Word: enron
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Arrayed along the pipelines of Enron Oil & Gas in the American Southwest is a series of boxy monitors that transmit data about the flow of the company's precious fossil fuels. The telecommunications devices draw their power not from the fuels they monitor but from shiny panels that capture the energy of the sun. Are these solar-powered invaders of the oil patch the technological portents of a coming era? Or are they merely emblematic of the bit part solar has played thus far in the world's energy equation? No one knows for sure, but corporate investors, who have...
...remains relatively cheap? Shell International Petroleum in London, which forecast the oil shocks of the 1970s, predicts that renewable power, particularly solar, will dominate world energy production by 2050. Japan's electronics giant Canon has formed a joint venture with Michigan's Energy Conversion Devices to commercialize solar technology. Enron, Germany's Siemens and scores of other companies, including aerospace firms, engineering giants and utilities, are also exploring opportunities to plug into the renewable-energy business. Is this collective corporate madness? Perhaps not. The world has changed a great deal since...
...array of sun-powered monitors on Enron's network is one of many signs that solar's time is fast approaching. The community of Tennant Creek in northern Australia is scheduled to receive power soon from what is called a solar-thermal system. It will use a series of parabolic dishes to focus the sun's rays and superheat steam, which in turn will drive turbine generators. The designer, Stephen Kaneff of the Australian National University, calculates that these modest-size systems can produce power for as little as 4 cents per KW-H, cheaper than the polluting...
...London Enron Corp...