The recent heat wave has brought the total electricity being generated by Californian solar power past 1,000 MW (1 GW) – about the same as two large power plants running on coal or gas. This was reported by California Independent …
From Guest-Blogger Mathias: California's Solar Power Generation Hits 1 Gigawatt Read More »
During the industrial revolution of the early 18th century until now, significant advances have been made in technology, manufacturing, agriculture, mining and transportation. But at what cost? Our environment took and is still taking the hardest hit! The use of …
Tavas Energy is a non-profit organization that helps other non-profits, e.g., volunteer firehouses, to “go green” with solar photovoltaics. I just spoke with one of the organization’s founders, Noel Smyth, and promised to share the opportunity to vote for Tavas …
Here’s a video on the ”Sol-Bot” — a robot that automatically and continuously adjusts the azimuth and the altitude of the individual solar panels in an array. This is certainly thinking outside the box, but if it’s a cost-effective solution, …
Here’s the latest in a series of updates I just received from a colleague in Philadelphia, outling the progress that is being made in creating fabrics that contain solar photovoltaics. One day you’ll be able to charge your cell phone …
Those of us who maintain optimism for a future than includes sustainable practices in energy generation place a great deal of hope in “distributed generation” – the concept in which the model of buying electricity from huge utilities becomes increasingly …
Distributed Generation Holds Promise, Faces Challenges Read More »
Here’s a project invoking ocean wave energy off the cost of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. I understand that getting a permit to put an energy-extracting device into moving water is anything but a slam dunk, so the …
I’ve been thinking about my up-coming meeting with Dr. Raj Pachauri, who, among other things, serves as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Pondering this in advance of the meeting, I wonder what I would do, …
Energy Policy – Hitting the Broad Side of the Barn Read More »
Green roofs are engineered vegetated roofing systems where plants and soil have replaced, or been put on top of, traditional concrete, roof tiles or shingles. The breathing living roofs provide numerous benefits to buildings including protection against stormwater runoff, conservation …
Here’s another example of a portable solar photovoltaic solution, currently being deployed in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. There is no doubt in my mind that disaster relief is a great target segment for such a solution. The incidence of disasters is up-trending …
