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Science & Technology focus: alternative energy
20 Most Recent Entries
Holographic Solar One Step Closer to Reality
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO, USA on 12.20.06
Last April, we took at look at the holographic solar module, a technology that could cut the amount of silicon needed for, and thus the price of, solar power generation. Start-up Prism Solar Technologies, which developed the module, has sent a letter of intent to Smart Growth Advocates on behalf of the city of Pueblo, Colorado, to locate its headquarters, research and development operations, and manufacturing there. If finalized (the company and city are still discussing incentives), the company's operations would create up to 300 new manufacturing jobs with an average wage of $22 an hour. Pueblo's attractions for the company include the city's desire to become "the renewable energy capital of Colorado," and its close proximity to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. According to The Pueblo Chieftain:...
The Solar Bikini: Charge up on this
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto, Canada on 12.20.06
OMFG its just so amazing, you can be at the beach all day grooving to tunes on your ipod and never run out of electricity while wearing this photovoltaic bikini! And who goes in the water anyways?
Actually a student project at winter show at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at Tisch School of the Arts of New York University. Designer Andrew Schneider says "The iDrink swimware line is perfect for those who want to go the beach, listen to music, and enjoy a cold and deserved beverage, but who don't want to get wet! The iDrink's photovoltaic film panels allow a fashionable fit while supplying the 6.5 volts @ 1.5 Amps needed to power a peltier junction and an iPod and keep you double cool! See you on the Jersey Shore!" ::ITP via ::Notcot...
Minnesota Wind Power Expansion Study Report
by John Laumer, Philadelphia, USA on 12.19.06
The US State of Minnesota has issued a "comprehensive, quantitative assessment of integration costs and reliability impacts of 1500 MW of wind generation in the Xcel Energy control area in Minnesota in the year 2010, when the peak load is projected to be just under 10,000 MW". The full report, available here as a pdf file, is highly technical and dry. Nonetheless, we found a few nuggets. Like this one: "Many of the earlier concerns and issues related to the possible impacts of large wind generation facilities on the transmission grid have been shown to be exaggerated or unfounded by a growing body of research, studies, and empirical understanding gained from the installation and operation of over 6000 MW of wind generation in the United States". The key finding seems to be that integration costs will be "moderate," much of which involves grid expansion costs that will have to be met to bring 1,500 MW in wind power to the local market....
Middle School Students Help us With Fuel Cells
by Mairi Beautyman, Berlin, Germany on 12.19.06
For a fresh batch of ideas, who better to ask then 12-year olds? And dangle a trip to Space Camp (the grand prize) in front of them and who knows what they will come up with. This year, the annual National Engineers Week Future City Competition asks middle school students across the U.S. to create a city, with help from the computer game SimCity 3000, incorporating fuel cells as an alternative energy source. Entries must include the exact type of fuel cell and its kilowatt output for specific power needs....
What Did We Do to Deserve Coal for Decades?
by Union of Concerned Scientists on 12.18.06
For generations, children have been threatened with coal in their stocking as punishment for being naughty—but giving kids, and all of us, coal fired power plants is a punishment that can last 40 years or more.
Coal provides half of the electricity in the U.S., but at the cost of damage to the environment and public health. In addition to the mercury pollution it causes, coal power plants are the leading contributor to global warming in the U.S. Today, utilities are planning to build 150 new coal-fired power plants, most of which would rely on old, heavily polluting “pulverized coal” technology that has a lifespan of at least 40-50 years....
Look up and see the Future: Coal fired B52s
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto, Canada on 12.18.06
The US Air Force is flying a B52 on fuel made from secure and local good old American King Coal. After all, "America has more coal than Saudi Arabia has oil." This gushy article from Reuters is all agog that "The planes of the future could be flown with liquid fuel made from coal or natural gas." Airline JetBlue's president says "America must reduce its dependence on foreign oil via environmentally sound and proven coal-to-liquid technologies,...Utilizing our domestic coal reserves is the right way to achieve energy independence." The generally reliable and impartial spokesman for the National Mining Association said " CTL transportation fuels are substantially cleaner-burning than conventional fuels." There is only one small problem: the process emits huge quantities of airborne, liquid, and solid wastes, consumes lots of water, uses twice as much energy making it as you get out of it. Coal to liquid is about mining coal to replace oil, at whatever the environmental cost. This B52 won't fly. ::Reuters...
Whole Town Solar Lighting
by Dominic Muren, Chicago, USA on 12.18.06
People have the luxury of moving out of the shade if they want to. Unfortunately, towns don't have that luxury. In particular, towns located in mountain valleys can get really dark when the sun dips low in the winter. This is the problem solved by residents of Viganella in Italy's alpine north. In order to combat the darkness that descends on them each winter, the city has constructed a giant rotating mirror to reflect light into the town square. Wasn't there an evil James Bond scheme that involved something like this?......
Google's Solar Trees Due To Bloom This Spring
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York City, USA on 12.18.06
Yes, that's right, groves of pole-mounted solar panels, so-called "solar trees" are the newest addition to Google's ambitious solar project for their Mountain View, California, headquarters. Estimated to feed about 30 percent of the complex's entire power demand, one third of the 9,000 solar panels in the system will take the form of solar trees that will line the parking lots. If you're curious, find more details on Google's 1.6-megawatt solar system in development in John's previous post here....
TreeHugger Picks: TreeHuggerTV's Planet Cooling Tips
by Collin Dunn, Seattle, USA on 12.15.06
TreeHugger hopes the An Inconvenient Truth House Parties happening this weekend will help spread the word about global warming and maybe inspire a few new ideas on film about how to combat climate change. Until then, here are our picks for some TreeHuggerTV's ways to fight global warming.
1) Take the train instead of a plane on your next long trip.
2) Check out the AltWheels Festival for hybrid hacks and other future-looking ways to cut back on your car's carbon emissions.
3) Learn more about growing your own food with Edible Estates, and cut down on the emissions caused by hauling food from there to here.
4) Look in to Grid Alternatives is helping bring solar to low-income communities for cheaper, cleaner power.
5) Watch out for vampire power and learn to keep the energy-sucking monsters away from your home....
Italians Use Blueberries to Convert Light to Electricity
by Hank Green, Missoula, Montana, USA on 12.15.06
While I suppose it's unfortunate that they couldn't just use a cheap Chianti, some Italian researchers at the University of Tor Vergata have developed a new kind of solar panel that uses a pigment found in blueberries to convert light into electricity.
The technology is not well explained anywhere, at least not in English, but based on some previous applications with spinach (and some time with Google's translator), it's likely that a photosynthetic pigment is sandwiched between two plastic plates. The result is a flexible, partially transparent solar cell that contains absolutely no silicon. Avoiding silicon in solar panels is important, as it is both expensive and environmentally costly to produce. However, silicon panels achieve much higher efficiencies than current non-silicon technologies....
The TH Interview: Paul Allen of the Centre for Alternative Technology
by Treehugger Interns on 12.14.06
Paul Allen is the development director of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales, one of Europe’s leading demonstration sites for renewable enrgy and green technologies. He is the designer of many renewable energy systems for CAT and has himself lived for many years 'off the grid'. He is currently touring the United States by mass transit, and he is interested in making contact with groups wishing to set up ‘post-carbon’ demonstration centers similar to CAT. In this interview Paul shares his thoughts on the evolution of CAT, the future of environmentalism, and what we can all do to speed up the eventual adoption of clean technologies and practices by mainstream society.
Treehugger: CAT started out as an idealistic experiment in communal living but has grown into one of the leading educational centres for sustainability in Europe. Can you tell us a little about how the role of CAT has changed over the years?...
Potenco: Powering Possibilities
by Collin Dunn, Seattle, USA on 12.14.06
At TreeHugger, we've seen our fair share of power generators that don't bother with conventional energy and rely instead on good old human power, like this wind-up charger and this DIY job for your iPod. Now, a company called Potenco has developed a patent-pending portable power generator. Just pull the cord for a minute and generate enough electric power for several hours; the company claims it can deliver five times more power than regular cranks, and can be pulled five times longer before the user senses fatigue. Founder Colin Bulthaup knows a thing or two about electronics and DIY power; he's the also the founder of engineering design & tech firm Squid Labs and DIY super-site Instructables.com. The charger can be used to power mobile phones, PDAs, lighting products, digital cameras and more, and it's been selected for the power source of the $100 Laptop/One Laptop Per Child project. Further details on the operation are scarce at this point, but anything that'll power thousands of laptops around the globe has got some good things going for it. ::Potenco via ::Cocolico...
Skinny Sliver Cells Could Cuts Solar Costs by 60%
by Justin Thomas, Virginia, USA on 12.11.06
An Australian National University researcher claims to have invented a technology that could cut the cost of producing solar panels by more than 60 percent. According to Professor Andrew Blakers, director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems at the Australian National University system works by taking a standard solar cell about one millimeter thick and cutting it into tiny slices that are just 120 micrometers wide. "Imagine a standard solar cell is a loaf of bread. When you put it out in the sun it generates energy based on its surface area. Now imagine you cut that loaf up into slices and lay them horizontally. You get a lot more surface area," he said. According to him, the technique also allows researchers to use much smaller amounts of expensive silicon to generate the same amount of electricity....
Holiday Gift Ideas For The Fuel Cell "Skeptic" On Your List
by John Laumer, Philadelphia, USA on 12.11.06
Many of us have a junior fuel cell skeptic or an adult "hydrogen doubter" on our holiday gift list. If find yourself in this situation, now you can satisfy the spirit of green giving and make a convincing case for optimism with a trip to the Fuel Cell Store. Yes Virginia, there is a fuel cell store. What could be better for this purpose than a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) kit? The Fuel Cell Store even offers a fully functioning power back up system for that special skeptic who’s worried about a power outage, but also concerned about the noise and carbon monoxide poisoning risk of a conventional generator. Our finding the Fuel Cell Store comes at a particularly opportune time, as we TreeHugger writers have been looking for a place to order for Lloyd the "Energy For You" - EFOY 600 - Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (pictured) for his cabin. That way he'll be sure not to miss posting on next summer's Dorito Harvest . There's some urgency around this, as climate scientists are projecting a much earlier crop next year as well as the possibility of outbreaks in the Great Lakes....
Minnesota’s “Corn Plus” Ethanol Installing Wind Turbines To Achieve Energy Independence
by John Laumer, Philadelphia, USA on 12.10.06
From the windy US State of Minnesota, the Mankato Free Press is reporting that:- “The Corn Plus ethanol plant in Winnebago [Minnesota USA] is to add wind turbines to its facility during the next three to four months, moving closer to its ultimate goal of using no outside energy in the processing plant”, providing about 45 percent of the plant’s electricity (4.2 mW). The hope apparently is that other Minnesota ethanol plants…and there are several we can be sure…will follow suit. Here’s the real money quote: “Partnering with John Deere opened many doors for us,” Moore [Plant Manager] said. “They were able to provide turbines and financing for turbines and construction crews ...”...
Beluga Launches Sky Sail: Final Tests Before Market Entry Successful
by on 12. 9.06
Beulga group and Sky Sails are back in the news. TreeHuggers have followed the story of Sky Sails since they won an Eco-Tech award at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan and Beluga signed a contract for the novel fuel-saving concept. And thanks to the sharp eyes of Linton at Hugg, we can bring you a great picture of the sail being launched in rough seas. Ultimately, the kite will float 100 to 300 meters above the ship, towing it gracefully and efficiently....
Free Charge-Up for Electric Cars
by Bonnie Alter, London, UK on 12. 8.06
Drivers in downtown London can now charge up their electric cars for free, at two new convenient, curbside charging points. One can already do this in 13 car parks across town. “Putting free charging points on the street where people need them most is a simple concept which we hope will help galvanise broader appeal for electric car use," the local councillor said. Electric car owners in London do not have to pay the congestion charge and they park for free. About 750 G-Wiz cars have been sold in London, 250 in the last six months alone. Despite the introduction of the congestion charge, the city has the highest level of air pollution in Britain, due to volume and type of traffic coming in and out of central London. The congestion charge area is being expanded in the new year; with higher rates for 4X4’s being introduced. Coming soon: more electric cars: the Daimler Chrysler Smart EV, the NICE Mega City, and the Vectrix Maxi-scooter. They are going to need more charging points pretty soon. :: The Evening Standard...
New World Record for Solar Cell Technology
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO, USA on 12. 7.06
The US Department of Energy announced on Tuesday that a project it funded had set a new world's record for solar cell efficiency. According to DOE's press release,
...with DOE funding, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has recently achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7 percent, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of our nation’s energy mix.Let's give this some context:...
Australian Football Kicks a Goal for Carbon Offsets
by Warren McLaren, Sydney, Australia on 12. 6.06
Our post yesterday about the call for football to influence it’s dedicated cadre of supporters by going green reminded me I’d been remiss. Back in September the Australian Football League (AFL) announced a partnership with Origin Energy to ‘neutralise’ its carbon emissions of about 120,000 tonnes. This is a three year program to offset the operations of not only AFL’s headquarters but also the pre-season, premiership and finals matches. "This includes the energy it takes to do the lighting for the games and the gas that is used to heat the pies," according to the energy company. It’s been calculated that all up this will be equal to getting 25,000 cars off the road or planting 500,000 trees. Origin Energy say they’ll achieve this through investment in wind and solar, energy efficiency and tree planting. The AFL’s CEO Andrew Demetriou reckons they will “... be the first sporting league in Australia to reduce its carbon footprint to zero,” suggesting that by 2009 they'll be carbon neutral. ::AFL Green, via various sources including SMH....
Niagara Applies For A Coal Hand-Out
by John Laumer, Philadelphia, USA on 12. 6.06
We recently wrote about excess hydropower from Niagara falls, and speculated on the prospects of having green businesses be attracted to the Buffalo area to take advantage of the the Falls' renewable energy output. Ironically, there now seems to be a local movement in favor generating electricity thereabouts with coal. In Monday's Buffalo News we read that that the prospect of 'free money' from the Federal Government is making "clean coal" power generation look attractive to some local officials. In spite of the report of un-used hydropower in the local area, a Niagara County comissioner has placed a resolution on the County Board agenda which "...calls on Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, a Buffalo-based regional organization that promotes new businesses, "to assist Niagara County and Choose Niagara Now in using all their expertise to bring this clean coal plant and all of its jobs to Niagara County."" Buffalo News also reports that "AES Corp. is bidding in a statewide competition to win the $1 billion plant for its property in Somerset. Choose Niagara Now, a special lobbying group [is] boosting AES' bid..." Of all the places that might request a billion dollar subsidy for a coal fired plant, this would be about the last place we'd expect to raise their hand, so to speak. Perhaps this is an illustration (in a national sense) of what Amory Lovins termed a "perverse governmental incentive" for energy management. Reminds us, a bit, of making a big Homeland Security grant to some small town fire department in an agricultural region....
40 Older Posts
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