Fusion power may have just had the long-awaited breakthrough its backers have been waiting years for. A small secretive company in California called Tri Alpha Energy has been working on fusion power for years. But for Tri Alpha, like many other firms and government research bodies in the space, the trick has been getting the superheated gas needed for fusion power to stabilize long enough to have any real results. Now though, Tri Alpha has built a machine that forms a high temperature ball of superheated gas and holds it together for 5 milliseconds without decay. That tiny timeframe is…
The U.S. solar industry hit another milestone this year: there are now more than 20 gigawatts of solar capacity installed across the country, enough electricity to power 4.6 million households. The solar market continues to heat up, and bit by bit the technology is becoming a go-to source of new electricity capacity. In the second quarter of 2015, the U.S. installed 1,393 megawatts of new solar capacity, according to a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, the third highest quarterly total on record. That puts the country on track to install over 7,700 megawatts…
Apple is notoriously known for venturing into new technologies, shrouded in secrecy. New reports say that the California-based company could be making moves into using fuel cells in some of its future products. The company has filed a patent which covers the use of a specialized fuel cell system to power a Macbook for weeks at a time. The idea would be a revolutionary one in computing as all other modern electronic devices operate on some combination of rechargeable batteries and AC power. The fuel cell system would dramatically increase the portability and potential for Apple’s Macbook, but it would…
Recently, a small, mostly unknown private player in the nuclear power arena was unveiled to a select group of equity analysts. That company, NuScale Power, is at the forefront of a major technological breakthrough that could change the way the world generates nuclear power. Moreover, the firm is probably the only viable investment choice for investors interested in this tech. Best of all, investors can invest in the company through a unique arrangement that mitigates risk. This is a major opportunity for long-term investors.Let’s start at the beginning. NuScale Power makes small modular reactors (SMRs) which are a type of…
This post examines EU renewable energy targets and how the various member states are doing in meeting the targets agreed for 2020. It has been found that the compliance data published by Eurostat do not agree with the raw Eurostat or BP statistics.On April 23, 2009 the European Parliament issued Directive 2009/28/EC, which committed the European Union to obtaining 20% of its energy – note energy, not electricity – from renewable sources by 2020. Figure 1 summarizes the progress individual EU countries had made towards their individual 2020 targets as of the end of 2013, the last year for which…
Solar energy quickly gaining attention as the most attractive form of new electricity generation as there have been some substantial investments in the solar energy sector of late. In fact, more than 50 percent of the total investments in new electricity generation around the world was made in renewable energy. A report made by PWC and the University of Cambridge for the national bank of Abu Dhabi stated that the world invested around $150 billion into solar energy in 2014. “As Government and utilities are driven to bring new generation capacity on stream, this new reality (Solar energy) presents a…
As the specter of volatility returns to the stock market, investors in all segments of the market are starting to feel some of the pain that has hit energy investors so hard over the last year. This is small comfort to energy investors though, as stocks in that beleaguered sector have been hit even harder. The walloping in some companies is truly breathtaking and has to be putting some investors on edge. A classic case of this is Sun Edison, trading under ticker symbol SUNE. Sun Edison is a good company that has built an enormous solar business, but much…
Most people thinking about energy policy in Europe tend to focus on the renewable power the continent generates. While it is certainly true that many European countries have made enormous strides in renewable energy generation, there is another fuel source that is unusually important in many European countries compared to the rest of the world; nuclear power. Sweden is a prime example of this. The country generates almost 35 percent of its electricity from nuclear power – just shy of the amount that it generates from all renewable sources combined. It was big news and more than a little surprising…
Regulators for Washington DC rejected the proposed purchase of Pepco Holdings by Exelon, potentially killing off the $6.84 billion acquisition. By law, the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) said, the deal must benefit the public, and not just leave it unharmed. Chairman Betty Ann Kane said on August 25 that the body’s move was “one of the most important decisions the commission will ever make.” The rejection was momentous, as Exelon had already received approval from neighboring states in the region, including Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, along with the regulatory approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The…
It’s not enough to say that fossil fuels have to go or nuclear is hopeless (which are both probably true statements). The question is: What will replace them? Furthermore, how long will it take? An intriguing headline appeared in CleanTechnica on August 4: Wind Could Replace Coal As US’ Primary Generation Source, New NREL Data Suggests. Wouldn’t that be nice? Is it even possible? (The article originally appeared in The Handleman Post on July 26.)Though solar energy has become the poster child for renewable energy generally, the strongest player in the game, for now, is wind. Wind leads solar energy…
