This week marks the 61st anniversary of the first house in America with solar heating and radiation cooling. Located in Tuscon, Arizona, the house featured a large, slanting slab of steel and glass that coverts sunlight into heat that was ducted into the house. Today, many homes use solar panels to capture the natural heat of the sun and solar …
BioEnergy Bytes
Exel Solar, the largest independent distributor of PV products in Mexico, has announced a strategic partnership with Sunpreme Inc. to offer Smart Bi-facial PV Modules, the most technically advanced product available on the market. A Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE)-led team has been selected for a $3.5M Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV (SHINES) …
“Kirby’s Future” Wins Fuel the Future Video Contest
A young woman from Des Moines, Iowa, Helena Gruensteid, who attends Roosevelt High School, took home the top honors in the Fuel the Future video contest. The top three placing high school videos were unveiled yesterday during the 10th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit held in Altoona, Iowa. Gruensteid was awarded $1,000 for her video “Kirby’s Future. The contest was …
BioEnergy Bytes
A new report, “LNG and Renewable Power: Risk and Opportunity in a Changing World,” by economists at global consulting firm The Brattle Group finds that competition between renewable power and gas-fired generation using liquefied natural gas (LNG) from North America is increasing in overseas markets as a result of declining renewable power costs. Sullivan Solar Power recently installed a solar …
Secy Vilsack: Continue to Tout Biofuel Benefits
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, spent the morning back in his home state of Iowa (Vilsack is a former Iowa Governor) to kick off the 10th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit. He began his remarks by saying its great to be back in Iowa and great to be back in front of folks who understand the importance …
IRFA’s Shaw: We Will Not Retreat
“Today, Iowa’s renewable fuels industry – the entire renewable fuels industry quite frankly – is at a fork in the road. We must decide whether to retreat, or whether to fight for victory. I know we will not retreat. It is simply not in the farmers DNA. So we fight,” said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels …
Why Chris Soules Supports Ethanol
Iowa native and farmer Chris Soules rose to fame as The Bachelor and his participation in Dancing With The Stars. He has since used his status to spread positive messages about biofuels including ethanol. I spoke with Chris recently to learn why biofuels are so important to him and why he has leveraged his notoriety in partnerships with several ag …
BioEnergy Bytes
China Sunergy has announced that it has successfully completed a 2.5MW solar module supply agreement with Stobart Group. The modules will be used for the construction of the solar farm located at London Southend Airport to satisfy around 20% of the airport’s annual electricity requirement. The solar array, which consists of over 9,500 individual solar panels and occupies 3.2 hectares of unused …
Biofuel Industry’s United Stand
The biofuel industry continues to maintain its united front on encouraging legislative support for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) especially during the presidential campaigns. Leaders from the renewable fuels and agriculture community released a public letter to allies outlining their support for America’s Renewable Future (ARF) to protect the RFS. The letter urges Iowa voters to turn to ARF to …
More Renewable Energy = Higher GDP
According to a new report, achieving a 36 percent global share of renewable energy by 2030 would increase global domestic product (GDP) by up to 1.1 percent or nearly U.S. $1.3 trillion. “Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring the Economics,” conducted by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), provides a global estimate of the macroeconomic impacts of renewable energy deployment. Specifically, it …