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It's the kind of simple yet brilliant invention that would have the tycoons of Dragons' Den salivating with excitement.
Not only is the fridge solar powered, it can also be built from household materials - making it ideal for the Third World. Read more »
Tags: The technology substantially overcomes the problem of poor transport of charges generated by solar photons. These charges -- negative electrons and positive holes -- typically become trapped by defects in bulk materials and their interfaces and degrade performance. Read more »
As soon as the Ontario government announced it was halting development of offshore wind farms — a high-profile part of its vaunted, nation-leading green-energy plan — critics wrote off the surprise decision as pure politics. It was, they said, an attempt merely to tamp down vocal wind opposition in a handful of Liberal-held ridings expected to be tight races in October’s provincial election.
If a former aide to Brad Duguid, the Liberal energy minister, is to be believed, however, the so-called moratorium mollified no one — and the party’s wind-generated political troubles are only just beginning.
John Laforet, now an ex-Liberal and the provincial head of a network of 57 anti-wind groups, says the organizations have already recruited hundreds of volunteers for a planned campaign to take down Liberal candidates across Ontario.
Read the entire article at the link below.
California regulators have licensed what is for the moment the world’s largest solar thermal power plant, a 1,000-megawatt complex called the Blythe Solar Power Project to be built in the Mojave Desert.
By contrast, a total of 481 megawatts of new solar capacity was installed in the United States last year, mostly from thousands of rooftop solar arrays, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group.
“Given the challenge of climate change at this time, it is very important to reduce fossil fuel use by moving forward with the largest solar project in California,” Robert Weisenmiller, a member of the California Energy Commission, said at a hearing Wednesday in Sacramento after a unanimous vote to approve the Blythe project. Read more »
Pacific Gas & Electric to buy all power they generate for 20 years under state rules requiring minimum green-energy use
EDMONTON — California’s stringent rules for renewable energy have given a kick-start to two major wind-power projects planned for Alberta.
Under California’s renewable energy credits program, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has agreed to buy all the power for 20 years from Greengate Power Corp.’s 150-megawatt Halkirk 1 project east of Stettler and the 300-megawatt Blackspring Ridge project north of Lethbridge.
The wind power will go into the Alberta electrical grid, which is linked to the western half of North America.
Edmonton’s Capital Power Corp. is a 50-50 partner in Halkirk, although it has not yet signed a formal agreement. Read more »
Breakdown at Copenhagen. Climate legislation stalled. EPA regulation of greenhouse gasses threatened. Is climate protection dead?
Maybe not. Climate protection has gone local. Political leaders may fiddle while the world burns, but grassroots groups around the country are organizing to cut greenhouse gas emissions and build a greener future for their communities. Block by block and using every tool at their disposal, groups are fighting to green schools and workplaces; setting up networks of green job training centers; installing solar water heaters in low income communities; and halting new coal-fired power plants with both political and direct action. Read more »
LONDON (AFP) - The world's largest offshore wind farm was officially opened off the east Kent coast on Thursday, part of the government's bid to reduce the carbon emissions that drive climate change.
The project received a qualified welcome from environmental campaigners.
The site, a forest of giant turbines in the North Sea off the coast of the district of Thanet, has 100 turbines installed so far with a total of 341 planned.
Swedish energy company Vattenfall, which built the farm, says it has the potential to power 200,000 homes.
The farm will increase Britain's capacity to generate wind power by more than 30 percent.
Situated around seven miles (12 kilometres) out to sea, the 380-foot (115-metre) high turbines are spread over more than 22 square miles (35 square kilometres) and are visible from the shore. Read more »
Bob Geldhof addresses on how we must work towards a sustainable future, not by waiting for our "so called leaders" to make the change, but by making the change ourselves.
Watch the video here.
In a relatively small village in Germany in the Black Forest, many residents have covered their rooftops with solar panels, which generate more solar energy than they can use. The cost is offset in part by energy bills that are as much as 5 times less than other homes that are not solar powered. Amazingly, tourists to the town want to view the homes fitted with solar panels, almost as much as other sightseeing expeditions. People from all over the world want to emulate the town of Freiburg when it comes to solar power!
Canwest News Service
OTTAWA — Canada is losing out on about 66,000 jobs because the Harper government is not keeping pace with renewable energy investments made by the Obama administration, estimates a new report to be released on Tuesday at a green economy conference in Washington.
The report, Falling Behind: Canada's Lost Clean Energy Jobs, produced by Environmental Defence Canada and the United Steelworkers, says Canada needs to invest $11.5 billion in clean energy initiatives to match the U.S. on a per person basis. Read more »
