Are America’s Winds Taking a Breather?
It’s easy to take the wind for granted. We count on it for all kinds of things, like propelling sailboats, turning giant power-producing turbine blades and keeping kites aloft. But what if the wind...
View ArticlePower to the Far-Flung People
Imagine being able to produce fuel on a small scale near your home. With a facility no bigger than a shipping container, enough diesel fuel could be processed for your community using crops that...
View ArticleThe Empowering Power of Ice
Just when most of the country has “had it up to here” with ice, a coalition of publicly run electric utilities in Southern California say it has plans to cool the state’s energy problems by making even...
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Locally Owned Wind Power: Quaint it Ain’t
Kent Madison, a third-generation farmer in eastern Oregon, used to cuss when the wind blew hard and kicked up dust and kept him from spraying his crops. But now, with 18 windmills on his farm, he sees...
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Can Mining Provide a Renewable Energy Future?
It’s difficult to look out over miles of waste rock and tailings from a century of copper mining in the American Southwest and see anything but environmental destruction. But a growing number of mining...
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Greener Battlefields Would Be Safer for Troops
The experience of Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer, who in 2006 became the commander of the coalition forces in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, exemplifies the changing strategy of fighting insurgencies in...
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Noise Complaints Draw Opposition to Wind Farms
Mike Eaton and his wife live in northeastern Oregon for the peace and quiet. But ever since wind turbines arrived on the ridge above their home two years ago, the Eatons’ slice of heaven has been a...
View ArticleInventor of Plastic Solar Cells Sees Bright Future
In 1974, future Nobel laureates Alan Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa discovered a new type of plastic — conjugated conducting polymers. “This polymer was a completely new type that acted...
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Energy Conservation Through the Lens of Faith
Advocates of green living are often eager to support their cause by referencing benefits of an eco-friendly life style. The rewards for conserving energy in the home or driving a hybrid car include...
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Germany’s Road to Natural Gas Has Coal Detour
Germany’s nuclear phase-out strikes either joy or fear into the hearts of environmentalists — joy over the end of nuclear power in a major industrial nation, or fear over the undeniable prospect of...
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Falling Cost of Renewables Softens Nuclear Shutdown
When Germany decided this year to phase out its nuclear sector, eight of its 17 power plants were mothballed immediately, and Germans learned just how expensive it can be to shut down a reactor: about...
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Wood Pellets Energizing Europe, Timber Industry
One strange side effect of the European campaign to slash emissions by 2020 is a boom in North American timber products. A chief at one British Columbia wood-processing firm, Pinnacle Renewable Energy,...
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Consistency Key to Renewable Energy Policy
The bankruptcy of the solar startup Solyndra last month has placed government funding for renewable energy projects under a microscope. Were the government-guaranteed loans a wise way to use public...
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Navajo Nation Builds Momentum for Renewable Energy
There’s a Navajo saying: “When you walk into the future, you must walk in beauty.” When it comes to energy, this is difficult to follow for the current generation of Navajo. Many of the dirtiest coal...
View ArticleDiesel: The Dirty Fuel That Could Usher in Clean Energy
Without a lot of warning, diesel has become the universal solution for the world economy. Power outage? India’s industries and middle class fired up their diesel generators. Drought? India halved the...
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With Electric Cars, Opening a Two-Way Road to the Bank
The feds have dubbed it “tiny but promising,” but “vehicle-to-grid” electrical regulation officially has gotten off the ground in a small way. Last Friday the University of Delaware flipped the switch...
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If Only Renewable Energy Had a Smaller 'But'
Renewable energy always seems to get a “but” whenever it comes up in discussion about American energy sources. As in, “It would be nice, but…” it’s impractical, unreliable, or just too small a piece of...
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Solar Has Been in Our Energy Portfolio for 6 Millennia
When research began in 1977 on A Golden Thread: 2,500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology, the sire of my new book Let It Shine, only 360 watts of photovoltaics operated in the world. At this...
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Your Electric Car May Yet Generate a Small Income for You
Back in 2011 Dan Ferber told us about "a new kind of car payment," in which (parked) electric cars earned their owners some money by helping regulate the grid. The concept, known as “vehicle to grid”...
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Want Blue Energy? Then Trade Risk for Information
Renewable energy isn’t always as “green” as we’d like. Wind turbines kill birds and bats, solar projects can cover up pristine habitat, and some biofuels ultimately are more greenhouse gassy than the...
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