Only this twin set of reactors in Georgia, another pair in South Carolina and the completion of an old reactor in Tennessee are likely to be built in the U.S. for at least the next decade. “We won’t build large numbers of new nuclear plants in the U.S. in the near term,” says Marvin Fertel, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group for the nuclear industry.

The aim is to bring classrooms in sub-Saharan Africa into the digital age, said the students at IADT this morning.

So what’s the plan for School in a Box? Fifteen units will initially be deployed for three rural schools in South Africa by the Cape Peninsula Institute of Technology (CPUT). The order will be shipped from Ireland next week.

That array consists of a string of 120 solar panels — 60 on each of side of the CrownVision board — that have been installed on top of the canopy of Kauffman Stadium’s Outfield Experience seating area. These panels will provide part of the electrical energy required to operate the stadium — specifically, the amount of energy needed to cool fans’ brews.

The critical component of the Crescent Dunes project is its molten salt storage. The reflected sunlight is directed onto a large heat exchanger called a receiver, which is located on the tower. Molten salt — not oil like other concentrated solar power plants — is within the receiver and absorbs heat from concentrated sunlight, reaching up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The molten salt flows down the piping inside the tower and into a thermal storage tank, where the energy is stored until electricity is needed.

The plants to be built in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures are expected to burn a total of 200,000 tons of debris a year, generating 16,000 kw and covering the consumption needs of 30,000 households.

Their operation to accelerate the disposal of debris while promoting renewable energy is expected to start by March 2014, the officials said Tuesday.

Solar

Solar PV was the leader in new power installations in 2011, accounting for 21 GW (46.7%) of new power capacity, as you can see above, but I haven’t seen much detail on that yet, as all the info I have is from EWEA.

Wind

With 9,616 MW of new wind power installed in 2011, the EU now has 94 GW of wind power capacity installed, 11% more than in 2010. In total, wind power accounted for over one-fifth (21.4%) of new power installations in the EU in 2011.

Taking a cue from how light is harvested by densely-packed trees, Mershin and his team have fabricated tiny forests of zinc oxide nanowires interspersed with titanium dioxide “sponges.” When this mini array is then coated with the photosynthetic molecule extract, the electricity produced can actually be harvested to do work. The major drawback currently is the low 0.1% efficiency of the experimental cells, but the ongoing flurry of research into biophotovoltaics is expected to boost that to commercially viable levels (at least 1-2%) fairly soon.

The world’s second most populous country is using reverse auctions where the lowest bidder wins the power contract, to drive down solar prices. Their second auction took place in December and resulted in 28 new solar power plants being awarded to the lowest bidding company. This reverse auction system forces companies to compete on cost, and is part of the national plan to achieve 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022. The year 2025 is when India has been predicted to become the world’s most populous country, so development of clean energy sources for over one billion people is a very significant trend for reducing climate change and air pollution.

While California topped the list for megawatts installed in 2011 with 921, Illinois also had a very strong 2011, coming in with the second most megawatts installed for the year and rising to #4 on the overall list. Other traditional stalwarts like Iowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma rounded out the top five. Ohio came in as the fastest growing wind power state in 2011 with 101 megawatts installed leading to a more than 900% growth rate. Meanwhile, South Dakota joined Iowa as the states receiving the highest percentage of their electricity from wind with 20%. Overall, 30 states brought wind projects online in 2011 and construction is ongoing for 2012 projects in 31 states including the first wind farm projects in Nevada, Connecticut and Puerto Rico.