The solar industry, according to readers of TheStreet, is far from its demise — despite of recent hits it’s taken from German and Italian government officials.

Cleantech’s vast ecosystem includes a dizzying array of emerging technologies, from green building materials and electric vehicles to lighting and wind power. But as Silicon Valley reinvents itself as a global center of clean technology, two cleantech sectors ‘” solar power and ’smart’ upgrades to the power grid ‘” are already reshaping the valley and changing the way energy is produced and used.

Frederick County is appealing to the state for help installing solar collection systems on county buildings.

The Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday it would continue to offer subsidies for the installation of new solar-powered water heaters after the number of households in the city depending on the heaters last year outnumbered that in other cities in Taiwan.

It’s been a hive of activity at Davos as business leaders and politicians discuss some of the biggest global issues on the table in 2010. It’s clear from conversations and many of the sessions that carbon is still a burning issue here.

This week was a good week for those wishing for greater transparency on climate change risk. The SEC has provided greater clarification on the reporting of material risk associated with climate change. At the CDP, we see this as an important step in helping U.S. companies better report material climate change impacts to their investors.