Tag Archives: Wind
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 [...]
Top 8 Reasons Solar is Better Than Wind Power
If you are looking at renewable energy options for power systems, it will likely come down to a decision between solar panels and wind turbines. Read on to discover eight compelling reasons to think that solar power is superior to wind power. 1) Solar panels need less monitoring Wind turbines require very close monitoring and [...]
In Focus: Apple’s Wind Turbine Patent
In a rare move for Apple, the company filed for a patent for a wind turbine, in 2011. That wind turbine would uniquely generate electricity from stored heat energy, not by rotating blades, which would solve the problem of intermittency. In its filing, Apple notes that current turbines rely on a constant supply of wind because of the way they are [...]
Solar Industry Survives The Fiscal Cliff
The big renewables winner in the fiscal cliff legislation was wind. But the solar industry was also spared some pain. Wind’s $0.022 per kilowatt-hour production tax credit (PTC) was extended through the end of 2013. Crucial language changes allow wind and geothermal projects “under construction” by year-end to qualify for the incentive instead of only [...]
Wind Energy Wins Big in Fiscal Cliff Deal
On the cusp of the fiscal cliff the House voted to approve a sweeping tax deal that also extends the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for wind energy for one year. The wind industry has grown tremendously under the PTC and ITC and it can be expected that the year long [...]
Clean Energy From Man-Made Tornadoes
Is it possible to transform the awesome power of tornadoes into a viable alternative energy source? Paypal co-founder and early Facebook backer Peter Thiel thinks so. The Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs program just gave Canadian company AVEtec Energy Corporation a $300,000 grant to develop the prototype for a system that uses man-made tornadoes to produce [...]
Success Strategies: Wind vs. Solar
Solar and wind industries share the same end goal of cleaner energy production worldwide — but each deploys vastly different technologies and methods to get there. How did each industry gain its following? Let’s take a look. Solar photovoltaic cells can be installed at any scale and made to work anywhere there is sunlight. Indeed, [...]
The Next 4 Years of Obama Energy Policy: What to Expect
Now that President Obama’s second term is confirmed, energy experts believe that the industry can expect more regulations over the next four years. The president intends to stick to his promise to reduce oil imports by 50 percent by 2020. Obama’s campaign leaned heavily on the president’s “all of the above” strategy to domestic energy [...]
Pictoral Installs 757 Kilowatt PV Array
Pictorial, a family-owned, New Jersey commercial printer since 1938, is now benefitting from its new solar rooftop. It’s a757 kilowatt photovoltaic array installed by N.J.-based Solis Partners. Printing companies use a fair amount of electricity running printing presses, machine operated cutting machines and more, so it’s no surprise that the system, which covers two-thirds of [...]