The Energy Blog
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Thin Film Solar - First Solar
Thin film solar is becoming an increasingly important segment of the solar industry. Thin-film solar cells consist of layers of active materials about 10 µm thick compared with 200- to 300-µm layers for crystalline-silicon cells. Some sixty companies have announced to start thin film production...The Return of The Energy Blog
Lest all of you that feared of my demise, The Energy Blog is returning, I am still alive and feeling better every day. I have been ill do to complications from chronic illinesses, but I am now taking medications that seems to have gotten every thing under control. I wish to thank everyone who...Pickens Mesa Power Orders 1,000 MW of Wind Turbines
Per press release, edited slightly:Mesa Power LLP, a company created by T. Boone Pickens, has placed an order with General Electric to purchase 667, 1.5 megawatt wind turbines for the worlds largest wind farm, capable of generating 1,000 megawatts, nameplate, of electricity, enough to power...Worlds Largest, $1.8 Billion, 500 MW, Wind Farm to be Built off the Coast of UK
Per Fluor Corporation press release:Fluor Corporation, Dallas, TX, (NYSE: FLR) announced Wednesday that it has signed a contract with Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) to design and construct the 500 megawatt (MW) Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. The venture is the world's largest offshore...DuPont To Enter Thin Film Amorphous Silicon Market
Per DuPont press release:DuPont (NYSE: DD) announced that it will soon begin construction on a research center in Hong Kong and a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen to support the rapidly growing photovoltaic (PV) solar energy industry. . . . DuPont expects growth in the photovoltaic market...Sungri Claims 5-7 cents per kWh for CSP Solar Technology
Using SUNRGI's propriety technology it is possible to produce large amounts of electricity from solar radiation at a wholesale price of US $0.05 / kWh is the lead headline on SUNGRI's website. The system is called Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics ? or XCPV?. XCPV efficiently concentrates...GM Invests in Mascoma
General Motors Corp. and Mascoma Corp. today announced a strategic relationship to develop cellulosic ethanol focused on Mascoma's single-step biochemical conversion of non-grain biomass into low-carbon alternative fuels to help address increasing energy demand. Mascoma's single-step...[[ This is...
Land for Largest Field of Switchgrass for Bioenergy Acquired
Oklahoma has secured 1,100 acres of land for the world's largest stand of switchgrass devoted tocellulosic ethanol production. Planting will take place within the next 45 days. Switchgrass is a perennial grass that is naturally drought resistant and grows on marginal lands.The Oklahoma...Missouri City Goes 100% Wind Power
Following the opening of a new 5 MW four-turbine wind farm last week, Rock Port, a town of 1,395 in North West Missouri, has become the first U.S. town to get all its electricity from wind power. The $90 million Loess Hills Wind Farm, was built by St. Louis-based Wind Capital Group and the...Optisolar to Build Largest Solar Farm in North America
OptiSolar, Hayward, California, is developing a 550 megawatt photovoltaic (PV) solar farm, the largest in North America, covering over 6,000 acres, in San Luis Obispo County, California. OptiSolar intends to submit an application to San Luis Obispo County for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) in...EPRI Analysis Finds Utility Based Energy Efficiency Programs Could Cut Energy Consumption 7-11 %
Energy efficiency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce electric consumption by 7 to 11 percent more than currently projected over the next two decades if key barriers can be addressed, according to a preliminary analysis of potential energy savings released recently by...eSolar Receives Funding for 33MW Modular Solar Power Plants
From a 4/21 press release: eSolar?, a producer of modular solar thermal power plants, announced (pdf) that is has closed $130 million in funding from Idealab, Google.org, Oak Investment Partners, and other investors for the construction and deployment of pre-fabricated power plants. Their...[[...
Order your Tesla Roadster Now, TH!NK City Coming to North America in 2009
On Earth Day it is appropriate to feature one of the most sustainable products of the future, the electric car. High gas prices and growing environmental consciousness could finally usher in a new era for electric cars. The Tesla Roadster and the TH!NK City, represent the two extremes in...Study Develops More Accurate CO2 Data
Purdue University press release: - A new, high- resolution interactive map of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has found that the emissions aren't all where we thought."For example, we've been attributing too many emissions to the northeastern United States, and it's looking like...Largest Laser Beam in the World to Create Fusion
This video is about the National Ignition Facility, more details in previous post, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, employing the largest bank of laser beams in the world, to be used in an experiment designed to create fusion ignition, a potential clean energy source for the 21st...Pickens Wind Farm to Get Underway
Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens is commencing action, with plans for his company, Mesa Power, to build, over the next four years, the previously announced $10 billion wind farm, the world's largest, that will eventually generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity - the equivalent of building two...[[...
Trina Solar Cancels $1 Billion Polysilicon Plant
China-based Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL) announced that it has canceled plans to build a $1 billion polysilicon plant that was revealed in December of 2007, with a target completion date by the end of 2012. Favorable changes in the polysilicon market has led Trina to believe that it can now...Climate Change Confirmed but Global Warming is Cancelled
I ran across an article, in The National Business Review (NZ), that (attempts to) explain why the climate is not highly sensitive to CO2 warming.In December last year . . . (the author) heard . . . a paper . . . that showed while the IPCC models predict that greenhouse gases would produce an...[[...
The Beginning of the End for Coal
A post on Earth Policy Institute describes the difficulty power companies are having in getting coal fired power plants approved. There first paragraph sums up the difficulty they are having: With concerns about climate change mounting, the era of coal-fired electricity generation in the...FYI: Nanomaterial Turns Radiation Directly into Electricity
According to an article in New Scientist, materials that directly convert radiation into electricity could produce a new era of spacecraft and even Earth-based vehicles powered by high-powered nuclear batteries, say US researchers. . . . The materials they are testing would extract up to 20...Volt Status Update
GM released some more information on the status of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid last week in meeting with journalists and analysts at its battery research labs and design studio near Detroit. No real news to those of you who are following the Volt closely. A Reuters article summarized the...[[...
Largest Tidal Stream System Installed
Marine Current Turbines, has successfully completed the first installation phase of the 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System, previous post, the world?s largest grid-connected tidal stream system, into the fast-flowing waters of Strangford Narrows off the coast of Northern Ireland. A crane barge safely...[[...
Skeptics Speak Out on Global Warming
Aqua satellite data suggests there are reasons why we should be skeptical to the extent to which carbon dioxide drives warming, that CO2-driven increases in water vapor actually cool the earth, not magnify warming, and with equal interest the latest data from Argos float buoy data in the...DesignLine Orders 150 Capstone Turbines for HEV Buses
Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ: CPST), announced that it has received a 150 unit order for C30 Capstone MicroTurbines(R) to be deployed in ECOSaver IV hybrid electric buses manufactured by DesignLine International. This is the largest order to date for Capstone products in a Hybrid...FYI: TransAlta and Alstom Develping CCS Facility in Alberta
TransAlta Corporation (NYSE: TAC) and Alstom (EPA: ALO) signed an agreement to work together to develop a large scale CO2 capture and storage (CCS) facility in Alberta, Canada. The project will pilot Alstom?s proprietary Chilled Ammonia Process. TransAlta considers the Chilled Ammonia Process...Waste Hydrogen Used to Power Vehicles and Car Wash
CBCnews (Canada) has an interesting story about how the Integrated Waste Hydrogen Utilization Project (IWHUP) uses hydrogen from two chemical plants to power pickup trucks, shuttle buses and a car wash. The chemical plants produce more than 1000 kg/hr of hydrogen resulting form the production...MIT Spin-off Developing Solar Cells That are 27% More Efficient, No more Expensive to Make
1366 Technologies claims that its small multicrystalline solar cells are 27% more efficient than conventional cells while keeping costs about the same. It also announced its first round of funding of $12.4 million from Venture capitalists co-led by North Bridge Venture Partners and Polaris...Project A Better Place Expands to Denmark
Project Better Place (PBC), California, has signed a letter of intent with Danish energy company DONG Energy aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from the Danish car fleet by providing electric cars, batteries and the infrastructure required for implementing a sustainable transportation energy...More News on EEStor
The latest about EEStor, the promising developer of ultracapacitors can be found in a post by Tyler in Clean Break, EEStor Powered cityZenn targeted for fall 2009 the key item is taken from Zenn Motor Company's press release following its annual general meeting of March 28:The cityZENN is...Virent: Biomass to "Biogasoline"
Shell and Virent Energy Systems, Inc., (Virent?) have announced a joint research and development effort to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline and gasoline blend components, via the BioForming? process, rather than producing ethanol. The process is a simple reactor system operating...FYI: Petrosun to Start Commercial Operation of 4.4 MGY Algae Oil Plant
PetroSun, Inc (PINK: PSUD) announced that their Rio Hondo, Texas algae farm will commence operations on April 1, 2008 as PetroSun's initial commercial algae-to-biofuels facility. The current algae farm consists of 1,100 acres of saltwater ponds that the company projects will produce a minimum...9MWe CHP Jatropha Bio-oil Plant Being Developed in Belgium
Thenergo, a Belgian developer and operator of decentralized sustainable energy projects using biomass, biogas, bio-oil and cogeneration has announced that it has commenced development of a 9MWe, 6MWth CHP bio-oil to energy plant in Merksplas (Belgium). The project, named Greenpower, representing...FYI: Double Digit Oil Price is History
The Economic Times has an article "Double-digit oil price is history: R S Sharma" that gives a perspective on where we stand on oil supply and consumption and some comments on what we need to do:Oilonomics has gone haywire. The rise in oil prices has now started to hurt. Crude oil price...Duke Researchers Develop Ceramic Membrane that Permits Fuel Cells to Operate at Low Humidity and Higher Temperatures
Researchers at Duke?s Pratt School of Engineering have developed a membrane that allows fuel cells to operate at low humidity and theoretically at higher temperatures.?The current gold standard membrane is a polymer that needs to be in a humid environment in order to function efficiently. If...Most GM Vehicles will be Hybrids by 2020
Via the Detroit News: General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz said on May 19 that GM would have produce 80 percent of its vehicles as some type of hybrid by 2020 in order to meet new tougher fuel economy standards. "Ultimately by 2020, we figure that 80 percent of vehicles are going to require...Why Exxon Won't Produce More
From Business Week online March 20, 2008: . . . If you want to understand why Exxon won't produce more, it helps to listen in to ExxonMobil's presentation to analysts in New York City in early March. Halfway through the three-hour meeting, Exxon management flashed a chart that showed the...An Update on Uranium Reprocessing
A March 22 article "Recycling uranium and plutonium: where's it heading?" on the Nuclear Engineering International website explores the status of uranium recycling and its future.Programs for the recycling of plutonium were developed in the 1970s when it appeared that uranium would be in...FYI: GE Demonstrates World's First ''Roll-to-Roll'' Manufactured Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs
Press release - GE Global Research and GE Consumer & Industrial in conjunction with ECD announced the successful demonstration of the world?s first roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting devices. This demonstration is a key step toward making OLEDs and other...New Enzyme Promises to Reduce Ethanol Costs
University of Maryland research that started with bacteria from the Chesapeake Bay has led to the development of a bacterium, called Saccharophagus degradans which can break down almost any source of biomass, or plant life, into sugars, which can then be converted into ethanol and other...Basin Electric Selects Powerspan's ECO2 Carbon Capture Process for Commercial Demonstration Project
Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Powerspan Corp. today announced the selection of Powerspan's carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technology, called "ECO2(TM)," for a commercial demonstration at Basin Electric's Antelope Valley Station, a coal-based electrical generation facility located near...GM, Toyota Dismiss Fuel Cells for Mass Use
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that executives from General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., at the Geneva Auto Show Tuesday, "expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested their companies are now betting...Five Passenger TH!NK Ox Introduced at Geneva Auto Show
Norwegian car maker TH!NK unveiled a new model, a five seater, the TH!NK Ox, at the Geneva Auto Show. The production model is said to closely resemble the concept car. The base model Ox, scheduled for production in 2011, will have a range of about 125 miles (200 kilometers) on a charge and a...GM will use Lithium-ion Batteries with its "Mild" Hybrid Drivetrains
The Wall Street Journal reports that GM will announce an upgrade of its "mild" powertrain, the "Belt Alternator Starter," (BAS) drivetrain that is used on hybrids such as the Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Malibu at the Geneva Motor Show. The new system, "BAS-plus," will use lithium-ion batteries...[[...
Chilled Ammonia Carbon Capture Process to be Demonstrated
A pilot plant that uses chilled ammonia to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal-fueled power plants was launched by Alstom, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and We Energies, at We Energies? Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Wisconsin. Alstom designed, constructed and will operate...Nuclear Power: A Change for the Better
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush shared his opinions on nuclear power in the Ocala, Fl Star Banner:"Change" seems to be the operative word this election season. It's on the lips of political contenders and on the minds of the voters. But politics isn't the only arena where change is in the...Sodium Sulfur Batteries to be Used for Energy Storage at MN Windfarm
Xcel Energy, (NYSE: XEL)in partnership with the University of Minnesota, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Great Plains Institute, will soon begin testing a one-megawatt sodium-sulfur battery storage system to demonstrate its ability to store wind energy and dispatch it to the...[[...