Alternative Energy HQ solar power for homes, wind energy, and bio fuel issues

New SolarCity Product Makes it Possible for Businesses to Significantly Increase Solar Output From Each Rooftop Incredibly Lightweight, “Snap Together” Mounting System Allows Businesses to Fit 20-50 Percent More Solar Panels on Each Roof, Promises to do for Commercial Solar What Zep Has Done for Residential SolarCity (Nasdaq:SCTY) unveiled a new product in its Zep Solar line of solar products today–a flat roof solar …

Azusa Light & Water and Ice Energy Partner on Residential Thermal Energy Storage — Technology Research Project Leverages Grant from American Public Power Association —Azusa Light & Water (Azusa) announced today a successful milestone in a research project aimed at proving the potential for successful deployment of Ice Energy’s thermal energy storage system for residential applications, called the Ice Cub. …

NPS 100 and NPS 60 improve annual energy production by up to 15% Northern Power Systems (www.northernpower.com) (TSX: NPS), has launched the next generation of their industry leading permanent magnet/direct drive distributed wind turbines. The 100 kilowatt (kW) NPS 100C and the 60 kW NPS 60C are commercially available for delivery to markets around the world starting in the fourth quarter of 2014. A new 24.4 meter …

RENEWABLE ENERGY PROVIDES 100% OF ALL NEW U.S. ELECTRICAL GENERATING CAPACITY IN JULY   According to the latest “Energy Infrastructure Update” report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Office of Energy Projects, all new U.S. electrical generating capacity put into service in July came from renewable energy sources: 379 megawatts (MW) of wind, 21 MW of solar, and 5 MW of hydropower. For …

Solar is experiencing over-the-top popularity among US homeowners; energy efficiency not so much. But what if state programs made solar a subset of energy efficiency? That’s the recommendation of an intriguing paper released August 19 by the Center for Sustainable Energy. The California non-profit tried to tease out what it takes to motivate solar customers to pursue energy efficiency.  Homeowners run the …

Public Voting Opens to Select Three Most Innovative Energy Storage Projects in North America Energy Storage North America (ESNA), the most influential gathering of policy, technology and market leaders in energy storage, today announced finalists for its 2014 annual Innovation Award, recognizing excellence in energy storage project development. The nine Innovation Award finalists represent excellence in installed energy storage projects …

Nearly 300 industry leaders gathered in Reno last week for the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) National Geothermal Summit. The leading forum for Western State policy discussions, the National Geothermal Summit brought together the industry for a dialogue with state and federal policy makers. The industry met to discuss such issues as moving geothermal forward in Nevada; utility perspective on renewable …

Distributed Generation and New Technologies Are Improving Energy Efficiency, Reducing Need to Replace Generation Capacity Black & Veatch‘s 8th annual Strategic Directions: U.S. Electric Industry report shows that many retiring nuclear and coal power plants may not need to be replaced on a megawatt-to-megawatt basis. New technologies and distributed generation (DG), coupled with soft energy demand growth, enable utilities to replace …

  It’s no secret electric and hybrid cars are popular with consumers. But what if small business owners could turn their current vehicle — even a commercial van or truck — into a hybrid? Researchers at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey have developed a new kind of plug-in hybrid system for commercial vehicles. “This system is the first of …

What if we could take all that carbon dioxide that we have too much of and turn it into a clean energy source? Sound far-fetched? Well, it isn’t really. After all, plants do it every day. That is much of the rationale behind biofuels. Let the plants store the solar energy as sugars, starches, etc., which we then convert into …

  Considering that America has some of the biggest natural gas reserves in the world, and gasoline has become extremely expensive in the past few years, it makes a lot of sense to start using it as vehicle fuel on a larger scale. But, while the benefits of using natural gas as an alternative to gasoline are multi-fold, as it …

By Travis Hoium  It may not have gotten a lot of media attention, but a recent eight-day race across the country may be laying the groundwork for vehicles of the future. The American Solar Challenge pits universities against each other in a challenge to make the fastest and most efficient vehicle powered only by the sun. The course weaved from Austin, …

By Travis Hoium A decade ago, the solar industry was almost nonexistent in the U.S. There was a large solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert that was completed in 1984; but between then and around 2008, there was almost no solar activity in the U.S. That all changed as costs quickly dropped for solar energy, and solar panel prices …

?   Martifer Solar has implemented a total of 29 MW in the country since August 2012 and this project represents its sixth success story with off-taker, Rengy Development ?   Despite severe political and economic turmoil in Ukraine, the company was able to deliver the project on time and within budget Martifer Solar, a subsidiary of Martifer SGPS, has built a …

The Alcatraz Microgrid: Life on ‘The Rock’ Not Easy, Even for a Microgrid The Alcatraz microgrid stands as a model for installing modern energy technology under difficult terms. Historical structures had to be kept intact, equipment protected from the elements, and no new buildings erected. Here’s how developer Princeton Power  Systems accomplished the task. The 22-acre island in San Francisco Bay is …

Sustainable energy expert reports on market study at SOLAR 2014 Conference  With the growth rate of the solar energy market expected to increase by double-digits over the next decade, so too will the demand for copper which is needed to  power and ground cabling for these installations, said Zolaikha Strong, director of sustainable energy for the Copper Development Association (CDA), …

The Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) urges states to take advantage of the carbon emission reduction available through expanding geothermal power portfolios.  Doing so makes sense in light of the US EPA’s proposed regulations for existing power plants that require states to substantially reduce carbon emissions.  The regulations proposed June 2, 2014, would give states significant leeway in designing plans to reduce …

Energy efficiency advocates have argued for years that energy efficiency should be a first fuel – considered before others in portfolio planning.  Today, they appear victorious with the release of the US’ first-ever carbon dioxide restrictions for existing power plants. The draft rule places energy efficiency in good position to be a top choice as states set strateagies to meet …

For many states struggling to reduce their carbon emissions, solar can be a real game-changer. With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set to announce new air quality standards for coal and natural gas-fired power plants on Monday, June 2, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) today released a comprehensive report, “Cutting Carbon Emissions Under §111(d): The case for expanding solar …

To the consumer, the microgrid market will simply appear one day. Like the IPhone or the Kindle or solar panels, it will be the latest cool wonder of our high tech society. But those behind the scenes know that most products are many years in the making. Electricity innovation is no different, except perhaps that industry gestation requires a lot of government …