Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said yesterday. Texas Tribune reports: As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or…
Tag: power generation
Dutch Brewery Burns Iron as a Clean, Recyclable Fuel
Many industries use heat-intensive processes that generally require the burning of fossil fuels, but a surprising green fuel alternative is emerging in the form of metal powders. Ground very fine, cheap iron powder burns readily at high temperatures, releasing energy as it oxidizes in a process that emits no carbon and produces easily collectable rust, or iron oxide, as its only…
Elon Musk Says Tesla Will ‘One Day’ Produce ‘Super Efficient Home HVAC’ With HEPA Filtering
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Elon Musk has previously touted the “Bioweapon Defense Mode” boasted by Tesla’s vehicles, which are designed to provide excellent air quality inside the car even in the face of disastrous conditions without, thanks in part to high-efficiency HEPA air filtration. Now, Musk has said on Twitter that he hopes to one day provide…
Renewable Power Surpasses Fossil Fuels For First Time In Europe
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Japan Times: Renewable power for the first time contributed a bigger share in the European generation mix than fossil fuels as the fallout from the pandemic cut energy demand. About 40 percent of the electricity in the first half in the 27 EU countries came from renewable sources, compared with 34 percent from…
Renewable Energy Breaks UK Record In First Quarter of 2020
Renewable energy made up almost half of Britain’s electricity generation in the first three months of the year, with a surge in wind power helping to set a new record for clean energy. The Guardian reports: The government’s official data has revealed that renewable energy made up 47% of the UK’s electricity generation in the first three months of the year,…
Amid Pandemic, US Renewable Power Sources Have Topped Coal For 40 Days
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Electricity generated by renewable sources like solar, wind and hydro has exceeded coal-fired power in the United States for a record 40 straight days, according to a report based on U.S. government data released on Monday. The boost for renewables is due to a seasonal increase in low-cost solar and hydro power generation,…
Wind Blows By Coal To Become Iowa’s Largest Source of Electricity
A new report from the American Wind Energy Association says wind is now the largest single source of electricity in Iowa. The Des Moines Register reports: According to the trade association’s Wind Powers America 2019 Annual Report, Iowa is now generating more than 10,000 megawatts of wind energy, accounting for more than 40% of the state’s electricity. Wind became the leading…
Producing solar power at night
Scientists have developed a new prototype of nighttime solar cells that can produce electricity at night through a radiative cooling mechanism. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/solar-power-photovoltaic-production-at-night…
South Sudan Is Building Its Electric Grid Virtually From Scratch
After years of civil war, South Sudan is beginning to build the nation’s electric sector from the ground up. “With only a handful of oil-fired power plants and crumbling poles and wires in place, the country is striving for a system that runs primarily on renewable energy and reaches more homes and businesses,” reports IEEE Spectrum. From the report: Today, only…