electricity
Community Solar On The Rise
Most Americans are bullish on solar power. However, the majority of Americans are unable to install their own rooftop solar system because either they don’t own the place where they live or because their home is unsuitable for installing solar panels for one reason or another.
Pulling Carbon Out Of The Air
The world is increasingly united in the desire to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. There is much emphasis on reducing and someday eliminating our use of fossil fuels, which is the main culprit in the situation we find ourselves in today. More and more we are embracing the use of renewable energy sources to produce electricity and we are starting to slowly move away from internal combustion engines to power our cars.
Norway And Electric Cars
One of the standard criticisms aimed at electric cars is whether they actually are good for the environment when everything is taken into account. For example, people worry about the amount of energy expended and the environmental impact of actually building the car. Recent studies have shown that this balances out over a relatively short amount of the car’s lifetime.
Pumped Hydro Storage
There is much talk these days about energy storage. As more and more wind and solar power enters the electrical grid, there is an increasing need to be able to store excess energy and have it available when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. Much of the talk centers around battery technology, and having storage batteries distributed throughout the grid is the most versatile and widely applicable way to provide storage.
China And Renewable Energy
When it comes to carbon dioxide, three countries are responsible for half of the world’s emissions into the atmosphere: China, the US, and India. On a per capita basis, we are far worse than China, but its population is so huge that that it produces twice as much CO2 as the United States and nearly one-third of the world’s emissions.
Is Natural Gas Cleaner Than Coal?
The widespread use of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) as well as improved drilling techniques have created a major boom in natural gas production. This unquestionably has positive economic impacts for many. One of the important consequences of this is that natural gas is increasingly taking the place of coal for powering electrical generating plants.
The Power Of Exercise
Many people often complain about not having enough time to exercise. But what if exercising for one hour could power your home for twenty-four hours? Would that be enough motivation?
Storing Heat From The Sun
We are all familiar with the solar panels that cover an ever-growing number of rooftops as well as large arrays in so-called solar farms. These photovoltaic systems turn sunlight directly into electricity. But they are not the only way to make electricity using the sun.
Businesses Going Solar
The fourth annual Solar Means Business Report is out. It identifies major commercial solar projects and ranks America’s top solar users. Just since the first report came out, the amount of solar power installed by America’s top companies has tripled.
Storing Energy As Ice
One of the challenges of operating the electricity grid is that there are times when everybody wants more electricity than usual – like during a hot afternoon in August – and the system struggles to keep up with the increased demand.
Carbon Capture Update
The global community is increasingly making commitments to reduce the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. More and more carbon-free renewable energy sources are being used all the time. But despite the tremendous growth in solar and wind power, fossil fuels still provide about 80% of the world’s energy. Coal still provides about 40% of worldwide electricity. Realistically, these numbers can only go down at a relatively gradual pace.
Snowpack Loss
A recent study showed that this year the snowpack in California, which is suffering an ongoing drought as well as long-term warming, reached its lowest point in 500 years. Snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada mountains fills reservoirs that provide a third of all of the drinking water for the state of California, as well as water used to fight fires and generate electricity.
Microgrids For The Powerless
There are 1.3 billion people worldwide who don’t have access to electricity. These days, some of them have acquired hundred-dollar solar panels that produce about five watts of power. That allows them to power a couple of LED lamps in the evening and to charge a mobile phone. But that’s about all they can do with so little power.
Ocean Energy Report Card
Most of the world’s activity in renewable energy is focused on solar and wind power. The use of both is expanding rapidly.
Solar Power At Night
One of the largest solar power plants in the world is the Andasol plant situated on a barren, high-altitude site in the Andalucia region of Spain. The plant provides electricity for up to 500,000 people in the region.
Coal Subsidies
Coal is the most important energy source for the Chinese economy and in a number of other places around the world. It is still the largest source of electricity in the US. It is also one of the main reasons that greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase despite worldwide technological progress and the expansion of renewable energy. New coal plants are still planned in many places and such plants will emit carbon dioxide for decades.
OTEC In Hawaii
The state of Hawaii has a bold energy agenda: it plans to get 100% of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2045. In order to get there, Hawaii is embracing a diversified mix of renewable energy generation sources. Of course, Hawaii’s famous sunshine has allowed the state to have the highest per-capital base of installed solar power in the nation. But it will take more than just solar power for Hawaii to get all of its energy from green sources.
Solar Power And The Landscape
The use of solar power is growing rapidly but with all the growth, solar power only provides 1% of the country’s electricity. On the other hand, in 2014, solar power accounted for almost a third of all the new US electric generating capacity. According to the International Energy Agency, solar power could be the world’s leading source of electricity by the year 2050.
The Wind Boom Continues
