DOE Introduces Big Oil to New Energy Source: Waste Heat Geothermal

steven_chu_nrel

Every barrel of oil extracted in the US also produces ten barrels of hot fluids in addition to the oil. Why not use that potential energy in the waste heat?

Rather than discard that “geothermal” resource created by the process of oil extraction, the DOE is going to show the traditional energy industry how to tap into those waste fluids to power equipment at the site. If generally applied by the industry, this would help reduce the high carbon cost of oil production in the US.

Nevada Dairy Cows are Ready for Cap-and-Trade with New Biogas Digester

A new biodigester will let Desert Hills Dairy double its herd without adding more manure to the waste stream.

Desert Hills Dairy of Nevada has joined with Carbon Bank Ireland, an emerging leader in cap-and-trade carbon emissions markets, to build the state’s first biogas facility to convert cow manure into electricity.  Along with producing enough sustainable methane to power itself and other equipment at the second largest dairy in Nevada, the high tech digester [...]

Biggest Wind Farm in World — in Texas

windtexas

European energy giant E.ON “turned on” what is reported to be the largest wind farm in the world this week, in Texas. The farm contains 627 wind turbines on almost 100,000 acres of land near Roscoe, Texas.

Cruise Ships Embrace Alternative Energy for Greener Travel

94986649_3e22dce4b4

Cruise ships lead the pack amongst the world’s top polluters in the transportation industry. If you’re a green-minded person who’s been dreaming of a tropical cruise this winter, but don’t want to lend your support to an industry that is a major polluter, you can reconsider because even cruise lines are trying to go green [...]

Clean Tech: #1 in Worldwide Venture Capital Investments

solar3

Clean tech has passed biotech and IT as the top venture capital (VC) investment category in the world. This is after investments in leading clean tech markets increased by 10% in the third quarter of this year. Cleantech Group released findings on Wednesday showing that the cleantech sector “accumulated $1.59 billion across 134 companies” and [...]

Highway 101 in California Goes Electric

3d9a7a98-afa1-4f8b-87c8-38bf99d10fc7large

The process of turning California’s Highway 101 into an electric roadway is beginning, and for a short period of time the charging stations that will be installed can be used for free. Beginning in October, Solarcity will be installing vehicle charging stations alogn Highway 101 between San Francisco and Los Angeles in order to reward [...]

Iowa State Students Devise 35% Faster Turbine Production

iowa_wind

As the US finally moves into manufacturing our own clean energy, a new kind of engineering is starting to move to the forefront. Manufacturing processes engineering. Under the direction of associate professor Vinay Dayal; Iowa State U students are trying to find the way to make wind turbines roll off US assembly lines more efficiently. [...]