Jon Slangerup: Citizen Reporter

Today, let’s focus in on distributed energy generation using small networks called “micro-grids,” which is a concept that energy planners and administrators have talked about – and perhaps dreamed about – for years, mainly due to the micro-grid’s potential impact on the energy paradigm shift, mentioned in a previous post. 

Until recently, micro-grids weren’t feasible because the technologies needed to enable them weren’t commercially viable. Instead, the conventional form of power generation and distribution evolved around centralized power plants, transmission lines, and neighborhood power distribution centers (called substations), which delivered power directly to homes and buildings. As communities and businesses expanded, so did the centralized power infrastructure around them, placing ever-increasing dependency on large ...read full post

Photo: Ben Zweig

Last week, as I took a moment to quietly celebrate the California Air Resources Board's approval of a two-year plan to implement the State's Global Warming Solutions Act, I couldn't help but feel the tremendous sense of responsibility we have as a community and cleantech industry to make this happen - no delays, no distractions, no excuses. The world's been preparing for this moment a long time, and the technology solutions - solar, wind, fuel cells, clean fuels, hybrid electric cars, etc. - are being readied for mass adoption.

Solar and wind have been sharing the spotlight as broadly discussed and early adopted technologies for clean energy. But there are equally important, if not more impactful technologies that will play key roles in addressing our energy security, climate ...read full post

On September 30, 1847, Congressman George Perkins Marsh of Vermont declared: “But though man cannot at his pleasure command the rain and the sunshine, the wind and frost and snow...it is certain that climate itself has in many instances been gradually changed and ameliorated or deteriorated by human action.”

This visionary statement from Congressman Marsh, who was one of the great American environmentalists of his time, was soon to be overshadowed by technologies so extraordinary that they changed the course of history to this day.

Of course, I’m talking about automobiles powered by gasoline engines, an invention that rapidly evolved and expanded, changing the face of transportation and energy, and ushered in the era of inexpensive fossil fuels and prolonged economic growth and prosperity.

But inevitably, whatever goes up eventually goes down - and we find ourselves in the midst of urgent energy security issues and critical ...read full post