Month: August 2011

Solar Roadways (the company) to Build Solar Panel Parking Lot (+ Top Transportation Stories)

13 years ago Zachary Shahan 7 Comments

Solar roads have been a dream of countless cleantech lovers for awhile now. And there’s actually a company with the name Solar Roadways. We’ve written about the potential of solar roads and solar bike lanes a number of times over the years, but there’s news out now that Solar Roadways has received a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to build a parking lot in Idaho paved with solar panels, the most practical application of the idea I’ve heard of in the U.S.

Big Coal: Making Mountains Even Better

13 years ago bobhiggins 6 Comments

Coal provides jobs. The jobs are dirty, they produce a product that’s harmful to the planet, hazardous to the health and welfare of the workers and their neighbors, but… hey, they’re jobs.
Besides, some of those jobs involve improving our mountains. They blow the tops off them, and haul away the coal, leaving flat tops, suitable for landing pads, parking lots, Nascar racing, or Appalachian soccer matches.

Guarding the Grid

13 years ago silviomarcacci 0 Comments

In 2003, an overheated power line near Cleveland, Ohio sagged into a tree and shorted out. It started a cascade of power line failures across the Midwest, Northeast and parts of Canada, and causing the worst blackout in U.S. history. Since then, utilities and grid operators have used new technology and procedures to prevent another major blackout – but can they compete with an aging grid and estimated $1 trillion in required new investment?

energyNOW! anchor Thalia Assuras looked at cutting-edge technology that can prevent blackouts before they occur, talked to federal officials about government efforts to create a safer and smarter grid, and went inside the high-tech nerve center of the country’s largest grid operator to see how we’re guarding the grid.

Hydrogen for 200 Million Vehicles: Air Products/Orange County Open Wastewater-Hydrogen Fuel Plant

13 years ago proteus 7 Comments

A new Air Products hydrogen fueling plant at the Orange County Sanitation District wastewater facility in Fountain Valley, California is producing clean, renewable electricity and hydrogen fuel and heat for use on-site and in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The wastewater-biogas-power-and-fuel plant could open up significant opportunities to use similar designs and technology to manage water and process agricultural, food and brewery waste streams.

An Ocean of Oil, a Toxic Brew

13 years ago bobhiggins 4 Comments

Another oil spill, the worst in the North Sea in a decade according to several media sources. I didn’t bother to call Donald Trump when news of Shell’s North Sea oil spill broke on this side of the pond. He’s not taking my calls.
I would have asked him if he found it ironic that a week after publicly berating Scotland for wanting to site a wind farm off the coast of his golf development near Aberdeen, Shell dumped more than 55,000 gallons of oil into the North Sea out beyond where the wind farm would stand.

China to Double Solar Power Capacity by End of 2011 (+ Top Solar Power Stories)

13 years ago Zachary Shahan 5 Comments

Nicholas just wrote about China’s solar power dreams and it’s new feed-in tariff for solar yesterday. And I wrote in June about the country doubling its 2025 solar power goals (aiming for 10 gigawatts by that time). But we’ve got some more big solar news out of clean-energy-crazy China worth a share. China expects to double its solar power capacity by the end of the year and will reach 2 gigawatts of solar power capacity, according to a new report from a think tank linked to the government, the Energy Research Institute.

Go Local, Burn Wood Chips

13 years ago charis 0 Comments

There’s been a lot of talk about using biomass to supply energy lately. While firewood is the most common source of energy in the EU, fruits and even hay are under consideration. The company Strasser Stone in St. Martin — the largest to work with natural stone in Austria — is one of the proponents of wood as fuel.