Ryan Pollin, ERS, for Zondits. April 27, 2016. Image credit: Foundry Energy storage is getting simpler, and Advanced Rail Energy Storage (ARES) is well on the way to its first full-scale deployment. The most basic energy storage system thus far is probably pumped hydro storage: push water uphill to “charge the battery,” and let it flow … Read more
AEP Ohio Agrees to Retailer TOU Program Concurrent with Smart Meter Rollout Energy Manager Today, April 11, 2016. Image credit: pagaling AEP Ohio has entered into a Joint Stipulation and Recommendation Agreement under which the utility would complete phase two of its gridSMART deployment program and would allow the billing of Time of Use (TOU) rates by … Read more
Stop & Shop using inedibles to generate DC power Supermarket News, April 19, 2016. Image credit: dawnfu Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. said it is converting inedible food into energy to help power its distribution center in Freetown, Mass., at a new green energy facility. The company said the 12,000-square-foot facility, which opened on April 15 is … Read more
As Renewables Boom, Companies Explore Energy Storage Technology NPR, April 4, 2016 Batteries can store energy for later, but companies are looking for cheaper alternatives. Three reporters examine technologies that employ air, salt and ice. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Renewable energy like solar and wind is finally coming of age. Costs are way down. Of course, … Read more
Partners Reach Efficiency Milestone With n-PERT Solar Cells Electronics Weekly, April 14, 2016. Image credit: juliacasado1 Belgium-based nanoelectronics research center Imec and Crystal Solar, a California-based company focused on direct wafer-growing technologies, say they have achieved a 22.5% cell efficiency with n-type PERT (passivated emitter, rear totally diffused) silicon solar cells manufactured on six-inch mono-crystalline epitaxially … Read more
The hydrogen city: clean, green & another nail in the fossil fuel coffin The Fifth Estate, April 12, 2016. Image credit: brainbuffet Hydrogen produces only water and heat when burnt and, if made using renewable fuels, is zero carbon. Leeds in the UK is investigating the potential to convert its natural gas to hydrogen in a … Read more
The Anbaric Microgrid Strategy Cleantechnica, March 31, 2016. Image credit: Tama66 Entrepreneurial opportunities for microgrid operators Wakefield, Massachusetts-based Anbaric has grown into one of this nation’s microgrid innovators. The company has developed from scratch more than $1.5 billion in independent transmission projects to date. The company outlines its production and distribution strategy as follows: A microgrid is centered … Read more
Jesse Remillard, ERS, for Zondits. April 5, 2016. Image credit: ColiN00B Zondits spoke with Michael Hopkins, the CEO of Ice Energy, a Santa Barbara energy storage company which makes smart ice batteries called Ice Bears. These specially designed storage systems are equipped with a reservoir for storing thermal energy in the form of ice, which is … Read more
Waiting for a Rockefeller: Meet the Next `Supermajors’ of Energy Bloomberg, April 3, 2016. Image credit: geralt Clean power remains a tumultuous and fragmented business, crowded with companies grabbing for slices of an emerging market that aspires to reshape how the world meets its energy needs. They rise and fall as technology advances and demand seesaws. … Read more
This chart shows the United States’ mind-blowing clean energy potential Grist, March 30, 2016. Image credit: Greyerbaby The United States uses about 3.7 million gigawatt-hours of electricity each year. That’s an unfathomably huge number. But the next time someone tries to make the argument that 100 percent renewable energy is out of reach for the U.S., show them this image: … Read more