We’ve been on a concentrating solar power/thermal energy storage tear this week, so let’s keep the ball rolling. The Australian science agency CSIRO is working on a super duper “supercritical” steam system for concentrating solar power plants, and in a lucky twist for us over here in the US it … [continued]
A new report from NREL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, could help spur the development of more utility scale concentrating solar power plants with thermal energy storage features while boosting the market for solar cells, too. The report indicates that CSP/energy storage projects could add value to utility scale solar … [continued]
For years, the only effective way to go solar was to have tens of thousands of dollars and a sunny roof. Investing in solar was nearly impossible. But a couple years ago, a new notion called crowdfunding got its start, and California-Based Mosaic was on the forefront. Its crowdfunding program … [continued]
An almond farm in the Turlock, CA area might not sound like the most likely place for new flow battery technology, but that is exactly where EnverVault decided to locate a demonstration-size iron-chromium redox flow battery. Its capacity is one megawatt-hour of energy for four hours and it is situated near … [continued]
When I started blogging, the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt weren’t even on the market yet, let alone any other mass-market electric cars. CleanTechnica was publishing approximately 3 articles a day, mostly about solar power, wind power, and sad American politics. Now, we publish approximately 15 articles a day but absolutely … [continued]
By Tam Hunt, owner of Community Renewable Solutions LLC The solar market is booming in the US. We recently surpassed ten gigawatts of installed capacity, just a year after we surpassed five gigawatts. The future is equally bright. With this boom in solar we’re seeing new ways for investors to become involved in this … [continued]
Originally published on Green Building Elements. By John Perlin Special thanks to author John Perlin for this contribution about what is believed to be the world’s oldest solar device – a solar ignitor, or yang-sui . The material comes from Perlin’s recently published book, Let It Shine: The 6000-Year Story of Solar Energy. … [continued]
A team of students has calculated that for the low cost of $5.00, your home could be transformed into a smog-eating house that could eliminate pollution-causing nitrogen oxides from the air just by sitting there. The secret sauce is a coating of titanium dioxide (TiO2), and $5.00 reflects the cost … [continued]
Originally Published in the ECOreport Some call California’s Assembly Bill 2145 “the Monopoly Protection Act,” or a “CCA killer.” They believe that it was designed to protect large utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) from communities that would prefer to form their own utilities (CCA). The origins of this … [continued]
Originally Published in the ECOreport Winters can be deceptively cold on the West Coast of British Columbia (BC). People from Fort McMurray, Alberta – where temperatures often drop to minus 40 – tell me they did not feel the chill back home. It’s the damp cold that soaks into your … [continued]
