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The government announced approval Friday of the first loan guarantee for an energy project under a program that Congress approved four years ago, only to see it hamstrung by years of delay. Energy Secretary Steven Chu vowed as one of his top priorities to revamp and speed up the loan guarantee program, promising to cut the time it takes to review applications, many of which have been on file at the department for a year or more. On Friday, Chu announced approval of a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra Inc., a company in Freemont, Calif., that makes solar panels for commercial buildings. The company said the government guarantee will cover debt financing for 73 percent of the cost of a second manufacturing plant in Freemont.

Technology Review has an article on a new system from Ener-G-Rotors which harvests energy from low temperature waste heat - Electricity from Waste Heat. Factories, data centers, power plants--even your clothes dryer--throw off waste heat that could be a useful source of energy. But most existing heat-harvesting technologies are efficient only at temperatures above 150 °C, and much waste heat just isn't that hot. Now Ener-G-Rotors, based in Schenectady, NY, is developing technology that can use heat between 65 and 150 °C.

Review of the Sunpentown SPT SD-30E Dehumidifier

Review of the Sunpentown SPT SD-30E Dehumidifier

Product review for the FuelMaker- Phill Natural Gas Dispenser

Technology Review has an article on advances in wind turbine technology - Better Wind Turbines. ExRo Technologies, a startup based in Vancouver, BC, has developed a new kind of generator that's well suited to harvesting energy from wind. It could lower the cost of wind turbines while increasing their power output by 50 percent. The new generator runs efficiently over a wider range of conditions than conventional generators do. When the shaft running through an ordinary generator is turning at the optimal rate, more than 90 percent of its energy can be converted into electricity. But if it speeds up or slows down, the generator's efficiency drops dramatically. This isn't a problem in conventional power plants, where the turbines turn at a steady rate, fed by a constant supply of energy from coal or some other fuel. But wind speed can vary wildly. Turbine blades that change pitch to catch more or less wind can help, as can transmissions that mediate between the spinning blades and the generator shaft. But transmissions add both manufacturing and maintenance costs, and there's a limit to how much changing the blade angle can compensate for changing winds.

Product review on the Natural Light Solar Attic Fan

Product review on the Acer Laptop - Aspire 5920 Series

Product review on the Black & Decker 18 inch Electric Mulching Cordless Lawn Mower

Product review on the Winter Evaporative Air Cooler

Product review on the Winter Evaporative Air Cooler

Product review on the Solar Backpack

The Bureau of Land Management said it will suspend all new solar energy projects on federal land for the next two years until it completes an environmental impact review. As discussed briefly in the preceding post, the BLM holds the country's most valuable sites in terms of solar energy potential, which are heavily concentrated in the southwest. The federal government owns roughly 650 million acres of land - nearly 30% of its total territory. The vast majority of those lands are located in the Western states and the vast majority of federal lands in the Western states are owned by the Bureau of Land Management. Here's a state by state breakdown of government land ownership.

Product review LED Christmas Lights C7 - Energy Efficient

Editor's note: This was Sen. Barbara Boxer's opening statement Sept. 24 during a hearing on President Bush's environmental legacy. The Administration did not send representatives to the hearing. The purpose of this hearing is to examine the Bush Administration's record on important public health and environmental matters. Unfortunately, instead of reviewing accomplishments-we look back on years filled with environmental rollbacks that serve special interests, and do not serve the American people.

Product Review on the Miles XS500 Electric Highway Speed Sedan

Product review on the AOC-Envision LCD HDTV 42 inch L42H861

Product review on the PowerDock Lite Solar Power Station

Leviton Decora - Energy Saving Light Switch - Product Review

Product review Solar Powered LED Shed Light System