Archive for the 'renewable energy' Category

May 04 2010

And you thought pouring a foundation was painful. Try putting in solar.

The Web site Greener Ideal has published a story about the potential pitfalls of installing a fairly large-ish solar installation. The piece is basically a cautionary tale on the things that could go wrong on a community solar project (this one is a commercial one), from the pain of getting the right permits, to the [...]

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May 03 2010

Solar designer and architect goes public

Shares of Envision Solar edged up 4.29 percent in the company’s first day of trading as a publicly traded company. OK, so the stock (EVSI is the symbol over-the-counter) closed as only 36.5 cents per share, so it wasn’t that much of a fluctuation, but the company did see a rather nice trading volume of [...]

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May 03 2010

Colorado school offers degree in eco-tech

Shortly after Independence Day 2010, Education Corp. of America will open its first in a series of what the company hopes will become a series of campuses focused on offering degrees in renewable energy technology and sustainable design principles. The first Ecotech Institute will be established in Denver, a location chosen because of the state’s plentiful [...]

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Apr 22 2010

Energy-efficient lighting dominates facilities managers’ energy efficiency efforts

Turns out there a really good reason that our posts about more efficient lighting technology tend to get more traffic than the norm here at GreenTech Pastures: Facilities managers polled as part of the latest Energy Efficiency Indicator point to lighting as not only their top energy-efficiency measure, but also the green technology that [...]

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Apr 20 2010

Upstarts work toward greener, more efficient solar technology

Have had conversations in the past few weeks with two very different companies that actually have a pretty similar mission, if you dig deeper: Making solar technology as green and energy-efficient as possible. I’m sure there are many more companies like these in the wings, so I’ll make it a point to keep an eye [...]

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Apr 14 2010

International Battery tests energy storage tech in Hawaii, Ohio

My quest to find companies working on renewable energy storage technology recently led me to International Battery, an Allentown, Pa., company that makes large-format rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. (With apologies to Billy Joel, I didn’t make it to Allentown in person, just a phone visit.) International Battery is worth watching because its technology is at the center [...]

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Apr 09 2010

Wind-powered tech manufacturing facility earns rare Platinum LEED designation

The Other World Computing systems integration and technology assembly facility in Illinois is one of roughly 300 companies to receive a Platinum recognition under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program run by the Green Building Certification Institute. One of the biggest factors toward that certification was the 194-foot tall wind turbine that will be [...]

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Apr 08 2010

Two notable solar projects, both because of their scale

I can’t help thinking with sadness about the West Virginia coal mine tragedy as I write this post about new solar power projects in two very far-flung locations: one in a place you would expect, the other, not so much. The bigger project first: Recurrent Energy (which I just wrote about because of its work with [...]

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Apr 06 2010

Wind development gets boost in Virginia, Ohio and South Dakota

Am visiting with family here in Hawaii this week. Basketball finals are on, so I’m trolling for greentech news to fill the breach. Just came across this item from Sustainable Business about progress being to stimulate wind generation projects and development in three states. My guess is that we haven’t heard the last word on [...]

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Apr 02 2010

Yes, I do think businesses have a duty to try to source renewable energy

Took some direct hits the other day when I posted an item about the Greenpeace campaign to raise awareness about the potential energy demands of cloud computing. Greenpeace claims that the cloud will put unprecedented demand on data centers, which, in turn will put more demand on an electric grid that is powered mainly by coal. [...]

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