THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Graphene Gate Opens the Door to Smaller, Faster, Less Toxic Electronics

Tina Casey — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:07:05 +0000

A team of researchers at UCLA has developed a new way to make super-fast graphene transistors that are comparable to transistors that use more expensive (and toxic) materials. If successful commercially, the new graphene based technology could play a key role in energy conservation and waste reduction related to the rising tide of electronic devices in the world.

Like it or not, electronics are here to stay — and to grow into new markets as the developing world catches up with industrialized countries. By reducing their size, making them more energy efficient, and cutting or outright eliminating the use of hazardous substances in their manufacture, it is possible to engineer a more sustainable path to a global electronic future.

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This Brilliant LED Is 20,000 Times More Powerful

Susan Kraemer — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:03:36 +0000

In a truly staggering breakthrough in LED intensity that will have wide ramifications on electricity use worldwide, the Finnish LED producer Obelux has developed by far the most powerful white flashing LED of all time.

In response to aviation industry requests, Obelux created a flashing High Intensity LED that delivers 200,000 candelas. Current technology delivers just 10 candelas. This marks an incredible 20,000-fold improvement on the old Xenon technology.

These will be installed on over 150 meter tall buildings and masts, replacing the flashing red aviation obstacle lights that are currently in place on masts and tall buildings to warn airplanes. Boosting brightness even further, they will be in groups of three, so that each can deliver 600,000 candelas.

Energy consumption? Just 350 watts! (more…)

Killer Bacteria Could Breathe New Life into Biofuel Production

Tina Casey — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:11:49 +0000

Put this one in the category of every cloud has a silver lining: E. coli, the bacteria notorious for contaminating food products from lettuce to ground beef, could also play a key role in developing the next generation of biofuels. A team of scientists from Rutgers University is working with computer modeling to tweak the pesky little bug into overproduce fatty acids, which can then be processed into biodiesel.

If the research is successful, chalk up another win for producing biofuels from sustainable, non-food sources that can be grown without competing for land with food crops. The growing list includes weedy plants, woody plants, algae and various microorganisms.

Dark Silicon Could Lead to Bright Future for Solar Powered Smart Phones

Tina Casey — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:44:19 +0000

Researchers at the University of California have developed a smart phone chip that could spur a new generation of more efficient mobile electronic devices. In turn, a more energy efficient device would enable the more widespread use of solar energy and other forms of renewable energy for battery recharging.

The new chip is based on the use of “dark silicon.” Dark silicon is shorthand for the growing portion of silicon on transistors that is underused because there is not enough power available to run them all of the transistors at once. The new chip, called GreenDroid, is designed to use about 11 times less energy than a typical processor.

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Clean energy aid leadership from Norway

Chris Milton — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:21:03 +0000

Norway has continued to live up to its clean energy reputation by publishing its first annual report on the Clean Energy for Development Initiative. This details nearly $130m worth of funds spent by the Norwegian Government on clean energy projects across the developing world in 2008-9, double the amount budgeted by USAID for a variety of issues including clean energy aid.

Key to the initiative’s approach has been the electrification of small villages in remote areas and over 44% of the money has been spent on building transmission and distribution infrastructure. The largest type of generation deployed has been hydroelectric, with 15% of expenditure going on these projects, some of which have been large scale but many of which have been small and localised.

Other forms of generation considered include wind, geothermal and biomass, each depending upon the particular needs of the country and neighbourhood within which the initiative is operating. Rather pointedly, the report states that it spent 0% of its money on power generation from non-renewable sources.

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New Zealand Launches Cap and Trade as Off-Shore Oil Giants Move In

Susan Kraemer — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:08:53 +0000

In the first emissions trading to be introduced outside of Europe, the New Zealand government has just launched a cap and trade system to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 10 and 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, UPI is reporting.

New Zealand imports most of its oil, but nearly half of the emissions are agricultural, due to the volume of exports from the isolated nation, and they have increased by 25 percent over the last 20 years.

Its nearest neighbor is Australia, but much of its trading is much further away, with the EU. New Zealand has long been a land of sheep farmers, and with an economy of only 4 some million people, has a very high carbon footprint in shipping its products to customers far overseas. When you factor in the carbon footprint of ocean transport, not just exporting, but also, importing, New Zealand is actually not as green as its reputation.

And now, with oil giants like Petrobras nosing around the island nation for an off-shore killing, the announcement is timely.
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Boycott of Petroleum Products from Alberta Tar Sands Gathers Steam

Tina Casey — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:07:58 +0000

In a sign of things to come for corporate activism, The Gap, Timberland, Levi Strauss and Walgreens have just joined Whole Foods and Bed, Bath and Beyond in a boycott of petroleum products sourced from the notorious Alberta Tar Sands. As reported by Bob Weber of The Canadian Press, Federal Express has also adopted a policy that appears to lead toward joining the boycott.

The move comes just as scientists from the University of Alberta released a report on the mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, and nine other toxins from tar sands operations found in the Athabasca River system. In the meantime, environmentalists in the U.S. are raising the alarm over tar sands-related damage in Montana, where new road construction is planned in order to accommodate trucks hauling massive pieces of equipment to the Alberta tar sands.

Recovery Act Propels 3 GW of Solar Projects to Front in California

Susan Kraemer — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:52:43 +0000

In a last-minute race to the finish-line, the CEC has approved a staggering 2,800 MW (or 3 GW) of solar projects this month in California.

Among them are Tessera Solar’s 709 MW Imperial Valley Solar project in Imperial County (scaled down from 750 MW, by BLM request) and NextEra Energy’s 250 MW Beacon Solar Energy Project, the first large-scale solar-thermal power projects permitted in California in two decades.

During the same time, only one 760 MW fossil plant was approved: Mirant Corp.’s 760-MW Marsh Landing Generating Station.

This ratio of clean energy approvals to dirty energy approvals reverses the pattern over the last ten years.

SunPower Corp. Sparks 1,000 New Green Jobs with Solar Installations for U.S. Government

Tina Casey — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:10:51 +0000

Solar industry powerhouse Sunpower Corp. is busy creating new green jobs in the renewable energy sector, the latest endeavor being a group of contracts for a minimum of 20 megawatts in new solar installations for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, General Services Administration and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. All together, SunPower estimates that the construction work will create about 1,000 new green jobs in the local communities where the installations are located, in addition to saving taxpayers money by helping to shift the U.S. military into a more stable, low risk form of energy.

The new projects also illustrate how the Obama administration has stepped up the pace of solar installations at government facilities. SunPower has been installing solar arrays at U.S. government facilities since 1999, for a total of 20 megawatts to date. That’s equal to the minimum amount of solar capacity that will be installed under the new contracts.

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U.S. Coast Guard Goes for Wind Power

Tina Casey — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:25:36 +0000

Following close on the heels of the U.S. Army, which just activated its first wind power project at the Tooele Army Depot in Utah, the U.S. Coast Guard is diving into wind power, too. The new turbine has been installed at the Coast Guard’s Southwest Harbor Base in Maine.

The new turbine is only rated at 2.4 kilowatts, but in this case, size doesn’t matter. What really matters is that the U.S. military has historically been very cautious about adopting wind power partly due to concerns over radio interference, but now with two branches of the armed services getting their feet wet, perhaps a tipping point is near and more clean, renewable wind power is in store across the Department of Defense.

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THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Graphene Gate Opens the Door to Smaller, Faster, Less Toxic Electronics

This Brilliant LED Is 20,000 Times More Powerful

Killer Bacteria Could Breathe New Life into Biofuel Production

Read more of this story »

Dark Silicon Could Lead to Bright Future for Solar Powered Smart Phones

(more…)

Clean energy aid leadership from Norway

New Zealand Launches Cap and Trade as Off-Shore Oil Giants Move In

Boycott of Petroleum Products from Alberta Tar Sands Gathers Steam

Read more of this story »

Recovery Act Propels 3 GW of Solar Projects to Front in California

SunPower Corp. Sparks 1,000 New Green Jobs with Solar Installations for U.S. Government

U.S. Coast Guard Goes for Wind Power