Biomass

Bioeconomy: One Billion Tons of Biomass

The federal agencies that provide the muscle for energy policy are finalizing plans to harness the energy from one billion tons of biomass per year. The “Bioeconomy Vision” is an effort to move biomass out of the laboratory and into the market. The goal, within the next 15 years, is production and commercialization of biofuels,… Keep reading →

Interest In Bioenergy On the Rise

While solar and wind energy often dominate the renewable energy headlines, their less well known bed fellow – biomass – recently garnered attention. New figures released by the U.S International Trade Commission have shown a 40 percent upsurge in demand for exports of American wood pellets, fueled by the increase in uptake of biomass technologies, particularly in… Keep reading →

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Conventional hydropower fell from its perennial perch as the source of the majority of U.S. renewable energy in 2014, yet another sign of the rise of a new wave of renewables – wind and solar, especially – on the U.S. electrical grid. Data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed hydropower with net… Keep reading →

danko charts

  The numbers are still pretty small, but the latest data compilation from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows renewable electricity generation rising steadily in the United States. Here’s a key chart from NREL’s just-released Renewable Energy Data Book, which includes data through the end of 2013. Capacity is the amount of total power that… Keep reading →

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The renewable energy future for the U.S. might not be what you expect. Will there be more solar? Sure, but solar heating and cooling systems as much as photovoltaic panels will be important contributors. And the number of giant wind turbines envisioned whirring across the land – and over coastal waters – is kind of… Keep reading →

EnBW To Launch Offshore Windpark In Baltic Sea

Denmark has joined the club of European countries that have planned to become much more or completely reliant on renewable sources for their energy needs. The country plans to have 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, and to eliminate fossil fuels in vehicles by that deadline too. Denmark already relies on wind turbines for… Keep reading →

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Converting natural gas to liquid fuels using Fischer-Tropsch conversion is not a new idea but it has always been a big one, meaning it has always required very large and expensive production facilities. Royal Dutch Shell and South Africa’s Sasol have been the industry leaders in Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) for decades but their existing GTL plants… Keep reading →

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Originally Posted on TheEnergyCollective.com If I asked you to think of renewable energy what comes to mind? I imagine it is skyscraper-sized wind turbines, solar panels on suburban roofs or massive hydro-electric dams. You probably do not think of burning wood or converting crops to liquid fuel to be used in cars. Yet throughout the world… Keep reading →

Cleveland's COOPs

No you can’t deposit your money in a bank powered solely by wind and solar – well, maybe you can – but that’s not what the New York Green Bank (NY Green Bank) is about. This bank manages a pool of state money designated to help finance private sector renewable energy, energy efficiency and other… Keep reading →

When Renewables Destroy Nature

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Originally published at TheBreakthrough.org and syndicated in partnership with TheEnergyCollective.com The case against using trees and crops as fuel for cars and power plants has grown stronger in recent years. The expansion of corn for ethanol in the American Midwest has worsened water pollution and soil erosion, and has had no benefit in terms of reduced emissions. Europe’s… Keep reading →

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