According to a story from Radio Iowa, Jay Parikh, vice president of infrastructure engineering for Facebook, was in Altoona, Iowa earlier this week to officially announce they will be constructing a 476,000 square-foot data center. One of the reasons cited for the social media giant to choose Iowa: it’s commitment to renewable energy including wind energy. Parikh said the company …
Ski Area Powered by Renewables
It’s spring and most people are tired of the snow, but not Berkshire East, who has completed a solar installation that enables the Massachusetts family ski run area to be powered entirely from onsite renewable energy. The year-round resort recently developed a 500kW solar tracker farm that will produce 700,000kWh annually. The solar farm will supplement a 900kW wind turbine …
Ornicept: Wind Energy Technology for the Birds
Earlier this month, the winners were announced in the Clean Energy Challenge, and prize winner, Ornicept, has a unique technology that can aid in the mitigation of bird issues associated with wind turbines. The technology was developed last May by young entrepreneurs Justin Otani and his co-founder Russell Conard, who graduated from Indiana University. Early on they won a business …
Enhanced Geothermal System Changing Energy Future
Ormat Technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy and GeothermEx have successfully produced 1.7 additional megawatts from an Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) project inside an existing wellfield in the U.S. –the first EGS project to be connected to the electricity grid. Using subsurface technologies, research and development teams stimulated an existing sub-commercial injection well resulting in a 38 percent increase in …
Wind Energy Grows 28% in a Year
According to the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report for 2012, wind energy grew 28 percent in America last year, setting a new installation record. Wind energy topped all energy sources with a 42 percent of all new electric generating capacity. Over 6,700 new wind turbines were erected that produce enough electricity to power the …
Pew Report: Clean Energy Capacity Up, Investment Down
According to research released by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the global clean energy sector is undergoing geographic and technological shifts as new markets emerge renewable capacity grows. There were 88 gigawatts (GW) registered in 2012 even though investment levels declined 11 percent to $269 billion from 2011. Among the Group of Twenty (G-20) nations, the United Kingdom (UK) maintained its …
Report: More Wind & Solar = Reliable Grid
According to a new report by Synapse Energy Economics prepared on behalf of the Civil Society Institute (CSI), if the U.S. ceases to burn coal, shuts down a quarter of existing nuclear reactors the trims its use of natural gas by 2050, the resulting increased reliance on wind, solar and other renewables will not result in a less reliable electricity …
Envision Solar Int’l Installs Solar Tree for NREL
Envision Solar International (EVSI), has completed the installation of a second Solar Tree array for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility (VTIF). Envision Solar completed the installation of the Solar Tree array for NREL four and a half days after the components arrived at the site on a single …
Camp Pendleton Increases Its Solar Power
Camp Pendleton has increased its commitment to renewable energy with the addition of two more solar power systems at Edson Range and Chappo Dining facilities. The 221 kilowatt and 125 kilowatt systems, respectively, installed by local firm Sullivan Solar Power should save the military base hundreds of thousands of dollars’ in electricity costs over the life time of the system. …
IU Bloomingdale Achieves GHG Emission Reductions
Indiana University Bloomington has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 43 percent last year from the previous year and has now cut its direct emissions by more than half in the past two years, according to campus officials. The major reduction in GHG emissions over the past two years reflects a concerted shift from coal to natural gas usage …