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Tagged : solar-power
Ricoh billboard brings less glitter, more green to Times Square
By John DeFore
East of Las Vegas, Times Square is surely the king of flashy, attention-grabbing and power-hungry signage. Soon, though, one of the intersection’s most novel advertisements will be one that doesn’t draw a single watt from the grid.
Construction is set to begin this month on a massive billboard for copying giant Ricoh, to be mounted at the corner of 7th Avenue and 42nd Street, that will run solely on wind and solar power generated at the site.
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Tags: · Ricoh, Solar Power, Times Square, Wind Power
Nanobamas: Teeny, tiny president-elects
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
There’s science, and there’s applied science. Here’s some interesting applied science: Nanobamas. OK. We get that everything’s Obama right now. Obama-drama. Obama-rama. But nanobamas?
The scoop: John Hart, an assistant professor in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Michigan wants to expand our understanding of nanotechnology, which could be [...]
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Tags: · Barak Obama, BarbaraKesslerBlog, nanotechnology, Solar Power
Nation’s electric grid needs an extreme makeover
By John DeFore
For everyone puzzled at recent energy-independence speeches that seem to focus as much on building new electric lines as on solar research or wind power, a new report helps make one inconvenient truth clear: Without new infrastructure, switching to non-carbon power could make our electric system far less reliable than it is today.
The report was compiled by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a self-regulatory organization focused in part on ensuring that power transmission stays blackout-free from coast to coast.
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Tags: · clean coal, electric grid, renewal energy, Solar Power, Wind Power
Green Hawaii, state will serve as clean energy testing ground
By Barbara Kessler
And the greenest state could soon be… No, not California. Not Washington, or Oregon, or Colorado.
It’s Hawaii!
Or at least it could be. Maybe. The islanders have plantation-sized plans for moving off fossil fuels and into clean energy. Their goal: Meet 70 percent of Hawaii’s energy needs with clean energy sources like solar and wind power by 2030. That’s a bigger reach than any other state have taken, or feels able to take.
Across the country, 24 states have set firm goals for adding renewable power to their energy portfolio. Another four states have non-binding goals for their Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), as they’re called.
Most of these look to increase the amount of renewable energy to 10 to 30 percent of the total used by the state by 2015 or 2020.
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Tags: · biomass, Hawaii, Renewable Energy, Renewable Portfolio Standards, Solar Power, waves, Wind Power
Making movies green at Plymouth Rock
October 20th, 2008 · 1 Comment
By John DeFore
Hollywood is known for conspicuous environmentalism, but its legendary movie studios were built many decades before anyone thought about a production’s environmental impact. Now a team including former Paramount Pictures president David Kirkpatrick hopes to change that by building “the first all-union built, green, SMART studio facility in the world” — in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The team behind Plymouth Rock Studios announced this month that it “has registered its entire development project with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in order to pursue campus-wide, new construction certification under Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED(R)) standards.”
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Tags: · Gensler architects, LEED, Massachusetts, movie studio, Plymouth Rock Studios, Solar Power, Wind Power
Chicago’s 'Smart Home' inspires green lifestyle
September 25th, 2008 · 1 Comment
By Lynette Holloway
Ryan Morton did not have a vision of a home he aspired to own until he saw the highly stylized, three-story, loft-style sustainable “green” home replete with bamboo floors, radiant heat, bathroom tiles made of recycled glass bottles, skylights and  walls of glass.
“Until I saw this, I didn’t have an idea of a home I aspired to own,’’ Morton said of the house, the basis of the Museum of Science and Industry’s exhibit, Smart Home: Green + Wired, which is open in Chicago through Jan. 4, 2009. “This is it. It’s essentially zero maintenance.’’
Morton happens to know the 11-room house, including a master bed and bath, a child’s room, two baths and a powder room, inside and out. He is a tour guide. “It’s really a great job,’’ he said.
The house highlights ways—big and small—that people can make green living an all-important part of their lifestyle. Built to celebrate the museum’s 75th anniversary, the energy efficient house was designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a leader in green design community, and built by All American Homes.
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Tags: · green building, Green Decor, Home Energy, Lynette Holloway, Smart Home, Solar Power
First Solar: solar power priced to match coal?
September 17th, 2008 · No Comments
strong> By John DeFore
Business types, evidently, feel they know all they need to know about Tempe, Ariz., firm First Solar, a nine-year old company being called “the Google of solar.” In a year and a half, investors drove its stock price up from $25 to $250. But aside from reports that this year’s sales are projected to hit $1 billion, what exactly do they kn ow?
The company is highly secretive about its innovations, it seems, going so far as to refuse to speak with journalists. Now, an in-depth story in IEEE Spectrum Online attempts to get to the bottom of how, as the journal says, “within five years, this company’s thin-film solar cells could compete with coal.”
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Tags: · Arizona, First Solar, solar panels, Solar Power
Phoenix Suns Tap The Phoenix Sun
By Barbara Kessler
Some things  just make sense, like the Phoenix Suns using the desert sun to help power the US Airways Center where they play.
The basketball team, electricity provider APS and the city of Phoenix announced Thursday that the utility and the team have teamed up to install a 194 kilowatt photo-voltaic system on the fifth level of the US Airways parking garage. The system will cover about 18,000 square feet and produce more than 330,000 kilowatt-hours each year - enough to meet about one-quarter of the parking garage’s power needs.
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Tags: · APS, El Solutions, Phoenix Suns, Solar Power, Steve Nash, Tioga Energy
Bloomberg And Windmills Spell NYC Controversy
By John DeFore
Last Wednesday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his desire to turn the city into a wind-power titan, sprinkling the city with turbines and building huge wind farms off the coasts of Brooklyn,  Queens and Long Island.
Speaking at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, he issued a formal request encouraging green power entrepreneurs to submit plans for a range of sustainable energy projects. But what got the most attention was the suggestion that “perhaps companies will want to put windfarms atop our bridges and skyscrapers,
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Tags: · New York City, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Power Transmission System, Solar Power, Wind Power
A “Solar Highway” Plan for Oregon’s Roads
By John DeFore
Though it was an odd thing to call a “groundbreaking” — the act involved no shovel stuck in soil, but rather the placement of a panel on a metal stand — a ceremony alongside an Oregon highway this month inaugurated what Governor Ted Kulongoski calls “the nation’s first solar highway project.”
Speaking in a promotional video made at the event, Kulongoski was joined by Transportation Commission chair Gail Achterman, who explained that the solar panel being mounted was the first of 594 that will soon cover 8,000 square feet alongside the right-of-way at the interchange of Interstates 5 and 205 south of Portland.
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Tags: · Green Energy, Highways, Oregon, Solar Power, Tax Credits
MIT Researchers Re-Think Solar Power, Say It Could Be “Unlimited and Soon”
By Harriet Blake
Mainstream, affordable solar power is not just pie (or energy) in the sky. So say MIT researchers who have devised a process to store solar energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.
Photo: Donna Coveney
MIT professor Dan Nocera
Massachusetts Institute of Technology energy professor Dan Nocera and post-doctoral fellow Matthew Kanan have found a [...]
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Tags: · Alternative Energy, Fuel Cell, MIT, Solar Power
A Home-Solar Guinea Pig: Extreme Tech Writer Installs Rooftop Panels
Even those among us who spend a fair deal of time daydreaming about living in a solar-powered home may stop short of actually shopping for the required equipment. You can’t just hop down to Home Depot and pick up a photovoltaic rig, after all, and we all know it’s expensive.
Happily, some pioneers are making themselves guinea pigs and sharing their experiences with anyone who’s interested.
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Tags: · Green Energy, Solar Panel, Solar Power
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