The Cleantech Open, the world’s largest clean-technology accelerator, has awarded PowWow Energy of Sunnyvale, California the Grand Prize “Cleanie” award for the Top Cleantech Entrepreneur of the year. PowWow Energy has developed technology that enables farmers and ranchers to quickly detect water leaks that can destroy an entire crop or cause thousands of dollars of damage. Two runners-up were also …
Renewable Energy Project in NC Begins
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was recently held by Revolution Energy Solutions (RES), a company focused on waste-to-electricity projects, for its inaugural North Carolina anaerobic digestion project, coined NC-1. The project is currently one of the largest and most progressive farm-based biogas projects in the state. The event included representatives from RES along with farm hosts Murphy Family Ventures, as well as …
Kawa Completes Purchase of Conergy
Kawa Capital Management has completed the purchase of Conergy. Together with the closing of the transaction, Kawa appointed the new Conergy holding company Management Board. Alexander Gorski remains Chief Operating Officer (COO) and will take over the position of the CEO Europe. Marc Lohoff will continue to be responsible for the Asian and Australian growth markets region as CEO Asia …
Project Aims to Convert Natural Gas to Butanol
A new project spearheaded by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are using their expertise in protein expression, enzyme engineering and high-throughput assays to develop biocatalyst technologies that can convert natural gas to liquid fuel or methane to butanol for transportation. The $34 million project by the Advanced Research Project Agency Energy (ARPA-E) is one of a set of 15 Reducing …
Bison Wind Energy Center Wins Award
Minnesota Power’s Bison Wind Energy Center in North Dakota was voted the best wind project of the year at the 2013 POWER-GEN International Conference. According to Minnesota Power spokespeople, this award is considered the industry’s top honor for a new wind generation project. “It’s gratifying to be honored by your peers for conceiving and completing a world-class renewable energy project,” …
‘Operation Free’ on Renewable Energy
Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability recently hosted guest speaker and Operation Free representative Lt. Gen Norman Seip (USAF, ret) on the topic of sustainability and national security. The event was part of the Sustainable Speaker lecture series at ASU’s Tempe Campus. Lt. Gen. Seip retired after 35 years of military service with his last assignment as commander of …
Wisconsin Biomass-Fueled Power Plant Goes Online
We Energies has brought its biomass-fueled power plant located on the site of Domtar Corporation’s Rothschild, Wisconsin, paper mill into commercial operation Friday, Nov. 8, 2013 after testing and commissioning activities were successfully completed. Wood, waste wood and sawdust are being used to produce up to 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity; steam provided by the plant is also supporting Domtar’s …
Xcel Continues to Attack Rooftop Solar
Xcel energy has been fighting the loss of market share through its efforts to curb rooftop solar in areas in Colorado. The Alliance for Solar Choice is striking out against the utility for disregarding consumer choice in what they call “an attempt to protect its monopoly status and inflated profit margins.” This would occur if Xcel were able to eliminate …
Largest Solar Plant in Japan Launched
A 70 megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Japan has come online. The Kagoshima Nanatsujima Mega Solar Power Plant went online officially on November 1, 2013 and is being operated by a special purpose company established by Kyocera Corporation and six other companies to sell the electricity to a local utility under Japan’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) program. An …
U.S. Electricity Mix is Changing
According to the most recent Today in Energy published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the mix of fuels used to generate the electricity in homes, factories and businesses across the U.S. has changed over the past few years. While coal remains in the lead, with all the grassroots efforts around ending coal use and as a result the …