Renewable Energy News!

Sustainable energy and transport, shared autonomy, and saving the world. Here’s how Elon Musk’s vision is becoming reality. Tesla Master Plan, Part 1 From 0 to Mainstream: Hot off the heels of his PayPal victory and determined to change the status quo, Musk launched Tesla in 2003, at the same time he was building SpaceX. His […]

The post Elon Musk’s Complete Master Plan appeared first on Solar Tribune.

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Taking a cue from birds and insects, researchers have come up with a new wing design for small drones that helps them fly more efficiently and makes them more robust to atmospheric turbulence. … read more

Public polling continues to show that the American public is increasingly concerned about the effects of climate change and they are eager to push their elected leaders to action. Climate Change by the Numbers The topic of climate change and the role that humans have played in the warming of the planet remains heavily debated […]

The post Public Polling Favors Climate Action, More Solar Adoption appeared first on Solar Tribune.

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The U.S. solar industry faced its share of headwinds heading into 2019, but through it all, the industry showed remarkable resiliency and is poised to experience another year of solid growth. Record-Breaking Quarter The record-breaking pace of solar PV adoption in the United States showed little sign of letting up in 2019. This was the […]

The post Solar Industry Overcomes Trump, Thrives in 2019 appeared first on Solar Tribune.

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With countries adopting green energy practices, renewable energy now accounts for a third of the world's power. As this trend continues, more countries are looking to offshore energy sources to produce this renewable energy. Researchers identify situations where green technology such as wind turbines, wave energy converters, and other marine renewable energy devices (MREDs) have had negative consequences on marine life. … read more

Much about the aerodynamic effects of larger wind farms remains poorly understood. New work looks to provide more insight in how the structures necessary for wind farms affect air flow. Using a two-scale coupled momentum balance method, researchers theoretically and computationally reconstructed conditions that large wind farms might face in the future, including the dampening effect that comes with spacing turbines close to one another. … read more

Thrips don't rely on lift in order to fly. Instead, the tiny insects rely on a drag-based flight mechanism, staying afloat in airflow velocities with a large ratio of force to wing size. Researchers have performed the first test of drag force on a thrip's wing under constant airflow in a bench-top wind tunnel and, drawing from microfabrication and nanomechanics, they created an experiment in which a thrip's wing was glued to a self-sensing microcantilever. … read more

The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles into our daily lives seems like an inevitability that is just around the corner. A recent flurry of activity in the auto industry around solar-powered cars, however, has momentarily supplanted autonomous technology as the most talked about innovation in the industry, as the once fanciful idea starts to enter […]

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The location and operation of wind energy plants are often in direct conflict with the legal protection of endangered species. The almost unanimous opinion of experts from local and central government authorities, environmental NGOs and expert offices is that the current mechanisms for the protection of bats in wind power projects are insufficient. … read more

The effectiveness of non-mechanical, low-energy methods for moderating temperature and humidity has been evaluated in a series of experiments. … read more

Electricity supply is one of the biggest CO2 emitters globally. To keep global warming well below 2°C, several paths lead to zero emissions in the energy sector, and each has its potential environmental impacts -- such as air and water pollution, land-use or water demand. Using a first-time combination of multiple modelling systems, an international team of researchers has now quantified the actual benefits and downsides of three main roads to decarbonization. … read more

In a boon to wind farms, average daily wind speeds are picking up across much of the globe after about 30 years of gradual slowing. Research shows that wind speeds in northern mid-latitude regions have increased by roughly 7% since 2010. … read more

Hydropower is broadly considered to be much more environmentally friendly than electricity generated from fossil fuels, and in many cases this is true. However, a new study reveals that the climate impact of hydropower facilities varies widely throughout the world and over time, with some facilities emitting more greenhouse gases than those burning fossil fuels. … read more

A superconducting rotor has been successfully tested on an active wind turbine for the first time. The researchers designed, developed, manufactured a full-size superconducting generator for a 3.6 megawatt wind turbine, and field-tested it. … read more

New study finds that the amount of climate and health benefits achieved from renewable energy depends on the country where it is installed. Countries with higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and more air pollution, such as India, China, and areas in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, achieve greater climate and health benefits per megawatt (MW) of renewable energy installed than those operating in areas such as North America, Brazil, and parts of Europe. … read more