Beacon Solar Energy Project Solar Thermal Plant receives long awaited license
On Wednesday, the 250-megawatt Beacon Solar Energy project — America's first large-scale solar thermal plant in the past two decades — received a long-awaited license from the California Energy Commission. NextEra Energy Resources, the company in charge of the solar thermal plant project, has been fighting local residents and...Read more »
The use of wind energy has proven to not only be eco-friendly but good business as well. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reports that sales of small, residential wind turbines is up 10,000 units in 2010 from the same period in 2009. This represents a major consumer shift from fossil fuels to wind energy.
Residential...Read more »
The push for worldwide green energy solutions took a major step forward on June 30th, 2010 when General Electric (GE) pledged to invest $450 million in wind turbines in Scandinavia. The coasts of Norway and Sweden will soon host a new farm of GE wind turbines sporting metal blades 110 meters long. GE estimates that the...Read more »
Paris Deputy Mayor Denis Baupin has announced plans for the French city to join Alaska, New York, and Ontario in turning to hydropower for a renewable energy solution. Bids to install turbines under several bridges in the Seine river are due by September of this year with project completion scheduled for the spring. As hydropower...Read more »
An innovative financing agreement combining county bonds and funds from Tioga Energy will enable Morris County, New Jersey to install solar roof panels on county property. County officials have dubbed the landmark public-private financing method the “Morris Model.”
The 3.2 megawatts worth of panels will be installed atop 14 schools and 5 other properties, including the...Read more »
The United Arab Emirates includes miles of very hot, very sunny desert so it would seem an obvious place for a solar energy plant. The UAE agrees, and plans to build the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant about 75 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi.
The concentrated solar power systems planned combine both solar energy and...Read more »
An improved wave energy harvesting system, the Oyster 2, was unveiled by Aquamarine Power, the company who launched the Oyster 1 in 2009. The machines will be installed off the Orkney Islands in Scotland by 2011 as part of the European Marine Energy Centre and should be ready for testing by summer.
The Oyster 2 will generate...Read more »
No one doubts that solar panels are at the forefront of sustainable energy. The problem has been, and remains, the cost of manufacture, purchase, and installation. BioSolar is addressing at least one of those variables with its new castor bean oil-based backsheet for solar panels.
Backsheets are the protective layer placed on solar panels. Typically...Read more »
On April 28, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the 130-turbine, 420-megawatt offshore wind energy project called Cape Wind. The massive Cape Wind project is the first of its kind in the U.S. and has taken almost a decade of delays and legal-battles to come to fruition.
Designed by German conglomerate Siemens AG, the Cape Wind...Read more »
On April 22, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S. Department of Energy announced plans to invest more than $200 million over five years to promote solar, water and wind technologies in the United States. DOE Secretary Steven Chu emphasized that the funding represents the current Administration’s commitment to revitalizing and encouraging a U.S....Read more »
Military troops in the field have a daunting challenge when it comes to being able to access enough electricity to run all the high-tech equipment each platoon carries. The task has just become easier with the introduction of Bourne Energy’s BackPack Power Plant – Type 2 (BPP-2).
Measuring only 3 feet long and at less than 25 lbs., the...Read more »
Toulouse, France has announced their plans generate the electricity for their street lights by installing sidewalk modules that convert pedestrians' footsteps into power — a concept known as kinetic energy. Using the model developed by Sustainable Dance Club (SDC), a Dutch company, city planners believe that they are breaking ground for future urban sustainability. The designers on the...Read more »
The U.S. biodiesel industry is facing some stiff challenges in 2010. Despite greater overall consumer acceptance of biofuels, a number of key factors combined to make 2009 year-end sales and profit statistics less than stellar. However, things might be looking up. A new five-year partnership between General Motors (GM) and the Department of Energy (DOE)...Read more »
Most people know that one nickname for milk is ‘moo juice’. Now there may be an additional bovine inspired nickname for another cow product. Cow manure, also known as ‘cow pies’, is proving to be a valuable source of biogas – a renewable energy resource that has key agribusinesses pursuing ways to turn cow pies into electricity – and profit.
On...Read more »
In an effort to fulfill their deadline of 20% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by 2010, the state of California is resorting to purchasing wind power from Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. This tactic is running counter to the California Public Utilities Commission's goal of increasing "green collar jobs" locally, but is boosting the wind...Read more »