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27
Aug

China’s Coal Consumption Has Finally Decreased

There may be a light at the end of the long dark tunnel: It appears China’s coal boom is over. Sources: Compiled from China National Bureau of Statistics and China National Coal Association statistical releases. While positive signs have been emerging from China for well over a year, it appears the ‘war on pollution’ is not just talk. According to analysis produced by

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27
Aug

Lights out in Belgium?

Three of Belgium’s seven nuclear reactors are currently down, and the international press is waiving the power outage flag for the upcoming winter. But the concern is, as so often, a bit exaggerated; Germany has plenty of reserves for its neighbors and will be happy to step in to fill the gaps, as it did in 2012 – even though

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27
Aug

100 percent renewable power investigated

he results of a three-year project investigating what a purely renewable power supply would look like have been published. The findings could be a roadmap for the coming years bar unforeseen technical breakthroughs. The visualization is nothing short of astonishing – see for yourself. And if you don’t speak German, you might want to use two screens, one with that

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27
Aug

Vestas back in the black

The Danish wind power leader increased its sales of 13 percent year over year, moving out of the red in the process, partly because of greater profit margins from projects. It may be a sign of a healthier global wind market.EBIT increased by 92 million to 104 million euros in the second quarter, with most of the profits reportedly coming

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27
Aug

Underlying assumptions in 100 percent renewable power scenario

Yesterday, I presented a guide to the new visualization of an entirely green power supply. Today, we take a look at a few of the main assumptions behind the study, starting with power generation.First, the bad news: I have been in contact with the makers of the study, and no English edition is planned. A budget of 1.8 million euros,

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27
Aug

Reforming solar energy subsidies

Recent paper on the situation in Australia suggests that a reverse auction might be a good way of replacing feed-in tariffs. What problem are they trying to fix? The paper itself is behind a paywall, and the author has not responded to my request for a review copy, so I will have to focus on my colleague’s Jesse Jenkins’ overview;

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26
Aug

Samoa completes 546kW solar plant, islands’ largest

Samoa has completed the installation of its largest solar project yet – a 546kW PV system that spans three separate sites on two of the independent state’s South Pacific islands, Savai’I and Upolu.The project, developed by US company SunWize Technologies in conjunction with Samoan power utility Electric Power Corporation (EPC), was financed by the government of Japan through the Pacific

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26
Aug

Atlantis raises $83m towards ‘world’s largest’ tidal energy plant

The world’s largest tidal-stream power plant is one step closer to being built after the Australian-founded and managed tidal turbine maker behind the project, Atlantis Resources, raised around $US83 million towards commencing construction.The funds will be used to finance the installation of four 1.5MW turbines in Scotland’s Pentland Firth – a small portion of the 86MW planned for the project’s

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26
Aug

UNSW aims to lift solar cell efficiency to more than 40%

Leading solar researcher Martin Green is aiming to more than double the conversion efficiencies of solar cells through a  new innovative method of stacking solar cells. According to Green, the efficiency of solar cells can be lifted from around 15 per cent boasted by most major manufacturers, to more than 30 per cent and ultimately more than 40 per cent.

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26
Aug

Battery-powered water splitter promises emissions-free fuel cells

The low-cost, emissions-free electrolytic device was developed by Stanford University Professor Hongjie Dai and uses an AAA battery to send an electric current through two electrodes that split liquid water into hydrogen and oxygen gas at room temperature. The water splitters do not use expensive precious-metal catalysts because the electrodes in the Stanford device are made of inexpensive nickel and

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