Earth2Tech Week In Review
It was a short, rainy week at the Earth2Tech headquarters in San Francisco. Meanwhile, there was big news in the international cleantech world. News came from across the pond when the European Commission rolled out their new emissions plan. Meanwhile, Shai Agassi is looking to wire the Middle the East for next generation electric cars. Back at home, the American southwest might start looking shinier as solar thermal arrays sprout up. So, if the rain’s got you down we’ve got a week’s worth of cleantech news for you.
- A Battery Primer with John Voelcker: The automotive editor of IEEE Spectrum gives us the skinny on the future of vehicular batteries and the fate of the electric car.
- Project Better Place Charges Israel: Shai Agassi’s Project Better Place will be building a pilot program in Israel and Nissan-Renault has partnered with the program to provide the vehicles.
- Methane Breakthrough Might Put Manure in Your Tank: Scientists have found a new material consisting of “nanoscopic cages” that is excellent at holding methane and might mean methane has a future as an automotive fuel.
- Solar Thermal Race Heats Up in the Desert: Solar thermal is heating up and a huge number of arrays are planned for the deserts outside of Los Angeles.
- Tesla Ditches Its Two Speed Transmission: Tesla has found an elegantly simple solution to its persistent transmission problem – get rid of it!
- The EU Has Proposed a New Emissions Plan: European biofuels are primed to make a comeback with protective regulations. Also, check out the numbers from the European Commission’s new targets.
Green energy is definitely the best solution in most cases. Technology like solar energy, wind power, fuel cells, zaps electric vehicles, EV hybrids, etc have come so far recently. Green energy even costs way less than oil and gas in many cases.