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6 Ways to Add Passive Solar Features to Your Home

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Sick of solar panels and wind turbines being expensive because of all those fossil fuel subsidies? Looking for a way to reduce that electric bill, lower your carbon footprint, and show off to your neighbors? The good news is that you don’t have to build a brand new home in order to reap the benefits of sustainable building techniques. Here are 6 ways to passively solarize your current home so you can slash electricity costs, cut emissions, and impress your friends with science.

Passive Solar House Features Tile floor Deciduous Trees surrounding house Passive Solar Skylight Evergreen trees in forest Large Windows Passive Solar Passive Solar Garage


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Solar-Powered Techstyle Haus’ Futuristic Fabric Shell Drastically Reduces Energy Consumption

Brazil’s Mineirão is the First World Cup Stadium Completely Powered by the Sun

Apple Set to Build its Third Enormous Solar Farm in North Carolina

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Apple this week signed a development agreement with the City of Claremont, which will allow it to build its third massive solar farm in North Carolina. When finished, the 100-acre farm is expected to produce 17.5 megawatts at a development cost of $55 million.

Apple, North Carolina, solar farm, solar power, renerable energy, Maiden, solar powered data center, Apple builds 100 acre solar farm, corporate responsibility, Claremont, Apple, North Carolina, solar farm, solar power, renerable energy, Maiden, solar powered data center, Apple builds 100 acre solar farm, corporate responsibility, Claremont,

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Gigantic ‘Energy Duck’ Could Generate Solar and Hydro Power for Copenhagen

Tesla Superchargers Delivered Over One Gigawatt Hour of Energy to Model S EVs in June

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Tesla Motors, Supercharging Stations, Superchargers, solar, Elon Musk

Tesla Motors passed an important milestone in June as its rapidly expanding Supercharger network delivered more than one gigawatt hour of energy (GWh) to Model S electric vehicles – that’s enough energy for 3.7 million electric miles! According to Tesla’s blog, the achievement saved 168,000 gallons of gas and offset 4.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide. Since the Superchargers were launched less than two years ago, the network has powered more than 24.7 million driving miles and prevented 1.1 million gallons of gasoline from being burned.

Tesla Motors, Supercharging Stations, Superchargers, solar, Elon Musk Tesla Motors, Supercharger, Supercharging Station, EV, GWh, charging station, Elon Musk


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Global Clean Energy Q2 Investment Up 33% Over First Quarter, Tops $63 Billion

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clean energy, renewable energy, solar, wind, renewables, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Gemini offshore wind farm, Ashalim 1 concentrating solar power project, China, United States, Q2, second quarter

Global clean energy investment surged in the second quarter of 2014, driven by big wind and solar deals and installations of small-scale rooftop solar photovoltaics. Bloomberg New Energy Finance is reporting that Q2 investment spiked 33 percent from Q1 and is up 9 percent compared to Q2 last year. Renewable energy investment topped $63 billion — making this the strongest second quarter since 2012 when investment reached $69.6 billion. The all-time record quarter for clean energy investment was 2011′s Q2, which amounted to $78 billion.

clean energy, renewable energy, solar, wind, renewables, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Gemini offshore wind farm, Ashalim 1 concentrating solar power project, China, United States, Q2, second quarter Israel, Ashalim, solar power, clean energy, renewable energy, investment


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Jamaica Unveils World’s Largest Wind-Solar Hybrid Installation

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Jamaica, Kingston, renewable energy, SolarMills, WindStream Technologies, Myers Fletcher, & Gordon, Jamaica Public Service, JPS, solar power, wind power, solar wind hybrid, world's largest wind solar hybrid, island nation,

The world’s largest wind and solar hybrid renewable energy project was recently put into operation in Kingston, Jamaica. The WindStream Technologies array was commissioned for the rooftop of the prominent local law firm, Myers, Fletcher, & Gordon. Expected to generate approximately 106,000kWh annually with a return on investment in less than four years, the plant should save the firm approximately $2 million in energy costs over the course of its 25-year lifetime.

Jamaica, Kingston, renewable energy, SolarMills, WindStream Technologies, Myers Fletcher, & Gordon, Jamaica Public Service, JPS, solar power, wind power, solar wind hybrid, world's largest wind solar hybrid, island nation, Jamaica, Kingston, renewable energy, SolarMills, WindStream Technologies, Myers Fletcher, & Gordon, Jamaica Public Service, JPS, solar power, wind power, solar wind hybrid, world's largest wind solar hybrid, island nation, Jamaica, Kingston, renewable energy, SolarMills, WindStream Technologies, Myers Fletcher, & Gordon, Jamaica Public Service, JPS, solar power, wind power, solar wind hybrid, world's largest wind solar hybrid, island nation,

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Affordable Solar-Powered Floating Village Planned for Edinburgh

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tom king, floating houses, houseboat, edinburgh, floating village, srt ecobuild

While floating homes have been the norm in the Netherlands for many years, they’re just starting to gain in popularity in the UK. Houseboats are increasingly dotting the Thames in London, and waterborne developments are currently in the works for post-industrial areas of Glasgow and Liverpool. Now one company—SRT EcoBuild—is looking to establish a village of floating homes in the waterways of Leith, Edinburgh. These modest, energy efficient two-bedroom homes will utilize solar power and sell for significantly less than homes of an equivalent size in the ever-pricey Scottish capital.

tom king, floating houses, houseboat, edinburgh, floating village, srt ecobuild tom king, floating houses, houseboat, edinburgh, floating village, srt ecobuild

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Tiny Solar Shed Generates 100% of the Energy Needed to Run Historic Farm in The Netherlands

Levi’s Stadium Becomes First Pro Football Field to Earn LEED Gold Certification as New Construction

Israel’s First LEED Platinum Building Opens in Tel Aviv [PHOTOS]

Think You Can Create a Smaller Power Inverter? Google Will Give You a Million Bucks if You Can!

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Little Box Challenge, Google Inverter Challenge, Google power challenge, Google Little Box Challenge, power inverters, renewable energy inverters, reducing inverter size, power grid costs, renewable energy, Google renewable energy, Little Box challenge improve power, Little Box Challenge improve power inverter, Google power inverter, shrink power inverters, green energy technology, renewable energy technology

Google is offering a million dollars if you can create a power inverter that is smaller than a laptop. If you don’t know what an inverter is, the competition probably isn’t up your alley, but basically it means that Google is hoping to change the future of electricity. Current power inverters – the boxes that change direct current into alternating current in homes, businesses and cars – are the size of a picnic cooler, limiting what they can be used for, so a smaller, lighter inverter could change power as we know it (and make one lucky person a million dollars richer).

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MIT Develops Brilliant Graphite Sponge that Converts Solar Energy into Steam

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Researchers at MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed a simple, graphite and carbon-based sponge that soaks up water and heats it using the sun’s rays. The sponge converts the water into steam that can then be used for water purification or as a power source. With low-cost materials and an 85 percent efficiency rate, the invention has the potential to become an extremely cost-effective source of solar-derived clean water and steam power for remote or developing areas.

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Sunswift Sets World Record For Fastest Long-Range Electric Car

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Sunswift world record, Sunswift eVe, world record, electric car world record, ecar world record, fastest long range electric car, electric vehicle world record, electric vehicle record, electric Sunswift, Sunswift vehicle, sunswift car, Australia Sunswift, fastest eCar, long-range eCar, renewable energy

Australian team Sunswift destroyed a 26-year old record for the world’s fastest long-range electric vehicle this week, traveling over 310 miles at an average of 62 mph. The previous record clocked in at 45 mph, which the Sunswift team handily beat using their Sunswift eVe vehicle.

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NASA Confirms “Impossible” Propellant-free Microwave Thruster for Spacecraft Works!

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Designs for a device called a microwave thruster, which could power spacecraft without the need for propellant, have been proposed since 2006. While the engine follows the principles of relativity theory in converting electrical energy into force to produce thrust, it has been dismissed as impossible in practice since it defies the law of conservation of momentum. But a team from NASA has just successfully trialled their own version of the engine, which changes everything.

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300 Government Buildings are Getting Rooftop Solar in India’s Tamil Nadu State

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india, solar power, tamil nadu, tamil nadu energy development agency, rooftop solar, renewable energy, solar on government buildings, solar power policy, solar power demand, solar mandate, india solar

After the resounding success of rooftop solar in the Indian state of Gujrat, other states in the country are scrambling to launch programs of their own. Tamil Nadu, a state that has faced power supply and demand issues for some time, is the latest province to join the solar frenzy in India. The Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) has announced plans to set up rooftop solar arrays at about 300 government buildings across the region.
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Scientists Create Cheap, Efficient Spray-On Solar Cells

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Perovskite, Perovskite solar, solar cell efficiency, solar cell costs, Spray on solar, spray paint solar, spray solar technology, spray on solar technology, spray on solar panel, flexible solar panel, solar panel technology, solar panels, solar power, solar power technology, Spray-On Solar Cell,

For the first time, scientists have figured out a way to create efficient, affordable spray-on solar cells. While the concept itself isn’t something new, spray-on technology in the past has been so inefficient or costly that it didn’t hold much promise for changing the way we make solar panels. But now, using a new material called perovskite, scientists have created a spray-painting process that could change the solar game.

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Semprius’ Stacked Solar Cells Could Make Solar Energy Cheaper Than Natural Gas

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Semprius, solar energy, solar power, solar panels, solar cells, photovoltaic cells, north carolina, high efficient solar power,

Two of the main obstacles to the widespread adoption of solar energy are cost and efficiency. However researchers at the Durham, North Carolina-based startup Semprius have found a way to tackle both these issues by simply stacking solar cells. The technique enables Semprius to produce solar panels with efficiencies as high as 50% (compared to the industry standard of 25%).

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Stanford: California Can be Powered by 100% Renewable Energy by 2050

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A new study by a team from Stanford presents a “roadmap” for converting California’s all-purpose energy infrastructure over to renewable sources by 2050. The paper, published in the journal Energy, outlines the state’s expected 2050 energy needs, then proposes several steps to ensure that they can be met by a combination of wind, water and sunlight (WWS). The plan begins with all new energy infrastructure implemented from 2020 onwards using WWS sources.

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