onsustainability.com

From Kevin Bullis in MIT’s Technology Review blog:

Because of its generous incentives program, Germany, a country that gets about as much sun as the darkest parts of the United States, has become the largest market for solar power in the world. That in turn has helped create a thriving solar manufacturing industry in the country. Because of its success, the German system has been imitated around the world in places such as Spain and China. At renewable energy conferences, industry experts plead for a similar system in the United States.

But even as it’s hailed as an example, Germany’s federal government has started to cut back on the program, and plans to cut it even more by April. If that happens, it could devastate the German solar industry, and send shockwaves through the industry around the world. It could also reveal what could be the inherent weaknesses of the approach–it doesn’t address the fact that it’s cheaper to manufacture solar panels in China.

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One thing seems clear, fostering a solar market in the U.S. or Germany is not enough in itself to create and maintain solar manufacturing jobs in these countries. To compete, companies in these countries will need to find ways to make cheaper solar panels. And they’ll probably need strong government incentives to build factories in their home countries.

For the full post…

Two US public broadcasting news programs, The NewsHour and WorldFocus, have recently aired a report from British ITN television about recent action by China to restrict its export of rare earth minerals essential for the manufacture of green technologies including wind turbines and hybrid automobile engines. Some of these minerals are also essential in the manufacture of mobile digital technology such as cellular telephones. This development turns out not to be so new, however. Reports were published by The Age and The New York Times at the beginning of September on China’s new policy on rare earths. Click the newspaper titles for the respective stories.

For the ITN report as broadcast on The Newshour…

From Megan R. Schwarzman and Michael P. Wilson in Science for 20 November 2009:

By placing conditions on access to European markets, REACH has set what may become a de facto global standard. The influx of chemical information expected under REACH, as well as the potential for countries outside Europe to become markets for toxic substances prohibited in the EU, presents other regions with an opportunity, and imperative, to retool their chemicals policies.

In the fall of 2009, the Obama Administration unveiled principles for U.S. chemicals policy reform, proposing that chemical producers be required to submit sufficient hazard, exposure, and use data for EPA to determine that chemicals meet a health-based safety standard (21). The principles further acknowledge the EPA’s need for authority to act on priority chemicals, reducing risks they pose to sensitive subpopulations. These principles could influence development of TSCA reform. If implemented, they could improve EPA’s ability to protect public health and the environment, while also providing the necessary incentive to move the chemicals market toward green chemistry, with the ultimate goal of placing the U.S. chemical industry on a more sustainable footing.

For more (subscription required)…

Core Distinctions between Chemicals Policies of the United States (TSCA) and the European Union (REACH)