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Seemingly everyone is talking about going green, and most of the news seems to be on public policy and large corporations getting sustainable. While it’s easy to pass on the responsibility to the government’s promotion and corporate america’s usage, it’s really juts a cop out because everyone has the opportunity to do what they can to live eco friendly and help out the environment. One of the most obvious ways to get sustainable is through energy usage, and going green with renewable sources.

Empire Solar is a firm that can help you in this regard. Empire solar is a full service company that can take you green with solar panels. I say full service because they offer custom solutions for individuals or firms trying to take advantage of solar technology. They install systems, take care of permits, submit the rebate paperwork necessary, and set up the necessary interfaces in the buildings to utilize the solar panels. All the while, they work only with the most reputable technology and products, thus greening you for years to come.

While a legitimate concern about sustainability and saving the environment is preferable, there are a lot of reasons to answer the never ending question: Why Buy Solar. Besides helping the environment, there are attractive economic reasons to do so, including…

• Lowering your energy bill costs
• receiving the beloved state and federal tax breaks
• Feel good and elitist.

Finally, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple decades and cannot grasp the gist of solar panels and solar energy, check out Empire Solar’s easy to understand How Solar Works.

So to get started on lowering your energy costs with a 10 year guaranteed full solar system, you can receive a free consultation to find out what custom solutions Empire can offer you.

“Everything is bigger in Texas” is proven true, again with their growing commitment and investment in wind energy. Texas recently previously announced that they’re investing $4.9 billion for wind transmission lines which will be carrying electricity from the rural western part of the state to the more populous eastern cities like Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston.

This development came along with T Boone Pickens‘ media bombardment and call for state and federal investment in wind, because the lack of transmission lines is one of, if not the largest, problem facing wind energy which generally operates in remote areas off of the grid.

These new transmission lines will be able to handle 18,500 megawatts of power by their completion in 2013, which will bring the state’s total wind energy production to over 20,000 megawatts of electricity – a figure easily allowing them to maintain the #1 wind producing state ranking, and even placing them close to producing more wind than Germany by themselves, according to the New York Times article (via below).

Wind energy, being a location-constrained resource, will need a big boost in public funding to become a major player in the US because much of the windiest spots in the US wind corridor are not on transmission lines or the grid, making this valuable resource worthless and unable to be harnessed by the masses. Essentially, it’s in the hands of lawmakers and the President, so try sending them a letter. And tack on Texas’ future rank as #2 nation in wind energy production to the list of things that make Texans think they’re bigger and better than everyone else.

Story via New York Times, National Academies

The US and Germany are in a new, silent arms race that will actually benefit society this time around. The Daily Times reported the very closely watched statistics of 2008 world wind energy generation. For the first time ever, the US has finally surpassed Germany in terms of megawatts of wind energy produced because of the faster US wind speeds, even though Germany has more capacity and turbines. This feat wasn’t expected to have occurred yet, so the American wind association is pretty pleased.

While this is a small battle one, it should be expected considering the US’s much larger size, population, wind speeds, and need for alternative renewable energy sources. Here’s a simple comparison between the two countries.

As the numbers show, the US’s gains really aren’t too special considering the per capita use of wind electricity versus normal electricity consumption. The US does have some plans in place to raise that meager 1.2% wind energy to 20% though. The Department of Energy has a program 20% wind by 2030 which, as its titles suggests, is a PR push towards making wind energy a very much more serious contributor to US energy consumption.

So, if we’re lucky, public policy will be put in place to let us reach Denmark’s current 20% wind energy by the year 2030.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have been the pipe dream of automakers for years now because of their potential for super low emissions and that big renewable factor. But while hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were touted as the next big thing for years, and were even embraced as the future savior of General Motors by 2011, people failed to remember that it’s still completely inefficient to actually make the hydrogen in the first place.

Well, a new company/inventor Global Hydrogen is now claiming that they can produce hydrogen at $2.47 a kg, which is equivalent to one gallon of fuel. This $2.47 figure is pretty impressive, considering it is 30% lower than the previous figure of $3.57 a kg of hydrogen, which is produced by natural gas steaming.

This much cheaper method of hydrogen creation comes from the low voltage technique that Global Hydrogen has patented. Theoretically, this method of production was thought to be impossible before today, but now they claim that it’s very much possible and preferable. The method produces hydrogen at a voltage as low as 1.2, and this results in an efficiency over 90%, which is presumably the key to the very low price claimed by Global Hydrogen.

While these numbers at face value are very impressive, whether it’s legit or not is up in the air considering the shabbiness of the company’s web site and released youtube video on low voltage hydrogen production, which tends to remind me of my high school chemistry lab.

But, I’ll take their claim [with a grain of salt] because I am a wishful thinker, and this type of development could mean wonders for the future of hydrogen fuel cells worldwide. So maybe hydrogen fuel celled cars will make automakers such as GM “what they were in the ’50s”

Via the Matter Network