Very good article by Matt Feinstein on the many true and false conclusions regarding the failure of Solyndra. Was it the unexpected drop in polysilicon prices? Is it the Chinese government support of solar manufacturing in China that dooms the US? Matt addresses several of the claims and presents the reality.
Read the article here.
An aerodynamic innovation in wind turbine design called the 'wind lens' could triple the output of a typical wind turbine, making it less costly than nuclear power.
Watch video below or read more here:
“Battery maker Boston Power is shifting its operations to China to capitalize on the electric-vehicle market.
The Westborough, Mass.-based company today announced that it has raised $125 million from Chinese venture capital firm GSR Ventures as part of an expansion into China. In addition to the private equity, the company is receiving grants, low-interest loans, and other incentives from the Chinese government, which will lead to construction of a large-scale battery manufacturing plant.”
Radiometrics Corporation in Boulder, Colorado is growing its business with successful deployments of its MP-3000A microwave radiometer system for wind energy and utility load forecasting applications. In addition, the company recently announced that an MP-3000A was recently deployed with the U.S. National Weather Service to provide crucial real-time weather data for aviation weather forecasting.
Read more here.
Monday, September 19, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A grain of salt or two may be all that microbial electrolysis cells need to produce hydrogen from wastewater or organic byproducts, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere or using grid electricity, according to Penn State engineers.
"This system could produce hydrogen anyplace that there is wastewater near sea water," said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering. "It uses no grid electricity and is completely carbon neutral. It is an inexhaustible source of energy."
Microbial electrolysis cells that produce hydrogen are the basis of this recent work, but previously, to produce hydrogen, the fuel cells required some electrical input. Now, Logan, working with postdoctoral fellow Younggy Kim, is using the difference between river water and seawater to add the extra energy needed to produce hydrogen.
Their results, published in the Sept. 19 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "show that pure hydrogen gas can efficiently be produced from virtually limitless supplies of seawater and river water and biodegradable organic matter."
Logan's cells were between 58 and 64 percent efficient and produced between 0.8 to 1.6 cubic meters of hydrogen for every cubic meter of liquid through the cell each day. The researchers estimated that only about 1 percent of the energy produced in the cell was needed to pump water through the system.
The key to these microbial electrolysis cells is reverse-electrodialysis or RED that extracts energy from the ionic differences between salt water and fresh water. A RED stack consists of alternating ion exchange membranes -- positive and negative -- with each RED contributing additively to the electrical output.
"People have proposed making electricity out of RED stacks," said Logan. "But you need so many membrane pairs and are trying to drive an unfavorable reaction."
For RED technology to hydrolyze water -- split it into hydrogen and oxygen -- requires 1.8 volts, which would in practice require about 25 pairs of membranes and increase pumping resistance. However, combining RED technology with exoelectrogenic bacteria -- bacteria that consume organic material and produce an electric current -- reduced the number of RED stacks to five membrane pairs.
Previous work with microbial electrolysis cells showed that they could, by themselves, produce about 0.3 volts of electricity, but not the 0.414 volts needed to generate hydrogen in these fuel cells. Adding less than 0.2 volts of outside electricity released the hydrogen. Now, by incorporating 11 membranes -- five membrane pairs that produce about 0.5 volts -- the cells produce hydrogen.
"The added voltage that we need is a lot less than the 1.8 volts necessary to hydrolyze water," said Logan. "Biodegradable liquids and cellulose waste are abundant and with no energy in and hydrogen out we can get rid of wastewater and by-products. This could be an inexhaustible source of energy."
Logan and Kim's research used platinum as a catalyst on the cathode, but subsequent experimentation showed that a non-precious metal catalyst, molybdenum sulfide, had 51 percent energy efficiency.
The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology supported this work.
U.S. small wind added 25.6 megawatts of new capacity in 2010, according to numbers just released at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Small and Community Windpower Conference, which is very impressive growth in a very challenging economy.
The industry estimated that there were 144,000 small wind systems in place in the U.S. at the end of 2010 generating 179 megawatts.
Read full article here.
U.S. small wind added 25.6 megawatts of new capacity in 2010, according to numbers just released at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Small and Community Windpower Conference, which is very impressive growth in a very challenging economy.
The industry estimated that there were 144,000 small wind systems in place in the U.S. at the end of 2010 generating 179 megawatts.
Read full article here.
“Anheuser-Busch is the largest operator of anaerobic digesters in the world. Anaerobic digestion is a natural fit for breweries and has become a proven and energy-efficient way to clean brewery wastewater. Low energy use, a small reactor surface area, lower chemical usage and minimal sludge handling costs are advantages of this technology over aerobic alternatives. The technology does not require blowers and mixers like an aerobic system, and the anaerobic reactor produces biogas (methane) that can be used within breweries to fuel boilers or combined-heat-and-power units. In addition, anaerobic reactors are sealed, so no odor escapes. This is a special advantage for A-B facilities that provide daily tours, such as the company’s brewery in Merrimack, N.H. “
Read full article at Biomass Magazine.
PurposeEnergy Inc.’s Biphase Orbicular Biodigester is ideal for waste streams with more solids than traditional anaerobic digesters and the company is focusing on the brewery market.
The first commercial system is currently operating at Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, Vt., processing 500,000 gallons, Fitch says. It began in July of 2010, shutdown when the brewery shut down over the holiday season, and started up again in June.
Read more here.
According to a recent article at Renewable Energy World, Developers Warm to Small-Scale Geothermal, it appears developers are seeing the appeal to this maturing technology.
“The potential for geothermal heat pumps is high, according to industry analyst Mackinnon Lawrence, but installations currently represent just one percent of the heating and cooling market overall. However, growing electricity demand, rising energy prices and increasing regulation around emissions and efficiency are all expected to push demand higher. In the US, analyst Global Information expects geothermal heat pump shipments to double in volume to 326,000 units annually by 2017.”
Read the full article here.
With the bankruptcies of Solyndra and Evergreen Solar, two innovative solar photovoltaic companies, the market has spoken.
Alt Energy Stocks offers 5 solutions in the age of solar commoditization:
Read the entire article here.
A fun infographic shows the widespread support for energy efficiency around the world, as well as some other interesting facts. Click graphic to enlarge in new window.
Early Facebook investor and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel has something to say about clean technology companies.
“Cleantech is an increasingly large disaster that people in Silicon Valley aren’t even talking about any more,” Thiel said. “The failure in energy and transportation points to a larger failure in clean energy — we aren’t moving any faster, literally, than we were when modern airplanes first came out.”
Read more here.
Read article here.
The Pittsburgh, Penn. start-up, which grew from a Carnegie Mellon University research project, has been developing grid-scale energy storage without the use of "hazardous materials, corrosive acids, or noxious fumes," according to Aquion. Last week, Aquion raised $30 million from Foundation Capital, TriplePoint Capital, Advanced Technology Ventures, and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.
Aquion Energy has developed a method for producing sodium ion battery-packs.
"The electrochemical couple that has emerged from this process is one that combines a high capacity carbon anode with a sodium intercalation cathode capable of thousands of complete discharge cycles over extended periods of time."
Read more: Aquion Energy
The Solar Energy Industry Association commissioned a report done by GTM Research, which analyzes where money is spent in the solar industry, from raw materials to final installation.
Its two main conclusions are:
The Shihwa station will be the biggest tidal power plant in the world with a generation capacity of 254,000 kilowatts. The capacity of the Rance Tidal Power Station in France, currently the world's largest, is 240,000 kilowatts.
The plant can provide enough electricity to a city with a population of 500,000.
Read more at: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/08/29/5/0301000000AEN20110829008500315F.HTML
