Laura Ipsen is senior vice president and general manager in charge of the Smart Grid for Cisco , and she’ll be speaking at our GreenBeat conference next month , where we’ll be discussing the most disruptive technologies bringing change to the old carbon-based grid system. Below is a Q&A I just had with her over the phone. The Smart Grid is the more efficient electrical grid that the nation is moving toward, one that relies on more renewable energy and emits less carbon into the atmos

I pay my power bill online, so whenever I get something from Dominion Virginia Power over snail mail it catches my attention. Usually, it’s some notice about utility work nearby. However, the mailing I got today was unusual. It was an appeal to sign up for Dominion’s Green Power initiative. The scheme appears simple enough. The mailer says, “When you sign up for Dominion Green Power, you add a little extra to your monthly bill which Dominion will use to purchase certified renewable energy cert

Department of Energy : Speaking at Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, President Barack Obama today announced the largest single energy grid modernization investment in U.S. history, funding a broad range of technologies that will spur the nation’s transition to a smarter, stronger, more efficient and reliable electric system. The end result will promote energy-saving choices for consumers, increase efficiency, and foster the growth of renewable energy

Rising inventory levels of photovoltaic (PV) panels and new production capacity coming online is driving solar PV prices lower and thereby, bringing solar energy closer to grid price parity. With the release of the latest earnings of solar energy companies, Wall Street’s keen attention to revenue guidance, inventory levels and pricing are paramount in diagnosing the health of the solar energy industry. Expectations call consolidation of the solar industry with some key players gaining market s

The government has earmarked $4 billion to help modernize the grid with smarter hardware and applications, allowing consumers to track their energy use and provide the highway to allow renewable energy to flow across that nation.  However, those efforts have been stalled a bit by the government’s inability to get funds out quickly.  Smart grid

China is attempting to rein in overcapacity in the country’s solar energy sector despite the government’s ambitious goal to increase solar capacity from 50 megawatts in 2008 to between 10 and 20 gigawatts by 2020. Enterprises flocking to boost markets in industries such as steel and cement have been common in recent years, with the government then stepping in to correct potential overcapacity. The central government last week announced plans to curb the expansion of six industry sectors by

Google is one of the largest search engines the world has to offer. Going green is one of the initiatives that Google has undertaken as they look to build a better cleaner worldwide future. Green Google is aimed at ensuring that the impacts of business growth do not affect the earth’s climate. Google is doing this by coming up with responsible and innovative implementations to reduce the carbon footprint and ensuring efficient computing. Google is providing tools for individuals to live green.

Homemade Energy – a guide written by Bill Ford, a scientist, researcher and energy consultant – claims that it can show you how to build your own working home solar and wind power generators, even if you have never picked up a tool in your life before. So does it really work? And are the instructions as easy to follow as they claim to be? We put bought it, put it to the test and saw how it compared to Earth4Energy.The Advantages of the guide:1 – We had fun:We found the instructions for the wind

Using renewable energy will save you thousands of dollars and help in keeping the world green. Several people suppose that the so-called “expensive” fee of setting up renewable energy is too dangerous in case the energy fails. If you are reading this article, then you are probably desire to be independent from electric organizations , save thousands of dollars, assist the environment and cease global warming, or all of the above. That’s good , the world needs more people

Column by Steven Gardner Kentucky has deep roots in mining and coal. Coal is a part of Kentucky’s heritage and a part of Kentucky’s future. UK was originally the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, established as part of Kentucky University, of which mining was an integral foundation. Today, UK is leading the country in many areas of coal-related research including environmental restoration, safer and more efficient mining systems, coal resources, reforestation, and cleaner util