Wind Energy & ‘Other Cleantech’ Link Bonanza!
Despite publishing about 75 articles in the past week, there are still a ton of big news stories we couldn’t get to that we wouldn’t want you to miss. Here’s a summary post on some wind energy, energy efficiency, and other cleantech news from the past week:
Wind Energy
Wind Turbines Made of Wood: A German engineering firm thinks it has a big solution to cut down the cost of wind turbines, increase their height (considerably) and efficiency, and make them an even cleaner electricity source (they already top the list).
130MW Wind Power Project for Scotland: The Scottish government has approved a large 129.6MW wind farm, the Stornoway Wind Farm on the Isle of Lewis.
Most Powerful Heavy-Lift Jack-Up Vessel Christened: What is now the most powerful heavy-lift jack-up vessel, which will be used to build and maintain offshore wind farms (and, cough cough, offshore oil and gas facilities), is now in operation. The vessel, Innovation, was built at the Christ shipyard in Gdynia (Poland).
Clean Energy, in General
Clean Energy Photography Winners: Friends of the Earth recently hosted a clean British energy photography contest. The winners have been announced. You can see pics at the second link above, or read the news release via the first.
Morocco Gets $800 Million in Loans for Wind & Solar: Morocco has received $800 million in loans from the African Development Bank (AfDB). “The Bank’s technical and financial support of Morocco’s plan to develop a concentrated solar power (CSP) plant at Ouarzazate and its Integrated Wind/Hydro and Rural Electrification Program is helping Morocco realize its goal of increasing installed renewable energy capacity to 42 per cent by 2020 and becoming a renewable energy industry leader.”
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Other Cleantech
LED Lamp Powered by Saltwater: Add a little saltwater and get light — that’s the idea behind a new LED lamp from Green House (though, I’m not seeing the product on its website… hmm). From Beth Buczynski: “When the saline water is put in the lantern, it functions as an electrolyte with a magnesium (Mg) rod (negative electrode) and a carbon rod (positive electrode) inside the lantern. In the official specs, Green House Co. Ltd. says that 16 g of salt should be mixed with 350ml of water in a special mixing bag to power the lamp. What’s not clear is how the lamp will function if you used water straight out of the ocean.”
LEDs Surging Ahead in Energy Efficiency: A new report from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) finds that, while today’s LEDs nudge out today’s CFLs a bit to take the “I’m the greenest light around” crown, that gap is going to grow a lot in the next five years due to projected technological and manufacturing improvements. At that point, I guess LEDs will just be echoing Usain Bolt. “Who’s the best? I’m the best. All day. Every day.” (Well, that is, unless you count robotic cheetahs, Mr. Bolt.)
Ocean Power Technologies to Work with U.S. Homeland Security: Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have agreed to work together “to perform a new round of in-ocean tests on its Autonomous PowerBuoy® to further demonstrate its use for ocean surveillance.”
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