New England’s Largest Battery Project Aids Grid Stabilization

electrification

Lisa Markowski, ERS, for Zondits New England’s largest state is also home to its largest battery storage project, which began operation in December 2016 at the Wyman Energy Center in Yarmouth, Maine. This supersized battery, which consists of eight individual battery units (each the size of a freight container), holds a total of 1,300 lithium … Read more

Brooklyn Apartment Complex Combines PV, Fuel Cells, and Storage for Microgrid

BQDM energy exchange Marcus Garvey Apartmets

Gita Subramony, ERS, for Zondits Marcus Garvey Apartments in Brooklyn will soon be the site of a hybrid distributed energy system. The housing complex developed and owned by L+M Development Partners will receive a project loan from the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC) to add fuel cells and storage to the existing PV … Read more

Quidnet Energy’s Plans to Store Energy Underground

A Texas startup’s big energy idea: storing electricity underground The Guardian, August 25, 2016 In a field in Central Texas, Aaron Mandell and his crew are running pumping equipment to bring a former oil and gas well back to life. But they’re not trying to extract black gold. Instead, they are developing a way to … Read more

Renewables Outrun Coal as Largest Global Energy Source in 2015

Renewables surged past coal in 2015 to become world’s biggest source of electricity: IEA CNBC, October 25, 2016 Renewable energy moved past coal in 2015 to become the biggest source of global electricity capacity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. Last year “marked a turning point for renewables” the body said, with clean … Read more

Floors of the Future Will Harness Energy from Our Steps

New Flooring Tech Generates Electricity Through Your Footsteps Futurism, October 31, 2016 Pavegen, a British clean-tech company, is taking an innovative approach to sustainability by generating energy from something that most people do every day: walk. The technology is basically a multifunctional, custom flooring system that is outfitted with a wireless transmitter, which allows the data … Read more

Tesla Proves Solar Roof Tiles Can Be Good-Looking

Why Tesla’s new solar roof tiles and home battery are such a big deal TechCrunch, October 31, 2016 On October 28, Tesla unveiled its new solar roof tiles. Few of us in attendance, if any, realized the solar roofing tiles were actual functional solar panels until Elon Musk said so. Sure, it’s a neat trick, but … Read more

Another One Bites the Dust – Connecticut Chooses Renewables over Pipelines

Ryan Pollin, ERS, for Zondits The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection has canceled its procurement of natural gas pipeline resources. As a result, Spectra Energy’s Access Northeast project, spanning parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, is now virtually guaranteed not to proceed. Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court … Read more

The Massive Potential to Increase Renewable Energy in Cities

energy-efficient-city renewable energy in cities

Hundreds Of Cities Have Cost-Effective Opportunities To Boost Renewable Energy Use Clean Technica, October 20, 2016 A new report estimating energy usage in 3,649 cities has found that, while there is no one-size-fits-all solution, every city nevertheless has massive potential to cost-effectively increase the use of renewable energy at a local level. Published on the … Read more

Institutions Collaborate for Largest Renewable Energy Contract on the East Coast

solar-panels-energy Renewable Energy Contract

Ryan Pollin, ERS, for Zondits The Summit Farms solar facility is a landmark collaboration of three Boston-area institutions to collectively purchase 60 MW of power from a solar farm in North Carolina. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Medical Center, and Post Office Square Redevelopment Corporation came together to buy the power from Dominion, which … Read more

Balancing a Grid Supplied by Renewable Sources

Nano-spike catalysts convert carbon dioxide directly into ethanol ORNL, October 12, 2016 In a new twist to waste-to-fuel technology, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an electrochemical process that uses tiny spikes of carbon and copper to turn carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into ethanol. Their finding, which involves … Read more