Category Archives: Renewable Energy

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Hand-Build an Earth Sheltered House For $5,000

In this article, we’re focusing on a really cool niche design trend that has been gaining steam in recent years – the earth sheltered home. What basically appears as an underground house, this cool new design trend might be everything you want in sustainable architecture. But for as cool as this structure looks, people generally…

Community Solar Power

A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F). The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a…

Solar Powered Sleeping Pods: Winter Safety For The Homeless 

Screenshot 2021 03 09 at 18.36.26

German city Ulm has recently rolled out a new benevolent concept as a means to keep its homeless safe during harsh weathers. With solution focused determination, experts manufactured highly technological weatherproof nests powered by renewable energy. Currently in the second year of trials, they have been called ‘Ulmer Nests.’ Though the nation is Europe’s strongest…

Top 10 Celebrity Homes That Should Go Solar

Solar is sexy, and many celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, and Will Ferrell, have already jumped on the bandwagon. But many celebs have not, even though they represent a select group who own a disproportionate number of outrageously excessive homes located in sunny places, and they may want to consider re-decorating their roofs with energy-generating silicon. If saving money…

Masdar City: A Test Case for Sustainable Urban Living

Sweltering in the hot desert sun, Masdar City sits under a global microscope at the nexus of rising clean technology and the development of sustainable urban life in the glaring light of climate change. Conceived on a zero-moisture stretch of barren desert sand in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the zero-carbon, zero-waste settlement of Masdar City has…

UL Courting Solar Market With New Acquisition

This article was originally published on Planetsave Independent global testing and certification body UL (Underwriters Laboratory) has acquired renewable energy engineering services and support firm, AWS Truepower for an unspecified sum. Underwriters Laboratory (UL) announced its AWS Truepower acquisition will strengthen its full lifecycle solutions. “There is strong alignment between the two brands,” said Jeffrey Smidt, vice president…

Anbaric Renewable Electricity Transmission Using High-Voltage Direct Current Technology

Originally published on CleanTechnica In an era of producing multiple forms of renewable electricity, the transmission of high-voltage energy is becoming increasingly important. Anbaric often uses high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology, heralded as one of the “advanced transmission technologies” in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which provided for the development of a stronger energy infrastructure….

How To Build A Wind Turbine

This ‘How-To’ was  originally published on CleanTechnica There is something remarkable in watching a wind turbine capturing the energy of the wind and converting it into clean electricity. For those unsure of a wind turbines workings, the Department of Energy provides this overview: “Wind turbines operate on a simple principle. The energy in the wind…

Facebook Spends $269 Million On Headquarters

According to Jack Cookson, a research analyst at BuildZoom, his company’s business specialty involves collecting all building permits from around the country, a daunting venture which sometimes reveals interesting results on companies like Facebook. A search recently led company researchers to Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, writes Cookson,  “…and we couldn’t resist investigating what has…

Masdar City Sets The Bar For Sustainable Urban Development

Masdar City, near Abu Dhabi, has set its sights on being the most sustainable city on the planet, and it is well on the way to meeting that goal. Development started in 2008 and is expected to continue for at least the next five years, with 40,000 people expected to live within its boundaries, and…

World’s Largest Solar Glass Envelope To Supply Electricity At Copenhagen International School

Dubai-based Emirates Insolaire will supply about 12,000 solar glass panels to the Copenhagen International School in Denmark, boosting the facility’s production of clean electricity. Emirates Insolaire produces and distributes colored solar glass and colored PV modules using what is called Kromatix technology. This technology allows solar PV to be integrated into the architectural design of all types…

New Rooftop Wind Turbine Technology

Wind power is a major source of renewable electric power in many places around the world. We usually associate wind power with tall wind turbines located in remote locations or far out to sea. In July, Denmark produced 140% of its domestic energy from just such turbines, according to The Guardian. Yes, that record was…

Building Materials, Fossil Fuels’ Ugly Cousin

We still live in a time when we do plenty things that are very harmful to our planet. It seems we’re all aware that fossil fuels like oil and coal create a considerable portion of our greenhouse gas pollution. But many people don’t understand that we also do a lot of harm to our planet with…

First US Power-to-Gas Plants Open in California and Colorado

The first power-to-gas plant in the US opened in California

Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) is bringing science fiction to life, launching two demonstration projects to create and test a carbon-free, power-to-gas system for the first time ever in the U.S. The technology converts electricity into gaseous energy and could provide North America with a large-scale, cost-effective solution for storing excess energy produced from renewable…

Eiffel Tower Goes Green

Eiffel Tower

An ambitious remodel project at the Eiffel Tower is making its operations greener.  The first floor of the landmark building was recently refurbished for a better visitor experience and to improve the environmental impact of the historic building. First floor glazing was changed to provide a 25% reduction in solar heat gain during the summer…

Wind Tree Provides Silent Wind Power Beautifully

Wind Tree turbine

A new French start-up, NewWind, is making wind power beautiful!  Their new Wind Tree offers almost a hundred mini-windmills on an apparatus designed to look like a tree. Due to the light construction of the “leaves,” the Wind Tree generates power at wind speeds as low as 4.4 miles per hour!  This translates into sustained…

Soccer Field Lights Powered By Players’ Energy

Foot powered soccer field

In a Brazilian neighborhood plagued by blackouts, panels under the turf of a neighborhood soccer field, fueled by players running over them, provide electricity to light the field and the surrounding homes.  A typical soccer player can run up to seven miles during a football game.  Most of the players in this neighborhood are local…

John Perlin Solar Energy History Series: Part III

I am pleased  to post this third in a series of SOLAR ENERGY  history articles from John Perlin, based on his ground breaking book, Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy. Perlin discusses the major breakthroughs in solar energy throughout the millennia — here the solar heat trap. Third Major Breakthrough – Glass as a Solar Heat Trap Vitruvius,…