Energy Industry

Much solar and wind power are generated far away from the real consumers. It’s a great problem to transport the generated power to its genuine users because vast amount of wind and solar resources are located in remote areas. Legislatures are paying attention to the time-consuming and somewhat costly process of building and upgrading transmission lines so that clean energy can be accessible by the consumers in populated areas. The Texas Legislature in 2005 directed the PUC to identify the most productive wind zones in the states and devise a plan to move power generated from these zones to the most populated areas in Texas. No Comments

The new Electricity Feed-in (Renewable Energy Premium) Bill 2008, empowers the Canberrans to generate their own electricity, and the beauty of this bill is they can sell back the excess electricity to the power grid and get paid for it! They will be paid a tariff 3.88 times the retail cost of electricity for 20 years from the date they agreed upon to join the scheme. The government wants to create awareness regarding clean energy and they are using “feed-in tariff” as an incentive. This scheme can prove quite attractive to those who have settled in one place and own houses. No Comments

HP and Xtreme Energetics (XE), a solar energy system developer based in Livermore, Calif., have announced that they have entered into an agreement for the development of a solar energy system. This solar system will have an edge over existing solar technologies. Their solar energy system will generate electricity at twice the efficiency and not twice but half the cost of traditional solar panels. According to the agreement, HP will license its transparent transistor technology to XE in exchange of royalty payments. No Comments

We all are familiar with the current scenario of the conventional sources of energy. Oil prices are rising and sources of conventional energy are depleting fast. They are not going to last forever. Conventional energy sources come with heinous side effects. We are paying dearly for playing with the eco-balance and situation will not improve with a magic wand. These circumstances are forcing the humankind to look for alternative sources of energy. Common people and companies are looking for alternative sources of energy for fulfilling their needs that don’t leave a heavy carbon footprint for the present and future generations. We can derive non conventional energy from wind, water, sun or earth (geothermal). Currently wind energy is emerging as the most popular non conventional source of energy. No Comments

Green collar jobs are related to products and services that are environment friendly. The organizations that incorporate environment friendly practices are termed as "green" and the jobs arising out of this green policy is "green collared job." Like other sectors, green sector too has designing, manufacturing, installing, operating and maintenance units. The current scenario of price rise of gasoline, depleting stock of conventional energy sources, ozone effect, global warming are forcing humankind to look for alternative energy sources. Various research organizations are on the verge of breakthroughs as far as green technology is concerned. No Comments

With oil prices crossing the $135-dollar barrier the alternative energy company executives are really rubbing their hands in anticipation. In just May the oil prices have risen 20% and consequently the stock markets are panicking big time. Rising raw material costs, if not tackled in time, is definitely going to trigger an economic slowdown. On the contrary the stocks of alternative and renewable energy companies are hitting new highs with: ABN AMRO index of renewable energy stocks has climbed 9.5%. 5 Comments

Business is often viewed as an enemy of the environment, but still we feel positive when the stocks of the alternative energy companies begin to do well. Business, by its very logic, is always about money. We know this is a flawed logic because in the end not everything boils down to money. There are many tangible and intangible returns of doing business that are far more important than the "bottom line". No Comments

The government of California is backing an initiative between the Linde Group and Waste Management to build a liquefied natural gas facility that will produce clean liquid fuel from landfill gas using minicipal waste incinerators. The facility is expected to open in 2009 and will produce up to 13,000 gallons of fuel per day. The ground-breaking project will be the largest of its kind and will enable California to tap into a valuable renewable source of clean energy while greatly reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. 4 Comments

This fall, Wisconsin's Mid-State Technical College will be offering three new renewable energy degree programs. These will include biorefinery technology, renewable electricity technician and renewable thermal energy technician training. Ronald Zillmer, associate dean of MSTC's technical and industrial division hopes the courses are the beginning of new trend in green energy education. "The college is investing in programs for jobs that will be here 100 years from now. This is not a short-term endeavor; folks feeling the effects of globalization and being displaced from their jobs are looking for stability." 2 Comments

Pacific Gas and Electric has announced plans to work with BrightSource Energy to three four or more huge solar thermal electric generators in the Mojave desert. The first plant will be operational by 2011 and will produce almost 250 megawatt hours of renewable electricity per year. Brightsource Energy’s president John Woolard claims it is “the biggest commitment ever in the history of solar”. PG&E is motivated by a California law which requires them to produce 20% of its power via renewable sources by 2010. 3 Comments

The recent explosion in green websites has prompted us to post this survey so we can get an idea of just how many sites are actually green. A few months ago we switched to Pair Networks because of their carbon-nuetral status. While they have always been known for their quality and support services, the decision last year to reduce their carbon footprint to zero has caused a growth in business. Their clients now include several top green websites like TreeHugger.com. No Comments

Paul Taylor: World’s first commercial-scale tidal stream turbine set to be installed. Bristol-based Marine Current Turbines (MCT) is set to deploy its 1.2MW SeaGen Tidal System in Strangford Narrows, Northern Ireland on Easter Monday. Producing enough clean energy for 1000 homes (when fully operational), this will be the first, commercial scale, tidal stream turbine installed and operating anywhere in the world. It will generate one of the most environmentally-friendly forms of energy - it makes no noise, is almost completely below the surface, never runs out and has zero emissions. 11 Comments

Living in Vancouver, where a lot of small mining companies have set up their headquarters, I was quite shocked to stumble upon a large number of geothermal energy companies located in the same amazing city. I set out to try to learn a little bit more about geothermal energy. After compiling some statistics I wasn't sure what to do next. The ground-breaking study by M.I.T. answered most, if not all, of the questions anyone had about the current state of geothermal energy, and its present and future impact. I was unsure what additional statistics needed to be published. 5 Comments

Ethanol producers are considering whether a dedicated pipeline might be the best method for transporting the fuel. The ethanol industry is currently reliant upon traditional transport methods, such as railway and tanker truck, to ship the fuel across the states. Since ethanol plants must depend on rail or truck for distribution, the result has been a delay in getting the fuel additive to the pumps. The industry has therefore initiated a study of the developing problem and a suggestion for an ethanol pipeline is emerging. 7 Comments

I was watching the television on Saturday night and would you believe there was a commercial about alternative energy? I was amazed. Alternative energy education right at home in my living room! As I sat there on the couch staring at what I believed was most likely the next neo-liberal campaign for conservatism, and not a truly educational 30-second bit, I was surprised by the ending comment and commercial sponsor: Chevron. Yes, one of the biggest names in fossil fuels is talking about anything but! 11 Comments

We are all quite familiar with the colorful distinction of the different employment sectors. White collar employment includes salaried professionals and clerical workers. Blue collar employment involves manual labor. Now a third sector is emerging and is growing in both popularity and support: the green collar workers. 11 Comments

Swiss Company Pyromex has been developing waste management technologies for almost twenty years. Their goal is to lower emissions and reduce landfill waste with their patented ultra-high temperature gasification system. In 1999 the first industrial plant was built in Germany. According to the company, the Pyromex gasification system can treat all types of waste, with the single exception of heavily contaminated nuclear residues! The Pyromex technology just may be the ultimate waste energy solution - to treat all types of waste without waste residues and without harmful emissions to the atmosphere - while recovering all valuable constituent of the waste at highly economic conditions. 14 Comments

The First Wind Turbine at a Mountain Ski Resort Begins Producing Power - Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, MA begins generating its own power today. Friday August 3, 2007, the blades of a GE 1.5 MW wind turbine caught the Berkshire breeze and began generating electricity to directly satisfy Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort's electrical demands. As the first kilowatts seamlessly flowed through the resort's facilities, the resort became the first business of its kind in North America to produce its own electricity from a wind turbine. Sitting high atop the mountain resort, the wind turbine is a dramatic testament to the viability of renewable wind energy as an on-site power resource. 1 Comment

Paul Taylor: Installation Of The World's First Commercial Tidal Current Power System Confirmed. Marine Current Turbines has today (June 6th 2007) confirmed that installation of its SeaGen commercial tidal energy system will commence during the week of August 20th in Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough. At 1.2MW capacity, SeaGen will be the world's largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin, and will generate clean and sustainable electricity for approximately 1000 homes. It is also a world first in being a prototype for commercial technology to be replicated on a large scale over the next few years. 9 Comments

It is time for our civilization to rethink the way we live, work, travel, design, build and consume. To think that we are doing our part simply by driving a hybrid car and recycling our paper, bottles, and cans is a dangerous illusion. For years, environmentalists have been telling us to do more with less in order to make change happen. This is simply not enough. We are going to have to fundamentally change the way we design our products, industries and cities. Our current recycling methods are inefficient and only serve to perpetuate the "cradle-to-grave" manufacturing model that we've been using for hundreds of years. 8 Comments