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6:\u00a0 Utility Scale Geothermal developers<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately for geothermal developers, it seems that tapping the earth\u2019s core to generate energy has increasingly been consigned to fantasy land. Swiss authorities shut down one project<\/a>, backed by former oilman Markus H\u00e4ring, because studies showed that it could trigger earthquakes and cause damage to properties.<\/p>\n Then Google-backed AltaRock Energy gave notice<\/a> to the Department of Energy in early December that it was abandoning its Geysers drilling project near San Francisco. Add these setbacks to the enormous cost and inexact science of drilling holes miles in the ground and you\u2019ve got a technology that appears not to be ready for large-scale development.<\/p>\n The DOE remains keen, saying the technology has \u201cenormous potential.\u201d Recently, however, we\u2019ve only seen enormous setbacks.<\/span><\/p>\n The court ruling<\/a>, which came as a surprise, underscores the hurdles faced by industrial economies as they attempt to clean up their energy consumption by pricing carbon. The French government is now scrambling to get another law into the books.\u00a0 It plans to have a new draft ready by January 20th.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 9: Copenha<\/span><\/strong>gen, home of the United Nations Climate Change Conference <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The failed talks have firmly placed China and the U.S. in the front seat of climate change talks, and put and the U.N. system in the backseat. The city of Copenhagen might not be linked to a much-needed climate change agreement but, at the very least, it could go down in history as the the place that laid the foundations for a more efficient negotiating process that could ensure that a binding climate change agreement eventually sees the day.<\/p>\n 10: Earth Capital Partners, cleantech-focused private equity fund<\/span><\/strong> Earth Capital Partners, a London-based clean energy-focused private equity fund, announced<\/a> last month the first close of its debut fund, the \u20ac750 million ($1.125 billion) ECP Renewable Energy Fund One. The fund plans to invest in solar, biomass, biogas projects in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and is managed by a seasoned energy pro, former AES executive Christoph Waltenspul.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.odec.ca\/projects\/2007\/truo7j2\/350px-Geothermal_energy_methods.png\")
Perpetual motion machines, unicorns\u2026 utility-scale geothermal?<\/p>\n
\n7: The French Carbon Tax <\/span>
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<\/a>Back in September, French President Nicolas Sarkozy rolled out a carbon tax, making good on a campaign promise to put his country at the forefront of the climate change fight. The legislation barely passed the French Assembly and was set to go into law this month, that is, until France’s highest court stepped in and ruled that its web of loopholes, benefiting energy companies and energy-dependent sectors like farming and fishing, rendered it ineffective in cutting down carbon and green house gas emissions. Had it come into effect, the law would have raised some 1.5 billion euros ($2.15 billion) in its first year.<\/p>\n
\n8: Joseph Romm, blogger Climate Progress, Senior Fellow,Center for American Progress<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Joseph-Romm-140x150\"](\"http:\/\/greenenergyreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Joseph-Romm-140x150.jpg\" "\\"Joseph-Romm-140x150\\"")
<\/a>GER\u2019s rankings are a month-by-month rundown of who\u2019s hot in green energy, so most folks appear once and then disappear until they do something interesting again. Not Climate Progress blogger Joe Romm. He\u2019s always hot. Cold December got you feeling like maybe global warming is overblown? Please allow Joe to correct you<\/a>. Don\u2019t like The Washington Post\u2019s editorial or op-ed pages? Please allow Joe to smack them down for you.<\/a> Your eco hero, Bill McKibben, doesn\u2019t like President Obama\u2019s performance in Copenhagen? You\u2019re wrong Bill, Joe said so<\/a>. He sometimes goes overboard with his rhetoric \u2013 his attacks on The New York Times\u2019 Andrew Revkin are still a little inexplicable<\/a> \u2013 but if anyone is going to combat buzzsaws like Sen. James Inhofe and blogger James Delingpole, it\u2019s Romm.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.kirikou.com\/copenhagen\/copenhagen2\/copenhagen10.jpg\")
Copenhagen, for two weeks became the home for all things climate change. Had it been successful<\/a>, the event could have linked the city to a seminal, historical agreement. But China stepped<\/a> in to ensure that a Copenhagen Agreement was not. Instead, as had been rumored in the weeks leading to COP15, chances of a global binding agreement were dead on arrival. Copenhagen will likely go down in history as a minor milestone in the world’s ongoing quest to cut carbon and green house gases emissions. But, while there will not be a historical “Copenhagen Agreement,” the city and the conference organizers did effectively put the issue of climate change at the forefront, hosting both skeptics and believers.<\/p>\n
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