The Story of a Green Building in Downtown D.C.
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Posts By Kate Hash
Best Solar PV Efficiency – An Ongoing Competition
There is an ongoing competition to build the most efficient solar PV technology. As soon as one company claims the most efficient product, another comes along with a competing claim. Today, we have two new performance claims to share. Two companies, Semprius and Alta Devices have recently released statements that their products have reached newRead… Read more »
Clean Up Contaminated Areas, Grow Energy Crops
M. Cristina Negri, an Argonne National Lab scientist, talks about phytoremediation, or the process of removing contaminants from the soil using plants. The renewable energy up-side? She’s using biofuel-suitable crops; growing them on land not typically used for mainstream agriculture. Original post
Can There be Nationwide Climate Legislation?
Prof. Richard Lazarus of Harvard’s Law School spends 6:30 describing how unlikely it seems that climate change legislation will become law, and then spends the remaining time discussing how to overcome the barriers that prevent the law from being enacted. Just when you thought that there was no light at the end of the tunnelRead… Read more »
Solar Shipments Up, Cost Down in 2010
The EIA’s data for solar shipments is in, and the news is good. The recently released report, available now, shows that PV shipments shot up in 2010, and their unit price continued to decrease. Good news for manufactures and purchasers, alike. So, where are these PV modules being built, and where are they going? TheRead… Read more »
Want to Go Futher on Hydrogen?
Scientists at Berkeley Lab do. One DOE-funded project at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab takes Berkeley scientists and pairs them with expertise from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and General Motors (GM). The net result? A plan to develop a cost-effective hydrogen storage system for vehicles. The basic idea is to make aRead… Read more »
MIT’s City Car Makes Debut in Spain
A few years ago, MIT’s Smart Cities project developed the idea for the City Car. You may remember the City Car – it’s the one that folds up into itself when parked, the one that opens from the front, and the one that takes up 1/3 the space of a normal-sized vehicle on the street.Read… Read more »
NREL RE Atlas Shows Intersection of Resources
(Clockwise, from top left: concentrated solar in red and wind; concentrated solar, wind and biomass in green; hydro in purple and geothermal; PVs and wave energy.) It’s easy to spend a lot of time adding and removing layers from NREL’s RE Atlas tool. It’s easy to use, and provides a wealth of information. Recently, whileRead… Read more »
Could Thorium Solve our Energy Issue?
Kirk Sorensen seems to think so. Watch his TED talk to learn more. Original post
Greener Buildings Through Better Occupant Behavior?
Even in the best car, I’m not likely to win the Indy 500. The same goes for high performance buildings. Even the best, LEED-certified, low-impact building can lose its green benefits if the building’s occupants don’t utilize the systems in place and follow good green practices. In an effort to help building managers and occupantsRead… Read more »