blogsJam : Green Energy

I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion on a new online show called Meet the Bloggers. Here's the introduction post I did yesterday all about Meet the Bloggers. Also on the show was Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV), someone who has been trying very hard to tackle .. read full article »

Are greenbacks finally trumping greens? Money talks (AP) The cost of energy, especially the “cost of gas,” has zoomed to the top of voters’ economic concerns, according to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Overall, energy costs are second only to general fears about the economy, .. read full article »

A weaker dollar and renewed fears over Iran and Nigeria pushed oil back over $126, Bloomberg reports. The heat is still on speculators—more details emerge about wrong-way bets oil trader SemGroup made on oil, while U.S. officials investigate a Dutch oil trader accused of market manipulation, .. read full article »

The Guardian had a good article a couple of years ago about CSP in North Africa supplying power to Europe which I dubbed "Deserts of Gold". Obviously this institutional knowledge hasn't been passed down as the latest version of this story is far weaker and confuses solar thermal power with solar .. read full article »

It does our heart good to see an oil tycoon spend his money to tell the truth. There’s too little of that today. But T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil billionaire, is investing $58 billion on a television ad campaign (Youtube) to explain that we can’t drill our way out of the current energy .. read full article »

Americans appear to be concluding high energy prices are here to stay. The latest evidence: They view $4 gasoline as good news. The latest consumer-confidence survey from the University of Michigan showed a “surprising” rise in confidence across the country, at all age and income levels. .. read full article »

Torrefaction, a process traditionally used to roast coffee beans, could give biomass a power boost, increasing the energy content of some leading energy crops and agricultural residues by up to 20 per cent, a study by engineers from the University of Leeds shows. Meanwhile, researchers in the .. read full article »

Verde, a boutique public relations, communications and corporate social responsibility consulting agency, and 3Degrees, the premier renewable energy and carbon offset provider for the U.S. market, announce a strategic partnership effective today. read full article »

The most efficient solar charge controller ever made available for small solar panels is released this month by Genasun LLC. The GV-3, developed by MIT graduates in Boston, Massachusetts, is specially engineered for remote solar-powered devices connected to batteries, such as parking .. read full article »

RenewableEnergyWorld.com talked with John Wallace, CEO of Xantrex Technology last week at Intersolar North America in San Francisco California. read full article »

This week the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Greece, which was built by Phoenix Solar AG, was connected to the grid in Pontoiraklia, near Thessaloniki. Phoenix Solar was responsible for planning and construction of the plant as general contractor. The owner of the power plant with a .. read full article »

A joint bioethanol project by Schmack Biogas and E.ON has been officially inaugurated. Europe's largest and most advanced biomethane plant is located in Schwandorf in the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. The facility has a rated biogas output of approximately 10 megawatts (MW), which is fed .. read full article »

DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) and the University of Tennessee (UT) Research Foundation announced a partnership to construct an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery and state-of-the-art research and development facility for cellulosic ethanol in Vonore, Tennessee. read full article »

In June of this year, the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) graduated its first student with a Bachelor of Science in Renewable Energy Systems, the first such degree in North America. The school set up the program to keep up with the industry's growth in the state. read full article »

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Researchers have invented a new material that could potentially make cars more efficient, by converting heat wasted through engine exhaust into electricity. The researchers say that the material has twice the efficiency of anything currently on the market. read full article »

A vote on the issuance of a subpoena for the draft endangerment finding on global warming emissions rejected at the highest levels in the White House was stymied when Republican members boycotted the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works business meeting, preventing a .. read full article »

There's a story in Technology Review about a Halifax, Nova Scotia-based company called Carbon Sense Solutions that has found a way to make precast concrete products CO2-sucking vacuums. The interesting thing about concrete is that over hundreds of years they absorb CO2, a natural process called .. read full article »

Well, besides good looks and charm, both the Senate Majority House leader, Harry Reid and yours truly will be panel guests on a new show tomorrow called Meet the Bloggers. The show is a production of the legendary onliner, Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films fame and the host is none other .. read full article »

Well, besides good looks and charm, both the Senate Majority House leader, Harry Reid and yours truly will be panel guests on a new show tomorrow called Meet the Bloggers. The show is a production of the legendary onliner, Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films fame and the host is none other .. read full article »

Just letting readers know that over the next couple (few?) months I'll be transitioning over from the Blogware platform to Wordpress. Tucows, the Toronto-based software company that owned Blogware, has decided to stop supporting it and is letting it die a slow death. To be fair, they're not .. read full article »

Elizabeth Kolbert wrote a great (long) article in The New Yorker this month about the island of Samso in Denmark, called The Island in the Wind. Samso is Denmark's climate positive energy experiment; the island not only produces all of its own energy using renewable sources, but it produces .. read full article »

Can Andy Grove light a fire under America’s sleepy electric car effort? At the first annual Plug-In 2008 Conference, the former Intel chief called on America to convert ten million of its clunkiest, most gas-hungry SUVs, pickups and minivans into plug-in electric hybrid vehicles .. read full article »

Green Planet Energy Private Limited announced today it will invest a sum of 9.6 billion rupees (US$228/€145 million) on setting up 14 biomass power projects in the Indian state of Punjab. The plan would add 147MW of renewable power to the state's portfolio. The investment is part of the .. read full article »

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels Inc. received a conditional use permit from the County of Los Angeles, Department of Regional Planning, for the operation of a new biorefinery it will build on a 10 acre lot near a Lancaster, CA landfill. For anyone aware of the slow rate of permitting new facilities for .. read full article »

Speakers Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Chair, Congressional Black Caucus [tentative] Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA), Chair, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Congresswoman Hilda .. read full article »

Plenty of politicians are chuffed by the potential in Alaska and off U.S. coasts to boost oil production. Should they be looking even further north—to the Arctic Circle itself? Break it up (AP) The long-awaited study by the U.S. Geological Survey, released yesterday, says there’s probably .. read full article »

My favorite green product of the week:Organic Tree Free Banana Paper Journal What is it? Using agro-industrial waste (tree scraps, left over fruits like bananas, lemons, and mangoes) and post-consumer paper fiber, the ingenious folks at Costa Rica Natural Paper create beautiful .. read full article »

Converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source could generate enough electricity to meet up to three per cent of North America's entire consumption needs and lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), according to a paper published today by researchers .. read full article »

Witnesses Kathy Fredriksen, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy Didier Houssin, Director of the Office of Oil Markets and Emergency Preparedness, International Energy Agency Dr. David Victor, Director of the Program .. read full article »

E&E News: A new U.S. EPA proposal that would govern the underground injection of carbon dioxide by power plants and other industrial pollution sources will be the subject of a House Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee hearing Thursday. EPA’s proposed rule is aimed at protecting .. read full article »

Crude rebounded from a seven-week low on Israeli saber-rattling, Bloomberg reports, but high prices and falling demand may signal a permanent shift in the market. Meanwhile, there’s more supply—at the north pole. A U.S. government report says 20% of the world’s reserves are in the Arctic, .. read full article »

Tyler Hamilton has an article at Technology Review on a company that claims to have a new process that stores carbon dioxide in precast concrete - A Concrete Fix to Global Warming.A Canadian company says that it has developed a way for makers of precast concrete products to take all the .. read full article »

Google Maps has introduced a new feature that will enable you to plot walking routes as well as driving and public transport trip plans - Pound The Pavement. This will no doubt come in handy for people whose iPhone data traffic bills have rendered them unable to afford petrol any more - in fact .. read full article »

Dave Roberts at Grist is having a 1980's flashback as he ponders attempts to revive the great shale oil dream in the US - Shale Mary (see here and here for a few of my long winded explorations of the shale oil question). Also at Grist - Shale We Dance ?.The Bush administration's latest push to .. read full article »

Renewable Energy World has an interesting article on the slow and steady process of creation an indigenous Chinese wind power industry - China's Wind Power Industry: Localizing Equipment Manufacturing. When 2007 ended, China's installed base of wind power totaled just over 6 gigawatts (GW), .. read full article »

DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) and the University of Tennessee (UT) Research Foundation, through its Genera Energy LLC, have announced a partnership to construct an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery and state-of-the-art research and development facility for cellulosic ethanol in .. read full article »

Boulder, CO 2008 - Bella Energy, a solar energy company that designs and installs renewable energy systems in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region, has installed unique solar roofing tiles on a Boulder family home. The big 7kW solar roofing tile system is a local example of the many building- .. read full article »

The Beijing Olympic Village is now home to cutting-edge solar technology, one of the world's first SolarWall photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) hybrid systems. read full article »

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After years of being labeled a German phenomenon, the solar photovoltaic (PV) sector is building momentum across Europe, particularly in Spain. Catalyzed by newly adopted feed-in tariffs, PV development activity in Europe is booming and project size is scaling - causing shifts in competitive .. read full article »

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WestLB announced today that it closed a USD 205 million senior secured facility for BioEnergy International, LLC (BioEnergy) for the construction of a 100 million gallon per year state-of-the-art corn-based dry mill ethanol plant located in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania (the Project). read full article »

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) has selected to pursue a transmission scenario that will eventually transmit a total of 18,456 megawatts (MW) of wind power from West Texas and the Panhandle region to metropolitan areas of the state. read full article »

E.ON and Dong Energy are to become 50/50 partners in world's largest offshore wind farm, the 1-gigawatt (GW) London Array project after they agreed to buyout the stake previously owned by Shell, for an undisclosed sum. The move follows Shell's announcement that it is withdrawing from the project .. read full article »

New Jersey's Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) announced that it will begin offering its solar loan program to residential customers. The company officially launched the residential program after making a compliance filing with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The program, .. read full article »

Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE) has been granted consent to develop a 456 MW wind farm in southern Scotland. read full article »

Electricite de France (EDF) announced that it plans to build a pilot tidal turbine system off the coast of Brittany in Northwest France. By 2011, between three and six turbines with a total capacity of between 4 and 6 megawatts (MW), will be installed. The turbines will be linked to the grid off .. read full article »

Registering as just a 'blip' on the renewable energy and solar power radar screens only a few years ago, organic and hybrid dye-sensitized thin-film photovoltaic (PV) cells are attracting growing interest and investment. read full article »

High gasoline prices have forced us to make painful adjustments, which may, unfortunately, be just the beginning. The world's dramatically growing energy demands are affecting all energy prices. Coal, Uranium and natural gas prices have all risen dramatically in the past few years and will .. read full article »