Alternative Energy News Archives

Entrepreneur outlines obstacles to wind energy’s growth in region ★★

Andrew Falk, an entrepreneur in the wind energy industry, outlines how there are some real obstacles facing new power generating projects in the United States, like simply trying to get the power to the grid: There is already a long line of proposed, large-scale, coal-fired power plant projects lined up in the queue. In addition he said that systems are designed to deliver power from single source, large power plants to markets many miles away, and this isn't ideal for wind systems.

Tagged: minnesota, turbines, united states, wind | permalink | Read Original Article »

Philippine Department of Energy: Alternative fuels safe ★

Philippine Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla released a statement to assure local car assemblers that the use of coco-biodiesel and bio-ethanol would not put local vehicle users at a disadvantage.

There is a proposed mandatory blending of 1-percent coco-methyl ester (SME) with diesel and 10-percent ethanol with gasoline on the table and there were concerns that it did not comply with the recommendations of the World Wide Fuel Charter (WWFC).

The mandatory blending of bio-fuels into diesel and gasoline is crucial to the government’s goal of achieving energy independence from imported petroleum products. It is vital in creating a sustained market for local manufacturers of bio-fuels, as well as local planters of the feedstock used for bio-fuels

Tagged: bioethanol, biofuels, coco-biodiesel, philippines | permalink | Read Original Article »

Jefferson task force to look at energy options ★

Residents of a neighboorhood in Maryland are looking at ways to bring microgeneration to the homes in their area, and have put together a task force to sort out how to go about it, with the aim of using one home as a demonstration project and then growing as demand comes in.

Tagged: alternative energy, Microgeneration | permalink | Read Original Article »

MIT powers up new battery for hybrid cars ★

A report entitled Electrodes with High Power and High Capacity for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries published in the February 17th edition of Science magazine outlines how lithium nickel manganese oxide could revolutionize the hybrid car industry.

They say that the batteries can charge or discharge in about 10 minutes, which is roughly 10 times faster than the unmodified lithium nickel manganese oxide, but also that manufacturing costs need to be lowered in order for the materiel to be commercially viable.

Tagged: hybrid, lithium | permalink | Read Original Article »

Israeli Solar Startup Shines ★

A story about Israeli solar startup Solel, who use solar troughs to generate energy, which they claim at the moment stands at about 10 cents -- that's on par with the cost of electricity at a newly constructed gas plant, based on the current natural-gas prices.

The company operates 9 power plants in the Mojave desert which output 350MW of electricity, and it says that as it improves the efficiency of its heat-collection elements it could get the price down to 6 cents to 7 cents per kilowatt hour.

Tagged: california, israel, solar trough | permalink | Read Original Article »