Power Tool Rental said:
"Really, any power tool or tool rental cuts your carbon footprint. Even if you have the money to buy the supplies you need having those resources s..." [read]
Tim said:
"Am I missing something? 1.5MW, for 60 units. That means each one produces 25KW a piece, reciving 80kw of solar energy each at 31% efficiency. So, t..." [read]
sioux said:
"OK, LETS GO!!
(but still Coats around the world will be full with shipwreks cause there still are no global Laws. But at least Epa is on it f..." [read]
Shaun said:
"fta..."Apparently McCaskill hasn't been paying attention to statements from India and China that unless the United States and the rest of the wealt..." [read]
paulwesterberg said:
"It would be great if these could be mass produced for residential installations in sizes 6-10ft.
Since these use a generator to produce th..." [read]
Small towns and communities all over the world are looking for solutions to their energy needs. Going off-grid is not just a choice for individuals, the way it sometimes seems here at Treehugger. No, you will never be able to live totally away from anyone else. Off-grid doesn't mean you are on your own, out there in the wilderness. Hey, not even Thoreau was able to achieve that kind of level of gridless living. You need to have good neighbours, or else.
Tsuru, a small town in Yamanashi prefecture in Japan, has implemented strategies to harness some of the resources at their disposal. They are promoting micro-hydro, small scale water power, and moreover, they are focusing on education as a way forward.
Brazil's widely know for running a whole heck of a lot of cars on sugarcane-based ethanol. There are lot's of problems to be pointed out in growing it, but sugarcane is one thing that the country definitely has in spades. Which is why Colorado-based Amyris Biotechnologies is opening up a demonstration plant in Campinas which will convert sugarcane into diesel fuel, Technology Review reports. Not biodiesel, conventional diesel fuel:
A report compiled for Australia’s peak scientific research body, the CSIRO, has come up with the startling conclusion that contrary to the common view, electricity costs to Australia’s most populated city, Sydney, may work out less, if more renewable energy was deployed, instead of building traditional coal-fired power stations.
Picking up on the study, titled Meeting NSW Electricity Needs in a Carbon Constrained World, the Sydney Morning Herald report that “building baseload power using coal was much more expensive than focusing on energy efficiency and tapping into a network of small "co-generation" power sources sprinkled in the suburbs.”
T. Boone Pickens, well known for oil and wind power development (and a Plan By His Name) still has to take delivery on a bunch of GE Turbines, but it looks like the Biggest Wind Farm Ever idea he had for west Texas came with the dust and is now gone with the wind. TBP indicates that his mega-wind farm plans fell through because the price of natural gas tanked. Could it have something to do with not being able to deliver West Texas groundwater and electricity to Dallas, leveraging a government built utility corridor? The Dallas News has some interesting details.
What is the ultimate green solar panel? A true-green solar panel must have the following characteristics: design life of major components of equal length (functionality lasts as long as the shortest-lived component); renewable energy used to produce the energy-intensive materials as much as possible (silicon slices, backsheets, aluminum frames, etc.); green chemistry used to produce components and adhesives; and, finished panels easy enough to disassemble that recycling is cost-effective. With that as background, I have good news on one of the four listed precepts. The New York State Power Authority has "awarded a large block of low-cost hydropower to a fledgling California company that plans to build a plant in Western New York to manufacture solar panels."
The ethanol industry, long a source of controversy within the green movement, was granted a sort of reprieve when the House voted on the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill. House Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn) looked out for the industry's best interest, but sensing trouble the industry has hired two new prominent lobbyists to make sure the Senate continues to protect corn fuel--despite the environmental consequences.
They're calling it the 'Three Gorges of the Land' and when completed the massive wind power project will have a capacity of 40 GW. That's what Xinhua is saying. What's more, 5 GW of that will come online by 2010, and 12 GW by 2015. Not to mention it will be constructed amazingly inexpensively, which is what raises some eyebrows over at the Wall Street Journal:
Exclusive: The Architect Behind the Solar-Powered Stadium
As if the U.S. wasn't going to look bad enough at this month's World Games, with sports like tug of war, netball , orienteering and Latin dance: the host city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, will be debuting its new stadium -- the world's first to draw most of its energy from the sun.
Almost every inch of the stadium's dragon-scale roof is covered by 8,844 solar panels, providing 1.14 gigawatt hours of electricity every year while turning the page on solar architecture, as Lloyd noted in May. But, as the designer, Japanese master Toyo Ito, explained to TreeHugger, the stadium has other, perhaps greater ecological implications too....
Image:
Flickr, David TolnemIs Your Gas Leaking?
What does natural gas smell like? If you said, "rotten eggs," think again. Natural gas is completely odorless. The stink that alerts you to a leaky stove or bad connection on the barbecue grill is an additive. The sulfur-based additive is put in natural gas on purpose, to avoid the countless deaths and destruction that undetected gas leaks would otherwise cause. But the sulfur additive is poison to fuel cells. Currently, fuel cell manufacturers have to use a filter to remove the sulfur compound.
Removal is inefficient: why add a thing just to take it out again? And it raises the question about consumer protection in case leaks develop downstream from the filter. Researchers in Germany are hard at work on a solution to the dilemma. And now the first German gas customers are experiencing the scent of success. What a stinky scent it is!
...
Photo: Photos by keki & subtilen"Surface is very smooth hydroisolation coating, so perfect for riding."
A lot of us treehuggers are cyclists, and I bet most of us have a dream place they wish they could ride in. For some, it might be the quiet Scottish countryside during the summer... and for others it might be the empty accumulation pool of a hydroelectric pumped storage power station!...
photo: Tony via flick
Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar has just announced that the Bureau of Land Management will designate some 24 sites in six western states as Solar Energy Study Areas; and will establish new solar power permitting offices and speed reviews of utility-scale solar power proposals in these areas. All told the sites could generate nearly 100,000 MW of power, the Department of Interior said in its press release:...
photo: Rodrigo Soldon via flick
Brazil is renowned for being a world leader in ethanol use and this telling statistic bears that out: According to Petrobras CFO Almir Barbassa ethanol now powers more than 50% of all the light vehicles in the nation. Biofuels Digest quotes Barbassa as saying that gasoline has now become "the alternative fuel":...
Turkey's national energy grid. Image via Global Energy Network Institute
Although only a paltry 1 percent of Turkey's power is currently provided by renewable sources, the country's sunny and strategic location, large surface area, and young population give it great potential as a "leading green power nation," Levent Bas writes this week on business blog CleanTechies. But how far is that potential from being realized?...
Is Harvesting Energy from Passing Cars "Free"?
Whether it's delivering produce by barge, or turning waste food into electricity, UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's has certainly pushed the envelope when it comes to green initiatives. Their distribution center was even featured in our slideshow of urban wind turbines. As part of their latest effort - an innovative eco-store that also features solar power, rainwater harvesting and recycled construction waste - the chain is boasting that checkout tills will be "people powered". The only trouble is, the term "people powered" seems to mean running the tills on gasoline... ...
Waste-to-energy facility in Broward County, Florida, situated at the Central landfill that also has a landfill gas to energy facility.
Image credit:Waste Management
Last week mayors from across the United States gathered in Providence, Rhode Island for the annual meeting (pdf) of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. From the many resolutions heard proposed at this year’s Conference, it’s clear that waste and energy issues are generating increased interest.
Though probably not front and center on their agenda, implementing progressive solutions to managing municipal waste directly addresses several of the local and national energy and environmental resolutions proposed by mayors across the country. When towns and cities take a smart approach to managing waste, an inherently regional issue, they also help solve national challenges the mayors will be addressing this weekend.
Take the need for locally generated renewable energy. Mayors across the country are demanding new sources of clean energy that are insulated from price volatility. Wind and solar receive the most attention, but waste-based energy uses a local resource to generate clean energy. ...
Once upon a time, Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, sat on a couch with current Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They made a video together calling for strong action on global warming and energy. Now, when the Congress is preparing to vote on the House climate and energy bill, known as ACES, Gingrich's American Solutions group has put out a TV ad calling climate action an "energy tax" that will cripple our economy. ...
Photo via CleanTechnica
As fossil fuels get more expensive, some are talking about using more wood to generate energy. A New York-based company, Curran Renewable Energy, LLC, is saying they are the first Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain-of-Custody certified producer of wood pellets for national and international markets. FSC is the global standard-setter for sustainable forest management. The pellets are made by compressing pulverized wood. ...
Image via: Wind Simplicity
Backyard wind turbines are becoming more aesthetically pleasing and still completely functional, and one of the latest on the market is the Wind Dancer - a copper-colored, 8-bladed fancy-schmancy residential wind turbine. Created by father and daughter duo, Sharolyn Vettese and Alfred Matheiu, the WInd Dancer offers residential applications and a "pretty" option, particularly in areas with low wind speeds, reports the Globe and Mail....
If you missed it yesterday, the Senate Energy & Natural Resources committeepassed a new energy bill which, apart from having pitifully low renewable energy targets (15% by 2021), would open up large areas of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, gives another hand out to 'clean coal' and approves a new gas pipeline through Alaska. As you can we weren't entirely pleased. I'm assuming most TreeHugger readers think the renewable energy requirement is beyond unambitious, but what about the rest? Is expanded fossil fuel exploration and clean coal part of a greener energy policy?
...
A hydrogen-powered mobile home, sea taxi, and forklift are among the innovations developed with support from a UN project in Turkey. Photos via ICHET.
With enthusiasm about hydrogen energy on the wane in the United States, it seems a bit implausible that this expensive technology might find a home in the developing world, but that's exactly where Dr. Nicolas Lymberopoulos thinks it belongs--with a little "matchmaking" help....
4.5-Megawatt Solar Roof on 538,000 Square Foot Phoenix ONE Data Center
The giant data centers required by the internet age can often look like big boxes, and just like some big box stores have found that all those square feet on the roof could be used for solar panels, some data centers are starting to follow suit: "Phoenix IT infrastructure provider i/o Data Centers is installing a huge array of solar panels on the 11-acre roof of its new Phoenix ONE data center. The company says the photovoltaic panels will generate up to 4.5 megawatts of power to supplement the energy needs of the massive facility." Read on for more details....
Fairbanks NorthStar Borough CWPP Area Overview. Image via Alaska Dept of Natural Resources, Map 3.
An Alaskan land owner has floated a proposal to develop a small parcel he owns near Fairbanks with a mini-nuclear reactor, which would be available for delivery in 2013. Something tells me that municipal and county officials everywhere are going to be updating their zoning ordinances if a project like this one gets the go-ahead... ...
Nikos Spiridakis, the 11 year old director of this PSA, was honored with the status of UN Junior Goodwill Ambassador
Last Thursday evening at the United Nations several renewable energy luminaries—and some TreeHugger favorites—were honored at the IREO Renewable Energy Awards. That's the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization, for those needing some deciphering of the alphabet soup. At the gala event the following people were honored:...
image: Desertec
Utilizing the vast solar power potential of the Sahara has been a twinkle in the eye of many a European politician for a while now. Even though the logistics of building huge solar power arrays in the desert and then transmitting that electricity back across the Mediterranean isn't exactly simple, to say the least. Well, a consortium of German companies wants to turn that dream into reality and is raising money to make it happen:...
photo: Joshua Davis
See that water tower in the photo above? Most of New York City's buildings of a certain era have them. And Dr Majid Rashidi of Cleveland State University has a plan for them: Use them to generate wind power. Well, maybe not those towers specifically, but towers no more obtrusive than them. Here's how:...
Biogas is growing more popular - photo via fordonsgas.
Swedes are fond of making sweeping proclamations - oil-free by 2050, they promised, and now Skåne, the country's southernmost region, is claiming it will end its dependence on fossil fuels by 2020 - just 11 years away. It's a bit of greenwash, in that it means the region itself will only own and operate alternative-fuel vehicles, and only heat the apartment buildings its controls with alternative fuels. It doesn't mean there will no longer be any gas stations and gas cars, plastic bags, or fossil-fuel grown food, unfortunately, which is what the region would need to do to be TRULY fossil-fuel-free. The pledge does go a bit further than the rest of Sweden, which gives itself an extra decade (until 2030) to make all fleets run on ethanol and methane biogas....
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the weekly archive if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 07. 9.09
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Exclusive: The Architect Behind the Solar-Powered Stadium
As if the U.S. wasn't going to look bad enough at this month's World Games, with sports like 
Image: 
Photo: Photos by 
photo: 
photo: 
photo: 
Turkey's national energy grid. Image via 
Is Harvesting Energy from Passing Cars "Free"?
Whether it's 
Waste-to-energy facility in Broward County, Florida, situated at the Central landfill that also has a landfill gas to energy facility.
Image credit:Waste Management
Last week mayors from across the United States gathered in Providence, Rhode Island for the 
Image via: 
If you missed it yesterday, the 
A hydrogen-powered 
4.5-Megawatt Solar Roof on 538,000 Square Foot Phoenix ONE Data Center
The giant data centers required by the internet age can often look like big boxes, and just like some big box stores have found that all those 
Fairbanks NorthStar Borough CWPP Area Overview. Image via 
image: Desertec
Utilizing the vast 
photo: 
Biogas is growing more popular - photo via 
