Scalable and made from recycled materials, British designer Phil Pauley’s hybrid solar-wave power system generates clean, renewable electricity from solar energy and wave motion.
Energy storage is a critical piece of the clean energy. While some think widespread adoption of EVs and smart grid technology are more important, energy storage is clearly going to play a bigger role in the future of our energy infrastructure. Here’s the intro to a great piece on energy … [continued]
The third in a series, this post explains the workings and the principal aims of a DOE project in which Connecticut’s FuelCell Energy will use its Direct FuelCell technology to capture 90% of a coal-fired power plant’s CO2 emissions at a 35% or less increased in the cost of electricity.
If successful, FuelCell Energy’s system will separate and capture 90% or more of the CO2 emitted from a coal-fired power plant’s flue stream. The CO2, along with hydrogen ‘reformed’ from natural gas, will be used to drive a fuel cell that produces clean electricity that will add to the plant’s energy output. Nitrogen oxides (NOX), another potent greenhouse gas, will also be captured, but destroyed in the process. Emissions from the fuel cell system: water.
Tesla’s Roadster is one of the sexiest electric cars on the road, and their new sedan looks pretty sweet, too. Not only does it seat up to 7, there’s also a performance model available (0-60 in 4.5 seconds!). Helping keep costs down so more of us can ride in this sweet silent sedan is Panasonic, providing the lithium-ion battery cells.
Ontario’s Hydrogenics has won a contract from the German city of Herten to install a hydrogen production-storage-fuel cell system that the city will use to smooth out intermittent wind power generation. “Electrolyzing water into hydrogen using excess intermittent renewable energy is the optimal clean pathway to smart grid stabilization and energy storage capacity,” stated Hydrogenics’ CEO.
Clean tech investments rose 12% quarterly and 23% year-to-year in 3Q 2011, totaling $3.34 billion and 189 transactions. Slowing activity in major economies and the possibility of another breakdown in the global financial system hampered clean tech investment growth in 3Q, yet overall investment levels continued to exhibit strong growth, according to preliminary results of a Cleantech Group research report.
Concentrating solar thermal power has promised big additions to renewable energy production with the additional benefit of energy storage. But with significant water consumption in desert locations, is the energy storage benefit of concentrating solar enough to compete with the dramatically falling cost of solar PV?
Arun Majumdar, Director of ARPA-e announced last Thursday 60 new research projects and now the recipients and projects have been identified. More than 50% of the awards and grants will go to Universities in over 25 states for breakthrough technology.
Solar thermal panels save more and save more where it counts. The sun’s energy is diffuse. It is always first collected and then concentrated. Solar thermal panel systems concentrate the energy in thermal storage systems. PV panel systems do this electricaly but not always with storage.
