A report out Monday sees non-nuclear clean energy sources growing two-fold over the next ten years, via USA Today.

Published by Clean Edge, a research and advisory firm, the research shows that global revenue for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, wind power and biofuels surged 35 percent in 2010, growing from $139 billion to $188 billion. The majority of this growth came thanks to global solar PV installations, which more than doubled over the past year, and “steady growth in the biofuels sector.” The market for wind power, notably, saw a modest decline in 2010.

“As witnessed over the past decade, clean tech has proven to be a significant business opportunity, and its growth rates now rival that of earlier technology revolutions like telephony, computers, and the Internet,” said Ron Pernick, Clean Edge co-founder and managing director. “We expect overall growth to slow down in some sectors as the clean-energy market reaches wide adoption and utility- scale deployment, but there’s still considerable room for expansion.”

Global nuclear power generation, meanwhile, is projected by the Department of Energy to grow from 2.6 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2007 to 3.6 trillion kWh in 2020 — an increase of nearly 40 percent — and to 4.5 trillion kWh by 2035, an increase of almost 75 percent. The DOE figures suggest that the world will get about 2.5 times as much energy from nuclear reactors as it does from renewable sources, like wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power, which, in our eyes, is kind of a bummer.

Over the past year, we’ve witnessed terrible accidents in “the big three” energy sectors: the Massey coal mine explosion in West Virginia, which killed 25 miners; the explosion of the drill rig Deepwater Horizon, which killed eleven and caused billions of dollars of damage; and the on-going nuclear crisis in Japan, which is prompting many to reassess the probability that a similar disaster occur here in the United States.

If anything is clear, it’s that there are risks associated with the extraction and production of energy — and that all sources of energy come with costs and benefits.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the benefits and costs solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. …click here to read more

Faced with the on-going nuclear crisis in Japan — the costs of which could make the March earthquake and subsequent tsnuami the most expensive natural disaster the world has ever seen — nearby China may be moving to double its target for solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity over the next five years.

Citing unnamed sources, China Securities Journal today reported that the country’s solar target might be raised to 10 gigawatts (GW) of PV by 2015, up from the current target of 5 GW. For comparison, global solar PV capacity was about 40 GW in 2010.

This news comes after a report released yesterday found that, in terms of clean energy investment, the United States has slipped to third place behind China and Germany. …click here to read more

Wrestling the energy boogieman has become a perennial rite of passage for U.S. presidents, dating at least as far back as Nixon.

Fittingly, President Obama today was at Georgetown University, where he outlined a broad initiative to cut oil imports, boost domestic production of oil and gas, and increase the use of cellulosic ethanol and natural gas to power vehicles.

With gas prices topping $4 a gallon in some parts of the country, like southern California, and the summer driving season not that far off, the president’s comments couldn’t come a moment too soon.

“In an economy that relies so heavily on oil, rising prices at the pump affect everybody,” the Obama said in what the White House billed as a significant energy address. …click here to read more

Regular readers (among others) will know that California is the nation’s clean energy leader. The state has on the books a law requiring that a fifth of all electricity come from renewable sources by 2010. A 2009 executive order by former Governor Schwarzenegger raised that target to 33 percent. But, thanks to procedural nuances, the Governator’s move could technically be rolled back. In order to still, the new (higher) renewable energy standard must pass formal legislative muster.

That’s what’s going on today, via Adam Browning of the Vote Solar Initiative:

Just got the word that today is the day that the California Assembly will take up SB 2x, a bill that would require utilities to procure to 33% of their electricity from renewable sources.  The Senate has already passed it by a 26-11 margin, and Governor Brown has already said he will sign it.  All that stands in the way of the strongest renewable standard in the country is a positive outcome in the Assembly.  It’s a big deal, and it’s all going down this afternoon.

As of the time of this post, the Assembly has been in session for precisely 19 minutes. If you’re a California voter with a pro-solar mindset, you may want to mosey on over to Vote Solar to see how you can get involved.

UPDATE: The Assembly approved California’s 33 percent renewable portfolio standard! The bill will now be passed to Gov. Jerry Brown to be signed into law.

I’ll be the first to admit it: solar panels aren’t as cool as the iPad. I mean, at the end of the day, all they do is turn sunlight into clean, predictably priced electricity, right? The iPad, meanwhile, can do just about everything short of raising your children. (To be fair, I think they’re working on an app for that.)

But just because solar panels aren’t as cool as the iPad doesn’t mean they’re insignificant.

Case in point: new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance suggests that solar-panel installations may grow by more than 50 percent in 2011, a rate that would match Apple’s sales growth after the Cupertino, Calif.-based company launched the iPad in 2010.

…click here to read more

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) today inaugurated a 2.2-megawatt (MW) solar farm that will meet 15 percent of campus electricity needs.

Covering 17 acres of land previously used for agricultural research, the 7,800-panel solar array is the “largest concentration of photovoltaic modules on one site” in all of Maryland, according to the press release. In its first year of operation, it should generate 3.3 million kilowatt hours (kWh) — roughly the equivalent annual demand of 300 typical American houses.

Like most larger-scale solar installations, the University of Maryland’s 2.2-MW array was completed by way of a power purchase agreement (PPA). SunEdison — a large PPA provider headquartered in Beltsville, MD — engineered and installed the system at no up-front cost to UMES or the state of Maryland.

…click here to read more

A new report from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) suggests that the island of O’ahu could meet a quarter of its electricity needs using solar power and wind resources.

“The findings of this study show it is feasible to integrate large-scale wind and solar projects on Oahu but also have value beyond Hawaii. Both large mainland utilities and relatively small and/or isolated grids that wish to integrate significant amounts of renewable energy while maintaining reliability for their customers can learn from this study,” said Hawaii HNEI director Dr. Rick Rocheleau.

Hawaii is home to both the nation’s highest retail electricity prices and the most ambitious renewable energy standard. The HNEI study envisions integrating ”400 megawatts (MW) wind power from Molokai and Lanai supplied through an undersea cable combined with 100 MW of wind and 100 MW of solar power located on O’ahu.”

As a big importer of energy sources, Hawaii is taking meaningful steps to increase the amount of electricity it generates on the islands. The HNEI study suggests the 500 MW in total could help a good deal on this front:

[t]he electricity supplied from these sources would reduce Hawai’i's fossil fuel consumption by approximately 2.8 million barrels of low sulfur fuel oil and 132,000 tons of coal each year.

The full report (PDF) is available on HNEI website.

It’s a sign of the times: the site of a former General Motors vehicle testing facility will soon house a manufacturing plant dedicated to making clean-energy-producing solar panels.

First Solar, the Tempe, Arizona-based maker of advanced thin-film solar modules, today announced it will build a its new U.S. manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona. The company will invest about $300 million in the facility and, in so doing, create some 600 jobs.

…click here to read more

Xcel Energy caused quite a stir back in February, when it temporarily stopped accepting applications for its popular solar incentive program and asked state regulators for permission to cut the rebate by almost 90 percent, from $2.00 per watt to $0.25 per watt. The move threatened to pour cold water on the state’s growing solar energy industry and make it more costly for homeowners to install solar panels.

After a month or so of negotiations, the parties involved — Colorado officials, solar industry participants and Xcel Energy — have reached an agreement to resume the utility’s Solar*Rewards solar incentive program:

…click here to read more