MIT Team Builds Solar Car for World Solar Challenge (Video)

Calling any vehicle Eleanor is a bit cheeky, considering that it evokes the image of brawny Ford Mustangs made famous in the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds.” In this case, it may even be ironic, since the car the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team is referring to is solar-powered, rides on three wheels, and tops out at 90 mph.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s latest competitor in the upcoming 10th World Solar Challenge couldn’t be more different than its namesake. Its Eleanor is low slung, highly aerodynamic, and covered by 6 square meters of silicon solar cells that generate 1,200 watts of electricity. On board the car is a 6kWh lithium ion battery pack that stores enough power to travel from New York to Boston without the sun, or about 250 miles at around 55 mph.

But on a sunny day, the solar car can run nonstop at a cruising speed of 55 mph, and calculations show that it can reach 90 mph.

Read more

Toyota Prius Touring Tops Consumer Reports Best New-Car Value List

Consumer Reports names the Toyota Prius Touring as the best overall value among 300 cars according to the 2009 Annual Auto Issue.

The Prius Touring provides the best overall value because of its comparatively low owner-cost estimate of $26,250 over five years — and a relatively high road-test score of 80 points out of 100. The Prius doesn’t have the least expensive sticker price in its class, but its excellent fuel economy of 42 mpg overall and solid resale value help give it a low owner-cost.

Read more

Obama Signs Stimulus Packed With Clean Energy Provisions

President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus package today, and the clean energy industry - among the biggest winners - is celebrating.

The signing ceremony was heavily loaded with solar symbolism: Mr. Obama signed the bill after touring the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, which has solar panels on its roof. He was also introduced by Blake Jones, head of Namaste Solar Electric, a Colorado company that installed solar panels on the governor’s mansion there.

“It’s an investment that will double the amount of renewable energy produced over the next three years,” said Mr. Obama, who also promised that the bill would help “transform the way we use energy.”

The text of the bill is posted by the House Appropriations Committee here. This detailed summary is particularly helpful.

The provisions include:

* A large sum for energy efficiency, including $5 billion for low-income weatherization programs; over $6 billion in grants for state and local governments; and several billion to modernize federal buildings, with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency.

* $11 billion for “smart grid” investments.

* $3.4 billion for carbon capture and sequestration demonstration projects (otherwise known as “clean coal”).

* $2 billion for research into batteries for electric cars.

* $500 million to help workers train for “green jobs.”

* A three-year extension of the “production tax credit” for wind energy (as well as a tax credit extension for biomass, geothermal, landfill gas and some hydropower projects).

* The option, available to many developers, of turning their tax credits into direct cash, with the government underwriting 30 percent of a project’s cost.

Kate Galbraith
The New York Times

BrightSource Announces Big Solar Energy Deal With Southern California Edison

BrightSource Energy of Oakland scored another big deal in California today, announcing a contract to supply Southern California Edison with solar energy from remote desert generating plants — enough to power 845,000 homes.

The deal for 1,300 megawatts of renewable energy is believed to be the biggest contract for so-called solar thermal power, which uses heat from the sun to create steam to spin electric turbines.

The agreement calls for a series of seven plants to be built in far-flung areas of southeastern California over the next seven years. If approved by regulators, the first 100-megawatt facility would be constructed in the Mojave Desert near the San Bernardino County community of Ivanpah. That plant could be operational by 2013.

Read more

Van Jones and the Green Jobs Revolution (Video)

Van Jones, President of Green for All and a Nation contributor, came to DC on Thursday to talk to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming about a Green (and fair) New Deal. Testifying along with Jones were Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer.

Jones spoke of the “new tools…new training…and new technology” that would “begin to put some green rungs on America’s ladder of opportunity.” He took on the “falsehoods and confusion” spread by “vocal opponents and naysayers” who oppose investing in a new green economy and breaking our dependence on fossil fuels.

Jones set the record straight on the notion that green jobs are a fantasy–”Buck Rogers jobs, or science fiction jobs, or George Jetson jobs”–and pointed to the section of the Green Jobs Act (passed in 2007, but not funded–evidence he said of the need to “move aggressively from inspiration to implementation”) that spells out the exact kinds of job-training programs and industries eligible for support, some of which are: energy efficient and retro-fitting construction jobs; renewable power industry; biofuels industry; and manufacturing of sustainable products using environmentally sustainable materials.

Read more

A Brief History of the Electric Car

It sometimes works for the fashion industry - bring back an old fashion, make it new and a fad is born. This time, though, it’s the automotive industry, hoping for the kind of lifestyle change that can bring car sales back from the dead. All three major U.S. auto companies have been working on plans for electric cars, and debuted some prototypes at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week. Ford announced that it hopes to have an all-electric vehicle, which would be able run for 100 miles on a single charge, on sale by 2011. Chastened by their collapsing sales and sustained by infusions of bailout cash, GM, Chrysler and Ford need to come up with ways to revolutionize car design, clean up the environment and wean the industry off foreign oil. The concept of all-electric cars has faced some resistance, but the big three seem readier than ever for change - and the idea, it turns out, isn’t as radical as one might think.

Read more

Solar Power Industry Remains Hot in California

Despite the turbulent economy, or perhaps because of it, solar energy remains a growth industry in California.

The amount of electricity generated in the state by solar energy soared in 2008, and applications for rebates under the state’s Million Solar Roofs program reached record levels in the last five months of the year.

“While we don’t have the final numbers yet, it appears we nearly doubled the amount of solar installed in 2008 versus 2007,” said Molly Tirpak Sterkel, director of the California Solar Initiative. “That’s a magnificent story.”

Experts attribute the surge in solar sales to a big increase in the federal tax credit, an ongoing state rebate and new innovative financing programs, as well as to mounting consumer concerns over global warming. The growth comes despite a U.S. economy suffering from a battered stock market, severe declines in house and car sales, and growing unemployment.

Read more

With Aid From the State, Californians Warm to Rooftop Solar Power

Rebates and new financing models spur adoption despite the recession.

At a time when many investors are sticking money in their mattresses, Californians are putting it on their roofs.

Applications for state rebates to install solar panels hit their highest level ever in December, one of the few bright spots in an otherwise gloomy economy.

Residents filed a record 1,215 applications seeking solar subsidies this month, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. That’s the best showing in the program’s 24-month history, and December isn’t even finished. More than 18,000 California homeowners and businesses have applied for rebates over the last two years. Although not everyone who files this paperwork actually ends up installing solar, the figures are viewed as a reliable barometer of future demand.

A record 133 megawatts of solar photovoltaics have been installed in California so far this year, even as the state’s economy has stumbled.

Read more

Tesla Motors Hands Keys To 100th Roadster Owner

Tesla Motors honored Menlo Park businessman Sam Perry, known nationally for being the man Oprah Winfrey clung to during President-elect Barack Obama’s victory speech, as the company’s 100th Roadster owner.

At a December news conference at the company’s Menlo Park store, Tesla Motors CEO and chairman Elon Musk handed Perry the keys to a red 2008 Roadster.

“You can have something that’s sexy and fast and fun, and that’s also environmentally responsible,” Musk said of the sports car. The Roadster, launched in early 2008, costs between $2.50 and $5.50 to recharge and can run for 244 miles with a full charge, company spokeswoman Rachel Konrad said.

Read more

Germany Designs Houses Encased In Airtight Shell From Which Little Heat Escapes

No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’

DARMSTADT, Germany - From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace.

In Berthold Kaufmann’s home, there is, to be fair, one radiator for emergency backup in the living room - but it is not in use. Even on the coldest nights in central Germany, Mr. Kaufmann’s new “passive house” and others of this design get all the heat and hot water they need from the amount of energy that would be needed to run a hair dryer.

Read more

Next Page »