ASES National Solar Tour: About
The ASES National Solar Tour is the largest grassroots solar event in history. While energy prices continue to soar, this event offers participants the opportunity to tour homes and buildings to see how neighbors are using solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies [...]
Toyota Prius (Prii?) are hard to find. There are currently no new Prius models on the lots of any Toyota dealer in our area (East Tennessee).
read moreVancouver BC company Day4 Energy says they have developed a design and manufacturing process for a new line of solar cells with efficiency up to 19%. The company says the new design also lowers production costs by up to 25% using existing manufacturing infrastructure.
read moreSpeaking at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, Arnulf Jaeger-Walden of the European commission's Institute for Energy, said it would require the capture of just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle East deserts to meet all of Europe's energy needs.
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IC Corporation manufactures a line of diesel electric hybrid school buses and "people mover" buses.
read moreFulcrum BioEnergy, Inc. announced plans to build one of the first commercial-scale production facilities for converting municipal solid waste to ethanol.
read moreImagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of. MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that. read more
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Toyota announced this week that they will begin U.S. manufacturing of the Prius at their new plant in Blue Springs Mississippi starting in 2010. The plant was originally slated to build Highlander Hybrids, but that production will be moved to Indiana as large pickup production there is scaled [...]
Federal tax credits that cover up to 30% of the cost of installing solar electric systems for businesses and up to $2000 for residential installations are set to expire on December 31st.
read more[Beginning] July 1, medium-speed electric- or gasoline-powered vehicles with four wheels can travel up to 35 mph, and can use roads where the speed limit is 40. Golf carts are excluded.read more
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The Calgary Herald reports that EEStor is "expected to release the results of independent third-party testing" of it's capacitor based battery system "sometime over the next several weeks." According to the article, EEStor says the system will be "commercially ready within six months."
read moreAccording to Car Central in Australia, Volkswagen is bringing a concept car to market that travels 100KM (62 miles) on 1L (.26 gallons) of fuel. That works out to about 234MPG.
read moreFlorida Power & Light has announced plans for three new solar energy centers, one of which "will provide 25 megawatts of photovoltaic solar capacity, making it the world’s largest photovoltaic solar facility".
read moreAccording to survey by the Civil Society Institute (CSI) think tank and its Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now project, 75 percent of Americans support setting a national goal of declaring July 4, 2015 as "Energy Independence Day," a target date for ending our reliance on Middle Eastern and other [...]
The 2009 Ford Escape, equipped with a new 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, six-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive, delivers best-in-class fuel economy in the small SUV segment with 28 highway/20 city mpg.
read moreAAA is advising hypermilers to think of safety first and avoid hypermiling techniques that are dangerous to themselves and others and that might damage their vehicles.
read moreWired has a cool story about an engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory who is working on a prototype plug-in hybrid that can go 50 miles on a charge, gets 100MPG, and has a solar panel on the roof that will power the car for five miles.
[...]Pacific Business News reports that a new state law in Hawaii requires all new single-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2010 to have solar hot water heaters. Home sites that do not receive enough sunlight can use some other renewable energy source. Homes may also have gas-powered tankless "instant" [...]
There's been a lot of buzz about the CityZENN all electric car that charges in five minutes and has a top speed of 80MPH and a range of 250 miles.
read moreAccording to Business Week, Hertz has added 3400 Prius cars to their "Green Collection," and Enterprise has 4000 hybrids and 450,000 cars that get more than 28MPG.
read moreEERE News: Solar Power Could Provide 10% of U.S. Electricity by 2025
Solar energy currently provides less than 0.1% of the electricity generated in the United States, but a new report finds that solar power's contribution could grow to 10% of the nation's power needs by 2025. The report, [...]
FindSolar.com, operated by solar industry interests and the DOE, has a handy Solar Estimator that calculates an estimated cost for a home solar PV system and provides a list of contractors in your area. It uses some curious formulas that I don't quite understand to calculate positive ROI, [...]
Of course the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid are the MPG kings, but there are plenty of cars that get great mileage.
In fact, of the top 10 most fuel efficient vehicles (with duplicate models eliminated), five are non-hybrid standard models and all get a combined 29 MPG or [...]
Fuel costs draining local governments, law enforcement agencies
The city has also purchased a hybrid Toyota Prius for Dothan Utilities’ Water Division supervisor to use.read more
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A joint pilot project between the University of Tennessee and Mascoma Corp. to make switchgrass ethanol has been scaled back. and Mascoma is dropping out as a partner but will provide technology.
read moreIf you purchase a hybrid vehicle this year (2008), make sure to check on available federal tax credit incentives.
read moreMIT: Harnessing solar energy like plants do
Much more chemical research will be needed to make solar energy technologically and economically viable. When plants photosynthesize, they produce high-energy sugars such as glucose; the chemists aim to produce hydrogen fuel or hydrocarbons such as methanol.read more
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Use this handy MSN gas price directory to find the cheapest gas in your zip code. (My only complaint is that it doesn't indicate if the gas is 10% ethanol.)
For you folks in the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) service area, here's a free online energy audit. It's fairly detailed, and the more information you provide the better recommendations it can make. Complete it by the end of June 2008 and get a free home energy savings kit complete [...]
Customers of TXU Energy (a Texas utility company) can get a free iThermostat that hooks up to the internet.
read moreFord Motor Co. EVP Mark Fields discussed Ford's hybrid and plug-in electric plans at a recent industry conference. He noted that Ford is launching hybrid versions of its Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan autos later this year and discussed some of the challenges in bringing a PEHV to market.
According to a Prius Chat newsletter, the "Next Generation Prius will be unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in January. The rumor around Toyota dealerships is that the Gen III Prius will be on sale in April 2009."
read moreNissan has announced it will invest $115 million in a joint venture with NEC to mass produce lithium-ion batteries, a key component for the next generation of plug-in hybrid and plug-in electric cars. Production is set to begin in 2009, with an initial capacity of 13,000 batteries per year and [...]
The DOE has selected twelve cities to receive solar energy grants:
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced that DOE will make available up to $2.4 million to 12 cities across the country selected as Solar America Cities, chosen for their commitment and comprehensive approach [...]
Got our first full-month utility bill since installing our new energy efficient front loading washer/dryer.
read moreGM had a big, green, full page ad in the Sunday New York Times entitled "We need to talk." It touts their commitment to the environment and energy efficiency.
It says that because they have a large environmental footprint they have an obligation to change. They say the are one of [...]
We purchased our 2007 Prius on March 31st of 2007, and it rolled over 10,000 miles sometime during the last weekend of December on a trip to Memphis (trip avg. 52.1 MPG, 95% highway driving).
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