Biomass has a problem: It burns.
Biomass-fueled electricity has an image problem created by its use of a combustion technology; biomass power plants burn something, emitting pollution from a smokestack. This fact has framed the debate over whether power from naturally-grown renewable fuels are truly green or simply greenwashing. Keep reading →
A combination of pricing transparency and concern for the environment will drive steady uptake of smart meters both among large-scale and domestic customers even in the absence of a federal US electricity policy, technology firm eMeter says.
Although larger facilities represent the “low-hanging fruit” for gains in energy efficiency among electric utility customers, domestic customers share the same concerns about pricing and their environmental footprint, eMeter Chief Regulatory Officer Chris King told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →
With the World Bank discussing a possible global tax on jet fuel, and governments increasingly cracking down on carbon emissions, technology geeks everywhere are scrambling to find creative ways to cut the use of conventional fuels.
Life sciences and materials sciences company DSM‘s latest invention is this lightweight airplane that is coated with carbon fiber composite resin to make it fly faster and use less fuel than conventional lightweight planes. Keep reading →
Electric companies installing smart meters that are not designed with data privacy issues as part of their core technology architecture are risking information breaches, dinged brands and even potential class action lawsuits.
It is much cheaper and safer to treat customers’ electricity use data as under the custody and control of an electricity provider rather than “owned” by the company, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Dr. Ann Cavoukian told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →
Investors and businesses searching for ways to benchmark their investments in clean energy are suddenly spoiled for choice.
After years of complex and cumbersome research requirements for those seeking investment portfolio exposure to alternative energy, companies are rushing out newly public index products and data sets that investors large and small can begin to use in their search for returns that aren’t correlated to traditional energy investments. Keep reading →
Google shrugged off the impact of its abandonment of the Power Meter initiative this week with the release of a new report that sought to underline just how important data is to developing a clean energy future.
The internet search giant has become increasingly interested in the energy sector across its business, with direct investments in renewable energy projects as well as financing for leasing programs designed to ease domestic solar installations as part of a widening energy portfolio. Keep reading →
A lot of energy innovations have a “back to the future” feel about them, in which new methods of using traditional mechanisms are leveraged to make simple changes that result in significant gains.
Data centers consume as much as 3% of often-strained US power generation, the vast majority of it in keeping the huge buildings where servers are stored cooled with air conditioning to prevent the servers from overheating. Keep reading →
Fermentation is one of mankind’s oldest technological innovations, but it is also potentially the key to solving the evolving response to potential fossil fuel shortages.
A key “yeast technology” is at the heart of a takeover deal announced today by Dutch firm Royal DSM for fellow Dutch firm C5 Yeast BV from agricultural processing giant Royal Cosun. The C5 Yeast unit was part of Royal Nedalco, an alcohol unit divested by Cosun earlier this year. Keep reading →
Amid the sharp suits and creative eyewear of New York’s financial analysts and media gathered at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, Peter Duprey emanated the solid, factual presence often associated with Midwesterners.
Duprey’s company, Broadwind Energy of Naperville, Illinois, straddles the line between the traditional fossil fuel economy that industrialized the US and the new cleantech economy that is still emerging around the world. Keep reading →
Boosting employment in manufacturing in the US has developed as one of the leading arguments proponents of renewable energy use when discussing the sector’s advantages. As other countries have invested huge sums of government money in their renewable fuel industry, including China, the US federal government remains under pressure to do the same despite sustained and serious budget challenges and constrained spending.
Broadwind Energy, a major producer of wind energy components, is an example of the future that supporters of renewable energy production in the US would find encouraging. Keep reading →
