John H. Duncan's Blog Posts Tagged 'appropriate technology' (11)

FLS Energy, recently ranked the 46th fastest growing company in the US by INC Magazine, will be moving from their Amboy Road HQ to Roberts Street, in the "heart of the River-Arts District". President, Dale Freudenberge has stated "In the end, it came down to which property would best meet the needs of our employees: a central location, a connection to…

Following a trade case suit filed against Chinese Solar panel manufacturers by the US Department of Commerce, many companies are shifting production to South Korea, Taiwan and the US. The Department of Commerce filed an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case against Chinese solar panel manufacturers on Nov. 9. Despite the appearance that these Chinese companies are "gloomy about their chances of winning the case" they have filed a trade case suit of their own against the US.

According to…

Yesterday from the NYT, Paul Krugman on Fracking: "Economics 101 tells us that an industry imposing large costs on third parties should be required to “internalize” those costs...it’s worth pointing out that special treatment for fracking makes a mockery of free-market principles"

Krugman also tackles why our federal government should continue to support solar energy despite "cries of 'Solyndra!'" from "the entire G.O.P." He states " 'there’s now frequent talk of a ‘Moore’s law’ in…

A paradigm shift may be approaching for European Utilities. According to research done by Giorgio Busnelli, Venkie Shantaram, and Alice Vatta and published in Mckinsey Quarterly, following the trend of energy consumption a new home in 2020 Europe will consume 90% less energy. In this scenario, profit margins fall by 30% for utilities.…

New survey results from Mckinsey estimate that the clean-tech product market will reach $1.6 trillion by 2020, up from $670 billion in 2010. The Mckinsey survey was a 10 day survey in the Summer of 2011 aimed at executives representing the full range of regions, industries, tenures, company sizes, and functional specialties; They received over 3200 responses.

From the report, "On the whole, respondents report a more well-rounded understanding of sustainability and.. respondents in…

According to the 2011 SCHOTT Solar Barometer, an annual poll conducted by the Kelton Research firm, 9 out of 10 Americans believe "it is important for the United States to develop and use solar energy". This is for the fourth consecutive year!  Also, this survey found that "Eight out of 10 Americans (82 percent) think it is “extremely important” or “somewhat important" for the Federal Government to support US solar manufacturing.

Additionally, the poll also found that "Americans…

GE will open the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the US in Aurora, CO, and will make their new home in a refurbished L'Oreal plant with 280,000-sq.-ft of space. GE plans to expand the facility to 700,000 square feet when it hits 400 MW of capacity. This plant will be in production by 2012 with 355 employees on location with an additional 100 new…

Maiden, NC home to Apple's $1-billion data center may be getting a solar farm to boot. Catawba county has issued permits to Apple for "Project Dolphin Solar Farm A Expanded". "Project Dolphin" was said data center in Maiden NC. Apple has not issued any formal announcement or responded to journalistic inquiries from Charlotte Observer.

So far, the permits…

ThinkProgress is reporting that the farm ministry of Japan has "found the first case of rice with radioactive materials far exceeding a government-set level for a preliminary test of pre-harvested crop". This discovery triggers follow up testing for rice harvested from Nihonmatsu city.

This marks the first case of rice tested…

The BBC has confirmed that Siemens, a huge engineering and industrial firm, will be withdrawing from the nuclear energy industry. CEO Peter Loescher is on record as saying "the clear positioning of German society and politics [is] for a pullout from nuclear energy" and "the chapter for us is closed". Siemens will continue to work in the energy sector and produce parts for conventional power plants. To…

In a recent news release from the North Carolina Biotech Center a dozen undergraduate projects have received $60,500!

From the news release:

The Undergraduate Research Fellowships match faculty mentors with science and engineering majors. Students across the state gain real-world research experience through these collaborative projects. For some awardees, these projects are first glimpses at biotechnology careers.

“These grants encourage talented students around the…