Aerospace conglomerate’s Spectrolab subsidiary claims new solar cell gets better than 40 percent efficiency. [click to read article]
December 6, 2006
Friday, December 8
Cleantech Smackdown: Algae vs. Soybeans
Industry waters say the ‘Holy Grail’ of feedstocks for biofuels could be years from reality.
[click to read article]
December 7, 2006
By Jennifer Kho
[click to read article]
December 7, 2006
By Jennifer Kho
Tuesday, December 5
Future of Wind Up In The Air?
Wind turbines at 10,000 feet? Next thing you'll tell me is that they floated up there on balloons. It sounds crazy, but there are companies trying to commercialize airborne wind turbines. Check out Magenn [click here] for more.
Mercedes Green: Biodiesel-Powered Recyclable Concept
The Mercedes-Benz RECY concept is an open-air vehicle (to take advantage of the “famed southern California weather and lifestyle”) and would be powered by a four-cylinder Bluetec biodiesel motor. It has a high-strength frame and laminated wood shell, as well as hand-assembled, grain-matched wood panels that owners could replace if damaged. [Check out the RECY and other green concept cars]
Monday, December 4
Energy in Flux: The 21st Century's Greatest Challenge
What the Shifting Dynamics of Energy Mean for Corporations, Governments, Society and the International Community
Joseph A. Stanislaw, Ph.D., independent senior advisor to the Energy & Resources practice of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, has authored a new white paper, Energy in Flux: The 21st Century’s Greatest Challenge. [Click here to access the paper]
Joseph A. Stanislaw, Ph.D., independent senior advisor to the Energy & Resources practice of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, has authored a new white paper, Energy in Flux: The 21st Century’s Greatest Challenge. [Click here to access the paper]
New Investment Fund Raises $2.25 Billion To Hunt Power Sector
The Wall Street Journal
December 4, 2006
A new private-equity fund has raised $2.25 billion to scout for investments amid big changes in the nation's electricity grid.
Energy Capital Partners represents one of the largest first-time investment funds, taking in cash from 150 investors, including pension funds, university endowments and wealthy individuals.
The fund is founded chiefly by a group of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. utility-sector bankers and investors, including Doug Kimmelman, Energy Capital Partners' senior partner.
Private-equity funds have moved aggressively into power and utility investments in the last few years, picking off assets largely sold by public companies that were in fiscal distress earlier in the decade. Those investments proved largely profitable for the buyout groups because of higher electricity-generation prices.
In an interview, Mr. Kimmelman said the group will focus its investing in power generation, renewable energy and the electricity-transmission grid. Each sector is ripe for investing, Mr. Kimmelman said, because of broader shifts in the nation's utility infrastructure.
"It's become very clear that we've got large capital needs in the power and utility world," Mr. Kimmelman said. "The infrastructure has become very aged and fragmented."
This past year has been benign in terms of conditions that could lead to utility blackouts, Mr. Kimmelman said. But he warned that "the industry is on the edge" and that severe weather, nuclear-plant outages or below-average hydropower production could force "some significant blackouts" during 2007.
"More dollars need to be spent in the generation-and-transmission side of business," he added.
Energy Capital Partners has already closed on its first investment, a $1.34 billion purchase of hydropower and coal-fired power plants in Connecticut and Massachusetts from Northeast Utilities. Mr. Kimmelman said the firm put in about $400 million in cash and took on debt to pay the remainder.
December 4, 2006
A new private-equity fund has raised $2.25 billion to scout for investments amid big changes in the nation's electricity grid.
Energy Capital Partners represents one of the largest first-time investment funds, taking in cash from 150 investors, including pension funds, university endowments and wealthy individuals.
The fund is founded chiefly by a group of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. utility-sector bankers and investors, including Doug Kimmelman, Energy Capital Partners' senior partner.
Private-equity funds have moved aggressively into power and utility investments in the last few years, picking off assets largely sold by public companies that were in fiscal distress earlier in the decade. Those investments proved largely profitable for the buyout groups because of higher electricity-generation prices.
In an interview, Mr. Kimmelman said the group will focus its investing in power generation, renewable energy and the electricity-transmission grid. Each sector is ripe for investing, Mr. Kimmelman said, because of broader shifts in the nation's utility infrastructure.
"It's become very clear that we've got large capital needs in the power and utility world," Mr. Kimmelman said. "The infrastructure has become very aged and fragmented."
This past year has been benign in terms of conditions that could lead to utility blackouts, Mr. Kimmelman said. But he warned that "the industry is on the edge" and that severe weather, nuclear-plant outages or below-average hydropower production could force "some significant blackouts" during 2007.
"More dollars need to be spent in the generation-and-transmission side of business," he added.
Energy Capital Partners has already closed on its first investment, a $1.34 billion purchase of hydropower and coal-fired power plants in Connecticut and Massachusetts from Northeast Utilities. Mr. Kimmelman said the firm put in about $400 million in cash and took on debt to pay the remainder.
Sunday, December 3
Drilling might resume in Alaska bay
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is deciding whether to lift a ban on oil and gas drilling in federal waters off Alaska's Bristol Bay, home to endangered whales and sea lions and the world's largest sockeye salmon run. [Click to read article]
Thursday, November 30
Round Rock manufacturer gets Central Texas into wind turbine business, adding 150 jobs
Teco-Westinghouse Motor Co. and Composite Technology Corp. of Irvine, Calif. have signed a deal that will bring 150 new jobs to Round Rock -- as well as wind turbine manufacturing to Central Texas.
Under the agreement, Teco-Westinghouse will manufacture Composite Technology's subsidiary turbines, called DeWind D8.2 turbines, for distribution in North America...[Click here to read the complete article]
Under the agreement, Teco-Westinghouse will manufacture Composite Technology's subsidiary turbines, called DeWind D8.2 turbines, for distribution in North America...[Click here to read the complete article]
Sunday, November 19
MIT Global Entrepreneurship Video
The MIT Enterprise Forum recently held a conference to discuss Global Entrepreneurship. A video was recently made available. The video, taped live, of the Global Broadcast "Global Entrepreneurship: Inefficiency as Opportunity in the Developing World," is now available on MITWorld as video 395.
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/395/
Energy technology has particular applications within this context. Enjoy...
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/395/
Energy technology has particular applications within this context. Enjoy...
Thursday, November 16
Wind industry confident turbines, radar can coexist
Science News
Nov. 5, 2006
By Bernie Woodall
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wind power advocates see a series of recent approvals for major wind farms as proof that the burgeoning industry's growth will not be stunted by U.S. Department of Defense concerns that turbines can interfere with radar.
However, additional scrutiny brought on by a defense department report may prolong the approval process of wind farms, said Laurie Jodziewicz of the American Wind Energy Association, an advocate group for the U.S. wind power industry...[Click here for the full article]
Nov. 5, 2006
By Bernie Woodall
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wind power advocates see a series of recent approvals for major wind farms as proof that the burgeoning industry's growth will not be stunted by U.S. Department of Defense concerns that turbines can interfere with radar.
However, additional scrutiny brought on by a defense department report may prolong the approval process of wind farms, said Laurie Jodziewicz of the American Wind Energy Association, an advocate group for the U.S. wind power industry...[Click here for the full article]
AWEA THIRD QUARTER MARKET REPORT: U.S. WIND ENERGY INDUSTRY COMPLETES WORLD’S LARGEST WIND FARM,
Oct. 24, 2006
The U.S. wind energy industry is on track to install a record 2,750 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity in 2006, which will produce about as much electricity as is used by the entire state of Rhode Island and help strengthen energy security, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today in its Third Quarter Market Report. In other record-breaking news, one of the projects completed this quarter, FPL Energy’s 735-MW Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas, has shattered all previous records for the country’s and world’s largest wind farm. One megawatt of wind power produces enough electricity on a typical day to serve the equivalent of 250-300 homes...[Click here for full article]
The U.S. wind energy industry is on track to install a record 2,750 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity in 2006, which will produce about as much electricity as is used by the entire state of Rhode Island and help strengthen energy security, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today in its Third Quarter Market Report. In other record-breaking news, one of the projects completed this quarter, FPL Energy’s 735-MW Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas, has shattered all previous records for the country’s and world’s largest wind farm. One megawatt of wind power produces enough electricity on a typical day to serve the equivalent of 250-300 homes...[Click here for full article]
Wednesday, November 15
India Expanding Solar Powered Traffic Lights
NEW DELHI: States are all set to solarise traffic signals in keeping with the guidelines of the national energy policy that suggest use of renewable sources of energy. While Delhi, Karnataka and parts of Andhra Pradesh have since long implemented these guidelines, others joining the league are Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. Most of these states have applied to the ministry of non-conventional energy sources (MNES) for subsidies for installing solar-powered traffic signals...[Click here for original article]
GE's Oil & Gas business supplying IGCC turbines to Qatar Shell GTL Ltd.
Sept. 25, 2006
GE's Oil & Gas business will supply six PG6581B (Frame 6B) gas turbines, equipped with dual fuel IGCC (integrated gasification combined-cycle) type combustion systems, to Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. for the Pearl GTL (gas-to-liquids) project in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. In addition to the 42-megawatt gas turbine-generators, the scope of GE's contract includes IGCC combustion engineering, combustion system lab testing, spare parts and training. The project marks the first time GE's Oil & Gas business will supply Frame 6 units with IGCC technology. "Qatar's abundant natural gas supply makes it an ideal base for the rapidly growing GTL industry," said Mohammad Ayoub, Region General Manager, GE Oil & Gas -- Middle East. "The technology also supports the environment by supplying a cleaner transport fuel, which has immense applications in practical life...[Click here for full article]
GE's Oil & Gas business supplying IGCC turbines to Qatar Shell GTL Ltd.
Sept. 25, 2006
GE's Oil & Gas business will supply six PG6581B (Frame 6B) gas turbines, equipped with dual fuel IGCC (integrated gasification combined-cycle) type combustion systems, to Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. for the Pearl GTL (gas-to-liquids) project in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. In addition to the 42-megawatt gas turbine-generators, the scope of GE's contract includes IGCC combustion engineering, combustion system lab testing, spare parts and training. The project marks the first time GE's Oil & Gas business will supply Frame 6 units with IGCC technology. "Qatar's abundant natural gas supply makes it an ideal base for the rapidly growing GTL industry," said Mohammad Ayoub, Region General Manager, GE Oil & Gas -- Middle East. "The technology also supports the environment by supplying a cleaner transport fuel, which has immense applications in practical life...[Click here for full article]
Ohio's now a leader in fuel cells
Ohio's now a leader in fuel cells
Industry could bring in thousands of jobs
Sunday, November 12, 2006
John Funk
Plain Dealer Reporter
As its old-line industries have failed, Ohio has tried to create a climate for high-tech manufacturing.
Now, after plowing about $52 million into research and other subsidies, the state is emerging as a leader in the fuel cell industry.
In the last six weeks, two fuel cell companies have announced plans to locate facilities here, potentially creating thousands of jobs as suppliers cluster around them. A third company has received a major federal research grant, and two more have announced other significant developments...[Click here to read full article]
Industry could bring in thousands of jobs
Sunday, November 12, 2006
John Funk
Plain Dealer Reporter
As its old-line industries have failed, Ohio has tried to create a climate for high-tech manufacturing.
Now, after plowing about $52 million into research and other subsidies, the state is emerging as a leader in the fuel cell industry.
In the last six weeks, two fuel cell companies have announced plans to locate facilities here, potentially creating thousands of jobs as suppliers cluster around them. A third company has received a major federal research grant, and two more have announced other significant developments...[Click here to read full article]
Monday, November 13
Alternative Energy Going More Mainstream
Rand Corp. says goal of boosting renewable energy to 25% of total can be reached if trends continue.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The United States could get a quarter of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2025 at little or no additional cost if oil prices stay high and the cost of renewable energy keeps falling, a study by Rand Corp. said Monday.
Currently, renewable fuels such as ethanol, solar, water and wind power, account for about 6 percent of the country's energy usage, according to Rand, a nonprofit research group.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The United States could get a quarter of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2025 at little or no additional cost if oil prices stay high and the cost of renewable energy keeps falling, a study by Rand Corp. said Monday.
Currently, renewable fuels such as ethanol, solar, water and wind power, account for about 6 percent of the country's energy usage, according to Rand, a nonprofit research group.
Monday, November 6
The Worst of Both Worlds?
Nov. 13, 2006 issue - It seems impossible to have an honest conversation about global warming. I say this after diligently perusing the British government's huge report released last week by Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank and now a high civil servant. The report is a masterpiece of misleading public relations. Click here for the full article...
Monday, October 30
Budgets Falling in Race to Fight Global Warming
DENVER — Cheers fit for a revival meeting swept a hotel ballroom as 1,800 entrepreneurs and experts watched a PowerPoint presentation of the most promising technologies for limiting global warming: solar power, wind, ethanol and other farmed fuels, energy-efficient buildings and fuel-sipping cars.
Is the carbon-trade business really 'green'?
System for combating greenhouse-gas emissions has forsaken its principles, critics say.
As the world grows warmer, poorer nations are helping the rich by reining in heat-trapping gases in a multibillion-dollar "carbon trade" that is outrunning its founding principles and spawning conflicts of interest and possible abuse.
As the world grows warmer, poorer nations are helping the rich by reining in heat-trapping gases in a multibillion-dollar "carbon trade" that is outrunning its founding principles and spawning conflicts of interest and possible abuse.
Thursday, October 26
Lighting up the $1 trillion power market
Silicon Valley has changed the world once. Now, thanks to a wave of investment and innovation in solar power, it's on to the next revolution: A massive disruption of the U.S. electricity market.
-- There's a missile-bunker vibe you get when walking into Solaicx, a Silicon Valley startup that manufactures the silicon wafers that are the building blocks of solar panels.
In one half of the nondescript Santa Clara warehouse, three men sit hunched on a wood platform 8 feet above the cement floor, their eyes locked on two monitors. The screens show data and video gathered from a 24-foot-tall steel tower. The tower begins in a squat, gourd-shaped base and tapers to a cannon-size column with a long drum spinning slowly on top. Thick power cables snake down its sides. Another sci-fi-looking tower rises up off to one side of the building.
-- There's a missile-bunker vibe you get when walking into Solaicx, a Silicon Valley startup that manufactures the silicon wafers that are the building blocks of solar panels.
In one half of the nondescript Santa Clara warehouse, three men sit hunched on a wood platform 8 feet above the cement floor, their eyes locked on two monitors. The screens show data and video gathered from a 24-foot-tall steel tower. The tower begins in a squat, gourd-shaped base and tapers to a cannon-size column with a long drum spinning slowly on top. Thick power cables snake down its sides. Another sci-fi-looking tower rises up off to one side of the building.
Friday, October 20
Green chimney could save the planet
A new power plant chimney that converts greenhouse gases into helpful substances could have a huge impact on global warming.
Fremont, Ohio (FSB Magazine) -- "This is my sandbox, where I play," says Tom Kiser, pulling his big Chrysler sedan into the parking lot of Professional Supply Inc. We're in Fremont, Ohio, population 17,000. There's a sauerkraut factory across the street, a fitting neighbor to Kiser's dreary, plywood-paneled headquarters.
Kiser was born and raised in Fremont. He founded PSI here in 1979 with an $80,000 SBA loan backed in part by his wife's wedding ring, and he's done well enough that he now owns a seven-passenger company jet. But that's not the story. The story is how a small-town heating and ventilation engineer with no illusions about his customers' true priorities ("What makes me go is, Can I make you money? If I can't, don't hire me") suddenly finds himself on the front lines of the fight to halt global warming.
Fremont, Ohio (FSB Magazine) -- "This is my sandbox, where I play," says Tom Kiser, pulling his big Chrysler sedan into the parking lot of Professional Supply Inc. We're in Fremont, Ohio, population 17,000. There's a sauerkraut factory across the street, a fitting neighbor to Kiser's dreary, plywood-paneled headquarters.
Kiser was born and raised in Fremont. He founded PSI here in 1979 with an $80,000 SBA loan backed in part by his wife's wedding ring, and he's done well enough that he now owns a seven-passenger company jet. But that's not the story. The story is how a small-town heating and ventilation engineer with no illusions about his customers' true priorities ("What makes me go is, Can I make you money? If I can't, don't hire me") suddenly finds himself on the front lines of the fight to halt global warming.
Saturday, October 7
Renewable Energy Bill Becomes Law
STATE UTILITIES' GOAL IS 20 PERCENT BY 2010
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News
California's three major utilities, including Pacific Gas & Electric, will be required to provide 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy within four years under a new law signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
By Paul Rogers
Mercury News
California's three major utilities, including Pacific Gas & Electric, will be required to provide 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy within four years under a new law signed Tuesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Gentleman, stop your engines
EEStor's new automotive power source could eliminate the need for the combustion engine - and for oil.
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- The Disruptor: EEStor
The Innovation: A ceramic power source for electric cars that could blow away the combustion engine
The Disrupted: Oil companies and carmakers that don't climb aboard
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) -- The Disruptor: EEStor
The Innovation: A ceramic power source for electric cars that could blow away the combustion engine
The Disrupted: Oil companies and carmakers that don't climb aboard
The new fuel thing
Is the future now for the 'car of the future'? Not quite, but it may come sooner than you think - and from GM, says Fortune's Alex Taylor.
(Fortune Magazine) -- Stop. Reboot. Roll! In the future, that might be the most common advice from your friendly neighborhood gas jockey. Except he would be pumping hydrogen, not gas. And while your future car would look much the same as what's parked in your driveway right now, it will drive without disgorging many of today's problems--smog, pollution, dependence on nasty foreigners.
(Fortune Magazine) -- Stop. Reboot. Roll! In the future, that might be the most common advice from your friendly neighborhood gas jockey. Except he would be pumping hydrogen, not gas. And while your future car would look much the same as what's parked in your driveway right now, it will drive without disgorging many of today's problems--smog, pollution, dependence on nasty foreigners.
Wells Fargo Buys Green Energy Certificates
Wells Fargo & Co. became the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the country after an agreement to buy renewable energy certificates to support wind energy.
The financial services company said it would buy certificates to support generating 550 million kilowatt hours of wind energy a year for three years.
The financial services company said it would buy certificates to support generating 550 million kilowatt hours of wind energy a year for three years.
Wednesday, October 4
Reduced packaging to save Wal-Mart $3.4 billion
No. 1 retailer says it will ask 60,000 suppliers to cut product packaging by 5 percent.
CHICAGO (Reuters) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., fresh from cutting the prices on generic prescription drugs, is taking on the packaging industry.
The world's largest retailer said on Friday it would push its suppliers to cut the amount of packaging used in products sold through the world's largest retailer by 5 percent under a five-year plan scheduled to begin in 2008.
CHICAGO (Reuters) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., fresh from cutting the prices on generic prescription drugs, is taking on the packaging industry.
The world's largest retailer said on Friday it would push its suppliers to cut the amount of packaging used in products sold through the world's largest retailer by 5 percent under a five-year plan scheduled to begin in 2008.
U.S. POPULATION REACHES 300 MILLION, HEADING FOR 400 MILLION
Guess we need to "slow" down.
Sometime this month, the U.S. population is projected to reach 300 million. In times past, reaching such a demographic milestone might have been a cause for celebration. In 2006, it is not. Population growth is the ever expanding denominator that gives each person a shrinking share of the resource pie. It contributes to water shortages, cropland conversion to non-farm uses, traffic congestion, more garbage, overfishing, crowding in national parks, a growing dependence on imported oil, and other conditions that diminish the quality of our daily lives.
Sometime this month, the U.S. population is projected to reach 300 million. In times past, reaching such a demographic milestone might have been a cause for celebration. In 2006, it is not. Population growth is the ever expanding denominator that gives each person a shrinking share of the resource pie. It contributes to water shortages, cropland conversion to non-farm uses, traffic congestion, more garbage, overfishing, crowding in national parks, a growing dependence on imported oil, and other conditions that diminish the quality of our daily lives.
Friday, September 22
Branson pledges $3B to fight global warming
This is great news. Certainly going to take more initiatives of this size and name recognition to keep us going in the right direction.
Billionaire mogul says 100 percent of future proceeds from certain divisions of Virgin Group will go toward tackling problem.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Famed British billionaire and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson announced Thursday he would earmark an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years toward fighting global warming.
Making his announcement at a news conference at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Branson said all future proceeds from Virgin Group's train and airline businesses would go toward tackling the problem.
Billionaire mogul says 100 percent of future proceeds from certain divisions of Virgin Group will go toward tackling problem.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Famed British billionaire and Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson announced Thursday he would earmark an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years toward fighting global warming.
Making his announcement at a news conference at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Branson said all future proceeds from Virgin Group's train and airline businesses would go toward tackling the problem.
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