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Building Local Solar Markets, One State at a Time
November 25, 2009 10:47 AM - Adam Browning, Clean Techies
It’s that time of year again ”¦ no, not when turduckens appear on dinner tables nationwide and it becomes somehow acceptable to call the marshmallow a vegetable. It’s time for the 2009 edition of "Freeing the Grid," an annual report card to states on their net metering and interconnection standards. Together, these two key policies empower energy customers (that’s you) to go solar and reduce your utility bills.
Green Car Rally: The Chevy Volt Versus the Toyota Prius
November 25, 2009 09:49 AM - Cory Vanderpool , Triple Pundit
General Motors has been inundated in recent years with nothing but bad news. After filing for bankruptcy and receiving a controversial government bailout, the ailing car maker is trying to revolutionize the auto industry and breathe life back into its deflated sails with the introduction of the Chevy Volt.
Can the Sun Help Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel?
November 25, 2009 06:42 AM - Yale Environment 360 , Clean Techies
U.S. researchers have demonstrated a technology that uses the sun’s heat to convert carbon dioxide and water into the building blocks of traditional fuels, a reverse combustion process that may emerge as a practical alternative to sequestration of CO2 emissions from power plants.
Harnessing the Power of Salt, Norway Tries Osmotic Energy
November 24, 2009 08:29 AM - Pierre-Henry Deshayes, The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
Taking a step further in the planet's hunt for clean power, Norway is to unveil today the world's first prototype of an osmotic power plant on the banks of the Oslo fjord. The project is small-scale but could prove the great potential of osmotic energy.
Using Enzymes from Termites To Make Biofuel from Wood Waste
November 23, 2009 02:52 PM - Phil McKenna, Technology Review
Biofuel startup ZeaChem has begun building a biofuel pilot plant that will turn cellulosic feedstocks into ethanol via a novel approach that uses microbes found in the guts of termites. The company says the ethanol yields from the sugars of its cellulosic feedstocks are significantly higher than the yields from other biofuel production processes. ZeaChem says its process also has the potential to produce a plastic feedstock.
East Antarctic ice began to melt faster in 2006
November 23, 2009 06:31 AM - Nina Chestney, Reuters
East Antarctica's ice started to melt faster from 2006, which could cause sea levels to rise sooner than anticipated, according to a study by scientists at the University of Texas. In the study published in Nature's Geoscience journal, scientists estimated that East Antarctica has been losing ice mass at an average rate of 5 to 109 gigatonnes per year from April 2002 to January 2009, but the rate speeded up from 2006.
65 World leaders to join climate talks
November 22, 2009 08:35 AM - John Acher, Reuters
Sixty-five world leaders have confirmed they will attend a U.N. conference in Copenhagen in December that will try to clinch a new global climate deal, and many more are considering, Danish officials said on Sunday.
Asian carp may be near U.S. Great Lakes
November 21, 2009 07:16 AM - Andrew Stern, Reuters
There are signs Asian carp may have breached barriers designed to keep the prolific fish out of the Great Lakes, which could spell ecological disaster for the vital source of fresh water, authorities said on Friday. Concentrations of DNA discovered by Notre Dame University researchers may indicate the presence of bighead and silver carp upstream from two electrical barriers designed to bottle up the invasive fish.
Smart Grid Riding On the Information Superhighway
November 19, 2009 11:08 AM - Nick Nigro, Clean Techies
If Internet companies and some utilities have their way, the smart grid will rely on the existing infrastructure of the information superhighway in order to function. They argue that by relying on existing standards like Internet Protocol (IP), the smart grid will grow faster and more organically than if utilities adopt an assortment of proprietary methods.
Tidal Power Turbines Producing More Energy Than Expected
November 17, 2009 11:08 AM - Timothy Hurst, Earth and Industry, Matter Network
Marine Current Turbines' SeaGen, the world’s only commercial scale tidal stream turbine, is running reliably and delivering more energy than originally expected. The generators can produce enough energy to meet the average electricity needs for 1500 UK homes during each ebb and each flood tide.