By: Leo Hindery Jr.

This Thursday, March 4, I am addressing the Apollo Alliance on Clean Energy and Good Jobs on the subject of “How to Make the U.S. a Leader in the Clean Energy Economy,” a topic made urgent in the midst of the ongoing Great Recession by the promising reality that ‘the deployment of just wind and solar power has the potential to support globally 20 million new jobs by 2030 and trillions of dollars in revenue.’

I believe that the answers — four in number — are actually pretty simple:

First — and foremost — we need to be much more capable and efficient in getting stimulus and private monies out the door into ‘things green’ and into improved infrastructure.

Second, we need to immediately level the global trade playing field, especially with China, which is already our biggest competitor in the green economy.

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By: Ashley Braun

The internet loves mysterious product unveilings, especially those promising to revolutionize the world and how we live in it. (Think Apple’s iPhone.) But few (except for maybe the iPhone) actually live up to the hype. (Or so I hear. Anyone wanna get me an iPhone?)

CEO K.R. Sridhar is starting to peel back the layers of secrecy from his magic boxes like a Bloomin’ onion.

Now, after nearly a decade of secrecy, Bloom Energy CEO K.R. Sridhar is coming out of the shadows to tell the world how his “Bloom Box” will do all of this and more as a “zero-emissions” mini-power plant. Bloom Energy debuted its heady energy dreams in an exclusive interview on 60 Minutes this past Sunday, with the company’s official launch to come on Wednesday at early customer eBay’s California headquarters. Google, Wal-Mart, and FedEx have also been quietly testing these heavily-subsidized magic boxes on their premises, with encouraging energy and cost savings thus far.

But, zero emissions? A backyard power plant-in-a-box? Sounds fancy, but what is a Bloom Box and is it really the next “energy breakthrough”?

The Bloom Box is a fuel cell, not an energy source.

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Two of these blocks can power an American home, while one will suffice for a European home. A stack of 64 can power a small business. What is this magical box and where can you get one?

It’s the Bloom Box, essentially a power plant in a box, and it claims to be the latest breakthrough in clean energy technology. You can’t get one yet, but K.R. Sridhar, founder of Bloom Energy, says there will be one in every American home in five to 10 years.

Sridhar has been developing the technology for the past 10 years, and its all been kept relatively under wraps. The company made their first public appearance on 60 Minutes on Sunday, in an exclusive interview with Lesley Stahl preceding the company’s official launch this Wednesday.

Sridhar invented a new kind of fuel cell that is entirely self-sufficient. He feeds oxygen into one side of a cell while fuel is supplied to the other side. The two combine, forming a chemical reaction that produce electricity.

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By: Michael Northrop

Of the 10 largest wind power companies in the world, the United States has one — General Electric. Of the world’s 10 largest solar companies, we have two — First Solar and SunPower – but almost all their manufacturing is in Asia. Hydropower and geothermal companies are also located in the Far East. The U.S., with no national goal or policy framework for clean energy, simply hasn’t found a way to create a stable marketplace where large, renewable energy companies can thrive.

For a nation that consumes 25 percent of the world’s energy, our failure to compete is ominous, and all the more troubling because a veritable “clean energy gold rush” has begun.

Multinational bank HSBC reports that this sector’s value already tops $500 billion a year, larger than the global aerospace and defense industries combined. What’s more, the bank says the clean energy market will be worth $2 trillion in 10 years — the biggest economic development opportunity ever quantified — and it’s up for grabs.

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Rinnai Corp developed what it claims is the world’s first domestic water heater that combines an air-to-water heat pump and a gas water heater.

The water heater, which the company calls “hybrid water heater,” will be released April 2, 2010, in Japan. Because the heater has the same air heating function as the company’s “Eco Jyouzu” gas water heater, it can be used not only for heating water but also for floor heating and bathroom heating.

The hybrid water heater switches heat sources in accordance with the needed amount and temperature of water. To supply a small amount of hot water, only the heat pump is used. The heat pump and the Eco Jyouzu gas water heater are used to supply a large amount of hot water such as for a bath. And only the gas water heater is used for floor heating and bathroom heating.

The energy efficiency of the water heater was improved by 24% because heat sources can be switched, Rinnai said. Its annual CO2 emission was reduced by about 20% compared with that of the Eco Jyouzu gas water heater and by about 30% compared with that of the Eco Cute heat pump-based water heater (460L model). And the annual running cost of the hybrid water heater is about half that of the Eco Jyouzu gas water heater.

The amortization period of the hybrid water heater is about seven years. It will be available in two models. One comes with heat source equipment integrated with a water tank, and the other has heat source equipment separated from a water tank. Their prices are ¥756,000 (approx US$8,457) and 735,000 (including tax), respectively.