‘Natural builders’ take green building one step further 
POSTED: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 10:25 AM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
It’s easy to get keyed up about technology in the green building movement, where each day brings a start-up success story, news of an advance in solar panel efficiency or a breakthrough in smart grid deployment. But now part of the movement is swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction. Instead of chasing the latest [...]
Commerce imposes new tariffs on Chinese solar
POSTED: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 03:54 PM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed new fees on solar panels and cells imported from China. The countervailing duties are meant to counteract the subsidies the department believes the Chinese government is giving its solar manufacturers. The duties will range from 2.9 to 4.73 percent of imported products’ cost, an amount that is not [...]
Diesel price hikes fuel anxiety among contractors
POSTED: Monday, February 27, 2012 at 01:01 PM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
Tags: Associated General Contractors of America, U.S. Energy Information Administration
The producer price index for construction materials – including diesel fuel and other items consumed by contractors – has risen 5 percent each year since the end of 2003, according to Ken Simonson, the chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America. Simonson’s latest analysis of construction material prices, released last week, shows a [...]
Commerce Department steps into solar trade war with China
POSTED: Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:07 AM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
Tags: American Solar Manufacturing, Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. International Trade Commission
The trade war between U.S. solar manufacturers and China continues to blaze, and Jan. 30 the U.S. Department of Commerce stirred up more controversy with its announcement that any duties levied by the U.S. will be charged retroactively. The SolarWorld-led Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing celebrated the ruling, a response to what Commerce Department called [...]
International solar trade war hits close to home
POSTED: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 04:44 PM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
A group of American solar manufacturers, led by Hillsboro-based SolarWorld, has ignited a trade war with China that has divided the industry – nationally and locally. The U.S. Commerce Department last week opened an investigation into accusations made by seven American solar manufacturers that Chinese counterparts are “dumping” solar panels into the U.S. at prices [...]
U.S. contractors face risky climate of rising costs, low bids
POSTED: Friday, October 21, 2011 at 02:09 PM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
The construction cost squeeze is not limited to buildings. Nationally,it’s hitting highway construction even more. Bid prices for highway work are 22 percent lower than the national peak in 2008, even though costs for key materials such as steel, asphalt and diesel have gone up, according to a Federal Highway Administration index. But most contractors working [...]
New frontier in green certification: existing neighborhoods
POSTED: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 11:38 AM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
A Portland, Ore., nonprofit is investigating a gap in the green certification market – existing neighborhoods. The Earth Advantage Institute is developing an Eco Neighborhoods program that would certify the holistic sustainability efforts of residential neighborhoods, public housing projects, business districts, college campuses and other groups of existing buildings. But before launching a pilot and expanding [...]
BPA reworking process for planning transmission lines in the Northwest
POSTED: Monday, October 3, 2011 at 10:32 AM PTBY: Lindsey O'Brien
Renewable energy developments in the Northwest may soon benefit from more flexibility in the transmission planning process. The past several years have been marked by an increase of wind power developments, partially because of laws requiring utilities to add renewable energy to their portfolios. The Bonneville Power Administration, which controls three-quarters of the Northwest’s high-voltage [...]
