Category Archives: Politics

CASE Responds to Damaging Solar Tariff Decision

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Leaders and member companies of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) today responded to the preliminary Anti-Dumping ruling by the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) with the following statements:

“Ultimately, free global competition is good for American consumers and American workers. That’s why all of the major segments of the American solar industry, including solar manufacturers, have united to oppose SolarWorld’s reckless and hypocritical campaign to raise solar prices”

Jigar Shah, the President of CASE, stated, “Today SolarWorld received one of its biggest subsidies yet – an average 31% tax on its competitors. What’s worse, it will ultimately come right out of the paychecks of American solar workers. Fortunately, these duties are much lower than the 250% tax that SolarWorld originally requested. This decision will increase solar electricity prices in the U.S. precisely at the moment solar power is becoming competitive with fossil fuel generated electricity.”

“At the same time, CASE recognizes that today’s decision is ‘preliminary.’ Between now and a final decision before the end of the year, there are many issues that will be addressed and whose resolution would lead to a significantly lower tariff. CASE will continue to fight SolarWorld’s anti-consumer and anti-jobs efforts to ensure a better result for America’s solar industry,” continued Shah. Continue reading

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Anti-Dumping Duties against ‘Big China Solar’ Step toward Restoring Industry Competition

HILLSBORO, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The U.S. head of SolarWorld voiced confidence that today’s announcement of preliminary U.S. anti-dumping duties on imports of solar cells and panels from China’s state-sponsored manufacturers could begin to help restore legal and fair global competition and revive growth in U.S. solar-industry manufacturing and jobs. The duties were calculated to counter the Chinese industry’s illegal practice of dumping products, or selling them at artificially low prices, in the United States to seize market share here.

The U.S. Department of Commerce issued anti-dumping duties of 31.14 percent on imports of solar cells and panels from Suntech, 31.22 percent from Trina Solar, 31.18 percent from other companies that had requested but not received individual duty determinations and 249.96 percent from all other Chinese producers, including those controlled by the Chinese government.

The department also announced that in light of a massive, evasive surge of imports ahead of the determination, these new duties would apply retroactively 90 days. As a result of this determination of so-called critical circumstances, importers of Chinese solar products must post bonds or cash deposits in the full amounts of anti-dumping duties on imports from now forward as well as back to mid-February. Continue reading

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Koch Brothers front group Heartland Institute Ends Experiment with ‘Unabomber’ Global Warming Billboard

It is sometimes difficult to explain to people that live outside the United States why the question of ‘Global Warming’ is still being debated there.  The fact that the earth is warming is pretty obvious for anyone with the ability to count. However, for anyone that has been exposed to more than a couple hours of US television, welcome to the twilight zone.  Pro fossil-fuel organizations spend hundreds of millions of dollars on TV ads which distort energy issue beyond recognition.

On American TV coal is clean, natural gas doesn’t have any environmental side effects at all and domestic fossil fuel production is the ONLY path to future prosperity.  The scientists at the big oil companies are also nature’s very best friends.  It is a wonderful and harmonious world.

One of the organizations at the forefront of this culture of disinformation is the Heartland Institute.  In short, they are an organization that corporations go to, pay money and in exchange they get a bogus ‘scientific’ report that say basically whatever they want it to say.  This report will then be touted as something ‘scientific’ and pumped out to the media.  Propaganda to order – Stalin would be impressed.  Major funders – Koch Industries. Continue reading

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Sustainability: Why South Korea’s Industrial Firms Need to Do More

When it comes to sustainability, industrial firms are perhaps not the first that spring to mind. Their performance is patchy, to say the least. A recent study compared global leaders in the diversified industrial sector – that is to say engineering, construction and production companies, who manufacture a wide variety of products – with their counterparts in South Korea, a country widely respected for its industrial exports. Significant gaps are becoming evident between a small group of leaders, who continue to show groundbreaking innovation, and the rest of the pack.

The success – or not – of the diversified industrial sector is pivotal as it has an impact on the supply chain of so many other industries. Products either enable or hinder customers to manage their own sustainability impacts, while the sector’s own business model is highly dependent on the ever increasing and fluctuating prices of raw materials and energy.

At Two Tomorrows we have just carried out a new piece of research for the Tomorrow’s Value Rating in South Korea. This ranks the sustainability performance of 30 leading South Korean companies and shows which of them is likely to deliver long-term investment value thanks to sustainable practices. It also compares their sustainability performance with that of the 90 companies we rated in the global Tomorrow’s Value Rating last year. The companies rated with investment grades are restricted to those that are already recognised as strong performers in sustainability. Continue reading

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Sustainia on the Look-out for Top 100 Sustainable Solutions

(3BL Media) Copenhagen – 28 March 2012 – The Schwarzenegger-backed Sustainia project is gathering 100 solutions for a sustainable tomorrow. Titled Sustainia100, the solutions will be delivered to decision-makers during Rio+20 to inspire discussions. In addition, solutions selected for the Sustainia100 will be registered as nominees for the Sustainia Award. Submissions of projects are open until 20 April via sustainia.me.

The objective of the Sustainia100 and the Sustainia Award is to present existing solutions that help build a desirable and realistic sustainable society. Sustainia invites corporations, organizations and engaged individuals to present their sustainable ideas and solutions. A wide range of projects are welcomed, ranging from local community initiatives to large scale technology solutions.

“We are looking for the great ideas, innovations and technologies that take us to Sustainia. Our aim is to provide a strong international platform showcasing the ready and available sustainable solutions. Sustainia100 is the people, companies, communities and organizations that represent the greatest story never told: that bottom-up change is in fact already happening and at an impressive speed,” says
Executive Director of Sustainia, Laura Storm. Continue reading

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WTO Case Against China Step One, Says Industry Group

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The U.S. Magnetic Materials Association applauds President Obama’s recent decision to pursue a complaint against the People’s Republic of China in the World Trade Organization. For decades, China has pursued a series of anti-competitive practices in rare earth mining and processing, causing devastating effects for the U.S. rare earth industry. The WTO complaint will be a welcome relief to these businesses. However, business and political leaders alike should realize that WTO action can only be a single step in the rebuilding of a strong and sustainable rare earth market. As a result, USMMA and the small businesses it represents are already reaching out to the administration and to Congress in order to support the complaint but also to ensure that momentum continues building on other initiatives in the rare earth sector.

A WTO ruling against China will be a powerful blow to a monopoly thirty years in the making. It will strike down China’s harsh export and production quotas, which have been manipulated for political and economic gain in the past. It will force Chinese companies to compete on equal footing with companies around the world, rather than serving as a powerful incentive for those businesses to outsource jobs and technology to China. And it will show strong support for a newly re-emergent manufacturing sector in the United States. Continue reading

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Obama Announces New Tools to Help Consumers Manage Electricity Use and Shrink Bills

SANTA CLARA, CA – Today, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra joined utility and technology executives in Silicon Valley to announce several new online tools that will allow consumers in California and other states to download their household energy use information and help them save energy and money.

Central to today’s announcements, two of California’s three largest utilities—Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric—launched “Green Button,” a new feature on their websites that will let nearly six million households representing about 17 million electricity consumers download their own detailed energy usage information with a simple click of a button. In addition, Southern California Edison (California’s second largest utility), Glendale Water & Power, Oncor, Pepco Holdings Inc, and several other utilities across the country that collectively serve an additional 11.3 million households also plan to make the feature available later this year.

Access to data on household energy use is crucial to helping consumers conserve energy and save money. And because Green Button is designed around an open data standard that is available to all, it is already spurring a burst of innovation among website and software developers interested in using that standard to provide novel services—from information about how to save energy or choose appropriately sized solar panels to fun apps that allow individuals to compete against Facebook friends to save energy. The Green Button is also expected to support a new generation of interactive thermostats and virtual energy audits that will recommend energy-efficiency retrofit improvements for homes and businesses. Continue reading

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Posted in Alternative Energy, BusinessWire, Energy, Environment, Health, Politics, Pollution, Smart Grid, Sustainability News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Rockefeller Foundation and IFTF Join Forces to Combat Poverty

Source: http://thewanderer2436.wordpress.com

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 21, 2012 / 3BL Media / PRNewswire/ – On April 3, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Institute for the Future (IFTF) will join forces with people across the globe and ask them to help solve global poverty through an interactive online game.  The game, dubbed Catalysts for Change, is based on the premise that collaboration on a global scale can yield unique insights into ways to create a more prosperous, equitable future.  These insights will trigger innovations that will make a significant difference in the lives of poor or vulnerable communities. The game can be played online at game.catalyze4change.org.

Around the world, hundreds of millions of people are looking for ways out of poverty.  While progress has been made, over 1.2 billion poor or vulnerable people around the world are still living in extreme poverty.

“The public, private and social sectors have worked to tackle poverty, vulnerability and exclusion for years,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.  “While the lives of countless people and communities have been transformed as a result, the persistent level of poverty and vulnerability that remains requires new and innovative thinking.  Using technology to engage a new set of actors from all over the world will provide unique perspectives, allowing us to identify new ways to solve problems and address poverty at its root causes.” Continue reading

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