According to the latest Pew Charitable Trusts report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race?, the US regained the lead in spending in 2011. China had invested the most in each of the prior two years, and will probably retake the top spot in 2012. Why? Much of the US investment was accelerated in advance of the expiration of critical incentives, particularly the Section 1603 program.

I recently had the opportunity to join a roundtable discussion about the future of smart grid applications in three areas that don’t get as much attention as utility and home usages: commercial/industrial buildings, IT and electrical vehicles.

The NWCleantech team recently had the opportunity to attend the launch event of the Pacific Northwest Cleantech Open – a chapter of the world’s largest business competition devoted to "finding, funding and fostering" successful cleantech businesses.  In addition to signifying the launch of the Cleantech Open’s fourth year of competition in the region, the event also featured a panel session of veteran industry experts discussing how to catalyze early-stage cleantech innovation in Washington and the Northwest region.

World CNG, a Seattle-based company, argues that based on current market conditions Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) already delivers a savings at the pump. According to their website, CNG can deliver a 50 percent savings, compared to traditional automotive fuels.

Just read a story in Virtual Vantage Points about a comment made by venture capitalist Vinod Kohsla. He compared shale gas to a black swan – saying that the technology has turned everything on its head.