According to one recent study, there’s at least 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean. That’s more than 250 tons. So what to do with mountains of plastic waste with nowhere to go? Katharina Unger thinks we should eat … Continue reading
hina has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s top economy. But in taking a few examples from China, as well as investing in jobs that stay in America and taking steps to insure economic stability for the majority of American … Continue reading
Climate: Now or Never Here’s why something as basic as a battery both thrills and terrifies the U.S. utility industry. At a sagebrush-strewn industrial park outside of Reno, Nevada, bulldozers are clearing dirt for Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)’s battery factory, … Continue reading
Reinventing Fire: Electricity – YouTube. … Continue reading
Dive Brief: Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed contracts for 2,221 MW of power from new resources to meet it customers’ long-term electricity needs, including 250 MW of storage capacity, Greentech Media reports. It is the first time SCE has … Continue reading
VICTORVILLE — Renewable-energy enthusiasts from all reaches of the nation will visit Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority’s main treatment plant later this week to witness the first carbon-neutral facility of its kind in North America. Teaming with Anaergia Inc. of … Continue reading
A free special report Greentech Media is pleased to present a special report on “intelligent efficiency,” a new paradigm emerging in the market based on information awareness and data analytics. We present the first chapter of our report below. For … Continue reading
When people say “Keep Austin weird” they really mean keep it small and special. And we’re all for keeping Austin weird as it’s a cool city with awesome music. While utility scale solar finance is still “weird” in that it … Continue reading
As a municipal utility executive in Austin, Texas, Karl Rábago led a team that came up with the very first value-of-solar tariff, an alternative to net-metering that aims to pay utility customers a rate for solar power that reflects its … Continue reading
Cheaper batteries will allow mainstream pricing of Tesla’s EVs in six years—and lots more. Tesla’s Giga factory aims to reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries by 30 percent in three years and 50 percent by 2020. This big, bold move … Continue reading
The American energy system risks being the thing that time forgot. Our aging fossil-fuel-based system is decaying. And in the absence of a plan, the energy system chokingly chugs along without direction or a full understanding of the challenges ahead. … Continue reading
A breakthrough in battery technology could make large-scale energy storage practical. Researchers at Harvard University say their organic flow-battery would be affordable and efficient. Professor Michael Aziz tells host Steve Curwood how the technology works and why it could significantly … Continue reading
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is trying to awaken more Americans to the dangers of climate change, with a report Tuesday that focuses on a clear and accessible explanation of the evidence. It's a commendable and necessary … Continue reading
The German experience shows that there are some real challenges associated with renewables integration. But they're not technical — they are mostly related to rate structures, the high cost of legacy renewable energy subsidies and overlapping energy markets between countries. … Continue reading
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted to become the first state in the nation to come up with a methodology for calculating the value of solar power generated by consumers — and not just how much that power … Continue reading
This is Aros, a Wi-Fi connected air conditioner aimed at energy-conscious consumers that Quirky and GE are launching today. It's by far the biggest and most complicated product that Quirky has ever built, and it aims to help solve truly … Continue reading
In the past few years, net-zero buildings—those that produce as much (or more) clean energy on site as they use annually—have been gaining momentum. Once considered a crazy idea, they’re now coming of age as a realistic goal for a … Continue reading
1.3 billion people around the world – a quarter of humanity – have no access to electricity, and hundreds of millions more face regular blackouts. The effects of this energy poverty are enormous. Lacking power and light severely reduces a … Continue reading
More than 40 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes and left to find shelter in strange lands. Maybe they find a tarp, or a tent, but their quality of life almost always remains dismal. To close this … Continue reading
A team of researchers at MIT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and in Saudi Arabia succeeded in creating subnanoscale pores in a sheet of graphene, a development that could lead to ultrathin filters for improved desalination or water purification. Their findings … Continue reading