January 17, 2014 - Israel has launched a two-year program to make its Jerusalem parliament building, known as the Knesset, the world's greenest with a host of new sustainability measures that include the installation of a 4,650-sq-meter rooftop solar-panel array.
Samuel Chayen, a government spokesman, said in a press report that the solar field will be larger than the current record-holder: a 3,600-sq-m array atop Germany's Reichstag building in Berlin that houses its governing Bundestag.
The Knesset's solar field will be able to generate 510,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity and save an estimated 5% of annual power costs, officials said in a Jan. 1 statement. The panels are among more than $2 million in planned energy- and water-saving measures for the building, which dates to the mid-1960s. read more>>>
01/17/2014 - Tower One glows white, so bright against the pale blue sky that even at mid-afternoon in the Mojave Desert it would be easy to conclude that it is designed to illuminate the valley floor below.
In fact, hundreds of thousands of glittering mirrors, carefully arranged across a broad swath of desert, reflect sunlight upward onto the tower and two others like it, heating them to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and causing the glow. Water in big pipes atop the towers turns to steam. The steam spins turbines, which generate electricity.
If all goes well, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System will send that power across the Golden State early this year, becoming the largest solar plant in the world to concentrate the sun's rays to produce electricity.
Such utility-size solar plants are beginning to appear across the United States, with 232 under construction, in testing or granted permits, many in the Southwest and California, according to the Edison Electric Institute, which represents utilities. read more>>>
With the roll-out of major renewable energy, green building and sustainable transport projects in 2013, South Africa is becoming a leading green economy.
22 January 2014 - To highlight the actions and interventions of thought leaders, policy makers, practitioners and producers within the country and beyond, alive2green will once again host Sustainability Week from 17 - 19 June 2014 at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria – undoubtedly the highlight of the annual environmental calendar. The event offers various opportunities for investors, businesses and consumers to learn, share, and ultimately help improve environmental and economic performance. read more>>>
22 January 2014 - A robust, state-of-the-art knowledge-sharing platform was launched today by the newly established Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP), a diverse consortium of leading institutions and organizations working in areas related to green growth and green economy.
The website is in response to increasing demand from both policy makers and the public for information on ways to achieve sustainable economic growth.
Like the GGKP itself, the website - which features a searchable e-library with over 600 technical and policy resources, as well as dashboards with data and policies for 193 countries - transcends the traditional divide between economy and the environment. read more>>>
January 22, 2014 - Leidos has teamed up with a supercomputer laboratory at the University of California, San Diego to design an information technology architecture for managing and securing electrical microgrids.
The Leidos-funded research project’s goal is to analyze cybersecurity aspects of a microgrid system operated by UCSD on campus and develop methods for reducing cyber risks to critical infrastructure, Leidos said Tuesday.
According to Leidos, UCSD’s microgrid helps the university save close to $8 million in energy costs per year. read more>>>
Summary: Scientists have uncovered the mechanism by which novel, revolutionary solar cells based on lead iodide perovskite light-absorbing semiconductor transfer electrons along their surface. The finding shows these devices constitute a new type of solar cells and open the way to the design of photovoltaic converters with improved efficiency.* * *
January 21, 2014 - Photovoltaic energy conversion offers one of the best means for the future of renewable energy in the world. The efficiency of solar cells depends heavily upon the light-absorbing materials they use. Photovoltaic systems based on lead halide perovskite are a new, revolutionary type of device with efficiencies currently exceeding 16%. However, a detailed description of how these solar cells turn light into electrical current is still lacking. Publishing in Nature Photonics, scientists from EPFL have investigated how the generated electrical charge travels across the perovskite surface of solar cells built with different architectures. read more>>>
Jan. 22, 2014 - A reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% below the 1990 level, an EU-wide binding target for renewable energy of at least 27%, renewed ambitions for energy efficiency policies, a new governance system and a set of new indicators to ensure a competitive and secure energy system. These are the pillars of the new EU framework on climate and energy for 2030 presented today by the European Commission.
Supported by a detailed analysis on energy prices and costs, the 2030 framework will ensure regulatorycertainty for investors and a coordinated approach among Member States, leading to the development of new technologies. The framework aims to drive continued progress towards a low-carbon economy and a competitive and secure energy system that ensures affordable energy for all consumers, increases the security of the EU’s energy supplies, reduces our dependence on energy imports and creates new opportunities for growth and jobs, by taking into account potential price impacts on the longer term. read more>>>
22 January 2014 - Conservative councillors at Corby have drawn up a green charter which they are to promote to attract clean high tech industries to the town.
The Charter, called Green Corby, sets out a vision to make the town the UK capital for high tech and environmentally-friendly industries in a bid bring investment and highly-skilled jobs to the borough.
The Green Corby document begins with a firm commitment to protect green space in and around Corby and to encourage industries which are clean and safe. read more>>>
Jan. 21, 2014 - It looks like chunks of ice — but put a flame to it and it goes ablaze. Touch it, and you’ll feel an odd sizzling sensation. This peculiar compound is methane hydrate. Not only might it become the source of the world’s next energy bonanza, but it could also let some coastal developing nations leapfrog coal and other ‘dirty’ sources of energy.
Methane hydrate — also known as ‘fire ice’ — is a mixture of methane and water frozen into solid chunks. It forms when methane is produced by bacteria feeding on decomposing organic matter at the bottom of cold oceans. There, the combination of cold and extreme pressure can lock methane into a crystalline cage of frozen water molecules. Methane hydrate can be found in permafrost that was once under the ocean and under the sea floor in deep water along most continental margins. read more>>>
January 21, 2014 - Last April we reported on Solarize Brooklyn, a local non-profit with a goal of normalizing solar energy and matching neighbors with vetted solar providers.
Solarize Brooklyn began as Ellen Honigstock’s (of Sustainable Kensington-Windsor Terrace) New Year’s resolution to transfer her home over to solar energy. Over the course of 2013, Ellen collaborated with Anne Pope of Sustainable Flatbush and Max Joel of Solar One to vet solar providers and educate our community on solar possibilities.
We followed up with Ellen to find out about the success of Solarize Brooklyn. read more>>>
January 20, 2014 - Utility-scale renewable electricity generation grew by 23 percent between 2009 and 2012, led by wind and solar as renewables became a bigger part of the U.S. generation.
01/20/14 - SolTech Energy, a Swedish company selling solutions for clean solar power, has developed a unique home heating system contained within roofing tiles made out of ordinary transparent glass. The attractive house-warming tiles (somewhat ironically) give roofs a beautiful, icy appearance quite unlike anything else we’ve ever seen before.
01/20/14 - A new report from SolarBuzz shows that large-scale solar PV installations in the UK have grown by an incredible 600% during the past 12 months, driving the UK to a record 1.45 GW of new solar PV capacity. According to the report, ground-mounted installations accounted for over 90% of new large-scale solar PV added in the UK in 2013. As a result, the UK is now ranked sixth globally for large-scale solar PV, and it’s one of six countries that approached a GW-level large-scale solar market in 2013.
January 20, 2014 - MIT researchers have developed a new approach to harvesting solar energy that could improve efficiency by using sunlight to heat a high-temperature material whose infrared radiation would then be collected by a conventional photovoltaic cell. This technique could also make it easier to store the energy for later use.
20 January 2014 - The International Renewable Energy Agency and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development have announced approximately $41 million in concessional loans for renewable energy projects in developing countries.
17 January 2014 - Solar power production in Switzerland during 2013 almost doubled according to estimates of the Swiss solar energy association Swissolar
January 21, 2014 - State of Green Business, our seventh annual assessment of corporate sustainability trends and metrics, paints a picture that is both optimistic and highly problematic — a perfect metaphor for the sector.
January 21, 2014-- New Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: NENE) developer of the world's first-of-its-kind, see-through technology capable of generating electricity on glass and flexible plastics, announced today that the Company has achieved compatibility of the SolarWindow(TM) architecture with a variety of active layer electricity-generating coatings. In organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, the active layer plays a critical role in determining a number of the key properties of the device, including: color, amount of visible light transmission (VLT), wavelength response, and power production.
January 22, 2014 - South Carolina Electric & Gas' V.C. Summer reactor project is coming under fire as a "nuclear debacle," with claims of half a billion dollar cost overruns, pushed-back end dates for project completion and significant construction challenges. The ire comes from Friends of the Earth.
January 22, 2014 - The New York State Smart Grid Consortium (NYSSGC), a public/private partnership devoted to statewide implementation of the smart grid, is praising Governor Andrew Cuomo for his vision on energy issues, his foresight in recognizing the importance and urgency in upgrading New York's electric grid, and his leadership in advancing community-based microgrid solutions. These strategies are outlined in Governor Cuomo's "Reimagining New York for a New Reality" strategy.