Green Education: Clean Technology

  Car2go has opened up its first carsharing service in the UK, in London. (Note: it’s called a car club there.) The program will rent the Smart ForTwo cars for 35 pence (56 cents) a minute. “The free-floating carsharing service is already in operation in the 17th city worldwide and prices in London will be a bit higher than other places: 35 pence (about 56 US cents) a minute,” AutoBlog Green writes. Until the end of the … Read More Car2go Carsharing Program Opens In London was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the US Department of Energy (DOE) along with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore have officially launched the Solar Energy Research Institute for India and United States (SERIIUS) with $50 million collaboration to promote solar energy research. The research institute forms collaboration between academia and industry (from both countries) for the development of solar energy in both the countries. SERIIUS is a part of PACE program … Read More India, US Launch Solar Energy Research Institute With $50 Million Funding was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  I briefly interviewed Donn Pendergrass, the CEO of ATI Casting. ATI Casting is a firm headquartered in La Porte, Indiana that manufactures customer-specified gray and ductile iron castings, some of which are for wind turbines. Mr. Pendergrass made some interesting comments about the state of the wind industry and the impact that the longevity of wind energy PTCs (production tax credits) have on it. He said that the current 1 year PTC is too short … Read More A CEO’s Comments On Wind Tax Credit Longevity was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  A solar panel so small, light, thin, and flexible that you can stick it onto just about anything has been developed by engineers at Stanford University. The new peel and stick solar panels actually work more like those temporary tattoos that you apply with water, and there’s a bit of heating involved, so in terms of powering up your mobile devices, the technology is not quite as simple and convenient as popping in a new battery … Read More Peel & Stick Solar Panels: Game Over For Disposable Batteries… Eventually was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Many appliances exist to measure your electricity usage, but sometimes converting that statistic into a usable figure is difficult — we can’t always determine how many cents per kilojoule we’re using. Continuing the love for Indiegogo projects, we have another project looking for funding from ‘the crowd’: the MeterPlug. The MeterPlug plugs in between any appliance and the AC outlet and sends your consumption information to a smartphone application, which can then show you how … Read More Measuring Electricity Cost In Dollars was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  A major thin-film solar panel manufacturer, Stion Corp., recently announced that it had raised around $25 million to be used to increase the startup’s production level. The financing was led by Khosla Ventures and included nearly all of the company’s existing investors. “We may end up at the end of this round having all of them participate,” Frank Yang, Stion’s senior director of business development said. Some of the other major investors are: Taiwan … Read More Solar Panel Manufacturer Stion Corp Receives $25 Million To Expand Production Ability was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Water availability is an extremely critical and underacknowledged issue. I would actually consider it the most underrated issue of the day. The effects of global warming and climate change will be broad and devastating, but one of the largest of those will be threats to our water supplies. Furthermore, other factors also threaten our water supplies and have been for a long time, such as our current agricultural practices, population growth, and how we … Read More Our Water Crisis, And Important Solutions was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Some thorough studies done recently dispel the myth of there being more danger on bikes in comparison to cars — at least for young males in the UK, Netherlands, etc. Thank you to our English friends and researchers who studied the stats and found that young male bikers in the UK, 17-20, are safer on their bikes than in cars. These young cyclists are reportedly safer than young male drivers who face 5 times greater risk per hour of transport … Read More Cycling Proves To Be Safer For Young Adults Than Driving was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Many people assume that bicyclists are cheap and that having bike lanes located near their businesses won’t benefit them as much as extra parking would, but a newly released study from the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium directly contradicts that. Bike riders directly out-consumed automobile drivers during the course of the month-long study on everything except for groceries. The government in the already bike-friendly city Portland is currently planning to extend bicycle infrastructure … Read More Bicyclists Are Better For Local Economies Than Cars Are, Study Finds was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The Australian Government announced last week that CSIRO would be leading a new solar research initiative worth over $87 million AUD, an initiative which aims to lower the cost of solar thermal power from 25 cents a kilowatt hour down to 10 cents/kWh. CSIRO is set to partner with six Australian universities as well as the United States Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories, and Arizona State University. Their goal … Read More CSIRO To Lead New Solar Thermal Research Initiative was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  The British Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released a five-year plan for the solar and biomass industries in an attempt to give investors certainty on subsidy levels for the 2013–2017 period. “We want to see a healthy solar industry that grows in a sustainable way,” said Edward Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary. “That’s why our support levels reflect the fall in the cost of the technology.” Building-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) projects will … Read More Britain Set To Spur Solar & Biomass Energy was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Abundance Generation is a UK based company that has built something amazing: a ‘democratic finance’ platform, allowing ordinary (ie: not rich) people to invest as little as £5 (about $8) in renewable energy. This energy will power communities at more affordable prices, and pays back its investors at a rate that satisfies them. Abundance has just seen total investment in its projects exceed £1 million. Recently, I caught up with Abundance Director Bruce Davis … Read More Investments That Uphold The Christmas Spirit was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Excitingly, Momentum Dynamics Corporation has announced that it was able to wirelessly charge a Chevy Volt. The company also proudly noted that it provides the safety and all-weather automatic operation that wireless charging can offer. (The safety benefit is basically only outdoors, where the vehicle would be exposed to water.) Momentum Dynamics was able to provide 20,000 watts of power to the vehicle. Typical 120-volt, 15-amp power outlets cannot provide more than 1,800 watts of power, and … Read More A Wireless Car Charger for the Chevrolet Volt was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Fresh off the announcement of Tesla Motors’ first positive cash flow earlier this month, the groundbreaking US-based electric car company has just put out word of its European prices for the Tesla Model S. As we’ve learned to expect the unexpected with Tesla, though, in typical brash fashion it is breaking with convention and has tweaked its pricing structure so there won’t be any unaccounted-for differences between its US and European prices. One World, One Tesla Price Tesla’s … Read More Tesla Announces European Pricing — Same As US (Only Different) was originally published on: CleanTechnica

  Some call them “Balcony Power Plants.” They represent the first generation of what may be the future of micro/small residential solar systems. They are off-the-shelf DIY solar systems that require little to no technical skills nor any permits for their installation. “It’s as simple as putting together IKEA furniture,” says Holger Laudeley, the engineer who developed this new kind of modular all-in-one solar system. The radical new concept is as simple as it is … Read More Plug & Save – New DIY Solar Systems from Germany was originally published on: CleanTechnica