GREAT article on the transition period between fossil fules and alternative sources. READ MORE >>>>
News & Communities
The Energy Storage Hand Gets More Interesting
The cards dealt to the energy storage industry are looking better now than in the past. Here are three of them, all played because of the growing presence of Smart Grid technologies that enable solutions and policies that encourage energy storage markets. One wild card is also listed here, and it could have significant influence over the speed of energy storage deployments in the Smart Grid. READ MORE >>>
Brookings: Drive Energy Innovation to Grow the Clean Economy
Over the past few years, “green jobs” and the “clean economy” have become the growth mantra for a wide variety of energy, climate, and economic policy advocates. Much of this excitement has been productive and justified, but some of it has been misinformed. Few reports have shed more light on this debate than the new study by the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, “Sizing the Clean Economy: A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment.” READ MORE >>>
Study: Slow Down Natural Gas Development
Two of Canada’s top environmental NGOs — the Pembina Institute and the David Suzuki Foundation — issued a jointly prepared study today slamming our rising dependence on natural gas, warning that the fossil fuel, while generally cleaner than coal, could seriously slow down efforts to combat climate change if our increased reliance on it begins to bump renewables such as wind, solar and biomass from the future energy mix. READ MORE >>>
Dow Chemical announces big business venture, adding battery jobs
Dow Chemical continues its push to position itself as a world leader in advanced battery production.
Dow Chemical’s latest venture is with a Japanese company, which will create about 25 manufacturing positions in Midland. ABC12′s Terry Camp got the scoop on Monday’s announcement.
With the signing of papers, a new company was born. Dow Chemical Vice President Heinz Haller and Ube Industries Managing Executive Officer Shinobu Watanbe did the honors in creating Advanced Electrolyte Technologies, LLC. “Very exciting day. Exciting moment for us,” said Watanbe. READ MORE >>>
Electric Cars a “Win-Win” for America, Former Gov. Granholm Says
The June jobs report was shockingly abysmal. Only 18,000 jobs were created last month and the unemployment rate ticked up from 9.1% in May to 9.2%. (See: June Jobs Report: the Ugly, the Ugly, and the Ugly)
Jennifer Granholm, former Governor of Michigan and now a senior adviser to the Pew Clean Energy Campaign, has a solution: Invest in clean energy solutions like the electric car, which in turn will create thousands of auto and advanced battery manufacturing jobs. READ MORE >>>
Enormous 400 MW Solar Project Coming to the Southeast
A Florida-based solar developer announced today that it is considering seven communities in the Southeast US as potential sites for the world’s largest solar project.
Currently, the world’s largest solar plant is an 80 MW project in Ontario, Canada. READ MORE >>>
Utility Integrated Solar Power Grew 100% in 2010
Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has released its latest report which showed that U.S. electric utility providers are including more and more solar power generation in their portfolios and much of this increases is happening outside of California. READ MORE >>>
Bill Ford: A future beyond traffic gridlock
Bill Ford is a car guy — his great-grandfather was Henry Ford, and he grew up inside the massive Ford Motor Co. So when he worries about cars’ impact on the environment, and about our growing global gridlock problem, it’s worth a listen. His vision for the future of mobility includes “smart roads,” even smarter public transport and going green like never before. WATCH NOW >>>
Smaller, cheaper, faster: Does Moore’s law apply to solar cells?
The sun strikes every square meter of our planet with more than 1,360 watts of power. Half of that energy is absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back into space. 700 watts of power, on average, reaches Earth’s surface. Summed across the half of the Earth that the sun is shining on, that is 89 petawatts of power. By comparison, all of human civilization uses around 15 terrawatts of power, or one six-thousandth as much. In 14 and a half seconds, the sun provides as much energy to Earth as humanity uses in a day. READ MORE >>>