QUICK NEWS, July 1: AVATAR DIRECTOR GOES SOLAR; U.S. KEEPS WIND TURBINE BUILDERS BUSY; VW ENTERS THE RACE FOR THE 200 MILE EV

AVATAR DIRECTOR GOES SOLAR James Cameron’s Plan to Fix Solar Panels

Alissa Walker, June 30, 2015 (GizModo)

“…[Avatar director, deep-sea explorer, NASA advisor, and all around badass James Cameron has turned his attention to solar. Panels] are installed a certain way on-site to receive the peak amount of solar energy, but this optimal placement also means the panels’ performance will plummet at other times of the day…[whereas Cameron decided] the design needed to be able to track with the sun’s movement throughout the day, increasing productivity, and not rely on a roof’s pitch for optimized installation…[Cameron] chose a sunflower…

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“Cameron then worked with the solar company Sonnen…The first Sun Flowers were installed last month on the Malibu campus of the MUSE School, a nonprofit school focused on environmental learning which was cofounded by his wife Suzy Amis Cameron…The grid-tied system is currently generating about 260 kWh per day, which provides about 75 to 90 percent of the school’s power needs, but Cameron believes in the upcoming summer months the panels could supply the full 100 percent…” click here for more

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U.S. KEEPS WIND TURBINE BUILDERS BUSY Vestas racking up big orders for new U.S. wind farms

Cathy Proctor, June 30, 2015 (Denver Business Journal)

"Vestas Wind Systems is racking up more orders from customers eager to put the Danish manufacturer’s wind turbines to work across the United States…[It has] orders for more than 250 of its wind turbines for U.S. wind farms. And Vestas’ factories in Colorado will be building components for those wind farms…Vestas employs nearly 3,000 people in the state and has four factories…The wind industry has been revving lately in the United States, following an extension of the federal wind Production Tax Credit, worth $23 for every megawatt-hour of power produced for 10 years. New wind farms where at least 5 percent of the budget was spent in 2014 will qualify for the credit…” click here for more

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VW ENTERS THE RACE FOR THE 200 MILE EV In Battle to Produce World’s First Truly-Affordable Long-Range Electric Car, VW Throws its Hat into the Ring

Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield, June 30, 2015 (Transport Evolved)

"With the exception of the high-end, high-priced Tesla Model S electric sedan, the majority of mass-market electric cars on sale today still offer a real-world range of between 60 and 110 miles…[M]ost advocates and automakers alike all quietly agree that in order to accelerate the mass-adoption of electric vehicles beyond their already-positive levels, cars need to be developed which are both affordable and offer double or even triple [the battery range] of today’s vehicles…Consequentially, Nissan, General Motors and Tesla Motors are all racing to bring next-generation electric models to market in the next few years which offer a price point of around $35,000 as well as real-world, achievable [200 miles per charge] ranges…Now German Automaker Volkswagen has thrown its hat into the ring…” click here for more

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