Tag Archives: alternative energy

The Prince of Wales Offers a New Way of Looking at the World

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on The Prince of Wales Offers a New Way of Looking at the World

Photo credit: Harper Collins Publishers Some might argue that with offshore wind and vast solar arrays, smart grids and electric cars, pollution limits and trading schemes, and a burgeoning economy of clean technology and services, it is likely that humanity has all the necessary tools to solve the planet’s mounting problems. The challenge, it has been said many times , is to find a way to wield these tools that is quick, just, and effective. It’s a challenge, HRH The Prince of Wales argues in his new book

Read the original post:
The Prince of Wales Offers a New Way of Looking at the World

Comments Off on The Prince of Wales Offers a New Way of Looking at the World

Posted in Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We Can Use Cell-Phone Towers to Forecast Wind Power

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on We Can Use Cell-Phone Towers to Forecast Wind Power

Photos: Onsemble/ Flickr , CC. Goal: Accurate Wind Forecasts The more wind farms we build, the more our power grid will have to incorporate mechanisms to deal with the inherent variability of a wind farm’s output. Part of that will probably be accomplished by having more long-distance transmission capacity and interconnecting regional grids , another part might come from

See the original post here:
We Can Use Cell-Phone Towers to Forecast Wind Power

Comments Off on We Can Use Cell-Phone Towers to Forecast Wind Power

Posted in Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

A Day in the Life of Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary Extraordinaire

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Comments Off on A Day in the Life of Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary Extraordinaire

Photo: Flickr , CC The Washington Post has a nice – if a bit breathless – profile of Energy Secretary Steven Chu. It shows how this man is infusing new life into a department that was mostly directed by people without much scientific or technical knowledge in the past (Dr. Chu is a Nobel-winning physicist, while the previous 11 energy secretaries were: a financier, three business executives, an a… Read the full story on TreeHugger

Read more:
A Day in the Life of Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary Extraordinaire

Comments Off on A Day in the Life of Steven Chu, U.S. Energy Secretary Extraordinaire

Posted in Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Researchers Create Fuel Cell Powered by Rat’s Blood

Posted on September 16, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Photo via likecool.com French researchers have created a fuel cell powered by rat blood that is more powerful and smaller than current pacemaker batteries. While this is not the first glucose-powered fuel cell, it is the first one to actually work inside a living body. The device was housed inside the rat for 11 days, and accessible via wires which stuck out the rat’s neck. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

See the original post here:
Researchers Create Fuel Cell Powered by Rat’s Blood

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Europe’s Largest Onshore Wind Farm to Expand to 539 Megawatts

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Photo: Flickr , CC Adding 3MW Turbines Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, which is located in East Renfrewshire in Scotland, is about to get even bigger. ScottishPower Renewables is planning to add 75 turbines to the existing 140, increasing the capacity of the wind farm from the current 322 megawatts to 539 megawatts. Read on for more details…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

Continue reading here:
Europe’s Largest Onshore Wind Farm to Expand to 539 Megawatts

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MIT Creates Self-Assembling Solar Cells That Repair Themselves

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

MIT’s Test Cell Patrick Gillooly, MIT Solar cells are intended to mimic the photosynthesis of plants — converting light into energy in the most efficient manner possible. But what other characteristics of plants could be handy for the renewable energy sector to mimic? How about the self-assembly of chloroplast, the component of plants that do all the vital photosynthesis. Leaves repair themselves after sun damage again and again to keep up their ability to convert light into energy. Now, MIT researchers believe they’ve discovered how to use this self-assembly to restore solar cells damaged by the sun…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

Read more:
MIT Creates Self-Assembling Solar Cells That Repair Themselves

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

David Suzuki: Our Obsession With Private Automobiles is Unsustainable

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

bitefight via Torontoist Quote of the Day from David Suzuki in the Georgia Strait: Technological developments [such as electric cars etc.] are welcome, but maybe it’s time we started rethinking our car culture as whole. The average car in North America carries 1.5 people, which means that most cars on the road only have a driver in them. Is it really efficient to use more than 1,000 kilograms of metal to transport 100 kilograms of huma… Read the full story on TreeHugger

Read more here:
David Suzuki: Our Obsession With Private Automobiles is Unsustainable

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New York City Inks Contract for Up to 475 Compressed Natural Gas Buses

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Photo: New Flyer What’s the Difference Between CNG and Diesel? The Board of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (the “MTA”) has awarded New Flyer of America a contract for up to 475 buses. The contract is for 135 40-foot compressed natural gas (“CNG”) heavy-duty transit buses with options for up to an additional 340 CNG buses. We know that buses are a pretty green way to move lots of people around in urban area, but how much better are CNG buses compared to regular diesel buses? The U.S. Department of Energy has some numbers to allow us to compare…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

Here is the original post:
New York City Inks Contract for Up to 475 Compressed Natural Gas Buses

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Déjà Vu All Over Again: Offshore Oil Platform Explodes in Gulf of Mexico

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Image: Google Maps Thankfully, No Deaths This Time An offshore oil platform exploded and caught fire today in the Gulf of Mexico. It is located about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site of BP’s massive oil spill. All 13 people who were on the rig were evacuated and only one was injured, reports the U.S. Coast Guard…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

See the original post:
Déjà Vu All Over Again: Offshore Oil Platform Explodes in Gulf of Mexico

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Biofuels Falling Well Short of Green Standards in UK

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

photo: Pete Birkinshaw via flickr Now that we’ve got some distance from the ‘biofuels are going to save us, oh wait they’re going to kill everything else’ hysteria of a couple years back and some sane skepticism has emerged, how well are we doing? As the BBC reports, in the UK at least it’s a mix bag: Volume targets are being met, but some fuel suppliers are falling “well short” of their own green standards…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

See original here:
Biofuels Falling Well Short of Green Standards in UK

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , ,