2Feb

Would the solar industry be better off without government support?

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Would the solar industry be better off without government support

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The UK’s only Green MP, Caroline Lucas, takes to the pages of The Guardian to launch a broadside against the UK Government’s investment policy in relation to solar energy.

The UK Government this week lost an appeal in the High Court against a lower court’s ruling that its retrospective attempt to change the solar feed-in tariff rates imposed by the previous Labour Government was “legally flawed”. The Cameron Government had tried to reduce the rates before the agreed consultation period had expired.

The court’s decision is considered to be a victory for the UK solar industry however the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) is threatening to take the case to the Supreme Court. The future of solar investment therefore remains in an unhealthy limbo.

Intriguingly the Hon. Ms Lucas touches on a theme returned to often in these pages: certainty.

(more…)

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1Feb

Solar car hits U.S. in round-the-world jaunt

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Solar car hits U.S. in round-the-world jaunt

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Last October, the SolarWorld GT solar-powered car set out from Darwin, Australia on a drive around the world. It has since driven 3,001 kilometers (1,865 miles) across Australia, logged 1,947 km (1,210 miles) crossing New Zealand and been shipped across the Pacific Ocean. This Friday, it will embark on the U.S. leg of its journey, as it sets out across America from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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1Feb

Will future smartphones come without chargers?

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Will future smartphones come without chargers

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Smartphones of today

The world of cellphones is expanding with new models being launched almost every day. Back in 1973, when the first cellphone was made; it was a bulky object with not many functions other than that of making and receiving calls. Now, cellphones have become like mini computers with multipurpose cameras, capable of storing substantial amounts of data, recording videos and music, linking to the internet, playing games and a whole host of other features. These phones fall under the category of smartphones owing to their intelligent capabilities. So essential have they become to consumers that the third quarter of the year 2011 saw 115 million units of these phones being sold worldwide.

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1Feb

Run-of-the-River Hydropower Goes With the Flow

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Run-of-the-River Hydropower Goes With the Flow

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In recent years, run-of-the-river hydropower projects have emerged as a viable, low-impact alternative to existing large-scale projects. Run-of-the-river facilities use conventional hydropower technology to produce electricity by diverting river flow through turbines that spin generators – before returning water back to the river downstream.

So what is the market potential of this type of small-scale technology and how best can governments and policy makers support its ongoing development?

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1Feb

A Wave Power Generator with a Twist: It Generates Electricity On Dry Land

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A Wave Power Generator with a Twist It Generates Electricity On Dry Land

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A relatively new* type of reciprocating wave-powered electricity generator called Searaser has been developed and is moving forward. Searaser, acquired by Ecotricity, is not a typical wave power plant.

The first peculiarity is that it does not generate electricity out at sea. Due to the fact that waves move up and down in the ocean, they can continuously move a float attached to a reciprocating pump that can pump water through a water-powered onshore electricity generator for the sake of keeping the electrical parts of the system out of the water.

As Damian Carrington of The Guardian notes, its is a bit like an aquatic “bicycle pump.”

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31Jan

17 Years Pakistani Student Invents World’s Cheapest Way to Produce Electricity

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17 Years Pakistani Student Invents World’s Cheapest Way to Produce Electricity

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17 Years Old Pakistani College Student Shahzaib Hussain from Quetta figures out a away to produce electricity with Earth’s Magnetic Field. He said that this is the world’s cheapest way to produce electric from earth’s magnetic field. Shahzaib Hussain also invited in the US in World’s 1500 Intelligent students competition. Shahzaib Hussain studying in Army Public School & College Quetta.

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31Jan

D-Hotel: Historic Belgian Windmill Transformed into a Modern Retreat

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D-Hotel Historic Belgian Windmill Transformed into a Modern Retreat

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Dutch firm Govaert and Vanhoutte Architects have transformed a beautiful windmill and adjacent farm building into the innovative D-hotel in Kortijk. An iconic symbol of the Netherlands, the windmill rises on a farm site around a series of buildings formerly used on the farm, which are met by modern glass block structures. The adaptive reuse project is decorated with themes focused around art, film and music, and it won the architects third place in Hotel Et Lodge magazine’s international competition.
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30Jan

Co-Locating Solar and Wind Power Farms: Can Two Renewable Energy Sources Be Better Than One?

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Co-Locating Solar and Wind Power Farms Can Two Renewable Energy Sources Be Better Than One

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The intermittent, yet often complementary, nature of wind and solar energy has long been observed and increasingly remarked upon of late. Minnesota’s Ecos Energy is looking to take advantage of that by building the state’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) array on a 13-acre site in southwestern Minnesota, home to more wind farms than any other region state-wide, the StarTribune reports.

At 2-megawatts (MW), the solar power array can’t be considered large by any stretch, but it’s expected to provide enough electricity for 340 homes, about as much as a single wind turbine. Yet more significantly, Ecos Energy’s Slayton project will provide some trailblazing data as to whether or not intermittent solar energy and wind turbine arrays can be used in tandem to provide a more consistent supply of power to the grid.

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28Jan

Zero Energy Home helps say goodbye to energy bills forever

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Zero Energy Home helps say goodbye to energy bills forever

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Denver-based New Town Builders have created a net zero energy house that has been designed to save a lot of energy and help preserve precious resource. The Zero Energy Home will leave eco lovers in a state of complete amazement as it takes energy efficiency to an all new scale.

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28Jan

Clean Energy Executives Say Grid Parity Without Subsidies Could Be Just 3 Years Away

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Some of the largest countries on Earth made it clear this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that, in many cases, renewable energy is just a few years away from reaching grid parity with fossil fuels without subsidies. Worldwide investment in renewable energy totaled $187 billion in 2010, while investment in coal and natural gas was $157 billion. With government subsidies worldwide in jeopardy because of financial woes, the International Energy Agency says countries should hold on for just a few more years until renewables catch up to emissions-laden power companies — which could happen as early as 2015 — after which, it is anyone’s game.

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