Tag Archives: innovation
Kiva: Microfinancing Solar
Imagine this: You’re in a developing nation with little access to electricity. In fact, you don’t have access to a grid, or enough electricity to keep a refrigerator and a light on and water filtered in your home. Or, if you have a generator, you barely afford to pay for the expensive diesel that keeps [...]
In Focus: Green Homes of the Future
The world of building has placed an onus on green solutions for building like never before and the advent of the green home is upon us at last. Future homes will offer a range of innovations that will mean they are significantly more energy efficient and vastly greener than the homes we currently reside in. [...]
Doubling U.S. Energy Productivity By 2030
The Alliance Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy released a report today with recommendations that would put the U.S. on a path towards doubling its energy productivity by 2030. The Commission, which is chaired by U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) and National Grid U.S. President Tom King, is a diverse coalition of energy leaders that [...]
Technological Breakthroughs vs. A Carbon Diet
Over the weekend, The New Republic published an interview with President Obama, where he noted the following: “On climate change, it’s a daunting task. But we know what releases carbon into the atmosphere, and we have tools right now that would start scaling that back, although we’d still need some big technological breakthrough.” How accurate [...]
FUTUREWATCH: What Comes After MEMS?
Over the last 50 years computing power has migrated from the mainframe, to the desktop, to the laptop, and now, with almost-equivalent computing capability, onto mobile devices, tablets, and smart phones. And tomorrow? If you were in Scottsdale, AZ in November for the now semi-annual MEMS Executive Congress, you would have heard about the latest [...]
A123 Systems: Going to Zero?
There was so much enthusiasm when high-performance battery manufacturer A123 Systems (NASDAQ:AONE) came on the scene. The promise of an advanced battery manufacturing facility pumping out batteries for next-generation electric cars while providing jobs for US workers was a bold one, and one that a lot of folks cheered. But certain realities rapidly turned that [...]
The Future of Consumption: Sustainability
According to research entitled ‘Consumer Futures 2020’ the future of consumption is going to be radically different from what we see today. This research presents four scenarios exploring possible patterns of consumption in 2020, all of which indicate that consumerism will become more sustainable. Based on these two parameters, Prosperous vs. Less prosperous – by [...]
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 [...]
The Worst Energy Related Disasters of 2011
Feeding the globe’s insatiable energy appetite is a highly dangerous business. And, unfortunately, events like the BP oil spill are not once-in-a-generation freak accidents. Here, we take a look at the biggest energy-related accidents in 2011. Note: I’ve ranked the disasters in terms of importance. If you disagree with my rankings, or have other events [...]