According to the latest “Energy Infrastructure Update” report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower provided 55.7% (1,965 MW of the 3,529 MW total installed) of new installed U.S. electrical generating capacity during the first half of 2014. Solar provided 32.1% (1,131 MW) Wind provided 19.8% (699 MW) Biomass provided 2.5% …
Bringing Solar Power to Rural India
The Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress (CAP) have launched a new video series, “Harnessing the Sun to Keep the Lights on in India”. The series documents the health, economic, and environmental benefits to local communities living in Uttar Pradesh, India, a rural, low-income, off-the-electric-grid region that is rapidly becoming a hotbed of solar activity. The film provides …
BioEnergy Bytes
Meredian Inc., the world’s largest producer of PHA has announced that John A. Dowdy, III has joined their team as the newly appointed Chief Financial Officer. This appointment comes in the wake of Meredian Inc. and its sister company DaniMer Scientific merging together under its wholly owned subsidiary Meredian Holdings Group Inc. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that United …
Nebraska Corn Farmers, Aventine In Sugar Fight
According to a Reuters article, the corn-based ethanol industry in Nebraska is fighting an ethanol sugar-based ethanol plant over its feedstock. The Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings plant re-opened its Aurora, Nebraska ethanol plant back in May 2014. However, the plant, located in corn country, is reportedly using sugar from sugar beets to produce ethanol. The United States Agricultural Department (USDA) …
Twin Cedars FFA Raises Money for Ethanol Infrastructure
Josh Lopez is a sophomore at Twin Cedars high school (Bussey, Iowa) and he is already an ethanol advocate. During the American Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen, Josh who is a member of FFA, along with several other FFA members from his high school, walked around Iowa Speedway talking to NASCAR fans about the benefits of ethanol. But they didn’t …
BioEnergy Bytes
Fuel cost savings of $5,000 per day. Cheaper and simpler oil changes. Emissions reduced by millions of pounds. That’s the message of a new case study analyzing Student Transportation Inc.’s 435 school buses operating with propane autogas during a one-year period. These buses service Nebraska’s Millard and Omaha public school district. They also support Omaha’s “Green Schools Initiative,” which encourages …
DOE Allocates $31M to Establish FORGE
The Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated up to $31 million to establish a new program: Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE). The field lab will be dedicated to cutting-edge research on enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). EGS are engineered reservoirs, created beneath the surface of the Earth, where there is hot rock but limited pathways through which fluid …
DNV GL Identify Solar Module Quality Leaders
DNV GL has released its new PV Module Reliability Scorecard 2014, that found that nearly 2/3 of the cumulative 130 gigawatts of installed solar photovoltaic modules in the world were produced in the last three years. This period marked record module price reductions as well as module manufacturers’ aggressive cost reductions. This cost reduction, finds the Scorecard, has led to …
DOE & USDA Announce Bioenergy Projects
Ten projects will receive funding aimed at accelerating genetic breeding programs to improve plant feedstocks for biofuel production as well as biopower and bio-based power. The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $12.6 million in research grants designed for harnessing nonfood plant biomass to replace fossil fuels and chemicals. The agencies note …
Wind Power Growth Surging Where Supported
According to Worldwatch Research Associate Mark Konold and Climate and Energy Intern Xiangyu Wu, double-digit growth continued in the global wind market in 2013. In the latest Vital Signs, the writers state that there are 318 GW of wind capacity online today with 35 GW added in 2013. However, the growth was a significant drop from the average growth rate …