Tuesday, July 08, 2008

A Solar Day, Emissions, Cars...

Solar power appears to be getting a lot of news and even a bit of respect these days. No wonder with oil, even with the recent dip, still remaining very high. One thing that I have not heard the talking heads mention, when comparing what is going on now to the 70s, is that our technology has changed. What was not feasible back in the 70s is actually at our fingertips now, viable alternative energy. The question is will we take hold or slip back into the habits of the last hand full of decades?

G-8 endorses halving global emissions by 2050
Tuesday's statement, however, addressed total world emissions rather than just those produced by wealthy countries, and critics attacked it for failing to go much beyond the G-8 statement last year. The communique also did not set a base year from which emissions would be cut.

Environmentalists criticized the statement for failing to go beyond the G-8 statement last year.

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens wants to supplant oil with wind
Of course, Pickens also has a particular solution in mind.

Wind. And natural gas.

Last week, Pickens loaded up his $60 million, top-of-the-line Gulfstream G550 corporate jet with reporters and a few associates from his Dallas-based BP Capital energy hedge fund and related companies and flew here to illustrate just how big — and achievable — his vision is.

Report Buyer Adds New market Study on Hybrid Power Systems
The report presents an analysis on hybrid power systems which
utilise renewable energy such as wind energy or solar photovoltaics. The study covers the various types of hybrid power systems using renewable energy, such as wind-diesel hybrid power systems, fuel cell-gas turbine hybrid systems and the more common solar PV hybrid power systems.

Mesquite's solar prospects boosted as BLM lifts moratorium
The lift of the moratorium gives new life to solar projects throughout the state and literally brightens Mesquite’s solar future.

"The moratorium was scary," Holecheck said. "Anyone who hadn’t filed an application stood a chance of losing tax credits. Since I’ve been mayor, the city has been visited by three solar production companies that have talked about putting facilities that would produce 200 megawatts or more of energy."

"I had the opportunity to listen to the BLM-Department of the Interior hearing in Las Vegas," said Michele Burkett, president of Defend Our Desert. "They did not have a good case for the moratorium. Three big solar companies testified. They looked at utility-sized solar; that’s what this country needs.

Toyota reportedly to put solar panels on Prius
"It's not going to eliminate gasoline consumption in a Prius, and it wouldn't be on my list of energy improvements I'd make to a car," said Mark Duvall, program manager for electric transportation studies at the Electric Power Research Institute. "But that doesn't mean it can't make a small but significant improvement in the amount of gasoline you'd use."

And that's the heart of the Prius' appeal.

BP PRESENTS SOLAR-POWERED ELECTRIC VEHICLE TO LAKESHORE NATURE PRESERVE
BP America Inc., the largest oil and gas producer in the United States and one of the largest investors in alternative energy, is making a gift of a solar-powered all-terrain electric vehicle to the Lakeshore Nature Preserve at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

It was handed over to the preserve today ( July 7 ).

The electric vehicle, equipped with a 48-volt battery system and a 185-watt PV solar panel manufactured by BP Solar at its Maryland facility, will be used to move staff and equipment around the 300-acre preserve. The preserve stretches across more than four miles of Lake Mendota shoreline, from near the Memorial Union Terrace on the east to Shorewood Hills Village on the west.

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