Denmark Sets World Record For Wind Production Think Progress, January 7, 2015 Denmark has been long been a pioneer in wind power, having installed its first turbines in the mid-1970s when oil shocks sent the import-dependent nation on a quest for energy security. Thirty-seven years later, the country has set a new world record for wind production … Read more
How Demand Response Will Shape the Future of Energy Intelligent Utility, January 6, 2015 An article on The Energy Collective explores the expectations for what the “next big thing” will be in the energy industry. The piece discusses how not one person in attendance at a recent energy conference could have guessed ten years ago that shale … Read more
As we reflect on 2014 and start to think about what we’re going to do differently in 2015, it’s worth taking a look at how much energy we use, and how we can find simple ways to cut some of the energy waste out of our lives.
Michigan currently has renewable and efficiency goals for the state. These goals require that 10% of electricity should come from renewable sources such as wind and solar by 2015, and utilities are complying with this standard. Recently, some lawmakers tried to circumvent these rules.
UNSW’s solar researchers have converted over 40% of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity, the highest efficiency ever reported. The world-beating efficiency was achieved in outdoor tests in Sydney, before being independently confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their outdoor test facility in the United States.
When the world’s two largest polluters join in establishing new goals for reducing emissions of climate-disrupting gases, criticism and skepticism are predictable. And there was plenty following the recent agreement between the United States and China to do just that.
The survey found that the 73 percent of registered voters are supportive of the PTC, with 42 percent being “strongly supportive” of the credit. Sixty-three percent of registered Republicans, 74 percent of Independents and 83 percent of Democrats support the PTC. Nineteen percent said they oppose extending the credit.
That was the logic behind the company’s RE-C project, which aimed to produce one gigawatt of renewable electricity for less than the price of coal. The hope was to do this within years, not decades. Among other things, the company invested in new geothermal drilling R&D and put $168 million toward Brightsource’s Ivanpah solar tower in the Mojave Desert.
Utility executives say the trend has accelerated this year, with several companies signing contracts, known as power purchase agreements, for solar or wind at prices below that of natural gas, especially in the Great Plains and Southwest, where wind and sunlight are abundant.
CPV developer Soitec, along with German research body Fraunhofer ISE and France’s CEA-Leti, has announced a new conversion efficiency record for a multi-junction PV cell.