They sound like science fiction, but these 5 energy technologies are getting close to reality

space-solar

Space-based solar

Some newer clean energy sources are becoming mainstream industries with low prices and established financing models like solar panels and wind turbines. But even in this era of emerging predictable clean energy, there are some pretty weird, experimental and ambitious energy projects under development. And they’re trying to move out of the lab and off of research papers, and into actual production.

 

 

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Altaeros Energies floating wind turbine churns out electricity and Wi-Fi

AlterosPrototype

Altaeros Energies floating wind turbine.

This floating turbine, developed by Altaeros Energies could someday travel to every remote corner of the globe. There, they could deliver electricity and Internet connectivity to people and villages living off-the-grid. (Video)

 

 

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Wireless electricity is here

wireless electricity

In the house of the future, wire-free energy transfer could be as easy as wireless internet.

When Katie Hall saw a light-bulb glowing in the middle of a room with no wires attached she was shocked. Looking back, it was a crude experiment, she remembers: a tiny room filled with gigantic copper refrigerator coils — the kind you’d see if you cracked open the back of your freezer. She walked in and out between the coils and the bulb — and still the bulb glowed. (Video)

 

 

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U.S. wind power accounts for 4% of energy for first time ever

wind farm

The wind energy industry started 2014 with a record 12GW of wind capacity under construction.

Wind power in the U.S. accounted for more than 4% of the energy on the grid last year. This is the first time this milestone has been breached. However, the distribution of wind power across states varied greatly, with some states well ahead of others.

 

 

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UK gets more electricity from offshore wind farms than all other countries combined

offshore-wind-power

The UK is currently far ahead of countries like the US and China.

The UK doesn’t get enough credit for its pioneering work in offshore wind power. They have helped push forward the industry and everybody else will benefit from these advances, in the same way that Germany helped turbocharge the solar industry over the past decade and now everybody benefits from cheaper solar power.

 

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World’s largest solar plant is now creating electricity

solar plant 1

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world’s largest solar power plant, takes 300,000 computer-controlled mirrors, each 7 feet high and 10 feet wide and controls them with computers to focus the Sun’s light to the top of 459-foot towers where water is turned into steam to power turbines. (Photos)

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Can we achieve a smoother, more secure grid with energy storage?

grid-energy-storage

Storing energy along the U.S. grid could help keep the power on.

For years, RenewableEnergyWorld.com has said that if the energy industry could solve the energy storage problem, it would unlock gigawatts of renewable energy capacity all over the world.  About a year ago, progress started really picking up.  More than 200 energy storage companies were present at Intersolar in Munich in 2013, exhibiting their solutions.

 

 

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Future predictions for the oil and gas industry

oil and gas

A flawed prediction for oil and gas?

One comment about the oil and gas industry comes up quite a bit from very well educated people in a number of disciplines related to the climate issue – “The oil and gas industry has only got 20 years”. A few years back, a report by the WWF took a similar but slightly less aggressive line, through the publication of an energy model forecast which showed that the world could be effectively fossil energy free as early as 2050.

 

 

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Why the days are numbered for traditional utility companies

solar power

Utilities are under fire from technologies such as rooftop solar.

Duke Energy is the biggest utility in the U.S.  The recently retired head of the utility company, Jim Rogers, has had some interesting things to say about the fate of the traditional utility, particularly with the proliferation of rooftop solar.

 

 

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Top 5 facts about the solar jobs market

solar panels

In the United States a solar system is installed every four minutes. The solar industry is adding a lot of new jobs in the process. There are 142,698 jobs throughout the industry, according to the Solar Foundation. That’s a 20 percent increase since 2012 — a jump driven both by growth in installations and new categories for academic and research jobs.

 

 

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China installed more solar power than any other country in 2013

china-solar-power

China has “outstripped even the most optimistic forecasts” to install a record 12 GW of photovoltaic projects.

There were predictions all through 2013 that suggested Japan would walk away the dominant solar PV market. Bloomberg New Energy Finance has revealed that despite those predictions China has “outstripped even the most optimistic forecasts” to install a record 12 GW of photovoltaic projects in 2013.

 

 

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The power grid is starting to look more like the internet

power-elec

 A new dawn of smarter power grid tools is emerging.

Some of the technologies that have been mainstays of the internet are slowly being adopted by the electricity grid, like decentralized computing and smarter distributed systems. A step in that direction emerged on Tuesday from startup Gridco, which after four years has announced its first commercial product: new power electronics and a smart management system for the part of the grid that brings electricity to homes and buildings.

 

 

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