As part of its downsizing plan, Arizona-based First Solar says it is restructuring “operations to align with sustainable market opportunities.” This means shutting down its plant in Frankfurt and indefinitely halting operations at four of its production lines in Malaysia. While operations in Malaysia could come back online in the future, the planned layoffs of 2,000 workers in its German plant—representing 30 percent of its global workforce—will be permanent. First Solar expects these changes to cut costs by $30 to $60 million this year, and $100 to $120 million annually in the future.

In its official press release (see above), First Solar stated that “the solar market has fundamentally changed, and we are quickly adapting our market approach and operations.” The company is, in part, referring to Germany’s announcement that it would reduce solar subsidies by up to 30 percent later this year. The subsidies cost Germany $10.5 billion last year alone. First Solar is also referring to the fact that it has been affected by increasing competition from China. According to the Wall Street Journal, many of its Chinese rivals are growing and competing in areas where demand typically has been driven by government subsidies.

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According to the New York Times, the new tariff was less than what was hoped for by American businesses. Indeed, Chinese panels make up nearly half of those sold in the United States, with American made panels capturing less than 30 percent of market share. “American imports of Chinese solar panels have soared from $21.3 million in 2005 to $1.15 billion in 2010 and $2.65 billion last year.”

The original suit was filed by the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, which believes in healthy competition, domestic manufacturing, and sustainable production. It remains to be seen how or if the Chinese will counter this move from the Commerce Department.

[Image source]

• 1,400: number of bamboo species growing throughout the world.
• $23 billion: projected global market for bamboo in 2012.
• 9.0: Earthquake magnitude withstood by some bamboo buildings.
• 33%: amount of world’s bamboo supply harvested by China. The U.S. is currently the largest importer of the grass.
• 2 feet: growth rate of some species of bamboo in a 24-hour span. Bamboo can be reharvested every three years. Comparatively, many trees used for building materials take decades to regenerate.

Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Then there are the two other important factors to consider: environment and society.  Let’s talk about the social aspect first.  Walmart fails in this leg on all accounts.  They treat their own workers terribly with awful benefits, long hours, and poor wages. They also force their suppliers to treat their employees in the same fashion, by refusing to buy products unless they are at extremely low prices.  Walmart does its best to keep costs down to make their pockets happy and consumers’ pocket’s happy.  They also fail with the social leg because when they open a new store (despite protests) they often run other businesses out.  This causes other people to suffer since they lose their jobs and businesses.

What I really want to discuss is how Walmart fails at the environment leg.   Walmart likes to green wash and spout off facts of they will do as a company to become sustainable.   Their three goals are :

1. To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy
2. To create zero waste
3. To sell products that sustain people and the environment

My biggest issue is number three.  How is this ever going to be possible when they promote sweatshops in China currently.  With them wanting to keep their prices as low as possible, how are they ever going to reach that goal?  Walmart claims they support local farmers, but this support usually means the farmers lose money and Walmart gains.  Remember how they lack in the social leg.  Walmart still thinks they can help fix our food system with their ‘support’ for local farmers and solving the food desert issue.  As usual their food desert solution is making more money off of the urban market, a market they have yet to fully tap into and are so desperate to.

Walmart needs to learn what sustainability actually means and that it is more complicated than partially considering environmental factors.  Sometimes you can be lacking in an area of sustainability as long as the other two parts make up for the loss.  Walmart is lacking in 2.5 of the three part and they are in no way sustainable.  If they want to be sustainable they have a long way to go and massive business plans to be revamped.   In fact, if Walmart actually became a truly sustainable company they would in no way be the same company.

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Of the 238,000 megawatts worldwide, China has a total in excess of 62,000, making it the leader as measured by megawatts installed. China’s neighbor to the south, and population doppleganger, India, added 3,000 MW last year to bring its cumulative production capability to more than 16,000 MW.

The European Union (EU) continues to be a strong supporter of wind power. Germany’s announcement last year that they would forgo nuclear power puts the industry in a position of strength as the country will look to renewables like wind to generate more electricity. All told, the EU installed an additional 9,616 MW of wind energy, bringing its total to 93,957 MW. The GWEC reports that this supplies 6.3% of the EU’s needs.

In the Americas, the US wind industry installed more than 6,800 MW in the past year. Canada surpassed 5,000 MW in 2011. As a whole, Latin America added in excess of 1,200 MW, with nearly half the growth coming from Brazil, which was responsible for 587 MW of new installations.

[Image source: Oast House Archive]