A mighty howl of protest - II

I decided to break up the post into two since the first one got too long writing just about recent US energy policy.

Elsewhere in the world, more bad news.

Britain could invest more than £100bn in renewable energy over the next decade and still fail to meet an EU target on clean technology, the government's own renewables advisers have warned.

More details here. This is is not surprising given the leaked documents from November 2007 that indicated that the Gordon Brown led Labor government was planning an about-turn on the pledges Tony Blair signed up for in 2007. (Note: The EU target is to deliver 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.)

But here's some good news from Germany and China, both from the wind energy sector.

China's Wind Power Industry: Blowing Past Expectations

and

Wind Lifted by Higher Tariffs in Germany

Remember that Germany has become the world's biggest solar market, (almost twice as big as the 2nd biggest market - Spain; with # 3 and #4 - Japan and the US - lagging far behind), thanks to their feed-in tariff subsidy program for solar in Germany. It seems:

In 2007, the wind energy market in Germany shrank by 25 percent compared to 2006, bucking the global trend for rapid growth according to the German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI).

And so, the government has acted, spurring the wind energy market to grow in Germany. Wish the US government would act in this vein some day!

Meanwhile, China has not only become a leading solar manufacturer, with Suntech rapidly becoming the #3 solar manufacturer in the world behind Sharp and Q-Cells, but also is fast becoming a major user of solar energy; even boasting of a solar-powered city.

In Rizhao City, which means City of Sunshine in Chinese, 99 percent of households in the central districts use solar water heaters, and most traffic signals, street and park lights are powered by photovoltaic (PV) solar cells.