Green Daily

Big Oil haters, you're not going to like this news. At a press conference Tuesday, the head of Royal Dutch Shell's gas and power unit announced that they will be making a grand total of zero major investments into renewable energy in the forseable future. According to Shell's Linda Cook,

"We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going forward... They continue to struggle to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio."

Wow, how quickly things can change. Last year, Big Oil was busy describing their mind-blowing plans for a clean energy future, and this year ... nothing? Well, technically it's not nothing -- Shell plans to pursue some involvement with biofuels, many of which have been called out as 'worse than gasoline.' Sure, I expected some of the enthusiasm over solar and wind to die down as oil prices plummeted $100 per barrel, but I can't say I expected a total 180. Sheesh. To be fair, Shell never did go into full greenwashing mode, but they do own 550MW of wind capacity. Guess it just can't compete with $47/barrel oil.

One of the most frustrating things about a lot of solar powered gadgets is the fact that it's so hard to get them into the sun often enough, and for long enough periods of time, to be sure they're always fully charged when you need them to be. This solar Venetian blind concept, called "Blight" by Vincent Gerkens, solves not only that problem but it also helps save energy. It works by saving up solar energy during the day and then replacing a lamp or two during the night when it uses that energy to light up.

Not the most attractive light fixture (a little 'rave party' or something), but definitely a cool idea.

[via DVICE]

On Monday, Obama talked again about the stimulus package dollars marked for renewable energy development.

The best part about his speech at the townhall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana, was that he made the case (yet again) for the green choice being green for the environment, and for the economy.

He explained the tax breaks and loan guarantees in the package are necessary to make wind and solar companies price-competitive. Mandatory requirements for utilities to generate up to 20% of their power from renewable resources, will provide steady demand from these companies. Over time, the combination will reduce and stabilize the cost of clean energy.

President Obama put the big bait out there, too, saying that the first country that figures out how to do this will be the next economic superpower. Since the U.S. loves being a superpower, I expect this to shut up all of those naysayers and doubters who want to stick with clean dirty dirty coal and pollution-o-rific oil energy.

Actually, Obama is proposing some pretty tame -- and gradual -- goals for switching to renewable energy sources, just increasing by 4% by 2012 and 8% by 2015. I say, there's loads of incentive to beat those goals, right?

Did you write to your members of congress yet to support renewable energy legislation? If not, go to the Repower America site and use their fast form. Nancy Pelosi already wrote back to thank me for preaching to the choir, but hey, it's the thought -- and vote -- that counts.

I usually try my best to enjoy the winter months for all the cold dark fun they have to offer, but this awesome pontoon cruiser from Tamarack is making me pine after more lake-friendly weather. From the same designers that created the sleek and efficient Aptera 2e comes the redesigned Tamarack Electric Boat Company's solar-powered Loon. Jason Hill and Nathan Armstrong have teamed up to turn an awesome e-boat idea into an very functional and user-friendly production concept.

In the past, two of the biggest downsides to motor boats were the stinky exhaust and inflated fuel prices on the lake. With it's 1000W solar array and inboard electric motors, the Loon takes care of both of those problems while greatly reducing your boating footprint. The 22ft Loon can go an estimated 35 miles in a day, and reach a top speed of about 7 knots (8mph) -- you might get passed by sailboats. Still, other features more than compensate for its lack of speed, including its V2G (vehicle to grid) capability. While the Loon is parked on your driveway or sitting in the slip, it can dump power back onto the grid. Production is scheduled to start this summer in Buffalo, NY.

[via AutoBlogGreen]

Japanese photo and copy corporation Ricoh is about to make eco-history, in Times Square of all places. By the end of January, they will install a million dollar "Eco-board" billboard, powered entirely by wind and solar power.

The billboard has 16 wind turbines designed specifically for the project. The designers expect the turbines to be able to generate 95% of the power they need from the wind, and if additional power is required, it can be generated by by 64 solar panels.

Even though it was an expensive project to create, Ricoh believe that it was a short-term, up-front investment that will pay dividends down the road.

For one thing, they won't have to pay for energy. Even more importantly, the billboard won't produce any CO2, unlike traditional billboards in the area, which each produce about 18 tons (16 metric tons) of carbon annually.

Now that Ricoh has paid for the R&D, more corporations are expected to follow suit. Won't it be funny -- and awesome -- if Times Square become a shining (and carbon neutral) example of environmental responsibility?

Interested in what renewable magnificent renewable energy projects you invested in through your tax dollars and lost purchasing power through inflationary spending? Well, the numbers are in for 2007 -- and they're not too pretty. Instead of going for a well-rounded approach to a renewable energy policy, two-thirds of all federal renewable energy subsidies and over three-quarters of tax credits all went to one industry. The least efficient one: ethanol.

From an optimistic standpoint, that means that a whole 24% of renewable tax credits along with 33% of renewable energy subsidies didn't go to king corn ethanol producers -- who (coincidentally?) are dropping like flies right now. How's that old saying go ... 'close enough for government work?' Since the heyday of corn ethanol, gas prices have made a historic plunge to less than $39 today, and information about ethanol's footprint has made it's way to the main stage. Hopefully, the numbers for 2008 saw a little more balance, although it's hard to say. As much enthusiasm as I saw in the solar and wind industries, oil prices in the first half of '08 made ethanol seem like a panacea.

[via Treehugger]

Alternative rock band, Cake, will be producing its latest album using solar power. The roof of their Sacramento studio is covered in solar panels. Trumpet player Vince DiFiore estimates that the band only uses 10% of the energy generated during rehearsals which sends the excess back into the grid. The band used Borrego Solar Systems to transform their studio.

Solar power is only one small step the band has taken to curb their environmental impact. John McCrea has been known to give away trees to audience members and there is a link for ride sharing on the band's website. Cake's sixth album is set for release sometime this year.

I don't know about you, but I don't generally think of Iran as one of those countries that is really up-to-date and "with it." Apparently we should be though, as Iran just opened its first solar energy plant.

The plant uses a set-up of mirrors that focus the sun's heat onto tubes which then turn that heat into steam which generates electricity. There are some cool diagrams of how it works, though you can't read the details unless you are familiar with the Farsi language.

It's tricky to find much information on the project in English but, there is enough to know that Iran is on the right track.

[Via EcoWorldly]

Though Toyota isn't one of the automakers threatening bankruptcy, they are currently hurting. In an effort to turn around their fortunes, Toyota is currently developing a solar powered vehicle.

Though it would be years before such a car is on the market, research has begun in earnest. This 100% electric vehicle would run on solar power from the vehicle's own panels and if necessary, get recharged from a home's electricity source (preferably solar).

Toyota is already familiar with solar panels as they already use them on the roof of their Tsutsumi plant in Japan which save 740 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

There's no doubt that 2008 has been a significant year for clean fuel technologies. The positive progress being made is very promising, but actually sitting down to figure out the best of the Cleantech victories for 2008 is where things get tricky.

Luckily, Earth2Tech has done the dirty work for us. Their 10 Biggest Cleantech Victories of 2008 article highlights everything from the most obvious to the stories we may have forgotten over the year. Without offering too many spoilers, you can probably guess the importance solar power's popularity plays on this list. Check out the entire top ten article and let us know what you think of your own top ten list in the comments below.

In the flurry of pre-holiday activity, we almost missed this news that two solar companies announced new manufacturing plants -- with new jobs -- that will be opening in the US in the next year.

Hemlock Semiconductor is expanding U.S. production of polysilicon, which is used for solar cells and semiconductors. The company will build a new plant in Tennessee, as well as expand an existing facility in Michigan. Building the Hemlock plants will create almost 2,000 construction jobs, plus create 800 new jobs at the plant.

Signet Solar also announced plans to build a solar panel manufacturing plant in Belen, New Mexico. This plant will create a total of almost 600 jobs over several phases of building.

With so much negative news about the bad economy and lay-offs, it's great to hear some positive news about new jobs related to alternative energy. And Obama isn't even in office yet!

Last week, the US announced that it will fail to meet its ethanol mandate in 2022. And while it kinda sucks to fail at something, there is a silver lining: corn-based E85 and cellulosic E85 are the two worst alternative fuels. According to a study conducted by the Royal Society of Chemistry, our ambivalence and ineptitude when it comes to meeting our ethanol mandate may have saved us from an even bigger mistake (actually meeting them). Don't you love it when that happens?

As they say, haste makes waste, and few could accuse the US of being hasty when it comes to abandoning fossil fuels. The study put ethanol up against other -- perhaps slightly less available -- forms of renewable energy like "solar-photovoltaics (PV), concentrated solar power (CSP), wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, tidal, nuclear, and coal with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology." In comparison of 11 impacts categories, both forms of E85 were given the lowest marks. First place was secured by an EV charged by wind power. I kinda wish they had analyzed gasoline to give us a reference point.

According to the RSC, we could theoretically "replace all 2007 onroad vehicles with BEVs powered by 73,000–144,000 5 MW wind turbines, less than the 300000 airplanes the US produced during World War II."

[via AutoBlogGreen]

Okay, now the fight to beat global warming is getting real. The United States Army issued its first Sustainability Report in September, and I have to applaud them for their ambitious and outstanding example.

All new Army building construction will be LEED certified, they're decreasing their water use (already down 33% between 2004 and 2007!) and they're insulating tents!

Some of it is for the environment, but most of it is to help the cash strapped organization save some money. As we all know, greener practices make excellent financial sense.

They're still trying to figure out how to reduce their production of toxic waste, and using renewable energy is still more of an idea than a practice. You have to believe that there is enough sun and wind in Afghanistan and Iraq to power all of the armies in the world -- and it's basically free -- so I'm sure we'll see more activity in that area.

It's a great start - GO ARMY!

Vatican Activates Their Solar Roof

Cat tells us all about the new system that will provide 20% of the city-state's power by 2020, making them slightly more autonomous from Italy. Pretty cool.

Obama Airs His Dirty Laundry

Project Laundry has on online petition up, asking President-Elect Obama and his family to air-dry their laundry at the White House. Somehow, Kelly doesn't think this is going to happen. I think she's right.

Report Says Rich Countries Should Make the First Greenhouse Cuts

Eugene covers a report out of Harvard saying that rich countries need to take the first step.

Auto Execs Should Have Jetpooled to Washington

Who could forget the auto execs up on Capitol Hill this week asking for money while their private jets waited for them? Some well-meaning advice for them from Josh.

With the economy in shambles and lay-offs all over the place, I keep asking myself, how can I power my yacht in an eco-friendly way.

Fortunately, Solar Sailor, an Australian-based company, has a solution. By using the sun and wind, two things boats have a lot of access to, this technology can help make renewable energy a major power source for your luxury boat.

One of the main hurdles, according to Dr. Robert Dane, the sailor who came up with the concept, was the dangerous combination of strong winds and solar panels. The solution? Make wind sails out of solar collectors, naturally. Ideally, the vessel would be powered by a combination of wind and solar energy, plus batteries and old fashion fuel.

While my student loan payments precludes me for buying a yacht (for now!), it's nice to see the super rich getting on-board with innovative energy ideas.

While the Solar Sailor technology could reduce emissions and costs for yachts, the company has also reported interest from other types of marine vessels, including crewless drones for coast guards (that operate for two years at a time!) and ferry operators in Asia.