Entrepreneurs are bringing light to Nepal – and you
For the one in five people around the globe who currently lack electricity in their homes and businesses, available and affordable energy resources are critical to their community’s efforts to reduce poverty, improve public health, and increase educational opportunities. These are primary drivers behind the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative. This initiative’s... Read More
The Power Is in the Data – reports reveal the status of global clean-energy transition
As any analyst will tell you, the power is in the data. To know where we are going, we first must know where we are. But, setting global energy baselines is anything but easy. This month, at the Clean Energy Ministerial meeting in New Delhi, the International Energy Agency released two reports – “Tracking Clean Energy Progress 2013” and the “Global EV Outlook.” The latter includes landmark... Read More
Guest Post: Burning Buried Sunshine
Oil – The Least Efficient Source of Energy By Scott McNally [This post was originally published on Scientific American's Plugged In on February 14] Solar energy is often criticized for its inefficiency – that only about 10% of the sunlight that hits a common commercial solar panel will be converted into electricity. Similar criticisms are voiced against biofuels, which have a solar energy to biofuel... Read More
Oregon Breakthrough in Generating Electricity from Wastewater
About 3 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States and other developed nations is used to treat wastewater. But, a technology breakthrough from engineers at Oregon State University could be a key in turning the world’s waste treatment facilities into mini-power plants. A technology developed by OSU engineers could allow wastewater treatment facilities to produce 10-100 times more electricity... Read More
Water Recycling Kicks off at New Mexico Laboratory
Each year, the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory’s wastewater treatment plant produces more than a hundred million gallons of treated wastewater effluent. This summer, in an effort to reduce its environmental impact, the laboratory christened a system that will allow it to treat and recycle its wastewater for use in its own cooling towers. This recycling system will allow... Read More
Video: What does NYC’s carbon footprint “look” like?
New York City is well on its way to meeting a citywide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2017. This goal was adopted in 2007 as a part of PlaNYC 2030 to “build a greener, greater New York” and has catalyzed new parkland, housing improvement, and public transportation projects throughout the city. According to updates, the city had already reduced its greenhouse gas emissions... Read More
No New Uranium Mines Near Grand Canyon
By Melissa C. Lott and Robynne Boyd The arm wrestling match over job creation and environmental conservation continues. One example is the recent announcement regarding new uranium mining near the world’s most famous gorge. According to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the U.S. federal government will implement a 20-year ban on new mining claims in areas surrounding the Grand Canyon. In his... Read More
NREL’s Clean Energy Development Map
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created a zoomable, draggable Google-style map that allows users to explore where clean energy resources are located within the United States. Included in the available list of resources arehydro, biomass residue, geothermal, solar PV, solar thermal, off- and on-shore wind, and wave power. One can zoom in to view their town, county, congressional... Read More
Energy Miracles: Innovating to Zero CO2
In February 2010, Bill Gates stood up and presented a TED talk on what we can do to improve the lives of the poorest 2 billion people on the planet. Perhaps surprisingly, this talk was not on vaccines or seeds, but instead was focused on how energy – and the carbon dioxide emitted by our energy systems – impacts this population. And how we need “energy miracles,” though innovation that... Read More
From Austin to Boston on Natural Gas
Last summer, Castlen Kennedy went on a 10-day, 2,500 mile roadtrip from Austin, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts. Driving with her friend, Cheryl Dalton, Castlen drove through 13 states in this 10-day period, all in the comfort of a Chevy Tahoe that had been converted to run on natural gas, in addition to gasoline. Over the 2,500 miles, Castlen and Cheryl managed to drive exclusively on natural gas,... Read More
