CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 28, 2011, 1:30 pm
If you have been paying even the slightest attention to the algae industry, you probably have heard of companies like Solazyme or Synthetic Genomics, the big names that are making big public strides in the field. Algasol Renewables, on the other hand, is one name in the industry that you have probab...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 28, 2011, 11:00 am
Over the past year or so, I’ve written a few pieces on the levels of job creation that can be expected as we “go green,” i.e., move to greater levels of energy efficiency, renewables, electric transportation, etc. Last week I met Tom Konrad, one of the world’s most visible proponents of th...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 28, 2011, 9:00 am
In the wake of the recent economic downturn, many industries have taken a much harder look at their core business functions. Initiated by compliance and/or business sustainability necessity, today’s executives can no longer accept ‘business as usual’. Beginning with reform in financial monit...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 28, 2011, 7:00 am
Natural gas has been widely promoted across the political spectrum as a key to solving U.S. energy problems. “The potential for natural gas is enormous,” President Obama said recently, referencing an estimate that the United States has enough gas to supply the country for more than a century. T...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 28, 2011, 6:00 am
A conference taking place in Abuja, Nigeria, will discuss what African countries need to do to foster the adoption of alternative energy. The event is organized by the African Renewable Energy Alliance (AREA) and takes place between June 29th and July 1st. It is co-organized by the World Future Cou...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 28, 2011, 5:00 am
Despite recent safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to invest 1 billion euros in the next generation of nuclear power generation. Saying that a moratorium on nuclear production “makes no sense,” Sarkozy said France will focus investment ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 27, 2011, 3:30 pm
Many western analysts have described the post-Soviet tussle for Caspian and Central Asian energy reserves as the new “Great Game, except this time around, Russia is facing the U.S. rather than the British empire. To a dispassionate outside observer however, what is most striking about the prolong...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 27, 2011, 1:30 pm
Nautricity is a UK company that develops tidal energy technology. Its CoRMaT tidal turbine, a 500kw device in its largest form, will be installed and tested in the Thames River alongside a former Royal Navy sloop called the HQS Wellington (see Clean Technica article). The CoRMaT turbine is the sub...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 27, 2011, 11:00 am
Today, with more and more discussions about global warming, the transportation industry has been under scrutiny, especially air transportation. The airlines industry has been majorly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The International Air Transportation Industry has been launching a number o...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 27, 2011, 9:00 am
Prudential Locations, a leading real estate agent in Hawaii, made a commitment to reducing its carbon footprint when it installed solar panels in 2008. Since then, the new 87-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) system at the company’s Honolulu office have reduced CO2 emissions by an estimated 650,721 kg, a...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 27, 2011, 7:00 am
Even before electric vehicles began their comeback, researchers started to develop technology that enable car owners to make money by selling power stored in batteries back to the grid. Under V2G, EVs charge their vehicles off-peak (primarily overnight), and then sell power back to grid operators du...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 27, 2011, 5:00 am
Quick quiz: What will the price of natural gas be in ten years? What about 20 years? Tens of billions of dollars ride on getting the answer right. The problem with gas right now is that there’s so much of it, because of skyrocketing reserves in shale formations, that prices in North America seem...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 26, 2011, 12:50 pm
Luxury car technology is now being used to make wastewater treatment plants more efficient. Although great advances have been made since the days when human waste was merely tossed into the street, about half the raw sewage generated in the U.S. never gets treated before it reaches open water. One...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 25, 2011, 11:45 am
One of the bitter complaints about energy management and energy efficiency has been the lack of standardization in energy benchmarking, management, measurement and verificiation.  Policymakers don’t like it because it is difficult to verify compliance, consumers can’t trust the information the...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 24, 2011, 1:30 pm
In a major new global LED patent war, Osram has sued Samsung and LG in several forums around the world, including the U.S. International Trade Commission, Delaware and California federal courts, Germany, and (against LG only) in Japan and China. According to the California complaint against LG (Osr...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 24, 2011, 11:00 am
OPEL Solar Asia (OSA), a supplier of high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) solar panels and other solar power products earlier this week announced a second deal for its HCPV panels and dual axis trackers in China. The company signed an agreement with a second of the five national power utilities i...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 24, 2011, 9:00 am
Recent advances in the complexity of microgrids currently being installed are stimulating a rush to increase the versatility and function of a technology platform originally conceived around the notion of hyper-reliability. This is why the Department of Defense (DOD) is so enamored by the prospects ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 24, 2011, 7:00 am
Few places in the U.S. are as well suited to developing renewable energy as the contaminated sites known as “brownfields.” But as communities from Philadelphia to California are discovering, government support is critical to enable solar and wind entrepreneurs to make use of these abandoned land...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 24, 2011, 5:00 am
In Stockholm, roughly 90 percent of the population lives within 300 meter proximity from a designated green area to allow for better quality of life, including recreation, water purification, enhanced biodiversity, ecology, and noise reduction. Stockholm’s main ambition is to be a totally fossil f...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 4:01 pm
While some refer to lottos as a “tax on the stupid” the Dutch Postcode Lottery are making “grants for the smart” to support cleantech stars through their Green Challenge. “The world must embrace a new, greener lifestyle. One bright idea can make a big difference. To encourage and aid the ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 1:30 pm
Those of us waiting for a more guilt-free computing experience will not have to wait for it much longer. Samsung unveiled at the Africa Regional Forum in Nairobi, Kenya the NC215S, a netbook equipped with solar cells on its cover whose battery life could last as long as 14 hours, the company says. ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 11:00 am
I’ve written before about the increasingly common challenge in obtaining U.S. registrations for eco-marks, i.e., the proscription against registering “merely descriptive” marks (see, e.g., my post about the HYBRID GREEN mark here). Often the eco-marks include the term “GREEN,” which has ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 9:00 am
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is recommending that 888,000 acres of public lands in Montana’s Crown of the Continent ecosystem receive federal wilderness protection to prevent habitat loss for species most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including wolverines, bighorn sheep, ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 7:00 am
Numerous statistical figures demonstrate that in 2008, there were more than 922 international tourists, raising revenue to more than $900 billion globally. In numerous countries, the tourism industry accounts for a large percentage of the workforce. For example, in Egypt, the tourism industry workfo...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 6:00 am
Water is one of the big environmental themes and it’s becoming increasingly important in discussions as the issue of scarcity poses a serious threat to sustainability in the 21st century. With this issue in mind, an organization called travel2change has launched a worldwide innovation contest to ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 23, 2011, 5:00 am
China’s omnivorous energy requirements have been attracting increasing attention as of late, as Beijing attempts to secure any and all sources of power for its growing industrial base. Nowhere is this more noticeable than Beijing’s policies in the South China Sea, where Chinese assertions of so...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 22, 2011, 5:30 pm
The title piqued my curiosity: Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence. Christian Parenti’s book is about what he calls “the catastrophic convergence”, when the dislocations of climate change collide with already-existing crises of poverty and violence. He points to e...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 22, 2011, 3:30 pm
Despite sometimes being in competition, the relationship between natural gas and the power grid is destined to become more intertwined. As an ally, natural gas is cleaner than coal, is an abundant domestic resource for generating energy, and its profile in providing steady output to offset the varia...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 22, 2011, 1:30 pm
Colorado is a great place for solar energy production, so it seems fitting that the state serves a role in developing more advanced solar technologies. The industry took a large step in this direction in early June with the official opening of the Solar Technology Acceleration Center or SolarTAC nea...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 21, 2011, 11:00 am
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a global warming lawsuit against five big power companies, its most important environmental ruling since 2007 and a victory for the utilities. The utilities — American Electric Power Co Inc, Southern Co, Xcel Energy Inc, and Duke Energy Corp, along with TVA —...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 21, 2011, 9:00 am
The mission: defeat the enemy while preserving Uncle Sam’s pocketbook. Saving the Earth is a worthy, but secondary, objective. The Department of Defense last week rolled out its plan to consume less, and find new ways to source, energy. The need has become particularly pressing as operations in A...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 21, 2011, 7:00 am
An extraordinary convergence of recent events seems poised shortly to make aviation biofuels the belle of the investor’s ball. The first is that on 8 June the follows the international standards certifying body ASTM International announcing its approval of its BIO SPK Fuel Standard, to be made of...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 21, 2011, 5:00 am
As it gets ready to host the Clean Power Asia conference that will take place in Bangkok between June 28 and 30, Thailand is keen to make sure everyone knows it is committed to switching to clean, alternative energy. “Thailand is committed to the Low-Carbon pathway, as stated in the new National ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 20, 2011, 3:30 pm
Throughout America, even in this difficult economic environment, there are examples of innovation and entrepreneurship that inspire us with their creativity and success.  I came across one of these places recently at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in not surprisingly, Brooklyn New York, a former shipyard t...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 20, 2011, 1:30 pm
Solar power is growing like hardly anything else, in the U.S. and around the world. Solar costs are dropping like crazy and that trend is expected to continue (as it has for decades). But solar stocks are struggling. To start off, I’ll let you know that am anything but a stock market expert. I do...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 20, 2011, 11:00 am
Last week our Get Some Sun webinar featured the Center for Resource Solutions’ Robin Quarrier covering proposed “Green Guides” updates from the Federal Trade Commission. Robin’s presentation was a real eye-opener for our team and should be required viewing for anyone involved in marketing so...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 20, 2011, 9:00 am
If natural gas is a “bridge fuel,” what’s on the other side? This question kept popping up in recent weeks as a series of reports predicted gas would become a growing part of the global energy mix in the coming decades. Gas, while cleaner burning than coal, still falls short of the low-emissi...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 20, 2011, 7:00 am
In a previous post, this author provided background on the UKIPO’s “Green Channel” for expedited examination of patent applications drawn to environmentally-friendly technologies. As noted in that post, the program’s two-year anniversary recently past. To mark the occasion, and in recogni...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 20, 2011, 5:00 am
The Netherlands set up a climate policy where it will reach a global target of five percent renewable energy by the year 2010 and 10 percent by the year 2020. In line with the European Union Directive, the electricity production via renewable energy sources in the Netherlands needs to reach nine per...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 18, 2011, 1:45 pm
Since childhood, Lynn Gantt has had a deep seeded passion for cars and the mechanics that drive them. The Virginia native spent his weekends rebuilding antique tractors with his dad to race at tractor pulls across the state, and now the Virginia Tech graduate student is the proud team co-leader of V...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 18, 2011, 11:00 am
Yesterday, Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) introduced a "comprehensive energy bill" entitled the "Fulfilling U.S. Energy Leadership Act" or "FUEL."  The bill is available for download here.  According to his press release: Senator Kent Conrad today introduced comprehensive energy legislation inte...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 3:30 pm
Water is one of our planet’s most precious resources. It is ubiquitous: we drink it, wash with it, swim in it, and sail on it. We also use it to produce things like food, paper, and cotton clothing, among others. But what is “virtual water?” Is it invisible? Sort of. But it is equally – if ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 1:30 pm
Small reusable bag company ChicoBag is under fire from three of the country’s largest plastic bag manufacturers for “false and/or misleading description of fact in interstate commercial advertising”, according to the complaint filed jointly by Hilex Poly, Superbag Operating Ltd. and Advance Po...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 11:00 am
In a proposed decision issued on June 14, the California Public Utilities Commission is proposing to expand Virtual Net Metering, a program currently being piloted with Multi-Family Affordable Housing, to all multi-tenant buildings. How does this work, and why is it important? The California Cente...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 9:00 am
I spent last week at the Telematics Update conference in Detroit learning more about what’s going on in the telematics industry and what is likely to change in the coming years. During this event, I moderated a panel entitled “Telematics: A Must Have for EVs.” First, my impression from...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 8:00 am
Washington currently provides approximately $5 billion worth of annual tax credits to U.S. farmers growing crops for ethanol production. The question of ending the subsidies is fracturing the Republican leadership in Washington, National Public Radio reported. Kentucky Republican Senator Minority ...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 7:00 am
Fast action on certain pollutants such as black carbon, ground-level ozone and methane may help limit near term global temperature rise and significantly increase the chances of keeping temperature rise below 3.6 degrees F. Protecting the near-term climate is central to significantly cutting the ris...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 17, 2011, 5:00 am
The number of households powered by solar energy in Bangladesh has passed the one million mark — the fastest expansion of solar power in the world, according to Bangladeshi officials. Aided by non-governmental organizations that provide low-cost loans to install solar panels, Bangladesh’s rura...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 16, 2011, 3:35 pm
Biofuels have been heavily promoted in the hydrocarbon-poor third world as both a fuel source and a valuable earner of foreign currency. Now however, The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is seeking to sell is 50 percent holding of Transload (Pvt) Limited, a biodiesel fuel manufacturing joint venture betwee...
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CleanTechies posted an article on - Jun 16, 2011, 1:30 pm
If the public could have its way, Australia would be 100 per cent powered with alternative energy. This is the main finding of a recent survey carried out by campaigners who interviewed 14,000 people across the country. They found that 86 per cent of Australians want renewable energy and 91 per ce...
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