Bloomberg: China Boosts Solar Target for 2015 as It Fights Pollution

China raised its solar target for 2015, promising to add almost 2.5 times as much capacity as the U.S. added last year, as it races to clear its increasingly polluted air.

The world’s biggest emitter of carbon aims to install as much as 17.8 gigawatts of solar projects in 2015, the National Energy Administration said today on its website. The NEA previously estimated 15 gigawatts would be added this year, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, citing confidentiality requirements.

Portland Business Journal: Is Rooftop Solar Under Threat in Oregon?

A recent Washington Post article highlights a move by utilities to persuade state regulators to levy fees that could upend the economics of rooftop solar.

Oregon isn't in the fight yet, but there are hints in recent testimony by Jim Piro, president of Portland General Electric Co., that it is coming.

Piro identified distributed generation -- aka rooftop solar -- as a future challenge in testimony supporting the electric company's rate case pending before the Oregon Public Utility Commission.

The National: The Future Is Nuclear, Says Hans Blix at Abu Dhabi Lecture

New generations of nuclear power plants will not lead to disastrous accidents like the one in Fukushima, Japan, the chairman of the UAE’s nuclear program advisory board has said.

Hans Blix, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Tuesday that smaller accidents might happen but that faith in the sustainable energy source was slowly being restored around the world.

“The Fukushima plants were 40 years old,” he said during the lecture organized by the Khalifa University on the importance of nuclear power to states and the world, at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research.

Climate Central: Four Countries Eclipse EU Renewable Goals Early

The European Union continues to march toward its renewable energy goals for 2020, but some countries aren’t content to wait until then to meet their targets. Newly released data shows that four countries -- Sweden, Bulgaria, Estonia and Lithuania -- have met or surpassed their renewable energy target ahead of schedule, and two others are on the cusp.

Eurostat, a repository for data about Europe, provided its latest annual renewable energy report on Wednesday. The report covers all 28 countries in the European Union with data through 2013, assessing their progress on meeting goals to lessen reliance on climate-change-causing fossil fuels.

Newsweek: UK Falling ‘Woefully’ Behind on Renewable Energy Target

The U.K. is “failing the environment” by falling behind on its renewable energy targets.

Recently released EU statistics revealed that renewable energy made up 5.1% of the U.K.’s total gross energy consumption in 2013, an increase of just 4% since 2004, and without a dramatic increase in renewable energy, the figures suggest that the U.K. is unlikely to meet its 2020 renewable energy target of 15%.

Only Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands had smaller proportions of renewable energy than Britain. Sweden was found to be the most renewable-friendly EU member state, with over half of its energy coming from renewable sources.