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World's First Hydroelectric Plant
DID YOU KNOW that on September 30, 1882, in Appleton, Wisconsin, H.J. Rogers opened the world's first hydroelectric plant? Using Fox River as its water siurce, the plant produced the needed electricty for the plant itself in addition to Rogers's home and a nearby building.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/gilded/jb_gilded_hydro_2.html -
First Wind-powered Turbine in Ohio
DID YOU KNOW that Ohio's first wind-powered turbine was created by Charles F. Brush in the winter of 1887-1888? Located behind Brush's mansion, The wind turbine powered 350 incandescent lamps, three electric motors, and two arc lights. Nice stats for wind energy in the nineteenth century.
http://www.greenenergyohio.org/page.cfm?pageId=341 -
Grand Coulee Dam
DID YOU KNOW that MWAK, a joint venture, wins the contract to construct the Grand Coulee Dam on July 13, 1934? As the largest hydropower producer in the US, the Grand Coulee Dam produces more than 21 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year! Power from the dam is
supplied to eleven western states and Canada.
http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/pubs/factsheet.pdf
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/coulee/
https://www.nwcouncil.org/history/GrandCouleeHistory -
AT&T Park San Francisco, California
DID YOU KNOW that the AT&T stadium in San Franciso, home of the Giants, contains 590 solar panels that generate 120 kilowatts of energy? By connecting the energy into San Francisco's power grid, the energy was made available to 15 million Pacific Gas and Energy (PG&E) customers! What a homerun for renewable energy!
http://m.giants.mlb.com/news/article/1853876/
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/san-francisco-giants-and-pge-cut-ribbon-on-att-park-solar-e
http://www.bikingforbaseball.org -
Bioenergy Research Centers
DID YOU KNOW that the U.S. Department of Energy established three Bioenergy Research Centers in September of 2007? The three research centers are used for research "to improve the processes needed for large-scale, cost-effective production of advanced biofuels from cellulosic biomass."
http://genomicscience.energy.gov/centers/ -
SunShot Initiative
DID YOU KNOW that the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office announced the SunShot Initiative on February 4, 2011? The goal of the initiative is to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by 2020. Since 2011, the office has funded over 350 projects in support of the SunShot Initiative.
http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/about
http://energy.gov/eere/sunshot/sunshot-initiative -
Hydropower Loses Power
DID YOU KNOW that hydropower is no longer the dominant source of renewable energy in the United States? Although this was not the case a decade ago, current monthly observance of renewable energy in the U.S has shown other forms of renewable energy to consistently take the lead.
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/fuel_mix_for_elect_generation.cfm
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/hydropower-innovations-3.jpg -
13% Renewable Energy
DID YOU KNOW that during 2014, 13 percent of the energy used to produce electricity in the United States was from renewable energy sources? The renewable energy sources included hydro, wind, biomass (wood, waste), geothermal, and solar.
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/renewable_electricity.cfm -
Wind Power Increase
DID YOU KNOW that the use of wind power to generate electricty has increased from 6 billion kilowatthours in 2000 to approximately 182 billion kilowatthours in 2014? This huge increase is due in large part to government support to develop renewable energy sources,.
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/renewable_electricity.cfm -
Energy Efficiency in Big Businesses
DID YOU KNOW that by December 31, 2020, Walmart plans to have reduced "the energy per square foot intensity required to power [their] buildings around the world by 20%?" Many other big businesses are making efforts to be energy efficient as well. The image shows the solar portfolios of 25 businesses.
http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/environment-sustainability/energy
http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-means-business-2013-top-us-commercial-solar-users
