Germany fed a whopping 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour into the national grid last weekend, setting a new record by meeting nearly half of the country’s weekend power demand. After the Fukushima disaster, Japan opted to shut down all of its nuclear power stations and Germany followed suit after considerable public pressure. This seems to have paved the way for greater investment in solar energy projects. The Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster announced that Saturday’s solar energy generation met nearly 50 percent of the nation’s midday electricity needs AND was equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity!

Read the rest of Germany Sets New Solar Record By Meeting Nearly Half of Country’s Weekend Power Demand

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Post tags: "solar energy", 2020 energy goals, alternative energy, clean tech, cleantech, eco design, EU, Fukushima, germany, green design, meltdown, news, nuclear, nuclear disaster, nuclear power, protests, renewable energy, solar panels, sustainable design

Wouldn’t it be great if you could charge your gadgets while waiting for the bus or relaxing on a bench? Magdalena Czapiewska, Karol Murlak and Zuzanna Lemieszek of Design lab, have taken this thought and turned it into a real life concept with their solar charging bench, Poznan. Built sturdy and practical, the modern bench will even heat your bottom on those especially brisk days!

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Post tags: alternative energy, bench, Design Lab, eco design, Electricity solar charging, Milan Furniture Fair, Perspectives Poznan, Salone del mobile, Solar Power, sustainable design

Tesla may be best known for exceptionally good-looking electric sports cars, but their role in the automotive industry has honed their skills in battery-making too. Now, the company is teaming up with solar rental company SolarCity, and the pair is set to apply their battery know-how to create a complete off-the-grid kit for home solar power storage. The partnership could provide an easy (though potentially costly) way to overcome a long-standing problem: almost all solar systems are tied to and somewhat dependent on an electric grid. When the grid is off, the solar panels are out, and when the sun is off, there’s no solar power stored and you’re back on the electrical grid. And if both are out, you’re completely in the dark. But Tesla and SolarCity’s new off-the-shelf lithium-ion battery pack could just solve that once and for all.

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Post tags: "clean energy", alternative energy, california incentive, elon musk, energy tax, lithium ion battery, off the grid, peter rive, solar battery, Solar Power, solar storage, solarcity panel, tesla battery, tesla electric, tesla solarcity

Read the rest of The World’s 6 Most Pressing Environmental Issues

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Post tags: alternative energy, canopy loss, carbon emissions, Climate Change, deforestation carbon, Earth Day 2012, energy issues, environmental destruction, food security, food wastage, fossil fuels, fuel efficiency, global warming, renewable energy, tree planting, water pollution, water scarcity

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Post tags: alternative energy, bee population, Biodiversity, canopy loss, carbon emissions, Climate Change, deforestation, deforestation carbon, earth day, Earth Day 2012, energy issues, environmental destruction, extreme weather, food security, food wastage, fossil fuels, fsc certified wood, fuel efficiency, global warming, great pacific garbage patch, oceanic dead zones, overpopulation, Pollution, recycling, renewable energy, rising sea levels, tree planting, water pollution, water scarcity

Google’s new data centers in Taiwan will keep cool during the day thanks to ice made overnight. A thermal storage system, the first of its kind for Google, will balance the company’s energy needs during off-peak night hours, when electricity is cheaper, and during the day when there is more demand on the local grid. The cooling system is another reason why Google repeatedly ranks as a leading green information technology (IT) company.

Read the rest of Google Cools Its New Data Centers In Taiwan with Ice

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Post tags: alternative energy, carbon footprint, data centers, Google, green it, information technology, Taiwan, Thermal storage, thermal storage system

Kerosene lamps have been known to cause serious accidents in developing countries, but this new design by Alain Gilles provides a safe lighting alternative that relies simply on the energy of the sun to illuminate. Once fully charged, the Nomad lamp provides more than 6 hours of light at full intensity — more than enough to make it through the night. With the Nomad individuals can now cook, do homework, read or work into the night.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "solar energy", Alain Gilles, alternative energy, Belgium is Design, eco design, energy efficient lamps, green products, lamps for developing countries, lighting for 3rd world, lighting solutions for developing countries, milan furniture fair 2012, nomad solar lamp, o'sun, o'sun solar lamps, solar lamps

Mitt Romney is certainly no stranger to the art of the flip-flop, so perhaps it should be no great surprise that before he pandered to the Republican vote by suggesting that the government’s response to high gas prices should be to “[increase] drilling in the Gulf, open up drilling in ANWR. Open up drilling in the outer continental shelf, drill in North Dakota, drill in Oklahoma and Texas,” he thought we should instead deal with high foreign gas prices by making more fuel-efficient vehicles and tapping into alternative energy sources, including solar and wind power.

Read the rest of Mitt Romney’s Extraordinary Flip-Flop on Clean Energy and Cheap Oil

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Post tags: "clean energy", "wind power", alternative energy, electric cars, Flip Flop, foreign oil, hybrid cars, Mitt Romney, oil prices, oil production, President Primaries, Republican Party, Solar Power

Pardon the potty talk, but wouldn’t it be great if every time you flushed the toilet you were actually generating heat for your home? That’s exactly what a Los Angeles-based startup is hoping to accomplish. OriginOil, a company that specializes in converting algae into fuel, is working on developing a pilot for an urban algae farm concept that would use wastewater to help grow algae, which is then used to generate energy, treating the wastewater in the process.

Read the rest of Urban Algae Farms Could Heat Buildings While Treating Wastewater

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Post tags: "clean energy", algae, alternative energy, clean tech, france, net-zero buildings, net-zero energy, OriginOil, Paris, renewable energy, sewage treatment, wastewater, water treatment

Natural gas has been widely billed as a “bridge fuel” – a low-carbon alternative to coal that will help us make the transition to cleaner energy – but a new study pokes some big holes in that argument. According to the study, which was published last month in Environmental Review Letters, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is already so great that switching to natural gas would do very little to counter current warming trends. However, the study shows that switching to renewable energy could begin to cut the warming effect within two decades.

Read the rest of New Study Shows Natural Gas is a Bridge (Fuel) to Nowhere

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Post tags: alternative energy, carbon, carbon dioxide, Climate Change, CO2, coal power, fracking, global warming, hydroelectric, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy, solar

Not content with alienating most of the US’ young female population and a large chunk of his advertisers, controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh has targeted, yet again, the alternative energy industry. Well, not quite – he refuses to believe that the solar and wind industries even exist in the first place. Oh Rush…

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Post tags: alternative energy, Rush Limbaugh, Rush Limbaugh advertisers, Rush Limbaugh alternative energy, Rush Limbaugh alternative power, Rush Limbaugh chevy volt, Rush Limbaugh controversy, Rush Limbaugh energy controversy, Rush Limbaugh slut comment, Rush Limbaugh solar energy, Rush Limbaugh solar wind power, Rush Limbaugh wind energy

We’ve written about the Sahara Forest Project before, so we’re excited to report that the organization behind this ambitious endeavor has signed an agreement to build its first pilot plant in Doha, Qatar. The agreement for the project, which aims to revitalize the desert with seawater-based greenhouses, concentrated solar power (CSP) for heat & electricity, evaporative hedges and ponds for reducing brine to dry salts, algae cultivation facilities, vegetated outdoor areas and halophyte cultivation units, was signed today by CEO Khalifa A. Al-Sowaidi of QAFCO, CEO Jørgen Ole Haslestad of Yara International and CEO Joakim Hauge of The Sahara Forest Project AS. The pilot plant will cost approximately 5.3 million USD and the plan is to have the plant fully operational by December 2012. Read more about the Sahara Forest Project here on Inhabitat.

+ The Sahara Forest Project

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Post tags: "solar energy", "sustainable energy", alternative energy, Bill Watts, Charlie Paton, concentrated solar power, eco design, exploration architecture, green design, Jørgen Ole Haslestad, Joakim Hauge, Khalifa A. Al-Sowaidi, Michael Pawlyn, QAFCO, renewable energy, sahara forest project, sahara solar, Solar Power, The Sahara Forest Project AS, Yara International

Scotland may be a small country, but its stake in the future renewable energy is about to get serious as Aquamarine Power’s Oyster 800 Wave energy device will soon be installed and connected to the UK grid. We covered the launch of this innovative “near shore” Oyster 800 device last year, and earlier this week Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing granted full consent to developments of the 2.4MW wave energy demonstration project. This consent means two further Oyster 800 wave energy devices will be installed at the same site at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, and this will create the UK’s first grid-connected near shore wave power array with a total of three 800kW Oyster devices.

Read the rest of Aquamarine Power To Connect Wave Energy Generator To UK National Grid

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Post tags: alternative energy, aquamarine power, eco design, Energy Minster Fergus Ewing, Fergus Ewing, green design, green resources, green technology, MArine Power, news, orkney, Oyster 800, renewable energy, Scotland, sustainable design, wave energy, Wave Energy Power Array

Two solar power giants in the US are embroiled in a legal face off which has industrial espionage and intrigue written all over it. Commercial solar supplier Sunpower is hitting solar installer SolarCity with a lawsuit claiming it stole confidential information. The claims are against five ex-Sunpower employees who downloaded “tens of thousands of documents and confidential data” and SolarCity, who allegedly accepted the stolen information. The lawsuit pits the biggest supplier of solar in California against the nation’s largest residential installer, and to raise the stakes even more, Solar City was looking for an IPO in the third quarter of 2012, which now could be pushed back.

Read the rest of Solar Power Heavyweight Sunpower Sues SolarCity Over Stolen Data

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Post tags: "solar energy", alternative energy, corporate espionage, green design, largest solar company, renewable energy, solar city, solar lawsuit, Solar Power, solarcity, sun power, sunpower

If you read Inhabitat, you probably know that we’re big fans of green transportation, but we do think it’s important to see the bigger picture when it comes to electric cars. A new finding from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville shows that electric cars in China have a higher impact on pollution than gasoline vehicles due to the fact that they draw power from the grid (which in China is powered 90% by fossil fuels). We should point out that this study only examined EVs in one part of the world – China – but there is a bigger picture to look at which is the fact that in order for electric cars to eventually become truly sustainable, we need to move towards ultimately powering them with renewable resources.

Read the rest of New Study Finds That Electric Cars in China Using Fossil Fuels Have a Higher Carbon Footprint Than Gasoline Gars

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Post tags: air pollution, alternative energy, alternative transportation, carbon emissions, electric car, electric vehicle, ev, fossil fuels, green transportation, greenhouse gas emissions coal, Pollution, renewable energy

Dulas recently delivered the National Trust’s largest solar PV array in the UK at their grade I listed Llanerchaeron property in Wales. At just under 40 kWp (37.5kWp) and combined with the existing 7.5 kWp solar PV array, the installation should generate up to half of the electricity that the house requires. Having provided a full planning consultancy service for multiple solar PV sites across the National Trust portfolio in Wales, Dulas advised a free-standing ground mount ballasted array would provide the optimum solution to be delivered within tight timescales. Mike Clay of Dulas Ltd said of the installation: “By taking forward thinking steps and engaging with a highly experienced company the Trust has been able to best utilize the space available to gain maximum benefit from the feed in tariff. By prioritizing the installation Dulas was able to commission the project in time to take advantage of the highest feed in tariff rates providing the best possible financial rate of returns for the Trust.” The Trust has made a commitment to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by 50% within the next eight years. It aims to cut carbon emissions from energy use for heat and electricity by 45%, beating the government’s target of a 34% reduction in CO2 by 2020.

+ Dulas

The article above was submitted to us by an Inhabitat reader. Want to see your story on Inhabitat? Send us a tip by following this link. Remember to follow our instructions carefully to boost your chances of being chosen for publishing!

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Post tags: alternative energy, dulas, green design, green power, Llanerchaeron, National Trust, photovoltaic installation, renewable energy, solar installation, Solar Power, sustainable design, united kingdom, Wales

A team of scientists from Seattle-based AltaRock Energy, Inc. and Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC has announced plans to harness one of Mother Nature’s most powerful energy sources by pumping 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon. The team hopes that the water will return to the surface boiling hot, at which point it can be used to generate clean and cheap energy – without the explosive side effects and liquid magma associated with active volcanoes.

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Post tags: AltaRock Energy department of energy, AltaRock Energy geothermal energy, AltaRock Energy volcano energy, AltaRock Energy volcano project, AltaRock Energy volcano project. geothermal volcano power, alternative energy, Department of Energy, geothermal energy, geothermal volcano power, green design, renewable energy, sustainable design, volcano power

Eon Nordic just announced plans to construct a massive 700 megawatt wind farm in the Baltic Sea that will take advantage of the region’s high localized winds. Once it is finished, the wind farm located in Södra Midsjöbanken, Sweden will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. Currently the North Sea is a well-known site for offshore wind farms, but the Baltic Sea could possibly eclipse it – the new farm will boast 180-230 wind turbines and cost approximately $2.79 billion.

Read the rest of Sweden Announces Plans for Massive 700 Megawatt Wind Farm in The Baltic Sea

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Post tags: alternative energy, Baltic sea wind farm, e.on nordic, eon Nordic wind farm, eon wind farm, green design, green energy, ikea wind farm, Offshore Wind Farm, renewable energy, sustainable design, sustainable power, Sweden wind farm, vattenfall Sweden wind farm

We’ve already celebrated the power of fruit by showcasing orange-powered billboards and tomato-powered table lamps, but did you know that apples can do the same thing? Photographer Caleb Charland harnessed power from the fruits in an apple orchard to light up an LED lamp. Charland hooked wires into about 300 apples that were still connected to their trees and found that it only took about 10 apples to power each LED. The idyllic orchard where the installation took place is in Newburgh, Maine, and unfortunately is a site where a herd of deer tend to graze. Charland had to stand by with noisemakers during the 4 hour exposure to make sure the deer didn’t snack on the apples!

+ Caleb Charland

Via Gizmodo

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Post tags: alternative energy, apple powered LEDs, apple powered orchard, Caleb Charland, eco design, green design, LED lamps, Maine, Michael Mazzeo Gallery, Newburgh, sustainable design

2011 was an incredible year for green energy as the impending challenges of climate change, energy security, and peak oil spurred the development of clean power sources that will propel us towards a more sustainable future. We saw plans unveiled that will transform skyscrapers into towering photovoltaic farms and we watched a forest of massive solar trees sprout in Singapore. We were also amazed to see a 13-year-old wunderkind harness the fibonacci sequence to make a solar power breakthrough, and we brought you a first look at Aquamarine Power’s massive Oyster 800 wave energy generator – read on for our most popular green energy stories from 2011!

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", alternative energy, green design, green energy, green power, green technology, renewable energy, sustainable design, sustainable technology, top 6 green energy stories of 2011, top green design stories of 2011