German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on 30 May that Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy and Europe’s biggest, would shutter all of its 17 nuclear power plants between 2015 and 2022, an extraordinary commitment, given that they currently produce about 28 percent of the country’s electricity. (more…)

Inefficient windows are responsible for thousands of dollars in energy loss for both residential and commercial property owners. But new smart glass technology could allow windows to control sunlight and heat, drastically reducing energy costs across the country. (more…)

I have spent just over a year thinking about the International Green Construction Code (IgCC).  I know it has been one year because I received my first copy of the code at Greenbuild 2010.  My conclusion today about the code is no different than it was one year ago: (more…)

We tend to romanticize the glow that emanates from city lights. We don’t often realize that any light that goes into the sky represents wasted energy, about $2.2 billion per year according to one popular estimate. Not only does light pollution run up electric bills and create carbon emissions, it (more…)

Air modeling is an important science for predicting the impact of air quality changes. There are numerous conservative models available to fit many different circumstances. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just released a new version of its Community Multi-scale Air Quality model (CMAQ) (more…)

You might think that being a manufacturer of EV charging equipment would be a comfortable position to be in these days. With the market expected to grow from $400 million to more than $4 billion accoring to our most recent report Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment in just five years, (more…)

We hear a lot about the upcoming democratization of energy.  But with the average consumer thinking about energy only six minutes per year, it’s fair to wonder if anyone will show up to ‘vote.’

But this week an alliance that includes the intriguing combination of Opower and Facebook offers promise that this futuristic concept may not be so far (more…)

Applied Materials is a capital equipment producer that services a number of manufacturing industries, including semiconductor, TFT LCD display, solar (thin film and crystalline), and glass. There are four primary groups of Applied Materials – Energy and Environmental Solutions, Display, Silicon (more…)

It was only a matter of time before someone in the smart building space took the best aspects of Facebook and the iPhone app store and weaved them into a solution that would help building owners, managers, and occupants harness big data to (more…)

Some of the coldest places on Earth, including the high altitudes of the southern Andes and the Himalaya, could also have the best potential for solar power using photovoltaic technology, a new study finds.

In a global assessment of photovoltaic potential, researchers found that high-altitude regions could (more…)