Our electricity system is designed around central station, dispatchable (i.e. they turn on at the flip of a switch) generators. Transitioning to a system that is principally powered by renewable energy, many of which have variable production profiles, will require changes. (more…)

Beacon Power is a Massachusetts company that makes flywheel-based energy storage systems.

Rockland Capital, a private equity firm, recently purchased Beacon Power, including a Stephentown, New York, flywheel plant project. The purpose of the project is to allow excess (more…)

This month’s issue of Wired magazine includes a long feature, written by Washington Post national environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin, headlined “Why the Clean Tech Boom Went Bust.” (Disclosure: I’m a contributing editor at Wired, and Eilperin is an acquaintance.) The story, which joins a lengthening list of obits for the cleantech industries, has a certain (more…)

Greentech Media recently reported that Southern California electric vehicle startup Coda Automotive (Coda) launched a battery business called Coda Energy, which will enter the grid-scale energy storage market.

Coda’s patent portfolio offers a window into the (more…)

Renewable energy such as solar has a basic problem: No sun , no power. In order to make it more usable the Power must be stored for off peak use when the sun does not shine. Batteries though die when repeatedly recharged. Stanford researchers have developed part of better battery, a new electrode (more…)

A new subway development in Warsaw, Poland, captures the braking energy from its metro cars and stores it to boost another train’s acceleration to the next station.

Regenerative braking for trains is picking up steam from the West Coast of the USA to the East, and also (more…)

A recent post discussed the unduly restrictive eligibility requirements for the Korean Intellectual Property Office’s s (KIPO) expedited examination program for green tech patent applications.

While the KIPO “super speed” program boasts examination results in just one month, many (more…)

Normally Oxygen is fairly tight bound to the hydrogen in water. If it can be easily removed, it has potential benefits for certain energy and fuel systems. A team of researchers at MIT has found one of the most effective catalysts ever discovered for splitting oxygen atoms from water molecules — a key reaction (more…)

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…)

The Global Cleantech Cluster Association, known as the global voice of cleantech, announced its Global Top 30 Semi-Finalists for its 2011 Later Stage Award at the 11th European Forum on Eco-Innovation in Lahti, Finland today. The finalist companies span North America, Europe and Asia, representing the most (more…)