As CEO and co-founder of LST Energy Jim Trussler is a man on a mission: to promote growing and using hay, or rather concentrated hay pellets, for home heating across North America. Cheaper, cleaner, plentiful and renewable, the benefits of doing so look to be numerous and varied.
Countries building TLC – transparency, longevity and certainty – into strong climate change policy frameworks are gaining a competitive advantage over countries that aren’t, according to a new study from DB Climate Change Advisors. China and Germany have emerged as global leaders, while the US continues to lag, and may even lose ground, at least at the federal level.
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) have tapped BMW subsidiary, DesignworksUSA, to create a new fleet of train cars to replace those that have been diligently serving the Bay Area since 1972. The new trains “are expected to be the lightest and most energy-efficient for their performance in the world.”
First Solar has set a new world record for converting the energy from sunlight into electricity. One of its latest cadmium-telluride photovoltaic cells, which are used in its thin film solar PV panels, achieved a 17.3% conversion efficiency in testing at the NREL in Colorado, blowing away the previous record of 16.7%, which was set back in 2001.
Some top wind energy stories of the week, beyond the stories we’ve already covered:
Rather than treating carbon dioxide as a waste, as is the case with high-profile Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, energy, industrial and power industry participants, as well as people all over the world, would be better served investing in researching and developing Carbon Capture & Utilization (CCU) systems, according to a research and policy paper from The Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF).
Global sales of utility-scale electricity storage systems are forecast to grow more than 35% at an annually compounded rate as grid operators make greater use of renewable energy sources and build out interconnections and smart grid systems.
GM is in the business of selling vehicles. They also usually make them. Anticipating objections was the object of GM’s recent announcement of a “definitive agreement” with ABB, a back up power and energy storage company. For most an “Electric vehicle” means a battery car. Some question if electric vehicles are truly “clean.” GM wants us to imagine with confidence where batteries go when they “naturally die.”
Who needs 3D movies when a 3D printer is nearby and you find yourself inspired by the inventive spirit?
Suntech Power developed a cheaper high efficiency solar cell design which is part monocrystalline and part multicrystalline silicon.
