January 27, 2012
By Amy Condra FOR THE JUNEAU EMPIRE: Water is abundant in Southeast — it falls freely from the sky throughout the summer and fall, filling rivers and creeks that tumble down our mountains, into the lakes, channels and canals, the bays and straits that wind their way throughout the land. Here, this water has sustained [...] Read More
January 23, 2012
By Matthew L. Wald of The New York Times: Coda Automotive is supposed to start selling its electric sedan next month. On Friday, its parent company announced that it was also moving into a related line: stationary batteries for electricity storage. Coda Holdings will make minor modifications to battery packs for its cars, [...] Read More
January 23, 2012
By Mark Brown of Wired UK: We’ve all seen concentrated solar power (CSP) plants — those rows and rows of shiny mirror heliostats all crowded around a 100-metre-high pillar, like worshippers peering up at a towering god. The orchestra of mirrors track the sun throughout the day, bouncing rays up at [...] Read More
January 23, 2012
By Marc Lifsher of Los Angeles Times: California’s cellphones, tablet computers, power tools and hundreds of other portable electronic devices will be required to have energy-stingy battery chargers beginning next year. The California Energy Commission on a 3-0 vote Thursday approved first-in-the-nation efficiency standards targeting about 170 million so-called vampire charging systems that waste as [...] Read More
January 23, 2012
By ANDREW WELLNER Frontiersman.com: What’ll it take to bring commuter rail to the Valley? Quite a bit it turns out, but Alaska Railroad Corp. is working on it. At an open house discussing Mat-Su and state projects at Evangelo’s Restaurant Wednesday, while there weren’t many displays strictly talking about commuter rail, a few mentioned it in passing. One [...] Read More
January 20, 2012
By Katherine Tweed on Green Tech Enterprise: Energy efficiency is often called the low-hanging fruit of a clean-energy economy. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu likes to say it’s not just hanging, it’s rotting on the ground. The easy pickings are apparently not that easy, though. Energy efficiency programs have picked up speed in the past few years [...] Read More
January 13, 2012
By Jonathan Grass, Alaska Journal of Commerce: Alaskan Brewing Co. has entered the final stage of a 16-year process in setting a precedent in renewable energy. The Juneau-based brewery has a new boiler to make its own malt waste a sole energy source and has been selected for nearly $500,000 in federal [...] Read More
January 5, 2012
A Ketchikan mill is slated to begin producing wood pellets this winter. As Deanna Garrison reports, Tongass Forest Enterprises is hoping to capitalize on a recent surge in interest in processed wood heating products in Southeast Alaska. Listen to the full story here Read More
January 4, 2012
By Dave Levitan on IEEE Spectrum: At the end of 2010, we wrote here about the “Year of the Report,” and the massive potential of many different renewable resources that were revealed. In 2011, with some big fossil fuel and nuclear stories providing the backdrop, renewable energy made some impressive gains both [...] Read More
January 4, 2012
A new report predicts that 100 million new smart meters will be installed across Europe between now and the end of 2016 as nations continent-wide aim to achieve greater energy efficiency and increased reliance on renewable sources of energy. According to GTM Research, European investment in smart grid improvements will reach €6.8 billion annually, with [...] Read More
