Earth Protect Blog

Habitat for Humanity has been turning increasingly to the sun for energy solutions that will save homeowners money on utility bills. A donated solar installation in Newark, Del. will help a family with two disabled sons save on electricity expenses.  Now they can better afford the health care ...

New rules governing oil and gas extraction in Colorado may increase the review period for permits and add to a backlog of well applications as energy exploration proceeds at a pace to eclipse last year’s record. The new regulations by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which went int...

Is it safe? That’s what most people — brought up on Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and The Simpsons — want to know about nuclear power. And for the most part, the answer is yes. Accidents are rare, and those that have occurred — including the partial meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 — h...

Leading Republicans were using phrases like “anti-American” and “war on American energy” to describe President Obama’s new plan to combat climate change, escalating the rhetoric even before the President’s Georgetown University speech outlining his program. “President Obama’s anti-American energy p...

Earth Day 2013 Earth Day is about us, our loved ones, our pets and wild animals, our trees, fish and flowers. Each person can make a difference by taking actions in their lives and organizations to live sustainably. Recycle, buy green products, conserve water, turn out lights and save energy, learn...

by Jeffrey Bennett One reason we use energy so lavishly today is that the price of energy does not include all of the social costs of producing it. - President Richard Nixon, 1971 Politics have turned upside down. As the quote from President Nixon reminds us, protecting the environment was on...

Two Midwest startups in the clean-tech sector walked away with $100,000 apiece in a one-day fast-pitch event before an audience and a panel of judges. Four others were awarded cash prices too. LuminAID, a Chicago-based startup that developed a low-cost, solar-powered inflatable lighting device, won...

Temporary but strategic financing of emerging new-energy technologies is an absolute necessity. If we want clean-energy alternatives, if we want energy diversity, we need to pry open toeholds for their emergence and scale-up. Why is this? The reason is that the U.S. energy market is riven with barr...

  Go Green in the City 2013 Challenge Calling all business and engineering students! It’s time to team up for the annual Go Green in the City challenge.  Sponsored by Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, Go Green in the City is an international case challenge f...

Scores of companies across the world are racing to unlock algae's energy potential and create a 'green crude oil' Tiny Columbus, New Mexico (population, 1,678) is hot, flat and uncrowded — an ideal place to launch a new green revolution in agriculture. That, in essence, is what a well-funded startu...

Last week, the New York Times reported on an exciting new energy project that is scheduled to begin testing off the coast of Oregon in early October. A company called Ocean Power Technologies is going to lower a 260-ton generator into the Pacific ocean, just 2.5 miles from the shore, in order to cap...

Mining companies, already squeezed by high fossil fuel costs that are likely to rise further, are turning to renewable energy systems for power.RWE Innogy commissioned its 20.5-MW wind farm at Titz in Germany's Rhenish mining area this week, just one of a string of renewable energy project announcem...

from Smithsonian As we ponder how we’re going to supply the world’s increasing energy needs over the course of the 21st century, the discussion usually swings between fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, and emerging alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. Increasingly, ...

  by Anne Seccombe A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces 20 times more energy than existing methods. The results, published in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology, showcase a novel way to use microbes to produce biofu...

In the aftermath of the recent United Nations Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development, the focus of many industrialized nations is beginning to shift toward planning for a sustainable future. One of the foremost challenges for sustainability is efficient use of renewable energy resources, a goa...

  BY SYLVIA MWEETWA A GERMAN consultant Klaus Heidler has challenged developed nations to consider investing in renewable energy technology which has minimal impact on the environment. Dr Heidler who is Solar Consulting Agency for Sustainable Communication chief executive officer said German...

Under a comprehensive strategy, Denmark is leading the world in renewables by Carin Hall According to Denmark's Energy Strategy 2050, the country's aims are to reduce fuel consumption 33 percent by 2020 and to achieve complete independence from fossil fuels by 2050. How? Numerous new wind project...

By RONDA KAYSEN As the standards for environmentally friendly construction rise, a Brooklyn developer has a new goal: renovate an apartment building so it generates as much energy as it uses. When the developer, Voltaic Solaire, finishes a $1 million rehabilitation of a 19th-century brownstone at ...

Apple’s massive 500,000 square-foot Project Dolphin data center in Maiden, N.C., is taking clean energy to a new level. Apple has confirmed its commitment to environmentally responsible business practices with the announcement that the facility will be powered completely by clean, renewable energy b...

  BP (BP) has invested $7 billion in alternative energy since 2005. ExxonMobil (XOM) is spending $600 million on a 10-year effort to turn algae into oil. And Royal Dutch Shell (RDS/A) has invested billions of dollars in a Brazilian biofuels venture, buyin...