According to a 2011 survey conducted by The Princeton Review, 65% of students surveyed said they “would value having more information about a college’s commitment to the environment”, and 24% said a college’s commitment to the environment would impact their decision to apply to or attend a school.
I heard a really good talk about lifecycle analysis (LCA) yesterday that took wind energy as an example, and examined the overall ecological footprint associated with an individual large turbine. On average, about 7.8 megawatt-hours of energy goes into extracting the materials, forging the pieces, transporting, assembling
Electricity produced by wind energy in the U.S. now equals the output of 11 nuclear power plants, according to a new report from the American Wind Energy Association, a trade organization.
As congressional leaders consider the extension of a tax credit for the emerging wind energy sector, the
California power utilities are now achieving more than 20 percent of the state’s electricity needs with renewable energy sources, state regulators say. In its latest quarterly report, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said that the state met 20.6 percent of its electricity demand with renewable sources — including wind, solar, and geothermal —
Today in America television has announced the launch of a new series dedicated to alternative and renewable energy. The educational program includes segments on alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and hydropower as well as the use of biofuels. The show is hosted by Terry Bradshaw, the former Pittsburgh Steelers veteran quarterback and game analyst on a
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) assessed the offshore wind capacity in Europe over the last six months. They found that at the end of the first half of 2012, the continent’s offshore wind capacity grew by at an astonishing rate from a year ago. A new report by the EWEA shows that there are 132 new offshore wind turbines, providing an additional
According to the European statistical office Eurostat, the share of renewable energy sources in the gross final energy consumption in the 27 countries of the EuroPean Union has increased to 12.4 percent in 2010, compared to 11.7 percent in 2009.
Even if the European Union is due to have 20 percent of its total energy consumption coming from renewable energies by 2020, there are many dissimilarities among countries and their respective goals.
Indeed, while countries like Sweden, Latvia or Finland have 47.9%, 32.6% and 32.2% of their total energy consumption coming from renewables (respectively), other countries like the Netherlands, the United Kingdom or Luxembourg see their share of renewables below four percent (with 3.8 %, 3.2 % and 2.8 % respectively).
It is interesting to note that between 2006 and 2010 all countries have seen their share of solar, wind, and so on increase.
The largest increases were recorded in Estonia (from 16.1% to 24.3%), Romania (from 17.1% to 23.4%), Denmark (from 16.5% to 22.2%), Sweden (from 42.7% to 47.9%) and Spain (from 9.0% to 13.8%).
Earlier this month I was stating here that some EU countries could pay back their debts with renewables. Such a simple plan could literally add gigawatts of capacity to the grids of Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal.
The other benefit of this would that the European Union could achieve its not-so-ambitious goals more easily. Indeed, a continuation of this slow trend wouldn’t allow the EU to reach a share of a fifth of renewables by 2020…
Clearly, wind energy is favored to its fossil fuel counterparts in terms of its environmental footprint. Zero greenhouse gas emissions. Zero global warming potential. Zero heat islands. Simply, wind energy seems to be a perfect part of the solution to a climate change problem.
At least, this is what we thought.
OrganoWorld, a company based in Montreal, Canada, has developed a wind turbine able to harness energy at low wind speeds.
Concerned about the effects of global climate change, chemical engineer Frederick Churchill began to explore the use of wind energy. He carried
As the leading U.S. wind turbine supplier (its turbines generate forty percent of installed U.S. wind energy capacity), it makes sense that GE would invest in technology to keep all those turbines operating efficiently and reliably.
GE recently issued a press release about its new wind farm monitoring and diagnostic system. Called
What if the European Union solved the triple crisis – economy, energy, environment – by solving the financial one? Alice Stollmeyer sent me last week a link of project to do just that.
Some European nations – Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal – are owing more and more money to the European Central Bank and other debtors. What if
Mexico is set to have more small wind generation thanks to the arrival of Sauer Energy’s WindCharger vertical-axis wind turbine. The company yesterday announced it has teamed up with ENRCOM, a specialist in telecom networks and rural power plants, to instal its wind power system on an ENRCOM test site in Mexico.
A new report finds that an unexpectedly large number of UK farmers have installed renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines on their properties, a trend that could increase the profitability of the agricultural sector and help the UK achieve its green energy targets.