The Netherlands

solaroad

Here we go again. Last week it was a wind turbine without a turbine that won the Internet. This week, a solar bike path in the Netherlands – a fun extravagance that has no hope of making a meaningful difference in anyone’s energy future – is drawing massive attention. What will it be next week? I predict… Keep reading →

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Natural gas is a common power generation fuel, but it’s also used for heating. In Pumerend, a city of 80,000 residents in the Netherlands located about an hour from Amsterdam, a biomass heating facility was recently constructed to replace natural gas-fired heating. Breaking Energy toured the plant last spring before it officially went online to… Keep reading →

luxury fuel

Many people love the smell of gasoline, but carcinogenic benzene flavors those aromatic vapors. What if instead of harmful toxins you could fill up your Ferrari or Lamborghini with a “green” fuel that smelled like a manly cologne? That’s exactly what some Dutch researchers are working on, with an eye toward supplying the luxury car… Keep reading →

CeBIT 2012 Technology Trade Fair

With the proliferation of smart phones, smart TVs, smart meters, smart grids and the “internet of things,” comes enormously energy-intensive data transfer, storage and management requirements. Data centers are rapidly expanding – in number of facilities and square footage – and these centers all have fairly significant power and cooling demand requirements. Green IT Amsterdam… Keep reading →

Illinois Governor Appoints Special Task Force To Review Energy Infrastructure

A Freedom of Information Request unveiled emails between New England government leadership and several energy companies regarding various power and gas infrastructure projects that have some questioning the extent to which certain aspects of the negotiations and decision making were kept from the public. “Regional plans for a pair of multibillion-dollar energy projects have advanced… Keep reading →

An employee controls a valve at a natura

The giant Groningen natural gas field in the Netherlands’ northeastern countryside supplies much of Europe’s natural gas, but earthquakes in the region have been occurring more frequently as the field ages. The Dutch government ordered Shell and ExxonMobil to cut back production to 80% of the volume produced in 2013 – which amounts to an… Keep reading →

Amsterdam, Bicycle City

The Netherlands is a world leader with regard to engineering water-management solutions on an industrial scale. The country was created in the delta of three large rivers that flow into the North Sea and roughly two thirds of the nation’s GDP are earned below sea level. One of the world’s largest airports – Amsterdam Airport… Keep reading →