Already a top state for renewable energy in terms of biomass, last month Maine deployed the first commercial, grid-connected tidal energy project in the country. Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) delivered the tidal project with help from a $10 million investment from the U.S. Department of Energy. Serving as an example of locally produced, regionally [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Biomass’
Maine Lays Claim to First Tidal Energy Project in United States
August 6th, 2012 
Eric Wilson 
Posted in Eric Wilson, News, Oceans, Renewable Energy 
Tags: Biomass, Department of Energy, Nuclear, Wave Power 
No Comments »IEA Projects 40% Growth in Renewables over Next 5 Years
July 25th, 2012 Eric Wilson As a follow up to last month’s post “Global Investment in Renewables Hits All-Time High in 2011” comes the International Energy Agency’s projections for renewable energy over the next five years. According to the press release, “global power generation from hydropower, solar, wind, and other renewable sources is projected to increase by more than 40%” [...]
Posted in China, Eric Wilson, News, Oceans, Renewable Energy Tags: Biomass, Brazil, Concentrated Solar Power, Geothermal, Hydroelectricity, IEA, Photovoltaic, Solar Energy, Wave Power, Wind Power No Comments »Planning and Execution, Before the Storms Hit
July 22nd, 2012 Nick Grue Last week I wrote about nuclear fusion, the elusive and extremely difficult-to-harness energy source with the potential to solve the entire world’s problem of energy shortage. Fusion has the potential to generate vast amounts of energy, so why should we continue developing other, less efficient forms of energy? Developing fusion energy, even if it does [...]
Brainerd, MN to Tap Sewer Line for Energy
July 19th, 2012 Eric Wilson 
Perhaps best known by many from the film Fargo, Brainerd, MN is putting itself on the map for its innovative approach to heating and cooling numerous municipal buildings. Images from the film show a blizzard bombarding the small city. It is that kind of winter that calls for continuous heat in homes and buildings. It [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, News, Renewable Energy Tags: Biomass, Minnesota, Olympics, Stimulus Bill, Waste, Wastewater No Comments »Five Friday Facts: Energy Density
June 15th, 2012 Eric Wilson In his post earlier this week, Nick mentioned one of the pitfalls of renewable energy. It is not “energy dense” compared to other sources. As a point of reference, today’s Five Friday Facts provide the energy density for the five most commonly used fuels over the past 150 years in the United States: wood, coal, [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Five Friday Facts Tags: Biomass, Coal, Energy, Natural Gas, Nuclear No Comments »EPA’s Green Power Challenge
May 15th, 2012 Eric Wilson Over the course of the past academic year, 30 collegiate athletic conferences comprising more than 70 universities competed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) College and University Green Power Challenge. The competition, which is an offshoot of EPA’s Green Power Partnership, wrapped up last month with the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania taking the top [...]
Posted in Education, Eric Wilson, News, Renewable Energy Tags: Biomass, EPA, Geothermal, Hydroelectricity, Solar Energy, Wind Power No Comments »KiOR: Turning Trees into Oil
May 7th, 2012 John Basalla The following post is the first by our new contributor, John Basalla, a CPA currently working in Tokyo who is interested in the business side of green technology. All his “Green Tech Company Spotlight” articles can be found at the following tag or on John’s page. What does KiOR do? KiOR is an alternative fuels [...]
Double Set of Five Friday Facts: Natural Gas Leads the Pack
April 13th, 2012 Eric Wilson When looking at which energy source provides the most energy to the American economy, natural gas topped the charts for 2010 (the most recent year for which data was fully available). Today’s set of facts looks at the breakdown of the various sources and follows up last week’s Five Friday Facts which looked at the [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Five Friday Facts, Renewable Energy Tags: Biomass, Coal, Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectricity, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Oil Consumption, Solar Energy, Wind Power No Comments »California and US are Top State and Country for Renewable Energy
March 13th, 2012 Eric Wilson Ernst and Young’s most recent quarterly Renewable Attractiveness report reveals that the United States has regained its top spot as the most attractive country for renewable energy. China had taken over in 2010. States, led by California, “were the driving force behind this shift, offering insight into the nation’s diverse renewable energy markets, energy infrastructures [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, News, Renewable Energy Tags: Biomass, California, Colorado, Solar Energy, Wind Power No Comments »MIT Study Details Future of Grid and Renewable Energy
March 12th, 2012 Eric Wilson A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) looked at what it deemed as “One of the most important emerging challenges facing the grid . . . the need to incorporate more renewable generation in response to policy initiatives at both state and federal levels.” At issue is the intermittent nature of many [...]
