glow, but that will make a real difference over the next years.

President-elect Obama has made a strong commitment to energy policy reform, possibly as his first initiative out of the gate when he takes office, and if not, next in line to health care. The result is a renewed focus in the Senate on these issues.

The push for Waxman over Dingell may not be news on par with the changes in the White House – certainly neither one of them are household names – but it represents a serious substantive shift in leadership on energy issues. Waxman is a committed advocate for climate change legislation, perhaps owing to his Californian constituency. Dingell was a leader of integrity in the committee, and will remain a strong representative, but he was far more closely aligned towards business interests, and his views on climate change reform would have been out of sync with President-elect Obama’s beliefs on the importance of the issue.

It may seem like just a procedural change, but on a practical legislative level this is the best news to come out of Washington for clean energy in some time.

The financial market’s turbulent week is certainly going to have an impact upon the energy sector, and we will get to that soon. Right now the main line of journalists and financial analysts are focusing on the extent and nature of the troubles with a focus on New York financial circles, but the shock waves are going to travel outward and when they do we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

For now, a smaller-scale piece of news with some big implications. Hoping to accelerate the pace of local adoption, Berkeley, CA will now offer loans from the city to locals who want to install solar on their rooftops. This is a fantastic step and should help out the city almost as much as it will the solar adopters, as it will allow for some additional energy to back up the city’s dependence on the often over-taxed California power network.

If this program works out, then other cities across the country, particularly in similarly green-conscious areas, could follow Berekeley’s lead. If that happens, we could be looking at a wave of local measures intended to accelerate solar and other renewables, as a precursor to more comprehensive federal legislation.

Great news in an otherwise unsetlling week…

It appears as if the solar tax credit may not be doomed, after all. The Wall Street Journal reports that a bi-partisan effort is underway to push the credit in as part of a wider suite of legislation.

This credit is crucial to nurturing the solar industry and allowing it to strengthen and expand itself enough to reach a competitive balance with established carbon-based energy sources. It has also, dishearteningly, not received the care and attention it needs from Congressional leaders. If this push succeeds it would be a great indication that energy policy and priorities in America may not be hopeless heading further into the century.

CQ Politics also has a choice energy quote that deserves mention. Montana Democrat Max Baucus noted that “Here we are again. I’m starting to feel like Don Quixote, except I’m not jousting at windmills. I’m jousting for windmills.”

And for solar too, Senator, and thank you for that.

The National Basketball Association’s Pheonix Suns have announced they will introduce a solar installation to a main parking garage at their stadium, the U.S. Airways Center. This move is a no-brainer from a marketing standpoint, and given the team’s name I’m actually surprised they hadn’t thought of this earlier.

The key take-a-way here is the fact that solar installations do not have to be big, flashy, impressive projects. They can be relatively mundane, functional improvements to existing infrastructure. Whether or not you’re the Phoenix Suns, and can take advantage of a marketing synergy, solar can provide a solution without overturning the existing paradigm of a home or a business. More and more, with the news that pops up (and will continue to emerge) about solar solving people’s problems, it becomes apparent that one of solar’s greatest assets is its flexibility. Across the scale, where there’s a hole or room for improvement, solar can meet the demand and fill the niche.

Though I can’t guarantee that solar can help the Suns win in the tough Western Conference.

For this week and next week, the news services will focus on the Democratic and Republican conventions, respectively. From now until Election Day, observers can expect to see discussion of climate change policies and technologies attached firmly to discussion of the relative merits of Barack Obama and John McCain’s energy proposals.

In one of the last splashes that will be free from this, Palo Alto-based company Nanosolar has released some staggering numbers from a spring drive, indicating that it will have $300 million to pour into thin-film solar research. The money has come from a consortium of investors, and fits into a recent enthusiasm for investment in clean tech. This enthusiasm for clean technology, as highlighted throughout financial publications over the last few years, has two prominent drivers: an awareness of the crucial stakes of the struggle against climate change, and, more importantly, the understanding that this is the way of the future, and it’s better to be in at the ground floor.

I led off with the convention season because the disparity between public sector and private sector judgment and action regarding these technologies could not be more disparate. The current U.S. administration has simply not taken necessary action on climate change, for whatever reasons, and this has compelled a bottom-up effort get things moving. But both top-down and bottom-up initiatives and financial support will be necessary in the upcoming years, especially in recasting the infrastructure of the country towards a cleaner future. The government must play a more prominent role, beginning with the renewal of measures like the solar tax credit and culminating in more broad legislation to address nationwide carbon emissions.

I only hope that whichever nominee rides their convention to victory in November will remember that.

Normally I like to write about the latest in the world of solar technology, and I’ll stick to that by pointing you towards this fascinating Economist article about the possibility of a solar cell that makes use of infared light, as opposed to the good old-fashioned visible light spectrum. Way, way too early to tell if this will be viable, but a great bit of experimentation all the same.

I’d be foolish, however, not to point out a gem in today’s San Jose Mercury News, which makes a straightforward and impassioned case for extending the solar tax credit. It’s great to see a major newspaper hit hard on the issue like this. The editorial closes with a simple point:

America is vulnerable to oil price spikes and unstable petrocrats. Extending the credit is good for the valley’s economy and America’s security.

When you look at the case for extending the credit, it has to center on that. Solar projects spur the kind of investment and growth that helps out many sectors of the economy, and the net result is pushing America one step closer to a cleaner and safer future. Lawmakers and commentators who are nominally in support of renewable energy and a cleaner planet need to step up and take the steps necessary to provide the subsidies and support that will actually help us gain more renewable energy and a cleaner planet. Until that credit passes, we can’t be sure that the solar industry will be able to grow at the rates it should in the next few years.

Ikea announced today that they are investing tens of millions of dollars to research and development of solar panels and other energy efficiency measures. To put this outlay in comparison, the Department of Energy is putting down $24 million for grid integration improvements.

If, as the article speculates, Ikea is selling solar panels in-store in three to four years’ time, then this could coincide with a major tipping point for the industry. At that time America will be well into an administration, either Democratic or Republican, that will undoubtedly put more focus on climate change than our current one. Technologies will only have improved. Ikea’s solar products could well have the kind of killer-app impact that I talked about earlier as the “solar iPhone”, and spur mainstream adoption of solar technology.

The aspect I’ll be following most closely is how Ikea’s efforts fit in with the larger picture of solar in the home. Ikea will almost certainly not be marketing solar panels that would take the place of a full solar installation. They would instead offer an intermediate step. What will be the cumulative effect of these kinds of intermediate measures – single panels, solar curtains, solar windows, etcetera. Will they tie solar’s hands, and leave it as a niche or novelty product for too long? Or will they spur adoption by allowing consumers and homeowners to get comfortable with the idea of the new technology? In industry terms, will these products be a medium-term perception problem, a long-term investment, or both? The picture isn’t clear yet, but the overall success of solar in the next five to ten years will depend in no small part on how this narrative plays out.

This not-exactly economical solar table and a great instance of the Olympics using solar deserve mention, but cooler still is Oregon’s decision to use solar to help power a highway interchange.

OregonLive.com, which reported the story, states that “it represents a critical first step in what the department envisions as widespread use of solar energy.” Couldn’t be happier, and kudos to Oregon for taking this step. The big focus in solar right now, appropriately, is on the potential growth in residential and commercial contracts, but the federal government’s inaction on solar tax credits is a growing challenge. State governments, however, are facing budget crises in a more immediate fashion than those in Washington, and more than a few of them are going to realize that energy costs are not going to get any better anytime soon. Given the circumstances, long-term investments in renewable energy start to look a lot more sensible, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of these contracts handed out.

Another reason to expect more of these is that it provides direct government money to the private sector, especially for the emerging trend of “green-collar” workers. The typical fierceness of many congressional races means many legislators could see the benefit of being able to tout an accomplishment that’s fiscally sound, forward-thinking, green-conscious and putting lots of money back in local pockets. The obvious positives mean this is something for both analysts and political junkies to keep an eye on.

Not too much news in residential or commercial solar technology this week, so this seems like a wonderful opportunity to share that the Guinness world record for distance traveled in a solar car looks vulnerable after an Ontario man rode the famed Dempster Highway all the way up to the Arctic Circle, using nothing more than the power of the sun. If he can make it back to Ontario in the car it looks like he will take the record from an Australian team that had previously set it.

The idea of traveling 16,000 kilometers in a solar car that, as the article notes, “looks like a low-slung flying saucer on wheels,” is pretty incredible. And solar car projects are also a fun way of looking at an application of solar that has less of a sense of urgency to it and more of a sense of scientific creativity and freedom. People across the world are clamoring for renewable energy solutions for their homes and businesses, and solar is increasingly ready to meet their needs in affordable and efficient ways; solar’s presence on the power grid is only going to grow and grow over the next decade, even if we don’t make it to Al Gore’s benchmark. But with a car like this, as there’s less of a sense of urgency for a full-solar car – especially with electric cars and hybrids making real progress – you can enjoy the simple accomplishment without worrying about the pace of improvement or logistical issues that will pose real challenges for mainstream solar car technology.

Not that it can make for a full respite, of course, from practical concerns, with the Senate testing my optimism about renewing the solar tax credit. But for the moment, congratulations to Marcelo da Luz for his incredible trip, and I hope he makes a safe return to slightly-warmer parts of North America.

The wizards at MIT have come up with yet another project that is nifty, cool, and eminently practical, with the invention of a simple, homemade $17 solar cooker designed for use in rural areas. The only materials are Mylar coating, yak wool, and bamboo ribs. In many countries across the world people cook with materials that are unhealthy both for themselves and to the environment, and this cooker aims to provide a cheap solution to that widespread problem with clean energy. And for an additional cost it will also be able to provide heat to homes. If they can get it into widespread production and find some funding, a huge amount of humanitarian benefit could come from this device.

The great sums of money going into research and development for solar technologies is an obvious reminder that the problems of the world are not only going to be solved in a low-tech manner, but it’s nice to have a reminder from time to time that innovations can come outside of a laboratory. The central premise of solar energy is so strong and adaptable that there are ways to apply (and improve) it across a wide spectrum.

Meanwhile, as always, solar technology writ large is improving, getting more powerful and more cheap. NASA is even ready to test out a solar sail to propel satellites and deep-space missions. With all of these creative solar solutions to difficult problems, the straightforwardness of the vast majority of solar projects is becoming more evident. Solar professionals are going to be able to handle powering vast portions of this country, sooner than people think. All that’s necessary is the money and the will to fulfill the potential for all of this ingenuity.