(© AP Images) Part 4 Countries that are developing or expanding their energy infrastructure are well placed to be the renewable energy leaders of the future. Not only is that a good position, it is a good business strategy. “In many senses, [the developing world] is a clean slate. It can just leapfrog into the ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
A man installs solar panels on a Honolulu rooftop. Hawaii is a U.S. national leader in solar power. (© AP Images) Part 3 Rooftops, great for shelter, can now make the homeowner money too. That’s because of renewable energy technology. People are able to generate their own electricity close to home, and in communities where ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
Part Two Necessity — and good business — is ushering in a new energy reality. And that energy is renewable. Large, energy-hungry populations; failures of outdated 20th-century infrastructure; and commitment to preventing global temperature rise are all reasons why cities, states and countries around the world are using renewable energy. So how are they doing ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
An invention by South African scientist Vivian Alberts that replaces expensive silicon used in photovoltaic solar panels promises to make solar energy more affordable than ever. It’s a thin-film photovoltaic coating for glass that uses no silicon at all. Alberts announced his discovery in 2007. Now he is poised to build an industrial-scale factory to ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
Renewable energy comes from natural sources that don’t run out, such as the sun, wind, water or heat within the earth. Fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — are traditional sources of energy generation that will eventually run out. Solar panels and wind turbines generate electricity from sun and wind. Geothermal plants harness heat ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
(Shutterstock) In a bid to create more efficient and longer-lasting batteries for electric vehicles and the power grid, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been testing ideas that could revolutionize the clean energy field. The latest research aims to improve upon rechargeable “lithium-air” batteries, a highly promising technology that can store up to ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
One of the biggest challenges in the solar energy field is how to store electricity from the sun for use when the sun isn’t shining. One solution may be no farther than your salt shaker. SolarReserve, a California company, is pioneering a technology that uses molten salt as a medium for long-term energy storage.
Mirrors ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
The big thing holding us back from wholesale use of renewable energy is a reliable long-term storage mechanism. But scientists are working hard to develop a battery that can make the most of solar- and wind-generated energy. This ClimateWire article describes a few of the promising technologies under consideration for storing electricity collected by solar ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
Did you know small changes in your daily routines can make a huge difference to your health, the health of your neighbors and the future of the planet? Choose from among these simple steps and start today. (Adapted from the California Air Resources Board’s “Simple Solutions to Help Reduce Air Pollution”) When you run errands ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
What if every month you got a report on how your electricity use compared to that of your neighbors? And personalized tips on how to save money based on your own usage patterns? New software is making this possible, says David Moore, senior market development manager at
Opower . His company has pioneered cloud-based software that ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
In recent years, some communities around the world have pledged to meet all their future power needs with renewable energy. One notable example:
Costa Rica used only renewable sources to power itself for the first 75 days of 2015. The Central American country has made great strides in its use of renewable energy — mainly hydropower — which today generates more ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
America is energized. In the last decade, U.S. energy production grew 24 percent, while energy consumption steadily declined. One reason for the shifts is changes made by
businesses ,
college campuses and
cities — changes that have helped the environment and reduced costs. Here are details about America’s recent progress and future plans.
This graphic shows changes in U.S. energy ...
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By U.S. Mission South Africa | 9 November, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Featured Event | Tags: Climate Partners, Energy 21
