Innovation

Eco-huts attract tourists, and cash, to Kenyan Maasai herding communities

Tourist business gives hope to Maasai girls By Benson Rioba LAIKIPIA, Kenya, Jan 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In the late evening, Eunice Kaparo and Rosemary Nenini finish up their daily cleaning routine in the modern Maasai dwellings, or manyattas, owned by the Twala women’s group. “This is elephant dung – they destroyed trees last

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Panasonic aims to move Tesla auto partnership beyond batteries -CEO

Panasonic shifting into self-driving technology OSAKA, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Panasonic Corp aims to extend its partnership with electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc beyond batteries and into self-driving technology, as the Japanese conglomerate continues to shift its focus to the automotive business. The electronics maker has placed automotive applications at the centre of a growth

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Hydrostor eyes role in $1 billion U.S. peak power market

Hydrostor capital costs between $1,000-$2,000 per kilowatt By Alastair Sharp TORONTO, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Canadian underwater energy storage company Hydrostor is eyeing $1 billion of contracts to replace decommissioned U.S. peak power plants in the next two or three years, its chief executive said. So-called “peakers,” electrical generators which are turned on only when demand

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Shell bolsters US offshore wind interests with bid in North Carolina tender

Shell, Statoil qualify for US offshore wind leasing round LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell has been shortlisted by the U.S. government to make a bid for an offshore wind project licence in the waters off North Carolina, as it comes under pressure from shareholders to diversify into green energy. Shell, as well

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Africa’s first grid-connected biogas plant powers up

Biogas plant meets power needs of 5,000-6,000 rural homes By Geoffrey Kamadi NAIVASHA, Kenya, Jan 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A commercial farm in Kenya has become Africa’s first electricity producer powered by biogas to sell surplus electricity to the national grid, cutting the carbon emissions associated with oil-powered generation. The Gorge Farm Energy Park in

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Virtual power plants, storage tech, invading energy markets – Navigant

Market issues driving investment in energy storage around the world BOULDER, Colo.-A new white paper from Navigant Research examines five major trends and the related market forces expected to shape the future of the energy storage industry in 2016 and beyond. The global energy storage industry reached significant milestones in 2015, and momentum is expected

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