Companies and engineers worldwide are pursuing grid-scale energy storage technology that would allow distributed renewable energy sources to easily and efficiently feed electricity into centralized power grids. Once economically commercialized, such technology would find a gargantuan market. And a US-based company will jump ahead of the competition next year with its molten salt storage technique.… Keep reading →
The EPA announced its proposed 2014 biofuel blending requirements late last week and reduced the volume requirements for the first time. Oil refining interests and renewable fuels proponents have fought tooth and nail over the Renewable Fuel Standard since its inception and this latest move by the EPA constitutes a small victory for the petroleum… Keep reading →
The Sierra Club’s campaign against coal-fired power in the US reached a major milestone with the announcement that the Brayton Point Power Station in Massachusetts would retire by 2017, which marked 150 coal plants that announced plans to retire since 2010. Several celebrities joined the cause, including Elle Macpherson, Edward James Olmos and Ian Somerhalder.… Keep reading →
In case you missed them, here are some highlights from Breaking Energy this week. Video games and social media have figured prominently in our coverage. Video games could be a recruiting tool to draw new talent to oil and gas. Maersk has developed an exploration and development video game that challenges players to find,… Keep reading →
As an Energy Strategist focused on advanced energy solutions, I’m very excited about the historic floating wind turbine, the first in the U.S., which recently entered the waters off the coast of Maine. However, while much of the focus has been on the 65-foot tall Volturn prototype, I thought it would be useful for readers… Keep reading →
A GlassPoint project in Oman that uses solar energy to get more oil out of the ground has come online on schedule and on budget, brightening the outlook for the technology’s broader use in the Middle East. Oman’s state-controlled oil company, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), awarded GlassPoint a contract to build a seven megawatt (MW)… Keep reading →
Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, Masdar, recently inaugurated the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant and took a group of journalists on a tour of Masdar City, a grand urban sustainability experiment.
When it reaches 130 degrees fahrenheit in the summer, the UAE requires lot of air conditioning that is currently supplied mostly with natural gas, much of it imported. The country’s rapidly expanding economy and population has caused natural gas consumption to outstrip production and imports to surpass exports. The UAE is one of the few countries to both import and export LNG. Keep reading →
US President Barack Obama tours the General Electric Plant with GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt (L) and plant manager Kevin Sharkey January 21, 2011 in Schenectady, New York.
General Electric recently announced $1.2bn orders for its new FlexEfficiency 60 turbine, which the company claims is a step change for the industry in its ability to supply both baseload power and ramp quickly to smooth intermittent loads from solar and wind. Keep reading →
Trucks associated with hydraulic fracturing natural gas wells drive through the countryside on January 18, 2012 in Springville, Pennsylvania.
Consol Energy, which produces billions of gallons of wastewater doing hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast U.S., is turning for help to a startup that’s got a solar-powered method of purifying water. Keep reading →
The world needs to invest an extra $36 trillion in clean-energy technologies between now and 2050 in order to have a shot at limiting long-term global temperature rise to 2 degrees C, the International Energy Agency said on Monday.
In its annual Energy Technology Perspectives report, the Paris-based organization said that although the global adoption of clean-energy technologies is lagging behind its goals, there is still time to achieve a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that would limit climate change by the middle of the century. Keep reading →
