On Monday, Ian Talley at the WSJ’s Energy Roundup informed us that there were no alternatives at NYMEX. While the reasons behind this delay may be unclear, the US Futures Exchange is moving ahead with what I believe are the first US wind power futures to be traded on a US exchange. On Wednesday, Dan Lewis at AEI informed us that Vestas was closing a second manufacturing plant in Australia. Not supporting the emergence of a strong renewables industry is, to say the least, an interesting policy choice on the part of the Federal and the various State governments in Australia. Wind investors now know what market not to bother with! On Thursday, David Ehrlich at Inside Greentech told us that offshore wind was getting pricey. We’ve discussed in the past how supply-chain gluts in the wind sector could create interesting investment opportunities in the turbine vendor space. However, a number of news items have recently hit the wire around this issue, and there are now some concerns around whether those gluts could hamper overall sector growth. On Thursday, Jim Fraser at The Energy Blog informed us that GM was planning on going full-steam ahead with the Volt. Of course, the Volt is not forecasted to hit the road until 2010, which gives competitors Toyota and Honda plenty of time to continue innovating in the clean car space. Much could happen with GM in the coming 2 1/2 years… On Thursday, Environmental Finance told us about the newly-formed Western Climate Initiative (WCI). Another step in the direction of non-voluntary North American carbon markets. On Friday, our very own Tom Konrad unearthed a special section on the Economist’s website that lets you browse many of the articles they have published on the topic of alternative energy. The Week in Cleantech is a weekly roundup of our favorite cleantech and alt energy blog posts and stories from across the web. If you know of a good piece that you think should be included here, don’t hesitate to let us know!
I can’t claim responsibility for finding the Economist archive. I learned about it in The Master Resource Report from Jim Hansen at KMS Financial Services in Washington.