energy
It’s not there yet, but the city of Fort Collins, Colorado, has set itself an admirably ambitious goal: to become home to the “largest active net zero energy district in the world.” Dubbed FortZED, the effort was first conceived in 2007 and involves a variety of strategies from community
energy
With prices for commodities from food to oil — which are, after all, linked — rising to new highs, there’s a growing threat to stability for individuals, businesses and governments alike. So how can people and organisations insulate themselves from risk? The top priority: to limit their exposure to volatile energy
energy
By Steve Nguyen, Echelon Up and down the UK and around the world, people are in the process of brightening up their homes in preparation for and celebration of Christmas. Trees will be erected, baubles hung, tinsel draped and lights turned on. The tradition will reach out beyond homes and
energy
What does it take to build a smarter, more sustainable city? Not surprisingly, the answer depends on the specialty of the organisation you ask. Ask information technology giant IBM, and the answer you’ll get: more and better IT products and services … LOTS of them, to gain intelligence into how
energy
Smart meters, smart grids, smart cities … what’s next? Smart roadways? Why not? ask Scott and Julie Brusaw, an Idaho couple who advocate a new approach to surfacing roads: replacing the “dumb” asphalt with a system that could generate energy and light for roadways as well as for the electricity
energy
It’s been called the “internet of things,” a future in which devices can communicate with one another across society’s infrastructure much the way people communicate with one another via the web today. Machines connected to this new internet, though, won’t be Tweeting or Facebook-friending so much as
energy
You can’t have an energy internet without internet-like open standards, and that’s what the smart-grid industry now has. The “energy internet” refers to the smart grid, an in-the-works electricity infrastructure in which utilities, customer meters and other devices on the power network can all “talk” with one another
energy
What can you do with the world’s most powerful X-ray laser? Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory hope it can help them create improved energy sources, better drugs and new applications in environmental sciences and material engineering. The image at left shows a
energy
We’re all familiar with the tales of silly, antiquated laws that remain on the books long past their useful lives, but most of them don’t have any impact on day-to-day society. The Queen, after all, doesn’t really expect to have dead whales delivered to Buckingham Palace (item
energy
The path toward more renewable energy doesn’t lie with government-backed demonstration projects and trials alone, a new report finds. Without a clear plan for moving beyond the demonstration phase and implementing low-carbon technologies on a wider commercial basis, governments risk wasting public funds on innovations that will end up
energy
If it still feels like a recession in many places, no matter what the economists say about recovery, along the Gulf Coast these days, the situation feels more like a depression. Up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day continue spewing into the Gulf from BP’s broken Macondo
energy
The good news? Europe could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. The bad news? It needs to start making the transition to an energy infrastructure that’s nearly carbon-free starting now. In its new “Roadmap 2050” report, the European Climate Foundation says such an energy
