Tomraftery's Favorite Links from Diigo

Plug-in Hybrids: What Role for Washington - Day 1, 2pm - 3pm; PANEL 1: Imagining the Plug-In Future

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:08:54 -0000

Great panel discussion on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles from leaders in this industry

Tags: electric vehicle plug in hybrid

Posted by: tomraftery

U.S. Wind Power Could Hit 150 Gigawatts by 2020 | EcoGeek

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:45:33 -0000

A report from Emerging Energy Research, a cleantech consulting firm, points out that the U.S. is now the world's fastest growing market for wind power. Last year 5 gigawatts of wind power were installed, and 2008 will break the record again with 8 new gigawatts under construction. The U.S. will shortly be the world's largest producer of wind energy, surpassing Germany's 22 gigawatts.

Tags: wind energy

Posted by: tomraftery

Dead Zones at VIMS

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:42:10 -0000

A global study led by VIMS Professor Robert Diaz shows that the number of “dead zones”—areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life—has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007.

Diaz and collaborator Rutger Rosenberg of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden say that dead zones are now “the key stressor on marine ecosystems” and “rank with over-fishing, habitat loss, and harmful algal blooms as global environmental problems.”

The study, which appears in the August 15 issue of the journal Science, tallies 405 dead zones in coastal waters worldwide, affecting an area of 95,000 square miles, about the size of New Zealand.

Tags: dead zone hypoxia

Posted by: tomraftery

Carnegie Mellon urges industry to broaden carbon footprint calculations

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:25:25 -0000

Because there is no universally accepted way of calculating someone's carbon footprint, dozens of carbon calculators have sprung up on the Internet in the past few years creating confusion and inaccurate information.

In practice, most companies reporting their greenhouse gas emissions opt to use only tier one or the tier two boundary. To put the implications of this boundary decision into context, Carnegie Mellon researchers H. Scott Matthews, Chris T. Hendrickson and Christopher L. Weber, have developed a new method that estimates the amount of greenhouse gas emissions across all tiers of the entire supply chain for all industries.

Tags: carbon footprint carbon emissions greenhouse gas emissions

Posted by: tomraftery

Energy Outlook

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:41:00 -0000

Weakening demand appears to be the main oil market driver these days, with the US having just tallied its 12th consecutive monthly decline in gasoline demand, year-on-year. For the moment, at least, good old supply and demand have displaced imminent Peak Oil and a perceived commodity bubble as the dominant narrative.

Tags: energy demand gasoline gasoline price supply and demand

Posted by: tomraftery

Energy storage coming to a power grid near you | Green Tech - CNET News.com

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:42:03 -0000

Someday, the electricity grid will operate with the equivalent of a giant hard drive. But in the short term, grid storage will look more like a PC's cache or RAM, able to serve up small bursts of power to keep things from crashing.

Tags: electricity energy storage

Posted by: tomraftery

Phoebe's Jottings: Idea for Codesprint/Barcamp Cork - Meeting Carbon Count

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:59:56 -0000

This mashup would offer the following functionality:
- calculate carbon emissions for each person attending a meeting (travel) plus overheads (heating, lighting etc).
- offer option to offset some or all of the carbon
- offer car pooling by collecting peoples travel plans ahead of time

Tags: codesprint barcamp amee carbon calculator

Posted by: tomraftery

FT.com / Home UK / UK - GM set to bring Volt electric car to Europe

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:56:10 -0000

General Motors is planning to rebadge its Chevrolet Volt electric car as an Opel or Vauxhall to bring it to Europe as part of the US carmaker's plans to expand the model range of its highly anticipated new vehicle.

Tags: electric car electric vehicle phev

Posted by: tomraftery

Octillion Enters into Research Agreement to Expand Development of Photovoltaic Window Technologies

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:38:21 -0000

Octillion Corp. a next-generation alternative and renewable energy technology incubator, today announced that it has entered into a Sponsored Research Agreement with scientists at Oakland University to further the development of its NanoPower Window technology.

The two-year agreement will be focused on transparent photovoltaic device construction on glass substrates, and also includes provisions to explore related innovations such as flexible substrates, hybridized solar cell designs, and other photovoltaic innovations.

Tags: octillion photovoltaic

Posted by: tomraftery

Fuels Cells: New Material Increases Power Output By More Than 50 Percent

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:34:47 -0000

MIT engineers have improved the power output of one type of fuel cell by more than 50 percent through technology that could help these environmentally friendly energy storage devices find a much broader market, particularly in portable electronics

Tags: fuels cells fuel cell

Posted by: tomraftery

Chill-Off! - Geekism

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:36:30 -0000

we coordinated the testing of five differant modular, closely coupled cooling solutions. It was dubbed the "Chill-Off". These is the story.

Tags: chill off liebert rittal apc cooling

Posted by: tomraftery

Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California - NYTimes.com

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:09:02 -0000

The plants will cover 12.5 square miles of central California with solar panels, and in the middle of a sunny day will generate about 800 megawatts of power, roughly equal to the size of a large coal-burning power plant or a small nuclear plant. A megawatt is enough power to run a large Wal-Mart store.

Tags: photovoltaic solar energy

Posted by: tomraftery

Gang of 10 Senators Could Upset Energy Debate

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:53:16 -0000

a "New Energy Reform Act" proposal from the "Gang of 10" -- a group of five Democrats and five Republicans in the Senate -- is starting to gain serious traction and could upset the debate.

The proposal has three basic components: 1) Tens of billions of dollars in federal investments to support the transition to advanced non-petroleum fuels, vehicles, and infrastructure; 2) Extension of renewable energy tax credits and incentives; and 3) Expanded offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic states, while preserving ANWR and the West Coast.

Tags: New Energy Reform Act obama mccain renewable energy

Posted by: tomraftery

Council worker develops PC energy-saving program | The Register

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:58:04 -0000

A county council could slash its annual energy bill by £40,000, thanks to a computer program developed by one of its staff.

Peter Kear, an IT support team leader for Staffordshire County Council, has invented a patch management program that automatically scans the authority's 7,500 computers and switches off those that have been left on overnight.

Tags: green government

Posted by: tomraftery

DC10plus - The Network for change

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:57:32 -0000

Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson is taking responsibility for making government operations and procurement more environmentally friendly.

His remit will include IT, and he is likely to look for greater energy savings from technology, including wider use of IT management systems to help switch off PCs and printers when they are not in use.

Tags: green government

Posted by: tomraftery

Op-Ed Columnist - Eight Strikes and You’re Out - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:23:00 -0000

John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year — which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn’t leave his office to vote.

Tags: john mccain renewable energy solar energy wind energy solar

Posted by: tomraftery

Joseph Romm: The New York Times' Absurd Attack on Obama's Energy Plan

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:22:21 -0000

The lead editorial in Sunday's NYT, "Energy Fictions," is a misguided and misinformed smear of Obama's outstanding energy proposals. It harshly criticizes a few tiny pieces of Obama's energy plan that deal with short-term oil strategies, in particular, his willingness to compromise on offshore drilling...

The NYT would seem to be accusing Obama of being dishonest -- even though it is the McCain campaign whose insatiable dishonesty now extends to climate-destroying [and soul-destroying] disinformation

Tags: nyt obama energy obama energy plan

Posted by: tomraftery

IEEE Spectrum: First Solar: Quest for the $1 Watt

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:52:26 -0000

Before First Solar's manufacturing innovations, cadmium-telluride photovoltaic cells were the size of postage stamps; now the company makes them as big as window panes

Tags: solar photovoltaic first solar $1 per watt cadmium telluride

Posted by: tomraftery

The start-up companies that will build the smart energy grid — Plenty Magazine

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:25:40 -0000

The electric meters on the outside of your house haven’t changed in nearly a century. They’re stark symbols of a utility system that’s riddled with outdated practices and age-old inefficiencies. But now a handful of startups are pushing to create a “smart grid” that could discourage excess energy use by both utilities and consumers.

Tags: smart grid smart meter enernoc climate change

Posted by: tomraftery

IKEA to sell solar panels? | Green Tech - CNET News.com

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:57:24 -0000

IKEA plans to pour $77 million into clean-technology start-ups within the next five years and could add "green" goods such as solar panels to its inventory, according to Cleantech Group.

Tags: ikea ikea greentech fund

Posted by: tomraftery