BrightSource gets $1.4 billion DOE loan guarantee for 400 MW of solar thermal

BrightSource Energy, Inc has received $1.37 billion in loan guarantees from the DOE for 400 MW's worth of solar thermal energy projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

With the funding, the company is constructing three utility-scale concentrated solar plants that will make up the Ivanpah Solar Complex. Located in the Mojave Desert on federally-owned land, the complex will be the largest in the world and will double the capacity of installed solar thermal in the country.  It will produce enough electricity to power 140,000 California homes.

The first plant will start construction this year and be completed in 2012, while the other two have completion dates of mid-to-late 2013.  PG&E and SCE have entered into long-term agreements to purchase the power generated by the plants.

BrightSource was one of the companies with renewable energy projects biding their time in the Bureau of Land Management approval process glut.  We're glad to see such a large project make it through and to get federal financing support as well.

via DOE

 

 

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Device mimics leeches, ejects plug when gadget is done charging

Leeches drink blood until they're full and then fall off of their host, but our plugged-in gadgets keep drinking electricity even once they're fully charged.  The Outlet Regulator changes this by ejecting the plug from the electricity source once the gadget is done charging, turning vampire electronics into leeches. Designed by Conor Klein, a student at Rhode Island School of Design, this device solves a dilemma faced in every home.  We all want to prevent frivolous energy use by leaving gadgets plugged in too long, but it's almost impossible to unplug your devices at the exact point they're done charging.  The Outlet Regulator takes care of that for you as demonstrated in the video above. The product works by using a timer circuit and electromechanics to eject its plug which disconnects your device from the wall outlet, stopping electricity consumption. This is an example of a design where you think, "How has no one thought of this before?"  It's such an obvious solution and could easily be adopted by everyone.  Hopefully we'll see this product on shelves soon.  My only qualm is this:  Why must these things alway involve blood? via Engadget  Print This Post

Bloom Energy: Should you believe the hype?

The clean tech news of the week is going to be dominated by Bloom Energy's emergence from stealth. I can hardly believe that it was almost four years ago that I first wrote about Bloom. Reading that 2006 EcoGeek article, I'm proud to say that we got got the broad picture right, but the details are still tantalizing. Bloom Energy's current product is a relatively inexpensive and versatile fuel cell that can power roughly 100 American homes. The devices cost $700,000 a piece an are roughly twice as efficient as natural gas power transmitted through the grid. They've sold a bunch of these boxes (with hefty federal and state subsidies) to a bunch of large businesses in California, including Google, eBay, FedEx, WalMart and Staples. The boxes are busy creating "clean" energy as we speak. Bloom has finally opened the doors to its operation to the press, allowing 60 Minutes a walk-through of their facility as well as providing interviews with the CEO of eBay and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. But I put "clean" in quotation marks because, despite the fact that the words "carbon dioxide" are never mentioned, Bloom Boxes still pump CO2 into the atmosphere, albeit far less than a traditional grid-scale natural gas plant would. Bloom's energy is certainly Read more  Print This Post

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