Steve Hanley writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island. You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter. "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Elie Wiesel
July 19th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Elon Musk advocated for more solar power at the NGA summer conference last week, calling for more solar farms, rooftop systems, and battery manufacturing facilities.
July 19th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Yesterday, we published a story about how Chevrolet will shut down the Orion Township assembly plant where it builds the Chevy Sonic and Chevy Bolt for a few extra weeks this summer. Most legacy manufacturers take a two week break from production each year to do plant maintenance and reconfigure the assembly line for next year's models, but the Orion summer recess will be longer than normal to reduce excess inventories. The story got a lot of comments
July 19th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Short of cash and in need of a factory, Lucid Motors has turned to Ford for help. No thanks, Ford says.
July 18th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Google has set up an independent business outside the Alphabet umbrella called Dandelion. The new company was created to promote new geothermal system technology. Dandelion will attempt to do for residential heating and cooling what SolarCity has done for rooftop solar
July 18th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
German utility EWE plans to use salt caves to create a redox flow system that will be the largest battery in the world when completed in 2023.
July 18th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Chevrolet is shutting down the Orion Township factory where it makes the Bolt electric car for a few extra weeks this summer to deal with mounting inventories. Meanwhile, Tesla is preparing to ramp up production of the Model 3.
July 18th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
China has activated the first solar energy farm shaped like a giant panda. The idea is to involve more young people in the drive for clean energy.
July 17th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Green Mountain Power in Vermont is offering customers a $10,000 rebate on a new Nissan LEAF in an effort to get more people to switch to emissions free driving.
July 17th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Elon Musk was the keynote speaker at the National Governors Association conference in Providence, Rhode Island, last weekend. He used the occasion to remind the group of his oft voiced concerns about artificial intelligence, calling it the “biggest risk we face as a civilization.” In the absence of appropriate government regulations, Musk fears AI could progress to the point where homicidal robots roam the cities of the world, making them even more dangerous than Chicago
July 17th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
The latest study claims making air conditioning more efficient could keep more emissions out of the atmosphere than adding wind turbines
July 15th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Volkswagen says it I.D. electric car will cost up to $7,000 less than a Tesla Model 3. It is working with BMW, Mercedes, and Ford on a high-power charging network in Europe.
July 14th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Porsche will power its new office in Berlin with a $900,000, 88 ton solar pylon that will provide all the electricity needed to power the new building. It is also a symbol of the company's commitment to electric cars.
July 14th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
43 Republicans broke ranks with their party to vote against an amendment that would prevent the US military from studying how climate change will impact its ability to protect American interests.
July 14th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
The battle over whether a plug-in hybrid is really an "electric car" continues and BMW is doing nothing to tamp down the controversy. The latest EPA figures show the BMW 530e and 530e xDrive both have a minuscule all-electric range of just 16 miles or less. Hardly the "compelling electric car" Elon Musk has been begging legacy manufacturers to build for several years
July 14th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
The electric car revolution is coming. In fact, it is picking up speed as companies like Volvo say that all of their cars will have a battery and electric motor by 2025. Whole nations such as India and France are suggesting they may ban the sale of cars with internal combustion engines in coming years. Most people assume that lack of charging infrastructure is the primary barrier to more electric cars being on the road, but Volkswagen believes (as others do) that a lack of batteries will be the biggest factor. In fact, Volkswagen believes the world will need the equivalent of 40 Gigafactories by 2025 to meet the demand
July 14th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Swedish entrepreneur Gisli Gislason is the CEO of EVEN Electric. He says selling cars today is based on a model developed a century ago -- a model that is inappropriate for selling electric cars. In order to promote his vision of fossil fuel free future, he is partnering with Microsoft Sweden to further develop a new a EV sales and trading platform designed exclusively for the needs of electric car buyers and sellers
July 13th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
German startup Sono Motors will unveil its Sion, a solar powered car with a range of 75 to 155 miles on July 27.
July 13th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Hyperloop One conducted a successful test of its technology at its DevLoop test track in the Nevada desert in May. It will now try to reach speeds of 250 mph in the near future.
July 13th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Researchers have identified hazards to human health from pollutants in fracking wastewater flowing from treatment plants in western Pennsylvania. Is cheap energy worth poisoning our children for?
July 13th, 2017 | by Steve Hanley
Researchers at North Carolina State University have been using complex computational models to explore ways to make a "smart grid" a reality. Their recommendation? Solid state transformers
