Tag Archives: alternative energy

Ask Pablo: Diesel Generator Or Batteries?

Image Source: kylemac Dear Pablo: I work for an international organization for development cooperation. In our projects, we frequently receive requests to provide small generators to be used as back up during power outages, which are quite frequent. The problem is that these small generators are very polluting, very noisy and provide a low quality electric current. I am thinking of providing deep-cycle batteries and inverters instead. Considering that we can find battery recyclers in t… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Ask Pablo: Diesel Generator Or Batteries?

Germany Targets 100% Renewable Electricity by 2050

Image credit: Recharge News Germany is already a global leader in solar power , but that’s just a start as far as Germans are concerned. It’s already been shown that Germany could produce 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050 . Now the country’s environment agency is arguing that it should. Could it be that some countries are finally coming up with clean energy targets that will actually make a real dif… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Germany Targets 100% Renewable Electricity by 2050

Cell Phones to Get Clean Energy Boost, Increasing by 41%

Photo via Abi Skipp A new report from Pike Research forcasts good news for renewable energy and mobile base stations (the wireless communications station used to connect cell phone networks). Clean energy will power 4.5% of base stations by 2014, and while that doesn’t sound like much, it’s a boost up from the mere 0.11% in 2010, or a 40.9% increase. But even more exciting is the percentage of base stations powered by renewable energy in developing countries will jot up to 8% by 2014. With

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Cell Phones to Get Clean Energy Boost, Increasing by 41%

Feds Back Big Solar Power With $2 Billion in Loan Guarantees

photo: Cam Vilay While you were watching fireworks this past weekend, the Department of Energy has announced nearly $2 billion in loan guarantees for some big solar power projects–what promises to be one of the world’s largest concentrating solar power plants in Arizona and two thin film solar panel manufacturing plants in Colorado an… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Feds Back Big Solar Power With $2 Billion in Loan Guarantees

Kids Cycle To School and Parents Risk Being Reported to Social Services

Logo: Bike For All Photo: Sgillies on Flickr Almost a year ago we asked the question, When Should Tykes Be On Bikes? . Now in the UK the question is being asked, When Should Kids be Allowed to Ride to School — Alone? For one London couple, Oliver and Gillian Schönrock, they decided it was OK for their eight year daughter and five year son to ride the 1.2km (0.75 miles) to their school along th… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Kids Cycle To School and Parents Risk Being Reported to Social Services

Renewable Energy Key to Making Desalination Work for Water-Crunched Countries

Interior of a desalination plant. Photo via Lance Cheung Just last week we noted that the UAE is dependent on fossil fuel- and natural gas-burning desalination plants to keep up their excessive water use, and that the reliance could spell a water disaster in the very near future as fuel supplies run low. However, there’s another source of energy that the UAE (and many similarly dry areas) has in abundance — sunlight. Utilizing solar power to run desalination plants could be one key step in making this source of fresh wat… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Renewable Energy Key to Making Desalination Work for Water-Crunched Countries

New York Power Authority Applies For Long Island Offshore Wind Farm Lease From Feds

photo: Julian Menichini via flickr Never to be left out of the action, New York has joined other northeast states in marching down the path towards building offshore wind farms: Reuters reports the New York Power Authority will soon be applying for a lease from the federal government required to build a 350-700 M… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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New York Power Authority Applies For Long Island Offshore Wind Farm Lease From Feds

Paris Plans Hydropower Turbines Under Four Seine Bridges

photo: Jean-François Gornet via flickr At the opposite end of the population scale from the remote Alaskan village now powered entirely by a hydrokinetic river turbine , Paris wants in on the hydropower without dams act. As The Guardian reports, the City of Light wants a small number of those lights to be power by the Seine a… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Paris Plans Hydropower Turbines Under Four Seine Bridges

Blue Jeans Hold Secret To Making Better Solar Cells

Photo via lifecreations Researchers at Cornell University have found a seemingly simple solution to creating more efficient solar cells. It turns out that particular molecules found in blue jeans and some ink dyes can be used in a process for assembling a structure called “covalent organic framework” or COF, which can help create cheaper, flexible solar cells. While organic materials haven’t proven very easy to use so far for creating solar cells, the researchers are finding that these molecules found in every-day materials might be just w… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Blue Jeans Hold Secret To Making Better Solar Cells

Ask Pablo: Waste Incineration, Good Or Bad?

Image Source: The Author Dear Pablo: My city wants to build a waste incineration plant. Should I be concerned? The “nimby” crowd is already against it, but could there be benefits? Today the word “incineration” means much more than just burning trash in a corner of the back yard. Incineration with energy recovery has become the waste disposal method of choice in several European countries where it is actually classified as a Renewable Energy Source, making it eligible for tax credits. Even in the United States electricity generation… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Ask Pablo: Waste Incineration, Good Or Bad?