US President Barack Obama yesterday announced $1.5 billion in grants to go to USA based manufacturers to produce hi-tech batteries, components and to expand battery recycling capacity.

Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA), sounded an alarm that global oil production is likely to peak in around 10 years; far earlier than most governments had foreseen.

Flywheels are an alternative to deep cycle batteries or molten salt for storing energy that can be transformed into electricity. Flywheel energy storage works by accelerating a rotor (flywheel) to incredibly high speeds and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy, which is converted back by slowing down the flywheel.

The world’s largest public corporation by revenue, Walmart, is moving closer to achieving its stated goal of 100% renewable energy with the recent announcement to install rooftop solar power systems on five of its stores in Puerto Rico; with the potential for 23 stores over five years.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany has set a new world record of 99.03 % efficiency for inverters used in solar energy systems. 

Energy Matters will be attending the National Australia Bank Environment Expo; showcasing renewable energy and energy efficiency information to over 5,000 South Australian and New South Wales NAB employees.

The US wind power industry installed 1.2 gigawatts of new capacity in the second quarter of 2009, bringing the total added this year to just over 4 gigawatts – 1.1 gigawatt more than the amount added to the end of June in 2008.

In just the first 6 months of this year, China’s installed wind power capacity increased to 11.81 gigawatts, more than double the amount of the previous year.

Any space exposed to the sky is fair game for solar panel coverage these days it seems – including dumpster storage areas.

Fedex announced last week the construction of the nation’s largest rooftop solar power system at its distribution hub in Woodbridge, New Jersey.