Tag Archives: New York Times

Offshore Wind Farm Industry Takes Off in the United States

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by Genevieve Kules

The offshore wind farm industry appears to be growing despite the current political disinclination towards environmentally friendly energy initiatives. In 2016 Deepwater Wind created the US’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island’s Block Island consisting of five turbines. In January of 2017 Deepwater Wind submitted permits for approval of fifteen turbines off the coast of Long Island, NY. This could only be the start for the construction of over 200 turbines nearby.

Offshore wind farms are far more prominent in Europe, and China has a wind farm with enough turbines to power a small country, but lack of buyers has left many of those turbines unused. Continue reading →

Offshore Wind Farm Industry Takes Off in the United States

Posted on by
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by Genevieve Kules

The offshore wind farm industry appears to be growing despite the current political disinclination towards environmentally friendly energy initiatives. In 2016 Deepwater Wind created the US’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island’s Block Island consisting of five turbines. In January of 2017 Deepwater Wind submitted permits for approval of fifteen turbines off the coast of Long Island, NY. This could only be the start for the construction of over 200 turbines nearby.

Offshore wind farms are far more prominent in Europe, and China has a wind farm with enough turbines to power a small country, but lack of buyers has left many of those turbines unused.

Now, in the United States, offshore wind farms could be a promising energy resource. Many large oil corporations have invested in wind energy and Google says their data centers and offices will be completely run on renewable energy in 2017. Continue reading →

Big Goals for Small Islands: Hawaiian Legislation Promotes Renewable Energy in Transportation

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by Siena Hacker

For such a small chain of islands, the state of Hawaii has the biggest renewable energy target in the United States. Hawaii introduced legislation that would fine utilities that are not completely powered by renewable energy by 2045. Now, as reported in a January 2017 New York Times piece by the Associated Press, the state is going a step farther by introducing legislation promoting a complete reliance on renewables for the transportation sector. [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/01/19/us/ap-us-renewable-energy-transportation.html] With Hawaiians already owning an estimated one million cars – not to mention all of the cars for sale in dealerships – it would be imprudent for the state to mandate a shift to renewable fuels for the transportation sector. Hawaii is instead attempting to encourage the transition by increasing the number of required charging stations. The reasoning holds that as electric cars become cheaper and the infrastructure supporting them increases, investing in an electric car will become the practical choice. Continue reading →

Can Aviation Help the Environment?

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by Tyler Hoyle

LeapTech, is NASA’s latest project geared towards testing a different approach to powering flight. It has the potential to pave the way for low-carbon aviation. Rather than using a fossil fuel burning engine, LeapTech is a truck-plane hybrid, with 18 electric motors along its leading edge, each containing a small propeller. The small propellers are used to test the distributed propulsion in order to analyze if it has the potential to lead to the creation of energy efficient aircraft designs that would ultimately produce less pollution. Continue reading →

Bringing Electricity to Off-The-Grid Communities by Micro-Financing

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by Sharon Ha

According to a New York Times article published in January 2016, there have been several solar power companies hoping to provide renewable energy to the 300 million people in rural India who do not have access to electricity. The article focuses on the efforts of Selco, a solar power company that is targeting the rural village of Paradeshappanamatha in Southern India, and urban settlements in Bangalore. By utilizing creative financing solutions, Selco, which was founded in 1995, hopes to disprove the myth that only wealthy people can purchase or use solar energy. Continue reading →