Comments on: Senate ‘Buy American’ Clause Awaits Wind Industry Reps as They Descend on Washington

By: Rod Allen

Rod Allen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:24:26 +0000

Thanks Tim:
Good sense. Campaign reform is the bedrock of getting it done.
Rod Allen
Shop American Made

By: Wind Industry Storms DC to Push for Renewable Energy Standard : Red, Green, and Blue

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:04:23 +0000

[...] at ecopolitology] More than one hundred wind energy representatives are traveling to Washington D.C. this week for a [...]

By: Timothy B. Hurst

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:05:50 +0000

I think you hit the nail on the head JC. As I see it, the problem is that a buy American provision may have been more useful when things were humming along in the American economy and the microeconomic niche of the wind energy industry would have welcomed the work. But factories have closed, lenders have tightened their pursestrings and the wind industry in the US has taken a serious hit.

While the ‘buy American’ mantra may carry some points with it in the short run of the election cycle–especially in manufacturing areas hard hit by the economic funk–there are still jobs being created by those tax breaks an the long-term result will be a robust and fertile market for American manufacturers.

By: Senate Bill Would Spur Investment in Elusive Deepwater Offshore Wind Energy | Earth and Industry

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:39:32 +0000

[...] representatives descended on Capitol Hill today for a coordinated lobbying effort to support a national renewable energy standard, there is a different proposal also now on the table, one that would provide incentive for the more [...]

By: jcwinnie

jcwinnie — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:25:26 +0000

Buy American sounds patriotic, yet it could be obstructionist, i.e., first cripple clean energy manufacturing in the U.S., then say Buy American.

American investors own the largest share of global wind energy, yet the mix in the U.S. is less than 2 percent.

OTOH, it is valid to ask how much wind power will reduce carbon emissions. Which is why I suggest an Emissions Adjusted RPS.