CLIMATE - Department Of Defense Launches Attack On Climate Change

The U.S. Department of Defense has been among the most aggressive leaders on climate change action under the Obama Administration, and it has just stepped it up to the next level. Last week, DoD released the new Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, its blueprint for addressing the effects of climate change in a national security context. That includes global impacts such as geopolitical consequences, conflict acceleration and competition for foo ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/23/climate-change-and-national-securi

ECONOMICS - Study Finds Fuel Economy Standards More Cost Effective Than Fuel Tax

According to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study, government-set fuel economy standards, which have been practiced for many years, are 6 to 14 times less effective than a fuel tax for reducing gasoline usage.ZiS-110V. Art Konovalov / Shutterstock.comThe concept of fuel efficiency standards ensures that new vehicles are more efficient, but, what about the rest of the cars on the road? The objective of fuel economy standards is t ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/study-finds-fuel-economy-standards

ENERGY - 100%, 99%, 80%, 70% - How Much Can/Should The World Be Powered By Renewable Energy?

How much can/should the world be powered by renewable energy? Or how about your country or region? A number of studies have tackled this question, and I recently realized that we hadn't stuck them all together in one easy-to-find place. So, I created this page specifically for that purpose: 70%, 80%, 99.9%, 100% Renewables - Study Central.Keep that page bookmarked - it will be updated with new major studies on this topic as they are produced. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/24/100-99-80-70-how-much-can-should-t

ENERGY - All New January US Electrical Generating Capacity Came From Renewable Sources

Solar panel, wind turbine & globe via ShutterstockA new report from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects announced that 1,231 megawatts (MW) of new in-service electrical generating capacity came online in January 2012, and all of it came from a collection of wind, solar, and biomass sources.The January numbers represent a nearly three-fold increase in new renewable energy capacity compared to the same tim ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/all-new-january-us-electrical-gene

ENERGY - Fully Sustainable Global Energy Supply By 2050 (VIDEO)

Continuing on with our daily series on Leonardo ENERGY videos, here's another plan to power the world 100% with renewable energy - wind, water, sunlight, and biomass:Fully Sustainable Global Energy Supply By 2050 (VIDEO) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/fully-sustainable-global-energy-su

ENERGY - Over 3 Million Clean Energy Jobs In The U.S. In 2012 (Infographic)

The impressive growth of the U.S. clean energy industry continued in 2012, resulting in postings for over 3 million clean energy job openings.The great infographic posted below details some of the specifics of this impressive growth.Source: Solar Power World Over 3 Million Clean Energy Jobs In The U.S. In 2012 (Infographic) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/over-3-million-clean-energy-jobs-i

ENERGY - Powering The World With Wind, Water, & Sunshine (VIDEO)

Continuing on with our daily series on Leonardo ENERGY videos, here's one on a plan to power the world 100% with renewable energy - wind, water, and sunlight (WWS):Powering The World With Wind, Water, & Sunshine (VIDEO) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/24/powering-the-world-with-wind-water

ENERGY - Saudi Arabia Reveals Plans For 54 GW Of Renewable Energy

Saudi Arabia has just released a white paper for its K.A.Care program, detailing the competitive procurement process (CPP) for the ambitious plan. As it currently stands, the program aims to develop and install 54 GW of renewable energy in the kingdom by 2032, including 41 GW of solar power. The other 13 GW will be supplied by wind energy, geothermal, and waste-to-energy power plants.The plan is for 5.1 GW of renewables by 2018, 23.9 GW by 202 ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/saudi-arabia-reveals-plans-for-54-

ENERGY - The World's 25 Biggest Oil Companies

Not just the usual suspects; state-owned giants dominate this list

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45jleg/not-just-the-usual-suspects-1

ENERGY - Those Australian Electricity Price Increases We Keep Hearing About (Charts)

This article was originally published on RenewEconomy:Australian consumers have been buffeted by some hefty electricity price rises in the last few years, and face yet more in the next couple of years. But how long will it last, and what sort of price will householders be facing in 2020?It's not the sort of question - or time horizon - that customers would normally be worried about, unless you are considering the value of producing your own en ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/24/australian-electricity-price-incre

MUSIC - Ten Billionaires Of The Music Business

They may not all own record companies, but each of these billionaires has a hand in music.

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/feki45flgm/ten-billionaires-of-the-musi

SCIENCE - "Radically New" Plasmonic Solar Cell Grows From A Forest Of Gold Nanorods

Researchers at the University of California - Santa Barbara are pretty excited over this new solar cell they've been working on, and who can blame them? For the past 100 years or so, everybody's been tinkering around with solar energy conversion based on semiconductors and meanwhile a promising new field called plasmonics has been bubbling up under the surface. The research team has developed a free-floating plasmonic device that produces hydr ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/low-cost-hydrogen-from-plasmonic-s

SCIENCE - Graphene Breakthrough - One Photon Can Be Converted Into Multiple Electrons

A new discovery by researchers at the ICFO has revealed that graphene is even more efficient at converting light into electricity than previously known. Graphene is capable of converting a single photon of light into multiple electrons able to drive electric current. The discovery is an important one for next-generation solar cells, as well as other light-detecting and light-harvesting technologies.A paradigm shift in the materials industry is ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/graphene-breakthrough-one-photon-c

The Super Supercapacitor | Brian Golden Davis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtM6XJlynkk

GRAPHENE discovery made by researchers at the Institute of Photonic Science (ICFO), in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and Graphenea S.L. Donostia-San Sebastian - demonstrates it is able to convert a single photon that it absorbs into multiple electrons that could drive electric current.

'Most materials, absorb one photon that generates one electron, but in the case of Graphene, we have seen that one absorbed photon is able to produce many excited electrons, and therefore generate larger electrical signals’ said Frank Koppens.

This feature makes non-toxic graphene an ideal building block for any device that relies on converting light into electricity.

In particular, it enables efficient light detectors and potentially solar cells that can harvest light energy from the full solar spectrum with lower loss.

The experiment, published in Nature Physics,consisted of sending a known number of photons with different energies onto a monolayer of graphene.

It was known that graphene is able to absorb a very large spectrum of light colors.

However now we know that once the material has absorbed light, the energy conversion efficiency is very high.

Our next challenge will be to find ways of extracting the electrical current and enhance the absorption of graphene.

Then we will be able to design graphene devices that detect light more efficiently and could potentially even lead to more efficient solar cells,’ said Koppens in a statement.

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/energy-and-environment/news/graphenes-solar-cell-potential-revealed-by-photon-absorption/1015638.article

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/electronics/news/european-team-receive-1bn-to-develop-graphene-applications/1015370.article

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/electronics/news/european-team-receive-1bn-to-develop-graphene-applications/1015370.article#ixzz2M8kxlvTI

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/energy-and-environment/news/graphenes-solar-cell-potential-revealed-by-photon-absorption/1015638.article#ixzz2M8l7QaUy

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/graphene/

SOLAR - 35X Increase For Solar In Argentina

Currently Argentina is far behind in solar capacity with only about 10 MW in operation. That could change soon due to plans to expand by up to thirty-five times. Solar farms are being planned in the western parts of the country, where there is approximately twice was much solar radiation as in Germany, the world's number one solar market.There is a great deal of solar radiation in the western areas waiting to be utilized.Argentina has a goal o ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/24/35x-increase-for-solar-in-argentin

SOLAR - Solar & Wind Cutting Fossil Fuels Off At The Kneecaps In Coming Years In Australia

This article was originally published on RenewEconomy:The story that has really captured the imagination of our readers this year has been on the Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis that demonstrated that wind energy was already cheaper than new coal and gas plants in Australia, and solar PV was not all that behind.Because of that interest, we've decided that today's Graph of the Day should be another set from the BNEF report, because they d ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/24/solar-wind-cutting-fossil-fuels-of

SOLAR - Solar Frontier Predicts 50% Cut In Price Of Its Thin-Film Solar Modules

This article was originally published on RenewEconomy:Showa Shell, the Japanese subsidiary of global oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, has predicted that its solar unit Solar Frontier will be able to cut production costs of its solar modules by half in the next few years as it seeks to emerge as one of the world's biggest solar module manufacturers.Some pundits are convinced that the dramatic price plunge that has accompanied a glut in solar panels ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/23/solar-frontier-predicts-50-cut-in-

SOLAR - Solar PV Demand Falls Short Of 30 GW Mark

The upcoming NPD Solarbuzz Marketbuzz report set to be released in March reports findings that solar photovoltaic (PV) demand for 2012 only reached 29 GW, an increase of only 5% year-over-year compared to 27.7 GW in 2011.Sadly, 2012 is the first year in a decade that year-over-year market growth in the PV industry has been less than 10%."During most of 2012, and also at the start of 2013, many in the PV industry were hoping that final PV deman ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/solar-pv-demand-falls-short-of-30-

SOLAR - Solar-powered cell towers lead rural electrification

Powering off-grid mobile phone towers with renewable energy also brings electricity to many areas in dire need of power.

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/solar-powered-cell-towers-l

SOLAR - Sunpower Providing Solar Energy For New SF 49ers Stadium

Even though the 2013 National Football League season is about six months away, one team is driving the ball down the field in helping to boost the changing image of spectator sports as a champion in environmental sustainability.Sunpower is helping recent Super Bowl Finalists, the San Francisco 49ers, by providing a solar panel system for their new stadium.San Francisco 49ers vs. New England Patriots via ShutterstockThe new system at 400 kW is ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/sunpower-providing-solar-energy-fo

SUSTAINABILITY - Corporations Can No Longer Sleepwalk Towards Sustainability

By Comly Wilson, Research Associate at CleanEdisonImage Credit: Global 100The forces of sustainable consciousness and resource scarcity are making environmental responsibility a necessity, not just a strategy, for major corporations. It is becoming increasingly difficult to simply re-brand products to be green as the public gradually becomes more wary of "greenwashing" and starts to pay attention to corporate responsibility indices, such as In ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/corporations-can-no-longer-sleepwa

TECH - 3D printing is fun and futuristic, but how will it "revolutionise the solar energy industry"?

Writing in the Guardian, John Licata claims that 3D printed solar cells are "More efficient, less complex and cheaper, 3D solar cells can also capture more sunlight than conventional PV models." Why?

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/3d-printing-fun-and-futuris

TECH - Bringing a little cheer to energy innovation

There's glitter all over the carpet in the hallways at the Gaylord National Resort, a sprawling hotel that sits on the shores of the Potomac River just south of Washington, D.C. It's definitely not from the thousands of energy geeks that are arriving at the hotel on Sunday night to kick off several days of discussions and meetings about next-generation energy technology for the ARPA-E Summit. It's the aftermath from thousands of preteen girls, de ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/25/bringing-a-little-cheer-to-energy-innovat

TECH - Digital lighting slowly claiming a spot in the Internet of Things

The digital lighting industry is in a quandary. Prices for LED lights are falling quickly, making the technology more compelling to customers, particularly owners of office buildings and warehouses. But the price decline has come at the expense of manufacturers who have over built production capacity and now need to idle some of their equipment. This imbalance of supply and demand is also happening at a time when market researchers are expecting ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/24/digital-lighting-slowly-claiming-a-spot-i

TECH - LEDs Without Heavy Metals, Silicon Nanocrystal Multicolor LEDs Created

LEDs that are completely free of heavy metals have been successfully created by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Toronto. The highly efficient and heavy-metal-free LEDs were made by utilizing silicon nanocrystals that are only a few nanometers across. The silicon-based light-emitting diodes (SiLEDs) should eventually be able to take the place of any currently used LEDs, but without having the same envi ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/23/leds-without-heavy-metals-silicon-

TECH - News and the new amplification reality

A few days ago, in wake of the lively war of words between Elon Musk's Tesla & The New York Times, my colleague Mathew Ingram pointed out that thanks to the Internet and the social web, everyone from companies to governments are acting like media entities and spreading their messages, bypassing the messengers - aka the media outlets. Given that, one might ask: who needs traditional media then? I tried to help answer that question in my post ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/24/news-and-the-new-amplification-reality

TECH - What Do AT&T And Big Oil Have In Common?

By Zana Nesheiwat, Program Associate at Fuel Freedom FoundationBig Oil via ShutterstockWhen's the last time you made a long-distance phone call? Do you even notice the difference between local and long-distance charges? Before 1984, only AT&T could sell long-distance telephone service, making a long-distance call to your great aunt cost $3.00 a minute. That monopoly and unfair pricing ended when a federal judge required AT&T to grant a ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/25/what-do-att-and-big-oil-have-in-co

TECH - When will we see more billion-dollar health tech companies?

Investors may be funneling millions of dollars into digital health but they're not as optimistic as entrepreneurs in thinking that billion-dollar valuations are on the horizon for the current crop of health tech startups. A recent survey from InterWest Partners compared the perspectives of health tech entrepreneurs and investors on areas of opportunities and challenges in health care information technology. When asked "which companies are most l ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/25/on-timing-of-billion-dollar-health-tech-v

URBAN - Deconstructed 1940s Citroen H Van Transformed into a New Parklet for San Francisco

Read the rest of Deconstructed 1940s Citroen H Van Transformed into a New Parklet for San FranciscoPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: bikes, citroen, Citroen van, Cycle Club San Francisco, cycling, micro park, mini park, Parklet, parklet program, parklets, public space, Rapha Cycle Club, rebar, rebar studio, San Francisco, San Francisco Marin ...

http://inhabitat.com/new-san-francisco-parklet-is-made-from-a-deconstr

URBAN - House built from shipping containers designed in Denmark, assembled in China

Here is a twist on the usual situation, a product going in the opposite direction.

http://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/house-built-shipping-containe

URBAN - Modularflex Disaster Shelters Pop Up Where They Are Needed Most

Anyone who has ever struggled to pitch a tent can attest to how difficult it can be to assemble a temporary shelter. Add the stress of a natural calamity, and every second saved by quick and simple construction is a blessing aided by the genius of good design. Argentine architects Matias Alter and Matias Carrizo have created the Modularflex, a foldable disaster housing unit that packs flat and can be assembled in about half an hour.Read the rest ...

http://inhabitat.com/the-modularflex-disaster-shelters-pop-up-where-yo

URBAN - Wood construction tries to grow up

Funny thing how the concrete industry complains about the safety of six-story wood buildings, but as the Toronto Star reports, there are a lot of advantages.

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/wood-construction-tries-g

WATER - Fish gill-inspired water management system wins student design contest

The biomimetic design could increase water delivery efficiency, decrease water-borne illness, and lower wastewater operating costs.

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/fish-gill-inspired-water-ma

WIND - Where Do I Put My Offshore Wind Farm?

By Chelsea DrenickOffshore wind farm via ShutterstockAt the end of 2012, the European market boasted a cumulative 4,995 MW capacity from 55 offshore wind farms and the United States market boasted a total capacity of zero. As disheartening as that might sound to American renewable energy proponents, it looks like our first offshore wind farms are on the horizon (pun intended), as the production tax credits were extended, along with DOI's Burea ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/24/where-do-i-put-my-offshore-wind-fa

WORK - Accidents waiting to happen: Insider knowledge

Workplace accidents must be treated like any other source of knowledge if companies and their employees are to learn from such incidents and prevent future accidents from occurring, experts say.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225092049.ht

WORK - Sorry, Yahoo!; working from home makes more sense than ever

Management often has a problem when people want to work from home, but the advantages for everyone are significant.

http://www.treehugger.com/green-jobs/sorry-yahoo-working-home-makes-mo

WORK - Yahoo to homeworkers: Get back to the office. Now.

The internet company thinks it is better if people work at the office rather than on the internet. Is this a good idea?

http://www.treehugger.com/green-jobs/yahoo-homeworkers-get-back-your-d

EARTH PORTATION News February 22nd

ANIMALS - Bottlenose dolphins may call each other by name

It was already known that dolphins are taught signature whistles by their mothers, but their function was not entirely clear. New data shows they might be used similarly to names ...

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/bottlenose-dolphi

CLIMATE - New Study Shows Independent Evidence Of Global Warming

One of the biggest challenges of climate science seems like it should be one of the easiest; measuring temperatures. The fact is, regular measurements of temperature around the globe didn't being in real earnest until the late 19th century. So when scientists want to understand what temperatures were like prior to that era, they have to use proxies. For example, scientists can tell by the way ice crystallizes what the weather and temperature was ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/02/21/new-study-s

ECONOMICS - Detroit Tops 2013 List Of America's Most Miserable Cities

Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: "City of Hope." The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/02/21/detro

ECONOMICS - The Rise of Mobile Giving, and Other Trends & Predictions for Philanthropy in 2013

Editor's note: As Director of Nonprofit Strategy, Sean Milliken helps eBay, Inc.'s global properties empower their products and users to make a difference for nonprofit organizations ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2013/02/22/rise-

EDUCATION - Hands-on cooking education aids docs' nutrition knowledge

(HealthDay)-Continuing education that includes didactic and hands-on cooking sessions improves physicians' self-reported nutrition-related behaviors, according to a research letter published online Feb. 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine ...
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-hands-on-cooking-aids-

ENERGY - 100% Renewable Energy: Becoming the New Normal?

By Diane Moss, Founding Director of Renewables 100 Policy InstituteA decade ago, cities, regions, and businesses aiming for 20% renewable energy were on the cutting edge. Few believed that a higher target in a few decades was an achievable goal. Anyone even suggesting a target of 100% renewable energy was a radical. Fast forward to today and in much of Europe, and increasingly in the U.S. and the developing world, 100% renewable energy goals a .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/100-renewable-energy-bec

ENERGY - 14% Of Household Electricity Consumption From Solar In Belgium; 3% Of Total Power Consumption

Reposted from Solar Love:Belgium, like many other countries across the world, just saw another solid year of solar power growth. 2012 didn't come close to its record solar growth in 2011, and it was just a bit shy of the 528 MW it added in 2009, but 2012's 525 MW now bring it up to a total of 2,600 MW of solar power capacity.According to a translation from the APERe (Belgian Renewable Energy Association) website, "With 2600 MW installed to dat .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/20/14-of-household-electric

ENERGY - Clean Energy Powers Up North Carolina's Economy

It may seem ironic for a state that enacted a ban on sea level rise, but renewable energy is powering up North Carolina's economy by attracting investment, creating jobs, and lowering utility bills.North Carolina state flag image via ShutterstockThese findings come from a new study, "Economic, Utility Portfolio, and Rate Impact of Clean Energy Development in North Carolina," commissioned by the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association (NC .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/clean-energy-recharges-n

ENERGY - Doing More With Less: Energy Efficiency Bolsters The US Economy

The adage "do more with less" has proven to be fruitful for the US economy. Even while energy demands have increased over the last decades, investment in efficiency improvements have overshadowed conventional energy supply by a lot - and by a lot we mean $300 to $500 billion.Info text graphic electrical composed in plug shape via ShutterstockAnd it doesn't stop at the money. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy estimates that i .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/doing-more-with-less-ene

ENERGY - Geothermal Could Provide 40% Of Glasgow's Heat

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city with nearly 600,000 people. Recently, scientists have stated that 40% of Glasgow's heating needs could come from geothermal power located in local abandoned coal mine shafts. There are many such mines throughout the country, and some of them are located deep enough below ground level that they have accumulated water. This water is warm enough it can be pumped up to heat buildings and homes.Image Credit: Kim T .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/geothermal-could-provide

ENERGY - How A City Can Get More Clean, Local Energy

Like many cities attempting to solve climate change at a local level, Minneapolis is finding the prospect more challenging that it may have imagined. The lion's share of emissions (two-thirds in the case of Minneapolis) come from electricity and gas sold by two monopoly, corporate utilities. Minnesota's state-level policy is helping: a renewable energy standard pushes the electric utility to 30% clean energy by 2020 and a conservation standard .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/how-a-city-can-get-more-

ENERGY - Navigating The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Information Jungle (VIDEO)

Continuing on with our daily series on Leonardo ENERGY videos, here's one on the topic of the renewable energy and energy efficiency information jungle, and how to navigate it.Navigating The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Information Jungle (VIDEO) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/navigating-the-renewable

GARDENS - Build a $300 underground greenhouse for year-round gardening (Video)

Can't afford a glass greenhouse? Check out how to build your own underground greenhouse for cheaper and for growing veggies 365 days a year, even in cold climates ...

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/build-undergrou

HOMES - Build your own table and chairs from shipping pallets

Sarah Williams shows us how to create a nice looking dining suite from nothing but a few old pallets ...

http://www.treehugger.com/eco-friendly-furniture/build-your-

HOMES - High-Efficiency Topload Washers Gain In Popularity

Chores are no fun. But even no fun things can be improved upon enough to save you some cash and lessen your guilt about using energy-guzzling appliances. Enter high-efficiency topload washers, the washing machine gaining popularity over the last two years by a measure of 34 percent.Isolated washing machine via ShutterstockHigh-efficiency appliances carry a heavier price tag than their less efficient peers, but the annual operating costs is les .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/high-efficiency-topload-

SOLAR - 3-D Solar Cells May Receive Big Boost Thanks To New Semiconductor Nano-Shish-Kebabs

A new type of nano-sized structure, looking something like a "nano-shish-kebab," has been developed by researchers at North Carolina State University. The seamless three-dimensional structure, consisting solely of germanium sulfide (GeS) crystals, could be useful in the development of 3-D solar cells, next-generation sensors, supercapacitors, and photodetectors.Looking like a row of nano-sheets run through by a nano-wire, it is actually one so .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/20/3-d-solar-cells-may-rece

SOLAR - Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One Achieves 100 Megawatt Milestone

First Solar announced Wednesday that its Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One has achieved a peak generating capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) connected to the electrical grid.But that's only half of the end goal. When construction is completed later this year, the ranch, located in northern Los Angeles County, will have a generating capacity of 230 MW.Construction of Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One was initiated in September of 2011, with module inst .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/antelope-valley-solar-ra

SOLAR - Captured Rainbows, New Possibilities In Solar Energy Thanks To New Material That Slows Light

An improved method to capture rainbows has been developed by researchers at the University at Buffalo. The photonics breakthrough could very likely lead to significant improvements in solar energy, stealth technologies, and other areas of research, according to the researchers.The researchers created a "hyperbolic metamaterial waveguide," that works to separate and absorb every frequency of light at different locations in a vertical direction, .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/20/captured-rainbows-new-po

SOLAR - Concentrated Photovoltaics (VIDEO)

Continuing on with our daily series on Leonardo ENERGY videos, here are two videos on the topic of concentrated photovoltaics (CPV):Concentrated Photovoltaics (VIDEO) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/concentrated-photovoltai

SOLAR - Daylight Harvesting In New York City Could Save 160 Megawatts

New York City could benefit substantially from the incorporation of daylight harvesting systems into its most easily-retrofittable office buildings, reducing peak electricity demand by up to 160 megawatts, according to a recent study by Green Light New York. The use of daylight to cut back on electricity usage, in appropriate buildings, would save tenants and building owners in the city an estimated $70 million dollars annually.Greentech Media .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/daylight-harvesting-in-n

SOLAR - Envision Plans To Install 2,300 Rotating Solar Tree Car Shelters In South Carolina

According to Inhabitat, roughly 160 billion square feet of land have been paved and used just as parking lots for cars. Envision plans to use some of this space to accommodate solar panels structures called solar tree car shelters. Is this wasting even more space? Not quite.Parking Lot Shaded by Solar Panels. Image obtained from Shutterstock.The solar tree shelters are using the little extra spaces between parked vehicles for towers that the s .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/envision-plans-to-instal

SOLAR - Giant Solar Farm Capacity Doubling Inside 12 Months, Breaking 12 GW

A new update from analyst firm Wiki-Solar has concluded that by the end of February utility-scale solar farms will have reached 12.2 GW of capacity across 488 installations, a figure almost double that of 12 months ago.Top countries for utility-scale (10MW+) solar generation capacity, showing their capacity at the beginning of March 2013Image Credit: Wiki-SolarThe report found that 6 GW of new utility-scale capacity has been connected worldwid .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/giant-solar-farms-capaci

SOLAR - In California, Affordable Solar Power For The 99%

It wasn't too long ago that rooftop solar panels were yet another expensive add-on for high end homes, but then again, it wasn't too long ago that only the rich kids at your high school could afford pocket calculators, let alone mobile phones. Affordable solar power is starting to make its way down the income ladder, and a pair of statewide California solar programs show how that's good news for utility customers and taxpayers, too.Affordable .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/in-california-affordable

SOLAR - JinkoSolar Signs Agreement For 600 MW Solar PV Panels

JinkoSolar announced this week that it has signed an agreement with China Three Gorges New Energy Corporation to deliver a total of 600 megawatts (MW) of high-efficiency solar panels.The three-year strategic cooperation agreement between the two companies will run from 2013 to 2015, and make use of JinkoSolar's solar panels in an installation in western China."We are very pleased to sign this long term large contract and to further extend our .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/22/jinkosolar-signs-agreeme

SOLAR - Solar Number Fun (VIDEO)

Check out the staggering solar facts in this Clean Power Research video:Time to go solar, much?Solar Number Fun (VIDEO) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage .. ...
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/solar-number-fun-video

SOLAR - Solar-Powered Planes In Russia - Solar Being Considered As Replacement For Jet Fuel

Solar energy may be replacing fossil fuels as the power source of the Russian civilian aircraft industry not too far into the future, based on where some of the country's funding is going.What happens to the aviation industries of the world as fuel prices continue to rise? What are the alternatives? Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade (Minpromtorg) seeks to answer these questions by ordering several new studies into possible fuel alternati .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/20/solar-powered-planes-in-

SOLAR - SolarCity and Honda, sitting in a tree...

What's interesting about the 65 million dollars that the American division of Honda is investing with SolarCity is that the car-maker isn't just creating a fund to finance solar systems. It's also trying to market Solar to its customers ...

http://www.treehugger.com/green-investments/solarcity-and-ho

SOLAR - The "Value Of Solar" Could Be Worth Much More Than Austin Energy Pays

I recently wrote a long post on the idea of using a "value of solar" policy instead of various types of government incentives for solar. Much of that post was based on research conducted by Clean Power Research for Austin Energy - so that Austin Energy could implement a Value of Solar policy (which it now uses). As I stated at the time, however, the value that is placed on solar depends on what assumptions you use - in particular, what benefit .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/the-value-of-solar-could

SOLAR - U.S. Solar Heating And Cooling Alliance Launched

Reposted from the website of the Solar Energy Industries Association:[Yesterday] the Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA®) launched the U.S. Solar Heating and Cooling Alliance (SHC Alliance). The Alliance will focus on growing the solar heating and cooling market through reducing barriers and advocating for policies on the federal, state and local levels.The newly elected leaders of the U.S. Solar Heating and Cooling Alliance are:- Ch .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/20/u-s-solar-heating-and-co

SPACE - Scientists May Have Found The Galaxy's Youngest Black Hole

A star that exploded about 27,000 years ago may have produced the Galaxy's youngest known black hole ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/02/14/scientists-

SUSTAINABILITY - Modern nomads living in a traditional yurt (Video)

Choosing to live the mobile life, this couple have chosen to make a traditional Mongolian yurt their home instead of more high-tech alternatives ...

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/modern-nomads-l

TECH - France wants to invest $27B in high speed broadband

France has unveiled a financing plan that would result in the government and private companies spending €20 billion ($27 billion) over the next 10 years bringing high speed broadband and fiber connectivity to the country. The news comes after the EU's budget cut almost all of the $7 billion it planned to spend bringing broadband in Europe. Yet Europe still hopes to have 50 percent of the population at 100 Mbps speeds by 2020 with the rest of t ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/22/france-wants-to-invest-27b-in-h

TECH - Hyperconnectivity: The Future is Now

I?ve spent my life dreaming of a hyperconnected world. And I?ve dedicated my life to creating new modes of communication that make this world possible. The hyperconnected world is a world where things that need to communicate will and do communicate. Truly, your dishwasher can talk to the power grid, your fuel sensor can talk to the gas station, your grass can talk to your sprinklers. This has been my vision for the future for years. Well, t ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/vivekranadive/2013/02/19/hyperco

TECH - Metaio's augmented reality chip will be super-useful... just not in phones

On Thursday, Metaio, the Germany-based augmented reality (AR) company, announced a deal with ST-Ericsson which will see the latter integrate a specialized AR processor into the next generation of its mobile chipsets. This will be the first dedicated chip of its kind to see commercial deployment, and it should have a big impact on the power consumption of AR applications, which are today generally a big battery-suck due to their intensive use of g ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/22/metaios-augmented-reality-chip-

TECH - New crime-prediction research highlights the promise of big data

I'm taking a break from writing about the nitty gritty of Hadoop to highlight yet another promising use case for big data - fighting crime. A new study by University of Michigan researchers details a method for using - according to a university press release - "high-powered computers and loads of data" to help police target neighborhoods most susceptible to high crime rates. However, it's not the idea of using data to predict or even solve crime ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/21/new-crime-prediction-research-h

TECH - Online Identity

The head of the CIA undone by email, anonymous trolls ruling Reddit, fakery on Facebook and false Sandy news on Twitter. Identity on the internet is a mess. What to do about it ...
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/effi45emkgd/cia-director-gen-

TECH - Qualcomm's new radio chip gets us one step closer to a global 4G phone

As you might guess the week before Mobile World Congress, there's a lot of mobile chip news coming out, but on Thursday Qualcomm released a doozey. It unveiled a new radio chip that the silicon vendor claims can support all of the world's LTE bands in a single device, helping to overcome the fragmentation problems that plague 4G device makers. Qualcomm's baseband chips and integrated applications processors have long supported all cellular techno ...

http://gigaom.com/2013/02/21/qualcomms-new-radio-chip-gets-u

URBAN - 220 Story Sky City delayed, but 100 story baby brother going ahead

Prefab system from Broad Sustainable Buildings being used in Yinchua ...

http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/220-story-sky-c

URBAN - Non Program Pavilion: Reflective Building Melts into the Spanish Landscape

Read the rest of Non Program Pavilion: Reflective Building Melts into the Spanish LandscapePermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: Architecture, Daylighting, Granada, Jesús Torres García Architects, Landscape Architecture, natural light, Non Program Pavilion, reflective architecture, Spai .. ...

http://inhabitat.com/reflective-non-program-pavilion-disappe

URBAN - The Hotel Which Floats On Sand

Hidden away in the Gobi Desert is "the bay of sand", Xiangshawan. It's a popular tourist destination for China's newly rich adrenaline junkies, with huge dunes making it is a perfect playground for driving Jeeps and quad bikes at reckless speeds.However it's also 500 miles from Beijing and has relentlessly shifting sands. To make life even more challenging the average temperature shifts from 85°F in the summer to 2°F in the winter (sand dun .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/the-hotel-which-floats-o

URBAN - The Ridge Road Residence Fuses Energy Efficiency and Contemporary Design in Australia

Read the rest of The Ridge Road Residence Fuses Energy Efficiency and Contemporary Design in AustraliaPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: australia, Blackened Timber, daylight, eco design, green design, insulation, low flow fixtures, low VOC, Melbourne, natural ventilation, renewable, residence, Ridge Road Residence, rural, Studio Four, Sustainable, sustainable design, water storag .. ...

http://inhabitat.com/the-ridge-road-residence-combines-energ

URBAN - Tsunami-Proof Buildings Targeted in New Standards Initiative

A clutch of civil engineers convened by the American Society of Civil Engineers are trying to tame the risks posed by tsunamis in the built environment ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/02/22/tsuna

WIND - China Reaches 50 GW Of Connected Grid Wind Capacity; Expected To Top 140 GW By 2015

China advanced past 50 gigawatts (GW) of on-grid/connected wind power capacity in 2012, and this is expected to grow a further 40% by the end of 2013.GTM Media Research and Azure International in their China Wind Market Quarterly for the fourth quarter of 2012 said the emerging market country is on target this year to add another 18 GW of installed grid connected wind capacity.Windmills in China via WikiCommons (Some Rights Reserved)Some of th .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/02/21/china-reaches-50gw-of-co