California – "Solar City"
September 29, 2009 | Comments Off
Electric cars can be smooth, quiet and environmentally friendly. But they still need fuel.
Many have asked — and invested according to their answer — whether that fuel will come from batteries, utility grids, curb-side charging stations or some other technology.
Drivers in California have a new option, if they drive a Tesla electric vehicle. And it’s extra environmentally friendly.
SolarCity, which installs residential solar systems, is building a charging corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco. There will be five 240-volt stations along the highly traveled Highway 101 that will juice up electric vehicles in one third the time of other charging stations. One of the chargers — in Santa Maria — is solar-powered.
SolarCity is working with the U.S. branch of Holland’s Rabobank to install more solar power systems at the stations, which would make the corridor the first to be entirely solar-powered.
Photovoltaics
September 27, 2009 | Comments Off
Solar Cells: 18.4% Conversion Efficiency
IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) has presen
The National Energy Summit & International Dialogue
September 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Sept 23, 2009 – Are you at The National Energy Summit & International Dialogue featuring 2 days of high-level, outcome-based dialogues focused on addressing specific steps to drive competitiveness and prosperity through secure and sustainable energy? Maria Bartiromo of CNBC is. You should be also. The Summit is presented by the Council on Competitiveness and features Newsweek as the exclusive media partner. Watch the live Summit broadcast at www.compete.org/nes beginning at 7:30 am Eastern Time. Where: The Mayflower Hotel 1127 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, DC 20036 When: September 23 – 24, 2009. To see the detailed agenda, go to www.compete.org/nes.
GE Energy’s Renewable Energy Business
September 25, 2009 | Comments Off
John Engler on Manufacturing and Green Jobs
September 25, 2009 | Comments Off
PSEG Solar Source and juwi solar Announce 3 Large-Scale Solar Projects totaling 29.2 MW
September 25, 2009 | Comments Off
Sept 23, 2009 – PSEG Solar Source completed the acquisition from juwi solar Inc., of 2 utility-scale solar projects to be located in Florida and Ohio and announced that it has developed a third solar project located in New Jersey, all of which have a total capacity of close to 30 mw. The projects will all be completed by the end of 2010.
Under an agreement, juwi solar Inc. will provide the engineering, procurement, construction, and initial operation and maintenance services for the projects, which will be owned by PSEG Solar Source, a subsidiary of PSEG Global.
The 3 projects are:
• The Mars Solar Garden, a 2.2 MW DC (direct current) facility located on 18 acres adjacent to Mars Snackfood’s U.S. headquarters in Western New Jersey. It is targeted for completion in 2009. Mars Snackfood has contracted for the output of the system.
• A 15.0 MW DC solar farm on 100 acres in Jacksonville, Florida expected to begin construction shortly and targeted to begin commercial operation in the summer of 2010. JEA, a Jacksonville municipal utility, has contracted for the output of the system and the renewable energy credits.
• A 12.0 MW DC solar farm on 80 acres in Wyandot, Ohio, targeted to begin construction by the end of the year and to begin commercial operation in 2010. AEP Ohio has contracted for the output of the system and the renewable energy credits.
All 3 projects utilize thin film panels provided by First Solar and will be ground-mounted. The projects together will include 380,000 solar panels and represent approximately a $100 million investment by PSEG Solar Source.
“PSEG Solar Source is pleased to have established a relationship with juwi solar on these projects,” said Diana Drysdale, who heads PSEG Global’s solar business. “PSEG Solar Source will continue to seek opportunities throughout the U.S. to help address climate change and help states meet their solar and renewable targets.”
“The sale of these Florida and Ohio projects and the construction of the Mars Solar Garden were the result of hard work by the juwi solar and PSEG Solar Source teams, as well as the various utilities, local communities and state agencies,” said Michael Martin, managing director of juwi solar Inc. “We look forward to the timely completion of these projects and to the continued growth of utility-scale solar energy across North America.”
PSEG has been active in promoting renewable energy. PSEG Global is developing a 350 MW wind farm off the coast of New Jersey and is developing compressed air energy storage through its partnership in Energy Storage & Power (ES&P).
In addition, PSEG’s regulated gas and electric utility in New Jersey, PSE&G, has launched two solar initiatives a $105 million solar loan program and an 80 MW Solar4All program that involves attaching solar panels to 200,000 utility poles.
Alternative Energy Power For Home Power Supply
September 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment
You may be surprised to learn that we are slowly but surely depleting our energy resources. Then, how serious is the situation really?
We need more gasoline to to drive our cars, more natural gas to heat the homes in winter time and more electricity to cool our houses in the summer. The problem is fairly obvious. We use more energy than we can supply. This is why we import energy from other countries to maintain our power consumption. So is it possible for this world to run out of its standard energy resources?
Yes, it is. Geophysicists from the U.S Geological Survey predicted that 90% of all oil and gas will be gone by 2035, and approximately about 90% of all coal will be depleted by 2300. You may think that it is a long time from now, but the reality is, that day will eventually arrive, and that day is coming close.
Don’t panic just yet, as experts believe modern technology will enable us to make use of alternate energy power. These are the energies we can produce from the sun, the wind, the water, and they are not only renewable but clean. Mean while, we should also do our parts in conserving energy.
In the end, this is our world we are trying to save, our world where we belong, for the future of our children and so on, so forth.
Coal Plant to Plant Carbon Dioxide in Ground
September 23, 2009 | Comments Off
Sep 22, 2009 – Matthew L. Wald reports in “Refitted to Bury Emissions, Plant Draws Attention” in The New York Times today that American Electric Power will be injecting CO2 into the ground from its huge Mountaineer power plant in New Haven, West Virginia. It will thus become the world’s first coal-fired power plant to capture and bury some of the CO2 that it produces. The US still uses coal for about 50% of its electricity needs.
What unintended consequences will result from this new technology? Some say 15% of the energy will go into this process while others say 30% of the energy will be used. Will the carbon dioxide stay where it is put & for how long? The CO2 will be pumped into sandstone 7,800 feet down & then into a layer of dolomite 400 feet below that. It will displace salty water that is there now. Where will that go? Not into the drinking water, one hopes.
The test will capture 1.5% of the plant’s emissions for the next 2 to 5 years, but AEP says it could expand it to capture up to 90% of the plant’s emissions. What do you think? What do you think could go wrong?
Earth’s biogeologic clock
September 23, 2009 | Comments Off
The major lineages of pigments involved in anoxygenic photosynthesis arose before the development of oxygenic photosynthesis. The six major bacterial lineages had largely developed by the mid-Archean, around 3000 to 2800 Ma, and perhaps much earlier. The early biosphere passed through a stage during which even its photosynthetic populations depended exclusively on abiotic sources of reducing power.
Source: David J. Des Marais, “When Did Photosynthesis Emerge on Earth?” Science, 289, 1703 – 1705 (2000)
Green Jobs Growth
September 21, 2009 | Comments Off