$467 Million in Stimulus Money Released for Solar Power & Geothermal

photo: David Blaikie via flickr.

Solar power and geothermal power have finally gotten their portion of money allocated in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, to the tune of $467 million. President Obama announced this by touting the usual rhetoric of decreasing dependency on foreign oil and putting people back to work in through green energy jobs. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu too talked up green jobs, plus the role renewable energy can play in combatting climate change Frankly, absolutely nothing new or novel was said, but it is great that solar and geothermal have finally been shown some federal stimulus love. This is how all that money is being divided up:

Geothermal to Get Most of the Funding
All told geothermal is getting $350 million: $140 million is going toward Geothermal Demonstration Projects; $80 million towards Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technology Research and Development; $100 million towards Innovative Exploration Techniques; $30 million towards a National Geothermal Data System, Resource Assessment, and Classification System.

Solar Power Gets One-Third of Geothermal
Solar power has been allocated $117.6 million: $51.5 million for Photovoltaic Technology Development; $40.5 for Solar Energy Deployment (“Projects in this area will focus on non-technical barriers to solar energy deployment, including grid connection, market barriers to solar energy adoption in cities, and the shortage of trained solar energy installers.”); Concentrating Solar Power Research and Development brings up the rear with $25.6 million.

More: Department of Energy

New Battery Technology Improves MacBook Pro Battery Life by 60%

Source: “New Battery Technology Improves MacBook Pro Battery Life by 60%“, treehugger.com, Jaymi Heimbuch, 6th Jan 2009

Photo via Gizmodo

New battery technology in the 17″ MacBook Pro was shown off at MacWorld today, which lays claim to a battery life improvement of 60%. The new battery can last up to 8 hours on a charge, and can be charged 1,000 times, equivalent to about 5 years. It’s also recyclable at the end of it’s life. But there are even more green features to this new technology.

Apple made a block of batteries, rather than the usual cylindrical cells that end up wasting space. The newly utilized space allows the notebook to have a 40% bigger battery, without making the notebook bigger. The problem, of course, is that you have to take the notebook apart if you want to replace the battery. 

But the upside is that it will last three times longer than the industry standard. The trick for making it last longer is using a chip within the battery that communicates with each cell to make adjustments to the current for each cell. This means a maximized battery life.

With it lasting so much longer, and being recyclable at the end of it’s life, that alone is enough to get Dell to hush up a bit. But additionally, Apple has a take-back program for the batteries, making recycling even easier, and it is EPEAT Gold, arsenic, BFR, mercury, PVC free, and touts 34% smaller packaging.

Via Gizmodo Live Blogging at MacWorld

More on Apple
Apple’s Mac Brick Rumors and the Environmental Impact
Apple Recycles iPods, Computers, All Brands of Cell Phones
New Apple Macbook & Macbook Pro has Greener Energy Saver Icon
Steve Jobs: New Apple Nano iPods to be Greener

EU Wants to End Conventional Incandescent Lightbulbs

 

 

Improvements to conventional bulbs reached a limit 50 years ago

A European Union report has recommended banning conventional incandescent light bulbs by 2012 to save energy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Most light bulbs sold in the EU are of the type developed by Thomas Edison in 1879.

But the report says the EU could save up to $12bn (£8bn) a year in energy bills by switching to low-energy bulbs.

The report needs the backing of the European parliament and all 27 member states to become law.

“It’s very clear that this is a measure that will change the way that we consume energy,” EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told journalists.

Phase out

Once approved, the EU would phase out conventional bulbs between September 2009 and September 2012.

 

Consumers will choose between long-life fluorescent bulbs or halogen lamps.

The EU says the measure will save households up to 50 euros ($64, £43) a year and pump up to 10bn euros ($13bn) into the economy.

“European homes will keep the same quality of  lighting while saving energy, CO2 and money.” Andrea Piebalgs, EU Energy Commissioner 

The new-style lamps carry energy savings of 25% to 75% compared to traditional incandescent bulbs, which are little changed since they were invented almost 130 years ago.

The report also says the switch will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12 million tonnes a year, and save energy equivalent to the consumption of 11 million European households.

Mr Piebalgs said that the phasing out had to be gradual so that “production facilities could adapt to the new lighting” and the quality of illumination could be ensured.

“European homes will keep the same quality of lighting, while saving energy, CO2 and money,” he said.

Several nations including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines have already announced they will phase out or restrict sales of traditional bulbs.

Source: BBC News, “EU wants end to old-style bulbs”, 8th Dec 2008

Apple’s Green Thing

There is much to improve on. Keep up the good work, Apple.

ASUS Gets First Ever EU Eco Flower Award

 

Photo via ASUS

ASUS, in addition to getting its N series notebooks ranked EPEAT Gold, has earned the first ever EU Flower Eco Award for computers for that very same notebook series.

While the name is rather, well, flowery, the award is not. It’s a really big deal they achieved it and makes a big green-hued statement to the rest of the computing world.

ASUS has been a quiet leader for some time in environmental sustainability in the computer world. That is recognized by its earning one of the industry’s toughest awards, and being the company that made the world’s first computers to earn it.

With the awarding of EU Flower certification to the N50, N80, N20, and N10 notebooks, ASUS notebooks have secured a spot in history as the world’s first computers to be conferred the prestigious award. Underscoring the magnitude of this achievement is the fact that 15,000,000 computers are sold in Europe each year, and ASUS N Series notebooks are the first to obtain EU Flower certification.

The award criteria includes energy savings, hazardous substances, product design, user instructions, packaging, labeling, noise, lifetime extension, and Takeback programs. A computer has to be all-around green to even rank for the EU Flower award – one of the highest rated and strictest standards for computing in the world.

Go, go Green ASUS!

Via Press Release

More on ASUS:
Buy Green: Laptop and Notebook Computers
ASUS N Series Notebooks Finally Make EPEAT Gold
Asus Bamboo Computer Arrives. Verdict: Feh
Green Geek Opportunity: Intel, ASUS Open Community for User-Created Dream PCs

20 MW Solar Tower Project: Just the Beginning

Source: “20MW Solar Tower Project: Just the Beginning”, www.treehugger.com, Science & Technology, Sami Grover, 24th Nov 2008

Spanish Concentrated Solar Thermal Plants Set to Grow Exponentially 
Viva España! No sooner does Kimberley post on a solar electric project in a Spanish cemetery that we also read over at The Guardian about the expanding ambitions ofSpain’s solar tower developers. As our readers will know from our previous posts onsolar towers, they are an innovative form of renewable energy that uses giant mirrors to focus sunlight onto a central steam-powered turbine – and they have the potential to produce massive amounts of clean, renewable energy. Not only is a 20MW plant, known as PS20, going to be inaugurated in the desert outside Seville in January, but developers are eventually looking to expand to 300MW of capacity. And that’s just the beginning, as the Guardian report explains:

Spanish firms are charging ahead with CSP: more than 50 solar projects around Spain have been approved for construction by the government and, by 2015, the country will generate more than 2GW of power from CSP, comfortably exceeding current national targets. The companies are also exporting their technology to Morocco, Algeria and the US.”CSP is at the very beginning of a big boom,” said José Luis García, at Greenpeace in Spain. “Spain is in a good position to develop and implement the technology. We have the sun so we are in the best position to lead in this field.”

 

The Guardian

Intel Launches Less-Toxic Halogen-Free Xeon CPUs

Halogen-Free CPUs
Chip-maker Intel has announced that is has started shipping four halogen-free Xeon processors (series 5200 and 5400). The chips are functionally the same as the previous versions, and they are drop-in compatible.

What’s Wrong With Halogens?
Halogens might not sound that bad because we’re familiar with the word (all those lamps), but the Halogen family includes fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine. “Halogens are highly reactive, and as such can be harmful or lethal to biological organisms in sufficient quantities.” Now, we’re not saying that your CPU is dangerous to you (don’t try too eat it, though), but over the manufacturing of millions of them, it adds up to a lot of halogens. Removing them will no doubt make electronics recycling safer.

Availability
From Intel’s release:

A number of systems vendors are supporting these new processors including Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gigabyte, HP, IBM, Microstar, NEC, Quanta, Rackable Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems, Supermicro, Tyan and Verari Systems. The new 5400 series processors are available now, while the X5270 will be available this fall.

We hope that this means that Intel will transition its whole line of chips soon, and since Intel is the 800 lbs gorilla in its industry, competitors will probably follow its lead.

Via Intel

Other Green Initiatives by Intel
Intel’s Next CPU To Include Dedicated ‘Power Control Unit’ to Save Power
Intel Shows Wireless Electricity System at IDF
TH Interview: More on Intel’s Renewable Energy Purchase
Intel: Now Largest Purchaser of Green Power in U.S.

Source:

“Intel Launches Less Toxic Halogen-Free Xeon CPUs”, treehugger.com. Science & Technology, Michael Graham Richard, 12th Sept 2008