Solar Power

Big Dreams, Small (and Clever) Projects

DWC helped implement this solar pumping station in Ethiopia.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
From March 2012 World Rivers ReviewDWC helped implement this solar pumping station in Ethiopia. Oliver Kopsch is a clean-energy enabler. His company, DecRen Water Consult (DWC), based in Germany, designs decentralized water systems powered by renewable energies. We talked to Oliver about his approach, and lessons learned from some recent projects. The business model.We are a private commercial company, based in Germany. We started about 10 years ago, after a few of us came to the conclusion that we weren’t doing what we were meant to do. We started by selling solar desalination products,

When Will Africa See the Light?

Installing solar panels
It was a bright year for renewable energy in many parts of the world, despite the recession. Global investment in clean energy generation capacity reached a record high of $260 billion in 2011, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Investment in solar technology grew by a third over the previous year.

Envisioning Solar Cities in Argentina

The solar fair.
Friday, December 10, 2010
From December 2010 World Rivers Review The energy issue is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. The intensive use of fossil fuels that made the industrial revolution possible has had many unintended consequences. In Argentina, more than 90% of primary energy is from oil and gas. Yet not only are we running out of fossil fuels in Argentina, but we are already beginning to see the impacts from climate change. The solar fair. Taller Ecologista At Taller Ecologista , we believe it essential to more quickly adopt renewable energy in Argentina not only to reduce energy consumpt

New Data Confirms Big Hydro's Relative Decline

My recent blog comparing the global hydro industry’s stagnation with the rapid growth in the wind and solar sectors was based on preliminary data for wind and solar in 2009, and my guesstimate for that year’s hydro additions. Better statistics are now available for all three technologies. In my blog I stated that the wind industry had likely installed at least a quarter more generating capacity than big hydro in 2009. The new stats, from the “Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century,” or REN21, shows that large hydro lagged even further behind than I had guesstimated.
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