Google announced its largest ever investment in clean technology today: $280 million for a special fund that California-based SolarCity will use to help with leasing arrangements and that both firms hope will encourage more widespread adoption of rooftop solar panels.
This video shows what homes would look like with rooftop panels feeding them electricity directly and how consumers can save money on their power bills. Keep reading →
Melting chocolate bunnies! Do I have your attention?
LED company Cree certainly hopes so; they use the highly unexpected prop to illustrate the energy efficiency provided by new lighting technology. Keep reading →
With their minds on a sustainable future, Dutch firm DSM and Skysail have looked to the past. The companies have taken a centuries-old approach to solving the fuel challenges of today’s cargo ships, reintroducing the use of sails onto massive oil tankers.
The kite sail doesn’t look a traditional sail on ships from the seafaring past. It attaches to a variety of vessels by a light weight tow rope made with Dyneema, which DSM says is the world’s strongest fiber. Shipping accounts for 90% of international trade and in turn is responsible for over 3% of World CO2 emissions. DSM and Skysail’s kite sail reduces fuel use and related CO2 emissions by 35%, the company says. Keep reading →
With a still lagging economy and increasing awareness of greenhouse gas emissions, many Americans are looking for ways to cut down on electricity use.
More than renewable generators, some say, energy efficiency is the more direct way to cut down on emissions created by burning fuel for power generation while also saving money. Keep reading →
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
When this video was filmed, most of the US power grid was already more than 50 years old, and concerns about technological innovation and investment levels in the electricity sector were intensifying. Keep reading →
On April 12, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a new renewables portfolio standard (RPS) that set a goal of 33% power from renewables by 2020.
This move has paved the way for developers to construct wind and solar project like never before. More megawatts of renewables are currently under construction in California than have been constructed in the past decade. Keep reading →
Efforts to spread the production and use of clean electricity production as part of job creation are global.
This video outlines a project from the World Bank in the politically volatile Middle East, where the bank’s funds are helping build solar energy. The bank has begun investing millions in concentrated solar projects (CSP) that will not only capture the desert heat for electricity production, but also help temper the region’s sky-high unemployment rates. Keep reading →
