The minerals known as rare earths are likely the most important, but least understood factor in our transition to a low-carbon, clean-energy future. They’re essential ingredients to just about every source of renewable energy and nearly every consumer electronic device we use today.

But China dominates worldwide rare earth supplies and production, and their monopoly could corner the world economy. energyNOW! chief correspondent Tyler Suiters explores how U.S. dependence on China’s rare earths could affect our energy future and high-tech lifestyles. The full video is available below:

Americans are used to seeing the words “Made in China” on most things we buy, but could they soon also read “Mined in China?” The nation controls 97 percent of global production of the elements we rely upon in every aspect of modern life. Consider the technologies requiring rare earths: computers, smart phones, military jets, rocket systems, electric cars, wind turbines, energy-efficient light bulbs, and flat-screen televisions, to name a few.

China’s claim on the rare earths market began in the 1980’s. Premier Deng Xioping famously quipped “the Middle East has oil, but China has rare earths,” and the country ramped up mining efforts. This drove production costs down so sharply that rare earth mining became unprofitable in other countries, including the U.S., which had led global production since the 1960s. It also boosted China’s economy.

“They were very effectively using their control over the rare earth industry to force high-tech manufacturing into China,” said John Burba, CTO of Molycorp, operator of the only active rare earths mine in America. “I could look and see how fast it was leaving the United States.”

Molycorp hopes to counter China’s rare earths monopoly through its Mountain Pass mine in California. Until the 1980s, Mountain Pass was the single top producing rare earths mine in the world. Plunging commodity prices and a series of environmental accidents forced it to close.

Through a revamped approach that favors computer control and automation, Molycorp says it can safely produce 40,000 tons of rare earths a year by 2013 – equal to all U.S. demand. “A facility of this size in China would probably require 3,000 to 4,000 people,” said Mark Smith, Molycorp CEO. “We’ll have 300 or 400.”

Meeting that demand is critical to the burgeoning clean tech economy, which consumes 20 percent of the world’s rare earths. They coat the inside of compact fluorescent light bulbs, go into the magnets that turn electric vehicle batteries, and power the electrical generators inside wind turbines. For context, some of the biggest turbines can each use two tons of rare earths.

If production can’t be increased, another solution may be to find replacements. Companies with a big stake in renewables are actively looking for rare earth substitutes. General Electric says it has developed a higher-performance wind turbine magnetizer coil, completely free of rare earths, and Toyota is working on an EV motor that doesn’t need rare earths at all. But, both are still in the experimental phase and not yet market-ready.

So while breaking up the rare earths monopoly has environmental consequences, it also represents an economic imperative – and the window is closing. “The big danger is that China totally controls the production of all devices containing rare earths,” said Jack Lifton, of Technology Metals Research. “If we haven’t made any significant moves by 2015, we will simply no longer be a nation with any hope of doing so.”

Related posts:

1. Comparing the 50 States on Clean Energy Leadership
2. China’s Clean Tech Efforts Tarnished by Solar Panel Factory Protests
3. Feds Roll-Out New Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit

ForageSF's Underground Market has brought together hundreds of passionate players in the flavor game--the supportive community of creators, makers, eaters, and enjoyers sees 50 new vendor applications each month.  Now, with more members than the health department can snap a latex glove at, officials are saying "cease and desist".

Access to the farmers market with a social, night-life twist was gained by a (free) membership, RSVP, and five dollar entrance fee. While the membership form makes it clear that SF Underground Market goodies aren't health-code certified, the venue is so popular that health officials are stepping in to review the business model.

"This was not an unexpected event" forageSF founder, Iso Rabins told his supporters in an email. "We’ve known that it was only a matter of time until someone became upset about the popularity of the event.  Because we’ve been expecting it doesn’t mean that we accept it."

A trip to April's market could have included 23 Monkey Tree microbrew kombucha, SFQ's duck confit w/ BBQ sauce and Nanny's Mustard, a Loven Kitchen savory muffin, Marshmallow Mischief or Aarons almost better than sex cake; top that palette-pleasing tour off with a mug of Wrecking Ball coffee and you've just supported a dozen of your fellow foodie-friendly entrepreneurs (vendors set their prices).

Shutting down the popular monthly event means local kitchens will suffer and talented chefs who mix and pour the garden herb and oil-infused batters won't have a way to feed this alternative economy, but this alert should be taken as an opportunity to carve out a larger, legal space where indie endeavors can gain momentum.

Other forageSF programming includes Edible Food Walks and elaborate 8-course foraged feasts.

If you want to voice your support contact your local city supervisor or Mission District supervisor, David Campos at David.Campos@sfgov.org (415) 554-5144.

Image Credit: Andrea_Pokrzywinski

Follow Allison Leahy on twitter or reach her by email.

Related posts:

1. Department of Energy Spending $40 Million to Explore Synthetic Biology for Liquid Fuels
2. Invest in Communities and Still Outperform the Market
3. Making Market-Based Solutions, Green Solutions at CGI

Solar power is growing like hardly anything else, in the U.S. and around the world. Solar costs are dropping like crazy and that trend is expected to continue (as it has for decades). But solar stocks are struggling.

To start off, I'll let you know that am anything but a stock market expert. I don't play the stock market and I don't read about it all that often. But there's a story sort of buzzing through the solar industry and stock market world that is quite odd and has caught my attention.

Apparently, solar stocks have been really struggling this year. OK, you may say, stocks rise and fall and the whole thing is unpredictable. But this is a really odd thing for a few reasons. Let's take a quick look.

1. Solar power has been growing in leaps and bounds in the U.S. in recent years. It is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy.

2. No, that growth is not expected to slow down. Solar costs have been dropping substantially in recent years and this year as well (they've dropped approximately 20% this year!), and they are predicted to keep dropping substantially for years to come... according to everyone as far as I have read. Solar is already cost-competitive with coal in some regions (not even taking important externalities into account) and is expected to be far cheaper than coal in just a few years. That combined with the fact that we have a clear need to switch to cleaner sources of power like solar and the fact that many states and countries have set clear renewable energy targets that pretty much ensure solar will continue growing tremendously make it a no-brainer that solar companies are going to grow as well.

3. Nuclear has clearly gone out of favor (if it ever was in favor) with a ton of people after the crisis in Japan (which is still ongoing). That only makes solar more attractive.

So, looking at all these factors, what gives? Solar energy is popular, costs are dropping, growth has been occurring for years and is projected to continue at a tremendous rate....

Note this comment from a reader -- sent to me via Twitter: "On wall street there is a concerted effort to destroy equity in solar stocks. conservative governments mean equals less support."

Prior to receiving the note above, my guesses were that 1) traders were just anticipating that solar stock prices will drop for awhile before all of these factors make solar blow up (even more than it has been) and become a mainstream consumer product or 2) traders didn't know how to evaluate the potential of solar companies and with so many out there right now, they are hesitant to try to figure out which to put their money on.

Clearly, without something a little odd going on behind the scences, the situation doesn't seem to make sense. "Any way you slice it, the solar industry is currently very undervalued by analysts and traders," as Garvin Jabusch, cofounder of Green Alpha Advisors, LLC, and manager of The Sierra Club Green Alpha Portfolio, notes.

Image Credit: brookegraysf via flickr/CC license

Related posts:

1. Italy’s Enel Green Power Planning 2 Huge Solar Power Plants
2. Solar Leader BrightSource Energy Going Public
3. French Energy Giant Areva to Invest $3 Billion in India’s Solar Power Sector

When seen from above, concertina wire-contained campuses of correctional facilities stand out as mini and menacing mazes in the midst of expansive tracts of otherwise unused federal property. Though I would prefer state parks to state prisons, transforming these barren outposts into solar powered penitentiaries is a win-win and should become part of every state's deliberate and comprehensive switch to clean energy. Every array helps states to meet renewable energy requirements and may provide some inmates with marketable skills, thus reducing recidivism.

This summer, SunEdison will work with the state of California to add 23MW to the grid.  The privately-held company is contracted to install 83,000 PV panels across 5 prisons.   Power generated by the resulting solar fields, along with arrays at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison (installed in 2006) and Ironwood State Prison (installed in 2008) puts California on track to save $55 million over 20 years.

Colorado already partially powers at least 9 prisons with the sun's rays.  Otero County, New Mexico will complete a 2MW 23,000 panel array in July.  The Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Indiana has been heating water for  200 inmates with a 15-panel array since February, and Maryland hopes to join the chain-gang with a 20MW plant near Hagerstown come December.

Prisons are perceived as gaping cultural wounds and unsightly outposts, transforming the acres-upon-acres of lost landscape into productive commercial solar plots is an enticing proposition, and one way we can strive to reach President Obama's goal of 19% renewable energy by 2012 (and 80% by 2035).  Also, with the incarcerated population growing by 3% each year, there should be no problem keeping up with on-site maintenance.

Image Credits:  ToastyKen via Flickr, CodePinkHQ via Flickr

Follow Allison Leahy on twitter or reach her by email.

Related posts:

1. Walmart Steps-Up Solar Effort, New California Array Is Company’s Largest
2. Cost of Solar Dips to All-Time Low in US, Texas Tops List as Cheapest
3. Colorado State University Opens One of the Largest Solar Plants at a University in the US

BrightSource, one of the world's leading solar power startups, is going public.

Not familiar with BrightSource? It is the company developing "the biggest solar project" in the world, the one Google just dropped $168 million on and the U.S. Department of Energy dished out $1.6 billion in loan guarantees for. The project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, will have a power capacity of 392 MW, enough to power approximately 140,000 homes according to BrightSource Energy’s utility power purchase agreement.

BrightSource Energy now intends to raise $250 million off the stock market to help implement several more utility-scale solar power projects. You can view BrightSource's S-1 document (submitted on Earth Day, April 22, with the SEC) for a ton more information (it's 148 pages long, plus Appendices).

Not many solar startups have gone public and it will be interesting to see how investors respond to it and how it does.

BrightSource's Promise

BrightSource's business model is focused around selling its equipment and solar projects that it constructs using its innovative concentrating solar thermal systems. It's solar project design is one of the most promising for utility-scale solar that could really cut into the world's fossil fuel addiction. The Oakland-based company reportedly has 14 power purchase agreements with a total worth of approximately 2.6 gigawatts of capacity signed with California utilities. It also owns 110,000 of land suitable for its concentrating solar thermal power plants in California and the Southwest.

BrightSource's Challenges & Risks

Of course, no company, especially a solar startup, is challenge- or risk-free. A few notable challenges BrightSource is facing (which it includes in its S-1) include:

• a dependency on government policies that support clean solar power (which should be a given, but you know what country we're in)
• large capital financing needs
• lengthy environmental reviews

Is BrightSource Going to be a Success?

If I were a stock market investor, I definitely think I'd put some money into BrightSource stock. It is providing a highly-needed power plant option that I think will only grow in its attractiveness and need. It has done a good job of improving the technology and design over the past few years. And, clearly, Google (which has invested more into Ivanpah than any other clean energy project), NRG Solar (another investor in this project), and the Department of Energy believe in it.

Your thoughts?

h/t CNET News

Image via BrightSource Energy/Ivanpah Solar

Related posts:

1. Google & GE Drop Big Money on Solar
2. Solar Stocks Suck but Solar Power Growth Rocks — What’s Up?
3. Italy’s Enel Green Power Planning 2 Huge Solar Power Plants

Cleantech has seen tremendous growth in the past decade, with growth rates rivaling those of previous technology revolutions (i.e. in telephony, computers, and the Internet).

Over the past decade, growth in the cleantech sector has exploded. Clean Edge, which has been tracking it since 2000, released its Clean Energy Trends 2011 report recently. With this being the 10-year anniversary of its first report, Clean Tech: Profits and Potential, it not only reported on changes in the last year or two, but changes in the decade as a whole. It showed that the solar energy industry and wind energy industry, among others, have exploded since 2000.

2010 Cleantech Growth

In 2010, combined revenues for the global solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, and biofuels markets grew from $139.1 billion to $188.1 billion (35.2%).

Global solar PV, in particular, saw tremendous growth -- it more than doubled from 7.1 GW of new installations in 2009 to 15.6 GW of new installations in 2010.

The wind energy market, on the other hand, saw a slight decline from the previous year, the first time it has since Clean Edge started tracking it (2000). China saw an increase in wind power installations and installed a total of 16 GW of wind power capacity, but due to a lot of uncertainty in the U.S. market, a "tight project finance market" there, and a lack of strong federal support for wind power, the U.S. only installed about half of what it had installed in 2009 (and China passed it up as the world leader in total installed wind power capacity).

Cleantech Growth Since 2000

From 2000 to 2010, the global solar PV market has grown from $2.5 billion to $71.2 billion. It's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for that period, therefore, equals 39.8 percent.

The wind energy market has followed a similar trend. It grew from $4.5 billion in 2000 to over $60.5 billion in 2010.

Other cleantech categories (i.e. hybrid electric vehicles, smart grid technology, and green building) have seen similar growth rates as well.

Cleantech Growth from 2010 to 2020

Growth in these markets is expected to continue surging over the next decade as well. Biofuels, which were at $56.4 billion in 2010, are projected to reach $112.8 billion by 2020. Wind power is expected to go from $60.5 billion to $122.9 billion, and solar PV from $71.2 billion industry to $113.6 billion, over the same time period.

"Together, we project these three benchmark technologies, which totaled $139.1 billion in 2009 and grew 35.2 percent to $188.1 billion in 2010, to grow to $349.2 billion in the next decade," Clean Edge reports. Looks like another promising decade for cleantech.

For more information on Clean Edge's data and findings, download Clean Energy Trends 2011 or visit Clean Edge.

Images via Clean Edge

Related posts:

1. 10 ETFs to Take the Sting Out of Cleantech Investing
2. Cleantech Just 4% of North America’s Fastest Growing Tech Firms
3. Has the Recession Doomed Cleantech Startups?

The secret sauce in the Transphorm approach is a material known as Gallium Nitride that allows circuit switching at much higher frequencies than traditional silicon converters and inverters. The process produces up to 90 percent less wasted heat energy.

The investment by Google (NYSE: GOOG), the Mountainview, Calif.-based tech giant, represents another adventurous foray into what is now a broad collection of cleantech and sustainability projects; projects ranging from offshore wind energy transmission and its own electric utility, Google Energy, on one end of the spectrum, to electric vehicles and a human-powered monorail on the other. Exactly where Transphorm's potentially transformational technology will fit on that spectrum remains to be seen. The company hasn't led on too much about the technology or where it sees sees optimal market opportunities but says data centers, HVAC systems, solar farms and electric vehicles and chargers would be good candidates.

Read my entire piece about Google and Transphorm at Celsias.

Related posts:

1. Cleantech Investment Rose Considerably in 2010 & Since 2000
2. Google Wind? Big Search Invests $38 Million in Big Wind
3. Google & GE Drop Big Money on Solar