Obama chooses Nobel Prize Winner for Energy Secretary
Barack Obama has named physics Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu as his energy secretary and tasked him with finding alternatives to fossil fuels.The US president-elect said the new administration's priorities were to end US dependence on foreign oil and fight climate change.
Financial Times: Solar demand to drive silicon manufacture output
Peter Marsh of the Financial Times today reported that Hemlock Semiconductor, a US-based company that is the world's biggest maker of high-purity crystalline silicon for solar cells and electronic chips, is to spend $2.2bn on doubling its output in a development driven mainly by increasing demand for solar energy.The investment - expected to be announced on Monday- goes against the trend for large companies to cut back heavily on production and employment.
The spending plan represents a boost for green energy. High-purity silicon - made by a chemical process in which sand, one of the world's most abundant substances, is the original starting material - is the main component of solar cells.
UK 'needs tougher climate target'
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said a cut in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80% by 2050 should include international aviation and shipping.