This week U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) launched a proposal aimed at reducing China’s hold on the global solar panel market. The proposal would bar Chinese-made solar panels from qualifying for the 30 percent tax credit that U.S. individuals and businesses receive for purchasing and installing solar panels. U.S. installations of solar panels has grown 70 …
South Wales Wind Farm Moves Forward
With the help of consulting firm Natural Power, the Pen y Cymoedd wind farm in South Wales has been given consent to move forward with its 299 megawatt project. The news was given after the submission of a full environmental impact assessment and now the 76 turbine wind farm owned by Vattenfall is one step closer to reality. The wind …
Stuart Jet Center Flies Solar
Stuart Jet Center has added solar energy to three of their hangers. The 50 kilowatt system was installed by Peak Solar LLC and is the 5th largest privately owned solar energy system in Florida. The return on investment for the project is estimated to be between 5-7 years with the help of a business rebate from Florida Power and Light along with a …
El Salvador to Create Geothermal Training Center
El Salvador is soon to be the home of a new international geothermal training center for Latin America and the Caribbean. The country received a grant for $2 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the center will help aid countries learn how to develop and run geothermal energy facilities. It is estimated that the region’s geothermal potential is …
Sports Industry Looks to Solar
Soccer teams in Maryland will now be playing games with the help of the sun. Solar Energy World has been contracted to install a solar energy system in Soccer Dome II in Harmans, Maryland. The system will include the installation of 546 solar panels paired with a 126 kWh photovoltaic grid-interactive system over 13,067 square feet of roof space. When …
Solar Thermal Gains Momentum
When many of us think of solar energy the first thing that comes to mind is a solar panel. But there are other solar technologies that can generate renewable energy. Solar thermal hot water and space heating systems are gaining in popularity here in the U.S. and have already become widespread in countries such as China. A solar thermal system …
EnergyTrends 2012 Renewable Energy Grades
Did you know that California, Colorado and Massachusetts are the top three states in the U.S. for renewable energy? You can learn all this and more from a new data analysis by EnergyTrends.org, a project of Lexington Institute. The organization has assigned grades to each U.S. state based on its use and development of renewable energy. The grading system considers …
Economics of Energy & The Environment
Ok everybody. It’s time to go back to school. Who has the time you think? Who has the money? Who has a college campus near you? These are no longer valid excuses – the time is now to become energy literate. There is a FREE online course called Economics of Energy & The Environment being taught by Dr. Ben Ho, Assistant …
Ball State Completes A Hot Geothermal Project
It’s been while since I’ve written about geothermal so I thought I’d bring you this neat story from Ball State. The university created the country’s largest ground-source, closed-loop district geothermal energy system. The project began in the Spring of 2012 when water heated by the Earth began flowing through a geothermal district heating and cooling system. This portion of the …
Project Converts Poultry Waste to Energy
An new collaboration is looking at whether poultry waste can be converted to energy and other byproducts using an advanced fixed-bed gasifier (AFBG). The lead is the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota along with DenYon Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy. The technology has been licensed by the EERC Foundation to DenYon …