The Daily Five: Sunday, 21 September, 2008

The Week in CleanTech, Sunday edition: House Democrats capitulate on offshore drilling; pump prices stay high; and a 12-year-old re-imagines the solar cell.

Fierce debate as House votes to lift ban on offshore drilling: The U.S. House of Representatives approved an energy bill late Tuesday which would open a large swath of the nation’s coastline to offshore drilling. But the bill faces a dim future, opposed one one hand by Republicans — who want drilling closer to shore, incentives for host states, and lower taxes for oil companies — and by environmentalists, who content drilling is dirty and won’t lower gasoline prices. The House measure would extend tax incentives for renewable energy development set to expire at the end of the year. The White House has already hinted at a veto, and the Senate is set to take up three energy bills very different from the House proposal. (SF Gate)

Update - Refiners Out Longer Than Expected: It looks as if refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast will be out a bit longer than expected. It’s not direct damage from Hurricane ike that’s the problem — the storm’s worst winds and surge struck to the east of facilities such as ExxonMobil’s Baytown refinery. The issue is power. Utilities are still scrambling to get their grids online, which will keep Baytown and others from restarting several more days. After that, it will take up to a week to move refined product through the pipelines. Until then, expect pricey gasoline and spot shortages. (WSJ)

12-year-old Revolutionizes the Solar Cell: A Portland seventh grader — yes, he’s 12 years old — has made a potentially breakthrough discovery in solar cell technology. William Yuan has developed a three-dimensional cell which absorbs both visible and ultraviolet light. The combination could greatly improve solar cell efficiency, leading to smaller and much cheaper panel arrays. Yuan gets $25,000 and a trip to the Library of Congress for his troubles, and will no doubt have little trouble finding a great college in just a few years. (Wired)

Ethanol makers hit by cash crunch: Producers of ethanol — at one time big players in the CleanTech boom — are struggling at just the moment that investors are running for cover. Volatile corn prices are chewing up the profits of the young industry, promoting producers such as VeraSun Energy Corp to warn of larger than expected quarterly losses. Wall Street’s precipitous slide this week means ethanol manufacturers will have trouble attracting fresh investment, and many firms are already running low on cash. (Reuters)

The hottest tech job in America - Wildlife biologist: Fortune magazine has an interesting take on the hottest job in CleanTech — and it’s not an engineering position. With so many large-scale renewable energy projects heading into the field, utility companies have an urgent need for biologists to determine the impact on local wildlife. Salaries can run into six figures, and have spiked up to 20 percent this year in response to demand. (CNN Money/Fortune)

ShareThis