Renewable Energy News!

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

Although climate change should frighten you, the question remains, “What can I do about it?” There is a simple, effective way for every American to personally, profoundly impact climate action and it is as close as your local voting booth. Vote Climate U.S. PAC’s 2020 Presidential Voter’s Guide empowers Americans to make climate change a […]

The post You Can Profoundly Impact Climate Change appeared first on Solar Tribune.

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A new study shows that to achieve the biggest improvements in public health and the greatest benefits from renewable energy, wind turbines should be installed in the Upper Midwest and solar power should be installed in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions. … read more

Engineers, along with an economist, have created an energy model that helps to remove carbon-generated power from the US electric grid -- replacing it with a greener, financially feasible wind, solar and hydro energy system. … read more

Current approaches to carbon capture can increase air pollution and are not efficient at reducing carbon in the atmosphere, according to new research. … read more

The transition from coal to natural gas in the US electricity sector is reducing the industry's water use, research finds. For every megawatt of electricity produced using natural gas instead of coal, the water withdrawn from rivers and groundwater drops by 10,500 gallons, and water consumed for cooling and other plant operations and not returned to the environment drops by 260 gallons. Switching to solar or wind power could boost these savings even more. … read more

Researchers have modeled the fluid dynamics of multi-rotor wind turbines via high-resolution numerical simulations. The simulations demonstrate a clear advantage for a turbine model with four rotors. The researchers found, that the wind turbine wake recovers much faster with multi-rotor turbines, that multi-rotor turbines produce slightly more energy than single-rotor turbines, and that a turbine with four rotors as far apart as possible is the optimal construction. … read more

With the 2020 Presidential race already heating up, issues surrounding climate change, clean energy, and what policy mechanisms are the most critical ones for the federal government to employ are getting more of a spotlight than ever before. While ideas like research & development, tax credits, and carbon prices are among the first policy levers […]

The post Climate Change Policy Measures: Identifying Priorities, Particularly Outside of the Usual Suspects appeared first on Solar Tribune.

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A team of researchers performed wind tunnel experiments to determine the role of asymmetry caused by the orientation of a volleyball on its aerodynamic characteristics. They found that switching from the standard panel arrangement to a hexagonal or dimpled pattern may improve the consistency of flight, with many potential applications in aviation. … read more

The wind is always blowing somewhere, but deciding where to locate a wind farm is a bit more complicated than holding up a wet finger. Now a team of researchers has a model that can locate the best place for the wind farm and even help with 24-hour predictions of energy output. … read more

An increase in the generation of wind energy is a key component of the U.S. strategy to reduce carbon emissions from the power sector. Approximately 97 gigawatts of wind energy production capacity are currently installed in the U.S., and in 2018, wind energy supplied about 6.5% of the nation's electricity. Scenarios developed by various groups, including U.S. Department of Energy, indicate that a four- to five-fold expansion over current levels of electricity produced by wind is needed by the year 2050 to help meet U.S. carbon emission reduction goals. … read more

Over the last 10 years, the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which offers a federal income tax credit worth 30% of a homeowner’s solar installation costs, has opened up solar to millions of homeowners by dropping that huge financial hurdle. But the ITC is set to begin phasing out at the end of 2019 and […]

The post Does the U.S. Still Need the Solar Investment Tax Credit? appeared first on Solar Tribune.

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Europe has the capacity to produce more than 100 times the amount of energy it currently produces through onshore windfarms, new analysis has revealed. … read more

Advances in adapting the technology and better methods for predicting wind conditions have fanned significant growth of the use of wind turbines for electricity in the last 40 years. A new report takes stock of where the field is now and what lies ahead. Researchers surveyed the growth of wind technology as a source of renewable energy and assessed its viability for continuing to capture larger shares of the electricity market. … read more