News

Here are some news articles I've come across that I find interesting for one reason or another. The articles are posted in the order that I find them, not by publication date.

All News 7/25/2013   CSP Key Players Focus on the Desert Spain is still the world's leader, but the US currently has the largest CSP in the world and is building 4 more over 250MW in Cali and AZ and have 4GW of additional capacity planned (but only 1 with heat storage!. With only 7.7GW of PV capacity installed total, we may be seeing the new direction that solar is going in the US. 7/18/2013   How Solar Parks Could Help Save Bumblebees While it likely wouldn't prevent the mysterious death of millions of bees worldwide, it does show that solar's thirst for land isn't necessarily a bad thing. If the land could be simultaneously used for bee breeding or farming, it might actually contribute to conservation. 7/9/2013   CarLab Mixes Natural Gas and Gasoline for More Efficient Vehicle CarLab's conversion is ~3x cheaper than a battery and ~25% cleaner than pure gasoline, but storage is under pressure and downright dangerous for a large fast-moving metal object. Boom! Why Prof. Tim Zhao of HK UST told me they were NOT considering gases as a possible replacement for gasoline, only liquid and aiming for fuel cells. 6/3/2013   U.S. Approves 520 Megawatts of Solar, Geothermal Energy Projects Obama continues use of federal land for renewable energy projects, this time mostly concentrated in the southwest. Of real interesting is the inclusion of what will be the second concentrated solar plant with molten salt energy storage in the US, limiting the need for coal or gas backup generation. 6/5/2013   China Aims at Europe’s Wines After Solar Panel Action In an escalating and increasingly hilarious tiff between two major world powers, China seemingly arbitrarily threatens Europe's wine imports as the EU's first round of tariffs go into effect. "Seemingly" because the EU's trade commissioner owns a large stake in wine vineyards in Tuscani.
New Tech 7/25/2013   CSP Key Players Focus on the Desert Spain is still the world's leader, but the US currently has the largest CSP in the world and is building 4 more over 250MW in Cali and AZ and have 4GW of additional capacity planned (but only 1 with heat storage!. 7/9/2013  CarLab Mixes Natural Gas and Gasoline... CarLab's conversion is ~3x cheaper than a battery and ~25% cleaner than pure gasoline, but storage is under pressure and downright dangerous for a large fast-moving metal object. Boom! Why Prof. Tim Zhao of HK UST told me they were NOT considering gases as a possible replacement for gasoline, only liquid and aiming for fuel cells. 5/30/2013   Elon Musk Has Plans For A New, Magical Form Of Transportation Called The 'Hyperloop' Win or lose, this is how all billionaires should think all the time. What better way to invest your excessive funds than on technology that will leapfrog mankind into the future? As an American, building the world's most expensive and slowest bullet trains years after every other developed country is about as impressive as building the 4th tallest skyscraper in the world to show how we're not phased by terrorists. 4/25/2013   In Two-Way Charging, Electric Cars Begin to Earn Money From the Grid These cars provide part of the energy storage needed the intermittency of solar or wind energy. Currently, on a cloudy day or when the wind dies down the system reverts to coal or gas, needed to be constantly running as a backup, but with this system it could sneak a few kilowatts from everybody's cars to keep the grid producing. It also incentivizes people to drive less because they earn money when their car is plugged in.	Sustainability 7/18/2013   How Solar Parks Could Help Save Bumblebees While it likely wouldn't prevent the mysterious death of millions of bees worldwide, it does show that solar's thirst for land isn't necessarily a bad thing. If the land could be simultaneously used for bee breeding or farming, it might actually contribute to conservation. 11/21/2012   Alternative energy will no longer be alternative An interesting purpose and message, but a number of flawed facts take away from this article's legitimacy. The natural price of solar is $3/w, NOT the $0.75 that it has temporarily dropped to because of Chinese panel subsidies. 4/21/2013   Could New York run on renewable energy alone? Mark Jacobson has put together the comprehensive plan to completely eliminate fossil fuels that I wish I had done. The new infrastructure would have a mix of solar, wind, and water, but he doesn't elaborate much on intermittency. Shrugging off THE main question regarding green energy by briefly mentioning grid upgrades and hydrogen storage doesn't fill me with confidence, but what a great project! 3/28/2013   Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms A mysterious example of unsustainable something. Some say that it is due to pesticides now inherent in the plants, but all we really know is that it's poisonous to pretty much everything.
Business 6/3/2013   U.S. Approves 520 Megawatts of Solar, Geothermal Energy Projects Obama continues use of federal land for renewable energy projects, this time mostly concentrated in the southwest. Of real interesting is the inclusion of what will be the second concentrated solar plant with molten salt energy storage in the US, limiting the need for coal or gas backup generation. 4/19/2013   Google wants the push for more green energy to come from big power users With little new green energy production and fear of future diminished subsidies, Google has stepped in to encourage more wind/solar farms to be built by allowing companies to choose where their energy comes from and if they want to pay more for cleaner energy. 3/26/2013   What does the collapse of solar-panel giant Suntech mean? Pricier panels, probably The end of China's Suntech is not surprising. The massive subsidies followed by oversupply and price drops are thinning China's solar herd, as well as others. The price will likely return to it's natural price level at about $3/watt.	World 6/5/2013   China Aims at Europe’s Wines After Solar Panel Action In an escalating and increasingly hilarious tiff between two major world powers, China seemingly arbitrarily threatens Europe's wine imports as the EU's first round of tariffs go into effect. "Seemingly" because the EU's trade commissioner owns a large stake in wine vineyards in Tuscani. 6/4/2013   Europe Imposes a Tariff on Chinese Solar Panels, for Less Than Expected China gets an early (and temporary) slap on the wrist for solar panel price dumping. The EU couldn't decide what powerful interests to listen to and so languish in meager threats as China lashes back (see above). 9/6/2012   EU initiates anti-dumping investigation on solar panel imports from China A good step-by-step explanation of the EU's anti-dumping investigation into Chinese solar panels. Looks like we'll have tariffs by December 5th, 2013.

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