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United Solar Ovonic (UNI-SOLAR) is once again cutting jobs at its Greenville facility. This will be the third time since December 2009. The latest layoffs are part of a furlough, Michael Schostak, director of business development and communications for UNI-SOLAR'S parent company, Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD), told 24 Hour News 8. He said 140 employees will be let go at the Greenville facility, and plants nationwide will be idled until at least the end of the year.

The global market for clean energy products grew to $243 billion in 2010, a year in which China and Germany both captured a greater share of this global investment than the United States. That has led many (myself included) to worry about the erosion of U.S. competitiveness in a set of clean energy technology products—from solar and wind to nuclear and advanced batteries—originally invented in America.

The more people know about the wind-energy business, the less they like it. And when it comes to lousy wind deals, General Electric’s Shepherds Flat project in northern Oregon is a real stinker. I’ll come back to the GE project momentarily. Before getting to that, please ponder that first sentence. It sounds like a claim made by an anti-renewable-energy campaigner. It’s not. Instead, that rather astounding admission was made by a communications strategist during a March 23 webinar sponsored by the American Council on Renewable Energy called “Speaking Out on Renewable Energy: Communications Strategies for the Renewable Energy Industry.”

What do the world’s biggest wind farm, the world’s biggest solar photovoltaic, or PV, project, and the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant have in common? These projects—and dozens of other innovative clean energy projects across the country—are moving forward because of the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee Program.

TUCSON, AZ (KPHO/AP) - Davis-Monthan Air Force Base has stepped up security and limited traffic in and out of the base in the midst of reported gunfire. A Davis-Monthan Air Force Base spokesperson could not confirm reports of gunfire or say if anyone has been shot. An elementary school on the base is on lockdown, but a spokeswoman would release few details other than no one was being allowed in or out of the base

The bodies of two people have been pulled from the water in northern Lake Michigan after a sailboat participating in the Chicago Yacht Club's Race to Mackinac capsized in a storm near Fox Island early Monday morning. Six were rescued. The names of the two were not released by the Coast Guard. Officials could not recall any previous drowning deaths during past races. The Coast Guard was notified at 11:40 p.m. CDT Sunday by radio by crew members from the sailing vessel Sociable, that the 35-foot sailing vessel WingNuts had capsized, sending eight people into the water. Crew aboard the...

NASA abruptly called off space shuttle Endeavour's final launch Friday because of a puzzling heater failure in a critical power unit, disappointing huge crowds converging on the area for the afternoon liftoff. President Barack Obama and his family were planning to watch Endeavour blast off. It would have been the first time in NASA history that a sitting president and his family witnessed a launch. Already at Cape Canaveral for the liftoff was wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wife of the shuttle's commander.

Barely three years have passed since the state overhauled its energy policy to require electric utilities to meet energy demand through renewable resources and energy efficiency programs. Now a legislative proposal introduced Wednesday would scrap the 2007 energy law, known as Senate Bill 3. Republican state Rep. George Cleveland's bill calls for the immediate repeal of the bill, which requires power companies to meet 12.5 percent of customer electricity demand through renewables and conservation by 2021.

After wrapping up the three-day UAW collective bargaining convention at the Cobo Center, King and cohorts shut down the Bank of America branch for more than 30 minutes with chants including "money for schools, not for banks.

Dow Chemical Co. officials said Thursday adding former Gov. Jennifer Granholm to the company’s board of directors gives the chemical giant some new political savvy as it pursues its business agenda for the 21st century. “Granholm’s track record fits very well with Dow’s focus, and we believe she is going to bring some valued insight to our board,” said Dow Chemical spokeswoman Rebecca Bentley.

Our current renewable energy subsidy path (including tax credits, grants, mandated purchases and government loan guarantees) has proved to be unsustainable for a variety of reasons. For example, it has diverted private investments from viable to uncompetitive enterprises; created a welfare program for politically favored industries; distorted and disrupted proven free market structures; continuously rewarded repetitive failures; imposed unwarranted and involuntary cost burdens upon all energy consumers and taxpayers; and extended unprecedented government regulatory intrusions into our businesses and private lives.

Have you noticed many of the new windmills along Route 5 are not working? This isn't the first time they've had mechanical problems, and we managed to dig up some hard numbers on just how much electricity they actually are generating. In its first year, Steelwinds had to replace all of the gear boxes in the eight turbines. The next year, the blades had to be fixed. And for this entire winter, only half of the Lackawanna windmills have been working at any given time.

Government support for the renewable sector in Scotland is costing more jobs than it creates, a report has claimed. A study by consultants Verso Economics found there was a negative impact from the policy to promote the industry. It said 3.7 jobs were lost for every one created in the UK as a whole and that political leaders needed to engage in "honest debate" about the issue.

Organizing for America, the permanent incarnation of the Obama presidential campaign, has a new offer to its members: send money now and be automatically registered for a chance to win a trip to meet Barack Obama. It will happen October 22, when Obama appears at a rally for faltering Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas. "The president will be kicking off the final push at a grassroots rally," an Organizing for America email says. "We're saving three backstage passes for supporters like you."

A New Jersey brownfield where once BP distributed oil may soon become one of the first places where turbines are assembled for wind farms off the Atlantic Ocean. The site is poised to become the chief benefactor of a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Chris Christie that will help finance enough wind energy to power 1 million homes and provide up to $100 million in tax credits for wind energy facilities. Christie signed the bill at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, a brownfield site that has been vacant since the mid-1990s when BP used it.

General Electric (GE) is renowned as the training ground of such outspoken champions of American capitalism as former CEO Jack Welch and ex-Home Depot (HD) and Chrysler chieftain Robert Nardelli. So it may come as a surprise to some that every summer since 2000, GE has collaborated with the world's largest Communist party to pick about 25 Chinese executives to attend the company's storied leadership program in the U.S.

Despite a federal government assessment that South Haven has “excellent” potential for generating wind power, the Lake Michigan resort community has no rules in place to regulate wind turbines that could alter its skyline. “We know that there is a potential big push for alternative forms of energy like solar and wind,” said City Manager Brian Dissette. “We know that the wind is very good here so we want to have something in place that will balance quality of life with these new technologies.” The city’s Planning Commission in August began to consider a zoning amendment that would regulate wind...

Seventy-five percent of U.S. women disagree with the recommendations of a government panel that urged fewer women to get mammograms, with 47 percent saying that they strongly disagree, according to a new Gallup Poll. New guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggest women begin getting routine mammograms starting at age 50, rather than age 40, and that such tests should be every other year.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 28% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -13 (see trends). The number who blame Obama’s policies for the nation’s economic woes has grown to 45%, the highest level yet. However, 49% still blame George W. Bush. It’s Election Day. Our latest polls show a very close race in New Jersey and a solid lead for Republican Bob McDonnell in Virginia. Also, we look at...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 30% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -9 (see trends). Fifteen percent (15%) say that Congress is doing a good or an excellent job while 53% rate Congressional performance as poor. Sixty-two percent (62%) believe that Congress pays more attention to the media than to voters.