The following stories include news articles, events and announcements about and by RAEL lab members.
Media
Kammen & Riordan: Coal's no way to make the job market hop
January, 2013
Crosscut
If Peabody Energy, SSA Marine and Goldman Sachsreally want to stimulate Washington jobs, as they claim, they can find much better ways to do so than build a sprawling $665 million coal terminal northwest of Bellingham. They could use the money instead to fund energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects. Per dollar invested, efficiency and renewables generate many more jobs than fossil fuels.
Controversial al Jazeera Show on Climate, Carbon, and the World Bank
November, 2012
al Jazeera
Extreme heat waves, declining food stocks, and a life-threatening sea level rise: it's a sobering vision of the future by one of the world's largest and most powerful institutions.
A report issued by the World Bank earlier this month warns of severe consequences if global warming is not dealt with. But the international organisation may itself be contributing to climate change.
More on the story and Professor Kammen's response in the al Jazeera video and article.
Prof. Kammen Op Ed: U.S. must act to keep innovative solar technology
November, 2012
San Francisco Chronicle
The Santa Clara solar-panel manufacturer Miasole is about to be sold overseas, and possibly dissolved. Its technology is an innovative threat to some existing manufacturers. In fact Miasole’s thin-film manufacturing technique, which can reduce the amount of expensive materials needed by more than 90 percent from conventional solar cells, is a breakthrough technology that will be lost to the United States without immediate action.
Miasole is a very real, productive company, with a 150 million-watt-per-year production facility in California, and more than 60 megawatts already deployed in commercial operation. Miasole is, or was, the third largest thin-film solar energy producer in the world, and has achieved an industry-leading 16 percent efficient solar panels.
Miasole’s planned rollout of thin and flexible solar cells could revolutionize installation and expand market opportunities, further reducing costs. These achievements are based on their patented production process, in which the layers of the thin film are deposited onto a 3-foot-wide sheet of stainless steel foil as it passes around the periphery of large circular production machines.