
Bloomberg Nov 22, 08 12:14 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Barack Obama says he will move quickly once in office to enact an ambitious, two-year plan to save or create 2.5 million jobs, Bloomberg reports. Obama announced his plan in his weekly radio address, where he also warned that “we risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further.” About 1.2 million jobs have already been lost this year, and the trend could continue.
More »
OPINION
Going green will help bring US out of crisis: Klein

Time Nov 13, 08 1:56 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Detroit's looking for a bailout. China just announced a massive stimulus package, including big investments in transportation and energy. What’s a president-elect to do? Barack Obama would be best served by making good on his promise to create an alternative energy economy, writes Joe Klein in Time. Thankfully, the head of Obama’s transition team runs a think tank-with a proposal for just that.
More »
Obama's plans for investment in renewable energy turn cost into benefit

Wall Street Journal Nov 7, 08 6:51 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Barack Obama's ambitious plans to use green energy investment to rev up the economy are igniting fierce debate over the math behind them, the Wall Street Journal writes. The president-elect says $150 billion in investment will create five million jobs over the next decade, in construction and installation. Critics charge that the plan doesn’t take into account jobs lost elsewhere in the energy industry.
More »
ANALYSIS
Health care, infrastructure, alternative energy look are looking up

Time Nov 5, 08 11:08 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Oilmen cheered when George Bush moved into the White House, and investors in Internet companies saw their portfolios gain ground under Bill Clinton. But what's going to be hot once Barak Obama moves into the White House? In Time , Stephen Gandel suggests three sectors and a handful of companies that should profit under Barack Obama’s administration.
More »
OPINION
A National Mobility Project would create jobs, leaving lasting impact: Brooks

New York Times Oct 31, 08 12:00 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Panic is afoot, so of course, Congress is bearing down on another stimulus package, though the last one seems to have missed the mark. These “politically designed, ad hoc” measures “amount to an economic sugar rush,” David Brooks writes in the New York Times . If he’s wise, the next president will eschew checks for one essential project: rebuilding America’s transit infrastructure.
More »
OPINION
Investment in green
is our only way out of crisis, writes Friedman

New York Times Oct 22, 08 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Gas prices are dropping at last, back down to an average of less than $3 a gallon for the first time in a year. That's good news for recession-fearing consumers, writes Thomas L. Friedman, but there's a downside: the push to drive less and make Detroit build more fuel-efficient cars is disappearing. The oil shock has been "a bad B-movie rerun of the 1980s," and we can't get addicted to oil again.
More »
glossies
Solyndra's designs can capture light from any angle

Economist Oct 12, 08 7:31 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
A California company's new, sun-sucking glass tubes aim to solve solar power's practical problems, the Economist reports. Chief among them are flat panels that miss the sun—by looking the wrong way—and cost more than $40,000 per household to install. Solyndra's new technology uses glass tubes that capture sunlight from all sides, at about half the cost.
More »
Plunging crude prices can be almost as disruptive as their rise

Washington Post Sep 17, 08 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Crude oil prices have fallen 38% from their July high of $147.27 a barrel, and the decline is causing nearly as much consternation around the world as its meteoric rise in the first half of the year, reports the Washington Post. Oil-dependent governments are worried about revenues and forecasters are scurrying to revise outlooks. while alternative-energy companies see their prospects decline.
More »
'Compromise' bill allowing limited new drilling passes without GOP backing

Washington Post Sep 17, 08 2:18 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
An energy bill including a partial lifting of the ban on new offshore drilling has passed the House, reports the Washington Post . The vote split largely along party lines, with most Republicans rejecting the package for not going far enough. The measure would allow new drilling beginning at 50 miles offshore and beyond. Opponents say the limit is too far to exploit most known reserves.
More »
Automaker sees battery-powered car as
turning point for company, Detroit

Wall Street Journal Sep 15, 08 11:20 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
General Motors will unveil its new Chevy Volt tomorrow, hoping that the battery-operated car will reverse its long reputation as a gas-guzzling industry dinosaur and attract devotees of competitors' hybrids, reports the Wall Street Journal. GM hopes the Volt, a lithium-ion-powered car due to hit the market in 2010, can help the company regain some cred as an innovator.
More »
Successful test opens the possibility of humanity getting its energy from space

Space.com Sep 13, 08 10:19 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
An experiment in beaming solar power has raised hopes that humanity can harness huge amounts of solar energy from satellites, Space.com reports. Researchers sent the energy about 90 miles between two Hawaiian islands via radio waves. The transmission of energy a hundred times further than earlier experiments proves the concept can work, said the former NASA scientist behind the test. One hurdle: Only a small fraction of the energy survived the transmission.
More »
Short of energy and too crowded to add plants, US looks seaward for wind farms

Wall Street Journal Sep 3, 08 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The Northeast is the most promising region of the US for major development of wind power, the Wall Street Journal reports, with large coastal cities close to strong offshore winds and a shallow continental shelf good for erecting turbines. The federal government is getting ready to lease 10 tracts of the outer shelf to companies primed to build wind farms; construction could start within 5 years.
More »
Creaky infrastructure not able to deliver alternative energy to consumers

New York Times Aug 27, 08 1:58 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
The nation's outdated and congested power grid is putting a damper on plans to expand renewable energy programs, the New York Times reports. Generating power from the wind and sun is becoming easier—but getting the power to consumers who live far from the country's windiest and sunniest places remains a problem.
More »