For the last three years, the world's auto manufacturers have been playing business history's biggest poker game. GM anted up first when it announced in 2007 that it would build the Chevy Volt--the world's first plug-in electric vehicle. Ford also got into the act, working on a plug-in version of the popular Focus sedan. The Europeans were next, with Daimler, BMW and Renault all coming up with their own EV models. Then Nissan made a splash with its announcement in 2009 that it would sell the Nissan Leaf. Each company came to the table with a slightly different technology. Two companies--Toyota and Honda--famously held back from the game. Toyota felt that it could ride its mild hybrid lead (thanks to the Prius). Honda claimed that EV's would be leapfrogged by fuel cell cars. That is until the past week.

A recent report from the American Energy Innovation Council, a star-studded organization that includes everyone from climate scientist Ken Caldeira to Bill Gates, has called for a simple solution for solving America's energy problems: Have the federal government fund energy research to the tune of $16 billion per year. It seems like a good idea until you ponder the question of what problem this idea is trying to solve.

Coauthored by Casey Hogan.

The IDC Energy Insight's team recently had the opportunity to tour the ProLogis Rooftop Photovoltaic Test Site in Denver. ProLogis, which owns 475 million square feet of warehouse properties in North America, Europe, and Asia, is aggressively pursuing the deployment of solar on the rooftops of its buildings. However, as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), ProLogis does not have the kind of tax appetite that would enable it to take advantage of tax credit or tax grant based incentives for solar installations that have boosted the growth of renewables in the US. Beyond that challenge, generating electricity is too far outside the company's core business model to warrant significant investment. Instead, ProLogis is working to become the partner of choice for rooftop solar PV developers.

Hybrid solar thermal plants are getting hot: numerous projects are scheduled to come online in 2010, and developers are hoping the projects will demonstrate attractive economics that drive rapid growth in the sector over the coming years. At the same time, developers are undertaking efforts to use molten salt thermal storage to improve the economics of standalone central solar thermal (CST) plants. That raises the question: will these two approaches complement or compete with each other?

On my recent 10-day trip to Asia one thing became clear to me - the Asian conglomerates, known as Chaebol in Korea and Kieretsu in Japan, are poised to become much larger global players in the cleantech markets.  In the west, most energy industry insiders already know that Sharp is one of the largest global providers of chrystalline silicon (C-Si) and thin film PV modules.  A smaller number probably know that LG Chem was selected by GM to provide lithium ion batteries for the Chevy Volt.  But few realize the true scope of these businesses and their planned levels of investment.  Don't assume that these companies are only interested in dominating their home countries - markets that are too small to matter when compared to the U.S., China and India.  And don't forget that Korea and Japan are essentially export economies.

At the recent Electricity Storage Association meeting in Charlotte, N.C., most of the news was the lack of news: the conference comprised mainly the same players pitching the same products to a utilities industry with the same "Show-Me" attitude. Although the smart grid demonstration grant program, which comprised some $630 million in stimulus funds for projects related to energy storage gave a lift to some of the companies exhibiting their wares, much of the discussion was focused on what will happen after the smart grid projects disappear: will the industry continue to flourish or will it hit the same brick walls it has been slamming against in the past?

The Interior Department officially gave its blessing to the Cape Wind offshore wind power project today. It was a long time coming. The Cape Wind developers began the process of licensing and permitting more than nine years ago, but their journey isn't over yet. Opponents are threatening a series of lawsuits that will continue to stymie the development and, they hope, prevent a single turbine from ever being planted in the sea.