It’s official: New coal lost its luster in 2008.

According to the Sierra Club, two dozen proposed new coal-fired power plants were defeated or abandoned this past year, "laying the groundwork to fundamentally change the way the U.S. rebuilds and repowers itself."

Global warming was a significant factor.

Investors yanked money out of the sector amid concerns that coming carbon regulation would add to already soaring costs of new coal facilities. States refused permits for failing to address CO2 pollution concerns.

The full highlights of the "year in coal" are here (pdf). They include:

It was a bad year for US carmakers, corn ethanol and EPA rollbacks. But not for wind.

For the nation's most promising clean energy source, it was another record-breaking 12 months, says the American Wind Energy Association, in its take on the industry's 2008 accomplishments.

America surged past the 20,000-megawatt installed capacity milestone in the summer months. It struck the 21,000 megawatt-mark by September's end. And it closed the year with a sprint to the finish, beating out Germany to become the largest generator of wind energy in the world.

What did the boom bring?

First Solar's new 12.6 megawatt thin-film solar power plant in the Nevada desert has made it to grid parity, an analyst has claimed. If that's true, it means the company can churn out photovoltaics as cheap as coal, or in this case even cheaper.

In a research note to Greentech Media, Mark Bachman, a senior analyst with Pacific Crest and a specialist in clean energy, said that Arizona-based First Solar can produce electricity at its Nevada system for 75 cents per kilowatt-hour. That's without any subsidies. Compare that with 90 cents per kilowatt-hour for conventional power.

He said:

"In our view, the industry leaders will be those companies that can deliver electricity at or below grid parity pricing without the aid of subsidies while also delivering superior return to shareholders...Currently, only First Solar can claim these achievements..."

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University of Utah student, Tim DeChristopher arrived at the BLM building in Salt Lake City last Friday intending to join some 200 other people protesting the Bush administration’s decision to auction oil and gas rights on federal lands near some of our most iconic national parks. Then he had one of those profound insights that change people’s lives forever.

As Tim put it in his online statement:

American venture capitalists have predicted a major slowing of investment across all industry sectors in 2009 -- except in clean energy technology. The forecast comes from the third annual National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) Predictions Survey (pdf).

Cleantech was the only category where a majority of the 400 VCs surveyed said that investments would grow or remain unchanged amid predictions of global financial turmoil.

Despite lower investment predictions across all industry sectors, clean technology is viewed by the highest percentage of respondents as potentially growing in 2009 with 48 percent predicting increased investment and 20 percent predicting unchanged investment.

It's no surprise. Cleantech has seen record-breaking investment levels in 2008, even as the global economy continued to tank.