"It's about seeing the world as what it can be and not what it is." - K.R. Sridhar, founder and CEO of Bloom Energy.

 

I come back from Brazil, functioning on two nights of little sleep, but I cannot restrain myself from gushing and hoping that the much hyped "Bloom Box," which launched today, will revamp our nation's infrastructure over the next several years.

 

Not having read much news the past two weeks, I was jolted by friend and former classmate now studying in Denmark, who sent me a quick one-line email asking me what I thought about the Bloom Box, the creation of Bloom Energy, a Silicon Valley start-up that has received hundreds of millions of venture capital money. (more...)

While most European Union member states are flummoxed in trying to reach that 20% renewables goal by 2020, Spain is quietly a leader in the race.  The country aims to have 30% of its electricity needs met by renewables by the end of 2010.  Spain is only second behind Germany in sourcing wind energy, and is the leader in solar thermal technology.  Your first impression may be that such a policy is the result of a strong central government policy.  But since 1978, Madrid has granted many regions in the country wide autonomy, and while relations within Spain's borders are often tenuous, there is one encouraging result:  some of these autonomous regions have the highest usage of renewable energy sources in all of Europe.  One region is Navarre (in Spanish, Navarra; Basque, Nafarroa), located in the Basque region bordering France. (more...)