On October 15, 2009, the Canadian Embassy and the Alberta Office in Washington, D.C., the Alberta Solar Decathlon Team and Team North from Ontario/British Columbia will host a V.I.P. barbecue dinner, mini-trade fair and gallery exhibition in conjunction…

Image via: Author’s photo album

Today Akeena Solar and Morgan Stanley Solar Solutions Group announced their partnership, aimed at creating more jobs in the green-energy field, as well as improve the lives of low-income homeowners. But, Akeena Solar AC integrated solar panels also make it easier for first time installers to learn the system and get a job. Find out how. …

Photo via Moria

Batteries of two extremes have hit the news in the last week. One promises to be thinner than a piece of paper, perfect for cell phones and other hand held devices. The other promises to be huge and liquid, ideal for storing green energy like wind and solar. …

Pittsburgh’s plans to make itself into a hotbed for solar power and other green technology got a metaphorical fist bump last week with the visit of two cabinet secretaries to announce funding from the federal stimulus package.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $11 million green stimulus funding during their trip. They also toured a welding and heating and air conditioning training facility at Allegheny County Community College, where officials showed off the skills needed for energy efficient projects. Allegheny County  will get $8.1 million, City of Pittsburgh will receive $3.4 million out of a $3.2 billion pot being divvied up around the country.

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In my post Dear Deniers and Cranks: Earth Hour Made a Difference, I said “Gas and coal fired plants dial up and down all the time to adjust for peak load, so an event like Earth Hour is actually turning down the dirtiest fossil fuel burners, taking it right off the top.”

Many commenters disagreed, saying “Usage may have gone down but generation did not change. Generators have schedules and don’t react to a small change such as this.” and “Come on, man-up and own your mistake. The plants did not reduce output due to this, you know that.”

Are they right or am I?…

Here comes that “smart metering” thing again. With politicians and TreeHugger publicly praising “smart meters;” and, with GE networking a huge number of them in Houston Texas, it’s clear the day will soon come for retiring our ‘dumb meters’.

Ready. Set. GE Digital Energy reports it is under contract with Houston Texas electric power utility CenterPoint Energy, Inc. to supply wireless communications for an Advanced Metering System (AMS) serving millions. …

The sound’s a little low, but check out this video from the POET Energy ribbon-cutting ceremony for some background on the EPA and promotion of landfill gas use.

I’ve always found it ironic that facilities which make biofuels (and, to be fair, other renewable energy products as well) use a whole bunch of non-renewable energy to run them and distribute thei…

US Scientists have revealed how natural gas locked up in frozen water crystals could provide massive amounts of energy, and claim that it could even be totally emissions-free.

The astonishing claim was made by Tim Collett of the United States Geological Survey at last weeks national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Collett told the gathering that, to the naked eye, clathrate hydrate (CH) looks like everyday ice but, as well as being partly made of water, the molecules are also organised into “cages”, which trap individual molecules of methane.

Remarkably, a new method of extracting the methane and ’swapping’ it with carbon dioxide could turn the substance into a revolutionary carbon-neutral fossil fuel.

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Image via The Economist.

True, carbon capture and storage (CSS) technology is perceived by many environmentalists as a chimera – at best, too expensive to be widely utilized and at worst, an empty PR tool for “cle…

Researchers at New Mexico State University are testing a relatively inexpensive plumbing retrofit that could help buildings capture relatively clean graywater from plumbing before it hits the sewers, and reuse it onsite for outdoor watering.  It’s a green four-for-one: the NMSU graywater system conserves water, relieves sewer systems of excess flow, fosters tree growth to cool buildings, and reduces stormwater runoff by improving soil and vegetation.

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