A ‘thermal battery’ for villages in India
January 29th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Startup Promethean Power had to ditch its dream of solar-powered milk chillers in rural India, but hit upon a novel energy storage system that's cheaper and overcomes the unreliable grid.Originally posted at News - Cutting Edge
Psst! Solar Fred Marketing Tip: Film Your Solar Projects in Time Lapse
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
I have no idea why people love time-lapse videos. Our eyes are certainly attracted to things that move quickly, and for some reason it’s fun to see people in hardhats and machines building a solar project from nothing, condensing days or weeks into minutes.
Below are two recent time-lapse solar videos that I saw on Twitter. Both are large
UK tops global league table for sustainable corporations
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off The UK has topped the annual global league table that measures and ranks the world's largest sustainable corporations. The Global 100 is an extensive data-driven corporate sustainability assessment and inclusion is limited to a select group of the top 100 large-cap companies in the world. Companies are selected based on their performance against 11 indicators covering environmental performance and corporate citizenship such as leadership diversity, greenhouse gas emissions and payment of corporate taxes. The list includes companies from 22 countries encompassing all sectors of the economy, with collective annual sales in excess of $3.02 trillion, and 5,285,645 million employees. Among the 22 countries, the United Kingdom led the way with 16 Global 100 companies, an increase of five from the year before. Japan followed with 11 (down from 19 in 2011).France and the United States tied for third place with each claiming the headquarters of eight Global 100 companies. Rounding out the top ten scoring countries with at least three Global 100 companies were: Australia (seven), Canada (six), Germany (five) Switzerland (five), Denmark (four), Netherlands (four), Norway (four), Sweden (four), and Brazil (three). Sixty-eight per cent of the 2011 companies remained on the list in 2012.Why Biodiversity Loss Deserves as Much Attention as Climate Change
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Biodiversity loss is probably a challenge that is often ignored as climate change looms. Currently the world is losing species at a rate that is 100 to 1000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, further, it is currently seeing the sixth mass extinction. The previous mass extinction occured 65 million years ago, and was caused by ecosystem changes, changes in atmospheric chemistry, impacts of asteroids and volcanoes. For the first time in history, the current extinction is caused by the competition for resources between a single species Homo sapiens and all others. A recent conference arranged by the Danish Ministry of Environment in the University of Copenhagen, provided an opportunity to influence the process of organizing a UN Biodiversity Panel. More than 100 scientists and decision makers from the EU countries gathered and came to the conclusion that drastic measures should be taken to decelerate current loss of biodiversity.Survey Reveals Customers’ Wish List for PV Inverter Improvements
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
System-level monitoring, continued adoption of string inverters for large PV installs, and improvements by Chinese suppliers are among the trends gleaned from a survey of inverter buyers & sellers.
NLP Solar Sales Training Live Webinar February 8th & 9th
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
Hydrogen ’sponge’ could extend EV driving range
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Novel molecules called metal-organic frameworks with as much surface area as a football field in the palm of your hand could be used to store more hydrogen than compressed gas and extend the range of fuel-cell electric vehicles.Originally posted at News - Cutting Edge
Think Ink for Increased Efficiency
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
One dollar per watt: that's the mark the solar industry is hoping to hit in order to become cost-competitive with conventional energies. In a bid to reach this magic number in the next two years, various Asian manufacturers are striving to reduce costs by increasing volume production. An alternative direction that will benefit the industry in the long term is to target increased efficiencies primarily through new manufacturing processes, new higher-quality materials for metallization and changing the structure of the cell. Nanotechnology companies have developed these new materials and processes that enable manufacturers to both increase quality and lower-cost production, bringing the era of solar grid parity closer than ever before.
Much Light, Little Heat Efficiency
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
Energy efficiency in the U.S. is much light and little heat — literally. Government policy pays a great deal of attention to saving electricity, but focuses little on the thermal energy we waste.
“Policy is electricity-centric in the U.S. Unless you are making kilowatts, the most efficient investments are off the radar,” sa
Opportunities and Challenges in the 2012 New England Solar Market
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
The New England solar market is extremely strong. But even with these strong existing players, there is still room for more competition and new players enter every day. With that said, there are number of opportunities and risks that have the ability to impact industry growth and profits.
In December and January, I spent a lot of time talking with
U.S.-backed battery firm Ener1 seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy
January 27th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Another company that received backing from the U.S. Department of Energy files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.Originally posted at Nanotech - The Circuits Blog
Integrating Anaerobic Digestion Into Our Culture Part 1: Language, Visuals and Values
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
North America is at an inflection point in managing organic materials. Just as paper, metal and plastics were the darlings of the recycling industry a few decades ago, our society is defining a new relationship with organic materials — one that harnesses the full carbon, energy and nutrient potential of organics. In order to help shape that new relationship, industry leaders are cultivating North America's awareness and understanding of anaerobic digestion's features, benefits and potential role in society. This two-part article explores the ways the waste, energy and agricultural industries are integrating this technology into our culture.
U.S. Department of Defense Takes Forceful Lead as Early Adopters of Solar Energy
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has a tradition of accelerating technological advancements, serving as early adopters and impacting the broader commercial market in such areas as aviation, computing and GPS. For the past several years, the DoD has been playing this same role in the renewable energy space.
Asian Solar PV Installs Surging, China “Blistering”
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
Asia-Pacific markets together added 2.8-gigawatts (GW) of solar PV installations in 4Q11 on the way to a total of 6GW for the entire year, an eye-popping 165% growth, thanks in large part to a massive run-up in China's domestic sector, according to calculations from Solarbuzz.
Flower power: Ford interiors made of tropical plant
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off The door bolsters inside Ford's latest Escape SUV will be made with a tropical plant called kenaf, offsetting 300 pounds of oil-based reins per year. The SUV will be 85 percent recyclable.Originally posted at News - Cutting Edge
Dark Clouds Threaten German Clean Energy Ambitions
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
During the fourteen years that I've lived in Switzerland, the Germans have been the world's staunchest supporters of green power and alternative energy. Their aggressive development of wind power was breathtaking, as was their warm embrace of photovoltaic power.
Accelerating Geothermal Growth Through DOE Initiatives
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off
The U.S. geothermal power industry is poised for a bit more rapid growth now that the U.S. Department of Energy's geothermal development program is maturing with demonstration-stage pilots. This acceleration of growth also will be spurred on by an increasing number of municipalities and utilities that are turning to geothermal as an alternative energy option for either renewable mandate or investment reasons, industry executives say. While the U.S. geothermal power market is still somewhat tepid in comparison to the international market, U.S. technology exports will help U.S. companies weather the wait for a more rapid domestic market expansion.
Want better EV range? Hitch it to a fuel cell
January 26th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Startup Oorja Protonics has developed a methanol fuel cell to give battery-powered forklifts a lift and it's planning to apply the same hybrid approach in fleet vehicles.Originally posted at News - Cutting Edge
Electric car that folds itself launches in Spain
January 25th, 2012 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Spain will begin producing an electric car next year that's about the same size as Smart For, but can collapse itself into an even smaller footprint when parked.Originally posted at The Car Tech blog