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Over 200 Illinois towns helped cut their citizens' electric bills in 2012, and some even achieved 100% renewable energy, thanks to a state law that lets cities choose their electricity provider. The law, called community choice aggregation, lets ...

"Fueling local economies and soil regeneration: Biofuels and biochar production for energy self-sufficiency and agricultural sustainability Our project combines engineering, social science, and environmental science to advance knowledge in producing biofuels and biochar from local biomass, and analyze its feasability and impact in a rural African context. "

"The first office building on Jersey to be built to BREEAM specifications is now occupied. Ogier, providers of offshore legal and fiduciary services, have moved into their new premises, Jersey's largest and greenest single occupancy office. The the partnership between the company, developer JCN and local building firm Camerons as the main contractor has resulted in a new landmark for St Helier. Ogier House has achieved a "very good" BREEAM rating."

The tool takes information such as your postcode, local surroundings and the type of turbine being considered and works out how much power it could generate, the costs and the level of carbon savings.

Earth Eats is a weekly radio program and podcast exploring local food and sustainable agriculture with recipes you can make at home.

REGENERATIVE BRAKING is widely practised, but there have to be other trains around to absorb the surplus power being fed back into the catenary or third rail. Processing the output from trains and pushing it back into the local grid is possible with an AC power supply, but very expensive with DC traction. Too often, power produced by traction motors in braking mode ends up heating resistor banks. The elegant alternative is to store the braking energy on the train. This not only avoids the electrical complications of regenerating through the traction power supply network. It reduces the rated power requirement of that network by lopping demand peaks during acceleration, saves energy by reducing losses in the catenary or conductor rail, and by limiting voltage drop it allows substations to be further apart. NiMH batteries have the necessary energy storage density in terms of kWh/kg, and are slightly more expensive, but their life in terms of charge/discharge cycles in no way matches the LRV requirement for 2million cycles over 10 years. Flywheels have been tried but never caught on for several reasons.

The connector between France and Spain is supposed to be the easy part.

"DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Established in 1995 and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, DSIRE is an ongoing project of the N.C. Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council."

DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility and federal incentives and policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Established in 1995 and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, DSIRE is an ongoing project of the N.C. Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council.

Interesting article from New Science describing how a "coronal mass ejection" from the Sun could melt down the electrical power gird. ".... Over the last few decades, western civilisations have busily sown the seeds of their own destruction. Our modern way of life, with its reliance on technology, has unwittingly exposed us to an extraordinary danger: plasma balls spewed from the surface of the sun could wipe out our power grids, with catastrophic consequences..." The article does offer a solution: upgrade the ACE solar satellite, to detect an electro magnetic surge and provide power grid operators with about 15 minutes to shut down their systems. The article does not discuss another possible option: stop building centralized power sources that demand increasingly massive power grids. Instead, concentrate on meeting energy needs using localized sources of power; like the highly portable Hyperion Power Module.

"Decentralised renewable energy solutions linked to livelihoods is an important step in maximising the benefits of energy access for socio-economic development. Renewables offer the opportunity to translate investments in electricity connections and kilowatt-hours into higher incomes for communities and enterprises, local jobs, greater adaptive capacity and overall well-being. "

Jaki Bokashi is a small local Adelaide company, handmaking bokashi products - committed to keeping the carbon footprint down

wind -> birds & bats tidal -> fish pv -> squirrels

"Icelandic singer Bjork, known for her political activism, urged parliament on Monday to review the planned sale of a local geothermal energy company, saying the deal could harm Iceland's interests. Environmental issues have caused friction in Iceland before, with construction of a power plant for an aluminium smelter triggering street protests in 2005. Bjork said she was unhappy with the sale of Icelandic power company HS Orka to Canada's Magma Energy (MXY.TO: Quote) and asked members of parliament to review it."

"In the remote county of Tongyu in northeast China's Jilin Province, 14-year-old Li Ruixue has more memories about sandstorms rather than colorful flowers and clean rivers, due to the howling winds that sweep the area from spring to winter every year. Sand-filled winds from Horqin often leaves local farmers' land barren and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has described the county as being one of the areas of the world most unfit for human living. But the Chinese government's new strategy to find more renewable energy might provide one of the country's poorest counties with the opportunity to improve its way of life. The reason for hope is a wind farm with a combined installed capacity of 1.9 million Kilowatt that will soon be completed in the county."

"German companies Siemens, RWE and SWE are teaming up to build the world's largest wind park off the coast of Wales in the Irish Sea, they announced together on Friday. * D-Day arrives for Germany's budget - Politics (7 Jun 10) * Westerwelle attacked from within FDP for poor polls and low profile - Politics (24 May 10) * Westerwelle says Nefertiti stays in Berlin - National (23 May 10) The German engineering conglomerate and energy companies have agreed to invest in 160 wind turbines for the Welsh-named "Gwynt y Môr" project, expected to power 400,000 British homes. Located 13 kilometres from the shore of North Wales, the 124-square-kilometre wind park will be completed in 2014, though it will begin providing electricity in 2013. "

"The Sustainable Energy Academy promotes education and action to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and communities. We are currently spearheading Old Home SuperHome - a network of exemplar, old dwellings which have undergone an energy-efficiency retrofit. We aim to create a network of homes that are local and publicly accessible, within 15 minutes, to nearly everyone in the country."