| Monday, September 25, 2006 |  |
| WORLD SOLAR ENERGY NEWS | 2 comments |
| 25 Sep 2006 @ 16:36 NBuzz Newsletter WORLD SOLAR ENERGY NEWS Projects... Spain: ACCIONA to Build World's Largest Photovoltaic Plant in Portugal (update) United States: GE Energy to Supply Solar Equipment to Korean PV Project United States: Vallecitos Water District to Unveil 340 kilowatt PV System United States: SunEdison to Build Solar Farm Japan: Sharp Commissions Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing Facility United States: WorldWater & Power to Build Solar System for The Center for Great Expectations Markets... United States: Solar Gas Station Wins Property Tax Appeal Manufacturing... Norway: REC Increases Polysilicon Production Norway: REC to Invest in Additional Cell and Production Capacity Companies... Germany: Aleo Solar Secures Contract from PowerLight Corporation United Kingdom: Romag Signs Cell Supply Letter of Intent with E-Ton Solar Germany: SolarWorld Group Signs Chinese Solar Wafer Contract Germany: SolarWorld Signs Supply Agreement with Italian Wholesaler United States: Start Up, Solaria Raises $22 Million Belgium: Commission Clears Acquisition of Avancis by Shell and Saint-Gobain Germany: SolarWorld Group Contracts Two Wafer Supply Deals PROJECTS Madrid, Spain: ACCIONA to Build World's Largest Photovoltaic Plant in Portugal (update) ACCIONA has been selected to build and operate as owner a 62 MW photovoltaic solar plant near the town of Moura, in southern Portugal. With an investment in excess of 200 million euros, its construction will be carried out in two stages: the first, with 40-45 MW, will be concluded in 2008 and the other, with the remaining power, will be completed by 2010. Web Site: [link] Atlanta, GA, USA: GE Energy to Supply Solar Equipment to Korean PV Project GE Energy’s technology has been selected for one of the largest solar power projects in Asia, a three-megawatt facility being developed at Yong Gwang, Korea. Web Site: [link] San Marcos, CA, USA: Vallecitos Water District to Unveil 340 kilowatt PV System The Vallecitos Water District (VWD) will be holding a dedication ceremony for their recently installed solar photovoltaic (PV) carport system in honor of the late Paul A. Davy, former VWD Director and the visionary for solar, at the District's headquarters. Web Site: [link] Denver, CO, USA: SunEdison to Build Solar Farm Xcel Energy on Friday selected Baltimore's SunEdison to build the largest solar electric farm in Colorado. The 8 Megawatt solar farm, capable of powering more than 2,600 homes along the Front Range and other parts of Colorado, would be built in the San Luis Valley near Alamosa. Web Site: [link],2777,DRMN_23914_5015443,00.html Kameyama, Japan: Sharp Commissions Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing Facility Sharp Corporation’s state-of-the-art Kameyama Plant No. 2 recently became operational. As a "Super Green Factory" with a high level of environmental performance designed to minimize impacts on the environment to the greatest extent possible, the Kameyama Plant features an energy supply system based on integrating diverse power sources distributed within the plant into a single large-scale system independent of the utility power grid. Web Site: [link] Pennington, NJ, USA: WorldWater & Power to Build Solar System for The Center for Great Expectations WorldWater & Power Corp. today announced the signing of a $446,250 contract with The Center for Great Expectations to build a roof-top solar power system. Web Site: [link] MARKETS Sutter Creek, CA, USA: Solar Gas Station Wins Property Tax Appeal Jon's Pit Stop in Martell, California has achieved a favorable outcome in an appeal against the Amador County Assessor's Office. Jon and Polly Luy, owners of Jon's Pit Stop, received a property tax assessment of $58,500 for a new solar support structure (tax exempt under California Assembly Bill AB-1755) that is part of their 84 kW STC SolarStar™ electric system. Web Site: [link] (Corrected Link) MANUFACTURING Oslo, Norway: REC Increases Polysilicon Production Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has decided to invest $50 million to further increase polysilicon production by close to 20% through de-bottlenecking, at one of the existing plants. Web Site: [link] Oslo, Norway: REC to Invest in Additional Cell and Production Capacity Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has decided to more than quadruple its solar cell production and double its solar module production within 2008. REC's production of cells and modules will be increased from today's 45MW level, up to a total of 225MW in cells and 100MW in modules. Web Site: [link] COMPANIES Prenzlau, Germany: Aleo Solar Secures Contract from PowerLight Corporation Prenzlau based aleo solar AG has been commissioned by US system integrator, PowerLight Corporation to produce 10,000 solar modules. Web Site: [link] London, United Kingdom: Romag Signs Cell Supply Letter of Intent with E-Ton Solar Romag Holdings says the company has experienced strong growth in demand for the company's PowerGlaz solar panels. To support this growth, Romag has signed a Letter of Intent for the supply of PV cells from E-Ton Solar in Taiwan. Web Site: [link] Bonn, Germany: SolarWorld Group Signs Chinese Solar Wafer Contract SolarWorld-Konzern has landed one of its biggest export orders to date. The SolarWorld subsidiary Deutsche Solar AG which is among the world's largest producers of solar silicon wafers will supply 350 million EUR worth of wafers to China. Web Site: [link] Bonn, Germany: SolarWorld Signs Supply Agreement with Italian Wholesaler SolarWorld AG has concluded a comprehensive agreement for the delivery of complete solar power systems and solar modules with the Italian solar power wholesaler Tecnospot in Bolzano. Web Site: [link] Freemont, CA, USA: Start Up, Solaria Raises $22 Million Solaria®, a solar technology company, yesterday announced the completion of $22 million in Series B financing. The funding round includes investments from Sigma Partners, NGEN Partners, Q-Cells AG and Moser Baer. Web Site: [link] Brussels, Belgium: Commission Clears Acquisition of Avancis by Shell and Saint-Gobain The European Commission has granted clearance under the EU Merger Regulation to the acquisition of joint control of Avancis GmbH of Germany by Shell Erneuerbare Energien GmbH (Shell) of Germany, belonging to the Shell Group, and Saint-Gobain Glass Deutschland GmbH (Saint-Gobain), also of Germany. Web Site: [link] Bonn, Germany: SolarWorld Group Contracts Two Wafer Supply Deals SolarWorld has concluded two contracts for the delivery of solar silicon wafers until 2018 with two well-known customers in Taiwan and South Korea. Web Site: [link] More > |
| Thursday, June 22, 2006 | |
| Chocoholic germs can reportedly provide hydrogen | 1 comment |
| 22 Jun 2006 @ 05:31 Chocoholic germs can reportedly provide hydrogen, the clean-burning energy of the future. British scientists fed Escherichia coli bacteria a diluted mix of waste caramel and nougat. The germs tucked into the sugar and in the process produced hydrogen, using their own enzyme, called hydrogenase, New Scientist reports. The hydrogen was used to power a fuel cell, generating enough electricity to drive a small fan. The experiment has applications far beyond the lab. Waste chocolate, instead of being thrown away by confectionary companies, could be turned into hydrogen and used to help power their factories or sold to energy companies. The British team, led by Lynne Mackaskie at the University of Birmingham, central England, got the same bacteria to tuck into catalytic converters from old cars. The bacteria cleverly recovered the precious metal palladium after they were immersed in a vat with hydrogen and liquid waste from spent converters. The work is reported in full in a specialist journal, Biochemical Society Transactions, the report says. More > |
| Friday, May 26, 2006 | |
| Bio-Fuel From Algae | 1 comment |
| 26 May 2006 @ 07:53 UTEK Completes Two Technology Transfers to UK-Based Kwikpower International plc. LONDON & PLANT CITY, Fla. --(Business Wire)-- May 25, 2006 -- Transfers Include Licenses to a Unique Organism That Produces Bio-Derived Transport Fuel Hydrocarbons and for the Production of High Yields of Bio-Derived Hydrocarbons from Algal Varieties UTEK Corporation (AMEX:UTK) (LSE-AIM:UTK), a specialty finance company focused on technology transfer, and Kwikpower International plc., a diversified renewable energy and fuels company offering "Low Carbon Solutions," announced today that Kwikpower International has completed two technology transfers in stock-for-stock transactions. Both technology transfers relate to bio-derived hydrocarbon fuels. First technology transfer The first technology transferred includes the exclusive license from the University of California-Berkeley to a plant patent which describes a distinctive variety of the green alga known as Botryococcus that is unique in the quality and quantity of the liquid hydrocarbons it produces. The ancestors of Botryococcus are thought to be responsible for many of the world's fossil fuel deposits. Kwikpower International will use these green colonies for the production of bio-derived liquid hydrocarbons, which are potential substitutes for petroleum in the synthesis of many liquid fuels and petrochemicals. The ability to grow bio-derived gasoline and diesel components inexpensively offers Kwikpower a unique opportunity to meet demands for energy security while providing a "Low Carbon Solution" to the world's ever increasing demand for fossil fuel derived energy. Second technology transfer The second technology transferred is an exclusive license to a patent pending method developed by Plenty Energy, Inc. for the production of bio-derived hydrocarbon chains in novel algae. This new strain was derived from a variety isolated by Dr. Arthur Nonomura, while at the University of California in Berkeley. This new strain grows faster than previous wild-type algae and, when combined with methods to switch on growth and accelerate hydrocarbon production, this technology may allow bio-fuel production at costs much lower than currently possible. "This variety of Botryococcus has been shown to produce high levels of long-chain hydrocarbons that could be processed and utilized as gasoline and diesel," said Dr. Arthur Nonomura, inventor of the technology while at the University of California, Berkeley and founder of Plenty Energy, Inc. He added: "We are enthusiastic about the prospect of reducing the burning of fossil fuels and look forward to working with Kwikpower to be able to grow renewable supplies of fuel and hope to be able to implement a commercially viable development program of the algal strain." Dr. Jim Watkins, Chief Executive Officer of Kwikpower International commented, "A major focus of Kwikpower since it was founded ten years ago has been the production of bio-fuels and the reduction of GHG CO2 emissions. This new algal strain will provide Kwikpower with the ability to grow bio-derived gasoline and diesel components at prices that could be as low as US $25-35 per barrel. Compared to the current crude oil prices of US $65-75 per barrel, this offers Kwikpower a unique opportunity to produce bio-derived feedstocks at competitive prices. We believe this new strain will not only help to meet demands for energy security but will provide a `Low Carbon Solution' to the world's ever increasing demand for fossil fuel derived energy." "UTEK is pleased to consummate this technology transfer with Kwikpower International and we look forward to continuing our efforts to identify additional technology acquisition opportunities for its consideration," said Joel Edelson, Vice President Technology Licensing for UTEK Corporation. About the University of California Berkeley Office of Intellectual Property The University of California Berkeley's Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) was created in 2004 to provide a "one-stop shop" for industry research partners to interact with the campus. IPIRA's mission is to establish and maintain multifaceted relationships with private companies, and thereby enhance the research enterprise of the Berkeley campus. These relationships include sponsored research collaborations, and intellectual property commercialization. For more information about the Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Research Alliances, please visit its website at [link] About Plenty Energy, Inc. The focus of Plenty Energy, Inc. is on the use of microorganisms to grow gasoline components. By driving the costs of producing a barrel of petroleum down, we believe that bio-derived gasoline components can now be grown at a competitive price. When gasoline is produced by microorganisms, it can be continuously supplied and will consume thirty-six molecules of carbon dioxides in order to make a single molecule of fuel. Some fossil fuel deposits originated from microscopic fossils that grew gasoline for millions of years. The first living fossil that produced large quantities of gasoline-type oils was discovered 26 years ago by Dr. Arthur Nonomura during the first gas crunch and has been verified by scientists worldwide to contain up to half of its weight in oil. Dr. Nonomura founded Plenty Energy, Inc. based on his ability to grow gasoline, aviation and diesel fuels from the original source. We believe that Plenty Energy, Inc. owns the only commercial means of using microorganisms to grow gasoline-type hydrocarbons known to humanity. About Kwikpower International plc. Kwikpower International plc. is a diversified renewable energy and fuels company offering "Low Carbon Solutions" through its Engineering Division (KP Wellman) and its Renewables Division, which includes its renewable energy subsidiary, KP Renewables plc. (LSE-AIM: KPR). The Kwikpower group is headquartered in Gibraltar with representative offices in London, England, Melbourne, Australia, and Toronto, Canada, and has manufacturing facilities in Oldbury, Dukinfield and Portsmouth, England. It had a turnover of US $75 million in 2005 (on an annualized basis), and approximately 300 personnel. Kwikpower's Engineering Division (KP Wellman) has over 100 years of expertise in the design and manufacture of boilers, furnaces, heat exchangers and gas clean-up/recycling equipment. KP Renewables plc. was established by Kwikpower to be the leading independent renewable energy company in the UK. KP Renewables plc. was listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in July 2005 under the symbol KPR and is also quoted on the Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin Stock Exchanges under the symbol K1P. For more information about Kwikpower International plc., please visit its website at [link] For more information about KP Wellman, please visit its website at [link] For more information about KP Renewables plc., please visit its website at [link] About UTEK Corporation UTEK(R) is a specialty finance company focused on technology transfer. UTEK enables companies of all sizes to acquire innovative technologies from universities and research laboratories worldwide. UTEK facilitates the identification and then finances the acquisition and transfer of external technologies for clients in exchange for their equity securities. This unique process is called U2B(R). In addition to its U2B(R) service, UTEK offers both large and small capitalization companies the tools to search, analyze and manage university intellectual properties. UTEK has operations in the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. For more information about UTEK, please visit its website at [link] Forward-Looking Statements Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements." These forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words, such as UTEK or Kwikpower International plc. "expects," "should," "believes," "anticipates" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe UTEK's or Kwikpower International plc.'s future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including the financial performance of UTEK or Kwikpower International plc., as appropriate, and the valuation of UTEK's investment portfolio, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Although UTEK and Kwikpower International plc. believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, they cannot give any assurance that their expectations will be attained. Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating any forward-looking statements. Certain factors could cause results and conditions to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, and some of these factors are discussed below. These factors are not exhaustive. New factors, risks and uncertainties may emerge from time to time that may affect the forward-looking statements made herein. These forward-looking statements are only made as of the date of this press release and both UTEK and Kwikpower International plc. do not undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. UTEK's operating results could fluctuate significantly due to a number of factors. These factors include the small number of transactions that are completed each quarter, the value of individual transactions, the timing of the recognition and the magnitude of unrealized gains and losses, UTEK's dependence on the performance of companies in its portfolio, the possibility that advances in technology could render the technologies it has transferred obsolete, the loss of technology licenses by companies in its portfolio, the degree to which it encounters competition in its markets, the volatility of the stock market and the volatility of the valuations of the companies it has invested in as it relates to its realized and unrealized gains and losses, the concentration of investments in a small number of companies, as well as other general economic conditions. As a result of these and other factors, current results may not be indicative of UTEK's future performance. For more information on UTEK and for a more complete discussion of the risks pertaining to an investment in UTEK, please refer to UTEK's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. More > |
| Thursday, May 4, 2006 | |
| Manila welcomes Asia’s first big biodiesel plant | 1 comment |
| 4 May 2006 @ 16:47 Manila welcomes Asia’s first big biodiesel plant By Roel Landingin in Manila Published: May 4 2006 01:01 The Philippines yesterday inaugurated Asia’s first large-scale biodiesel plant, which can produce up to 60m litres a year of the alternative fuel from coconut oil, a big step for the poor south-east Asian country. Chemrez Inc, a Manila-based oleochemicals maker, built the plant for 650m pesos ($12.6m, €10m, £6.9m) ahead of the passage later this year of legislation requiring petrol refiners and distributors to sell diesel fuel mix with at least 1 per cent coconut oil, and petrol containing at least 5 per cent of sugar ethanol. The company expects initially to export up to 80 per cent of its output to Europe, the world’s biggest biodiesel market, as well as to Japan and Australia, while local petrol distributors set up the infrastructure for pre-blending the biofuel, said Jun Lao, Chemrez president. Across Asia, governments and companies are developing plans to build biofuel plants or expand production of palm oil, sugar, jatropha and other crops that could prove to be cheaper and more sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based petroleum products. In Malaysia, palm oil plantation companies, in partnership with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, are planning to build three 60,000-tonne plants to export biodiesel. Kuala Lumpur is also considering a law requiring petrol stations to sell biodiesel using palm oil from 2007 in an effort to reduce state diesel subsidies. “We expect to hold the distinction of being Asia’s first large-scale biodiesel plant for only six to eight months because bigger projects, especially in Malaysia, are coming on stream later this year and early next year,” said Mr Lao. He said global demand for biodiesel was set to rise as European Union members switched to palm or coconut oil from more expensive rapeseed in producing biofuels. The Philippines, which buys all its crude oil requirements from abroad, saw economic growth fall to 5 per cent last year from a 15-year high of 6.1 per cent in 2004 mainly because of inflationary pressures stemming from soaring crude oil prices. The country’s trade deficit grew by almost a third to $7.5bn as its oil import bill surged. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, welcomed the new biodiesel plant and said it represented a big step forward in the country’s efforts to find a solution to soaring world crude prices. Unable to cut taxes on petroleum, much less subsidise gas prices because of the government’s large budget deficits, Mrs Macapagal is instead promoting private investments in alternative fuels such as biodiesel from coconut oil, ethanol from sugar and compressed natural gas. Her cabinet recently rejected a proposal from an economic adviser to suspend the collection of the 12 per cent value added tax on petroleum products to provide immediate relief to consumers. The move could lower the unleaded gasoline price by about a tenth but would also cost the government about 29bn pesos a year in forgone revenue, equivalent to about a fourth of its 125bn pesos budget deficit target this year. More > |
| Thursday, April 27, 2006 | |
| GE Energy Takes Equity Position in Ocean Energy Compan | 1 comment |
 27 Apr 2006 @ 22:39GE Energy Takes Equity Position in Ocean Energy Company April 21, 2006 Norwalk, Connecticut [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] UK-based Ocean Power Delivery (OPD), the company behind the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter, received a major vote of confidence this week as U.S. industrial giant General Electric took an equity position in the company. "We're expanding our renewable energy team to take advantage of a perfect nexus of positive developments in relative costs, technology, regulations and public opinion. This nexus propelled our renewable energy portfolio growth during 2005 by 40 percent, to nearly $1 billion." -- Kevin Walsh, Managing Director and leader of GE Energy Financial Services' renewable energy team GE's Technology Lending unit is providing capital to OPD, developer of the world's first commercial facility that will generate electricity from offshore ocean waves. The transaction, made in conjunction with GE Energy Financial Services, extends a loan facility of $2.6 million (GBP 1.5 million) to the company. Additionally, GE will take an undisclosed equity position as part of OPD's $22.5 million (GBP 13 million) equity raise as OPD prepares to deliver on its first commercial contract for a wave power farm. "Renewable energy is of global importance, and GE's commitment helps us to develop and commercialize new and improved wave energy technology," said Richard Yemm, Managing Director of OPD. "We look forward to exploring additional opportunities with GE's cleaner energy initiatives." OPD developed the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter, which generates 750 kilowatts (kW) of electricity from offshore wave motion. The company's first order is from a Portuguese consortium that will install the system to generate enough electricity to meet the demands of more than 15,000 Portuguese homes while saving more than 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, compared to equivalent fossil fuel generation. OPD expects to install and commission the first stage of the project during the summer of 2006. "This transaction is another example of GE's ongoing commitment to companies that are developing new, environmentally beneficial technologies," said GE Technology Lending's Mark Huang. James Kim of Technology Lending added, "OPD clearly is a leading innovator in the emerging field of ocean-wave energy generation, a fact validated by the company securing the world's first commercial order in the sector." The move comes at a time when GE is expanding its financial services unit and specifically those in the division that serve the renewable energy market. Estimates of annual global renewable energy investment requirements range from $20 billion to $30 billion, excluding large hydroelectric plants. Energy Financial Services is seeking to grow its renewable energy investments to more than $3 billion by 2008. "We're expanding our renewable energy team to take advantage of a perfect nexus of positive developments in relative costs, technology, regulations and public opinion," said Kevin Walsh, Managing Director and leader of GE Energy Financial Services' renewable energy team. "This nexus propelled our renewable energy portfolio growth during 2005 by 40 percent, to nearly $1 billion." More > |
| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 | |
| With Big Boost From Sugar Cane, Brazil Is Satisfying Its Fuel Needs | 3 comments |
 12 Apr 2006 @ 14:40With Big Boost From Sugar Cane, Brazil Is Satisfying Its Fuel Needs By LARRY ROHTER Published: April 10, 2006 PIRACICABA, Brazil — At the dawn of the automobile age, Henry Ford predicted that "ethyl alcohol is the fuel of the future." With petroleum about $65 a barrel, President Bush has now embraced that view, too. But Brazil is already there. This country expects to become energy self-sufficient this year, meeting its growing demand for fuel by increasing production from petroleum and ethanol. Already the use of ethanol, derived in Brazil from sugar cane, is so widespread that some gas stations have two sets of pumps, marked A for alcohol and G for gas. In his State of the Union address in January, Mr. Bush backed financing for "cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but wood chips and stalks or switch grass" with the goal of making ethanol competitive in six years. But Brazil's path has taken 30 years of effort, required several billion dollars in incentives and involved many missteps. While not always easy, it provides clues to the real challenges facing the United States' ambitions. Brazilian officials and scientists say that, in their country at least, the main barriers to the broader use of ethanol today come from outside. Brazil's ethanol yields nearly eight times as much energy as corn-based options, according to scientific data. Yet heavy import duties on the Brazilian product have limited its entry into the United States and Europe. Brazilian officials and scientists say sugar cane yields are likely to increase because of recent research. "Renewable fuel has been a fantastic solution for us," Brazil's minister of agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, said in a recent interview in São Paulo, the capital of São Paulo State, which accounts for 60 percent of sugar production in Brazil. "And it offers a way out of the fossil fuel trap for others as well." Here, where Brazil has cultivated sugar cane since the 16th century, green fields of cane, stalks rippling gently in the tropical breeze, stretch to the horizon, producing a crop that is destined to be consumed not just as candy and soft drinks but also in the tanks of millions of cars. CLICK TO READ More > |
| Wednesday, March 22, 2006 | |
| The New “Power Plants”: Trees Make Electricity? | 2 comments |
 22 Mar 2006 @ 02:41 Jacob Gordon, Los Angeles, CA It appears that a small electrical component company near Boston has figured out how to get electricity out of trees. MagCap Engineering is pretty sure they’ve come up on the next renewable energy revolution. By pounding a nail into the trunk and a conductor into the ground, a faint but consistent charge is detected in a wire running from the tree to the earth. They are now charging NiCad batteries and illuminating LEDs off the current. MagCap is applying for a patent while MIT tests the phenomenon in the blistering Cambridge cold. A company spokesperson told The Boston Globe they hope to be able to charge hybrid batteries this way, but they also propose lighting roads. Makes sense, I suppose. Everything living is running on electric current. More > |
| Saturday, January 21, 2006 | |
| Get Free Power with Solar Style | 0 comments |
 21 Jan 2006 @ 08:09 From TreeHugger Solar Style is now selling easy-to-use solar-powered electronics chargers. By all appearances, they have successfully launched and are now selling their compact, convenient wares to the world. Solar Style's aim is to help consumers power their portable electronics without using the grid, using "free energy" ("free," of course, after making a small investment in their products), and they're well on their way. Their devices work like this: the photovoltaic panels collect light and convert it to energy, which is stored in what they call the "Battery on Board." When you need a boost of juice, plug in and the batteries will charge or power your electronic life. They are currently offering four chargers and a multitude of connectors for personal electronic devices like cell phones, PDAs, Bluetooth accessories, mp3 players, digital cameras and even some laptop and notebook computers, all at surprisingly low prices. Their models range in price from US $29.99 to $55.99, and all are available from their website. ::Solar Style |
| Tuesday, January 17, 2006 | |
| California Launchess $3.2 Billion Solar Energy Subsidy Program | 1 comment |
| 17 Jan 2006 @ 08:09 California Launchess $3.2 Billion Solar Energy Subsidy Program Mercury News (San Jose, CA) [link] State panel approves plan for solar power subsidies By Paul Rogers Mercury News Guaranteeing California's role as America's solar power king, state energy regulators Thursday gave final approval to a record $3.2 billion plan to provide rebates through 2017 to the owners of homes, businesses, farms and public buildings who install solar systems. The plan, which will cover roughly one-third the cost of solar systems, was approved on a 3-1 vote by the California Public Utilities Commission. The vote was a major victory for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the idea as a candidate for office in 2003, only to see it stall in the state Legislature last year. Schwarzenegger presented it to the PUC instead. "Today is a great day for California,'' he said in a statement. "When I ran for office, I promised the people of California an affordable, reliable and more environmentally friendly energy supply. Today is a big step towards that goal.'' The program will be funded by a new $1.10 monthly fee on residential power bills. It will be offset, PUC officials said, by the elimination of another fee that expires in 2007. Environmentalists and solar industry leaders celebrated, but said there are still two key provisions the state Legislature must approve. One would require developers of new subdivisions to offer solar power as an option on all homes. The other would increase the number of customers eligible to receive credit on their bills for generating surplus power and supplying it to the state power grid. Existing law caps such credits at 0.5 percent of each utility's total demand. Because of the growth of solar power in California, that cap is close to being reached. Environmentalists, Schwarzenegger and the PUC want it increased to 2.5 percent or more, but utilities are resisting. Democratic leaders in Sacramento said Thursday that they will work on those issues, but intend to require that industrial, commercial and government solar jobs pay high ``prevailing wages'' -- generally comparable to union wages. That position doomed the solar effort last year because environmentalists and Schwarzenegger said it would raise costs too much. ``On any other expenditure done by the state, prevailing wage is the law,'' said Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles. ``If you begin to chip away here, it would start undermining the wages that are paid to California workers.'' Eva Salas, owner of Stonegate, a 33-unit apartment complex in East Palo Alto, said she is interested in learning more about installing solar power to cut her $10,000-a-year PG&E bill for lighting and washing machines. ``It would also be good for my tenants, many of whom are low-income, to reduce their energy bills,'' she said. More > |
| Thursday, January 12, 2006 | |
| Running On Algae | 3 comments |
 12 Jan 2006 @ 08:12Running on algae Finding a viable way to replace petroleum will be a major topic at a biotech summit in Waikiki By Stewart Yerton On April 2, Hawaii intends to reduce its use of petroleum-based gasoline by nearly 9 percent, as a state law will take effect requiring the use of fuel made from corn, sugar cane and other plants. The law requires that 85 percent of the gas sold in the state be a blend containing 10 percent ethanol, which is compatible with virtually all cars and commonly used in gas on the mainland. Although state officials are bracing for potential bumps during the transition, the overarching goal of the policy is simple: to make Hawaii less reliant on fossil fuels and more reliant on fuel that can be produced here. "It's fairly significant progress," said Maria Tome, an alternative energy engineer with the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. "It's a step in the right direction." This week Hawaii will be a forum for discussions of alternative bioenergy technologies far beyond ethanol. The three-day Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy will gather experts from private industry, governments and academia to discuss a variety of emerging technologies. These include "bio-plastics" made with biodegradable material instead of petroleum, biological fuel cells, nanobiotechnology in electronics manufacturing and industrial biotechnology in cosmetics. But perhaps most relevant to Hawaii in the near future is a series of talks about ethanol production. Made by fermenting and processing grains, corn and sugar cane, ethanol is another name for the alcohol in alcoholic beverages. It's also been used as a fuel for more than a decade in 41 states. In fact, Tome takes pains to describe the ethanol blend gas proposed for Hawaii as E10 to avoid confusion with E85, a blend containing 85 percent ethanol that can be used only in special cars. READ MORE More > |
| Wednesday, January 4, 2006 | |
| Compressed Air Underground Battery for Wind Farms | 1 comment |
 4 Jan 2006 @ 03:14Compressed Air Underground Battery for Wind Farms January 3, 2006 07:30 AM - John Laumer, Philadelphia Wind energy may become even more important if the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities succeeds in launching an innovative wind-powered compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility project they are working on. CAES technology uses off-peak wind turbine generated electricity to pump compressed air into an underground aquifer for use in later generation. The concept of using stored compressed-air energy to help generate electricity is more than 30 years old. Two plants currently exist—an 11-year-old plant in McIntosh, Ala., and a 23-year-old plant in Germany, both with the compressed air stored in caverns created by salt deposits. For you non-engineers, there's a step-by-step explanation after the fold. Caveat: from an environmental standpoint, CAES is not suitable for every wind farm. Saturating free-moving groundwater with pressurized air would change the redox state while the added carbon dioxide would dissolve calcite, with the combined effect of mobilizing metals. The result could be unfortunate for nearby well owners and would lessen energy efficiency. And CAES is definitely not something to try around a deep waste injection well that has previously accepted volatile hazardous wastes. CAES technology, in otherwords, is suitable for locations where natural underground vaults, essentially places where groundwater can be put under pressure and not flow outward due to that pressure, already exist and have not been contaminated. Having said that, this is a pretty cool innovation. For once Iowa beats Minnesota More > |
| Saturday, December 3, 2005 | |
| AladdinPower Hand Generator | 0 comments |
 3 Dec 2005 @ 02:56AladdinPower Hand Generator December 2, 2005 03:30 PM - Collin Dunn, Durham, North Carolina The AladdinPower hand generator promises to make dead cell phone batteries a thing of the past by putting the power of charging in your hands, literally. And it's not limited to just cell phones; AlladinPower claims that it will charge just about anything with a rechargeable battery, including (but certainly not limited to) CB radios, rescue lights, rechargeable CD players, radios, tape players, etc. Each unit includes an emergency light and car (cigarette lighter) connector. There isn't a list of compliant manufacturers, though the website says it "universally connects to most cellphones regardless of brand, make, model, or manufacturer." AladdinPower's big brother, the "E Stepcharger" is coming soon, but until then, it looks like the only downside might be a hand cramp. US $59.95 |
| Monday, November 28, 2005 | |
| Sky Spy Spots Energy-Wasting Homes | 1 comment |
 28 Nov 2005 @ 17:33Sky Spy Spots Energy-Wasting Homes November 28, 2005 07:19 AM - Collin Dunn, Durham, North Carolina British company BlueSky is helping improve energy efficiency in UK homes. They're using aerial thermal imaging to pinpoint areas and homes that are leaking too much energy. Local energy authorities can then use this information to help advise homeowners to improve their energy efficiency in accord with the mandated 30 percent increase in domestic efficiency by 2006. BlueSky combines aerial thermal imaging with digital mapping and geographical information systems to produce a thermographic map that indicates the properties emitting the most heat. BlueSky uses a modified military-use scanner More > |
| Tuesday, November 22, 2005 | |
| University of Capetown's Disposable Solar Pane | 1 comment |
| 22 Nov 2005 @ 14:37 University of Capetown's Disposable Solar Panel November 22, 2005 08:25 AM - John Laumer, Philadelphia Researchers at the University of Cape Town SA have developed a protoytpe method for printing solar panels on paper. We wish we had a photograph of their working prototype SPV panel on display, but none yet seem to exist. However, our 'concept bait' picture does fairly represent the designers' intent of producing electricity affordable by the poorest of rural families. The method seems to involve printing with modified color printers, using three or four separate print runs with black, blue, yellow and magenta inks containing tiny silicon particles. They print the metal contacts, then the semiconductor structure, then more contacts. The voltage and power output of the solar cell is determined by the size of the poster. An "A2-sized poster" will deliver up to 100W of power, enough to charge a cellphone, power a radio or provide five hours of lighting, according Prof David Britton. News coverage from SA outlets mentions that 'Shops could stock rolls of solar panel posters, and cut it to meet a customer's needs. The poster could be mounted behind a window or attached to a cabinet'. Apparently the research team is seeking to commercialise the project. Coupling nanotech with AutoCad fast prototyping is about as advanced as TreeHugging gets. Let's hope they're as good at business as they are at inventing because this could help drive down the price much faster than anyone imagined possible. Recalling that paper can be made of various non-woven polymer strands that are entirely water resistant, this seems like it has great potential. Might even be room to recycle the paper at end of life. Guess we're getting ahead of the prototype idea though. Congrads to Professor Britton and his Capetown associates. More > |
| Friday, November 11, 2005 | |
| Notions of Expenditure | 1 comment |
| 11 Nov 2005 @ 00:10 Notions of Expenditure April 11, 2005 06:42 AM - Think about it. We go to the gym every day, get on a machine and expend great amounts of energy. Multiply that by everyone in your gym, in all the gyms in all the world and what have you got? a lot of power! This project is a request "for speculative proposals to re-design exercise equipment to generate and store energy; and/or to retrofit gyms to function as local power sources linked to the grid." It envisions a redesign of gyms into power hubs and a linking together of the power hubs into a massive power network. All this and get fit too. More > |
| Windside Vertical Wind Turbines | 8 comments |
 11 Nov 2005 @ 00:03 Windside Vertical Wind Turbines November 10, 2005 12:57 PM - Michael G. Richard, Ottawa Thanks to Kimmo Leskinen for letting us know about the Windside vertical wind turbines in the comments of our post about the Terra Moya Aqua vertical-axis wind turbine. The Windside turbines have been around for over 20 years and are based on sailing engineering. There are 8 models offered on their product page and their most interesting characteristics are the 0dB measured sound emission (they are basically silent) and the small amount of space required because of their vertical nature. More > |
| Wednesday, October 5, 2005 | |
| Gas Prices Push U.S. Bike Sales to Near-Historic Peak | 0 comments |
| 5 Oct 2005 @ 00:19 Gas Prices Push U.S. Bike Sales to Near-Historic Peak From Grist We Like Bike Glory be: More bicycles than cars have been sold in the U.S. in the past 12 months. That's about 19 million bicycles -- nearing the 20 million sales peak during the early 1970s oil embargo -- and roughly $5 billion to $6 billion in business, according to the trade organization Bikes Belong. Though concern for the environment may factor into the two-wheeler surge, one bike-shop owner pins the new jones for cycling primarily on spiking gas prices. Sales of some auto brands, however, are holding high despite rising fuel costs: Hummers are on track for a year of record sales, thanks in part to the introduction of the H3, barely more mileage-conscious than the H2. The military-inspired vehicles project power, freedom, "and being able to go where I damn please," says auto industry researcher Wes Brown. "It's not just 'Let me by.' It's 'Get out of my way!'" If you're on one of those new bikes, watch out for Hummer-driving halfwits with a baseless sense of entitlement. |
| Friday, August 26, 2005 | |
| Venezuelan President Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor Americans | 0 comments |
| 26 Aug 2005 @ 21:17 Venezuelan President Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor Americans From Published on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 by Reuters Chavez Offers Cheap Gas to Poor in U.S. By David Pace HAVANA, Cuba - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, popular with the poor at home, offered on Tuesday to help needy Americans with cheap supplies of gasoline. Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "We want to sell gasoline and heating fuel directly to poor communities in the United States," the populist leader told reporters at the end of a visit to Communist-run Cuba. Chavez did not say how Venezuela would go about providing gasoline to poor communities. Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA owns Citgo, which has 14,000 gas stations in the United States. The offer may sound attractive to Americans feeling pinched by soaring prices at the pump but not to the U.S. government, which sees Chavez as a left-wing troublemaker in Latin America. Gasoline is cheaper than mineral water in oil-producing Venezuela, where consumers can fill their tanks for less than $2. Average gas prices have risen to $2.61 a gallon in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Chavez said Venezuela could supply gasoline to Americans at half the price they now pay if intermediaries who "speculated ... and exploited consumers" were cut out. Venezuela supplies Cuba with generously financed oil and plans to help Caribbean nations foot their oil bills. Chavez, in Cuba to attend the graduation of Cuban-trained doctors from 28 countries, was seen off at the airport by Cuban President Fidel Castro. Washington has accused the two leaders of being a destabilizing influence in South America. Chavez and Castro offered to give poor Americans free health care and train doctors free of charge. |
| Thursday, August 18, 2005 | |
| Exciting Research in Solar Energy that Could Conceivably Alleviate Energy Crisis | 0 comments |
| 18 Aug 2005 @ 23:42 Exciting Research in Solar Energy that Could Conceivably Alleviate Energy Crisis From: Environment News Service Quantum Dots and Smart Materials the Future of Solar Energy WASHINGTON, DC, August 16, 2005 (ENS) - Reactors heated by focused, concentrated sunlight in thermal towers that reach temperatures over 3,000 degrees Celsius ... nanostructured materials such as quantum dots ... solar cells that achieve 50 percent efficiency - these are not the stuff of science fiction. These technologies are predicted to be the reality of solar power by mid-century. A workshop of 200 scientists from the United States, Europe and Asia met in April to examine the challenges to developing solar energy as a competitive energy source and to pinpoint the basic research directions that show promise. The cross-disciplinary group of solar energy scientists spanned academia, national laboratories, government, and industry. Their report, issued Friday, identified 13 priority research directions with the ³potential to produce revolutionary, not evolutionary, breakthroughs in materials and processes for solar energy utilization.² More energy from sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour than all the energy consumed on the planet in a year, and world demand for energy is projected to more than double by 2050 and to more than triple by the end of the century, the scientists said. They called sunlight is "a compelling solution" to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy because it is readily available, free from geopolitical tension, and poses no threat to our environment through pollution or to our climate through greenhouse gas emissions. Emerging with "a sense of optimism" from the four day workshop, the scientists said the technology to bridge the gap between our present use of solar energy and its undeveloped potential "defines a grand challenge in energy research." Bridging this gap requires revolutionary breakthroughs that come only from basic research, they said. "We must understand the fundamental principles of solar energy conversion and develop new materials that exploit them." Workshop chair Dr. Nathan Lewis is a chemistry professor at the California Institute of Technology. (Photo courtesy CalTech) The Basic Energy Sciences Workshop on Solar Energy Utilization was chaired by chemist Dr. Nathan Lewis of the California Institute of Technology and co-chaired by George Crabtree Materials Science Division director at Argonne National Laboratory. Workshop participants discussed solar energy conversion systems in three categories - solar electricity, solar fuels and solar thermal systems. Dr. George Crabtree is Materials Science Division director at Argonne National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy Argonne) The scientists agreed that there is considerable common ground underlying the three conversion routes of sunlight to electricity, fuel, and heat, the scientists agreed. Each follows the same functional sequence of capture, conversion, and storage of solar energy, and they exploit many of the same electronic and molecular mechanisms to accomplish these tasks. A major challenge is tapping the full spectrum of colors in solar radiation. The absorbing materials in the current generation of photocells and, artificial photosynthetic machines typically capture only a fraction of the wavelengths in sunlight. Designing composite materials that effectively absorb all the colors in the solar spectrum for conversion to electricity, fuel, and heat would be a crosscutting breakthrough, the scientists said. Then the captured solar energy "must be transported as excited electrons and holes from the absorber to chemical reaction sites for making fuel or to external circuits as electricity," the scientists explained. "Nature transmits excited electrons and holes without energy loss through sophisticated assemblies of proteins whose function we are just beginning to understand with genome sequencing and structural biology," they said. Today's rapid advances on the scientific frontiers of nanoscience and molecular biology provide a strong foundation for future breakthroughs in solar energy conversion, the workshop participants agreed. An electronic circuit fabricated on a flexible plastic substrate. Solar cells are being developed that can be integrated with such organic electronic devices. (Photo Nicole Cappello courtesy Georgia Tech) A host of new materials to replace silicon are now under investigation, including inexpensive plastic photocells, thin polycrystalline films, organic dye injectors, and quantum dots. The vast majority of solar panels today are made of silicon. These devices are called first generation, and make for highly stable and efficient solar cells, but, because of the material processing necessary, it is expensive to make first generation solar cells, and levels of efficiency in electricity production range from around 10 to 20 percent. A more recent alternative involves constructing solar cells using thin films with the potential to produce solar energy at a reduced cost. These thin film cells are called second generation, and are cheaper, but they have more difficulty absorbing radiation and are not very efficient. Scientists have been seeking a third generation - a low cost semiconductor material that would have a tunable bandgap, allowing the manufacturer to control the absorptive properties of the solar cell. Quantum dots appear to fill the bill. Quantum dots are semiconductor crystals typically between 1 and 10 nanometers in diameter, a nanometer being a billionth of a meter. Each quantum dot contains a tiny droplet of free electrons. A contoured structure of quantum dots, with the blue dots extending farthest from the base. (Photo courtesy NREL Solid State Theory Group) Quantum dots offer tunable optical and electronic properties that can work around the natural limits of traditional semiconductors. They could form the basis of new computers, and the workshop scientists believe they could be useful as the basis of new solar electric cells. "Quantum dots are especially exciting for their tunable absorption wavelength, their quantum conversion efficiency above 100% through multiple-exciton generation, and their easy fabrication through self-assembly," the workshop scientists said. Quantum dots can be made into flexible sheets, put into liquid form, or made to be transparent, and they cost relatively little compared with bulk silicon semiconductor material and thin films. One manufacturer, Evident Technologies, says quantum dots can theoretically achieve the third generation goal of greater than 60 percent efficiency at $100 or less per square meter of paneling that would be necessary to make photovoltaic solar cells economically competitive with other forms of energy. In addition to electric energy, solar radiation can be converted to heat energy, and the scientists concluded that solar thermal conversion can replace much of the heat now supplied by burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Solar concentrators focus sunlight collected over a large area to a line or spot where heat is collected in an absorber. A 10-kilowatt prototype of the Advanced Dish Development System being evaluated at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. May 2004. (Photo courtesy Sandia) Temperatures as high as 3,000 degrees Celsius can be generated to drive chemical reactions, or heat can be collected at lower temperatures and transferred to a heat storage medium like water for distributed space heating or steam to drive an engine. But research is needed to develop thermal storage materials that accumulate heat efficiently during sunny periods and release heat slowly during dark or cloudy periods, the scientists said. Their report notes that progress in research proposed at the workshop also could lead to artificial "molecular machines" that turn sunlight into chemical fuel inexpensively and efficiently. Basic research could enable scientists to coax cheap materials to perform as well as expensive materials, they said. They believe "smart materials" could be developed based on nature¹s ability to transfer captured solar energy with no energy loss. They forsee self-repairing solar conversion systems and new materials for high-capacity, slow-release thermal storage. The Bush administration supports the development of solar energy, said Dr. Raymond Orbach, director of the U.S. Energy Department's Office of Science. "The tax credits contained in the historic energy bill signed by President [George W.] Bush will greatly help expand the use of renewable energy," Orbach said. ³This research will help improve a critical component of renewable energy, solar technology, in the future." |
| Tuesday, August 9, 2005 | |
| Stumbling into The Twilight Era of Petroleum | 0 comments |
| 9 Aug 2005 @ 06:03 Stumbling into The Twilight Era of Petroleum From: Several recent developments -- persistently high gasoline prices, unprecedented warnings from the Secretary of Energy and the major oil companies, China's brief pursuit of the American Unocal Corporation -- suggest that we are just about to enter the Twilight Era of Petroleum, a time of chronic energy shortages and economic stagnation as well as recurring crisis and conflict. Petroleum will not exactly disappear during this period -- it will still be available at the neighborhood gas pump, for those who can afford it -- but it will not be cheap and abundant, as it has been for the past 30 years. The culture and lifestyles we associate with the heyday of the Petroleum Age - large, gas-guzzling cars and SUVs, low-density suburban sprawl, strip malls and mega-malls, cross-country driving vacations, and so on -- will give way to more constrained patterns of living based on a tight gasoline diet. While Americans will still consume the lion's share of global petroleum stocks on a daily basis, we will have to compete far more vigorously with consumers from other countries, including China and India, for access to an ever-diminishing pool of supply. The concept of a "twilight" of petroleum derives from what is known about the global supply and demand equation. Energy experts have long acknowledged that the global production of oil will someday reach a moment of maximum (or "peak") daily output, followed by an increasingly sharp drop in supply. But while the basic concept of peak oil has gained substantial worldwide acceptance, there is still much confusion about its actual character. Many people who express familiarity with the concept tend to view peak oil as a sharp pinnacle, with global output rising to the summit one month and dropping sharply the next; and looking back from a hundred years hence, things might actually appear this way. But for those of us embedded in this moment of time, peak oil will be experienced as something more like a rocky plateau -- an extended period of time, perhaps several decades in length, during which global oil production will remain at or near current levels but will fail to achieve the elevated output deemed necessary to satisfy future world demand. The result will be perennially high prices, intense international competition for available supplies, and periodic shortages caused by political and social unrest in the producing countries. The Era of Easy Oil Is Over The Twilight Era of oil, as I term it, is likely to be characterized by the growing politicization of oil policy and the recurring use of military force to gain control over valuable supplies. This is so because oil, alone among all major trading commodities, is viewed as a strategic material; something so vital to a nation's economic well-being, that is, as to justify the use of force in assuring its availability. That nations are prepared to go to war over petroleum is not exactly a new phenomenon. The pursuit of foreign oil was a significant factor in World War II and the 1991 Gulf War, to offer only two examples; but it is likely to become ever more a part of our everyday world in a period of increased competition and diminishing supplies. This new era will not begin with a single, clearly defined incident, but rather with a series of events suggesting the transition from a period of relative abundance to a time of persistent scarcity. These events will take both economic and political form: on the one hand, rising energy prices and contracting supplies; on the other, more diplomatic crises and military assertiveness. Recently, we have witnessed significant examples of both. CLICK TO READ More > |
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