Cheap Green Computer Runs on 2 Watts

CherryPal Computer

As far as green gadgets go, this little desktop computer will give Dell and (to a lesser extent) Apple a run for their money. The CherryPal promises to be affordable, efficient, and powerful enough for the average PC user. At first glance, that stats on the system look modest, and for good reason. This design [...]

Oil Drilling Threatens Utah's Famous Spiral Jetty and Great Salt Lake Wetlands

Photo © Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty, 1970

Utah has been a second home to me for nearly 20 years. In fact, as I write this, I am looking forward to spending a week at our house near Park City for the upcoming holiday. The state has also long been home to silver mines that continue to taint the local water supplies and [...]

Molten Salt May Be Solution to Solar Energy Storage

system

While adoption of solar energy steps up around the world, two key challenges remain: how to store the energy created during the day so it can be used through the night and how to dispatch the energy to where it is needed. Both of these problems may be solved by coupling molten salt with concentrating [...]

Scientists Turn Water into Wine (Even in a Drought)

Fruition Sciences

Their science is impressive, but their timing is dead on. It doesn’t quite seem fair that California has been blessed with the perfect growing climate for some of the world’s best agriculture (and of course, wine) but saddled with a water shortage. To help the Napa winemakers and wineries worldwide oversee their crop irrigation and [...]

Cooling Data Centers Could Prevent Massive Electrical Waste

Data center, data servers

It is estimated that the data storage sector consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006 (1.5% of total U.S. consumption, or roughly equivalent to the amount consumed by 5.8 million average U.S. households). These numbers are only expected to grow. The energy used by the nation’s servers and data centers is growing at an [...]

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Natural Gas Can Power Vehicles OR Electric Power Plants

Clean Natural Gas bus

There is nothing really new about using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a vehicle fuel. It works well in internal combustion engines and it is possible to squeeze enough energy on board in a reasonable size tank at a reasonable pressure to provide gasoline or diesel equivalent range. There are modification kits available for a [...]

Power Plant Efficiency Hasn't Improved Since 1957

electricity efficiency

Editor’s Note: Today we are happy to bring to you a guest post from Sean Casten, CEO and President of Recycled Energy Development. Americans have a habit of framing our scientific history as a series of Great Inventors, from Eli Whitney to Thomas Edison to Afrika Bambaataa. The history books say each was prodded by [...]

New Jersey May End Solar Rebate Program to Grow Market Faster

25solar_650

Demand for New Jersey solar installations is high, but 700 customers are on waiting lists for New Jersey solar rebates, and some smaller installers are laying off workers while waiting for the rebates to be funded. So the state is considering moving to a system of energy credits that can be traded on the open [...]