Earlier this month Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced “plans to launch a new Energy Innovation Hub for advanced research on batteries and energy storage with an investment of up to $120 million over five years.” The purpose of this newest hub “will be to deliver research leading to revolutionary new technologies.” Applications are due [...]
Archive for the ‘Renewable Energy’ Category
New Energy Innovation Hub for Batteries and Energy Storage
February 29th, 2012 
Eric Wilson 
Posted in Eric Wilson, Renewable Energy 
Tags: Battery, Coal, Department of Energy, Electricity Generation, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Solar Energy, Stephen Chu, Wind Power 
No Comments »Offshore Wind Projects Clear Environmental Review
February 29th, 2012 Eric Wilson The Department of the Interior (DOI), home to the National Parks Service, released a statement earlier this month that “the department’s renewable energy initiative has cleared an important environmental review, allowing Interior to move forward with the process for wind energy lease sales off Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware.” The Bureau of Ocean Energy [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Featured Posts, News, Oceans, President Obama, Renewable Energy Tags: Wind Power No Comments »Global Wind Capacity Increased 21% in 2011
February 25th, 2012 Eric Wilson According to a press release from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) in Belgium, “the wind industry installed just over 41,000 MW [megawatts] of new clean, reliable wind power in 2011, bringing the total installed capacity globally to more than 238,000 MW at the end of last year.” The 2011 installations marked a 21% increase [...]
Apple’s “Project Dolphin” To Include One of Nation’s Largest Green Energy Facilities
February 22nd, 2012 Justin Manger Near Maiden, North Carolina Apple is building a huge data center that will, of course, require huge amounts of energy to power the facility. Apple, in its latest environmental report, states that the data center will include the largest “end user-owner, onsite” solar array in the U.S. Or, in less slippery terms, that all the [...]
Inside the 2013 Department of Energy Budget
February 21st, 2012 Eric Wilson As part of the massive $3.8 trillion dollar federal budget proposed recently by President Barack Obama, $27.2 billion was geared toward the Department of Energy (DOE). For those interested, here is a PDF of the DOE budget. Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu provided details of the budget proposal as it pertains to his office. In [...]
SunShot Initiative Aims to Make Solar Affordable
February 15th, 2012 Eric Wilson The United States’ Department of Energy (DOE) is working to bring down solar energy costs. The program, known as the SunShot Initiative, “is a collaborative national initiative to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.” The goal is to drive down the costs of solar energy [...]
Posted in Economics, Eric Wilson, News, Renewable Energy Tags: Department of Energy, Solar Energy, Stephen Chu No Comments »Intel (Again) Leads 2011 Green Power Purchasers List
February 13th, 2012 Justin Manger The EPA announced its annual list of top green power purchasers last month (here is the list from 2010, also with Intel on top). This includes categories for businesses, schools, and government. On the business side Intel takes the top honors while Kohl’s Department Stores slides into the runner-up position. Making a huge jump in the rankings was [...]
The Legacy of Cheap Natural Gas
February 12th, 2012 Eric Wilson What will be the legacy of cheap natural gas? Until recently, natural gas in the United States was 3-4 times as expensive as it is today. With advances in technology, costs have dropped precipitously. Natural gas prices ended the other day at $2.32 per MMBtu. 18 months ago a MMBtu sold for $5.50 on the [...]
Posted in Business, Eric Wilson, Featured Posts, Op-Ed, Policy, President Obama, Renewable Energy, Sustainability Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Economy, Fracking, Natural Gas, Shale Gas No Comments »Department of Energy Announces 2013 Solar Decathlon Details
February 9th, 2012 Eric Wilson Last month the US Department of Energy (DOE) selected teams from 20 colleges and universities to take part in the 2013 Solar Decathlon at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. (A full list of schools can be seen below). The location for next year’s Decathlon marks a departure from previous ones which were held [...]
New York City Gets Tidal Energy Project
February 6th, 2012 Justin Manger Verdant Power was granted the first US license for a tidal energy project right on New York City’s doorstep, the East River. While the 1MW project is tiny compared to the over 2,000MW wind farm on the drawing board for Wyoming, it is good to see various renewable technologies being tested around the country. Localization of power sources [...]
