Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Green Sunday: Good News on Clean Energy

Juan Cole 06/24/2012

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

1. Morocco has ambitious plans to be the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy. Its new agreement with the European Union removes tariff barriers, and it is importing huge amounts of German equipment for wind and solar generation. Morocco subsidizes the green projects, and plans to export electricity to Europe. ( Desertec is constructing a major solar electricity-generating plant in Morocco).

2. Japan’s Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has put in very attractive rates and incentives for solar power in Japan, such that it will likely overtake Germany as a solar energy market soon. Japan is still reeling from the loss of its Fukushima reactors in the tsunami and subsequent reactor failures. Public opinion in Japan has turned decisively against the nuclear industry, which had generated a third of Japan’s electricity. The Japanese government is therefore scrambling to go green, and taking very serious practical measures to promote that sector. Ironically, Japanese firms had been pioneers in solar panels and other green technology, but the government had been wedded to the nuclear industry or hydrocarbon imports. Japanese engineers and inventors are among the best in the world, and this transition has the potential, at least, to kickstart the Japanese economy, which never really recovered from the burst bubble of the early 1990s.

3. Crowdfunding could revolutionize the solar industry in the United States, according to Bloomberg study. Some $90 bn. could be injected into the industry in this way. Investments in solar on the part of individuals are also a good idea, since the returns will be decent.

4. US solar installations increased by 95% in the first three months of 2012.

5. A group of African and European companies is planning to install 365 wind turbines in a 64 square mile stretch in Kenya. In this desolate region, the wind is strong and regular. The complex will be Africa’s largest wind farm.

6. A US AID survey has found that Pakistan could generate some 346 gigawatts of power from wind energy. Punjab has been racked by electricity riots in recent weeks, as Pakistan continues to face outages and increasing removal of subsidies. If Pakistan’s politicians and businessmen were smart, they get those turbines up and running.

7. The Indian state of Gujarat is planning to put in a big wave-power installation. Given that India has an enormous shore line, wave power could be important to its future.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • Iran's Hypersonic Missiles Hit Israeli Refinery, Military Sites, as Israel does the same to Tehran
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Will Iran reply to Israeli Attacks with "War of Attrition?" Will its Nuclear Red Line Hold?

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved