A small sampling of recent reports and coverage.
Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22 fossil-fueled vehicles
Taxpayers Take Hit as Layoffs, Bankruptcies Plague Green Firms
U.S. to become net exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2016: The U.S. is on track to become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2016′ — ‘The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Information Administration said it expected a cumulative increase in U.S. natural gas production through 2035. ‘This primarily reflects increased shale gas production resulting from the application of recent technological advances,’ the EIA said in its forecast for 2012′
Parent company of Obama-backed battery maker goes bankrupt after $118 million DOE grant — Biden touted during visit — ‘The parent company of an electric car battery maker that received a $118 million grant from the Obama administration filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday. New York-based Ener1 said it has been affected by competition from China and other countries’
Drip, Drip, Drip: Yet Another Green Energy Stimulus Recipient Hits the Skids (the third this week!)
‘Earlier this week, Stimulus beneficiary Evergreen Energy bit the dust. Then, Ener1, a manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles and recipient of Stimulus largesse, filed for bankruptcy. And today, the Las Vegas Sun reports that Amonix, Inc., a manufacturer of solar panels that received $5.9 million from the Porkulus, will cut two-thirds of its workforce, about 200 employees, only seven months after opening a factory in Nevada’
Flashback 2010: Fmr. GM executive Bob Lutz called global warming a ‘crock of sh*t’
Bankrupt Solyndra Caught Destroying Brand New Parts
Flat battery: Government reveals there are more charging points than electric cars in UK as sales slump — ‘Sales of electric cars have slumped so badly that there are now more charging points than vehicles on the road. Just 2,149 electric cars have been sold since 2006, despite a government scheme last year offering customers up to £5,000 towards the cost of a vehicle. The Department for Transport says that around 2,500 charging points have been installed’
Energy Dept. persuaded Solyndra to delay layoff news until after election
Watch Now: 130 year old World’s First Electric Car Hits the Road – Again – with nearly the same driving range as the Chevy Volt! (31 mile range vs. 40 mile range) — ‘The original vehicle had a range of 50 kilometers (31 miles) , but at that point the batteries ran down, an endurance problem that plagues electric vehicles even today’ (Volt has range of 40 miles) ‘The Ayrton & Perry electric car was originally presented 130 years ago and has now been recreated’
Analysis: Hyrbid Cars Are A Big Money Loser: ‘A hybrid car’s better-than-avg. gas mileage is economically irrelevant when it takes years of driving to amortize hybrid’s much higher up-front costs’ — ‘Even if you triple the Prius’ annual fuel savings – make it an even $1,000 a year, say – it will still take you nearly ten years to work off the higher up-front costs of the Prius…deep down, I think they buy hybrids because they want to tell others how “green” they are. It is a political act, not an economic one’
Detroit unsure over the future of green cars: ‘Ten years after Toyota Prius hybrid swept into the market, only about 3% of all cars sold in U.S. are electric or gas-electric hybrids’ — ‘Initially there was probably some excessive exuberance about the green auto. But the economics are not attractive yet for the average consumer’ – ‘Nissan has sold only 9,700 of its all-electric Leaf in the US market, and GM has sold just 8,000 of its rechargeable hybrid the Volt since its launch at the end of 2010, below the targeted 10,000’
Bankrupt Solyndra seeking to pay bonuses
Watch Now: Climate Depot’s Morano on Fox News about Chevy Volt recall & subsidies — ‘This has become the most heavily subsidized car since the East German Communist Trabant’ — Neil Cavuto of Fox News credits Climate Depot with exposing the Chevy Volt’s failure: ‘Thank you Marc. You were way ahead of this young man’
U.S. to become net exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2016: The U.S. is on track to become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2016′ — ‘The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Information Administration said it expected a cumulative increase in U.S. natural gas production through 2035. ‘This primarily reflects increased shale gas production resulting from the application of recent technological advances,’ the EIA said in its forecast for 2012′
W. VA newspaper: Obama Winning His War on Coal — ‘Millions of families will pay more for electricity and an industry that is the backbone of some state economies…will be devastated’ — ‘Utilities already had announced plans to close more than two dozen coal-fired power plants, due to new EPA rules…On Thursday, the list was expanded…new EPA rules are forcing closure of six coal-fired power plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland…At some point – very soon – damage caused by Obama’s war on coal will be irreversible’
For much, much more on Climate Depot’s reports and coverage of green energy, see here.
