Transformation of the ageing electric power grid in the US is inevitable and urgent; most people in the energy industry can agree on that.
But exactly at what pace and how the future electric system will look are hotly debated. Keep reading →
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Over two years later, the Gulf Coast is still struggling to recover from the 2010 BP oil spill. Perhaps the only silver lining to this deadly event was the fact that it revealed to the world just how unprepared oil companies are to prevent, contain, and clean up offshore spills. Faced with this ugly truth, scientists and inventors have been working to advance spill clean up technologies, so that the next time a spill occurs (and there will be a next time) we have something better than boom and dispersant to throw at it.
MIT has lead the charge in this quest for new clean up technologies. Just months after the BP oil spill began, they unveiled the Seaswarm–an autonomous robot that can navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site. Now, they’ve come up with an even simpler solution: a method for separating oil from water using magnets. Keep reading →
The global fleet of ultra-deepwater oil rigs was increasing steadily until April 2010, when regulatory aftershocks from BP’s Macondo disaster slowed its overall growth rate. But now, two years after the Gulf spill, there are indications that drilling in the ultra-deep could be poised for a long-term surge.
One of the key indicators is rig demand. And a Barclays equity research report says oil companies are clamoring for rigs designed to operate in water depths of 7,500 feet or more – the generally accepted threshold for the ultra-deep space. Keep reading →
America’s young people just aren’t buying cars like they used to.
The share of new cars purchased by those aged 18-34 dropped 30% in the last five years, Keep reading →
In 2002, more than a dozen structures and countless trees were scorched in the course of the Biscuit Fire, which took down roughly 500,000 acres in southern Oregon. Now a Dayton-area winery with a history of green innovation – Stoller Family Estate – has put a number of those trees to use in its new tasting room, along with a whole lot of solar power.
This wood comes courtesy of the “standing dead,” i.e., trees that were killed by the fire but were left standing, often in excellent shape for those willing to make use of salvaged wood. Stoller put that wood to work in constructing its new tasting room, which features mostly reclaimed wood. Wood from the Biscuit fire was used in the building’s rolling ceiling, while the tasting room’s large support columns were upcycled from an old Portland warehouse. Keep reading →
GM’s recent decision to suspend production of its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid may either be the latest indication that America isn’t ready for electric vehicles, or a distraction along the road to growing public acceptance of a new kind of automobile.
Partisans on both sides of the EV debate are adamant in their interpretation of the latest hiatus in output of the vehicle that is vilified by some as too expensive and impractical to ever be more than a plaything of well-heeled tree-huggers, while being praised by others as an early but hopeful step toward a post-gasoline transportation economy. Keep reading →
Data show that consumers in Latin America value products made with renewable energy sources, but no single brand currently stands out as having this distinction, giving companies an opportunity to establish a “green” reputation ahead of the curve.
The Global Consumer Wind Study conducted by wind turbine manufacturer Vestas in partnership with Bloomberg quantifies and analyzes the importance people around the world place on addressing climate change and various means of doing so.
Citizens in the Latin American countries analyzed in the GCWS – Brazil, Chile and Mexico – ranked climate change as one of the more serious challenges facing the world today. Greater than 90% of the respondents in these countries said they would like to see an “increased use of” renewable energy over the next five years.
At the same time, fewer than 10% of Latin American respondents want to see an increased use of fossil fuels over the next five years.Putting Their Money Where Their Mouths Are
Consumers in Latin America also expressed a willingness to pay a premium for a wide range of products including cars, software, cell phones and clothes, if they were made with renewable energy sources. For example over 30% of Latin American consumers “would definitely be willing” to pay a premium for a car manufactured using renewable energy, compared with only 11% in the United States, according to the GCWS.
The evidence appears to show that consumers in Latin America find climate change a pressing global concern that can be mitigated through increased use of renewable energy and would even pay more for products that advanced this goal.
However, there is currently no mechanism in the Latin American countries queried for identifying which products or brands are “greener” than others. In Brazil, 77% of respondents said that a label identifying products manufactured from renewable energy would be “very important” to them. Such a label would be very important to 59% of respondents in Mexico and 54% in Chile.
In addition, 30% to 40% of the respondents in Latin American countries said current guidance about which products are made with renewable energy is “not at all sufficient” and fewer than 10% found this guidance to be “very sufficient.”
The Brazilian Wind Energy Association (ABEEólica) and the Brazilian Clean Energy Generation Association (ABRAGEL) recognize the appetite on behalf of consumers for this kind of information and are launching a clean energy certificate program, “which will be given to companies that buy energy directly from renewable energy generators, such as wind farms, ABEEólica told Breaking Energy in an email.
“This certificate is aimed to enhance socio-environmental responsibilities of companies, and giving consumers information on the environmental impacts of their consumption, and also the option to choose a more environmental-friendly product,” ABEEólica said.
This piece appears on Breaking Energy as part of the Energy Transparency series in partnership with Vestas.
Downtown Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
When Americans think about the states that lead in energy, they conjure up Texas, California, perhaps Alaska or West Virginia and – with fracking – now Pennsylvania and Ohio. Maryland isn’t an obvious choice. Keep reading →
American car companies are moving ahead with a plan to produce natural gas powered cars and trucks for public fleets in state-sponsored efforts to create a wider public market for the vehicles.
Representatives of the Big Three carmakers, and Honda, as well as auto dealers and companies that convert conventional engines to run on compressed natural gas, met with leaders of a consortium of states in Oklahoma City this month to discuss a request for proposal that has been issued by the states to the car makers. Keep reading →
Bill Clinton Urges Focus on Clean Energy While Musk Admits to Tough Times at Tesla
By Felicity Carus
Energy efficiency and solar are the low hanging fruit for American companies both at home and overseas, former President Bill Clinton said yesterday.
“We should pick the low hanging fruit. It always begins with efficiency. We’re much more energy efficient than we used to be but we have not made a serious attempt to get it to scale,” Clinton said in the closing keynote of the National Clean Energy Conference in Las Vegas last week. Keep reading →
