Even if California “only” ends up with 25% renewable electricity within the next decade or two, there is going to be a staggering amount of investment pouring into wind and solar power, and with intermittant sources of energy, massive storage infrastructure is just as necessary as the generating infrastructure. In our analysis of Prop. 7, [...]

There is nothing wrong with encouraging clean, renewable, domestically produced energy.  But California’s proposition 7 “would, if approved, require California utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025″ (ref. Ballotpedia).  Currently California’s public utilities are mandated to generate 25% of their electricity by 2025, and this is an ambitious goal.  Just [...]

What if a wind turbine didn’t have a gearbox and electric generator in the nacelle, but instead a highly efficient air pump that sent compressed air down a pipe and into a storage network?  That is the vision of General Compression, a privately held Massachussetts company that raised $8.1 million from 70 investors in April [...]

Innovative business models and innovative technology are both necessary to usher in the electric age.  Imagine the gigawatt-hours we’ll need just to power the commuter miles for millions of new electric cars.  But along with new sources of electricity, we can increase the supply of electricity from existing sources by retrofitting our grid to the lighter and far more energy efficient [...]

In the Kittitas Valley, about 12 miles northwest of Ellensburg, Washington, a 65 turbine windfarm is in the final stages of approval.  This windfarm will consume 6,000 acres, nearly ten square miles, and given each turbine is atop a 410 foot tower, it is reasonable to assume these are going to be very large generators, with [...]

In spite of having been around since the days of the Persian Empire, you don’t see too many vertical axis wind generators.  Now a Nevada company “Mariah Power” has launched a product rated at 1.0 kilowatt and designed for home power systems.

The “Windspire” vertical axis
generator is 30′ high & 2′ wide.
Photo: Mariah Power

When I [...]

We have attempted to estimate the contribution of photovoltaics to global energy production.  Currently the installed base of photovoltaics worldwide has an output of about 5.0 gigawatts.  Since the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours per day, the actual yield is probably about one-third that amount, call it 2.0 gigawatt-years in 2005.  While this installed base is probably set [...]