Opinion:
¶ “Wake up, the clean energy ‘revolution’ is here” Despite numbers for last year, America remains in the thick of a far-reaching sustainable energy “revolution” with “major implications. [Business Green]
Science and Technology:
¶ The University of Greenwich has won funding for three pieces of research related to algae. The research on algae gives hope for renewable carbon-negative source for a whole range of essential products including food, medicines and fuel. [Phys.Org]
¶ Avancis has achieved a new world record for efficiency of encapsulated thin-film solar modules. The company’s cadmium free CIS solar module achieved a peak value of 16.6%, as confirmed by the US DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. [Compound Semiconductor]
World:
¶ The UK-based Renewable Energy Association has welcomed publication of the Environment Agency’s updated Quality Protocol for digestate from anaerobic digestion, setting standards and increasing market confidence in digestate for fertilizer. [Biomass Magazine]
¶ The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change awarded funds to a partnership of Viridor Waste Management Ltd. and Highview Power Storage to seek to commercialize technology that turns air into liquid as a way to store energy from intermittent sources. [Bloomberg]
¶ The Scottish island of Eigg currently produces 90% to 95% of its electricity from wind, water, and solar. The system provides a limited supply, with a 5 kW per household maximum load, but runs 24-7. The previous diesel system ran five hours per day. [Motherboard]
¶ Despite advances in research and development on renewable energy, Small Island Developing States in the Pacific remain the most energy-poor in the world, with an estimated 70% of the population still without access to reliable energy. [Islands Business]
¶ The Scandinavian-German panel manufacturer Innotech Solar has supplied more than 1,400 photovoltaic modules with a total output of 360 kW peak to schools in England. Nineteen schools have received panels so far, and others will soon. [Renewable Energy Magazine]
¶ Abundance Generation, a crowd-funding platform that allows direct investment in UK renewable energy, is extending its portfolio to bigger budget projects in 2014. The company is launching drive for a £1.5 million single wind turbine in Cornwall. [Greenwise Business]
¶ Feldheim (population 150), in the cash-strapped state of Brandenburg, was a communist collective farm when Germany still was divided. Now it is a model renewable energy village putting into practice Germany’s vision of a renewably powered future. [GreenBiz.com]
US:
¶ The 2014 installment of the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, has found that renewable energy and energy efficiency advancements are leading a transformation of America’s energy. [Renewable Energy Magazine]
¶ BELECTRIC Inc.has announced the completion of four individual solar facilities in San Bernardino County in late December 2013. The projects are 1.95 MW each and have a combined capacity of 7.8 MW. [pv magazine]
¶ Citing corporate rights under the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, a St. Louis, Missouri circuit court judge has temporarily blocked a citizen-led municipal ballot initiative that could end city tax breaks to “unsustainable” fossil fuel companies. [RT]
¶ Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the massive coal ash spill into North Carolina’s Dan River, targeting both the energy company responsible for the ash pond that leaked and the state’s environmental regulator. [Al Jazeera America]
¶ The State Department softened some of its sunniest growth predictions for Canadian oil sands by rail in its final environmental review of Keystone XL — but greens still warn that only analysts in rose-colored glasses could see trains as a viable substitute for the pipeline. [Energy Collective]
¶ Even before TVA finishes building its new nuclear unit, the utility is preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to replace faulty steam generators in the new reactor within the first decade of its operation. [Chattanooga Times Free Press]
geoharvey 
Leave a comment