Green Education: Clean Technology

  Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa P. Jackson has announced that she will step down after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in January. Jackson, 50, has faced strong opposition from the GOP while heading the EPA, with continual threats of EPA defunding. She also had to accept Obama’s order to delay smog regulations prior to the 2012 election. Some of the wins the EPA has had under Jackson include the push … Read More EPA Head Lisa Jackson To Leave Post In 2013 was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  This is a guest post by one of our regular, cleantech-obsessed readers, David Fuchs. Clearly, David thinks he’s on to something big. Enjoy the article! For years, the production of energy has fascinated me. Over the past 20 years, I have experimented with solar cells made via inkjet printer, a hydraulically coupled compressor and turbine based on Tesla’s turbine, vertical wind turbines, high-temperature cracking of water, high COP heat pumps, all the different varieties of Stirling engines, … Read More Using Thermodynamics & 100-Year-Old Technology To Break The $20 Per MWh Barrier was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The upcoming Super Bowl will be hosted by the city of New Orleans on February 3, 2013. Before the big event, the city hopes to have at least 150 solar-powered trash compactors installed. This number could be expanded to 242, but the bids and contracts haven’t been finalized yet. The new trash compactors would be installed in the French Quarter, where tourists typically gather in very large numbers and generate much trash. The solar-powered … Read More New Orleans May Get 242 Solar Trash Cans was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  General Motor’s Vauxhall UK division is offering a 30-day satisfaction guarantee, which allows buyers to return their Vauxhall Ampera vehicles within the first 30 days of purchasing them with “no questions asked.” The car is essentially a Chevy Volt but for Europe. It has a few minor differences, such as an additional ten miles of electric range, and a total of 360 miles of range when using the built-in gas-powered generator. It also offers … Read More Vauxhall Ampera Has A “Love It Or Return It” Offer was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  It seems as if every time a new EV is released, it trounces its predecessors. The RAV4 EV accelerates from zero to sixty miles per hour in 7 seconds, can travel 103 miles per charge, and gets 76 miles per gallon. SUVs normally cannot achieve such a combination of qualities. Especially not such high efficiency and decent performance. Toyota is now offering the 2012 RAV4 EV for $49,800. However, it is also offering incentives … Read More Toyota Offering Incentives up to $7,500 for RAV4 EV was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Here’s an electric scooter company I don’t think we’ve featured yet — Z Electric Vehicle (ZEV). Before sharing some of its vehicles, here’s an interesting note from the website linked above: ZEV offers free test rides at our demonstration site near Pittsburgh, Pa. If you decide to purchase, we will pay for your plane ticket or auto gasoline. Come and drive. Meet the people behind the brand, talk to the engineers. We will meet you up … Read More Electric Scooters From ZEV was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  2012 has been a record-breaking year for utility-sized solar power installations. Utility-scaled solar installations this year reached 8.5 gigawatts (GW), according to a recent PV-Tech article. The preliminary data from Wiki-Solar noted that newly installed power plants exceeding 10 megawatts (MW) in size have so far reached a total installed capacity of 3 GW in 2012, far more than 2011’s 2.3 GW. Meanwhile Euro and US companies were leading the way in utility-sized installations, with … Read More 2012 Record Year For Utility-Solar Installations was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  One of the key factors standing between algae biofuel and the real world of market-competitive energy is something that has a lot in common with the common cold, and that is bacteria. The tiny little buggers can interfere with an efficient growth process and they really go to work as soon as algae is harvested, which shortens its shelf life and makes storage and transportation a dicey proposition. However, while a cure for the common cold … Read More Algae Biofuel Breakthrough Hinges On Common Bacteria was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The 21MW Auwahi Wind Farm has been completed in the southern part of Maui. It is located on the Ulupalakua Ranch in Kula. This area is near the mountain of Haleakala and is at nearly 2,000 feet. (It is less commercially developed than the Lahaina side of the island.) There are eight Siemens AG turbines and a 10-megawatt storage system at the site. Power generated by it will go to the Maui Electric Company … Read More Wind Farm Completed In Maui was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  This is a post that was shared with me quite awhile back and offered up for reposting. Thanks to Christmas, I finally got the time to take a look and repost it. Enjoy! Community Power: Renewing Communities Through Renewables A joint article by  Samantha Go and Devika Narayan, SolSolution  Mümtaz Derya Tarhan, The Community Power Report Who would have a better understanding of a community’s needs than community members themselves? And who can come up with … Read More Community Power: Renewing Communities Through Renewable Energy was originally published on: CleanTechnica

Energy efficiency programs have cut power demand and saved New England $260 in transmission upgrades, according to regional grid operator ISO-New England. Read More Energy Efficiency Saves New England $260 Million In Transmission Costs was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Thank you New Energy News for keeping us in time and in tune with the happenings of reindeer. Forget the troubles of the day, forget what the paparazzi does to the private lives of stars, just take a moment to unwind with Lapland’s Reindeer and New Zealand’s children. How enchanting to refresh oneself with views of the sweet children from Wellington, New Zealand and to hear the voices of wind turbine technicians as they share with … Read More On Dancer, Prancer, Rudolf, And Other Reindeer Resting On Wind Turbines was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  In Britain, there is an incentive to encourage people to ride their bicycles to work. It is called the “Cycle to Work” scheme. Under this scheme, prospective cyclists can end up paying up to 40% less than the original price of the bike they want to purchase, but this funding is capped at £1,000 ($1,600) per bike. The employer actually pays the full price of the bike at first, but the employee repays this … Read More “Cycle To Work” Scheme Improves Participants’ Health & Reduces Pollution was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The San Miguel Power Association Community Solar Array, the largest community-owned solar facility in the country, is now officially open. At its location in southwestern Colorado, the 1.1MW solar array provides power to more than 200 homes. According to Paul Spencer, the CEO and the founder of the Clean Energy Collective (CEC), this project shows that the ease and affordability of the community-owned but utility-scale model is going to have a large effect on … Read More Biggest Community-Owned Solar Array In US Now Online was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The Sinohydro Group, a Chinese hydroelectric dam builder, has approved plans to construct a 40-megawatt photovoltaic solar farm in the Chinese province of Gansu. Located in the northwest of the country, the Gansu province lies between the Tibuetan and Huangtu plateaus. It borders Mongolia. Sinohydro’s board of directors has approved an investment of RMB443 million ($71.1 million) in the 40MW PV plant, which is part of a larger renewable energy plan that will also see … Read More Chinese Hydro Developer Invests in 40MW PV Farm was originally published on: CleanTechnica