Alternative Energy Info

• US Dept of Energy invests $979m in carbon capture projects

  The US Department of Energy will be providing almost $1B ($979m) towards three large scale carbon sequestration projects.  The total cost of the projects is expected to be $3B – the remainder of the money will come from industry.     Currently, there aren’t any large scale projects, only a [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 9:25pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Solarmer Energy hits 7.9% efficiency with plastic organic photovoltaic solar cell – breaks record

  Number of comments: 2
  Solarmer's flexible plastic solar cell Solarmer Energy has just announced that they have achieved a new certified by NREL record for efficiency with their plastic organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells. Solarmer feels that their plastic solar cells represent the next generation of solar cells, since they are flexible, transparent and are [...]
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  Posted: December 06, 2009, 5:33pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Duke Energy Wyoming wind farm brought online

  Number of comments: 3
  Duke Energy has brought another one of its wind farms online and it’s now producing electricity.   The 66 turbine, 99 megawatt Campbell Hill wind power  project, located in Converse County in Wyoming is now producing enough wind power to provide electricity to power about 30,000 homes. Duke Energy has brought [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 1:09pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Hybrid and plug-in news from the Los Angeles Auto Show

  The Los Angeles Auto Show is going on this week, and there’s lots of news (and pictures) out on all sorts of hybrid, plug-ins, and electric vehicles. To start with, the latest configuration of the Chevy Volt (the “extended range electric vehicle” from GM) was shown, even though the Volt won’t [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 9:50pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Massachusetts homeowners can now sell electricity back to the power company

  Number of comments: 1
  Massachusetts’ new net metering law goes into effect tomorrow (December 1st), and that is good news for alternative energy producing homeowners and businesses. Net metering means that you can sell any excess electricity that you produce back to the electric company – in effect, the meter runs both ways. And [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 10:12pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• The “Oyster” – Scottish wave energy device goes live

  Number of comments: 3
  On November 20th, Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, flipped the switch and turned on what is being called the world’s largest working hydro-electric wave energy device. Named the Oyster, the device, which was built by Aquamarine Power, is located off the coast of Scotland at the European Marine Energy Centre’s [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 11:17am EST
  by MB-BigB

• How ‘Drafting’ can help wind turbine efficiency

  Number of comments: 2
  VAWTs closely spaced - Mariah Power If you don’t know what drafting is, you see it all the time in car races and bicycle races – its when the cars or bicycles follow close behind the leader and enjoy the benefits of decreased wind resistance.   Now researchers are finding that [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 11:05am EST
  by MB-BigB

• Solar panel demand starting to increase in this quarter

  Number of comments: 3
  Suntech solar panels After a year long slump in demand, solar cell and panel manufacturers are reporting that demand in the 3rd quarter of 2009 has been increasing.  This increase has mostly been fueled by a large demand increase from Germany, which has said that it expects to add up to [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 9:44pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• New wind farm goes online in Indiana – more to come

  A new wind farm in Brookston, Indiana started operations this week, with 121 turbines producing up to 199 megawatts of electricity – enough to power about 60,000 homes. The wind farm, which was built by Houston based Horizon Wind Energy, and their parent company, Portugal based EDP Renewables, was built [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 5:50pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Is hydrogen from algae the answer?

  Hydrogen sounds great as an alternative energy power source – its clean burning, with water being the major exhaust gas from a hydrogen engine.  But while it sounds great, one of the major problems with hydrogen is how to produce it in large enough quantities to use it as fuel. [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:25pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Toyota planning Prius Wagon/SUV in 2010

  Number of comments: 3
  Looks like Toyota wants to expand its Prius family.   While its not official, Toyota has been dropping hints that it is planning to sell Prius Wagons and SUV type vehicles in late 2010.     The reports also indicate that the new Prius will be Toyota’s first car to [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 9:03am EST
  by MB-BigB

• Dow Chemical says it solar shingles are coming soon

  Number of comments: 3
  Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingles Dow Chemical says that its getting ready to start mass producing its long awaited solar shingles.  It’s been a long wait – back in 2007, Dow received a grant of $20 million of the US Dept of Energy to develop solar energy products that could easily be [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:55pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• If you’re confused about all the different Prius models….

  The San Francisco Chronicle outlines all the different types of 2010 Priuses (or Prii).  Currently, there’s the Prius II, III, IV and V, all with different prices and features.   Soon to come is the Prius I, with a base price of $21,000 – this model will be the most [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 8:06pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Solar cells made from optical fibers

  Researchers from Georgia Tech have come up with a process that turns optical fibers into solar cells.   By placing the parts of a dye-sensitized solar cell along the outside of an optical cable, they were able to create thin and flexible fiber solar cells that are six times more [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 8:59pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• The state of the hybrid

  HybridCars.com has a nice wrapup of the current state of the hybrid car and what’s in store in the next year – with lots of pictures.   So head on over there and check out the latest intel on the Fisker Karma plug-in (due in mid 2010), the Chevy Volt [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 9:44pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• U.S. to provide $3.4 billion in smart grid grants

  Number of comments: 1
  President Obama is set to announce $3.4 billion in government grants to help build an electric smart grid.   An updated electrical grid is needed not only just to carry the amount of electricity that is already being produced but more importantly, a new grid will be needed to handle [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 6:32am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Bat lover suing to stop wind farm in West Virginia

  There’s a green vs. green court fight underway – attempting to stop the construction of a 122 turbine wind farm on West Virginia mountain ridges. The suit was filed by David Cowan, against Invenergy Wind LLC – the builder of the wind farm. Mr. Cowan has spent alot of time [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 6:48am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Blackhawk Tilt Rotor VAWT testing underway at the DOE Idaho National Laboratory

  Number of comments: 1
  Blackhawk TR-10 VAWT Researchers from the Blackhawk Project are testing their new TR-10 Tilt Rotor Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) at the Dept of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES). The Blackhawk Tilt Rotor’s design uses helicopter like wings, called airfoils, that rotate parallel to the ground. [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 4:40pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Solar charging backpacks coming to a student near you

  Number of comments: 1
  G24 solar charging backpacks G24 Innovations, a maker of lightweight flexible dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) has started shipping their photovoltaic modules to electronics bag manufacturer Mascotte Industrial Associates.    The G24 modules are designed to end up in mass market consumer bags (think laptop cases and backpacks) where the panels will [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:14am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• World’s largest wind farm starts operating

  What is being called the world’s largest wind farm started operating last week – 627 wind turbines across 100,000 acres of West Texas farmland.   The new Roscoe Wind Complex officially began operating last week – construction began in 2007.   The turbines are located i n 4 different counties [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 10:43am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Suniva planning to build a $250M, 400 megawatt solar cell factory in Michigan

  Number of comments: 1
  Suniva, a solar cell manufacturer of high efficiency silicon based photovoltaic cells, has just announced that they will be building their second solar cell manufacturing plant.  The new plant, to be based in Thomas Township in Michigan will ultimately produce about 400 megawatts of solar cells per year, and is [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 10:27am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Spain rolls out its first solar bus stop

  Number of comments: 3
  The Istituto Europeo di Design of Barcelona (a Design, Fashion, Visual Arts and Communication University in Spain), the Entitat Metropolitan del Transport (the Spanish Transportation authority), and Capmar, S.L. (a Spanish company that produces urban furniture) have created and installed Spain’s first solar powered bus stop.  The bus stop, which [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 7:26pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• West Philly high school students build 0-60 in 4 seconds diesel hybrids

  Students at West Philadelphia’s Academy of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering have built a biodiesel hybrid car that goes from 0-60 in four seconds and gets 60+ mpg.  And they’re not done – they’re currently working on getting the mpg up to 100.    It’s an effort to win the Automotive [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 10:14pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Honda’s cool looking hybrid and electric cars to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show

  Number of comments: 2
  Honda’s going to be showing two new cool cars at the upcoming Tokyo Motor show, one a hybrid, the other an electric. Honda’s been showing off various versions of the hybrid sport coupe CR-Z for a couple of years now, and the current version being shown is very close to [...]
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  Posted: October 04, 2009, 6:53pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Toyota plans U.S. sales of plug-in Prius by 2012

  At a recent conference in Los Angeles, the Toyota group vice president for its U.S. sales unit, Irv Miller, said that Toyota  plans to come to market with its plug-in Prius in 2012.    Road testing is about to begin in the U.S. with 150 plug-in Priuses using lithium-ion battery [...]
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  Posted: October 04, 2009, 10:52am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• U.S. hybrid sales soar in August

  It looks like the Cash for Clunkers program at least hit one of its goals – the average mpg of vehicles sold in August hit 23 mpg, which was its highest average ever.    Hybrids made up a nice chunk of those sales.   According to this article in AllCarsElectric, [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 7:37pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• MIT spin-off stores solar energy

  I’ve written a couple of articles about Daniel Nocera before (see the links at the bottom of this article), and there’s some more news out.   Daniel Nocera is an MIT professor who has developed a catalyst that can easily split water into hydrogen and oxygen and wants to use [...]
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  Posted: September 28, 2009, 4:11pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Going green with Bob’s Big Boy

  They don’t have any Bob’s Big Boy’s in my neck of the woods, but over the years, I’ve seen a few while on travel.  For those of you who don’t know, Bob’s Big Boy is an old time hamburger joint that’s been around for 60 years.   And this year, [...]
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  Posted: September 25, 2009, 8:51pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Greensun Energy’s colored solar panels – direct sunlight not needed

  GreenSun Energy, a research company in Tel Aviv, has developed new solar panels that use far less silicon than traditional silicon based solar cells and can generate power with non-direct sunlight.   Most solar cells drop the amount of power they generate by a significant amount during periods of shade [...]
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  Posted: September 20, 2009, 9:07pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Innovalight and JA Solar collaborating on silicon ink for solar cells

  Number of comments: 1
  Innovalight, a company that has been working on a process to create ink-jet manufactured solar cells using their silicon ink, announced this week that an independent study of its processes by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Germany’s  Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy System confirmed that its silicon ink [...]
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  Posted: September 19, 2009, 3:32pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• GM’s fuel cell powered Equinox reaches 1 million mile Equinox

  The Equinox, GM’s fuel cell car that is currently being tested in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC, as reached a milestone for fuel cell powered electric cars.    There’s about 100 cars in the Equinox test program, which has been underway for slightly more than 2 years, and [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 7:06am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Sapphire Energy’s Algaeus begins 10 day cross country tour

  What is an ‘Algaeus’?  It’s the world’s first plug-in hybrid to cross the country powered by fuel containing a blend of algae-based renewable gasoline, according to Sapphire Energy.  Sapphire Energy is a developer of algae biofuel, dubbed ‘green crude’.   One of the things that significant about Sapphire’s biofuel, is [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 9:04pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Nanosolar announces $4.1 billion in contracts, boosts efficiency, starts

  Number of comments: 1
  Nanosolar came out with flurry of announcements today, after months and months of quiet time for the company.    And the announcements were pretty big – Nanosolar’s thin film CIGS solar cells have hit 16.4% efficiency (verified by the DoE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory), which is currently the highest efficiency [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 9:30pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Solar cells capture heat and light

  Number of comments: 1
  Prototype fluid cooled solar panel from the Australian National University Researchers at the Australian National University have developed solar cells that capture both light and heat from the sun.   Their new solar concentrators use a fluid to trap the heat generated when the light from the sun hits the cells [...]
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  Posted: September 07, 2009, 10:39am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Electricity producing speed bumps tested at NJ Burger King

  Motion Power Energy Harvester from New Energy Technologies If you go through the drive thru lane at the Burger King in Hillside, New Jersey, you’ll be producing electricity when you do it.    New Energy Technologies is currently testing at the Burger King a prototype “Motion Power Energy Harvester” that’s designed [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2009, 8:43pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Shape changing wind turbine blades can boost efficiency and longevity

  prototype morphing helicopter rotor blade Researchers at both San Diego State University and the University of Bristol in England have been researching the feasibility of using shape changing, or morphing blades on wind turbines.   By changing shape depending on the wind conditions, they’re finding that they can make wind turbines [...]
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  Posted: August 24, 2009, 10:24am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Ford looking for more efficient plug-in hybrid charging process

  Ford Motors just announced that they are developing a new control system for use in its upcoming (2012) plug-in hybrid electric cars.    The new system will allow the car to communicate with the electric grid and let the owner of the car set and adjust the timing of its [...]
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  Posted: August 23, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Blacklight Power moving ahead - gets its research validated

  Blacklight Power, who I highlighted a couple of weeks ago, announced this week that they’ve gotten third party verification of their technique for generating energy from water.    Researchers at Rowan University developed and ran a series of tests to “…establish whether or not BlackLight had discovered a new low-energy [...]
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  Posted: August 14, 2009, 9:33pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Lots of small scale solar projects in the news this week

  Number of comments: 2
  For some reason, I’m seeing a bunch of articles about various small scale solar projects in the news this week.  Maybe its because there’s a lack of large scale projects hitting the news, I don’t know.     But lots of smaller ones add up. Here’s some links to a few [...]
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  Posted: August 08, 2009, 11:16pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Nissan adding all electric Leaf to its lineup in 2010

  Number of comments: 1
  Nissan Leaf Nissan Leaf dashboard Nissan Motor Co showed off its new electric, zero emissions car, the “Leaf” this week, with the announcement that they will begin selling the Leaf hatchback a little over a year from now in the US, Japan and Europe.    Two more models of the Leaf are [...]
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  Posted: August 02, 2009, 5:28pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• BlackLight Power claims energy from water, and signs sixth utility deal to provide power

  Number of comments: 2
  This is interesting – BlackLight Power is a company that is claiming to be able to  lower the energy level of hydrogen atoms below ground state, which they say will enable them to produce power for about 1 cent per kilowatt hour, using mostly water.   The fact that many [...]
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  Posted: August 01, 2009, 11:01pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• New Jersey adding 80 megawatts of solar power, one pole at a time

  New Jersey is making a bid to become the second most solar powered state in the US, and they’re doing it a little differently than most. PSE&G is spending $515 million to generate 80 megawatts of solar power, and about half of it will be generated from small solar panels [...]
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  Posted: July 30, 2009, 8:44pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• General Fusion raises $9M in venture financing

  General Fusion's magnetized target fusion core design General Fusion, who I wrote about before, is a Canadian company that is taking a low cost mechanical approach to nuclear fusion.   The General Fusion concept is to use sound waves to create shock waves in a sealed container that would be strong [...]
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  Posted: July 28, 2009, 7:24am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• UCLA researchers develop low cost solution based method for creating CIGS based solar cells

  Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new way of creating CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selinide) solar cells. This new method promised to substantially bring down the cost of producing these types of cells.   While CIGS cells haven’t yet achieved the efficiency of silicon [...]
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  Posted: July 19, 2009, 9:35pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• SportTruck.com road tests the 2009 Chevy Silverado Hybrid

  Number of comments: 2
  If you need a pickup truck but are looking for much better gas mileage than you would normally get, you might be interested in getting one of the new 2009 Chevy Silverado Hybids.    SportTruck.com has just road tested one of the Silverado Hybrids and had posted a very detailed [...]
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  Posted: July 19, 2009, 9:37am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Nanosolar: No news is good news

  Earth2Tech has noted that there hasn’t been much news from the thin film company Nanosolar lately.    I haven’t seen much from Nanosolar either - they’re one of the companies I try to keep a close watch on.   So Reuters decided to check it out and try to find [...]
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  Posted: July 10, 2009, 7:03pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Solar / natural gas power plant hybrids

  Investors Business Daily has an interesting article on power companies that are adding solar arrays to their natural gas plants.  The result is a power plant that produces more clean power using less fossil fuel.   Several case studies have shown that these hybrid power plants can save money, especially [...]
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  Posted: July 09, 2009, 8:38pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• More info on Cash for Clunkers

  Number of comments: 2
  The Cash for Clunkers bill was signed into law just last week, and its off to a bit of a slow start.    Final details of what’s now being called the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) won’t be available until July 24th, so if you’re planning on taking advantage of [...]
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  Posted: July 05, 2009, 9:52am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• 2010 Lexus HS 250h hybrid review

  if your thinking about getting a luxury hybrid, you definitely want to check out this Examiner.com review of the new Lexus 2010 HS 250h.   The Lexus HS 250h is being billed as the world’s first dedicated luxury sedan on the market - that is, there is no equivalent non-hybrid [...]
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  Posted: July 04, 2009, 10:24am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• US hybrid sales up 5.2% over last June, and 3% of all cars sold

  Number of comments: 1
  The June ‘09 numbers are out, and they contain good news for hybrids.    In an overall disappointing month for US car sales, hybrid sales increased 5.2% in units sold over June 2008.    Overall, hybrids represented 3% of all vehicles sold, which makes the fourth straight month of increasing [...]
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  Posted: July 03, 2009, 4:24pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• US Interior Department sets aside twenty four federal solar zones for study

  The US Department of Interior (DOI) announced this week that they have identified twenty four  sites in the western United States to be considered for utility scale solar plants.   The  sites are all on Federal land administered by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM).    What’s interesting about [...]
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  Posted: July 03, 2009, 12:20pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• U.S. awards its first exploratory leases for offshore wind power

  The US Department of the Interior has awarded the first leases for exploration of offshore wind development.  The leases to three companies, Deepwater Wind LLC, Babcock and Brown Bluewater Wind LLC, and Fisherman’s Energy of New Jersey LLC, will allow the three companies to build meteorological towers between 6 and [...]
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  Posted: June 28, 2009, 6:15pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• ABC News highlights 7 solar sensations

  If you’re interested, head on over to abcnews.com and check out 7 new “solar sensations” that they’re highlighting.      The 7 sensations range from a solar powered aircraft expected to go on its first test flight shortly,  to a solar powered bus station scheduled to be deployed in Italy [...]
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  Posted: June 25, 2009, 11:21pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Using hybrid American Chestnut trees to capture carbon

  Professor Jacobs stands next to an American Chestnut tree Most of the emphasis on stopping global warming has been on reducing the amount of carbon and GWG’s emitted into the atmosphere, but the other side of the coin is worth exploring too.  There are a number of carbon sequestration projects being [...]
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  Posted: June 21, 2009, 11:54am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Cash for clunkers bill passed by US Senate

  Number of comments: 1
  If you want to trade in your gas guzzler for a new more fuel efficient car, there’s a good chance you can get a substantial cash voucher for your old car.  The US Senate today passed their version of the cash-for-clunkers bill - it will give rebates to new car [...]
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  Posted: June 18, 2009, 11:22pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• World’s first floating wind turbine installed

  Hywind floating turbine being towed out to sea The world’s first floating wind turbine has been installed by StatoilHydro and Siemens off the coast of Karmoy, Norway, and testing of the new turbine is about to begin.    The floating turbine, which is anchored to the sea floor about 700 feet [...]
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  Posted: June 13, 2009, 4:42pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Wind Turbines to be sold in your corner hardware store

  Earthtronics has just signed a deal with ACE Hardware stores to sell their new 2-kW Honeywell Wind Turbine.   The new turbine is sized for individual houses and can be mounted on the roof, where it can generate electricity at wind speeds as low as 2 mph all the way [...]
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  Posted: June 09, 2009, 7:09pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Will the GM bankruptcy affect the Chevy Volt?

  With the  GM Chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement this week, one of many unanswered questions swirling around concerns the Chevy Volt - the plug-in hybrid that GM had planned to  start producing around November of 2010.   While there’s certainly a great deal of uncertainty regarding what will happen to GM [...]
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  Posted: June 03, 2009, 5:36pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Toyota seeing huge demand for its 2010 Prius

  So far, Japanese demand for the new Toyota 2010 Prius, the 3rd generation of the Prius hybrid, is greatly exceeding Toyota’s expectations.  Toyota had set a sales goal of 100,000 cars in Japan by December - right now it looks like they’re going to meet that goal this summer.   [...]
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  Posted: May 31, 2009, 10:41am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Is molten salt the “secret sauce” for solar?

  Number of comments: 1
  A couple of companies in California, SolarReserve and Rocketdyne,  are gearing up to use molten salt as the key ingredient in a new solar plant that’s expected to power 100,000 homes. While it sounds like a weird idea, the concept has actually been proven before, in a shuttered concentrated solar [...]
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  Posted: May 30, 2009, 11:08am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• NY Times interview with Daniel Nocera - Professor of Energy and MIT

  Number of comments: 1
  This New York Times interview is very interesting.   Daniel G. Nocera is a Professor of Energy and Professor of Chemistry at MIT, and he’s currently working on an artificial photosynthesis system that will use sunlight to generate hydrogen that can be used to power a fuel cell.   One [...]
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  Posted: May 27, 2009, 10:25pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Greentech Media reports on the latest wave power designs

  Wave power hasn’t been doing so hot lately.      Last month, reports surfaced that one of the biggest and furthest along project - a farm of floating, electricity generating sea-snake devices, is in trouble because of the global finacial crises - the Australian owner of the project, Babcock & [...]
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  Posted: May 26, 2009, 10:03pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Chevy Silverado Hybrid 1500 4WB Crew Cab review

  If you’re looking to buy a full sized pickup truck and you also want better gas mileage than what you’re used to in this size range, you might want to take a look at the review of the 2009 Chevy Silverado Hybrid 1500 4WD Crew Cab posted at All Cars [...]
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  Posted: May 24, 2009, 10:55am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Sanyo hits new world record for solar cell efficiency, claims lower cost too

  Sanyo has just announced that it has broken its own world record for crystalline silicon solar cell efficiency, with its new cells achieving an efficiency of 23%.     On top of that, Sanyo also claims that its new process will lower the production cost of its solar cells and [...]
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  Posted: May 23, 2009, 1:26pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Obama Administration cuts funding for hydrogen powered cars

  Number of comments: 1
  The Obama Administration, in its 2010 budget proposal, seems to have lost faith in hydrogen fuel cell technology.   The latest budget knocks out over $100 million in funding for hydrogen research, leaving only $68 million  that’s earmarked specifically for fuel cells.  Energy Secretary Steven Chu, in explaining the cuts, [...]
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  Posted: May 13, 2009, 8:58pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Solyndra adds to its contracts with a $189m SunConnex deal

  Solyndra, which recently had gotten a $535 million Federal load guarantee from the Department of Energy, has just signed a new $189m multiyear contract with Amsterdam based solar intergrator SunConnex. The contract, which calls for Solyndra to sell an undisclosed number of its tubular thin film solar panels to SunConnex, [...]
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  Posted: May 10, 2009, 5:26pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• World’s largest solar power tower now operating in Spain

  A new solar power tower, built by Abengoa Solar in Spain, has started up operations. The PS20 is made up of a solar field consisting of 1255 mirrored heliostats with a surface area of 1291 square feet each. These mirrors reflect the sun onto the receiver, which is at the [...]
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  Posted: May 04, 2009, 10:47pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• ZenithSolar’s rotating dishes helping to power Israel

  ZenithSolar, an Israeli startup, has just turned on a new solar farm that consists of a system of rotating dishes to produce electricity and thermal energy.   The dishes, which are made up of mirrors and concentrated photovoltaic solar cells, track the sun to harness up to 75% of the [...]
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  Posted: April 29, 2009, 6:19pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Nuclear fusion news: The National Ignition Facility and General Fusion, Inc - two different approaches to nuclear fusion

  Tyler Hamilton, from The Toronto Star and the CleanBreak.ca blog noted a couple of developments in the nuclear fusion area this week. One part of the article was about how scientists at the new National Ignition Facility, that was completed last month plan to take its 192 lasers and aim [...]
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  Posted: April 26, 2009, 12:16pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Ford’s 1000 miles per tank challenge

  Can you go 1000 miles on a single tank of gas?   That’s the challenge that Ford has laid out, and this weekend they’re seeing if their Ford Fusion Hybrid can do it.   Ford is using an unmodified (except for the paint job) Ford Fusion Hybrid for the test, [...]
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  Posted: April 25, 2009, 10:50am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• U.S. giving clearance to offshore wind farms

  The US Interior Department has just finished up new rules that will allow the first offshore wind turbines to be built along the Atlantic coast.   These rules have been a long time in the making - alot of effort was put in to this by the Bush Administration, but [...]
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  Posted: April 25, 2009, 10:36am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Exelon and SunPower unite to develop urban solar power plant

  In a press release on April 22, Exelon and SunPower Corp announted that they had entered into an agreement to develop the largest urban solar power plant in the US. The new plant will be placed on 39 acres of a former industrial site on Chicago’s South Side.   The [...]
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  Posted: April 24, 2009, 7:12pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• New Texas Gulf Coast wind farm in place

  Iberdrola Renewables has announced that they have completed their development of their new 202 megawatt Peñascal wind farm near the Texas Gulf Coast.    They also announced that they have a 15 year contract in place with CPS Energy to provide 76.8 megawatts of electricity  from the wind farm to [...]
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  Posted: April 18, 2009, 10:32am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• The US now #1 in wind power

  According to the  American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), in 2008, the US became the country with the largest amount of installed wind power capacity, with an increase of 8,500 megawatts of new wind power.   Germany was the previous leader.   The US had a total installed capacity of 25,300 [...]
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  Posted: April 15, 2009, 11:13pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Hybrid price wars - great news for hybrid buyers!

  It looks like Toyota is aggressively going after the new Honda Insight, which is great news for hybrid buyers.     The new  Insight, which has been a great seller so far in Japan, was being billed as a Prius killer by Honda, and so Toyota is reacting to the [...]
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  Posted: April 04, 2009, 10:11am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• The New York Times road tests the next generation 2010 Prius

  2010 Toyota Prius The NY Times got its hands on the not yet available new generation Prius and hit 69 mpg.   Of course, they were driving the Prius in a way you probably wouldn’t want to to on public roads (i.e. slow with lots of coasting), but the new 2010 [...]
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  Posted: March 28, 2009, 9:29am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Jalopnik posts first pictures of Tesla Model S Sedan - $49,900 seven seater Electric

  Head on over to Jalopnik if you want to see a bunch of pictures of the out in 2011 Tesla Model S Sedan.   The Tesla Model S will have a 300 mile range, a 45 minute fast charge capability, a to 60 time of 5.5 seconds, and room to [...]
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  Posted: March 26, 2009, 7:18pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Solyndra snags $535 million federal loan guarantee

  Solyndra, the Fremont based company that makes cylindrical thin film solar panels and has been engaged in a bit of a war of words with Nanosolar (see Thin Film Smackdown!), has just been awarded a Department of Energy $535 million loan guarantee.  Solyndra plans to use the money to build [...]
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  Posted: March 22, 2009, 1:51pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Hybrid news - Honda Insight goes on sale this week, while the Ford Fusion may not quite be living up to its EPA mpg numbers

  If you’re interested in buying a hybrid, Honda’s Insight will hit the showrooms starting this Tuesday.    The LX base model price is $19,800 (with an additional $670 for freight charges), while the option loaded EX model lists for $21,300.     The Insight’s EPA mpg is 40/city, 43 highway. [...]
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  Posted: March 21, 2009, 11:21am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Easy mounting solar panels for your apartment window?

  Number of comments: 2
  Veranda Solar has come up with a neat little concept that could help inner city and apartment dwellers go solar.   If you don’t have a roof where you can mount solar panels, why not just install it right outside your window.  Veranda Solar is promising to do just that! [...]
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  Posted: March 15, 2009, 12:34am EDT
  by MB-BigB

• West coast governors envisioning 3 state alternative fueling station plan

  The Governors of Washington, Oregon and California have been talking about a plan to devleop alternative energy fueling stations along interstate 5.      Their plan would create what they call a “green highway” that streches from the Canadian border all the way down to Mexico - they envision stations [...]
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  Posted: March 08, 2009, 11:08pm EDT
  by MB-BigB

• Hybrid news: Review of the 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid

  Number of comments: 1
  If you’re looking to buy a hybrid this year, you might want to check out this Orlando Sentinel review of the new 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid.   The hybrid Civic is considered a “partial” or mild hybrid, because it can’t move on electric power alone.   Still, its rated at [...]
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  Posted: February 28, 2009, 4:19pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• New solar plant under construction in Florida

  Number of comments: 2
  With all the doom and gloom financing problems impacting various alternative energy projects, its nice to see a new project actually undersay.   Florida Power and Light has begun construction on what is going to be the biggest photovoltaic plant in the US when completed around the end of this [...]
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  Posted: February 28, 2009, 4:11pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• MSNBC: A homeowner’s guide to alternative energy

  MSNBC just came out with a “homeowner’s guide to alternative energy” that you might want to check out if your interested in doing something around your house.   Not much details, but it covers the basics. [...]
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  Posted: February 21, 2009, 12:05pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Bringing wind turbines to ordinary rooftops

  The New York Times has an interesting article on some of the latest wind turbines available for home use.    They specifically mention Cascade International’s Swift Wind Turbine and Home Energy’s Energy Ball.   In the article, they mention that you can check out the average wind speed for your [...]
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  Posted: February 15, 2009, 12:00pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Nanocrystals can generate more than one electron from a photon of light

  Scientists have long examined the phenomenon called carrier multiplication, but were always suspicious that what they were seeing was just a false observation.   Carrier multiplication occurs when one photon of light hitting a material can create multiple free electrons.   Current solar cells only create 1 electron per photon. [...]
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  Posted: February 14, 2009, 11:12am EST
  by MB-BigB

• USA Today test drives the new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

  They’re not for sale yet, but if you’re interested in a new hybrid this year, the Ford Fusion is definitely one you should check out.    Here’s a teaser from the Ford Fusion hybrid USA Today review - “OK, let’s just get it out there: The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid [...]
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  Posted: February 08, 2009, 1:07pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• The green in the stimulus bill

  If you’re curious about the alternative energy and environmental areas in the current version of the stimulus bill that’s now being debated in the US Senate, head on over to CNNMoney.com. Here’s a couple of tidbits - Conservation programs ($24 billion in the House version, $15 billion in the Senate) Public transporation ($13b [...]
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  Posted: February 04, 2009, 8:59pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Is a flying car in your future?

  I’ll believe it when I see it, but there’s a company named Terrafugia, of Woburn, Mass., that’s building what they call “roadable aircraft”.   Their vehicle, named that Transition, converts from a small airplane into a 2 seater car - after you land, you fold up the wings and drive [...]
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  Posted: January 31, 2009, 9:28am EST
  by MB-BigB

• Konarka’s plastic solar cells

  Konarka's Power Plastic Fortune magazine has a nice writeup on Konarka, a small compnay that’s created something they call Power Plastic, which is a new lightweight, flexible and cheap material that can be used as solar panels, both inside and outside.  Right now, Konarka is selling small amounts of their Power' [...]
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  Posted: January 28, 2009, 5:14pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• The latest on the Cape Wind Nantucket Sound project

  It’s been in the works for seven plus years, but in one of the Bush Administration’s last official acts, the Cape Wind offshore wind turbine project was given the go-ahead.     The project, consisting of 130 wind turbines, could generate up to 75% of the region’s electricity needs.   [...]
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  Posted: January 25, 2009, 9:22pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Solar Power that gives you both electricity and hot water

  Greentechmedia recently published a couple of articles about companies that are developing solar units that contain both photovoltaic cells to convert light to electricty and heat pipes to collect heat from the sun for use as hot water.    Entech Solar is one such company -they’re developing units that can [...]
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  Posted: January 21, 2009, 9:31pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Honda’s new Prius fighter - the 2010 Insight

  There’s a couple of agreeable reviews out there that you might want to read if you’re interested in a fairly low cost hybrid.    While prices haven’t been set, it looks like Honda is positioning their new 2010 Insight to those who don’t want to spend the extra coin to [...]
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  Posted: January 18, 2009, 8:14pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• 2010 hybrid sedan faceoff!

  Car and Driver compares the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, the Nissan Altima Hybrid, and the Chevy Malibu Hybrid in a head to head competition.   If you’re interested in a hybrid that you can fit your family into, you need to read this.   Lots of [...]
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  Posted: January 06, 2009, 7:34pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Tidal Energy Ltd’s new DeltaStream turbine uses ship propeller concept to power tidal energy

  A Welsh company, Tidal Energy Limited, is about to begin testing a new 1MW tidal turbine off the coast of Wales.   While studies have shown that tidal energy could provide up to 25% of the UK’s electricity needs, the sea environment has proven to be a tough one for [...]
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  Posted: January 06, 2009, 7:23pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Cool Earth Solar’s big balloons

  Cool Earth Solar's Concentrating Solar Cell Balloon I wrote something about Cool Earth Solar over a year and a half ago, but there’s been some recent developments.  To recap, Cool Earth Solar concept is to make solar concentrator’s that are basically big balloons.   They’re made of cheap plastic (basically the [...]
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  Posted: December 31, 2008, 12:15pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• Greentechmedia: The year in Solar

  If you want to read an indepth review of Solar power trends in 2008, head on over to Greentechmedia and check it out.

  

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  Posted: December 29, 2008, 4:00pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• First commercial hydrokinetic turbine installed in Mississippi River

  Hydro Green Energy has installed the first commercial hydrokinetic turbine in the Mississippi River near Hastings, Minnesota.    The hydrokinetic turbine, which essentially is a “wind turbine for the water” was positioned just downstream from a currently operating hydroelectric plant and dam.     When the second planned turbine is [...]
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  Posted: December 25, 2008, 10:25am EST
  by MB-BigB

• Thin Film Smackdown!

  Early this year, Solyndra started showing off its tubular thin film solar cells and announced a bunch of big contracts to boot.   Now Nanosolar, the best known thin film maker,  is apparently getting themselves in a bit of a snit over it.  According to Greentechmedia, Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen [...]
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  Posted: December 23, 2008, 10:28pm EST
  by MB-BigB

• The LA Times reviews the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

  2010 Ford Fusion hybrid The new Ford Fusion Hybrid is a mid to full size sedan that’s coming out in the first quarter of 2009.  If you’re interested, you might want to check out this review in the LA Times.    They got 52 miles per gallon in mixed city-highway driving.

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  Posted: December 21, 2008, 8:43pm EST
  by MB-BigB