Renewables & efficiency – Dec 27

December 27, 2008

Click on the headline (link) for the full text.

Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletinhomepage


Solar Meets Polar as Winter Curbs Clean Energy

Kate Galbraith, New York Times
Old Man Winter, it turns out, is no friend of renewable energy.

This time of year, wind turbine blades ice up, biodiesel congeals in tanks and solar panels produce less power because there is not as much sun. And perhaps most irritating to the people who own them, the panels become covered with snow, rendering them useless even in bright winter sunshine.

So in regions where homeowners have long rolled their eyes at shoveling driveways, add another cold-weather chore: cleaning off the solar panels. “At least I can get to them with a long pole and a squeegee,” said Alan Stankevitz, a homeowner in southeast Minnesota.
(25 December 2008)


Etopia News – climate change and renewables

Marc Strassman, Etopia News
You can access over 60 remotely-recorded and on-site videos about climate change and the effort to mitigate it through the rapid and universal deployment of renewable energy systems in a new format from Blip.tv.

You can directly access this programming on the Etopia News home page at www.etopianews.com and also on the Blip.tv site at www.etopianewsnow.blip.tv.

Also, you can syndicate this programming on any web page by going to:

www.etopianewsnow.blip.tv/#syndicate.

The site will incorporate new interviews and possibly other programs as they are produced.
(December 2008)


Recycled energy: green, underused
(video 2:20 min)
CNN Money
Experts say it could generate 40% of the power we use, cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, but American companies don’t use it.
(9 December 2008)
Recommended by Sean Casten at Gristmill.


Tags: Electricity, Photovoltaic, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy