Green Tech

Even if they haven't installed a solar array in their backyard, a new OnStar program lets Volt drivers recharge their plug-in hybrids with renewable energy.

OnStar is working with electric power systems operator PJM Interconnection to develop technology that could give drivers a choice of the type of electricity used to recharge their Volt. The new system would let drivers establish a renewable energy preference for the Volt and help them use renewably generated electricity to recharge their cars.

PJM monitors the percentage of renewable energy available on the electrical grid, and uploads the forecast to OnStar's cloud. more

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 often done."

Indian more

When it comes to capturing energy from powerful offshore winds, bigger is better.

Siemens today introduced a larger version of its 6-megawatt wind turbine with a permanent magnet-driven generator set for installation offshore in Europe. The diameter of the circle created by spinning rotor blades will be either 120 meters or 154 meters (that is, almost 400 feet or 505 feet) across.

Land-based turbines typically have a capacity of up to 2 megawatts, but larger turbines are being designed to capture stronger, steadier offshore winds. Siemens projects that up to 50 of its SWT-6.0 turbines will be installed in 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 an more

news analysis Google yesterday pulled the plug on an ambitious green-technology initiative, a casualty of the Internet giant's strategy to shed peripheral projects.

In a company blog, Google's senior vice president of operations and Google Fellow Urs Holzle listed "Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal" as one of seven projects that were being shut down because they didn't catch on as hoped.

Google had a team of engineers working on a sun-tracking mirror, or heliostat, that would be cheaper to manufacture and use less water than conventional concentrating solar products. Yesterday, the team published a number of technical recommendations 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 an more

A huge battery bank connected to a wind farm was officially commissioned today in a project that makes wind power more closely resemble a traditional power plant.

Two divisions of energy project developer AES today said that the 98-megawatt Laurel Mountain wind facility in West Virginia is now connected to 32 megawatts worth of lithium ion batteries from A123 Systems. It's the largest project to couple wind power with lithium ion batteries, according to the company.

The shipping container-size batteries will allow AES to gradually adjust power delivery to the grid up and down, rather than have a more more

A U.K. company plans to give airport radar systems the equivalent of better reading glasses, allowing them to distinguish between spinning wind turbine blades and aircraft flying nearby.

Cambridge Consultants announced on Tuesday that it is spinning out Aveillant as a separate company to develop a holographic radar system specifically built for wind farms. With it, airport or military radar will get an accurate picture of the location of planes near wind turbines, said Aveillant chief technology officer Gordon Oswald.

Conflict between air traffic control and wind turbines is blamed for derailing a number of wind projects and has more

In a classic pairing of IT and renewable energy, an IBM supercomputer will optimize placement of wind turbines to improve performance.

IBM and Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas yesterday announced that the Firestorm supercomputer will analyze petabytes of data to maximize energy output of Vestas turbines.

The supercomputer crunches through weather reports, moon and tidal phase, sensor data, satellite images, and deforestation maps to generate the best placement of turbines, IBM said. Once installed, Vestas engineers will use the software to predict future performance and figure out the best time to do maintenance.

Predicting energy output of turbines is vitally more