Renewable Microgrids and Remote Communities across the Globe
Renewable energy microgrids can change the way that people on isolated islands and in remote communities live.
clean energy
Hawaii Solar
Hawai’i has long, sunny days and the capability to produce lots of solar energy. Why, then, is solar production so contentious in Hawai’i?
A Solar-Plus-Storage Startup Focuses on Optimizing the Battery
Swell Energy’s EnergyShield combines rooftop solar and lithium-ion batteries from its partners, plus an energy management system.
Smart Home of the Future Taking Shape Today
Smart homes and buildings are soon to be the norm, but many people don’t see the value in them. It will take education for smart home technologies to become commonplace.
Closeup: Boulder, Colorado And The Five-Year Effort To Form An Electric Utility Drawing To A Close
Concerning those sometimes thorny challenges of municipalities threatening to form their own electric utility, UtilityDIVE has provided a comprehensive report on what appears to be a five-year municipalization fight between Boulder — home to the University of Colorado — and utility giant Xcel Energy drawing to a close. It all started when Boulder, Colorado voters elected to
Ontario Now Accepting Micro-FiT Incentive Applications
Applications to the 2016 micro-FiT program in Ontario are now being accepted. As reported by pv-magazine, the Canadian province of Ontario would launch version 4.0 of its micro-FiT program, even though installation levels are significantly lower than those last year. Ontario’s electricity authority announced that it would re-open its feed-in tariff program for solar PV
The Last Stand Of Renewable Energy Subsidies?
The clean energy chorus now takes the stage as the pro and con arguments are being heard loud and clear for either maintaining or eliminating renewable energy subsidies. As reported by GTM, a recent report from the International Energy Agency on transitioning policy frameworks for renewables. IEA researchers argue that renewable energy projects will continue to need
Chile Reports Excess Solar Electricity
Chile is reported to have an oversupply of solar electricity — so much it is said to be giving away free solar electricity. This is a problem many cloudier nations would be more than happy to trade for. Chile is now giving away solar energy for free, states a recent Bloomberg report. This may be
After Beating Out Natural Gas Option, ENEL Green Power Solar Project Begins In Minnesota
Enel Green Power North America (EGNA), the local subsidiary of Italian utility Enel, has stated work is underway on Aurora, a distributed solar project in Minnesota, ruled by a judge in 2014 to be a better, more cost-effective investment decision than was a natural gas option. The project, containing 150MW DC of solar PV, is
Texas Republicans Like Clean Energy Reports New Survey
A majority of Texas Republicans say they favor using clean energy to generate electricity, concludes a survey conducted by the Texas Clean Energy Coalition (TCEC). This new TCEC survey reveals 85% of Lone Star State voters, including a 78% factor from Republicans, favor the increase of clean energy as a way to generate electricity. In addition,
World Bank Targets 30 GW Of Renewable Energy In New Climate Action Plan
World Bank’s new 30 GW climate action plan for renewable energy promises to have a timely international impact on global energy planning and production strategies. The World Bank Group unveiled its ambitious new plan to aid developing countries in fulfilling their COP21 pledges by adding 30 GW of renewable energy – doubling its current contributions
14 US Mayors Sign Proclamation to Reduce Climate Risks
14 US mayors made a historic commitment last week to take action to reduce climate risks and protect the future of their communities. The Midwestern mayors, from St. Louis to St. Paul, Dubuque, and others, signed the The Path to Positive Proclamation to pledge their leadership, prepare for climate change, and promote solutions that advance
IRENA 5-Year 100% Renewables Plan for “The Land of God”
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org A new IRENA report provides a 5-year plan for using Djibouti’s abundant renewable energy sources to solve the nation’s serious concerns regarding rising energy demand, limited energy security, and rampant unemployment. Astonishingly, IRENA claims that by 2020, 100% of Djibouti’s energy demand can be met through renewables. The economic renaissance that
Our Epic Future: Which Energy Future Will You Choose?
The recent drop in gas prices in the US, while a boon to consumers, is no indication of the viability or longevity of fossil fuels, and continuing to bet on coal, even so-called “clean coal,” or on seemingly-abundant natural gas, isn’t a good move for anyone except the coal power industry. With all that we
President Announces Solar Deployment and Energy Efficiency Actions Today
By now, many of us have heard that the President spent a little time this morning at a Wal-Mart store in in Mountain View, California, near San Jose. Solar deployment and energy efficiency were the two main thrusts of his speech. He spoke about more than 300 recent private and public sector commitments to create
Help Others "Get" Climate Change With This Page
If you’re a regular PlanetSave reader, you know a lot of these facts already–but here’s an excellent one-pager about climate change, a.k.a. global warming. The presenters write in everyday language with photos and feature leads. From the webpage: “The science of global warming starts with the burning of fossil fuels, specifically in vehicles fueled by
Kenguru EV: The Wheelchair-Friendly Neighborhood Car
President Obama meets with Kenguru CEO Stacy Zoern (photo: kenguru.com). More than three million Americans can celebrate when they hear this story. Made in the USA but in demand worldwide, the Kenguru—a driver-only electric vehicle with no seats—promises mobility-challenged people unprecedented access to the everyday world the rest of us take for granted. Imagine you
What's "Sustainable Development"? Free Online Course!
On his blog “I see a change,” Nigerian Youth Development Expert Olumide Idowu presents the elements of sustainable development (source: olumideidowu.blog.com). Not all online courses provide all they promise you, but here’s one that should answer all your questions about environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive economic development. It will also challenge you to find out more.
Renewables (Bikes!) Power Times Square New Year's Ball
New York “rides in” the New Year as Times Square visitors bike to help power the New Year’s Eve Ball (© Charles Sykes, Invision, for Citi, on Treehugger). You heard it right. When the festive ball drops to usher in 2014, renewable energy will contribute to the flashiness of its cascade. For the past three
What Makes A Town An "EV Town" — Normal & Others Show Leadership
How come Normal, Illinois–about 150 miles south of Chicago–has ten times as many electric vehicles per capita than the U.S. average? (You’re right; it’s not just coincidence.) A coalition of business, industry, nonprofits, all levels of government, and farsighted individuals has converged to transform Normal into an EV town. And it’s not an exclusive community.
Informative Sunset
More on Renewable Energy (and Peace) From PlanetSave: Wind & Solar Are Shining Examples of US Economic Success, Potential, & Jobs (but Under Threat) From Greenpeace: The Energy [R]evolution 2012 From Democracy Now: Global Warming & War: New Study Finds Link Between Climate Change & Conflict Joe’s cartoon archive, twitter ramblings and StumbleUpon page…
Carbon Omission
And of course, before there was “OAL,” there was “Clean Coal”. It’s unfortunate that Big Coal has Big Cash to peddle Big BS to further delay little wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal. More on Big Coal BS: From Coal Tattoo: Coal PR firm set up state’s anti-Obama meetings From Source Watch: Environmental impacts of
Rio+20 Must Have Concrete Decisions Made About Sustainable Development, Says The United Nations Secretary-General
The Rio+20 sustainable development conference beginning on June 20th must achieve concrete decisions and agreements regarding clean energy, poverty, and more sustainable and fair use of resources, says the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. “Rio+20 is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real progress towards the sustainable economy of the future,” Mr. Ban told a
Empowering Support for Federal Investment in Bike/Ped Planning
Princeton Survey The Streetsblog DC recently published a story on a telephone poll of 1,003 Americans, which was commissioned by the advocacy group America Bikes and conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. The results were “unequivocal: 83 percent said that federal bike-ped funding should increase, or at the very least be maintained.” The car is becoming
Solar Panel and Bike, New Form of Less is More
Biking has become a lifestyle, a way of life. Cyclists who hit their favorite bike paths or bike routes every day are like another cut of the zen surfer who never missed a dawn and a wave. Now, we have the bike-path-gilding travelers that make Kerouac’s On the Road look sedentary. Devotees of biking vary
Music Video: Free Energy
I absolutely love this video below, which someone shared with us via our contact form linked at the top of the page. Have a watch and start your week off with its inspirational message and hope:
Green News of the Day (VIDEO)
Some top green news from around from the past day or so: Global Warming Heartland associate taught ‘biased’ climate course at Ottawa university An associate of the Heartland Institute, the thinktank devoted to discrediting climate change, taught a course at a top Canadian university that contained more than 140 false, biased and misleading claims about
Top Clean Energy News: World's Largest Offshore Wind Farms Going Up; Solar PV Reduces Price of Electricity; 70% of New Power in Europe from Renewable Energy…
I want to start covering clean energy news much more here on Planetsave, but as they say, “so much to do, so little time.” Also, since we cover that extensively on sister site CleanTechnica, I just sort of assume you all can easily pop over there and subscribe to that page for news on this
Cycling For Everyone — an Expose: Organically Flowing
Seamlessly Integrated Bike Flow “Cycling is part of everyone’s life, because it was made part of everyone’s life.” This film, Cycling for Everyone, is a light, moving record of health and happiness. The film shows Amsterdam as a place where sharing the road is easy and safe. Inhabitants of this city and country value cycling so much that the rich and the
Climate Change a Top Priority for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Originally posted on Climate Progress, with only the photo added: by Zachary Rybarczyk Developing countries (including China) are expected to account for more than 90% of global energy growth in the next 30 years. The U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) is addressing the urgent need for sustainable, clean economic growth in these regions
WWF's 100% Renewable Energy Plan Gets Discussed in UAE
by WWF Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – At the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) held in Abu Dhabi this week, WWF Director General Jim Leape called for agencies, governments and industry to proactively collaborate in transitioning towards a sustainable energy future on a global level, flagging up WWF’s vision of a world powered by 100% renewable
American Bicyclists Celebrate Spontaneity with New Urban Forms of an Old Love
A recent story that celebrates spontaneity, cycling, urban wanderlust, and the wonderful wave of sustainable bike-sharing programs is a welcome happiness to all of us wanting more biking freedoms. From an article found on the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) website: “Bike sharing is like a big advertisement for bicycling,” says Darren Buck, a Virginia Tech (VT) student. “Folks walking by
Longing for a Sustainable + Creative Live/Work/Travel Situation? I Know I Was!
Being a vagabond is great and all, but I also believe in community and sustainability! How could I accomplish all parts of my equation at once? I mean, isn’t community and sustainability accomplished by living in one location with a group of people, following models of communal or group living, farming, and running co-ops? And isn’t
“Project Aura” — More Protection on the Road
Aura as a Protective Body of Light Energy One’s Aura is a body of light, a body of energy, that spreads out from our center and lights up a field of astral and ethereal layers of light protection. It is a large round globe of energy from within that spreads outwardly around us.
The Time of Wind Power for Homes Has Come Round Again
Many years ago, wind power was commonly used for domestic purposes. Don Cervantes tilted at windmills that were being used for domestic purposes. In the British colonial era, wind generators were used to charge batteries that powered radios and allowed people to keep in touch with the powerful wartime speeches of Winston Churchill. Across
Green (& Not So Green) News of the Year (2011 Top 10 List)
2011 was a big year for the environment, in some good ways and some bad ways. Here’s a quick run-down of the top 10 stories of the year, in my opinion: 1. Tremendously high levels of carbon emissions continue to warm Earth. Despite efforts to switch to clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and use more
U.S. Wants Clean Energy!
Nathan Schock of sister site The Inspired Economist writes: “Apparently, Americans aren’t getting the message that renewable energy is dead. Following the Solyndra bankruptcy and the avalanche of negative news coverage, 90 percent of the American public still thinks that developing sources of clean energy should be a very high (30%), high (35%) or
How Much Energy Does the Internet Consume?
The Internet uses more electricity than the entire auto industry’s production of cars and trucks combined. IT companies and users need to discover renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power to provide electricity for the Internet.
Total Shocker! Trillions of Dollars Put on Unique Idea that Climate Change Prevention is Cheaper than Cleaning up the Aftermath
Who could have conceived of this brilliant thought(!) — spending now to switch over to clean energy (i.e. wind and solar) that is already cost-competitive with fossil fuels (i.e. coal, oil, and natural gas) is much cheaper than waiting for climate change to break our back and then going in to have life-saving surgery (if we can even survive).
Activism Roundup (7 Stories)
7 more good activism stories of the week we haven’t covered yet:
Over 3,000 Call on Largest U.S. Stadium to Go Solar
Football teams, basketball teams and more have been putting solar panels up to power their stadiums. But not all have done so yet, of course…. Now, there’s a big push, created by the Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center, to get the University of Michigan to put solar power on its stadium, the largest football stadium in North America.
US Disasters in 2011 Set New Record
Yep, that’s a graph of U.S. disasters according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Looks a bit like the graphs of greenhouse gas emissions, doesn’t it? Looks completely opposite the trend of Arctic sea ice. Strange…
Darrell Issa — Get $$ from EV Company, Ask for Loan fo Co., Then Criticize Loan Program
Here are a few more stories from the past week that I really wanted to write on but never could make time for. Check them out (intro excerpts following each title & link):
Current Extremism and it's Toll on the Environment
A few weeks ago we were sorely reminded of the extremism of the majority of the current Republican candidates. Among many other alarming things said, Republicans suggested eliminating or privatizing: FEMA, NASA, the EPA, the Federal Labor Relations Board, Medicaid and food stamps. Herman Cain promised not to appoint any Muslims who want to kill Americans to his cabinet. Michele Bachmann supports states’ rights on gay marriage, but also supports a constitutional amendment outlawing it. Rick Santorum wants to “a system of discipline” to “punish” gay soldiers, which suggests that his problem with pornographic Google results is not likely to abate. Tim Pawlenty views Iraq as “one of the shiniest examples of success in the Middle East.”
Generating Electricity while Walking
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have improved their ability to generate considerably more electricity from human footfalls.
Top Green Living Stories
Some top green living stories of the last few days:
Successful, Cool DC Bike Sharing Program — Video (+ Top Green Living Stories)
Here’s a great video of DC’s highly successful bike-sharing program by the talented filmmakers at Streetfilms (love those guys and girls). Afterwards, you can check out my ‘daily’ roundup of top green living stories from around the internet.
Top Activism & Politics Stories (Videos)
Other than the terrific piece new Planetsave writer and activist Kate Follot just wrote, here are some top activism stories of the past few days. They cover topics related to transportation, the tar sands, climate change, animals, nature, food, and more. Check them out:
