Interesting Report:
¶ “Solar Needs 32 Acres To Power 1,000 Homes” Did you know that “on a life-cycle electricity-output basis – including direct and indirect land transformation – utility-scale PV in the U.S. Southwest requires less land than the average U.S. power plant using surface-mined coal”? [EarthTechling]
Opinion:
¶ “Fossil Fuel Collateral Damage” Neighborhoods can be turned upside down by shale oil and shale gas drilling , but it’s always felt theoretical as the prospects of something like these happening in my neighborhood have seemed remote. [National Geographic]
World:
¶ The installed capacity of renewable sources worldwide will reach an estimated 2,252.3 GW in 2020, finds a new report from Frost & Sullivan. The report notes that since the beginning of the last decade the number of countries with renewable support policies has grown from 50 to over 120. [Solar Industry]
¶ If offshore wind sees continuous development over the next 10 years the cost of the electricity generated at schemes could be slashed by around a third, according to a study by Prognos and The Fichtner Group, which identified cost reduction potentials in Germany. [reNews]
¶ A nuclear expert who has advised the French and German governments has told the BBC that he believes the current water leaks at Fukushima are much worse than the authorities have stated. He says water is leaking out all over the site and there are no accurate figures for radiation levels. [BBC News]
US:
¶ California has released its new vehicle sales numbers for the first half of 2013. According to the data, the Tesla Model S has a greater market share than Buick, FIAT, Land Rover, Lincoln, and Mitsubishi. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The utilities supplying power to the US electrical grid sell $400 billion worth of electricity a year. Regulators set rates and utilities get guaranteed returns. The model is largely unaltered since Edison invented the light bulb. But the CEO of NRG Energy believes it’s doomed to obsolescence. [Businessweek]
¶ Bloomberg has reported that the boom in gas field purchasing from 2009 to 2012 has turned into a whopper of a bust, leaving oil and gas companies with a belly load of depressed assets and “disappointing” wells to go with falling gas prices. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The electricity powering San Francisco city departments is 100% renewable. It comes largely from the hydropower production in Yosemite Valley, but since 2004, the Public Utilities Commission agency has completed 15 solar projects that produce 7.5 MW of power. [San Francisco Examiner]
¶ Renewable energy projects in the United States experienced a banner year in 2012, with wind deployment adding a record 13,124 MW of capacity and solar adding 3,313 MW of solar photovoltaic capacity. [San Francisco Chronicle]
¶ According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 845 MW of solar energy were installed across the country during the first quarter of this year, augmenting the record-breaking 3,313 MW installed in 2012. PV installations grew 76% in 2012 over 2011, with an estimated market value of $11.5 billion. [Solar Industry]
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