John H. Duncan's Blog – November 2011 Archive (16)

FLS Energy, recently ranked the 46th fastest growing company in the US by INC Magazine, will be moving from their Amboy Road HQ to Roberts Street, in the "heart of the River-Arts District". President, Dale Freudenberge has stated "In the end, it came down to which property would best meet the needs of our employees: a central location, a connection to…

Blacksburg,SC may soon be the home to a 180,000-sq.-ft. solar  manufacturing facility. Franchise Investment Group has announced it will invest $18 million in this facility for Global Energy Franchise which will produce panels for residential and commercial customers.

Global plans to hirelocally from the area and conduct job skills training in partnership…

CEO of Colorado's Sundrop Fuels spoke last week on Thanksgiving about the new proposed  location of a $450 Million biofuels refinery; Wayne Simmons stated "Our decision to locate in Rapides Parish underscores Louisiana's commitment to the advanced biofuels industry" he said, "and we look forward to our partnership in helping meet the nation's growing energy needs."

This facility will…

Amy's Kitchen will be hosting on Monday Nov. 28th from 9:00am - 11:00 am a meeting with John Aselage, the Organic Purchasing Manager for Amy's Kitchen. Amy's Kitchen in the nation’s largest organic prepared food manufacturer and will be opening a facility in Greenville, SC. in the…

From the Office of the Governor:

Gov. Bev Perdue today announced more than $3.4 million in federal grants are available for North Carolina non-profits and government agencies to recruit AmeriCorps members.  Interested non-profits and government agencies that provide tutoring, mentoring, disaster services, environmental stewardship, education on healthy futures, job training and placement and aid to military families should apply.  

The N.C. Commission on…

Following a trade case suit filed against Chinese Solar panel manufacturers by the US Department of Commerce, many companies are shifting production to South Korea, Taiwan and the US. The Department of Commerce filed an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case against Chinese solar panel manufacturers on Nov. 9. Despite the appearance that these Chinese companies are "gloomy about their chances of winning the case" they have filed a trade case suit of their own against the US.

According to…

The Biofuels Center of North Carolina seeks a visionary, creative, and experienced professional to position the Center and biofuels statewide and beyond with key constituencies and audiences through clear messages, targeted strategies, varied communicational formats, and trust.  Established by the Legislature in 2007 to implement North Carolina’s…

Keiser Analytics has released a new report that highlights the continuing decrease in prices of solar energy. This report stresses that solar energy is quickly approaching "grid parity" and "installation cost is bringing PV pricing into the US$3-US$5 per watt range for residential installations, while some commercial installations in the US are already below US$3 per watt."

From the president of Keiser Analytics, "“We are about to cross an inflection point for solar PV demand in the…

Yesterday from the NYT, Paul Krugman on Fracking: "Economics 101 tells us that an industry imposing large costs on third parties should be required to “internalize” those costs...it’s worth pointing out that special treatment for fracking makes a mockery of free-market principles"

Krugman also tackles why our federal government should continue to support solar energy despite "cries of 'Solyndra!'" from "the entire G.O.P." He states " 'there’s now frequent talk of a ‘Moore’s law’ in…

The Asheville Citizen Times is creating a new feature section: "Made in WNC" and it all kicks off with a summary of Venture Local, an event that discussed "ways to link our local businesses to build a stronger community." Venture Local featured speakers and representatives from Balle and…

A paradigm shift may be approaching for European Utilities. According to research done by Giorgio Busnelli, Venkie Shantaram, and Alice Vatta and published in Mckinsey Quarterly, following the trend of energy consumption a new home in 2020 Europe will consume 90% less energy. In this scenario, profit margins fall by 30% for utilities.…

New survey results from Mckinsey estimate that the clean-tech product market will reach $1.6 trillion by 2020, up from $670 billion in 2010. The Mckinsey survey was a 10 day survey in the Summer of 2011 aimed at executives representing the full range of regions, industries, tenures, company sizes, and functional specialties; They received over 3200 responses.

From the report, "On the whole, respondents report a more well-rounded understanding of sustainability and.. respondents in…

According to the 2011 SCHOTT Solar Barometer, an annual poll conducted by the Kelton Research firm, 9 out of 10 Americans believe "it is important for the United States to develop and use solar energy". This is for the fourth consecutive year!  Also, this survey found that "Eight out of 10 Americans (82 percent) think it is “extremely important” or “somewhat important" for the Federal Government to support US solar manufacturing.

Additionally, the poll also found that "Americans…

GE will open the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the US in Aurora, CO, and will make their new home in a refurbished L'Oreal plant with 280,000-sq.-ft of space. GE plans to expand the facility to 700,000 square feet when it hits 400 MW of capacity. This plant will be in production by 2012 with 355 employees on location with an additional 100 new…

Maiden, NC home to Apple's $1-billion data center may be getting a solar farm to boot. Catawba county has issued permits to Apple for "Project Dolphin Solar Farm A Expanded". "Project Dolphin" was said data center in Maiden NC. Apple has not issued any formal announcement or responded to journalistic inquiries from Charlotte Observer.

So far, the permits…