South Windsor High School’s UTC Power fuel cell system kicked in and saved the day in the Connecticut community of South Windsor, operating “flawlessly” as it provided heat, hot water, and electrical power over a nine-day period in the wake of Winter Storm Alfred, a “freak” snowstorm that cut power to an estimated 1.8 million people across New England.
Heavy industries like steel mills, paper mills and cement mills have by far the largest untapped potential for energy generation in the wasted heat they generate but do not tap to make electricity. It is not just heavy industries that wastes this potential. Coal-fired power plants lose as much as … [continued]
The state of Tennessee just got its first Bloom Energy “Server”, which turns any gaseous fuels into electricity using its cheaper new kind of fuel cell. Installed in collaboration with the TVA and the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, these 100 KW Bloom Boxes have just been installed on the top … [continued]
On my recent tour of Finnish greentech, I found that a simple law on the books for decades helps account for the incredibly low carbon footprint of Finns, who look just as energy-intensive as Americans, but register at half our weight on this fragile planet. Finns get almost one third … [continued]
By 2020, we will use more energy storing all of our virtual lives “on the cloud” than we will by flying in airplanes. As we all add more and more of all of our all-too-easily-uploaded data to humanity’s ever growing attic where all our virtual stuff is stored, the need … [continued]
Helsinki is pioneering the worlds most advanced municipal heating system. A century ago, New York City put in an early form of this kind of district heating: the steam that gasps from ancient downtown loft radiators in the middle of winter nights is the remaining evidence. But that was before … [continued]
We are used to the idea of powering our homes from our roofs, by now. But what if we could get our electricity from the basement? From what’s already down there… heating our homes. Everyone who uses natural gas to supply heat and to heat water, could be tapping into … [continued]
Mini turbines will be installed inside the UK’s gas pipeline grid later this year in an attempt to gather energy from pipeline pressure. The set-up will be tested in east London and should produce 20MW by 2010. If successful, future installations across the country could produce up to 1GW. That’s … [continued]
