One of the first rules of the game when it comes to energy is that every time you transfer energy from one form into another, a little bit spills out on the way. It is for this reason that I am generally skeptical when I read about a solar-to-electric-to-biofuel-to-battery-to-whatever technology. That being the case, let’s examine the Searaser:

Designed by British inventor (is that a real profession in Britain? I’ve always wanted to be an inventor...) Alvin Smith, the Searaser is a buoy connected to a piston. The buoy is fixed into place; as a result, it bobs up and down with the waves. As it does, it turns the piston and pumps sea water through an undersea hose. The hose carries the water to a high place (either on land or at sea), where it can fall back down to earth, spinning a turbine in the process.

On the one hand, the device itself seems simple enough and is reportedly on the cheap side. It would not use up any fresh water resources, since all the water travelling through the system would come from the ocean. But if the wave can turn the pistons, why not simply turn a generator underwater? Why go through the trouble of building long hoses and constructing artificial waterfalls?

It is possible that keeping the underwater parts simpler makes for a more robust system; if all the important parts are underwater then when they sink, you are sunk as well. This way, even if one of the buoys breaks down, the important part is still on land. And maybe hoses are cheaper than underwater electric transmission wires. I hope my instincts are wrong; Smith calculates that a sizable fleet of his inventions could power millions of homes.

Via Cleantechnica

I have to admit, when I first heard that Dell was marketing new lines of green computers I wasn’t sure how to respond. After all, what company isn’t trying their hand at green marketing these days? It’s getting harder to tell the difference between those who are simply jumping on the bandwagon and those who are actually making a difference.

This year, Dell is definitely making a difference. Their latest achievement: earning a 5.0 Energy Star rating seven months before an EPA-mandated deadline. Let's take a quick look at what else they've achieved:

The Toronto Zoo wants to use the manure produced by its animals to generate its electricity, which seems like a perfect scenario for a zoo. The problem is the biogas electricity plant would cost CDN $13 million (US $10.5 million), a sum of money the zoo doesn't have.

The City of Toronto says that it doesn't have the money to loan the zoo, which has lead the zoo on a search for private investors. The zoo claims that a biogas electricity plant run on its animals' waste would not only produce enough power for its own operations, but enough to sell back to the grid that the project would pay for itself within five years.

If the zoo is able to secure funding, the power plant could begin construction in 2009.

I always root for scenarios like these where an area or company has a lot of an unusual resource and they come up with a way to harness its potential. The Japanese airport that will begin using snow to cool its buildings is another great example of this type of innovation. I hope that the zoo gets its funding, especially since it's not only able to provide for itself, but give back to the grid as well.

via Treehugger

Image via flickr

A recent ruling by the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board could lead to a tougher time for coal power and an easier time for renewable energy. Last Thursday, the board blocked the EPA from issuing a permit to a coal plant addition in Utah and ruled that the agency needs to develop a nationwide standard for dealing with CO2.

This ruling is important because it puts over 100 proposed coal plants on hold while the EPA comes up with new CO2 guidelines. Coal plants will be considered riskier by investors because there's no telling what types of changes will have to be made for them to get the green light. This could convince investors to put their financing behind clean energy projects instead.

If the EPA comes up with even moderately strict CO2 limits, coal companies will have to spend more money on technology that reduces their emissions. This will make coal power more expensive and renewables like solar, wind and geothermal more competitive.

General Electric hit a milestone today by shipping their 10,000th 1.5 MW turbine to the Ashtabula Wind Energy Center, a wind farm in North Dakota run by FPL Energy. It’s a pretty impressive figure, considering the fact that GE only entered this market six years ago. To get a better idea of where GE and the wind industry are going from here, EcoGeek sat down with Victor Abate, VP of Renewable Energy at GE to see what he had to say:

10,000 turbines – what does this mean for the wind industry?

When you have 10,000 turbines of the same megawatt class, that really provides a tremendous amount of quality to the industry. With renewable energy the fuel is free, and so in order to measure performance you really need to look at how well the asset (in this case, the turbines) runs over the course of their lifetime.

Solfocus, whose technology focuses 500x the normal strength of sunlight onto tiny bits of ultra-efficient (ultra-expensive) solar material has just released a new solar unit that it promises has "the highest energy density and energy yield of any photovoltaic system available today."

We're not quite sure if we can take them at their word on that, but the new module (the 1100S) does look pretty exciting. The module has an overall efficiency of 25% (much better than thin film, and comparable to traditional photovoltaic installations.) It's going straight into the field in Europe (SolFocus has a manufacturing plant in Spain.)

The module is designed for medium-scale utility projects. Unfortunately it's not so easy to get one of these things for personal use because they have to track the sun very precisely and so require a good deal of space and ugly solar-tracking hardware that your neighbors probably wouldn't let you have.

But utilities should love it. In warm climates, solar power happens to produce power exactly when it's needed...when air conditioners are running full blast. So the race to make solar power modules that produce cheap solar power either by concentrating solar energy on photovoltaics, using solar power to boil water or printing out sheets of cheap (though less efficient) solar panels is pretty intense.

I think SolFocus's technology has a good chance to grab some solid market share.

A new billboard is going up in the middle of Times Square that will be powered with 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels instead of the usual electricity. When it's windy and sunny, the billboard will be able to generate enough electricity to light up.

Ricoh Co. of Japan is setting up the 35,000-pound billboard 55 feet above street level on the corner of 7th Avenue and 42nd Street. The technology company, best known for its cameras and printers, estimates that the electricity normally drawn by such a billboard would power six homes annually. The fact that it will come from solar and wind power will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 18 tons every year.

It's not the first solar-powered billboard in the U.S. Last year, Pacific Gas and Electric set up a billboard in San Francisco powered by 20 PV panels. The Ricoh billboard in Times Square is much bigger, and it is employing a wind technology not seen in its west coast predecessor – vertical, cylindrical turbines. These turbines will serve as the billboard’s main power source; ninety per cent of the billboard's power will come from them and the rest from the attached solar panels.

The $3-million billboard is scheduled to light up on December 4. Ricoh is depending entirely on renewable energy to light up the sign and has no backup generator in place – if there is no wind or sun, the sign will go dark.

Via: New York Times

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California where it will launch in January 2009. The observatory is NASA's first spacecraft designed to study carbon dioxide.

The spacecraft will spend two years in a 438-mile, near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. It will map the globe every 16 days and collect information about levels of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. Three high-resolution spectrometers that spread reflected sunlight into its various colors will provide scientists data about the gases present. Scientists will then be able to estimate the monthly volume of CO2 over a given 621-mile region.

This observatory will allow to scientists to see where CO2 is collecting in the atmosphere and what human activities are contributing to it and what parts of the world are acting as sinks. Most importantly it will allow more accurate measurements of total CO2 in the atmosphere and enable more reliable predictions of future climate change.

I have to say I am really excited about this spacecraft. This is a great use of NASA's technology to help solve a problem that is affecting us here on the ground. This observatory is going to give us invaluable information on what we're up against in the fight against climate change.

via CleanTechnica

Serious Materials has won Popular Science's "Best of What's New" Award in green tech innovation for their eco-friendly drywall called EcoRock.

What makes this drywall so special? EcoRock requires 80 percent less energy to produce and cuts CO2 output by 90 percent compared to traditional gypsum-based drywall. These reductions in energy and CO2 are accomplished by eliminating heaters, dryers, calcining and burning of fossil fuels. The material congeals without heat and no mining is necessary in its production. It uses 85 percent recycled content and is fully recyclable. The company claims it holds up even better than gypsum drywall.

In contrast, traditional drywall is made by mining and then roasting gypsum rock in 500 degree kilns. Drywall factories produce about 20 billion pounds of greenhouse gases a year.

EcoRock is just one of the company's many green building products like ThermaProof insulated windows and sustainable sound-proof doors. EcoRock costs $14 - $20 per 4x8-foot sheet, about the same as high-end drywall and will be available starting in 2009.

via GoodCleanTech and Popular Science

Canada's Melancthon EcoPower Centre opened on October 30 after three years of construction. The country's largest wind farm is located near Shelburne, Ontario and has a capacity of 199.5 MW.

The developer of the project, Canadian Hydro, expects the 133-turbine farm to have an annual output of 545 GWh, enough to power 70,000 homes. All of that electricity will be sold to the Ontario Power Authority.

The EcoPower Centre is just one of three Ontario-based wind projects to go online within the next two months. Alberta and Quebec also have smaller wind farms and ongoing projects. By the end of the year, all three areas combined will be producing 1,917 MW of wind power.

Canada plans to shut down all coal power plants by 2014 and will be relying on wind and solar power to step in as renewable energy sources. Projects like the EcoPower Centre may seem less significant when looked at individually, but as part of a large national movement towards clean energy, they're very important.

via Treehugger

On November 4, Californians voted in favor of a new high speed rail system that will carry passengers the 800 miles from Sacramento to San Diego. Since, according to the High Speed Rail Authority, California is the 12th largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world and transportation accounts for 41 percent of those emissions, this news is very exciting.

The High Speed Rail Authority states that the trains will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 billion pounds a year, will create 450,000 jobs and will reduce dependence on foreign oil by 12.7 million barrels a year. The high speed trains will use 1/3 the energy of air travel and 1/5 the energy of car travel and construction is set for 2011.

Those opposed to the train are suspicious of the energy savings and fear that tax payers will pay more than has been estimated. But removing cars from the congested highways of California's cities and offering a quick and more environmentally-friendly alternative to flying can only bring positive change. Even if the results aren't as great as the estimates, California, and the planet, are ultimately going to benefit from this project. I can't wait until high speed trains come to more parts of the country.

via Inhabitat

Jeff Stein, of the University of Michigan, believes that electric cars can do more than just reduce our dependence on oil; he believes they can help power our homes as well. His idea, loosely named “vehicle to grid” - or V2G for short – is that as long as enough electric cars are parked at one time, those cars can be used to store electricity from the grid and can be tapped when the utility needs that extra kick of power.

Such a system, if successfully implemented, would be wonderful for many reasons. Firstly, electric utilities always need to make sure that they have extra megawatts of reserve power, in case demand suddenly spikes. Usually, they provide that power via old fashioned plants. If they could rely on that extra power to come from V2G, those plants wouldn’t be needed. There would also be economic incentives for V2G participants – companies performing V2G simulations have showed that a typical customer could earn $300 a month (presumably this takes into account expenditure on extra electricity to recharge a battery that has been used for the grid).

On the other hand, questions about the idea abound. What if I get back to my car, and my battery is half dead when I need it? In theory, software could be written to prevent that from happening, but it seems likely that both the utility and the drivers would be skeptical about getting stranded. Also, batteries are usually designed with the assumption that they will be filled to the top, and then drained. Isn’t it possible that the constant partial filling and partial draining will hurt the battery itself?

The NSF, at least, seems to think that the possible benefits outweigh the risks. They have given Stein $2 million to study and develop this technology. Meanwhile, a California company called AC Propulsion has already run some experiments that demonstrate the theory on a small scale. Perhaps by the time EV’s become mainstream we will know if this works or not.

Via LiveScience

Image via peakenergy.blogspot