Science and Technology:
¶ National Public Health Week in the United States runs from April 6-12. To kick off the week, an open letter was delivered to President Obama signed by 1,000 doctors, nurses, researchers and other health professionals. It pointed out the many, catastrophic, public health risks associated with climate change. [National Monitor]
Rooftop solar panels and wind farm. Photo by GLSystem, Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Wind power grew quickly in 2014, but solar had itself a very good year as well. And there are signs that solar could be in for even more rapid growth. Going forward, solar could have several advantages over wind, and those advantages are likely to have progressively greater importance with passing time. [EarthTechling]
World:
¶ The economic viability of some 53% of 39 of the power plants planned for construction in Europe’s largest economy by 2025 has been called into question, according to the German energy industry association BDEW. It said investors are nervous over low profitability for coal- and gas-fired power stations. [Economic Times]
¶ The Australian Renewable Energy Agency announced up to $20 million for a new research and development round dedicated to industry-partnered projects that seek to develop and commercialize renewable energy technologies. The new funding round was opened at an event held at RMIT University in Melbourne. [solarserver.com]
¶ The United Arab Emirates will soon add 100 MW of solar PV power capacity. The Federal Electricity and Water Authority plans to set up solar PV projects across the Northern Emirates. The power plants will be part of UAE’s Vision 2021, which plans to get 24% of its energy from ‘clean’ energy sources. [CleanTechnica]
¶ The Golden Age of gas in Australia, which some thought would usher in the transition from high polluting fossil fuels to clean renewables, ended before it really even started. Data from the Australian Energy Market Operator highlights how quickly energy markets can change and how quickly they are changing. [RenewEconomy]
¶ The world’s largest network of municipalities adopted an action plan aimed at taking prompt measures against climate change. The Seoul Action Plan was released by a congress held in Seoul to gather more global support at the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives World Congress. [eco-business.com]
¶ An Australian report on global renewable energy trends says globally, renewable energy is now cost-comparative or cheaper than fossil fuels for generating electricity, and the cost of wind and solar in particular is projected to continue to fall steeply. But it warns Australia is increasingly falling behind. [Climate Control News]
German transmission lines. Photo by Calson2. Wikimedia Commons.
¶ Gunter Scheibner, in charge of keeping flows stable over 6,200 miles of transmission lines in eastern Germany, must keep power from solar and wind in harmony whether it’s sunny or overcast, windy or still. He is proving that renewable energy from the sun and wind can be just as reliable as fossil fuels. [Bloomberg]
¶ TEPCO has given up on retrieving the shape-shifting robot it sent into the damaged primary containment vessel of reactor 1 of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power station. The robot, which was surveying damage, was expected to survive 10 hours in the high radiation environment but died in less than 3 hours. [The Japan Times]
US:
¶ Southern California Gas Company has joined with the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Fuel Cell Research Center in projects to create and test a carbon-free, power-to-gas system for the first time ever in the US. The technology stores power from electricity chemically in gas. [Your Oil and Gas News]
¶ With a proposed award from the California Energy Commission, Robert Bosch LLC plans to demonstrate its renewable-based microgrid platform. The DC building grid will consist of rooftop solar PV arrays connected to energy-efficient DC lighting, ventilation, and energy storage systems on a 380-volt DC bus. [CleanTechnica]
¶ Marin Clean Energy has become the default electricity provider for rural areas at the request of Napa County, California, allowing customers to receive 50% to 100% of their electricity from renewable sources, as opposed to 22% with the former provider. Only 8.5% of customers opted not to use Marin Clean Energy. [Napa Valley Register]
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