Install geothermal loop systems designed for tomorrow's needs
The right heat pump, the right loop system and the right-sized pipe will meet the heating and cooling needs of the entire house or business both now and in the future, ultimately generating proud and satisfied customers and reflecting well on the industry.
Why Japan Will Turn to Solar Energy Following Fukushima
As the dire news continues to leach out of Fukishima, the silver lining in its nuclear cloud is that renewable energy technologies, despite their daunting start-up costs, are receiving renewed scrutiny.
Milbank Moves Into Wind Industry
Milbank studied renewables for years before deciding to enter the industry. Distributed wind generation allows nearly 70% of the US to install their own turbines, to produce their own power and control their own energy costs and consumption.
Google Invests $280 Million in SolarCity Project Finance Fund
Google Inc. (GOOG) agreed to put $280 million in a new project financing fund for SolarCity Inc., a financier, installer and owner of rooftop photovoltaic systems, in the Internet search engine's biggest clean-energy investment. The deal with San Mateo, California-based SolarCity is also Google's first investment related to distributed solar energy, Rick Needham, the search engine's director of green business operations, said by telephone yesterday. The investment is a "quadruple-win" because it will enable more homeowners to lower their energy bills while also shifting to renewable energy, allow SolarCity to expand its business and facilitate wider deployment of solar, Needham said. Mountain View, California-based Google will also make a return on capital upfront, he said, since its investment is supported by the Treasury Department's cash grants program. As an alternative to tax credits, the program reimburses investors for 30 percent of project expenditures for solar. The program was created after the 2008 financial crisis to revive spending on clean energy. Projects must begin construction by the end of 2011 to be eligible.
Bloom Expands Manufacturing to the East Coast - Expected 1,500 Jobs to Newark
Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) manufacturer, Bloom Energy, has announced a new deal to build a 200,000 square-foot manufacturing plant on a portion of an old Delaware Chrysler plant. This new manufacturing plant is expected to bring 1,500 new jobs to the Delaware area and boost the University of Delaware’s vision of a thriving high-tech center. This news comes after two months ago Bloom Energy quadrupled their manufacturing size with the expansion of their Californian based manufacturing facility. That facility was expanded to over 210,000 square feet and is expected to provide California with over 1,000 new jobs. They also announced a major increase in manufacturing of their Energy Server, a 100 kW SOFC unit, from just one unit produced every month in their early days of operation, to now producing one Energy Server every day. Over the next five years, Bloom expects to hire about 900 workers for the Delaware manufacturing facility and predicts a minimum of 600 more jobs to follow as suppliers open Delaware bases of operations. A number of these expected suppliers are expected to also set-up shop on the Chrysler property, which qualifies as a "brownfield" given its 60-year history of auto-making. "Brownfields" are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use and redevelopment.
Positive outlook for renewables set to boost mergers and acquisitions
The renewable energy space is expected to see a high level of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the next 12 months, with Europe predicted to be the most active, according to a new report published by mergermarket, in association with Rödl & Partner. In a survey conducted in Q2 2011 of 100 senior M&A practitioners involved in the renewable energy sector, 72% expect an increase in renewable energy M&A activity. This bullish sentiment could be attributed to a number of factors, including the devastating effects of the Fukushima disaster. "Investors of all shapes and sizes are competing against one another in this flourishing sector, therefore sustainable future growth can only be assured in two ways - by beating out the competitors or by acquiring them," explains Michael Wiehl, Rödl & Partner Nuremberg. 67% of respondents expect Europe to be at the forefront of this increase, forecasting the region will see significant activity. This is attributed by some respondents to Europe's variety of resources, with one respondent noting that: "Europe has a great diversity: The Nordics are great for wind power; Italy, Spain and Greece for solar; and continental Europe for geothermal and biomass." The long-term feed-in tariffs introduced by Germany are also highlighted as an important aid in bolstering renewable energy investment. The renewable sector globally has seen 51 deals at a total value of €10.6 billionthis year-to-date. Iberdrola's pending 20% stake bid for Iberdrola Renovables SA is the biggest deal of the year at €2.6 billion, followed by Electricite de France SA's €1.5bn bid for EDF Energies Nouvelles SA (50% stake).
Power plant to steady wind and solar with gas
A power plant planned for Turkey will use a combination of energy sources--wind, solar, and natural gas--to deliver round-the-clock electricity service. General Electric today said that it will supply the equipment for a 508-megawatt plant to developer MetCap Energy, which expects to complete the project by 2015. The plant in Karaman, Turkey, is projected to power more than 600,000 homes. The project is unusual in that a single facility will draw on three sources to deliver "baseload" power, or the power needed to meet the continuous energy demand for the area. GE said that the plant's overall efficiency will be 66 percent, higher than a modern natural gas plant. GE is touting the project as a showcase for its FlexEfficiency power plant system anchored around a natural gas turbine designed specifically to ramp power production up and down to accommodate variable wind and solar power. The other main power-generating components are GE wind turbines capable of producing 22 megawatts and a 50-megawatt eSolar concentrating solar thermal plant. GE yesterday announced that it invested in California-based eSolar and has a license to use eSolar's solar technology for hybrid power plants. eSolar plants generate heat with thousands of sun-tracking mirrors to produce steam, which is driven through a turbine to make electricity.
Bioenergy will see six-fold increase in its share of global primary energy in 2050
130 exajoules (EJ) per annum for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal electric energy, 110 EJ for wind energy, 40 for hydro, 55 for geothermal and 300 for bioenergy. A closer look at the IPCC summary report on the potential of renewable energy shows that this latter source will remain the leader in primary renewable energy production in 2050. It is two weeks since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented its special report on renewable energy and climate change mitigation in Abu Dhabi. One of the first points to come out of reading this report is that bioenergy accounted for almost 80% of the contribution of renewables to primary energy supply in 2008. The next point is that the majority of this contribution, approximately 60%, was from traditional biomass used for cooking and heating in developing countries, although a greater increase in the use of modern biomass was also highlighted. 10% of the 492 EJ of annual primary energy produced in the whole world is generated using biomass, biogas and biofuels. The report warns that this contribution is likely to diminish in the coming decades, although this will not stop bioenergy from continuing as the renewable energy leader, with an average of 150 EJ/year in 2050. Indeed, the IPCC reports even proposes a range of between 100 and 300 EJ, a ceiling that clearly exceeds that of the other five technologies discussed in the IPCC's work: solar photovoltaic and solar thermal electric, hydro, geothermal, wind and marine (tides, waves, currents).
Panasonic aims for 70% CO2 cut with 'smart' town
The Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST) is aimed at reducing CO2 emissions by 70 percent compared with 1990 levels. The completely networked town will be a 19-hectacre subdivision built on a former Panasonic plant site some 30 miles southwest of Tokyo. It will house about 3,000 people whose lives will revolve around being energy conscious: the 1,000 homes and other buildings will have solar panels to generate electricity and smart appliances, as well as home fuel cells. The batteries might include the fridge-sized Ene-Farm developed by Panasonic and Tokyo Gas. They say the Ene-Farm can reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 35 and 48 percent, respectively, from typical Japanese household usage and can help lower home utility costs by up to $740 annually. Plans for the SST call for features such as EV recharging stations, LED lighting, surveillance cameras, and "wind paths" to accommodate wind patterns in Fujisawa, a city of 400,000 on Sagami Bay. There will be plenty of trees, too. The project will cost some $739 million, and all homes are expected to be occupied by 2018. I wouldn't be surprised if SST gets way too many applicants. Fujisawa has beaches, a surfing culture, and plenty of sunshine, so it's an ideal location for this experiment. If it's successful, it could become a model for future green communities.
2011 AWEA WindPower Conference & Exhibition Report
The AltEnergyMag team had the opportunity to walk the expo floor and visit with companies from across the industry for a peak at some of the new products that will be showcased this year. Below is a compilation of some great new products that should be an interest to you.
Biomass Exchange - A Plug in the Missing Link
In India alone, one can observe several cases where bio-energy projects of the scale greater than 5 MW are on sale already, even with their power purchase agreements still in place. Such events necessitate the need to have a mechanism in place which would further seek the promotion of such technologies.
Does the Public Sector already hold the key to delivering energy efficiency?
So implementing energy efficiency measures sounds like a good idea in principle, but how can local authorities or municipalities balance the equation of technology costs and fund the capital expenditure? Put simply, some of the measures that can be implemented deliver savings immediately with payback periods that are very short - in some instances only 6 months. However; to address a set of larger scale measures, the answer comprises 3 elements: i) scale of project, ii) guaranteeing savings through energy performance contracting and iii) access to competitive (low interest rate) finance.
AWEA 2011- Special News Report
News announcements from AWEA 2011
Solar Cogeneration - The highest utilization of the sun's resources
Solar cogeneration combines proven photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal technologies to maximize total collected energy and optimize economic benefits for institutional, commercial and industrial customers. Using up to 80 percent of the sun's delivered energy
Key Issues In the Clean Tech Industry: The Role Of Public Relations
Once of the greatest barriers to the adoption of new clean technologies is the upfront cost, with the resulting sticker shock sending consumers running. Many clean tech firms offer attractive financing packages, but fall down on marketing them effectively, or -- on an even more basic level -- adequately explaining them.
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Solar & Wind - Featured Product
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