Nissan’s world wide Leaf sales are now over 10,000 but questions continue to be asked about the technology. In a recently released video Nissan Corporate Vice-President Simon Sproule answers six questions about the Nissan Leaf battery.
The US market for solar PV will double in 2011 despite the hard economic times, as plunging prices and policy incentives underpin growth. A strong project pipeline, and growing demand from utilities, driven by the need to meet Renewable Portfolio Standard targets, will result in constant annual growth rates of 47% out to 2015, according to research from Solarbuzz.
Swiss engineering group ABB closed the largest power transmission order in its long history, a $1 billion contract to connect planned offshore North Sea wind farms to the German electricity grid. Due to be completed by 2015, the transmission system will deliver 400 MW of clean, renewable power to the German grid – enough to supply more than 1.5 million households – while avoiding more than 3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Germany’s decision to phase-out all its nuclear power plants is boosting demand for renewable power across the supply chain. Germany’s Wind Power Association announced that demand for wind turbines will increase 16% in 2011.
Steve Colbert gestures his reaction to the Nissan Campain to create an exclusive wave between Leaf owners.
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:
