Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy initiative, is well under way, with solar power innovators scrambling to get their projects ready for the competition. This year the event takes place at the National Mall’s West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., between tomorrow (23) and October 2.
Alternative energy (or renewable energy) is a new manufacturing industry paradigm that is in its infancy. However, the discussion is not new, and it looks as if the United States has positioned itself to be behind history on what can be a very promising industry for a stumbling economy. After the oil shortages in the
A new analysis by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) finds that the power output of wind farms can be increased tenfold — and with fewer environmental impacts — through better positioning of vertical-axis turbines.
Because the large turbines used in most modern
Kelp has a high rate of growth and its decay is quite efficient in yielding methane, as well as sugars that can be converted to ethanol. It has been proposed that large open-ocean kelp farms could serve as a source of renewable energy. Unlike some biofuels such as corn ethanol, kelp energy avoids “food vs
The Chinese government has issued a statement admitting that the controversial Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower plant and a centerpiece engineering project for the nation, has numerous problems that are “urgently in need of resolution.”
In the statement, the state council acknowledged that the 600-foot-tall dam, completed in 2006 on the Yangtze River to provide a new source of renewable energy, has produced troubling ecological, human, and geological impacts downriver.
The 1.5-mile barrier produces the electricity equivalent of about 500 Chinese coal-fired power plants, but that energy production has come at enormous human and environmental costs. In addition to the relocation of 1.4 million people and the flooding of more than 1,000 towns and villages, the project has triggered pollution-fueled algae blooms in the reservoir area, landslides, and erosion of slopes.
“Problems emerged at various stages of project planning and construction but could not be solved immediately, and some arose because of increased demands brought on by economic and social development,” the statement says. The government offered no specific plans to address the problems.
Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.
Mark Stevenson’s book, An Optimist’s Tour of the Future had me wondering in its opening pages. I warmed to the lively engaging style but I didn’t want to read about a scientist’s vision of human lifetimes lasting thousands of years. As I see it generations need to pass and leave space for others to
Europe has a challenge ahead, in terms of renewable energy targets. The UK government has signed up to a commitment which states that by 2020, 15% of energy production will come from renewable sources. Quite a target for any government to achieve, but in a climate where purse strings are being tightened, this challenge is ever more complex. However, the UK
In a historic move spelling hope for the triumph of sustainable business over dirty and outdated means of energy production, last week the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vetoed one of the most destructive mining projects proposed in the United States. Invoking the agency’s authority under the Clean Water Act, the EPA formally overturned an earlier decision
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