[social_buttons] After less than a year of construction, the Sierra SunTower Plant that’s touted the first of its kind in the USA was finally officially launched by eSolar. Located in Lancaster, California, this is the first eSolar concentrating solar thermal power plant with 24,000 mirrors instead of the company’s usual … [continued]
In the 1970’s, the U.S Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs hosted a comprehensive research project on home solar retrofits. The idea was to improve energy efficiency in Air Force housing, which at the time numbered over 150,000 units. The lessons learned from the model solar home were soon buried … [continued]
Pope Benedict XVI’s Bavarian house in Pentling next to Regensburg, will be getting almost 600 square feet of photovoltaic solar panels. They were intended to be installed on the roof July 27–31, by local students of a trade school. The panels were donated to the Pope by local workmen. Once installed, … [continued]
The Army knows that extensive alternative energy installations are the best way to ensure continuous, reliable electricity production. That’s why the military organization is building the Department of Defense’s largest ever solar project at the Fort Irwin Base in California’s Mojave Desert.
Building materials giant Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company once best known for its asbestos shingles, has just announced that it is entering the solar roof market in a big way. The company will buy thin film solar laminates made by Michigan-based United Solar Ovonic, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion … [continued]
[social_buttons] The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported good news for renewable energy enthusiasts this week. Energy from renewable resources has increased significantly over the last year. It is now higher than energy produced from nuclear power.
Interestingly, while big wind can generate far cheaper power than big solar, small wind turns out to do quite the opposite. A comparative turbine test performed over the last 12 months in Zeeland, Holland revealed that small wind turbines generate very little power for the money. The smaller the rotor, … [continued]
India’s ‘National Solar Mission’, plans to have India generating 200,000 MW of solar power by 2050, and 100,000 by 2030 according to an official document. The plan calls for 20,000 MW by 2020. For the next 11 years there is a three-phase approach: 1-1.5 by 2012, 6-7 GW by 2017 and … [continued]
Solar power seems to be the most logical renewable choice in Africa, but that hasn’t stopped the African Development Bank from initiating the Lake Turkana Wind Power project (LTWP)–a $755 million, 66,000 hectare project on the edge of the world’s biggest permanent desert lake. The site is ideal for wind … [continued]
A Spanish company called Turtle Airships is working on plans to build a luxurious solar-powered blimp which can take passengers from New York to Paris. Perhaps the only thing cooler than being powered by lightweight photovoltaic cells, this airship is also designed to rest on land or water. The first … [continued]
