energy

JEMEZ PUEBLO, N.M.--American Indian tribes see renewable energy as a way to capitalize on their natural resources.

The Department of Interior last week proposed a rule that would speed up decisions regarding land used for renewable energy projects, many of which have been derailed by bureaucracy. The rule would require decisions within a 60-day limit for business-related leases, such as developing solar and wind projects on Indian land.

"It will require the government to act," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Monday, according to reports. "The government cannot sit on its hands, as it has … Read more

By storing solar energy in molten salt, BrightSource Energy can now build one less solar power plant.

The company said today that it is adding energy storage to three planned solar projects that will supply power to utility Southern California Edison.

Instead of building seven power plants to provide about 4 million megawatt-hours per year, BrightSource now expects to be able to meet that with six concentrating solar plants to be built over the next six years, including three that will have storage. It is now constructing its first project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which will not have … Read more

ALAMOSA, Colo.--The San Luis Valley in southern Colorado is an ideal location for capturing solar energy. But like so many communities, people of this mountain basin will only embrace a future of renewable energy if it fits comfortable with its past.

One of six counties in this high-desert valley surrounded by majestic mountains, Alamosa officials are eager to develop solar for much-needed revenue and to diversify the economy. The county welcomed a group of journalists earlier this month as part of a fellowship organized by the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources.

Even with a fabulous solar resource with … Read more

If you're going to Mars with an SUV-size robot, you'll need a really good energy supply.

The Mars Science Laboratory, called Curiosity, scheduled for launch on Saturday will be powered by a nuclear device, rather than solar panels. Designers hope the nuclear generator will make the mobile robot more productive as it conducts science experiments in the search for conditions to support life.

Once it arrives on Mars, the robot will be heated and powered electrically from a ceramic form of plutonium dioxide. The nuclear decay from that block, which is covered in multiple protective layers, generates heat … Read more

NAVAJO RESERVATION, N.M.--Power transmission lines run a few hundred yards behind the Johnson family home here, but it took an off-grid solar and wind generator to finally bring them electricity service.

The Johnsons, who live on a remote stretch of land on the Navajo Reservation west of Farmington, N.M., are among about 200 families on the Navajo Reservation who rent an off-grid renewable-energy system from the rural utility. They opened their home to visitors last week during a fellowship organized by Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources.

The hybrid power generator, which was installed in February, combines … Read more

Home energy management systems may finally be hitting the mainstream, thanks to lower-cost technology (think smartphones) and increased investment to develop the smart grid.

One such home energy system, from Energy Hub, was actually inspired by the Toyota Prius, according to CEO Seth Frader-Thompson. In this SmartPlanet video, Frader-Thompson explains the inspiration and offers a look at the Energy Hub device.

This video first appeared at SmartPlanet under the headline "Saving energy with a press of a button."

Energy's Power EM-2.1 plug-and-play desktop speaker system is remarkably compact.

How tiny is it? The EM-2.1's gloss-black 4.25-inch-by-2.25-inch-by-2.75-inch satellite speakers come mated with a satin black 4.5-inch-by-5.25-inch-by-5.75 inch subwoofer. Connectivity is as basic as it gets, there's just one 3.5mm input jack, and the sub has stereo RCA outputs that drive the satellites. Build quality is inline with my expectations for a $100 package.

The EM-2.1 system promises 80-Hertz-to-20-kHz frequency response, but those numbers sound a little optimistic as far as the bass goes. A power-house system, … Read more

Designing Windows 8 for virtually any device from smartphone to PC, Microsoft says it's had a key goal in mind for all hardware platforms--energy efficiency.

With laptops and mobile devices slurping up battery power and desktops and servers chewing up electricity, Microsoft has wanted to ensure that any device running Windows 8 can tap into better power management.

"Very small changes done well in Windows can result in very large positive environmental impact because of our scale," Pat Stemen, a program manager on Microsoft's Kernel team, said in the latest Building Windows 8 blog. "In … Read more

The founders of Noesis Energy believe building managers will put a high value on peers' efficiency tips.

The company this week disclosed its open-source-style business plan and the acquisition of Managing Energy, an Ottawa, Ontario-based company that makes cloud-based software for measuring a commercial building's energy consumption.

Because commercial buildings use, and often waste, a lot of energy, there is a growing number of tools to assess and manage projects to improve efficiency. Large companies IBM and Cisco have software applications for managing multiple buildings while startups such as First Fuel have ways to suggest and prioritize energy efficiency tasks. … Read more