solar power
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Take a video tour of UMD’s prize-winning Solar Decathlon house
The Chesapeake Bay's sad state has yielded on positive result: the bay ecosystem inspired the University of Maryland's "WaterShed" house, which won the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon over the weekend.
You can take a tour of the house above. WaterShed features solar panels, a green roof, a rain harvesting system, solar thermal water heating, sink and shower water filtration, "constructed wetlands" instead of gardens, and an indoor waterfall (!) that helps control humidity.
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Critical List: MIT recreates photosynthesis; City of Austin goes 100 percent renewable
MIT created an "artificial leaf" that recreates photosynthesis.
In Germany, they've got so much wind-generated electricity, they’re giving it away.
Driving 75 mph isn't fuel efficient, ahem, Maine.
Austin's going to be the largest local government using only renewable energy to power its municipal buildings. -
Does energy storage compensate for water-thirsty concentrating solar thermal power?
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. Concentrating solar thermal power has promised big additions to renewable energy production with the additional benefit of energy storage. But with significant water consumption in desert locations, is the energy storage benefit of concentrating solar enough […]
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Critical List: EPA’s greenhouse report comes in for criticism; motorcycles are gross
The EPA and its inspector general disagree over what qualifies as a "scientific assessment." The EPA has concluded that greenhouse gases are dangerous; the IG now says that the assessment didn’t go through sufficient peer review. This is actually about the review of the relevant “technical support document,” not about the scientific findings, but tell that to Republicans.
The DOE gave a $737 million loan guarantee to a solar-tower project in Nevada, which had better the hell not fail now.
Motorcycles are more fuel efficient, but their tailpipe emissions contain nasty stuff. -
In Solyndra's wake, polling finds support for clean energy remains strong
Tea Party conservatives have tried to use the Solyndra faux-scandal to tarnish the image of clean energy, but new polling finds that it isn't working.
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Where the sun don’t shine: Solar Decathlon beams amid scandal and rain
The Department of Energy's annual eco-jamboree inspires fresh sun-powered designs on a budget.
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Attention, pundits: We have the makings of a serious U.S. solar program
Three ambitious projects could put the U.S. on course for a major solar expansion -- if they get enough attention and support. Thomas Friedman, listen up!
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German small solar cheaper than big U.S. solar
This post originally appeared on Energy Self-Reliant States, a resource of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s New Rules Project. The U.S. has a hodge-podge of utility, state, and federal tax-based incentives. The Germans have a comprehensive feed-in tariff, providing CLEAN contracts (in the U.S. parlance) to anyone who wants to go solar (or wind, or […]
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Solyndra shows the government is doing its job, for once
Solyndra's failure isn’t an embarrassment for the government, says Joe Nocera in The New York Times. In fact, it’s exactly what we should expect from a government program designed to fund risky, early-stage technologies that wouldn't otherwise find traction among private-sector funders of research and development. If there were no Solyndras in this world, says Nocera, it would mean government was funding precisely the wrong kind of breakthrough energy research.