Author Archives: Joshua S Hill


About Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, a liberal left-winger, and believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I work as Associate Editor for the Important Media Network and write for CleanTechnica and Planetsave. I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), Amazing Stories, the Stabley Times and Medium.   I love words with a passion, both creating them and reading them.

Relocating Renewables Could Save Europe Billions

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Siemens study: Europe can save EUR 45 billion in its pursuit of renewables

Power generation solutions provider Siemens has analysed the electrical power producing systems located across Europe and found “considerable potential for optimisation, especially in connection with plans to expand power generation from renewable energy sources.” The primary manner in which this “optimisation” could come about is by changing the location of renewable power plants. According to Siemens, if power plants were built in locations that offered the highest possible power yields an approximate EUR 45 billion … Read More

Nest Comes To US Home Depot Stores

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nest_at_home_depot

We’ve reached that point where even my editor will throw Nest stories at me, assuming that I will want to cover them. He’s right, of course, but I’m not sure what I think about the stereotyping. So when Nest announced that they were now stocking their Nest Learning Thermostat in Home Depot stores, I was all over it like gravy on mashed potato (I’m told people like it).  Nest already had a partnership with Home … Read More

Mosaic Find 800 Investors Per Million For Crowdfunded Solar Projects

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map3 (1)

Mosaic have been a big success around here since we first heard about them, unsurprisingly given their innovative method of crowd-funding renewable energy solutions. It turns out that we’re not the only ones excited, though, as Mosaic have just announced that 823 people have invested in their largest solar project ever, a 487 kW installation on New Jersey’s famous Wildwoods boardwalk. … Read More

Amtrak Replacing Old Trains With New High-Efficiency Ones Made By Siemens

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Image Credit: Amtrak

Trains are fun. There is no other way to look at it than that. Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) nailed it: “Ooh, I love trains!” They’re big, powerful, sleek, and beautiful to watch as they power past. And they can be highly efficient as well, as the 70 new Amtrak Cities Sprinter (ACS-64) made by Siemens trains will be, soon to replace the 30-year-old locomotives on the Northeast Corridor and elsewhere. “The new Amtrak locomotives will help … Read More

Greece Announces 40% Cuts To Solar Feed-in Tariff

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Solar panels in Greece Image Credit: Michael Mahlberg via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

From a price of €171.9 per megawatt hour (MWh) back in August of 2012, the Greek Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (YPEKA) announced this past Friday that they will be cutting the feed-in tariff price down to  €95 per MWh of generated electricity starting June 1, a reduction of 44.7%. The new ministerial decision encompasses photovoltaic parks larger than 100 KW which have been connected to the energy grid from February 2013. Furthermore, the feed-in tariff … Read More

Hydropower Projects Depend On Rainforest Conservation

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CGI rendition of the main dam, Belo Monte

Large hydropower projects are the bedrock of clean energy production, by virtue of their sheer size and reliance upon natural rainfall. However, new research recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that a necessary part of increasing the electricity produced by hydropower projects is conserving the local habitats. The research specified that conserving rainforests in the Amazon River Basin will increase the amount of electricity produced by hydropower projects in … Read More

Morocco Begins Construction On 160 MW CSP Plant

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Image Credit: Artist rendering of the proposed Ouarzazate CSP complex

The 160 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Ouarzazate, Morocco, began on Friday with a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony by King Mohammed VI. The parabolic trough CSP independent power project is being built by a consortium led by ACWA Power and including Acciona, Sener and TSK. The contract was awarded to the consortium on April 29, and Ouarzazate 1 is set to go online in 2015. The consortium has also received significant backing from the German government, who … Read More

Myanmar To Be Home To World’s Third Largest Solar Plant

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Myanmar River Life Image Credit: eGuide Travel via Flickr

Myanmar has not always had the greatest of reputations, but Thailand-based company Green Earth Power (GEP) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the country’s Ministry of Electric Power to construct a $275 million solar power plant in the city of Minbu in the Magway region, close to the capital of Nay Pyi Taw. The 210 MW power plant is claimed to be the “world’s third largest solar plant” and is expected to be … Read More

Samsung And Scotland Join To Build Offshore Wind Turbine Prototype

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Fife Energy Park Image Credit: Fife Energy Park

Non-departmental public body Scottish Enterprise have awarded Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) £6.04 million in funding to support the development of a 7 MW offshore wind turbine prototype at Scotland’s Fife Energy Park, the country’s leading manufacturing and research zone for the renewable energy sector. Scottish Enterprise’s financial input backs the existing £100 million that SHI has already invested into it’s Scottish projects, which will help launch a test demonstration project in the near term, but looking … Read More