Tag Archives: efficiency
In Focus: Dupont’s Solar Quality Standards
Solar installations were removed from twenty-four San Diego Unified School District campuses after corrosion was discovered that threatened the possibility of electrical issues that could lead to fires. The 4.3-megawatt installation was built in 2005-06 by Solar Integrated Technologies (SIT). SIT was acquired by Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) (PINK:ENERQ) in 2009. ECD’s Uni-Solar manufactured the [...]
Silevo Brings 21% Efficient PV Modules to Market
Silevo, Inc. is bringing a new type of silicon-based photovoltaic to the market that the company is calling a hybrid PV cell. The Triex design integrates a standard silicon wafer with other, active layers to produce a more efficient PV module, which the company says is more than 21 percent efficient. “We’ve developed our own [...]
Update: Israel’s Solar Market
Fifty years ago, Israel was on the cusp of developing a promising solar industry. Solar hot water systems in particular made a splash in the country, but many decades later, those same systems are just about all that exists for solar development in the country. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that while the climate is appropriate for [...]
MicroPro’s Wooden Tablet: Greenest Computer on Earth?
Irish manufacturer MicroPro to launch it ‘Iameco’ wooden tablet computer in September. It will be the first touchscreen computer to carry the EU’s ‘EcoFlower’ label certificate. The computer’s casing is made from offcuts of sustainably sourced timbers such as walnut, solid oak or beech. The Iameco (I am eco, geddit?) comprises 20% materials that can [...]
Top 10 Fuel Efficient Cars for the Money
Given the state of the economy, affordability is the current buzzword you’ve probably been hearing lately, especially when it comes to purchasing a new vehicle. You’ve probably even wondered if it makes better sense to buy a used car instead of going for a brand new one. Fortunately, not only are there plenty of affordable [...]
Nano Coating Could Make Solar Panels Self-Cleaning
Seamus “Shay” Curran, director of the University of Houston’s Institute for NanoEnergy, doesn’t like cleaning windows. “My wife gets after me about it,” he said. A new hydrophobic nano coating he and his team of researchers at UH have developed holds the promise of self-cleaning windows. Of course, that’s just a pleasant byproduct. Curran developed [...]
Developing Resource Efficient Cities
As home to more than half the world’s population, cities consume 75% of natural resources, produce 50% of global waste and account for between 60-80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The importance of developing sustainable cities is clear. Generating sustainable patterns of consumption and production will have to be guided to a significant extent by [...]
Getting The Word Out On The Potential of Energy Efficiency
We recently posted about New York Times’ senior energy reporter Matt Wald’s thoughts on whether or not energy efficiency (EE) was condemned to be an inherently uninteresting, “eat your peas” technology. Wald spoke as part of our Scaling Green Communicating Energy Lecture series. We wanted to put that question to an EE professional. So we [...]
Energy Efficiency: Is It The Real Deal?
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), peak electric loads in the U.S. are 20,800 MW lower than they would be without utility energy efficiency programs[1]. If it is correct it represents perhaps 100 power plants that did not need built that would have otherwise been required. Similarly, the EIA data shows that electric usage [...]