On the premise that the nations of the world are not doing enough to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, Governor Jerry Brown, New York City’s former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other dignitaries convened a high-profile international gathering in San Francisco September 12-14 to inspire more ambitious action and showcase successful efforts.

Experts from Rocky Mountain Institute, the Advanced Energy Economy Institute and America’s Power Plan have released a new report that shows why new utility business models are key to the energy transition.

Two big trends are converging in the world of power generation -- Combined Heat & Power (CHP) and biomass. CHP is gaining ground in many areas of the world due to the fact that its superior efficiency often results in major economic gains (CHP takes the waste heat from a turbine and uses it to generate steam which is often uses in district heating, or in industrial processes).

A decade ago, Maine regulators faced dueling proposals to meet projected load growth north of Portland: upgrade a long-distance transmission line to carry more power, or strategically install batteries and distributed generation.

GE announced today that it sees a future in housing its renewable generation businesses (onshore and offshore wind, hydropower) alongside its grid businesses which include substations and transformers plus solar, storage and distributed energy resource (DER) control software. GE Renewable Energy CEO Jerome Pecresse said in a press conference that the move will simplify the lives of GE’s customers by giving them one point of contact for all of their renewable energy power needs.

This week independent power producer Marubeni and LO3 Energy said they have started a pilot project in Japan where LO3 will administer an energy marketplace using blockchain to connect a number of Marubeni’s power production facilities, including renewables, with offices and factories around Japan in a virtual marketplace. The project will simulate energy transactions to test the viability of the concept with the ultimate goal of creating a full-scale commercially operational network in the future.

Global demand for air-conditioning is projected to triple over the next 30 years, as the planet warms and urban populations grow, particularly in emerging markets. Meeting that demand will call for significant investments in new cooling infrastructure and the electrical generating capacity necessary to power it. Although traditional cooling technologies are expected to become more efficient in coming years, countries will need to plan for these additional loads, which will be expensive. Emerging markets can also make use of district cooling, an approach that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which consists of six Middle Eastern countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman — have successfully adopted.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

Korean biopharma company, PharmAbcine, is commencing full-scale clinical trials of a brain cancer treatment in the United States, following pioneering early phase trials in Australia.

Oji Fibre Solutions (OjiFS), the New Zealand subsidiary of Japanese manufacturer Oji Holdings Corporation (Oji Holdings), has opened its A$72 million corrugated box manufacturing facility in the Gold Coast suburb of Yatala.

Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult and consultancy firm Frazer-Nash, both based in the UK, will perform a live demonstration of their marine hydrokinetics (MHK) energy project risk assessment tool during the International Tidal Energy Summit pre-conference risk and reliability workshop in London on Nov. 23.
 

Brexit; It’s been the buzz word dominating the media recently and it’s likely to continue for some time. The UK’s decision to leave the EU has left both supporting sides of the ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ campaign in a somewhat collective state of uncertainty as to how this decision will impact the country right now and in the future years.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc took a step forward in its aim to become the world’s biggest power company with an aggressive move into the U.K. retail market by offering one of the cheapest tariffs available.

On Thursday, US Congressman from Pennsylvania Mike Doyle introduced a bill that would establish a federal investment tax credit (ITC) for energy storage. The legislation would allow energy storage project developers, both commercial and residential, to receive a 30 percent tax credit for large-scale, commercial-scale and residential-scale storage projects through 2021.

Recently there has been a great deal of interest in a ‘Green New Deal’ for the United States. It is seen as a way to solve pressing environmental, employment and economic problems with a single comprehensive plan. Modeled on Roosevelt’s New Deal, which created jobs, invested in large infrastructure projects, and pulled the US out of the Great Depression, the Green New Deal is a modern version of that program, but with green energy investments, 21st century job training, and deficit reduction as the key components.

Global energy powerhouse Siemens is to undergo a fundamental transformation by spinning off its gas and power divisions into a new entity which will also comprise its stake in windpower firm Siemens Gamesa.

Incredibly, 1.1 billion people – 14% of the world’s population – still live without access to electricity. In rural, remote communities, many people simply have no light after sunset. That makes being productive at night—such as working and learning--extremely difficult. Limiting useful hours of the day by access to daylight holds back personal and economic development and wastes human potential.

People in Germany are more pessimistic than the rest of Europe regarding their country’s progress on its energy transition, or engergiewende.

A new report produced by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) and released this week says that despite significant progress in recent years, the world is falling short of meeting the global energy targets set in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030.

New York is poised to pass its own version of the Green New Deal with a climate bill that would more than triple the state’s solar capacity and aggressively promote development of wind farms off the state’s coast.

Global demand for air-conditioning is projected to triple over the next 30 years, as the planet warms and urban populations grow, particularly in emerging markets. Meeting that demand will call for significant investments in new cooling infrastructure and the electrical generating capacity necessary to power it. Although traditional cooling technologies are expected to become more efficient in coming years, countries will need to plan for these additional loads, which will be expensive. Emerging markets can also make use of district cooling, an approach that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which consists of six Middle Eastern countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman — have successfully adopted.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

A new battery made from affordable and durable materials generates energy from places where salt and fresh waters mingle. The technology could make coastal wastewater treatment plants energy-independent and carbon neutral.

Presentation by Russell Nowland of CommScope

Presentation by George Milad of Uyemura International Corporation

Presentation by Jason Fullerton of ACI Technologies, Inc.

Presentation by Walt Custer of Custer Consulting Group.

More than two dozen legislators are pulling an all-nighter tonight (Monday March 10) on the Senate floor to talk about climate change and what actions must be taken.

This year’s Project of the Year Award finalists truly represent the evolving energy landscape and exciting global efforts to transition to a cleaner, renewable future. The five projects vying for the Renewable Energy Project of the Year crown include a wide range of innovative technologies from coal-to-biomass conversion to concentrating solar power.

Iberdrola SA, Spain’s largest electricity company, agreed to buy UIL Holdings Corp. in a deal valued at about $3 billion in cash and shares to create a U.S. utility with about 3.1 million customers.

Many businesses can now perform the traditional functions of an electric utility — provide affordable, reliable, resilient power to homes and businesses. The barriers to entry in the business have fallen. For instance, a home with rooftop solar panels, batteries, and gas-based generators may choose to be grid-independent. Even when homes decide to remain grid-tied, utilities face falling demand and revenue, and the possibility of future grid-defection. Further, competing electricity solutions can emerge quickly, and not one-home-at-a-time — microgrids can offer community, village, or campus-level solutions.

What do the following have in common: New Zealand, South Korea, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Quebec, Alberta, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, California, Beijing, Guangdong, Hubei, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Tianjin, Tokyo, Kyoto, Saitama and 28 countries in Europe?

Europe’s utilities are re-evaluating their business models due to the energy transition. Members of POWER-GEN Europe’s Advisory Board consider how a reliance on fossil fuels is no longer politically desirable, forcing utilities to transform their portfolios to adapt to radical change.

A partnership between Austrade and Hort Innovation Australia is supporting horticulture growers and exporters to build reputation and market share in China.

Australian food and agribusinesses are boosting exports to Japan by opening overseas premises that directly serve Japanese customers.

An Australian water treatment company is winning business in China amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Indonesian Business & Charter Aviation Summit (IBCAS) 2020 is an annual conference and exhibition for Business and Charter Aviation organised by Avcon Group.

Join Australian digital game companies for an exclusive games-focused market-ready bootcamp in Shanghai. Connect with global publishers and explore business opportunities in China.

GE announced today that it sees a future in housing its renewable generation businesses (onshore and offshore wind, hydropower) alongside its grid businesses which include substations and transformers plus solar, storage and distributed energy resource (DER) control software. GE Renewable Energy CEO Jerome Pecresse said in a press conference that the move will simplify the lives of GE’s customers by giving them one point of contact for all of their renewable energy power needs.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a sweeping package of environmental measures Thursday that has pitted progressives in the House Democratic caucus against moderates over how far to go in pursuit of resetting the climate change debate.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc took a step forward in its aim to become the world’s biggest power company with an aggressive move into the U.K. retail market by offering one of the cheapest tariffs available.

Recently there has been a great deal of interest in a ‘Green New Deal’ for the United States. It is seen as a way to solve pressing environmental, employment and economic problems with a single comprehensive plan. Modeled on Roosevelt’s New Deal, which created jobs, invested in large infrastructure projects, and pulled the US out of the Great Depression, the Green New Deal is a modern version of that program, but with green energy investments, 21st century job training, and deficit reduction as the key components.

Global energy powerhouse Siemens is to undergo a fundamental transformation by spinning off its gas and power divisions into a new entity which will also comprise its stake in windpower firm Siemens Gamesa.

People in Germany are more pessimistic than the rest of Europe regarding their country’s progress on its energy transition, or engergiewende.

Fossil fuels, long regarded for their high-energy return on investment, are not as efficient as once thought. In fact, their final yields are not much better than those of renewable options, according to a new study.

BEST DEALS ON GAMING LAPTOPS:

• MSI - Modern 15 15.6" Laptop — $749

• ASUS - ROG G531GT 15.6" Gaming Laptop — $999.99

• Dell - G3 15.6" Gaming Laptop — $999.99

My first gaming laptop cost $1,500 more than 10 years ago, and that was considered affordable. It wasn't a top-of-the-line model, but it wasn't a slouch either, sporting one of the better mid-tier graphics cards and a reliable processor/RAM combination.  

But my, how things have changed.

Today, you can go on Amazon and find plenty of laptops for less than $1,000 that would have been at least $1,500 a few years ago, thus opening doors to people who want to try out PC gaming for themselves. (And if it's Prime Day or Black Friday or Cyber Monday, you can expect deal prices to dip even lower.) But sorting through all of the options and deciding which is best presents its own unique challenge. Read more...