Blog

    A major concern among students and faculty on college campuses is safety, particularly at night.  With late night classes or library study sessions, there are typically a number of people walking through campus at all hours of the night.  However, more often than not campuses have too few lamps, most of which offer poor quality […]

    “A commitment to sustainability is part of our business model...We try to incorporate sustainability into everything we do," says Joseph Roth, spokesperson for IKEA.  The privately owned company continues to back up those claims.   Image courtesy of IKEA, via Midwestenergynews.com   The soon-to-open Kansas City area IKEA store has already made headlines […]

    Upon receiving a Certificate of Conformity from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Omnitek Engineering Company released plans for converting all of their Mack E7 electronic engines, (up to model year 2006,) from running on diesel to natural gas.  The importance of the Certificate of Conformity is to allow for the conversions to take […]

    The first quarter of 2014 was huge for solar energy in the U.S., increasing 79 percent from the first quarter totals of 2013.  In the first three months of this year, the combination of both homeowners and developers installed 1.33 gigawatts of solar panels.  Total installations are expected to climb to a whopping 6.6 […]

    The Army National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, VA is getting a complete energy efficiency overhaul, worth $20 million.  The readiness center is nearly twenty-one years old and will be upgrading nearly all of its original equipment, including the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.  Additionally, most of the current lamps will be […]

    An agreement, (still awaiting approval,) was made this week that will make Kansas City Power & Light's energy efficiency rebates available to all of its Missouri customers, as opposed to the select regions where available in the past.  Previously only offered as very limited pilot programs, KCP&L's new agreement would bring these efficiency programs […]

    At the 2014 Louisiana Alternative Fuel Conference and Expo that took place in May at LSU, speakers touted compressed natural gas as the "fuel of the future."  While not a new concept, (as natural gas fueling stations and vehicles have been around for many years now in the U.S., but are much more prevalent […]

    In late March of this year, German solar company, Heliatek, unveiled a 40 percent transparent organic solar cell.  The solar panels will be ideal to be used nearly anywhere glass is used, think windows of companies and homes to power the entire building, glass roofs of cars to extend their electric range infinitely, and […]

    A huge solar array is set to be installed on the roof of the enormous, soon to be completed, Ikea store being built in Merriam, KS.  The plans include placing 2,850 solar panels on the 92,000 square foot roof top as soon as the new roof is completed, most likely in late June.  […]