Two events I attended this month brought home the importance of cities as centers of solutions for urban sustainability and climate change. In the absence of a global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, cities around the world have already made efforts to decarbonize their economies. Global networks like the C40 include energy and climate […]
The key message coming out of the MIT summit was whether if low natural gas prices will have an impact on investing in alternative energy technologies. While the wind market in the US has added significant capacity in the last few years, the availability of cheap natural gas has made them less competitive.
ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit 2013 One of the bright spots in US policy has been the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) program, which has bipartisan support. Both Republicans and Democrats have come out speaking favorably about the potential of ARPA-E’s contribution to wean the country from its dependence on […]
Makower One of our favorite cleantech insider Joel Makower has come back from Japan with very interesting observations. It seems that the US is not the only country where the government does not have a strong mandate to create strong policies for climate. Political gridlock pervades here as well. There was much discussion about how […]
It’s that time of the year again where the world gets together to see what we can do about solving energy and climate problems. That’s right, I’m reporting from Tokyo! This is bigger than that thing going on in Denmark. This year’s Eco Products Exhibition (Dec 10 to 12) was well attended by over 180,000 […]
Coal Revolt In the US, several state governments have made efforts to stop the construction of new coal plants. Even major creditors like BofA are refusing to finance these projects. Now, city governments are getting into the act. Maria Energia says: The city decided to make the switch to avoid paying more for fossil fuel […]
P-Power Pee power. Scientists may have found a way to extract hydrogen from urea, one of the main major components in ordinary pee. That compounds is way for the body to get rid of toxic ammonia that comes out at the end of various metabolic processes. In many rural areas, urea would be the ideal […]
Pretty much everything you eat these days contains corn, whether in the form of corn syrup, sauces, starch, or other food additives. Pretty soon, we will also get upholstery made from this plant. Already being used for biofuels, corn is also a chemical feedstock. Joel Makower shared this story from his attendance of a gathering […]
This seems like something out of a James Bond movie. There is a startup, Solaren, which is trying to build panels in space that converts sunlight into a radio frequency beam aimed at a receiving station near Fresno. The station then converts the radio waves into electricity. Megan Treacy at EcoGeek says: “If everything goes […]
EcoSecurities and ClimateBiz have just released their survey on carbon offsetting. For those who are members on our sister site CleanTech.Org, we are proud to have supported this project. Thank you to those of you who participated in this survey. The Executive Summary is as follows: The voluntary carbon markets continue to welcome new participants […]
Joining us on this week’s blog, is our guest writer Nathan Polland. CleantechBlog is proud to present Mr. Polland’s research from InterSolar 2008: InterSolar 2008 I attended the Intersolar 2008 conference on July 14-16. While this was the first conference of its kind in the United States, Intersolar already has a huge presence in Germany, […]
by Frank Ling Green Beer It looks like you no longer need to wait until St. Patrick’s to get green beer. Soon, Adnams of the UK will be selling carbon-neutral beer. Called East Green, this new beer is not only made with higher energy efficiency, the manufacturing and distributions processes are also optimized for ecological […]
by Frank Ling The People’s Car With the price of gas exceeding $4 per gallon in the US, there is surging interest in vehicles with higher mileage. It may not be until we see $5 or $6 per gallon that we see mainstream transition to hybrids and plug-in electric vehicles. Several efforts at high mileage […]
by Frank Ling Sulfur Batteries The EPA has banned sulfur in gasoline but not in batteries. Sulfur, in the form of a sodium salt, has been used as large-scale storage systems. Pioneered in Japan, these batteries are gaining acceptance in the US as a reliable form of energy storage. Due to the intermittent nature of […]
by Frank Ling Green Message Crafting Americans and the US have a reputation of flaunting their wealth. Today, however, they are starting to proudly (sometimes loudly) show off their greenness. It’s a debate whether this is just a fad and the start of a nationwide trend to support sustainable practices. Companies around the world are […]
by Frank Ling Waste to Oil Think you need special enzymes to convert plant materials into fuel? It looks like science is getting closer to eliminating that step. Pretty soon we might be able to directly convert crop residues, waste paper, and pretty much anything organic into bio-crude, which is essentially oil. The secret ingredient? […]
by Frank Ling Almost As Hot As Healthcare Nothing is more important than our health. Even the environment, you ask (which arguably affects our health directly and indirectly)? At least that’s what the markets are telling us…for now. Clean technologies are now becoming mainstream, yet investors are cautious for many reasons. Rob Day, in a […]
by Frank Ling Vertical Farms in Vegas Every time I go to Vegas, I see new buildings popping up. I guess the world needs more hotel rooms. But we also need more food to feed all those hungry entertainers and entertainees. So the big news coming out of Sin City last week is Vertical Farms. […]
by Frank Ling Farm Bill 2008 has indeed begun, but work from last year remains to be finished on the current Farm Bill. Most likely this month, the Senate and House Committees will hammer out their differences and come up with a compromise bill that will be sent to the president. In the Senate version, […]
by Frank Ling Roadmap from Bali So what exactly happened in Bali last week and what does it mean for green technologies? After negotiations that were at times bitter and contentious, representatives from 187 countries agreed to push for a new climate accord by 2009 to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. In this time frame, the […]