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.

Wind Turbines Are Tornado Proof?

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The turbine blade in question Image Credit: Canadian Valley Technology Center

I have a lot of love for the wind turbine and always have. Driving around the southern coast of Victoria, here in Australia, you’ll come across wind turbines spinning majestically within view of the crashing waves that make up our beautiful coastline. The winds are constant, and at times genuinely terrifying, but nowhere near as terrifying as the tornado that ripped through Canadian County in Oklahoma. A tornado that did little or no damage to … Read More

Fossil Fuel–based Power Stations Unnecessary To Back Up Wind

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uk wind power onshore

An incidental note at the bottom of a wildlife article covering the culling of badgers in the UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph could have explosive results for the energy industry. According to the addendum, a measly four paragraphs in length, the National Grid — the country’s electric grid operator — has reported that wind energy produced 23,700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power, requiring only 22 GWh of power from fossil fueled stations to fill the gaps: … Read More

Moving To The Cloud Could Save 23 Billion Kilowatt-hours Of Electricity

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movingtocloud

A study conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Northwestern University and funded by Google has found that moving common software applications used by US workers to the cloud could save 23 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, approximately enough energy to power all the homes, businesses, and industry of Los Angeles for a whole year. The report (PDF) identified three common businesses applications which could be moved to the cloud: email, customer relationship management (CRM) software, … Read More

China And US Agree To Phase Out HFCs

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Image Credit: Hachimaki via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Carbon dioxide gets a lot of press by virtue of the sheer quantities with which we pump it into our atmosphere, but it is by no means the worst of the greenhouse gasses humanity is exhaling with each day that goes by. One such greenhouse gas that poses a much more damaging effect than carbon dioxide is hydrofluorocarbon, known as HFCs, and prominently used in refrigeration and air conditioning. According to ‘ThinkGlobalGreen’, a website dedicated to … Read More

New Class Of Solar Cell Reaches New Efficiency Breakthrough

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OxfordPV-Logo

Oxford PV have announced that they have achieved a new efficiency high-watermark for their new photovoltaic technology of 15.4%, continuing the march towards scale-up and commercialisation. Spun off from Oxford University in an attempt to put all of founder Dr. Henry Snaith’s intellectual property under one roof and solve the issues of satisfying global solar demand — “namely high cost, dependence on scarce elements and toxic materials, short lifetimes, and complex manufacturing processes” — PV … Read More

73% Of Americans Favour Investing In Public Transport With Their Tax Dollars

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Train station in London on a stormy day.

The Mineta Transportation Institute released a survey on Monday at the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Annual Rail Conference that shows growing support for the expansion of the US public transportation system. The survey, entitled Americans Support for Public Transportation, shows that nearly 74% of survey respondents agree that their tax dollars could and should be used to create, expand, and improve public transportation in their community. This number is up from an already growing majority in 2012 … Read More

US Solar PV Demand To Grow 20% In 2013 To 4.3 GW

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130530_us_solar_pv_market_demand_by_state

The latest NPD Solarbuzz North America PV Markets Quarterly has forecast growing US demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels throughout the rest of 2013 towards another record high of 4.3 GW, a near-20% increase over 2012 levels. Such demand has brought US contribution to the global market to over 12%, compared to only 5% three years ago. Second quarter demand is expected to reach 1 GW thanks primarily to California, Arizona, New Jersey, and North … Read More

Japanese Solar Industry Soaring

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Japanese solar power plant

In the space of two days at the end of May three separate reports were released covering the soaring growth of Japan’s solar industry. Not only can solar replace nuclear power in Japan, but it is also set to become the world’s largest solar revenue market in 2013, thanks at least in part to a surge in installations in Q1. Replacing Nuclear In the wake of the tragic Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in March of 2011 … Read More

Apple Plucks Former EPA Chief

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lisa_jackson

Former US Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson will be joining tech-giant Apple as vice president of environmental initiatives. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement speaking at the D: All Things Digital conference last Tuesday with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. “I’m incredibly impressed with Apple’s commitment to the environment and I’m thrilled to be joining the team,” Jackson said in a statement released by Apple. “Apple has shown how innovation can drive real progress by … Read More

Tracking Pending US Energy Legislation In One Place

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AEL Tracker

A brainchild of the Colorado State University’s energy policy Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) and Advanced Energy Economy, the Advanced Energy Legislation (AEL) Tracker is a free and searchable database of all the pending advanced energy legislation currently working their way through the 50 states of the United States, covering everything from electricity generation and energy efficiency to infrastructure and economic development. … Read More