April 2008
Monthly Archive
New solar cells used in Antarctica
Posted by admin on 30 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Solar
Robert Swan and the E-Base Goes Live team used solar and other renewable energy sources during their two week stay in Antarctica. The thin film solar cells they used worked in Antarctica because it was lightweight and did not require direct sunlight.
G24i bosses say their company is the first in the world to produce commercial grade dye-sensitised thin film solar cells, and they will use a roll-to-roll manufacturing process to produce them in large volumes.
Mr Hertzberg explained the company hopes to use them primarily as portable chargers for devices such as mobile phone chargers, and plans to build them into clothes and backpacks, rather than as fixed installations on roofs.
Massachusetts program helps homeowners afford solar power
Posted by admin on 30 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Solar
Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Solar Program offers rebates to homeowners of 25% t0 50% off the cost of solar panel installations.
Commonwealth Solar is part of a push by the Patrick administration to increase the use of renewable energy across the state. Ian Bowles, Secretary of Energy and Environment Affairs says the administration has “set some goals in the solar area, for 250 megawatts of solar to be installed in the next 10 years. And that is a big step… if you think that in the past 20 years we have installed only 4 megawatts. So it’s really a 100 fold increase.”
Philadelphia to get solar power plant
Posted by admin on 30 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Solar
Exelon Generation Company and Epuron LLC are joining forces to build a solar power plant in the Philadelphia Navy Yard by the end of the year.
At a cost of $8 million to $12 million, the 1- to 1.4-megawatt solar power plant will be built on six to eight acres of brownfields _ or idle, contaminated land. About 6,000 to 8,000 solar photovoltaic panels will generate enough juice to power 200 homes a year.
Biotech conference advocates sustainable biofuels
Posted by admin on 29 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Biofuel
The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing announced a new initiative that would require that the production of advanced biofuels be sustainable.
Jay Keasling, CEO of the Joint Bioenergy Institute in California, one of the DOE Bioenergy Research Centers, discussed some of the expectations of industrial biotechnology to produce energy and advanced biofuels. “The conversion of sunlight to transportation fuels through plants faces a number of challenges,” he said. “There are a number of advanced biofuels that can be produced; the trick is to engineer an organism to produce them. We are now working toward engineering organisms for scalable production of ethanol and the next generation of biofuels. We are integrating science and technology to transform the U.S. biofuels industry.”
500MW solar plant planned for San Luis Obispo, California
Posted by admin on 29 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Solar
California’s goal of meeting 20% of its energy goals with renewable energy is being aided by OptiSolar’s plan to build a 500 megawatt solar plant in San Luis Obispo.
Construction on the development will begin in 2010 once approval has been established, while the solar panels will be installed on nine and a half sections of land over a three-year period. The generated power will be fed into California State’s electricity supply system.
Los Angeles approves green building ordinance on Earth Day
Posted by admin on 29 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: LEED
The Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance last week that requires high-rise residential buildings of over 50,000 square feet be LEED certified.
Last week the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved of a green building ordinance that promises to cut millions of tons of pollution over the next decade. The law will require new commercial buildings and high-rise residential structures over 50,000 square feet to meet LEED standards, including drought-resistant landscaping, use of recycled materials, and energy efficient heating, cooling, and lighting. This makes LA the latest of 14 US cities that have required private developers to meet greener building practices. These legislative efforts were heralded by several groundbreaking reports released earlier in the month.
Australia to become solar continent?
Posted by admin on 28 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Solar
Greg Hunt, Australian Liberal party environment spokesman, has proposed that Australia make solar power an integral part of the nation’s power grid.
“In short, we want to set Australia on a path to being a country where everyone willing to invest is within reach of running a solar home,” Mr Hunt will tell the two-day Climate Action Network Australia Conference in Sydney.
This would include a national feed-in tariff – a guaranteed rate of pay for solar electricity fed back into the grid by small solar generators, including private households.
Colorado’s biggest solar farm to be completed in July
Posted by admin on 28 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Solar
Aspen Skiing Company is building Colorado’s largest solar farm on one acre of land donated by the Colorado Rocky Mountain School.
The school is donating the land and will get to buy power from the ski company at a fixed price for the next 20 years. The energy will be used to power one of the school’s buildings.
The remaining power will be sold to Xcel Energy and used in the Carbondale grid.
“We think it will generate about 200,000 kilowatt hours per year which is enough to power about 20, 25 homes,” Jones said.
Florida man wants to build biodiesel plant on his property
Posted by admin on 28 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Biofuel
Florida resident Jason Quimby wants to build a biodiesel plant on his rural property in Deland.
Unlike the process of manufacturing biodiesel from crops like corn and soybeans, Quimby’s plant would manufacture the fuel from waste oil, such as spent french-fry grease from a fast-food restaurant.
Quimby said once he can obtain approval from the City of DeLand, it would take four to eight weeks to build his biodiesel plant. He has already spoken with local restaurant owners about picking up their used oil and grease products. These are known as feedstock.
Cellulosic ethanol plant to be built in Pennsylvania
Posted by admin on 27 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Ethanol
Pennsylvania governor Edward Rendell announced the construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant in Westmoreland County.
The Governor said Pennsylvania stands to be a leader in the development and deployment of cellulosic ethanol technology because the alternative fuel can be produced from biomass materials like switchgrass, crop residues, small diameter trees and agricultural waste — all things that are abundant in the state.
