European wind companies have played a major role in the development of the US wind energy sector, even as shadows loom over the industry and the global economy.
Vestas, the world’s largest turbine manufacturer, clearly has high hopes for its US business, with a market share of 18.7% and room for growth. In recent years Vestas had invested in two blade factories, a nacelle facility and a tower facility in Colorado. It also has R&D hubs in Texas, Massachusetts and Colorado. Keep reading →
A new gas turbine manufacturing facility in North Carolina represents a strong statement that Siemens is committed to the natural gas market, the US manufacturing sector and the modernization of US electricity infrastructure, a company executive said.
Director of operations at the newly expanded Charlotte facility Mark Pringle was brimming with facts and figures about the company’s plant when he spoke to Breaking Energy this week following the grand opening of the new plant on November 16. The plant was completed in roughly a year after a groundbreaking in October 2010. Keep reading →
Cities have always set the pace for human progress. From the Greek polis and medieval cities to contemporary megacities like Mexico City, Shanghai and New York, cities have traditionally been the center of art and culture, trade and industry, science and technology. Some 50 percent of global economic output is generated in the world’s 600 biggest cities alone. Yet the negative effects of progress have also been most evident in cities: noise, over-crowding, environmental pollution and traffic congestion.
In the past cities were the exceptional oases of human civilization. Today they are the norm. Two hundred years ago, only three percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Today the total has grown to over half, and the trend is accelerating. Urban problems have also kept pace with this growth. Cities now produce 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and consume 75 percent of all energy produced. Keep reading →
Growing consensus that infrastructure investment might be a solution for a host of US problems, most centrally widespread unemployment, is raising the profile of firms that specialize in the sector.
Black & Veatch is a big player in infrastructure, ranging across consulting, design and building for projects that include energy plays like electricity and oil and gas, smart grid projects, water and public sector work. The firm is at the center of the latest hot area in the economy, working with giants like Siemens and GE to serve the country’s highest-profile companies and municipalities. Keep reading →
When the lights switch on and the fountains rise, the World Trade Center will take on a new life that deepens the poignancy of the complex as more than buildings, but as a place of national renewal and remembrance.
For the last eight years, engineers from infrastructure giant Siemens have been working with the World Trade Center design team to guarantee that when the site comes back to life, it will be ahead of its time as a showpiece of the energy future in New York and the US. Keep reading →
Texans often have a kind of pride in the extreme weather their state can throw at them, but the ice storms of February 2011 tested even their tolerance as blackouts swept the state alongside freezing temperatures.
Many of the problems highlighted by the cold weather were potentially preventable, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in a review of the incident earlier this year. But the response of those in the Texas power sector was without doubt heroic and swift. Keep reading →
Ever wonder what the future holds?
This Siemens video, narrated by a robotic android-like voice, illustrates one vision for the future: a smart grid that feeds electric vehicles and enables electricity from renewable generation to be stored. The video focuses particularly on the potential that electric vehicles (EV’s) could unlock and the positive implications they could have for the grid. Keep reading →
For years the army has been trying to reduce its dependence on vulnerable resources, including electricity.
Watch this video to see how Boeing and Siemens have partnered to offer the military innovative microgrid technology to help reduce the army’s dependence on the grid, incorporate higher percentages of renewables and use energy more efficiently. Keep reading →
This plane promises to use 25% less fuel.
With most planes sending impressive contrails of condensation out behind them, the Siemens High Flyer stood out at the recent Paris Air Show, a biannual show of mostly army aircraft, for its quiet and unassuming look. It is a hybrid machine that needs to be both charged and refueled before flying in the air–the motor runs at a constant 30 kW and burns varying amounts of fuel with usage. Keep reading →
The next generation of smart grid may be deployed first by the military.
The Department of Defense is the largest energy consumer in the US, and is facing many of the same challenges as the rest of the country with aging infrastructure and an increasing need to use renewable fuels. As the forces become more serious about meeting those challenges, their contractors are rushing to help them. Keep reading →
