Comparison of demand projections for REE (total summed). Credit: ACS, Alonso et al. Click to enlarge. A large-scale shift from coal-fired electric power plants and gasoline-fueled cars to wind turbines and electric vehicles could increase demand for two already-scarce rare earth elements (REE)—dysprosium and neodymium, available almost exclusively in China—by... Read more →

Percentage of consumers having extremely or very favorable views of 13 clean energy technologies, 2009-2011. Data: Pike Research. Click to enlarge. According to a new survey from Pike Research, general consumer support for clean energy concepts—ranging from renewable energy to alternative fuel vehicles to smart grid technologies—has eroded in the... Read more →

A team at Stanford led by Prof. Yi Cui has developed nanoparticle copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF) battery cathode materials that demonstrate long cycle life and high power for use in grid storage applications. In a paper in Nature Communications, they report that after 40,000 deep discharge cycles at a 17 C rate,... Read more →

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have the potential to serve as a resource—under certain market scenarios and penetration levels—to meet the significant energy imbalances on the power grid that can be created by the integration of large amounts of wind generation (which can be highly... Read more →

Li-ion battery manufacturer A123 Systems will supply a 500kW Li-ion energy storage solution to Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC), the third largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the People’s Republic of China and the country’s largest exporter of power equipment. Expected to be installed at DEC’s manufacturing facility in Hangzhou city,... Read more →

Dabiri suggests using optimized arrays of smaller vertical-axis wind turbines to increase the power density and reduce the cost, and visual, acoustic, radar and environmental impacts, of wind farms using giant horizontal-axis turbines. Source: Dabiri 2010. Click to enlarge. Research by Prof. John Dabiri at Caltech suggests that using counter-rotating... Read more →

Audi A3 TCNG for e-gas project. Click to enlarge. Starting in 2013, Audi will begin series production of TCNG models whose engines—derived from TFSI units—will be powered by e-gas: synthetic methane produced via the methanation of hydrogen produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity. Audi’s newly unveiled e-gas project is a... Read more →

Energy executives expect continued volatility in the price-per-barrel of oil for the remainder of the year, with 64% predicting crude prices to exceed $121 per barrel. The executives also foresee shale oil and gas having a transformative effect on helping to meet the world’s energy needs, according to the results... Read more →

Ranges of global technical potentials of renewable energy sources derived from studies analyzed in SRREN report. Biomass and solar are shown as primary energy due to their multiple uses. Note that the figure is presented in logarithmic scale due to the wide range of assessed data. Source: SRREN. Click to... Read more →

BCG’s analysis finds that cellulosic ethanol is on the verge of becoming cost-competitive with gasoline at $3/gal US. Click to enlarge. Advanced biofuels, concentrated solar power (CSP), and solar photovoltaic power (PV) will see accelerating adoption and growth and are on track to change the global energy mix far earlier... Read more →

American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), a global power technologies company, announced in conjunction with Global Wind Day 2010 on 15 June that it has achieved a significant milestone by supporting the production of more than 15,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power worldwide with its proprietary power electronic solutions. This amount of... Read more →

SOEC cells with a proton-conducting electrolyte can operate at lower temperatures and can be used to produce different kinds of synthetic fuels. Cells with an oxide ion-conducting electrolyte require a high operating temperature which will cause the synthetic fuels to split. This type can therefore only be used to produce... Read more →

The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) is proceeding with the consultation and analyses necessary to move toward the issuance of limited leases under its interim policy for authorizing alternative energy data collection and technology testing activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). MMS announced its interim policy in November 2007... Read more →

In a major speech given today at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC, former Vice President Al Gore challenged the US to end its reliance on carbon-based fuels and to “commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.”... Read more →

The HyWind floating turbine. Click to enlarge. StatoilHydro will build the world’s first full-scale floating wind turbine, Hywind, and test it over a two-year period offshore Karmøy, Norway. (Earlier post.) The company is investing approximately 400 million NOK (US$80 million) in the project, and plans to have the floating turbine... Read more →

BP has signed a series of agreements in China involving the strategic integration and commercialization of coal conversion technologies; wind power generation; and world-class acetic acid production. The British Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown and the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, as well as officials from both the British... Read more →

The MV Beluga Skysails at christening. Click to enlarge. Beluga Shipping GmbH has launched the 140m MV Beluga Skysails, the world’s first application of the SkySails towing kite auxiliary propulsion system on a cargo vessel. (Earlier post.) The MV Beluga SkySails is equipped with a towing kite measuring 160 square... Read more →

Proposed location (hatched red) for the Delaware Offshore Wind Park. The red dots represent locations for which Bluewater developed visualizations of the wind farm. Click to enlarge. Babcock & Brown is buying Bluewater Wind, the developer of a proposed 150-turbine, 450MW wind farm to be located 11 miles off the... Read more →

Johnson Controls, Inc. is expanding its business into designing, installing and servicing geothermal, solar, biomass, wind and other renewable sources as energy supply options for customers. Johnson Controls is a global leader in interior experience, building efficiency and power solutions. Johnson Controls provides batteries for automobiles and hybrid electric vehicles,... Read more →

The UK has given the green light for the construction of the world’s largest wind farm—the London Array—to be built in the Thames estuary off the Kent coast. The consent gives the go-ahead for the offshore sections of the 1,000MW wind farm which, if built, will displace nearly 2 million... Read more →

The Wind2H2 project. Click to enlarge. Xcel Energy and the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) unveiled a pilot facility that uses electricity from wind turbines to power electrolyzers to produce hydrogen, which is then compressed and stored at 3,500 psi. The Wind2H2 project is designed to... Read more →

An independent study commissioned by the UK’s Renewable Energy Foundation (REF) has found that power generation by the UK wind sector varies enormously with location, and that even with a large installed base of wind turbines, results for wind power in the UK would be extremely spotty. Although most wind... Read more →

Hydrogen Engine Center (HEC, earlier post) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITM Power Plc (ITM), developers of a low-cost electrolyzer technology, jointly to develop products for power-generation systems. HEC anticipates that ITM can offer an assured supply of hydrogen using ITM’s low-cost electrolyzer technology. ITM anticipates that... Read more →

The Smart Energy 25. Beacon Power Corporation has assembled and spun up to more than 11,000 rpm the first pre-production unit of its fourth-generation Smart Energy 25 flywheel energy storage system. This is slightly more than two-thirds of the target maximum design speed and represents significant progress in the next-generation... Read more →

The Venturi Eclectic. Click to enlarge. Venturi, the French manufacturers of the Fetish electric sports car, have introduced a low-speed electric vehicle that can be recharged via roof-mounted solar panels or with a personal wind turbine. The Venturi Eclectic seats three, and features a 16 kW electric motor that develops... Read more →

Door of H2ICE Silverado highlights its role in the Wind to Hydrogen project. Click to enlarge. The University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), along with a group of utility and other private sector partners from around the state, will be showcasing a variety of hydrogen-fueled vehicles... Read more →

The Liberty turbine. Clipper Windpower and BP Alternative Energy have entered into a strategic alliance for a long-term turbine supply agreement and the joint development of five of Clipper’s wind energy projects in the USA. The five wind projects, with an anticipated total generating capacity of 2,015 MW, are located... Read more →

Layout of one of the two potential sites, southwest of Lamma. Click to enlarge. Hongkong Electric (HKE) is studying the feasibility of developing a 100-megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm in Hong Kong waters, following its successful launch of the city’s first wind power project at Lamma Island earlier this year.... Read more →

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has approved C$48 million (US$43 million) in new funding for projects that develop and demonstrate clean technologies. The 22 newly-approved projects target a wide variety of sectors and include the development of an all-electric urban delivery vehicle, biofuels, fuel-cell powered material handling equipment, wind and... Read more →

Hydrogen Engine Center (HEC) has sold a 50kW hydrogen-fueled generator set to Xcel Energy for use in a wind-to-hydrogen research, development and demonstration project. Researchers will analyze and compare hydrogen production directly from wind power versus using the electric grid. The hydrogen will be produced from electrolysis using an electrolyzer.... Read more →

The station while undergoing testing. Congressman Bernie Sanders (I-VT), EVermont, and other local businesses gathered for the dedication of New England’s first hydrogen fueling station, located at the Department of Public Works in Burlington, Vermont. The fueling station includes an Proton HOGEN H Series electrolyzer (12 kg/day, 40 kW at... Read more →

A Wyoming company has received a National Science Foundation Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to determine the technical feasibility and economic viability of the electrolytic production of hydrogen from coal-bed methane (CBM) water using power generated from wind turbines. In Ladd Energy’s concept, the electrolysis units would... Read more →

Hydrogen Engine Center (HEC) has received a C$179,000 (US$161,211) order through its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, Hydrogen Engine Center Canada, from Natural Resources Canada for a 250kW hydrogen-fueled genset. Natural Resources Canada will integrate the genset into a wind/hydrogen project on Ramea Island off the southern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Wind... Read more →

By Jack Rosebro Wind and solar powers the North Sea Cutter platform. Royal Dutch Shell has begun pumping natural gas from its wind- and solar-powered Cutter micro-platform, sited on a marginal-production gas field underneath the southern North Sea. The unmanned platform is supported by a monopost, which is based on... Read more →

The AES Corporation—one of the world’s largest global power companies, with 2005 revenues of US$11.1 billion—announced plans to invest approximately $1 billion over the next three years to expand the company’s alternative energy business and bring to market new projects and technologies to reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions. Through... Read more →

Two utility companies, ComEd and PECO, have added more Ford Escape hybrids to their vehicle fleets. Each utility is a unit of Exelon Corporation. Northern Illinois utility company Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) has added 35 new Escape hybrids to its fleet. This brings ComEd’s total number of Ford Escape Hybrids to... Read more →

By Jack Rosebro The Subaru 80/2.0 Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., the parent company of Subaru, announced that it has been testing its newly-developed two-megawatt wind generation system since the beginning of 2006. The prototype of the system, called Subaru 80/2.0, is at Hasaki, Kamisu City, Ibaraki Prefecture, facing the Pacific... Read more →

A flow-sheet for 100,000 gallons per day of CO2-free synfuel. Click to enlarge. A team from General Atomics is proposing the use of hydrogen provided from non-fossil sources (solar, wind or nuclear) and CO2 captured from coal-fired power plants or from the air to produce enough Fischer-Tropsch synthetics to meet... Read more →

GE has entered into a $27 million partnership with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to design a next-generation offshore wind turbine. The power rating of the turbine will be optimized for minimal cost of energy but is expected to be between 5 and 7 MW, making it one of... Read more →

Click to enlarge. Markets for biofuels, photovoltaics, wind energy, and fuel cells will expand four-fold in the next decade, growing from $40 billion in global revenues in 2005 to $167 billion by 2015, according to a report released today by Clean Edge, a research and publishing firm. Clean Edge has... Read more →

Ohio Governor Bob Taft has announced a number of initiatives to utilize state resources as energy sources. The most immediate are plans to expand the state’s production and use of ethanol and biodiesel. Taft made the announcement last week during a visit to Greater Ohio Ethanol in Lima, Ohio, during... Read more →

Inside Ghent. Volvo Trucks plans to rely on wind-power and biofuels to supply electricity and heating for its Ghent, Belgium, assembly plant, thereby resulting in no net contribution of carbon dioxide resulting from vehicle production to the atmosphere. This is the Volvo Truck’s second assembly to become “carbon-dioxide-free.” The Volvo... Read more →

Royal Dutch Shell announced the planned opening of two additional hydrogen stations in the US and the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) for wind projects in China and solar energy development with Saint-Gobain. The announcement came in conjunction with the release of the energy company’s earnings for 2005: US$25.3... Read more →

Proposed funding by area for the Advanced Energy Initiative. Click to enlarge. In his State of the Union 2006 address, President Bush announced the Advanced Energy Initiative—a 22% increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy (DOE). The Initiative is intended to focus on providing breakthroughs in two areas:... Read more →

ND wind has potential to produce large amounts of electricity and hydrogen. Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Bismarck, N.D.) has awarded Hydrogenics Corporation a contract to supply an electrolyzer-based hydrogen vehicle refuelling station for installation in Minot. The station is one of the first United States-based hydrogen fueling stations to use... Read more →

Offshore wind energy potential for the US by depth. Source: NREL The Minerals Management Service (MMS), the federal agency chartered with oversight of offshore oil and gas, is requesting comments for a regulatory program to support the development of alternate-energy projects—including wind-, wave-, current- and solar-power—on the U.S. Outer Continental... Read more →

Jilin Province China Daily. One of China’s top five power producers, China Power Investment Corp (CPIC), is planning to develop oil shale resources, in addition to expanding beyond coal-fired power generation into wind and nuclear. The State-owned electricity generator has inked a framework agreement with the local government in Jilin... Read more →

Layout of the refueling station US Representative Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called a press conference to highlight the progress being made in a $2-million research project for Vermont, $1 million of that funded by the DOE, to build a renewable hydrogen fueling station (earlier post) and to convert a Prius to... Read more →

The Utsira Project Hydro and its partner Enercon have decided to extend their combined wind power and hydrogen facility on Utsira until spring 2008. The demonstration project on the island Utsira off the coast of western Norway started operating in summer 2004 and was originally scheduled to run two years.... Read more →

The DF1 project for hydrogen generation and carbon sequestration/enhanced oil recovery will become part of BP Alternative Energy. BP today announced that it plans to double its investment in alternative and renewable energies and will create a new low-carbon power business that it expects could deliver annual revenues of around... Read more →