Green Education: Clean Technology

With a strong bicycle culture starting to emerge around the world, bikes are starting to replace other vehicles for a wide variety of purposes. You can now count ice cream trucks among those. Cargo bikes are the perfect fit for this kind of mobile, small-scale business. In all likelihood, switching from a gas-powered vehicle to a bike cuts down on costs greatly, while allowing easy access to many areas that larger vehicles simply can’t get … Read More Cargo Bikes Taking Over Where Ice Cream Trucks Left Off was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

In a potentially breakthrough discovery, researchers at Northwestern University have designed a new type of organic solar cell that will very likely lead to much higher efficiency and cheaper solar power. The new cell design is based around a new geometrical pattern to be used in the ‘scattering layer’ of a solar cell, which works to keep the light trapped in the cell for longer. The specific geometrical pattern was obtained by using a mathematical … Read More Organic Solar Cells Receiving Big Boost In Efficiency Thanks To ‘Evolution-Inspired’ Algorithm was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

I almost never use the same title as original posts when I repost, but there’s not a better fit for this one. Enjoy this thoughtful repost by Peter Sinclair (of Climate Denial Crock of the Week fame): ”I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.” – attributed to Franklin Roosevelt Call me a sap. I believe Obama. Like just about everyone reading this, I’ve been more than disappointed at the … Read More Why I Believe Obama On Climate was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

A community energy storage (CES) system has been installed in North York, in Toronto, Canada. It is a delight to write about community energy projects, as they bring money to local communities, and sometimes employment. This one provides direct backup (as opposed to power station backup) and facilitates a reliable supply of electricity right there in North York. This project will improve the reliability of Toronto’s electricity grid for multiple reasons: It can provide North York … Read More Community Energy Storage Installed In North York, Canada was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Cycling is getting cooler and more respected (aside from the whole Lance Armstrong debacle). From NBA superstars to Toronto doctors, integrating biking into everyday life is becoming the norm. And most people wear clothes while they pedal, so H&M has gotten with London’s cycle shop Brick Lane Bikes to create a menswear collection for urban cyclists that will be launched in March. According to H&M, the 11 piece collection will be available in 180 stores worldwide … Read More H&M and Brick Lane Bikes Collaborate On Menswear Collection was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Europe’s largest car manufacturer has turned on their largest solar power plant, but it isn’t located in Germany – it’s in Tennessee. The 9.5 MW solar park covers 33 acres near Chattanooga and generates about 13% of the energy used by the Volkswagen plant during production. When manufacturing is not taking place, the photovoltaic (PV) system will provide all the plant’s electricity. This particular plant focuses on building Passats for sale in the United States. … Read More Volkswagen Launches Largest Solar Power Plant was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

I love rankings as much as the next guy, and as a cleantech fanatic, I especially love the rankings of states, countries, companies, etc. that show who’s leading in solar power or wind power installations. However, what are often more important than absolute figures are relative figures. By looking at who’s leading relative to various important metrics, we can focus in on who has great policies and who has horrible policies (and who has mediocre … Read More Top Solar Power States (Per Capita) was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Electricity from rooftop solar is now very cheap in Australia compared to grid power. But just how much solar electricity costs a household over the life of a system is not an easy question to answer, as it depends on location, the cost of capital, feed-in tariffs, and other factors. As a service to readers, and to keep my parole officer happy, I have spent a lot of time this week crunching numbers to determine … Read More Cost Of Electricity From Rooftop Solar By Australian State — Super Low was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

The world’s largest furniture retailer, the IKEA group, recently revealed its plans to greatly increase its investment in renewable energy. It is planning to double its current investment by 2020, bringing the total up to $4 billion dollars, and receiving 100% of the energy consumed at its stores and by its subcontractors from renewable sources by the same date. The decision was made, in part, as a way to reduce costs, helping the company to … Read More IKEA Planning To Double Its Investment In Renewable Energy By 2020 was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with a low-cost way to manufacture high-grade silicon, based on a concept familiar to anyone who has tried to make rock candy at home. If the breakthrough can be translated into a commercially viable process, it would make ultra-cheap solar tech like V3Solar’s Spin Cell (which we were just raving about the other day) even cheaper. Ironically, funding for the research project came from the American … Read More New “Rock Candy” Silicon Could Make Ultra-Cheap Solar Power Even Cheaper was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Recently, SolarCity celebrated the one year anniversary of Sheaxero, which is helping home owners to save on money and the planet. In a partnership with Shea Homes to create the “no electric bill home,” the program is giving owners of 517 homes in five states — Nevada, Arizona, California, Washington, and Florida — a big opportunity to save some real money. According to the press release, home owners will see savings around $500,000 per year, … Read More SolarCity & Shea Homes Celebrate SheaXero was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

BYD, China’s electric car manufacturer has won a bid to provide its fleet of e6 electric vehicles to the Shenzen police department in China. The purchase of BYD’s fleet of vehicles in Shenzen is just a part of a broader movement towards sustainable transportation in China, as the country aims for five million electric vehicles on the road by 2020, according to Autoblog Green. Meanwhile, BYD is helping the southern Chinese city in its on-going quest to … Read More Shenzen Police Department Adding 500 BYD e6 Vehicles was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Most health professionals agree that cycling is good for health, but Toronto doctors are going a step further and arguing that bike lanes save lives. Dr. Tomislav Svoboda has released an open letter asking the Toronto city council to save lives by installing more bike lanes. This isn’t the first time Svoboda has been vocal about his opposition to city officials’ lack of cycling support. The good doctor has an arrest record for civil disobedience … Read More Toronto Doctors Argue Bike Lanes Save Lives was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Alta Devices and Crystal Solar made business headlines this week, a good sign there's more to come in the way of making solar power yet more affordable and commonplace. Read More Up And Coming Solar PV Innovators Aim To Grow Markets, Drive Costs Even Lower was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.

Europe appears to be exhibiting a phenomenon dubbed as “car-peak” by Morgan Stanley researchers. This phenomenon is the decline of car usage, which can also cause a decline in car demand. There are multiple possible causes for such decline, including culture changes, high gasoline prices, economic hardship, increased environmental awareness, population decline, and severe traffic congestion. As for causes that may apply specifically to Europe: There has been population decline in Europe, high gasoline prices, increased … Read More Has Europe Attained “Peak-Car” Status? was originally published on: CleanTechnica. To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 30,000 others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.