Alternative Clean Energy Roundup: 28 February 2013

Solar3D Files PCT International Patent Application for Breakthrough 3-Dimensional Solar Cell

February 26, 2013 - Solar3D, Inc., the developer of a breakthrough 3-dimensional solar cell technology to maximize the conversion of sunlight into electricity, today announced that the Company has filed a Patent Cooperation Treaty international application for its next generation solar cell design and methods of fabrication in the United States Receiving Office. Pursuant to current regulations, all countries that are currently PCT contracting states were designated in the PCT application.

"This is the first big step in the final stretch toward making the Solar3D Cell available to the world. As we approach commercialization, we felt it imperative to expand the scope of our filing to cover our technology, process, and our potential geographic marketplace," said Jim Nelson, CEO, Solar3D. "Since we filed our initial patent application in 2010 and subsequent applications in 2012, we have made a number of new advances that have us poised to take an extraordinary product to market." read more>>>

MIT Group Uses Sun to Sterilize Medical Equipment in Poor Countries

February 26, 2013 - With the recent launch of MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, MIT News examines research with the potential to reshape medicine and health care through new scientific knowledge, novel treatments and products, better management of medical data, and improvements in health-care delivery.

Using sunlight, researchers and students at MIT are trying to change how medical equipment is sterilized in remote clinics — and a pilot project in Nicaragua has begun to show promising results. read more>>>

Responsible Energy Corporation

USDA gives $330 million to rural coops for T&D and smart grid

Feb 19, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that rural electric cooperatives and utilities in 12 states will share $330 million in loan guarantees to improve generation and transmission facilities and implement smart grid technologies. Of that, approximately $8 million will go toward smart grid technologies.

The announcement was made during this week's NRECA TechAdvantage conference in New Orleans.

The utilities that will receive the funding, contingent on meeting the terms of the loan agreements, are: read more>>>

US utilities rush to invest in wind power

25 February 2013 - American utilities are locking in fixed-price contracts for wind power following the renewal of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy

A total of 66 US utilities bought or owned wind power at the beginning of 2013, nearly half of them for large amounts over 100MW. Since President Obama extended the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy in the ‘fiscal cliff’ bill, signed at the beginning of January, utilities have continued to sign up for more wind energy which is now more cost-competitive than ever. read more>>>

Quake Kare, Inc.

China´s Offshore Wind Market Expected to Grow to US$16 billion

Feb. 27, 2013 - Despite the considerable challenges and bottlenecks faced by China's offshore wind power market, the country's efforts in technologies for development of offshore wind power have remained strong. Thanks to years of coordination and cooperation between the government and domestic offshore wind power players, the first batch of offshore wind power license projects, most of which have been idle for more than two years, are likely to go online in 2013.

So far, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces as well as Shanghai have completed their planning for offshore wind power development. Liaoning, Fujian, Guangxi and Hainan provinces as well as the city of Dalian are currently finalizing their plans. read more>>>

Climate Change adaptation reshaping U.S. Military

Feb. 26, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Defense has released a comprehemsive Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap that details the Department's plan for managing the effects of climate change on its operations and infrastructure in both the short and long term.

Long a leader on measures to address climate change, the U.S. military's Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap is a blueprint for addressing climate related impacts in a national security context. See GLOBE-Net article 'Renewable Energy Major Priority for Military'.

The Defense Department's strategic focus on climate change adaptation began in 2010 with the publication of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) by the U.S. Secretary of Defense. read more>>>