Work begins on largest North American fuel cell – Natural Gas to Electricity

See on Scoop.itGreen Energy Technologies & Development

Dominion, one of the US’ largest energy companies, and FuelCell Energy Inc have begun construction of the largest fuel cell power project in North America.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell, which is being built next to the Interstate 95 motorway and the Northeast rail corridor, will produce 14.9 megawatts of clean energy, enough to power approximately 15,000 homes. It will use an electro-chemical process that converts natural gas into electricity.<

 

See on www.renewableenergyfocus.com

Russia Warns Obama: Global War Over “Bee Apocalypse” | EUTimes.net

See on Scoop.itGreen & Sustainable News

The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting this past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders “extreme outrage” over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing “bee apocalypse” that the Kremlin warns “will most certainly” lead to world war.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>At the center of this dispute between Russia and the US, this MNRE report says, is the “undisputed evidence” that a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically related to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, are destroying our planets bee population, and which if left unchecked could destroy our world’s ability to grow enough food to feed its population.

So grave has this situation become, the MNRE reports, the full European Commission (EC) this past week instituted a two-year precautionary ban (set to begin on 1 December 2013) on these “bee killing” pesticides following the lead of Switzerland, France, Italy, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine, all of whom had previously banned these most dangerous of genetically altered organisms from being used on the continent.

[…]

Also to note about Syngenta, this report continues, is that in 2012 it was criminally charged in Germany for concealing the fact that its genetically modified corn killed cattle, and settled a class-action lawsuit in the US for $105 million after it was discovered they had contaminated the drinking supply of some 52 million Americans in more than 2,000 water districts with its “gender-bending” herbicide Atrazine.

To how staggeringly frightful this situation is, the MNRE says, can be seen in the report issued this past March by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) wherein they warned our whole planet is in danger, and as we can, in part, read:  “As part of a study on impacts from the world’s most widely used class of insecticides, nicotine-like chemicals called neonicotinoids, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has called for a ban on their use as seed treatments and for the suspension of all applications pending an independent review of the products’ effects on birds, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, and other wildlife.<

See on www.eutimes.net

US team’s battery ‘breakthrough’

See on Scoop.itGreen Energy Technologies & Development

Researchers believe they have found a way to radically shrink the size of batteries while offering the same amount of power and faster recharges than at present.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The scientists’ “breakthrough” involved finding a new way to integrate the anode and cathode at the microscale.

“The battery electrodes have small intertwined fingers that reach into each other,” project leader Prof William King told the BBC.

“That does a couple of things. It allows us to make the battery have a very high surface area even though the overall battery volume is extremely small.

A cross-section of the battery reveals the 3D-design of the research project’s anodes and cathodes

“And it gets the two halves of the battery very close together so the ions and electrons do not have far to flow.

“Because we’ve reduced the flowing distance of the ions and electrons we can get the energy out much faster.”<

See on www.bbc.co.uk

An Important, and Sometimes Overlooked, Energy Efficiency Tool

An Important, and Sometimes Overlooked, Energy Efficiency Tool.

Power plant cancellations: Green Energy Act looms behind gas plant mess | Toronto Star

See on Scoop.itGreen & Sustainable News

The Green Energy Act stripped Ontarians of their right to appeal decisions on locating energy facilities.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Former premier Dalton McGuinty told a legislative committee this week that “there was a faulty selection process for gas plant sites and they were wrongly located and had to be shut down.”

But that faulty process was the result of his much-ballyhooed Green Energy Act. And the cost of the faulty process and the subsequent shutdown of the Oakville and Mississauga sites will be $585 million or more.

[…]

The result is that Ontario electricity rates, at one time among the lowest in North America, are now some of the highest. Ontario residential customers are paying about three times more for electricity than they did when McGuinty took office. Ontario industry, which used to benefit from low electricity costs, is suffering.<

See on www.thestar.com

New Study: Distributed Solar Energy Provides $34 Million in Benefits to Arizona Ratepayers | SEIA

See on Scoop.itGreen & Sustainable News

WASHINGTON, DC – A study released today shows that distributed solar generation (DG) and net energy metering will provide Arizona Public Service (APS) customers with $34 million in annual benefits.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The study found that for each dollar of cost, DG provides $1.54 worth of benefits to APS customers. The net benefits for APS customers will amount to $34 million per year beginning in 2015. Benefits include savings on expensive and polluting conventional power and power plants; reduced investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure; reduced electricity lost during transportation over power lines, as distributed solar power is generated and consumer locally; and savings on the cost of meeting renewable energy requirements.

“This study clearly shows that solar offers concrete net benefits to all APS ratepayers, regardless of whether or not they have installed solar” said Carrie Cullen Hitt, senior vice president of state affairs at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “It’s essential that we keep smart policies like net metering in place so that Arizona can continue to benefit from its abundant solar resources.”<

See on www.seia.org

Transactive, distributed energy markets hold promise | Intelligent Utility

See on Scoop.itGreen Energy Technologies & Development

Transactive energy markets hold the promise to achieve economic efficiency and reliability across the bulk power system and distribution networks.  This research area was identified in the Caltech Resnick Sustainability Institute’s Grid2020 report released last fall, and was the topic of the third discussion of the series in April 2013.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Significant untapped potential exists to leverage a new class of flexible mixed distributed assets (e.g., distributed generation, responsive demand, storage, power electronics and electric vehicles), what has been called DR 2.0, to manage the power system. But, this requires changes in both market designs and grid operations.  […]

Current wholesale market rules are significant barriers to participation as they effectively do not distinguish a 500 MW power plant from a 5kW electric vehicle battery. This is very unfortunate, as the technology to tap these smaller resources and create significant value for customers is available today. Heather Sanders, Director, DER Policy at CAISO shared that, “a challenge is to create market participation rules that meet operators’ needs for reliability, but also facilitate customer value opportunities.” <

See on www.intelligentutility.com

Fluorescent Dye Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency by a Whopping 38 Percent

See on Scoop.itGreen Energy Technologies & Development

Squaraine dye helps to improve light absorption, recycle electron and enhance the light to energy conversion in solar cells, increasing efficiency by a whopping 38 percent.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The Yale researchers relied on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), a well-known biochemical mechanism, to achieve this radical new energy conversion rate.

“In this type of solar cell—FRET-based heterojunction polymer solar cells—extra energy is able to migrate from one molecule to another over long distances. The dye, which is highly absorbent in the near-infrared region, both broadens the spectral absorption of solar cells and enhances electricity transmission,” Physorg explains.<

See on inhabitat.com

Plastic bottle recycling exceeds 50 per cent | Resource magazine

See on Scoop.itGreen & Sustainable News

New data from a national charity RECycling of Used Plastics Ltd (Recoup), has found that 70 per cent of the 610,000 tonnes of plastics packaging recycled in 2011 came from domestic kerbside collections.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Future outlook

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has issued yearly targets for businesses concerning the recycling of paper, glass, wood, steel, aluminium and plastics for the period 2013-2017. Although the targets for most of these materials remain static or see only slight increases, the targets for plastic recycling increase by five per cent each year.

This means the plastic recycling target for 2017 is 57 per cent – up from 32 per cent in 2012 – a figure that the British Polythene Industries (BPI) plc has warned is ‘unachievable’.<

See on www.resource.uk.com

Wind Power Urged to Compete with Fossil Fuels Head-on: Scientific American

See on Scoop.itGreen & Sustainable News

The industry must fight the perception that wind energy cannot compete with fossil fuels

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>Borrowing a page from environmentalists

To that end, some wind power advocates argued that the industry should borrow a page from the environmental movement by challenging renewable energy naysayers head on and ratcheting up its rhetoric on wind energy’s environmental benefits relative to fossil fuels rather than seeking to peacefully coexist alongside the oil, coal and gas sectors.

Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation and one of several high-profile environmental leaders addressing the Chicago conference, told AWEA members that they represent “an insurgent industry” that is “taking on an incumbent industry that plays hardball.”

“I would urge you all to become more aggressive,” he added, “because if you don’t be more creative, more aggressive, more willing to take risks, this industry will move along at a pace that will not solve our problems.”

See on www.scientificamerican.com