In a post on the Google blog, Gary Demasi, the company’s Director for Global Infrastructure, writes about Google’s interest in expanding the use of renewable energy and ways to make more of it available not only to Google but others as well. “The most straightforward way to do this is for utilities to offer a Continue reading →
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. announced yesterday its plan to create the Honda Smart Home US, a showcase for environmental innovation and renewable energy enabling technologies that demonstrates Honda’s vision for sustainable, zero-carbon living and personal mobility. via Honda Smart Home US To Use Solar Power To Charge Fit EV – HybridCars.com.
Initiatives aimed at cutting carbon emissions and establishing long term energy security will see renewable energy claim a 36% share of global cumulative installed capacity by the end of the decade, according to a report from GBI Research. The report explains that solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy will be the primary technologies forecast to Continue reading →
The off switch is a fast-growing source of power in some parts of the electricity grid. Grid operator PJM last week released a report, spotted by Greentech Media, detailing the results of its demand-response programs after a new pricing rule was put in place last spring. Since last April, $8.7 million of revenue was generated Continue reading →
In the previous article we discussed why 2012′s smart grid growth isn’t sustainable without a new business model and in trying to develop a framework for a smart grid, policy makers and regulators often overlook the importance of building a system that can accommodate Variable Renewable Energy (VRE). via Smart Grid: Smart grid touchstone: accommodating variable Continue reading →
Last week, the White House released President Barack Obama’s “Blueprint for a Clean and Secure Energy Future,” which includes renewable energy, smart grid and electric vehicle (EV) initiatives. “The United States is on the path to a cleaner and more secure energy future,” the blueprint says, adding that since President Obama took office, renewable energy Continue reading →
Over the past decade, there has been significant focus on minimizing carbon emissions. This has led to higher emphasis on identifying environmentally friendly energy sources like nuclear, solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biofuels, and tide/ocean energy. Also, unlike earlier when oil and gas reserves were considered to be infinite, the new realization of the finite limits Continue reading →
As solar panels and electric cars catch on among consumers, managing the grid becomes an increasingly vexing challenge for utilities. To keep track of these and other distributed energy resources, utilities are installing ever more smart meters and other monitoring equipment. They now need to track far more data from far-flung locations just to reliably Continue reading →
Aside from political uncertainty, most renewable energy developers would agree the need to store variable wind and solar energy supply is the major challenge facing their industry today. Now, two new reports produced on both sides of the Atlantic have found smart storage heaters could solve at least part of the problem by offering affordable Continue reading →
Global investment in smart grid technologies totaled $13.9 billion worldwide in 2012, finds a new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute. Smart girds, which are electricity networks that use digital information and communications technologies for more efficient and reliable electricity transport, are needed to facilitate the integration of more renewable energy into the grid. With Continue reading →
There are plenty of misconceptions about the costs and benefits of renewable energy. But while opinions vary as to the effectiveness of generation sources such as wind and solar, facts are indisputable. And the facts show that renewable power is increasingly economical and poised for explosive growth in the United States. via Facts show renewable Continue reading →
Urban Green Energy (UGE), the leading global provider of distributed energy solutions, announced today the launch of a new line of hybrid smart grid electronics, capable of taking inputs from various renewable energy sources simultaneously. The SeamlessGrid system has two renewable energy inputs and controls each of them individually, optimizing projects that use both a Continue reading →
Renewable power sources – including hydrokinetic (which includes pumped storage), biomass, waste, geothermal, wind, solar photovoltaics (PV), and solar thermal – make up 10 percent of total electricity production in the United States. While news headlines in this election year have highlighted failures by renewable energy companies, North America leads the world in terms of Continue reading →
A lot of the time, grid energy storage is discussed in the context of renewable energy. Storage is cited as a necessary solution to the diurnal nature of solar and wind energy. “We need storage because the sun doesn’t shine at night.” “Wind energy is greatest at night, so we need storage to shift wind Continue reading →
The renewable energy industry has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent years. More wind and solar power is contributing to the electric grid than ever before. There is one drawback to renewable energy sources however, and that is their intermittent periods of production and disruption. After all, the weather does not always provide Continue reading →
Cape Wind has secured another major milestone with the approval by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) of the 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with NSTAR to buy Cape Wind’s energy, capacity and renewable energy credits. The NSTAR/Cape Wind PPA is for 27.5% of Cape Wind’s power. In December 2011, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Continue reading →
An A-list of the renewable energy industry will be assembling this week in Eilat for one of the world’s premier conferences on the subject — the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference, a three-day showcase of the latest in international and Israeli-developed renewable energy technologies. No fewer than 194 speakers — arguably the world’s renewable energy “brain Continue reading →
Renewable power sources – including hydrokinetic (which includes pumped storage), biomass, waste, geothermal, wind, solar photovoltaics (PV), and solar thermal – make up 10 percent of total electricity production in the United States. While news headlines in this election year have highlighted failures by renewable energy companies, such as the solar panel maker Solyndra, North Continue reading →
Pike Research LLC (Boulder, Colorado, U.S.) has released a new report which predicts that North America will add more than 400 GW of renewable energy capacity from 2012 through 2015, as the world leader in new renewable energy. “Smart Energy Annual Report 2012″ estimates that Europe will be the second-largest region for distributed electricity generation, Continue reading →
In the wake of the millions of homes and businesses left powerless by hurricane Sandy, many homeowners must be asking: Is there a better way to get my electricity? One possibility, of course, is using renewable energy. It sounds easy: Stick up a few solar panels and, voila, you’re covered. Can solar or other renewables Continue reading →
