alternative energy

600 million people without power – and those were the ones expecting to have power. I’m not going to join the chorus of critical voices reacting to two of the world’s largest power black-outs this week in India. While surely there is ample blame to go around, it’s not really clear what happened. It could have been the lack of infrastructure investment, the light monsoon weather causing farmers to use more electricity for pumping irrigation water or states taking more than their allotted share of electricity from the grid. But one thing is clear, this power outage ground India’s economy to a halt, left 10% of the world’s population without power and rolled through 22 of India’s 28 states. And that’s not counting the 300 million people there who have no regular access to electricity.

Dr. Charles Gay, President of Applied Materials’ Solar division, discusses the impact of the new 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard that was just passed into California law. This interview with the Daily Energy Report is the first of a two part series.

Applied Materials recently hosted a delegation from the Chungbuk Province, Korea, that included its Governor, Mr. Si-Jong Lee and its Ambassador and International Advisor, Mr. Dong-Hwan Choi. This visit was part of the Governor's official trip to the United States that also included stops in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles. The purpose of the trip was to promote US-Korea global investments and local industry, focusing primarily on the solar and bio-technology industries. The delegation included the Governor's staff, Korea industry executives, and representatives from Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) which organized the trip. While at Applied Materials the group met with company executives including Chris Bowers, group vice president, Corporate Initiatives and Charlie Pappis, group vice president and general manager, Applied Global Services, to discuss Applied Materials’ technology and presence in Korea as well as investment opportunities in the Chungbuk Province. Additionally, the delegation received a company overview and tour of the Maydan Technology Center – a state of the art semiconductor R&D facility.

As the government considers President Obama’s proposed budget, we hope our legislators push hard for budget commitments and policies that make the creation of a strong domestic clean technology industry a priority. The budget, after all, is the government displaying its priorities with numbers attached. We’re pleased that President Obama’s budget focuses on the future, and creating a cleaner, greener, more competitive, and more secure America.

The renewable energy sector, and the solar photovoltaics industry in particular, lost a great leader on Thursday, October 14. Hermann Scheer, winner of the Alternative Nobel Prize, and mentor and champion of the solar photovoltaics industry, died unexpectedly in Berlin at the age of 66.