Jun 8
BP Buys "Oil Spill" Search Terms on Google, Yahoo, and Bing
Image: BP
Not Exactly an Unbiased Source of News on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill…
BP seems to have bought many phrases related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing). What this means is that people who do an internet search to find information about the spill have a good chance to see BP’s official site pop up at the top of their search results….
Visit the original post at: TreeHugger
Jun 8
Climate Refugees Tell Their Story
Image credit: Good
On dry land around the world, people are free to debate the cause and coming impact of climate change. The residents of the Carteret Islanders, however, don’t have that luxury. The South-Pacific island they have called home for generations is rapidly dipping beneath the waves—fast enough that they have decided to relocate their entire community….
Visit the original post at: TreeHugger
Jun 8
Driving Our SUVs to the BP Protests
I’m sorry, but the irony is just too thick these days. We Americans are rightly upset with BP for the devastating spill in the Gulf that is wreaking ecological devastation on a mammoth scale. But as I watch the television news and read the daily coverage, I’m not hearing enough outrage at our petroleum-dependent lifestyles and the gas-guzzling vehicles we hop into at a moment’s notice to drive to the store for a pint of ice cream. We need to hold a mirror up to ourselves at those protest rallies.
Oil spills are tragic on multiple levels: to the affected ecosystems; to those who depend on the region’s bounty for their livelihoods; to the tourism industry in the region; and even to employees at the oil companies and public agencies whom we have to assume are trying hard to do the right thing. Residents of the Gulf Coast and ecosystems are being–or will soon be–devastated by the spill that continues to hemorrhage tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf daily. We must redouble efforts to protect coastal wetlands while workers with their undersea robotic vehicles continue trying to stem the leak. And we certainly should hold the companies that caused the leak liable for the costs of cleanup, as well as for the economic damage both the oil and its cleanup are causing. Those impacts will likely be measurable for years, if not decades.
[More]
Visit the original post at: BuildingGreen.com LIVE
Jun 8
Apple iPhone and iPad to Get Embedded Solar Cells?
Image via Good Clean Tech
Hot on the heels of the iPhone 4 announcement comes news that perhaps iPhone 5 and the next iteration of the iPad could have a very cool new feature – a solar cell integrated into the touchscreen. Word has it that Apple has filed for a patent for r “media players with integrated touch sensor solar panel surfaces.”… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Visit the original post at: TreeHugger
Jun 8
Apple iPhone and iPad to Get Embedded Solar Cells?
Image via Good Clean Tech
Hot on the heels of the iPhone 4 announcement comes news that perhaps iPhone 5 and the next iteration of the iPad could have a very cool new feature – a solar cell integrated into the touchscreen. Word has it that Apple has filed for a patent for r “media players with integrated touch sensor solar panel surfaces.”… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Visit the original post at: TreeHugger
Jun 8
Apple iPhone and iPad to Get Embedded Solar Cells?
Image via Good Clean Tech
Hot on the heels of the iPhone 4 announcement comes news that perhaps iPhone 5 and the next iteration of the iPad could have a very cool new feature – a solar cell integrated into the touchscreen. Word has it that Apple has filed for a patent for r “media players with integrated touch sensor solar panel surfaces.”… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Visit the original post at: TreeHugger
Jun 8
Apple iPhone and iPad to Get Embedded Solar Cells?
Image via Good Clean Tech
Hot on the heels of the iPhone 4 announcement comes news that perhaps iPhone 5 and the next iteration of the iPad could have a very cool new feature – a solar cell integrated into the touchscreen. Word has it that Apple has filed for a patent for r “media players with integrated touch sensor solar panel surfaces.”… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Visit the original post at: TreeHugger
Jun 8
Melbourne offshore wind: WAsP in the southern hemisphere
Following on from my last review of WAsP 10, Risoe have now fixed up the southern hemisphere issue for their map editor, and more importantly for their Google Earth plug in. Now even guys in the southern hemisphere can visualise their latest layout in 3D rendered Google Earth brilliance!
Check out a preview below, where you can see the purely ficticious offshore project that I quickly knocked up in my hometown of Melbourne, Australia. Purely a figment of my imagination, however it would be rather nice…
Jun 8
Apparel Companies Making Solar Power Stylish
Los Angeles based Pacific Blue Dye House a garment dye and wash house for several clothes manufacturers such as Ella Moss, Splendid, Affliction, etc. has installed 616 solar panels on their factory roof.
The panels will provide between 80 and 85% of the 30K square foot facilities electricity needs. Los Angeles Department of Water has approved a rate hike of 5% beginning July 1st which is motivating co-owner Dotan Shoham to look into increasing his investment in solar power. Even though his roof has 616 panels that covers only 30% of his roof, those panels provide 80% to 85% of the warehouse’s energy. The cost was $250K and took 4 months to install.
Pacific Blue also has a 4,000 gallon water tank they would like to have heated by way of thermal solar and are figuring that one out also.
Other garment companies such as Sole Technology are also going with solar panels as a way to deal with the water rate hikes.
Ten years or even 5 years ago garment manufacturers wouldn’t have even considered linking their brands to the subject of solar power. In 2010, Shoham’s Gypsy ’05 knitwear label will carry a tag that informs consumers that the garment their looking at was made in a solar-powered facility.
Fashionistas now go with solar power!
Details here at Apparel News.
Jun 8
Apparel Companies Making Solar Power Stylish
Los Angeles based Pacific Blue Dye House a garment dye and wash house for several clothes manufacturers such as Ella Moss, Splendid, Affliction, etc. has installed 616 solar panels on their factory roof.
The panels will provide between 80 and 85% of the 30K square foot facilities electricity needs. Los Angeles Department of Water has approved a rate hike of 5% beginning July 1st which is motivating co-owner Dotan Shoham to look into increasing his investment in solar power. Even though his roof has 616 panels that covers only 30% of his roof, those panels provide 80% to 85% of the warehouse’s energy. The cost was $250K and took 4 months to install.
Pacific Blue also has a 4,000 gallon water tank they would like to have heated by way of thermal solar and are figuring that one out also.
Other garment companies such as Sole Technology are also going with solar panels as a way to deal with the water rate hikes.
Ten years or even 5 years ago garment manufacturers wouldn’t have even considered linking their brands to the subject of solar power. In 2010, Shoham’s Gypsy ’05 knitwear label will carry a tag that informs consumers that the garment their looking at was made in a solar-powered facility.
Fashionistas now go with solar power!
Details here at Apparel News.
Jun 8
Sanyo’s HIT Solar Cells are a Hit in Italy
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Company is creating a record by powering the largest solar pant in Italy with its HIT solar cells. The Project funded by a consortium led by Deutsche Bank is expected to be completed by September 2010. Sanyo is successfully on its way to make the dream of a clean-energy society [...]
Posted in: Industry, PhotoVoltaics, Solar Power
Jun 8
Chemists report promising advance in fuel-cell technology
Chemists have come up with a promising advance in fuel-cell technology. The team has demonstrated that a nanoparticle with a palladium core and an iron-platinum shell outperforms commercially available pure-platinum catalysts and lasts longer. The finding could move fuel cells a step closer to reality.
Jun 8
Where Are the Hydrogen Cars and Stations Along the Gulf Coast?
Let’s make no mistake about it. The environmental disaster that is happening right now in the Gulf Coastal region is the worst oil spill in U. S. history. So, this begs the question (at least on this blog) as to where are all of the hydrogen cars and fueling stations along the Gulf Coast region as a solution towards getting off of our oil addiction going forward?
According to the National Hydrogen Association Hydrogen Fueling Station Database, here is the breakdown of stations that are either operational or planned along the Gulf Coast and whether they are private or public stations:
1. Austin, Texas – public or private (unknown) most likely private since it resides at a research center
2. Louisiana – none operational and none planned
3. Alabama – none operational and none planned
4. Georgia – none operational and none planned
5. Florida – 4 hydrogen stations total
In October 2009, I had talked about how the Gulf Coast region, particularly Louisiana and Texas have the most vast and robust hydrogen production and pipeline system in the U. S. The hydrogen produced here is mostly used for the refining of crude oil.
With a region already rich in hydrogen production and distribution, one would think that both hydrogen cars and fueling stations would be prevalent in these states. But, this is not so.
The Gulf Coast oil spill is an environmental disaster of unknown magnitude that is affecting and will continue to affect wildlife, jobs and the health of residents and cleanup workers for some time to come.
Perhaps this is a wakeup call in this region that oil is not the answer to our future energy needs and alternatives such as hydrogen are needed and needed now. It is most obvious that BP and the other big oil companies will not be the ones ushering in the new hydrogen transportation age.
Government, specialty gas companies, other industrial hydrogen and fuel cell companies big and small, the automakers and a meaningful grassroots movement will be needed to motivate this region and all other regions forward.
The Gulf Oil spill is a wakeup call. Let’s just hope we all wake up and suddenly realize that hydrogen cars and infrastructure need to be fast-tracked more than ever to meet our future environmental and energy independence needs.
Jun 8
Sanyo’s HIT Solar Cells are a Hit in Italy
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Company is creating a record by powering the largest solar pant in Italy with its HIT solar cells. The Project funded by a consortium led by Deutsche Bank is expected to be completed by September 2010. Sanyo is successfully on its way to make the dream of a clean-energy society [...]
Posted in: Industry, PhotoVoltaics, Solar Power
