Don’t blame China for our own solar power incompetence

green.blogs.nytimes.com

For years we did a very good job at hindering domestic solar development on our own. Thanks mostly to useless Washington bureaucrats and the special interests that have long controlled them.

As a result, China beat us to the punch. And they’re doing it again with wind energy, too.

Do we really need [...]

Fuel cell station powered by wind

Credit: SourceOne

By building a wind turbine to power a hydrogen production and fueling station, a little hamlet in Long Island is positioning itself as the bellwether for carbon-neutral transportation.

The hydrogen will power two Toyota fuel cell Highlanders and a fuel cell / gas bus. Thus, Hempstead NY may become an important test [...]

Making utility-scale renewable energy a reality in California

Renewable energy is growing fast in California. The state has mandated 33% renewable energy by 2020. That’s a long way to go and a short time to get there. Wind, solar, geothermal, big and small hydropower, tidal power, and wave power can probably get California to generate that much power by 2020. But that’s [...]

Renewable energy deals hit record level – but not in US

Europe, China, and India are blowing past the United States when it comes to renewable energy.

Total European deal value rose 80 percent to $30 billion dollars, but fell 5 percent in North America, led by a 35 percent decrease in wind energy mergers and acquisitions.

Germany’s power grid at limit of capacity

Germany wants 80% renewable energy by 2050 and needs a vastly expanded power grid to do it. But construction is way behind schedule and the grid, she canna take much more of this. The problem is compounded by Germany deciding to abandon nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster.

Renewable energy is distributed. It requires many [...]

“No evidence” that wind turbine syndrome actually exists

Think Progress

A new study released this week by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection finds that “there is no evidence for a set of health effects…that could be characterized as ‘Wind Turbine Syndrome.’” The supposed health impacts pushed by wind opponents include mental health problems, heart disease and vertigo.

From the comments.

Why [...]

Biomass power for the poor in India

Husk Power System, a company in India, has developed mini biomass power generators that now provide power to those who never had electricity. The power is generated from agricultural waste

After five months of R&D, they developed a system that could produce 32 kilowatts of power by burning 50 kilograms of rice husk per [...]

Why the cleantech boom went bust

Solyndra panels

Wired

Due to a confluence of factors—including fluctuating silicon prices, newly cheap natural gas, the 2008 financial crisis, China’s ascendant solar industry, and certain technological realities—the clean-tech bubble has burst, leaving us with a traditional energy infrastructure still overwhelmingly reliant on fossil fuels. The fallout has hit almost every niche in [...]

Renewable energy resources: the West is best

Map produced by National Renewable Energy Laboratory for U.S. Department of Energy

James Wimberley over at The Reality Based Community takes a look at the geographic distribution of solar, wind and geothermal sites in this country, using some nifty maps from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and considers some implications, including political ones.

[...]

Scotland aims for 100% renewable energy by 2020

Given their huge amounts of still untapped wind, wave, and tidal power, Scotland is well on its way to becoming the ‘Saudi Arabia of renewable energy.” Not only does Scotland plan to be 100% renewable energy by 2020, they’ll have plenty left over to sell.

This makes the looming issue of Scottish independence even more [...]