Clean-energy investment fell 14 percent in the third quarter from the prior three months as Europe curbed subsidies and cheaper U.S. natural gas lured investment.

Coal contributes 60 percent to India's power mix today; solar is less than 1 percent. But what was a factor-of-seven difference between the cost of coal and solar two years ago shrank this summer to just a 1.8x gap. Can solar catch up within the next ten years?

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison plans to build one to power the Hawaiian island he bought last year. EBay Inc. has one to run a data center. The University of California at San Diego and the federal government have invested tens of millions of dollars in the technology.

Walk into any panel discussion at a geothermal power event and you will often hear about barriers hindering geothermal development. In spite of the obstacles, the geothermal industry has grown and adapted to adversity, and it is unfortunate when more attention is not given to geothermal power’s technological accomplishments and the long-term potential. Today, 73 countries across the globe are actively engaged with the geothermal energy sector, showing that more governments, utilities, and industry stakeholders are recognizing the long-term value geothermal power can bring to their power systems.

In early 2013, a group of women, dubbed the Women in Power committee, assembled in Orlando, Florida to figure out how to honor women who have dedicated their careers to the power industry. The industry is male-dominated with men making up more than 75 percent of the workforce, according to some estimates. The Women in Power committee believed that it was time to give recognition to the pioneering women who have worked to advance the power industry. To do this, the committee decided to allow anyone in the industry to nominate a woman for a Woman of the Year Award, which would be given out at POWER-GEN International. To judge the nominees, the committee came up with three focus areas.

This month marks the anniversaries of two notable events, decades apart yet related in terms of historical impact, awareness of vulnerability, and challenge to business as usual: the Arab oil embargo 40 years ago (Oct. 19-20, 1973) and Superstorm Sandy, which hit the Northeast on Oct. 29 last year. Both events sparked a national and global focus on two concepts I’ve been hearing quite a bit about in recent months: adaptation and resilience.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program was officially launched in 2009 as the result of the 2007 America COMPETES Act, which was signed by President George W. Bush. Congress appropriated and President Barack Obama allocated $400 million in 2009 to begin funding the agency’s first projects. ARPA-E exists within the broader organizational framework of the Department of Energy and was modeled after the very successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which has been credited with developing technological innovations such GPS (global positioning system), the stealth fighter jet and more.

Several U.S. Senators are resurrecting legislation seeking to create a national Renewable Energy Standard (RES), while more proposed RPS changes crop up in some quieter markets.

The SEC has finally proposed its rules to allow crowd-funding under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. What do they mean for small-scale investments in renewable energy companies and projects?

Historical events have a way of jolting us – again and again and again – into the reminder that energy plays a big role in our well-being.

Wind farms and solar parks are changing hands at record rates, signaling both an increased taste for the assets among pension funds and hard times for utilities that are the biggest sellers.

Canada’s stock exchanges have long had the lead as the place for energy infrastructure companies to list. This includes green energy, as well as the fossil fueled sort. Because Canada’s reporting rules are somewhat less stringent, and its markets less liquid than those in the U.S., the large number of offerings trade at lower valuations and higher yields than do their (few) U.S.-listed equivalents.

What’s the next big opportunity for geothermal? According to panelists at last week's Renewable Energy World North America international geothermal session, it’s emerging markets. Kicking off the two-hour discussion, special guest Agnes Dasewicz of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) explained the Power Africa initiative, which launched in June 2013. USAID is attempting to unlock energy growth in six countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, and — of particular interest to the geothermal crowd — Ethiopia.

Brazil's latest A-3 auction, matching up developers and power purchasers to prepare renewable energy projects to meet the nation's electricity demand by 2016, was a landslide win for wind energy -- but a shutout for solar, which was included in the process for the first time.

The U.S. brought online nearly 700 MW of new electricity generation in October, and practically all of it was large-scale solar energy, according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects.

In February of this year, Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, announced plans to increase the ratio of the country’s renewable energy resources to 30 percent of total energy production by 2023. Over the next ten years The Turkish government is seeking considerable investments to fund projects in wind, solar, hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy, believing a thriving renewable industry to be pivotal to future economic growth. Turkey has already enticed major international investors such as General Electric and Siemens AG; General Electric opened the 22.5-megawatt (MW) Sares wind farm and 10-MW Karadag site, and is scheduled to supply turbines to Fina Enerji Holding AS; Siemens is contracted to supply turbines to a 50-MW wind farm, and the firm expects to be involved in further projects in 2014.

The third quarter earnings season has been quite eventful for my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013 and six alternative picks model portfolios, so much so that writing about them has taken a back seat to keeping up with the announcements. There were a number of earnings disappointments and earnings announcements which were in line with my expectations but the market treated like disappointments. These resulted in an overall decline of 2.5 percent for the portfolio since the last update, even as my industry benchmarks, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW) and my small cap benchmark (IWM) were up 1.0 percent and 3.9 percent over the months since October 15th.

India's solar market is on track to be roughly the same in 2013 as it was in 2012, which is surprising given the ~20 percent overall growth projected for global solar demand. But optimism and expectations continue to emerge for India's solar potential.

The U.S. market for wind energy is something of a contradiction: it's one of the world's larger markets and fastest growing with its own supply chain, yet it's still heavily reliant upon a production tax credit, which was renewed at the last minute last December (yet late with enough uncertainty to chill many projects in the pipeline), and this time its renewal is even less certain.

Nearly one month after Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the Philippines, affecting more than 12 million people and killing almost 6,000, many residents are still sitting in the dark. The Superstorm not only decimated the islands’ transmission systems, it knocked out one of its main power sources — geothermal.

Holders of Ram Power Corp. (TSX:RPG, OTC:RAMPF) on November 26 (the “record date”) recieved valuable coupons as the result of the company’s rights offering, announced November 18th. Just in time for the holidays, these coupons, or “rights” can be used to buy additional shares of Ram Power for 8¢ Canadian per share any time before 5:00 p.m. on December 23rd. (Disclosure: I am long Ram Power stock.)

It’s easy to get caught up in the holiday bustle: shopping, decorating, parties, and preparation. Our to-do lists can seem endless, but we carry on because it is that special time of year, a season of giving.

As the thousands of people in the geothermal energy industry wrap up an exciting and challenging year, they are united by some recurring themes. Investigative geologists, problem-solving engineers, and pioneering international business leaders are some of the players who worked this year to bring together the heat of the Earth with the cities, customers, and other industries that need its unique environmental and economic benefits.

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, and hydropower "units" provided 394 MW — or 100 percent — of all new electrical generation placed in-service in November 2013. There was no new capacity during the month from natural gas, coal, oil, or nuclear power. Renewable energy sources also provided 99 percent of all new electrical generating capacity in October.

After being shut out of previous renewable energy auctions, and delaying its own auction by two weeks, the state government of Pernambuco held the nation's first solar energy auction on December 27, registering 122.82 MW of energy, six times the country's current entire solar energy output (20 MW). The auction involved 34 bidders proposing roughly 1 GW of capacity; at the end it was narrowed to six companies from Brazil, Italy, Germany, China and Spain. Average price of power finished trading at 228.63 Brazilian reais/MWh (just under U.S. $97), about 9 percent lower than the starting price of R 250.

The United States broke one record after another for extreme weather in 2013. From deadly floods in Colorado to prolonged drought across the Southwest, Americans saw what unchecked climate change can do to our communities. But we also witnessed another kind of powerful force: real and positive climate action.

PensionDanmark A/S and other Danish pension investors backed a state fund to finance emission-reduction projects in developing countries as the Scandinavian nation seeks to export its climate know-how abroad.

The European Union is poised to take its first formal steps to expand the world’s most ambitious limits on fossil fuel pollution. That may widen a rift in how it balances green policies with the need for cheaper power.

Wind and solar power producers say they're at risk of losing investment after the European Union's executive arm scrapped proposals for a mandatory target on renewable energy use in 2030.

Renewable energy companies will derive more of their funding from bond markets as banks curb lending to the industry, Citigroup Inc.’s head of environmental finance said.

Iceland and Japan, two nations rich with underground sources of renewable energy, can tackle climate change together by promoting the use of geothermal power, Iceland’s environment minister said.

Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said shifting to greater use of solar and wind power will challenge utility companies.

The European Union should ensure that future climate and energy policies do not undermine the competitiveness of its industry, already weakened by a price gap with the U.S., the bloc’s member states said.

Clean energy assets in the Middle East and North Africa will more than double in capacity by the end of next year, the Dii GmbH industry association said.

Reykjavik Geothermal, the Icelandic power-plant builder, plans to begin drilling in Ethiopia by July as part of a $2 billion project to develop the renewable energy source, Chief Operating Officer Gunnar Orn Gunnarsson said.

Talks between Germany and Norway about how to boost the trading of electricity from renewable sources are being held up by concerns that the power cable running under the North Sea won’t ever make money.

U.K. renewable power generation rose 28 percent last year as more wind farms and solar plants came online, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.

Three G-20 nations saw an increase in clean-energy investments last year even as funding declined globally for the second consecutive year, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government stopped short of setting goals for renewable energy in the final version of a draft plan that reinforces atomic power’s role in Japan’s energy future, calling it a vital source of generation.

Simplifying finance vehicles for renewable energy will lure more investors and lower the costs of capital.

What’s a beleaguered utility to do when forced by the government to close its profitable nuclear power plants?

Clean energy investment rose by 9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on surging demand for rooftop solar panels from the U.S. to Japan.

General Electric Co. is in talks to buy Alstom SA, the French builder of trains and power plants, people with knowledge of the matter said, in what would be GE’s biggest acquisition ever.

Bracing for greenhouse-gas rules from the Obama administration, two industries are staking out different positions. Coal companies are pledging to sue. Electric utilities are ready to talk.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S said scaling back Australia’s renewable energy target would cut the value of more than A$10 billion ($9.4 billion) in large projects across the industry and discourage international investors.

The top hydroelectric power news for May 2014

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed a former banker to oversee coal, power and clean-energy reforms in a move aimed at resolving fuel bottlenecks and chronic blackouts hampering economic growth.

U.S. President Barack Obama says natural gas can be a bridge from coal to a cleaner energy future. Investors are showing it’s more likely a bridge to nowhere.

Iceland is moving closer to plugging European homes into the volcanic island nation’s geothermal and hydropower reserves via what would be the world’s longest power cable, according to the country’s largest energy producer.