Tag Archives: renewable energy

US Department of Energy: U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Geological Survey Release Online Public Database of Large-Scale Solar Facilities

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US Department of Energy: U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Geological Survey Release Online Public Database of Large-Scale Solar Facilities. “The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) released the largest and most comprehensive database to date on large-scale solar energy projects in the United States. The U.S. Large-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Database (USPVDB) includes the location, size, and other characteristics of large-scale solar projects.”

International Energy Agency: A new tool to track transitions: the IEA clean energy equipment price index

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International Energy Agency: A new tool to track transitions: the IEA clean energy equipment price index. “To monitor these influences on clean energy equipment prices – a critical determinant of investment in clean energy technology and infrastructure – the IEA developed the Clean Energy Equipment Price Index (CEEPI). The index tracks price movements in a global basket of solar PV modules, wind turbines and lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage, weighted by shares of investment.”

PV Magazine: Online mapping tool to identify policy-suitable land for renewables

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PV Magazine: Online mapping tool to identify policy-suitable land for renewables. “The tool is reportedly able to determine the number of rooftop or ground-mounted solar projects that can be deployed in a given area, as well as the maximum number of wind turbines within a site considering site geometry and the minimum distance required between each turbine. It can also identify buildings that can be connected to a district heating network within a specified distance.”

CNBC: Google to begin selling maps data to companies building solar products, hopes to generate $100 million in first year

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CNBC: Google to begin selling maps data to companies building solar products, hopes to generate $100 million in first year. “Google is planning to license new sets of mapping data to a range of companies to use as they build products around renewable energy, and is hoping to generate up to $100 million in its first year, CNBC has learned. The company plans to sell access to new APIs (application programming interfaces) with solar and energy information and air quality, according to materials viewed by CNBC.”

National Renewable Energy Laboratory: How Do We Inventory the Materials Needed To Build Wind and Solar Farms?

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National Renewable Energy Laboratory: How Do We Inventory the Materials Needed To Build Wind and Solar Farms?. “Working with partners from other national laboratories, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created a new database, the Renewable Energy Materials Properties Database (REMPD), which examines materials needs for both wind and solar power plants.”

Yale Climate Connections: Solar trade group helps minority- and women-owned firms grow in the solar industry

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New-to-me, from Yale Climate Connections: Solar trade group helps minority- and women-owned firms grow in the solar industry. “So to promote diversity in the industry, [the Solar Energy Industries Association] created a free online database of companies working in solar that are owned by women, veterans, and minorities, including Black and Brown people and members of LGBTQ+ communities.”

US Department of Energy: DOE Launches New Consumer Energy Savings Hub

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US Department of Energy: DOE Launches New Consumer Energy Savings Hub. “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched the Energy Savings Hub — an online one-stop shop for American families and consumers to access the savings tools that President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has made available to drastically cut energy costs.”

Arizona State University: Solar-powered libraries help Syrian communities rebuild from war

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Arizona State University: Solar-powered libraries help Syrian communities rebuild from war. “The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, a self-governing community that formed in 2012, is highly diverse, with residents who are from many different ethnic and religious groups. As they work to create a new K–12 school system based on their region’s commitment to democratic principles, tolerance and gender equality, they have turned to SolarSPELL for help.”

UNESCO World Heritage Conservation: New online Guidance for Wind Energy Projects in a World Heritage Context

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UNESCO World Heritage Conservation: New online Guidance for Wind Energy Projects in a World Heritage Context. “UNESCO has launched a new guidance tool to enhance mutual understanding and achieve improved and constructive cooperation between the deployment of wind energy projects and the conservation of the world’s most precious heritage places.”

MI Tech News: LTU, UM Develop Online Roadmap To Track Michigan’s Clean Energy Assets

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MI Tech News: LTU, UM Develop Online Roadmap To Track Michigan’s Clean Energy Assets. “A grant of nearly $300,000 to Lawrence Technological University’s Centrepolis Accelerator and another grant of nearly $112,000 to the University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute has produced a new online database of Michigan’s key renewable energy resources for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.”

Data Descriptor: A crowdsourced dataset of aerial images with annotated solar photovoltaic arrays and installation metadata

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Data Descriptor: A crowdsourced dataset of aerial images with annotated solar photovoltaic arrays and installation metadata . “Overhead imagery is increasingly being used to improve the knowledge of rooftop PV installations with machine learning models capable of automatically mapping these installations. However, these models cannot be reliably transferred from one region or imagery source to another without incurring a decrease in accuracy. To address this issue, known as distribution shift, and foster the development of PV array mapping pipelines, we propose a dataset containing aerial images, segmentation masks, and installation metadata (i.e., technical characteristics).”

Wanted (by Scientists): Dead Birds and Bats, Felled by Renewables (Undark)

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Undark: Wanted (by Scientists): Dead Birds and Bats, Felled by Renewables. “[Todd] Katzner, [Mark] Davis, and other biologists are working with the renewable energy industry to create a nationwide repository of dead birds and bats killed at wind and solar facilities. The bodies hold clues about how the animals lived and died, and could help scientists and project operators understand how to reduce the environmental impact of clean energy installations, Davis said.”

Data Descriptors: RePP Africa – a georeferenced and curated database on existing and proposed wind, solar, and hydropower plants

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Data Descriptors: RePP Africa – a georeferenced and curated database on existing and proposed wind, solar, and hydropower plants. “The Renewable Power Plant database for Africa (RePP Africa) encompasses 1074 hydro-, 1128 solar, and 276 wind power plant records. For each power plant, geographic coordinates, country, construction status, and capacity (in megawatt) are reported.”

Caltech: Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into Orbit in January

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Caltech: Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into Orbit in January. “In January 2023, the Caltech Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) is poised to launch into orbit a prototype, dubbed the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD), which will test several key components of an ambitious plan to harvest solar power in space and beam the energy back to Earth.”

TechXplore: Disguising solar panels as ancient Roman tiles in Pompeii

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TechXplore: Disguising solar panels as ancient Roman tiles in Pompeii. “Technically called ‘traditional PV tiles’, the invisible solar panels used in Pompeii come from Camisano Vicentino, a little Italian town with slightly more than 10 000 inhabitants, halfway between Padua and Vicenza…. The traditional PV tiles are made from a polymer compound, which allows the sun’s rays to filter through. The photovoltaic cells are then integrated into it by hand and covered with a layer of the polymer compound.”