Monthly Archives: April 2012
Tesla, SolarCity quietly selling building battery projects
By Katie Fehrenbacher Apr. 17, 2012, 5:00am PT 16 Comments Electric car company Tesla and solar roof installer SolarCity have quietly been making deals that could one day lead to dozens of sales of battery projects coupled with rooftop solar systems built at both residential and commercial buildings in California. SolarCity confirmed the energy storage plans with me, […]
Will The Stars Align for Small Nuclear Reactors?
By MATTHEW L. WALD A company that wants to build a new kind of nuclear reactor, one small enough that it could be delivered by truck, has found a potential customer. WestinghouseA rendering of the Westinghouse small modular reactor. The Westinghouse Electric Company has lined up Ameren, a St. Louis-based electric company, as a partner for its […]
Energy Department Announces up to $2.5 Million to Deploy Fuel Cell Powered Baggage Vehicles at Commercial Airports
April 25, 2012 As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil, the Energy Department today announced up to $2.5 million available this year to demonstrate and deploy fuel cell electric vehicles for transporting passenger baggage at major U.S. airports. The projects selected for funding will demonstrate first-generation, fuel […]
Chart: The death spiral of solar bankruptcies (& counting)
By Ucilia Wang Apr. 5, 2012, 3:30pm PT 6 Comments The solar death spiral has been long and ugly. Over the past year, there have been over a dozen stalwarts and startups that have headed to bankruptcy court. Two companies even filed for bankruptcies in this week alone: manufacturer Q-Cells, which was the worlds largest solar cell maker in […]
First Solar Reaches Record Low as Analyst Questions Model
By Justin Doom – Apr 23, 2012 8:18 AM MT First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar panels, fell to an all-time low after a Maxim Group LLC analyst said its business model is unsustainable. First Solar dropped 5.2 percent to $19.57 at 11:15 a.m. in New York. Earlier it fell to $18.97, […]
LiON Air Battery
Show full PR text IBM Research Boosts Battery 500 Project with New Materials PartnersAsahi Kasei and Central Glass to enhance electric vehicle lithium-air battery innovation SAN JOSE, Calif. – April 20, 2012: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that two industry leaders — Asahi Kasei and Central Glass — will join its Battery 500 Project team […]
U.S. Inches Toward Goal of Energy Independence
Jim Wilson/The New York Times An Apache Corporation well near Hobbs, N.M. Apache is drilling in the Permian Basin, an oil field once thought played out.More Photos » By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and ERIC LIPTON Published: March 22, 2012 MIDLAND, Tex. — The desolate stretch of West Texas desert known as the Permian Basin is still the lonely domain of scurrying […]
Areva Predicts Uranium Demand Freeze Until 2014
By Francois de Beaupuy – Apr 4, 2012 4:01 PM MT Areva SA (AREVA), the world’s largest maker of atomic reactors, predicted the market for uranium will suffer from a glut before nuclear fuel demand rebounds from 2014 as the industry reels from last year’s meltdown in Japan. “In two years, there will be very strong […]
Q-Cells Files for Insolvency as Solar Bankrupcties Rise
By Stefan Nicola – Apr 3, 2012 9:28 AM MT Q-Cells SE (QCE), once the world’s biggest solar-cell maker, filed for insolvency today, the fourth large solar company from Germany to do so since December. Q-Cells’s filing with the Dessau-Rosslau court occurred a day after the Thalheim-based company said it would have to take that step amid attempts […]
Solar Jobs Join Harry Reid to Chinese Billionaire in Price Drop
By Jennifer Oldham and Shai Oster – Apr 2, 2012 10:33 PM MT A Chinese billionaire is teaming up with the most powerful man in the U.S. Senate to build a solar plant in a dusty corner of Nevada, even as officials accuse China of driving energy companies out of business by dumping cheap components on the […]
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