The race to develop fuel cell vehicles for what automakers hope will be an interested consumer audience has mildly been heating up of late. Hyundai, for example, has been for the most part at the forefront as some of its production ready vehicles are now in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark to be used there in a municipal fleet. Now… Keep reading →
The following is an excerpt from an Energy Solutions Forum Policy Primer for the New York Energy Week Energy Asset Management Forum. Green buildings and sustainability projects include daylighting, landscape water use reduction, indoor water use reduction, and on-site/off-site green power with the aim to reduce environmental problems and provide long-term health benefits. Federal laws and executive orders require… Keep reading →
Summer driving season is officially underway and the good news is Americans look set to save on gasoline compared with last summer, but not by much.
The US Energy Information Administration just released their Summer Fuels Outlook and expect “that regularâ€Âgrade gasoline retail prices, which averaged $3.69 per gallon last summer, will average $3.63 per gallon during the current summer (April through September) driving season.” Keep reading →
The US wind power industry had a banner year in 2012, as developers raced to bring on projects before the federal production tax credit was set to expire at the end of the year. The frantic rush to take advantage of the tax incentive resulted in some impressive statistics highlighted in the American Wind Energy Association’s U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report for 2012, released Thursday.
Breaking Energy recently sat down with AWEA’s vice president of public affairs Peter Kelley ahead of the launch to gain some insight into what made 2012 so important and what to expect from the industry going forward. Keep reading →
I recently returned from a trip to Israel, complete with scenic views, delicious local cuisine, and of course, the nagging feeling that I would be blown up at any moment. What struck me more than anything however, was the heat. Much like the hummus, it is impossible to escape, even in the “cold” winter months. From the Negev deserts to the bustling streets of Tel Aviv, the land of Israel is “burning up with heat” today as it was over a hundred years ago, as then-humble newspaper correspondent Mark Twain observed. Unlike in Twain’s time however, the rooftops of modern Israel are decorated with hundreds and thousands of solar heaters, making it the world leader in the use of solar hot water systems.
The history of solar energy in Israel began only a few years after the establishment of the state. Unlike its Middle Eastern neighbors, Israel was (until very recently) thought to possess almost no fossil fuel resources and so in the 1950’s, Israeli engineer Levi Yissar developed a solar water heater to address the energy shortage. By 1967 around one in twenty Israeli households heated their water with the sun and over 50,000 solar heaters had been purchased. Following the 1970’s oil crisis, Harry Zvi Tabor, the father of Israel’s solar industry, developed the prototype of the solar water heater now decorating 90% of Israel’s rooftops. Keep reading →
Flying, although faster, still isn’t a very pleasant way to travel. First, there’s the massive amount of fuel required to hoist a jet airliner carrying over 100 people into the air. Second, there’s the fact that when inside, one gets the sensation of a sardine stuffed inside a metal tube.
It turns out that aviation scientists have known for years that the tubular fuselage and bird wind design is far from efficient, but it’s the best they could do. Now, researchers at NASA have developed a “hybrid wing” shape that could dramatically reduce fuel consumption. Keep reading →
Like many firms before it, Google has come to realize that policy and regulation are the biggest obstacles to grid modernization. As Michael Terrell, one of the firm’s senior lobbyists explains on a company blog, “the challenge is that the rules governing electricity distribution were written for last century’s grid.”
Until recently, Google has often preferred to go its own way when seeking to influence policy. This time around, it has decided to fund the Energy Foundation with a $2.65 million grant to support policy reforms in three areas: Keep reading →
Planet Venus, pictured as a black dot (at L), is seen in transit across the Sun in New Delhi on June 6, 2012.
The challenges with India’s public electricity grids last summer showed the world what happens when a country’s growth rapidly outpaces its energy delivery infrastructure and diversity of sources. When three of India’s electricity grids failed and more than half a billion people suffered two days of blackouts at the height of summer, the global media reminded us that even on the country’s best day, there is still an enormous portion of the population with no access to power. Solar energy is one way to solve this problem. Keep reading →
Tuesday night, Obama championed his commitment to more oil and gas exploration, as well as reinforced the doubling of U.S. clean energy production under his leadership. And Romney, advocating our energy independence, solidified his strong commitment to drilling and promoting a surplus of oil and gas.
What I’d like to know, however, is their plans on the other side of the energy equation: the demand side. No matter how much new generation we bring to the table, energy independence just isn’t possible without curbing our exponentially rising need for electricity. And so far, neither candidate has pontificated on how to make this possible. Keep reading →
The Energy Efficient Buildings Hub, a public-private organization whose largest funder is the U.S. Department of Energy, is leading an ambitious charge to reduce energy consumption in Philadelphia’s commercial buildings. The hope is the model can be replicated in other cities across the US.
Because of the Hub’s efforts to “start moving the needle” on discussion of energy retrofits, the City of Philadelphia is likely to have a successful response to its new law requiring energy disclosure for large buildings, predicted Marla Thalheimer, Director of Sustainability at Liberty Property Trust, a commercial real estate firm and Hub partner. Keep reading →
