By using fuel cells, researchers think there's a chance to power a laptop for days or even weeks on end. Source: http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/apple-looking-at-powering-macbooks-with-fuel-cells.html
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Apple Looking At Powering MacBooks with Fuel Cells
By using fuel cells, researchers think there's a chance to power a laptop for days or even weeks on end. 
Dec 7, Go solar: Harnessing the sun with the help of cities: Solar Energy: Eco20/20
Modernization and industrialization is taking place at a very large scale and with it comes the increased dependence on nonrenewable sources of energy such as crude oil, coal, and gas. All this is leading to an alarming rise in CO2 emissions and is adversely affecting our environment.
Source: http://www.eco20-20.com/Go-solar-Harnessing-the-sun-with-the-help-of-cities.html
Renewable Energy Recap: China
Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need to know where the next big market is going to be so that they can adjust their business decisions accordingly.Source: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/12/renewable-energy-recap-china?cmpid=rss
German Village Embraces Alternative Energy and Becomes Global Model
One village in Germany is producing more energy than it needs. Best of all, it?s alternative energy sourced from clean sources. Wildpoldsried, located in the southern German region known as Bavaria and where 2,600 people live, produces 321 per cent more energy than it needs. As a result, it can make money out of this [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EnergyrefugecomBlog/~3/uPF83jezfPk/
Friday, December 30, 2011
German Solar Company Enters U.S. Market
Gehrlicher Solar, a German solar energy company that entered the U.S. market in late 2010, has already completed two systems and has six more under construction. The company is headquartered in Springfield, NJ. ?The expansion into the U.S. market has been an important strategic goal for the Gehrlicher group?, explains Dr. Stefan Parhofer, CEO of [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EnergyrefugecomBlog/~3/U8A_Kg7iL6I/
'Clumsy' handling of solar subsidy cuts may have 'fatally damaged' industry
Halving of feed-in tariff payments for solar energy were 'rushed' and don't make economic sense, say MPs
The government's rush to cut a subsidy for people who generate solar electicity on their roofs was clumsily handled and may have fatally damaged a growing industry which had the potential to provide tens of thousands of jobs, says a new report by MPs on two influential select committees.
By giving both consumers and companies just a few weeks' notice that they intended to halve solar "feed-in tariffs" (FiTs) from 43.3p to 21p paid per kWh of energy generated, they have created uncertainty among investors and undermined public confidence in energy policy, said the MPs.
"There is no question that solar subsidies needed to be urgently reduced, but the government has handled this clumsily. Ministers should have spotted the solar gold rush much earlier. That way subsidy levels could have been reduced in a more orderly way without delivering such a shock to the industry," said Tim Yeo, chair of the energy and climate change committee.
In addition, plans to require homes to meet a C-rated energy efficiency standard before they can receive subsidies will limit access to wealthier households and could have a "fatal impact" on the industry, the MPs warn. Eighty six per cent of homes would need to be better insulated before they could qualify for the scheme under the government's proposals ? increasing up-front costs for homeowners by between �5,600 and �14,000, even before the panels are purchased, they said.
Joan Walley, chair of the environmental audit committee said: "It doesn't make economic sense to let the sun go down on the solar industry in the UK. As well as helping to cut carbon emissions, every panel that is installed brings in VAT for the government and every company that benefits from the support is keeping people in work. The government is right to encourage people to focus on saving energy before fitting solar panels, but these proposals will stop nine out of 10 installations from going ahead, which will have a devastating effect on hundreds of solar companies and small building firms installing these panels across the country."
Rising energy bills and the falling cost of solar panels made the original subsidy rates so attractive that tens of thousands of households, companies and community groups have rushed to install photo-voltaic (PV) systems since the scheme was introduced last year. The government had evidence that solar panel prices were falling significantly as early as March 2011, but ministers did not act to stem rocketing levels of small scale solar installations until the end of October.
According to the MPs, the consultation then announced by the government was based on an inadequate impact assessment and unfairly set a 12 December deadline for changes to come into effect before the close of the consultation on 23 December. The scale and pace of the changes proposed was a shock for the solar industry and the suddenness of their introduction has damaged investor confidence across the whole energy sector, the MPs said.
The government has proposed an even lower tariff (80% of the new rate) for generators who have more than one solar system registered for FiTs, in recognition of the economics of scale such aggregated schemes can achieve. This, said the MPs, will have an adverse impact on community solar projects.
"This could have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged and poorer communities for whom such schemes are a good way of accessing the benefits of renewable energy and reducing electricity costs. The social housing sector and community owned schemes are going to be particularly hard hit by the reduced tariffs being brought in by the government retrospectively," said the MPs.
Separately, on Wednesday, government plans to cut incentive payments for householders who install solar panels were ruled "legally flawed" by a high court judge. The ruling opens the door for a judicial review that could force the government to delay its plans, potentially allowing thousands more people to claim the higher subsidy.
The judgment on Wednesday comes after a challenge by Friends of the Earth and two solar companies who argued that the government's decision to cut the feed-in tariff ? from 43.3p to 21p per kWh of energy generated ? with only a few weeks' notice was premature and unlawful, and had led to unfinished or planned projects being abandoned.
Many thousands of individuals, farmers, councils and community groups had applied to install solar PV to take advantage of the generous subsidy which had been set deliberately high to encourage people to invest, when the scheme was launched in April 2010.
But the government announced in October that it would cut the subsidy with effect from 12 December. This was 11 days before the consultation ended.
The judgment, made by Mr Justice Mitting after a two-day court hearing, was hailed as a major victory by green campaigners and the solar industry, after firms warned that the scale and pace of the proposed cuts would have a crippling effect on the sector resulting in thousands of job losses.
Mitting said the minister was proposing to make an unlawful decision.
Friends of the Earth's executive director, Andy Atkins, said: "These botched and illegal plans have cast a huge shadow over the solar industry, jeopardising thousands of jobs. We hope this ruling will prevent ministers rushing through damaging changes to clean energy subsidies ? giving solar firms a much-needed confidence boost.
Lawyers for the Department of Energy and Climate Change immediately moved to apply for permission to appeal the judge's ruling.
The MPs' report and court ruling follows the decision by BP to close its solar division, blaming the "commoditisation" of the sector. It emerged this week that Mike Petrucci, chief executive of BP Solar, wrote to his remaining 100 staff last week to say that "the continuing global economic challenges have significantly impacted the solar industry, making it difficult to sustain long-term returns for the company."
?�This article's headline and structure were amended on 22 December
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/22/feed-in-tariffs-solar-subsidy
Surveillance Drone for The 99%: Occupy Wall Street Protesters To Monitor Police
Handheld technology and live-streaming has allowed the public to witness the growth of the movement. Next up: a surveillance drone -- for the "99 percent"? Source: http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/occucopter-surveillance-drone-occupy-wall-street.html
Green measures will not lead to 'astronomical' energy bills: analysis
Household energy bills will rise by �190 by 2020, but charges for renewables and energy efficiency measures will contribute just �110 of the increase, UK government climate advisers calculate
Household energy bills will rise by �190 by the end of the decade, according to an analysis published on Thursday by the government's official climate change advisers. But fears of "astronomical" rises as a result of building a clean energy system for the UK have been rejected by the report, which says charges on future bills for renewable energy and energy efficiency will contribute just �110 of the increase.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) calculates that the total rise could be just �25 if the full energy savings can be delivered by insulating lofts and cavity walls and replacing inefficient refrigerators and washing machines.
Some reports have suggested bills will rises up to �3,000 by 2020, up from �1,060 in 2010, the typical bill for homes that use electricity, and gas for heating.
"There have been claims that there will be astronomical bill rises in the next decade due to low-carbon policies. Our analysis disproves this," said David Kennedy, chief executive of the CCC. "We want to demystify this issue and have an honest debate based on facts not assertions."
Previous bills for gas and electricity rose by �455 between 2004 and 2010, the CCC found, and 84% of this rise was due to the soaring cost of gas on international markets. Green measures have added �75.
Investing in low-carbon energy was the "sensible economic path" said Kennedy. "It will be very expensive to solve the problem [of cutting carbon emissions] later. We could ignore the issue and build gas plants, but then we will end up with lots of power stations we will have to scrap."
"There has been a concerted effort by some campaign groups to completely mislead the public into believing that green taxes have been the main cause of rises in fuel bills," said Bob Ward, at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at London School of Economics. "These groups, including the Global Warming Policy Foundation and the Taxpayers' Alliance, appear driven by an extreme ideological opposition to environmental regulation, and have sought to confuse and misinform the public with blatantly inflated figures."
The CCC's analysis was conducted independently of the government, but reached a similar conclusion. A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "The CCC is correct in their analysis that past bill increases are primarily due to increased wholesale gas costs. This underlines why it is so important that we reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels and protect our homes and businesses from international fossil fuel price shocks."
The CCC said the uncertainties in �110 expected to be added to bills for low-carbon measures were small, but that uncertainties on whether energy efficiency could be delivered were much greater. "The challenge for the government is to put measures in place to encourage people to improve their energy efficiency," said Kennedy.
The CCC says energy use could be cut by 6% by 2020 by properly lagging the millions of lofts in the UK which have no or inadequate insulation, and filling the millions of empty cavity walls. But its report argues there is a much greater opportunity from the replacement of old and inefficient refrigerators and washing machines. If these white goods are replaced at the end of their useful lives with efficient devices, energy use could be cut by 19%. "They are not much more expensive and you will save a lot of energy and money," said Kennedy.
Kennedy said one of the errors made by other analyses was to suggest that 30GW of wind turbines would be built by 2020 ? the equivalent of around 30 nuclear power stations. The official objective of the government and the recommendation of the CCC is 12GW.
"This report shows that wild speculation on bill increases has been nothing but scaremongering," said Doug Parr from Greenpeace.
Nick Molho, at WWF-UK said: "It's great the CCC has injected a note of sanity into the fevered debate around household energy bills and confirmed what everyone knew ? the cost of fossil fuels are forcing up energy bills."
He added: "It is the UK power sector's heavy reliance on gas and other fossil fuels ? not renewable energy ? which has overwhelmingly driven recent price hikes. The reality is that renewables offer us the best chance to diversify our energy sources away from our excessive over-reliance on gas and to create a substantial renewable energy industry here in the UK."
Separately, a new YouGov poll published on Wednesday revealed that 60% of the public think the "government is right to subsidise windfarms to encourage more use of wind power". Three-quarters of the public said the government should be looking to use more solar power, although ministers have recently slashed solar subsidies.
guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/15/clean-energy-bills
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