Today the trade associations for solar, wind and hydro power banded together to present a proposal for immediate and near-term federal policies to address challenges related to the current economic climate as well as to spur long-term growth. The statement and press conference were an impressive display of unity and the group has outlined five specific steps that they want the current and new administrations to take.

Alongside the call for policy action, during the press conference there was also a challenge for the new administration to make a more symbolic gesture — restore renewables such as wind turbines and solar panels to the While House. As many know, one of Reagan’s acts in the 1980s was to take down perfectly good solar panels that President Carter had installed. My friend Matt McDermott at TreeHugger.com has called for the same thing ( Be The Change).

I hope that Obama heeds the call on both the policy and the greening the White House front.

As I walked through the San Diego Convention Center last month I could feel the sunny, (no pun intended) optimistic vibe on the floor of the Solar Power International 2008 conference and trade show. Meanwhile, back in New York, Wall Street was in the middle of a crash that had not been seen since the Great Depression. Just when everything seemed to be falling in line for solar and renewable energies, the rug was pulled out from under the industry yet again. Or so you would assume.

But I sense this time is different- America has finally warmed to the idea of renewable energies and they are here to stay regardless of market conditions. Will the credit crunch and stock market crash affect the renewable energy industries? I’m sure- but it won’t stop the move towards renewables from happening- it might just delay things a little.

The extended and expanded renewable energy tax credits that passed as a part of the Wall Street bailout bill were a much needed shot in the arm for renewables- especially solar. With the tax credits, relatively high gas prices and the theat of global warming concerns related to the burning of fossil fuels, the crowd at the Solar Power International show is right to think that renewables have finally come of age.

On the financing side the solar industry has helped homeowners and businesses address the daunting upfront cost of a solar rooftop system by embracing PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements). A PPA allows a solar company to install a rooftop solar system on a home or commercial building at no upfront cost to the homeowner or business and then sells the energy it produces to the homeowner or business at a rate below what they would normally pay their utility. Some experts say that 90% of all commercial solar installations will be financed via PPAs in 2009.

Companies such as SunRun and SolarCity are using PPAs for single home solar installations while Open Energy Corporation (an ICR client) is using PPAs for entire condo and townhome developments. Even in a down housing market there’s still a demand for new roofs on older condo developments and Open Energy’s “Solar Community” PPA model allows condo boards or Homeowner Associations to install new solar roofs at no upfront cost- what homeowner would say no to that?

With all of the positive developments on display at the show, I am confident that next year I will be writing an equally sunny post about the state of the solar industry following Solar Power 2009.

Earlier this month I attended the 2008 Geothermal Energy Conference and Expo in Reno. Enthusiasm was high and attendance was even higher, up 60% from the prior year even before the final day of the event. And it’s understandable given the late summer announcement and subsequent blanket media coverage of Google’s investments in geothermal energy and the frequent mentions by our presidential candidates when talking about the need to increase our use of renewable energy.

However, even riding on the heels of these industry catalysts, a common sentiment echoed across the show floor was how the geothermal energy industry is losing the ongoing battle of PR to other forms of renewable energy such as wind and solar. Those in the industry wonder why since geothermal represents a baseload (always on) source of power that is abundantly available, especially in the western U.S.

Maybe if Google were to make a new geothermal investment every month the industry would get the sustained attention it deserves. Aside from that, what we can rely on are the media focused on the renewable energy sector to keep us up to date on developments in the industry.

Want to hear more about the geothermal industry straight from the players in the space? Stephen Lacey of RenewableEnergyWorld.com produced a podcast from the Geothermal Conference, featuring Glitnir Bank (ICR’s client), Google.org, Potter Drilling, and Raser Technologies - check it out here: The Beginning of a Geothermal Renaissance. Or for a basic primer on geothermal and its place in America’s renewable energy mix, go ahead and check out the Geothermal Energy Association’s “Geothermal Basics” page.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources