Energy Industry

Three universities of the USA have conducted studies related to renewable sources of energy and it has produced some interesting facts. The first and most important one is that renewable energy policies will lead to employment opportunities. Secondly, it will increase the consumer’s income and thirdly, it will have positive effect on the US economy too. The study Clean Energy & Climate Policy for U.S. Growth and Job Creation: An Economic Assessment of the American Clean Energy & Security Act and the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act presents quite an encouraging estimate. According to them as many as 1.9 million new jobs could be created across the United States within the renewable energy sphere. It would also account for an increase in annual household income by US$1,175 per year, and Gross Domestic Product could register a rise of US$111 billion by 2020. View Comments

According to the Department of Defense News report, the Defense Department's total energy costs for fiscal 2006 and 2007 was above $13 billion. In the year 2008, due to soaring rise in oil prices, their department's energy bill was $20 billion. It is not a surprise when various defense departments are trying to use clean and green energy that will lessen the use of fossil fuel. Even the Pentagon is trying hard to reduce its dependency on fossil fuel. They are trying to develop jet fuels from algae, bacteria and rapeseed. The Pentagon also announced to the American Forces Press Service in June that they are trying to develop newer military vehicles with the use of lighter and stronger titanium. Titanium is better than steel as far as fuel efficiency and safety are concerned. View Comments

We still have to miles to cover before solar power can replace the fossil fuels and become a cheap and effective solution for common folks. But it is indisputable that sun is the single greatest fuel source we can harness to our advantage. Solar energy can leave its impact on a global scale in a significant manner. Everyone who is blessed with a hot, sunny spot by the grace of the nature could one day power their homes entirely by photovoltaic roofs. Even it seems possible that large solar arrays could feed power plants that keep the lights on in entire municipalities. View Comments

On the odd chance that you were traveling through South Israel in late June, you may have had to do a double take thinking that your eyes had deceived you. In the distance, it may have appeared as though a giant flower had sprouted right out of the desert floor. That was no dessert mirage, but it was the future of solar power. The Solar Flower Tower is one of the latest inventions in our never ending search to make alternative energy sources more viable. View Comments

It seems the California Governor is making an all-out effort to encourage people to switch over the renewable source of energy. Assembly Bill 920, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-Marin, and signed by the governor of California, requires utilities to pay solar customers who produce more energy than they use. Currently homeowners that produce more solar energy than they produce can zero their bills but they're not paid for the extra energy they feed back into the grid. The payment for producing extra energy is known as "feed-in tariffs" and such an incentive has seen great success in European countries like German and Spain. View Comments

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has announced the near completion of its DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Arcadia, Florida. This solar power plant will be producing electricity by the end of month. This project is ahead of its schedule. The plant has an impressive number of 90,000 photovoltaic panels. Experts claim that this solar power plant will generate around 110MW of electricity by the end of 2010. This will provide Florida with the distinction of the second largest solar power-producing state in the country. View Comments

Gujarat, a state of India, is quite eager to opt for alternative sources of energy. It started out as a small dream. The Gujarat government visualized only 500 MW of solar power generation by 2014. But this humble goal may now be increased to 3,000 MW. The Gujarat Government is undertaking a $10 billion project and it will hold the distinction of the world’s largest solar power facility in India. This project will be backed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The 3,000oMW project will get aid with logistics and financial support from the William J Clinton Foundation. This foundation is a charitable organization founded by the former President. The foundation and the Gujarat government signed a preliminary agreement on Sept. 8, 2009. View Comments

IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Center) has presented a large-area solar cell with 18.4% conversion efficiency at the ongoing European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (Hamburg, Germany). A world leader in its own right, IMEC is an independent research center working on nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. It is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and has offices in Belgium, the Netherlands, Taiwan, US, China and Japan. View Comments

The Eindhoven University of Technology and University of Ulm scientists have successfully developed the first high-resolution 3D images of the internal structure of a hybrid polymer solar cell. This helps them in gaining important insights into the nanoscale structure of polymer solar cells and how much it will be effective when used for energy generation. They also gathered more information on the operational principles of polymer solar cells. Stefan Oosterhout, who is the leader of the team says that the images, prepared using 3D electron tomography, show how the nanoscale structure of the polymer solar cell influences its ability to produce electricity. View Comments

BIG Architects is undertaking an ambitious project of a library in Kazakhstan. Like all the libraries this one will have books as usual but it will also boast of going easy on the environment. This new library will serve as a multifunctional cultural center for Astana, Kazakhstan. This library will be named as Nursultan Nazarbayev who was the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Architectural design of this library will be comprised of four parts – a circle, a rotunda, the arch and the yurt. These four archetypes will merge into the form of a möbius strip. The library structure will be as such to counterbalance or maximize the heat of sun according to the climate and the need. In designing the structure BIG Architects are also paying attention to high-tech modeling to calculate the thermal exposure of the building envelope and maximize shading. They are using computer simulation to find out new methods to lower energy requirements of the building. View Comments

Italy has come up with world’s first hydrogen power plant. This power plant is situated in Fusina, near Venice in the Veneto region of Italy. Enel is constructing this power plant producing no undesirable greenhouse gases. It is Italy’s largest power company with a track record of fifty million power and gas customers. Enel is procuring hydrogen from an accompanying production from Polimeri Europa's petrochemical plant. This hydrogen will be brought to the establishment by especially built pipelines. Polimeri produces a wide range of petrochemical products, and its ethylene-cracking process will be responsible for the hydrogen feedstock. This hydrogen power plant will be operational in 2010. It will provide power to 20,000 households. View Comments

BAA is trying to upgrade its airport terminal Heathrow East by investing to an amount of £1 billion and naming it as Terminal 2. This new terminal would be designed by Foster + Partners and developed by Ferrovial Agroman and Laing O’Rourke’s joint partnership company HETCo. This terminal will house around twenty million passengers every year that chose Star Alliance airlines. View Comments

Some of the African regions are so hot that unless you're are accustomed to that climate it is not possible for your to survive. Extreme temperatures also generate extreme winds and perhaps this is the reason wind farms have great potential in Africa. Some 365 giant wind turbines will be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya to create the biggest wind farm in Africa. Once completed -- tentatively in 2012 -- the £533m project, backed by the African Development Bank, will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of Kenya's current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world. View Comments

We are familiar with the fact that photovoltaic and wind energy installations, hydroelectric power stations and biogas resources provide us with much desired clean and green energy and with minimal or no carbon content. But they are still in the stage of infancy and needed more work on them in order to replace fossil fuels. One of the toughest aspect is they are complex to design and maintain. Scientists are trying to tackle this aspect with the help of virtual reality (VR). They think that VR will make planning and operation easier. View Comments

Wind energy is undoubtedly one of the cleanest forms of producing power from a renewable source. There is no pollution, there is no burning of fossil fuels, and unless something very drastic happens, you don’t run out of wind. But it’s not like you can erect a wind turbine anywhere and it will start generating power for you. There are lots of factors that can make an impact on the amount of energy you can generate out of wind. View Comments

Stirling Energy Systems (SES) and Tessera Solar worked jointly and have come out with their precious device called SunCatchers(TM). They exhibited their four newly designed solar power collection dishes at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). SunCatchers are the new dishes that will be utilized on commercial-scale by 2010. Chuck Andraka, who is the lead Sandia project engineer, shares his enthusiasm about SunCatchers, "The four new dishes are the next-generation models of the original SunCatcher system. Six first-generation SunCatchers built over the past several years at the NSTTF have been producing up to 150KW of grid-ready electrical power during the day. Every part of the new system has been upgraded to allow for a high rate of production and cost reduction." View Comments

We recently revamped our events page to include a calendar to help you all keep up with upcoming conferences, shows and workshops that promote energy alternatives and provide networking opportunities for all of you involved in the industry. If you know of any upcoming events/conferences that we have missed, please feel free to submit the details here. We hope these events will continue to help raise awareness and promote the clean energy industry for a brighter, more sustainable future! View Comments

The renewable fuel industry received a jolt in the form of Kathy Bryan’s death. She was the founder of BBI International, a global bio fuels consulting and publishing company. She is considered to be a pioneer for the ethanol-based bio fuel industry. In the early 80s when very few people knew about ethanol as a viable alternative fuel she and her family operated a small ethanol plant. She worked for the creation of the Minnesota Ethanol Commission and became its first Chair, where she was instrumental in formulating the state's aggressive ethanol policy, a program so successful it came to be known as the "Minnesota Model". As a board member of the Renewable Fuels Association she lobbied for ethanol at the national level, later on. View Comments

Up till now it has been you who looked for information on alternative fuel technologies and ongoing developments in the field of cleaner energy. If you need information on this topic you need to either scour various alternative energy websites on the Internet or go through cryptic journals and papers in the library. Occasionally you also come across informative articles in magazines and newspapers. The Pure Energy Radio Show intends to change that. Yes, you read it right; now there is a radio show that will bring to you news and updates on alternative fuel technologies and developments. The first radio show dedicated to this topic will make its debut on Monday, July 13, at 6:00 pm Eastern time. View Comments

The mayor of Los Angeles declared that from 2020 onwards Los Angeles will completely eliminate the use of power generated by burning coal and go for alternative energy sources such as wind and sun. In his inaugural speech for his second four-year term as mayor he said, "LADWP will deliver 40 percent renewable power, with the remainder coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric." View Comments