Company Location

The Gridwise Alliance, a consortium of companies — including General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG) — that promotes smart grid technologies and works in partnership with the U.S.

Mankind has long sought to harness the power of the wind. From the earliest sailboats to Scandanavian windmills to modern wind farms. Today, interest in wind-energy has pickup up velocity as the quest for renewable power sources to replace fossil fuels takes on a new sense of urgency.

The economic downturn has been less than kind to solar power businesses, which have lost much of their shine across the board.

The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), in collaboration with San Jose based Vitex Systems and Battelle Memorial Instit

California utility Pacific Gas & Electric just announced their third major solar deal this year. PG&E are partnering with AV Solar Ranch 1, a subsidiary of NextLight Renewable Power, for 230 megawatts of solar PV power.

As of the end of 2008, the total wind energy capacity of the US rose by 50% to 25,170 MW -- enough to power around 7 million homes and equivalent to curbing 44 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. is now first among nations for wind power capacity.  Germany is second, with 23,903 MW at the end of 2008. 

Last week, New Energy Technologies, a publicly traded company best known for their kinetic-energy capture technology aimed at converting the kinetic energy from cars into power, announced that they are continuing development on tinted transparent glass SolarWindows™ capable of generating electric

 More power utilities increased the amount of energy they got from solar power in 2008, despite the economic downturn.  The top ten solar-using utilities increased their solar portfolio by an average of two megawatts, enough energy to supply over 300 homes a year.

The oil industry has backed off alternative energy investments in recent months.   BP, for instance, made news in April when it cut 620 jobs of an original 4,400 in its solar business.  Last October it killed a $67 million expansion of its solar manufacturing operation in Maryland.

Toronto-based Zenn Motor Co announced positive test results on its U.S. partner EEStor Inc’s potentially ground-breaking battery technology for electric vehicles.