When we last wrote about 1 Block Off the Grid’s(1BOG) community solar initiative in San Francisco, many of you wondered why similar programs don’t exist across the United States. Well, good news for those of you in Boston, New Orleans, Seattle, Miami, Washington, and 15 other US cities—1BOG is coming.
The Electric Power Research Institute announced yesterday that two utility companies (Dynasty Inc and NV Energy) will test out the addition of solar thermal energy to natural gas plants in Arizona and Nevada. The EPRI is conducting the project to determine if using solar thermal at fossil fuel plants will … [continued]
Last week we took a look at Harriet Carter’s energy-saving outlet switch. Now a company called TrickleStar claims it has a different solution for conserving electricity: the PC Standby Power Saver. TrickleStar’s device connects to your computer via USB on one end and connects to a power strip on the … [continued]
I’m always on the lookout for dependable flashlights, so the upcoming release of 5.11 Tactical’s Light for Life has really piqued my interest. Instead of batteries, the flashlight uses an ultracapacitator to hold its charge.
An Atlanta, GA-based company called Geoplasma is using trash to provide power to 50,000 homes in Florida. The company’s plasma refuse plant, which should be online by 2011, is a first for the United States. It will process 1,500 tons of garbage each day and send 60 MW of power … [continued]
There is a growing recognition that there are two convergent crises facing the world: energy and water. Scientific American launched a dedicated environmental publication this month, Earth 3.0, with the cover story Energy Vs Water. The article explores the dichotomy between the fact that we need energy to produce water … [continued]
Scientists at the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb say nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power about 20,000 homes will be available within the next five years. The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, absent of any weapon-grade materials, and also have … [continued]
Almost half a million dollars invested by the National Science Foundation over the last 5 years has just yielded a space age material so light and strong that it makes a 28 mile per hour crash feel like a gentle fender blip at 5 mph. Afsaneh Rabiei has invented a … [continued]
“A toast to the end of the Bush Era…” That was the first sentence of an amazing presentation held by Sir Nicholas Stern in São Paulo at the Federation of the Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) on Tuesday this week. In less than an hour, Dr. Stern … [continued]
Raser Technologies announced this week that it has completed construction of a plant on top of one of the United States’ largest geothermal hotbeds to be discovered in over 25 years—so large that Raser believes it could power one third of all homes in Utah.
