The US consumes 25% of the world’s oil — but as energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens points out onstage, the country has no energy policy to prepare for the inevitable.
Is alternative energy our bridge to an oil-free future?
After losing $150 million investing in wind energy, Pickens suggests it isn’t, not yet.
What might get us there? Natural gas.
After the talk, watch for a lively Q&A with TED Curator Chris Anderson.
David Mitchell discusses sustainability, and whether or not there is a way of combating wastefulness and planned obsolescence.
From tables to fuel, could a subscription fee perhaps be a viable solution?
Sunseeker Energy http://www.sunseekerenergy.com has established itself as an ethical green business committed to developing new generation solar and hybrid power technologies for sustainable energy use throughout the world.
Sunseeker Energy’s Concentrator Solar Transducer Systems are more powerful yet they are also more energy efficient than conventional flat panel solar energy units. Conventional flat panel products operate at efficiencies far lower than concentrator systems, with a typical figure being in the order of 15%. Sunseeker Energy concentrating photovoltaic solar collectors have been independently verified at efficiencies up to 38%. producing 300 Watt/Square meter of pure power.
In a Nova episode from April 2007, the successful business model of SunEdison is described by founder Jigar Shah. They own and maintain the panels, and sell the power to the business at below retail power rates. SunEdison has become the largest solar energy services provider for North America (currently 25MW), providing solar-generated energy at or below current retail utility rates with no capital investment, for commercial and government applications.
Zero Down Solar for Your Home in NJ – Green Power Energy and SunEdison Team Up
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes discusses her role as director of the new Program on Law and Sustainability at the ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
Participants in the Southwest Energy Innovation Forum, held this week in Scottsdale, discussed ideas to improve the nation’s clean energy future.
Two speakers at the event, Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman Kris Mayes and Gary Dirks, director of ASU’s Lightworks, talk about opportunities for Arizona to reach its potential as a leader in renewable energy.
It takes large amounts of water to produce energy, and it takes energy to treat and distribute water.
The demand for both are ever-increasing in a growing state like Arizona.
Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman Kris Mayes, Arizona Investment Council President Gary Yaquinto, and Professor Mike Pasqualetti of ASUS School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning discuss this inter-relationship between energy and water and how to ensure Arizona has a sustainable supply of both.
A growing number of homeowners want to know how much solar costs, but it can sometimes be difficult to get a straight answer. To help shine a light, One Block Off the Grid took the results of over 45,000 solar estimates created by real U.S. homeowners in 2011 and put them into these maps.
Home Solar Power Discounts – One Block Off the Grid
A guy gets a standing ovation for talking about batteries?
At the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach, MIT professor Donald Sadoway shared his story of how six years ago he started developing a liquid battery, a three-layered device comprising high-density molten metal at the top, low density molten metal at the bottom and the layer of molten salt in between.
His prototypes got bigger and bigger until he was able to produce a working model the size of a 40-foot shipping container.
What can you do with a 40-foot battery?
Sadoway’s invention isn’t for the individual, it’s about cheap energy, or rather the storage of it.
If it works as well as he says it does, it could be a game changer in making wind and solar power a lot more reliable.
Source: Smithsonian
