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During July, 100% of US utility-scale power installations were renewables! It is the kind of deceptive announcement that is euphoric. America’s #1 energy, in terms of utility scale installations, is natural gas. It is not certain which sector produced the most energy overall. We will have to wait for residential and commercial statistics to get a more accurate picture of

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In Portland, Oregon, entrepreneur Franklin Jones has embraced the future of urban transport. Never mind that the future closely resembles early 20th-Century Britain. Jones, the owner of B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery, uses the same technology relied on by postal carriers in Victorian England, or by Good Humor ice cream vendors in postwar America. Like so many fashion trends, the decidedly

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A brief run in the new Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (plug-in electric hybrid vehicle) at the Irish launch recently left me impressed with a hybrid SUV that promised cheaper running costs than petrol or diesel models.  My problem with electric cars, and many share my fear, is that range anxiety sets in, you worry over having enough charge to get you

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Recent news about improving the efficiency of solar panels often has focused on exotic technologies and materials. All of them show promise – otherwise they wouldn’t be news – but for now, at least, they can’t be built inexpensively and come to market quickly. It seems that many researchers have somehow overlooked simplicity. Not so for one startup, Semiprius, based

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Thin-film solar photovoltaic modules manufacturer Hanergy is looking to expand beyond the conventional business of modules manufacturing with the some of its recent acquisitions. Hanergy Holding Group recently announced that it has acquired Alta Devices Inc, a California-based manufacturer of high-efficiency thin- film solar cells. Alta Devices has developed some of the world’s most efficient solar cells with a conversion

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The largest solar power project in Pakistan has started to take shape as orders have been placed for the mounting structures for solar photovoltaic modules. These mounting structures will be supplied by China-based Clenergy International. Clenergy International has joined hands with TBEA SunOasis to supply mounting structures for 40 MW of solar PV modules to the Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park project.

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By cnicholson Hello all. I picked up a fully loaded BMW i3 REX last week. I owned a Chevy Volt for about 18 months ending about a year ago. I subsequently owned a Ford Fusion Energi. I will try to point out some comparisons to the Volt as best I can. Looks: Obviously subjective, but the i3 is more “distinctive”

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The SmartThings platform relies on an Ethernet-connected hub capable of communicating with ZigBee, Z-Wave as well as IP-accessible devices. Once dispatched to the internet router, the info can be processed on the cloud and fed back to smartphones via a control application. The hub can be paired with a multitude of sensors such as presence sensors or motion/actuation sensors (very

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The system has been detailed in a paper in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, co-authored by professors Angela M. Belcher and Paula T. Hammond, graduate student Po-Yen Chen, and three others. The system is based on solar cell development that makes use perovskite – specifically, organolead halide perovskite – a technology that has rapidly progressed from initial experiments to

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When I bought my Chevrolet Volt I became that person that doesn’t stop talking about their no-sugar, no-thrills lifestyle. That middle class urbanite buying vegetables from the grocer and edamame beans from Waitrose. The domestic goddess with the bread-maker next to the microwave. Of all of the lifestyle contradictions that exist, I had decided I was not going to be

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