Virtually every company, large or small, is keen to reduce its energy use and its carbon footprint if possible. Of course, this desire doesn’t necessarily override other considerations such as profit-making or the pursuit of growth but it is there and most companies at least have some awareness of the need to reduce energy use. (more…)
We live in a world today where life and technology are moving fast. While we have all learned to pace ourselves with how the world revolves these days, it comes with a price. You see, as much as many of us yearn for improvement – in the convenience and processes of our daily routines – the safety of the environment and Mother Nature is put on the line. (more…)
Here’s more from our new contributor Darek Letkiewicz on microgrids and their growing importance in today’s world. I continue to make a big deal over this subject, as it’s critical to the electrification of the developing world, which is a requirement for education, productivity, affluence, and family planning.
City leaders are turning their attention to community microgrids with their priorities of infrastructure, finance, and economic development kept in mind. Here is a breakdown of the four good reasons for cities and towns to pursue Microgrids from the Microgrid Knowledge and the International District Energy Association, “Community Microgrids: A Guide for Mayors and City Leaders Seeking Clean, Reliable and Locally Controlled Energy.”
Given all the writing I do on a daily basis, it may seem strange that I long to do more. In particular, virtually everything I do is “expository,” providing facts about this or opinions about that. Until I saw this earlier today, I had forgotten what fun it is to do the irony thing. Hope you enjoy. (more…)
Darek Letkiewicz writes:
I really enjoyed reading your blog post, ‘These People Can Make a Commitment to Solar—And We Can’t?‘ Keep up the great work. My name is Darek and I lead the Energy services program at O’Brien & Gere (OBG), a national engineering company providing comprehensive, integrated solutions. (more…)
It looks like Bloomberg New Energy Finance has concluded the same thing that I did in Bullish on Renewable Energy, i.e., the plummeting cost of renewables and the rising costs of coal and natural gas have brought us ever closer to the point that building new plants to generate electricity from fossil fuels is simply no longer competitive.
Readers who don’t read the comments to these blog posts are missing out on some ferociously entertaining and edifying conversations. Here, a cynic taunts a political activist with a note suggesting that there is little interest in sustainability and environmentalism: I’m sorry that your hopes of leading a movement of Woodstock-size proportions seems to have downsized to hosting a vegan Pete Seeger tribute band in your back yard.
I have to admit that this is a funny line, but its author is completely incorrect about the realities of what is happening on this planet. (more…)
Those of you following the “Keep It In the Ground” campaign, focused on encouraging a migration away from fossil fuels at the maximum practical pace, should be aware of the commitment that Burundi made in this regard. Here’s an African nation two-thirds of whose population lives in poverty, a land where conditions were recently made even more miserable by way of an attempted political coup, that is bravely headed in the direction of solar energy to address its horrific blackouts and general failure to provide electricity to its people. (Pictured here is a typical hospital; its primitive technology doesn’t work most of the time due to the lack of electrical power.)
From the article linked above: (more…)
Question: Are the manufacturers of renewable energy products at liberty to make any claims they wish, or is there a third-party organization that validates these claims?
Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.
Relevance: SolarCity claims to have built the world’s most efficient rooftop solar panel, with a module efficiency exceeding 22 percent. If this is true, the new panel would generate more power per square foot and harvest more energy over a year than any other rooftop panel in production, and would be the highest volume solar panel manufactured in the Western Hemisphere.
My friend Bob Huff (of Brazilian run-of-river hydro fame) sent me this incredible piece on the status of the migration to cleantech in Brazil.
I respond: This is a wonderful production; I’m really impressed with the idea and its execution, and especially the content itself. Let me share it with my readers. Surprisingly, the translation into English isn’t very good. If you have any contacts to its creators, I could offer them our 2GreenEnergy copywriting and proofreading services. (As I’ve told you, there is literally nothing we overlook in the space of taking good ideas in cleantech forward.) 🙂
