The biggest deterrent for retail consumers to install solar panels on their rooftops is the upfront cost, which may vary depending on the country and state incentives. The cost of repair is on the owner of the panels (most panels are insured for 20 years or more and since they have no moving parts are pretty stable). The inverter that coverts the current to a usable form needs to be
Is food waste-to-energy technology sustainable? There was a lot of publicity last year about ethanol requiring more energy to produce than you can get from the fuel. Is biogas from food waste a better deal for the environment? The answer is yes. It turns out that a tonne of food waste produces enough biogas to not only fuel the collection vehicle that picks it up, but
Location technologies are transforming how we experience, navigate, and ultimately better our world. From the global to the local, here are #10Ways geolocation is a positive force for good.
It’s a huge success. It hasn’t gone anywhere. Actually, it’s a little of both.
Fifty states and six territories have launched “Cash for Appliances” programs since late last year. Each one had the same amount of money – about a dollar per resident – but the results have been wildly different. Some states ran through
A few months ago, when someone said “eco-friendly mobile phone”, the thought that crossed my mind was, “Good-bye advanced features!”. However of-late, the new enviro-friendly handsets that have been stepping into the market, have blown me off my feet. They’ve managed to hit two birds with one stone by not only being green, but also packing in those advanced features
“Water, Water everyone, nor any drop to drink”
-Rime of the ancient mariner by Coleridge
We’ve all heard or read that “water is the new oil”, often as a pundit’s shorthand for some market prediction. Drinking water, we are told by analysts and environmentalists, is a rare, limited resource which the world is
These days, cleantech is becoming more and more prominent. From office buildings to how we commute, more of the conversation now revolves around cleantech then ever before. But what if you’re a college student looking to study cleantech? Below you’ll find 10 of the most well known and well respected universities that offer a solid course load in all things cleantech.
Silicon Valley
UC Berkeley – The sixties are long dead, and the Berkeley campus is a center of serious study. Top ranking programs in engineering, ecology, and public policy attract bright minds and plenty of grant money.
Stanford – Effectively an Ivy League transplanted to the San Francisco Bay Area, Stanford is renowned for the quality of its students and the
Every home has unique energy efficiency needs, but there are a lot of universal energy saving projects that will help homeowners lower their utility bills and take advantage of incentives that are available now.
Too often, advice about how to make your home more efficient falls into one of three categories:
Costs a lot of money and has a big impact: Geothermal heating, for instance. Great project, but it’s a big upfront cost for a long-term payback. Not everyone is in a position to do something like that right now.
Doesn’t cost much, but doesn’t have much impact: Insulating your hot water heater tank in a basement that already has wall insulation.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (the “LADWP”) recently held a meeting to discuss its strategic plan. As the nation’s largest public utility, its actions will have an immediate economic impact and significant influence on other utilities.
The news stories of today focused more on the high profile elements of the strategic plan, including LADWP general manager, Austin Buetner’s intentions to sell and leaseback the utility’s iconic downtown headquarters
From a comfortable distance the BP oil disaster is depressing and horrific. But up close, it’s worse.
Two days in the Gulf of Mexico left me enraged – and deeply resolved. Both the widespread damage and the inadequacy of the response effort exceeded my worst fears. I’d spent a full day on the Gulf and we ended up soaked in oily water and seared by the journey.
By Tuesday night, I was home. My throat burned and my head was foggy and dizzy as I showed my pictures and video to my wife, Fran, and my 13-year-old
The US wind power industry is facing huge problems that have led analysts to forecast a 60% drop in installations this year. This will be the first year since 2004 that the industry will not grow. The main reason for this set back is that we have nearly run out of high wind areas with easy access to transmission. This combined with extremely low prices for natural gas have led the industry back to the drawing board.
Watching baseball’s first quadruple play was strange. Seeing Wal-Mart go green is stranger still.
First the baseball: The scene was a game of T-Ball, where everyone bats every inning, regardless of the number of outs.
The bases were loaded when a line drive ended up in the glove of the pitcher. While he wondered how it got there, all the runners took off without tagging up. The pitcher ran to third, then second, then first.
We kept counting the number of outs and they did not add up. First in our heads: That doesn’t make sense. Then on our hand: That’s crazy. Then our other hand: It kept adding up to four outs.
It took us a while to believe what we saw right in front of us.
And now Wal-Mart, the original Black Hat, is going green. Or better said, sustainable. Let that sink in because it is true. Big time.
So much so that Treehugger.com says It “could end up being one of the biggest motivators to make truly ‘green’ products ever.”
As in history of the world.
Wal-Mart has made believers out of not just the biggest environmental organizations in the world — like the Environmental Defense Fund and the World Wildlife Federation — but also Wal-Mart’s suppliers.
Recently my colleague John Voelcker over at Green Car Reports wrote about why he and some fancy report thought that people will buy hybrid electric cars if more car companies offer electric cars and prices come down. Only then will we see that it’s not about being “seen.” Instead, it’s about trying to do the right thing, which is moving our transportation sector to an all-electric model.
People who buy new technology do that because they are early adopters. However, I can tell you that most of the electric cars that come out (except for the Tesla) have not been the sexiest. Does anyone remember the first generation Toyota Prius or the THINK City in 2001?
However, here is the thing:
Most Americans are familiar with the blue-and-white EnergyStar logo, which has an almost 20-year history of helping consumers “save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.” Jointly managed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, the EnergyStar program encompasses more than 60 different products from refrigerators to computers. In the past year and a half, EnergyStar’s ability to ensure that products bearing the EnergyStar logo provide the intended energy savings has come under increased scrutiny. As a result, EnergyStar has announced new measures to strengthen the trusted EnergyStar symbol.