Installing Solar Panels A Religious Right?
Some take the issue of being able to install solar very seriously. Incredibly seriously. A Unitarian Universalist parish has taken legal action against the town of Bedford, Massachusetts for its Historic District Commission’s denial of their application to install solar panels on its Meetinghouse. The Church claims the decision “exceeds the authority of the HDC, […]
Smart Energy Education House At Queensland’s Ekka
Visitors to the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) will be able inspect a house decked out with the latest in energy technology, including solar panels and battery storage. The Smart Energy Education House incorporates a solar power system, several energy storage solutions including Tesla Powerwall and an interactive Home Energy Management System. There’s even a Tesla […]
Green Light For Port Augusta Renewable Energy Park
Development approval has been granted for a huge wind and solar farm to be constructed in the Port Augusta region of South Australia. Publicly announced in 2015, Ireland’s DP Energy began working on the project in 2010. The project entered consultation phase in February this year; before getting the nod from the South Australia’s State […]
The World’s Weirdest (But Very Impressive) Electric Bus
Straight from the “heck, they actually built it?” category is this futuristic electric bus, which may be solar powered in the future. A few months back, we came across a news item about a high-tech bus that would be able to carry over a thousand people and tower above traffic while that traffic passed underneath. […]
Tasmanian Energy Security Taskforce Consultation Paper
Interested parties have been invited to provide feedback on a Consultation Paper released yesterday by Tasmania’s Energy Security Taskforce. “The Taskforce is aware of the broad community concerns that arose earlier this year as dam storages fell to historically low levels and energy security became a ‘front and centre’ issue for all Tasmanians,” said Mr […]
Victorian Government Fighting To Lower Electricity Prices
The Victorian Government announced yesterday it had made a submission to the Australian Competition Tribunal to plead the case against the loss of electricity bill cost reductions. It seems power companies in Victoria are appealing a previous decision made by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) that would have seen a lowering of average household electricity […]
Will This Invention Be A Battery-Killer?
Could a football-sized energy storage solution designed by a 21 year-old student from Lancaster University in the UK replace lithium-ion based home battery systems? Third year Mechanical Engineering student Abigail Carson has apparently developed a super-fast Flywheel Energy Storage (FES) design that could be used with solar power systems and for a wide range of […]
Smelting Australia Iron Ore With The Power Of The Sun
Solar powered iron ore smelting could be step closer thanks to the efforts of researchers at Australia’s Swinburne University. The temperatures needed to produce iron from iron ore need to reach between 1,000 and 1,500 degrees Celsius. That requires an enormous amount of energy. According to Low-Tech Magazine, it takes 20-25 megajoules (5,550 to 6,950 […]
Building Better Perovskite Solar Cells
Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology offers big advantages as a cheap, high-efficiency alternative to silicon-based photovoltaic cells, but producing them in the laboratory can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Scientists from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), working with researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), have developed a method of making […]
SA Government Intervenes On Electricity Prices
The South Australian Government announced yesterday it was stepping in to thwart attempts by SA Power Networks to bump up charges for electricity distribution. Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis has directed Executive Director of Energy Vince Duffy to deliver an oral submission to the Australian Competition Tribunal in response to an appeal by SA Power Networks […]