Commentary: Five reasons for optimism in wind, and more

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Excerpt: This edited commentary comes from Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, president and CEO of  permanent-magnet-generator manufacturer TheSwitch   The Switch came to the market five years ago on a mission to bring better drive train technology to wind power generation and allows more energy per turbi …

World nuclear power output slowing

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Excerpt: Due to increasing costs of production, a slowed demand for electricity, and fresh memories of disaster in Japan, production of nuclear power fell in 2011, according to the latest Vital Signs Online (VSO) report from the Worldwatch Institute. Despite reaching record levels the previous year, glob …

MIT profs look offshore for better wind

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Excerpt:   This article comes from MIT News   Of all the zero-carbon energy sources available, wind power is the only one that’s cost-competitive today: A 2006 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration put the total cost for wind-produced electricity at an average of $55.8 …

U.K. firm has solution to radar-wind farm interference

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Excerpt: Cambridge Consultants, creator of several successful high-tech start-ups, announced the spin-off of Aveillant with venture investment from DFJ Esprit and AIFCL, the wind industry fund. Aveillant’s technology will remove concerns about aviation safety and air defense that are holding back growt …

Wind-farm-design software refines uncertainty and loss estimates

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Excerpt: A renewable-energy-consulting and information firm has released openWind Enterprise 1.3, software that further refines the wind farm design process with improved loss and uncertainty estimates. In addition to an ability to optimize for cost of energy and assess deep array impacts, current Enterp …

Tiny bird kills big wind project

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Excerpt: State legislatures in Washington once called a proposed wind farm on Radar Ridge near Naselle "a great idea." But state legislator Dan Takko added, "it's got all the good things going for it, except for that little bird." The little bird is the marbled murrelet, a threatened species since 1992. …

A Washington wind map for 80m

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Excerpt: The Department of Energy's Wind Program and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has published a wind resource map for the state of Washington. The resource map shows the predicted mean annual wind speeds at 80-m height. Presented at a spatial resolution of about 2 km (interpolated to …

Winners announced for 2011 Later Stage Award

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Excerpt: The Global Cleantech Cluster Association, one voice of cleantech, announced its Top 10 winners of the 2011 Later Stage Award. The winning companies from North America and Europe represent the leading cleantech clusters in the categories of biofuels, energy efficient and green buildings, new material …

Report sees steady growth for clean energy economy

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A report from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center estimates there are now more than 64,000 people in the state working in the so-called “clean energy” economy, about 1.5% of all jobs in the state. The report identified 4,909 clean energy companies across the state. The report said those companies saw a 6.7% increase in jobs between July 2010 to July 2011, and expect employment growth rate of 15% from July 2011 to July 2012.

The report defines clean energy companies as those involved with researching, developing, manufacturing, or distributing goods or services related to renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, carbon management, or electric or hybrid cars.

2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Report
http://www.masscec.com/masscec/file/MassCEC%20Industry-Rept_DesignFinal(1).pdf

Wind and wildlife assessment tool ready for work

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Excerpt: A renewable energy consulting firm has provided state-of the-art, 80m up wind resource data for the Landscape Assessment Tool (LAT), an online map designed by the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The map provides information about the environmental, wildl …