With the all-electric Volkswagen ID.4 due to be revealed in full-production form soon, Volkswagen has begun expanding its Chattanooga factory to build a North American center for electric vehicles – not only for assembly, but for engineering the EVs of the future.
The Moonstone House was meticulously designed and built between 2002 and 2009 to put the best renewable and energy efficiency technologies of its day to the test. Better than that, the owner continues to search out the latest and greatest technologies to showcase them throughout the property. Robert Llewelyn and Fully Charged visited Moonstone House and dug into why it exists and why it continues to evolve so many yeas later.
Siemens is pushing into microgrid development with news of the launch of a new microgrid test bed at its New Jersey R&D facility. The Siemens Advanced Microgrid Research and Demonstration Lab will work to integrate more traditional power generation, storage, and management solutions with Siemen’s core solutions in the building automation and cloud platform space.
The coronavirus outbreak has forced many into an unplanned staycation at home for several weeks already and no end date is in sight. One can only spend so much time on Netflix, YouTube, Duolingo, and Khan Academy before looking for more exciting projects to tackle. Upgrading to LED light bulbs is one such upgrade that offers not only energy savings every month, but more control over the type of lighting being provided and a more pleasing aesthetic. Curious? Let’s jump in.
Every journey towards a more sustainable lifestyle starts with a single step. It starts with a dissatisfaction for the status quo. With all that said, my encouragement to you today is to take your next step. Take the step that sits in front of you, whether that be to give up your car in favor of a bike, to purchase an electric vehicle, to install solar on your roof, to add a battery backup system, or even to upgrade your electrical panel if that’s what’s in the cards.
The Science Channel has a new series called Super Factories that focuses on the marvels of modern engineering. The show reveals epic engineering feats. It began this week with the Tesla Gigafactory. Super Factories explores engineering as a new frontier and gives viewers an inside look at the state-of-the-art factories that create the world’s most innovative products at insane speeds.
What does the US need to do to help the world prevent the worst of climate change? End the use of fossil fuels fast. Many are stepping up to the challenge with aggressive goals. The EU wants to be fossil free by 2050. Joe Biden’s campaign wants the US to be fossil free by 2050 as well, based on his stated climate policy …
In 1931, the Empire State Building was a beacon of hope to a world devastated by economic collapse. Today, it is once again sending a message of hope that lowering carbon emissions from the built environment is not only possible, it is the fiscally responsible thing to do.
A decade ago, wind power was already basically cost-competitive with conventional power sources, utility-scale solar was significantly more expensive but starting to bloom, and electric vehicles were hardly a blip on the horizon and basically unknown to most of us. How did that change in the past 10 years?
It is hard to build a net-zero building — one that produces more energy than it consumes — in the middle of a city. For one thing, nearby skyscrapers might block sunlight from reaching rooftop solar panels. For another, urban office buildings are cramped for space, and it generally isn’t possible to set up wind turbines on site.
