Tina Casey, Author at CleanTechnica

About Tina Casey

Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tina’s articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. You can also follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.

Lifesaving Solar Power For Army’s “Firefly” Sniper Detection System

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Tina Casey

Army solar power reduces troop casualties

The Department of Defense has been aggressively pursuing alternative energy both as the key to future national security and as a means of reducing troop casualties in the field, and a new Army solar project provides a perfect illustration of the two entwined goals. The project involves integrating solar power with the Army’s new “Firefly” sniper detection system, which somewhat ironically has been exposing Soldiers to enemy fire when they have to install fresh batteries … Read More

Unzip A Carbon Nanotube, Find A Graphene Ribbon, Create A “Flexible” Li-Ion Battery

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Tina Casey

Rice researchers improve li-ion batteries with graphene nanoribbons

In what sounds like a solution in search of a problem, a few years ago researchers at Rice University figured out a way to create graphene ribbons by “unzipping” carbon nanotubes. Well, now it looks like a problem has been found, and it’s a big one with huge implications for the solar and wind power markets, to say nothing of electric vehicles and portable electronics. In the latest twist, the Rice team has applied carbon … Read More

New UC-Davis Net Zero Sustainable Winery Will Turn Water Into Wine Into Chalk

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Tina Casey

UC-Davis opens net zero sustainable winery

The newly opened Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building at the University of California, Davis includes a full lineup of futuristic green tech bells and whistles, and the one that has us most intrigued is a system for sequestering carbon dioxide from all the fermentation that is going to take place within its walls. The system will be installed within the next few years and once completed, it will convert carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate, … Read More

Solar Jobs Course For Military Vets Comes With Full Scholarship

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Tina Casey

SEI offers solar job certification scholarship

The nonprofit career education organization Solar Energy International (SEI) has taken note of the surging interest in solar jobs among military veterans, and it has come up with a scholarship plan to help both veterans and active duty military jump-start new careers in the solar industry. The program is further evidence that the creation of a culture of energy awareness in the Defense Department is having a direct impact on service members and their home … Read More

Army’s “Center of Lethality” Targets Green Fuel Cell To Recover Waste

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Tina Casey

green fuel cell to be developed by Army and nanoMaterials Discovery Corp

A new green fuel cell is in the works courtesy of the US Army’s “Center of Lethality,” aka the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center headquartered at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The fuel cell is designed to run on corn ethanol, which we don’t find particularly exciting nowadays, but it could end up playing an important role in the Army’s ability to manage the hazardous materials waste stream from its munitions manufacturing operations. The … Read More

Cool Planet Nears Commercial Production of Carbon Negative Biofuel

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Tina Casey

biogasoline from Cool Planet Energy will be carbon negative and cost less than $1.50 per gallon to produce

California based Cool Planet Energy has just announced almost $30 million in funding toward a goal of $100 million to build its first commercial facility for producing low cost biofuel that is not just carbon neutral, it’s carbon negative. Yes, that’s what Cool Planet has promised: it will produce bio-gasoline at a cost of under $1.50 per gallon without government subsidy, along with a biochar coproduct that will increase crop yields while capturing carbon from … Read More

Google Gobbles Up Entire Output Of New Swedish Wind Farm

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Tina Casey

Google's Finnish data center to run on wind power

The renewable energy world was abuzz last week with news that Google has just nailed down an exclusive agreement with a Swedish wind farm developer to provide its Finnish data center with wind power for the next ten years, from the new Maevaara wind farm to be built in Sweden. That will be Google’s first ever long-term renewable energy agreement in Europe and it’s also a milestone for the wind turbine company Nordex, which will … Read More

Volvo Trucks Takes DME Plunge, Biofuel Or No Biofuel

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Tina Casey

Volvo Trucks announces DEM commercialization.

Volvo Trucks has ambitious plans for dimethyl ether (DME), which is more familiarly known as a propellant for spray-on cosmetics rather than a power juice for big rigs. Yesterday the company announced that it plans to commercialize DME for use in trucks and other vehicles by 2015, but for those of you who are familiar with DME don’t get too excited. Although DME is a super-clean fuel that can be made from non-food biofuel feedstocks, … Read More

Switchgrass Will Power Navy Jet Fighters With 95% Less Greenhouse Emissions

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Tina Casey

Navy switchgrass biofuel program gets an assist from NREL

The more you poke at the Navy biofuel initiatives, the more you just seem to rile them up. Earlier this spring, for example, the Navy went ahead and announced a new round of $18 million in matching funds for four new biofuel pilot projects shortly after certain members of Congress tried to put a damper on its biofuel program. In the latest maneuver, today the National Renewable Energy Laboratory piled on with a press release … Read More

Lithium-Sulfur Battery Race Heats Up