Manuel said:
"This is great news! I hope all cities pass this into law.The practice of using plastic bags just to quickly dispose of them has been going on far t..." [read]
Jay Knecht said:
"What are the performance stats for the Son of Max? ..." [read]
gazelle said:
"@ Dallas:
The book, and the supplementary videos in the "How It All Ends" youtube series, address this in detail, but I'll try to paraphrase:..." [read]
Barry said:
"Kofi Annan has about as much of a clue about electric cars and developing countries as Ann Ann the Panda.
He underestimates the ingenuity o..." [read]
JJ said:
"Very cool. I didn't thought that biodesel might be our future fuel...." [read]
Derek said:
""I guarantee you this will spark huge debates around the world," she said. "We have to delve into this in a way that hasn't been done in a long tim..." [read]
It's friday and we know you need something to keep you busy for the weekend, so here's the perfect thing. As the efficiency (and business case) for nano-based solar technology continues to ascend, isn't time you got in the game? Don't worry, it's not as easy as it sounds; in addition to powdered donuts, you'll need some Passion tea from Starbucks and a bottle of Everclear. Even if the cells don't work you've got some good provisions to keep you busy till Monday. Enjoy.
Rice = food and electricity at the same time... photo: ya po guille via flickr.
One solution for getting clean electricity to the 440-some million people in rural India who currently don't have grid power (or any power...) is to build wind farms, solar power plants, or use some decentralized but still tech-heavy option such as solar panels. And then there's rice husks and biomass gasification. Not a new technology, but one the Economic Times reports Husk Power Systems is taking advantage of to transform agricultural waste into power:
Remember how last week Spain was touting a new wind power record, more than 50% of demand for part of the day on a Sunday morning? A pretty great thing, right? Not really, says the folks over at Low-tech Magazine. Without actually reducing overall energy demand, just adding more renewable energy (and touting absurdist records like the top energy source for a three hour period in a day) won't get us anywhere. It's a good point:
Proposed GreenGen IGCC coal plant in Tianjin, China
The US-China duck pancake of climate cooperation, made this week by Presidents Obama and Hu, has left us with much to chew over. But the component that everyone was waiting for -- and that few could be surprised about -- was the announcement on coal. No effort at cleaning the air or reducing CO2 will matter without really addressing the black stuff. So the two countries announced a "21st century coal" initiative, "a program of technical cooperation to bring teams of U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers together in developing clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies."
But what does this vision of "21st century coal" really mean, given the big conundrum of carbon capture -- and what's the Chinese translation?
There have been an increasing number of stories coming to light detailing how organized crime syndicates around the world have been getting their dirty little fingers into the green world. The latest: 1) Italian police have arrested two businessmen on fraud charges, linking them with Mafia in wind farm permit fixing schemes; and 2) The government of Madagascar (such as it is) appears to be tied in with what's being called a 'timber mafia', profiting from illegal wood sales largely sent to China:
Photo: CleanTechnica
From chickens to cows to algae, energy generated from biomass is making a big impact worldwide. With last year's launch of the world's largest biomass plant in the Netherlands - running on chicken manure - another Dutch biomass energy project has now launched to provide 1,100 homes with heat converted from cow dung.
It Could Work
We usually hear about pumping CO2 underground in the context of carbon capture and storage (CCS). But there might be another use for that CO2 in the field of geothermal power. It hasn't been proven to work yet, but some money from the Federal stimulus funds has started to flow to 9 projects that want to test this out. The idea is: "Carbon dioxide that's cycled through hot regions kilometers underground can efficiently bring heat to the surface, where it can be used to generate electricity. The likelihood is that the process would leave lots of carbon dioxide underground, and thus out of the atmosphere"
75% of our electricity goes into buildings, and much of that runs air conditioning. The entire system is built to try and cope with the peak loads that come in summer. TreeHugger has covered ice storage systems before; they simply make ice at night, when electricity is cheaper and it is cooler, so it is easier to make, and then run air conditioning during the daytime when it is hot and electricity is in short supply. This can knock the peak off the demand curve and significantly reduce the need for new power plants.
But we learned In the Calmac Booth that it can have another significant benefit: It can act as a battery for wind power.
Video credit:Waste Management
Each day each person throws out about 4.7 pounds of garbage that is often taken to a landfill to be processed where it eventually decomposes. But what many people don't know is that the waste process doesn't necessarily end there. When organic waste decomposes through natural means, it emits gases that can be collected and used to generate renewable energy and fuels. In fact, the fuels created can even power the same waste collection and recycling trucks that picked up the trash in the first place. ...
A healthy and high-tech green collar economy has been a great promise of the Obama administration. On the front lines of the fight to create green jobs and spur the economy is the Apollo Alliance, an amalgam of labor, business, and environmental groups. Jerome Ringo, President of Apollo, speaks with TreeHugger Radio about his group's "moonshot mission," the vitriol of Glenn Beck and Fox News, the resignation of Van Jones, and the role of African Americans in the climate fight.
Ringo was a keynote speaker at this year's Bioneers conference, and we thank the conference organizers for helping arrange this interview.
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download. Full text is available after the jump....
photo: Antonia Zugaldia via flickr.
I have to admit I sometimes get fed up with stats parsing like this, but this new Spanish wind power record is pretty impressive. The Spanish Wind Power Association (abbreviated AEE from the Spanish...) has announced that this past Sunday morning, November 8th, wind power supplied 50% of demand for the entire time period, and up to 53% at times:...
Good to see some bigger wind power projects being completed... First Wind has announced that the first 203 MW phase of the Milford Wind Corridor in Utah has been completed. Located on land in Millard and Beaver County, the 97 wind turbine project will supply enough power for 45,000 homes:
All of the power produced by the project is being purchased by the Southern California Public Power Authority under a 20-year power purchase agreement. SCPPA made the agreement on behalf of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the cities of Burbank and Pasadena.
At the ribbon cutting ceremony, Utah Lieutenant Governor Greg Bell touted the project:...
photo: David Blaikie via flickr.
With all the disappointing news about the UN climate negotiation talk shifting for reaching a legally binding deal in December to one which is merely politically binding, I thought I'd share this rather encouraging piece on analysis from Cleantech Group, which says the outcome of COP15 really doesn't matter much for cleantech investment:...
photo: abdallahh via flickr.
Mark your calendars for November 23rd. That's when the first aviation biofuel test flight with passengers aboard is scheduled to take place, and the first test flight in Europe. Dutch airline KLM has announced that "a select group of passengers" will be ride in a Boeing 747 powered in one engine by a mixture of 50% bio-kerosene and 50% conventional aviation fuel:...
See the bee? Aim the pee. Photo Sfegette via flickr.
Chasing negawatts, the energy that you don't use, is a popular pursuit these days for cash-strapped states, and California is turning out to be excellent at it. Negawatts (a term Amory Lovins came up with) can offer a lot more bang for the buck, so to speak, then building new power. And asSteve Fleischli at HuffingtonPost reports, when faced with choosing a $550 million salination plant that would require lots of water and lots of power but produce fresh water, or a Coastal Restoration $187 million project to swap out 455,000 existing urinals for waterless alternatives and save water and generate negawatts, California's choice would seem to be, well, clear. ...
photo: PetroAlgae
And then there were five... Indian Oil Corporation has become the fifth major oil company to stake a claim in the world of algae biofuels. IOCL has a signed a memorandum of understanding with Florida-based PetroAlgae to license micro-crop technologies for "future large-scale production of renewable fuels."...
Eight jet contrails from exhaust vapor mess with radiation balance. Photo by Jasmic via Flickr
No, we are not saying air travel is green. But some airlines are a lot greener than others. In fact, in this arena, the difference between 'eco savvy' and 'who cares' is much more drastic than in most industries--you're looking at 418 billion pounds of carbon emitted annually by airplanes, enough aluminum cans from beverage services to build an entire new fleet each year, and contrails causing "climate forcing. The good news is some airlines, like Virgin America, are making strides to green the industry. Greenopia ranked U.S. carriers' environmental record, noting big differences with older fuel-inefficient fleets. There are also times planes can be greener than car or train trips. So who's not up to snuff? Here's the offenders, with number seven being the worst of the worst....
Image credit: Ecotricity
UK wind energy developer Ecotricity's stance on green energy supply has long been controversial. Instead of guaranteeing that it purchases all of its energy from green sources, as most of its rivals do, it has instead guaranteed it will invest its profits into building new generating capacity - arguing that this is the most effective way of cutting carbon emissions. Now it looks set to take a further step into the fossil fuel arena - supplying customers with natural gas, and channeling those profits into greener supply too. The question is—will it fly with customers? Is this a logical step toward greener energy, or a muddying of the waters?...
Image: ILSR
Well, Not Literally 100 Miles...
The Insitute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) has released a second version of its study titled Energy Self-Reliant States. In it they look at various ways that U.S. states could generate clean electricity locally (rooftop solar PV, onshore wind, offshore wind, etc). Just from the name of the institute, it's pretty obvious that they aren't in favor of centralized solutions to our energy problems, but at least they aren't all ideology: They back up their claims with a lot of data. ...
Images: Jetson Green
Biomimicry is everywhere these days. It seems increasingly clear that design inspired by nature will play a great big role in our energy future. Case in point: Green Wavelength, an up-and-coming California engineering biz, has prototyped a small wind turbine, the xBEE, the elegant flapping motion of which is inspired by the buzz of insect wings (see the video below).
Borrowing design cues from nature is already changing the face of technology, especially in the swirly realm of fluid dynamics. We've seen fan blades inspired by the bumpy fins of whales, solar cells made more efficient by the texture of butterfly wings, turbine blades that mimic the hydrophobic surface of leaves, and maybe even high-MPG car coatings that are rough like shark skin....
image: Desertec
It's been a couple of months since we've had an update about the mammoth solar power in the Sahara desert project otherwise known as Desertec. Last we left it, though the idea had been around for a while, a consortium to make the dream real was just in the works. Well, another step forward has now been taken, with the official legal formation of DII GmbH:...
photo: Chrishna via flickr
The buzz around the green blogosphere today is anotherrecord-setting Chinese wind farm, with 240 turbines producing 648 megawatts. But this one isn't in Inner Mongolia -- it's in Texas.
This $1.5 billion wind farm -- a US-China joint venture paid for in part by Chinese banks -- will be built not with turbines from usual suspects GE or Vestas, but with Chinese-made machines from a year-old company called A-Power.
Needless to say, most of the project's green jobs will be created in China. And don't shoot the messenger, but it's hoping to secure 30 percent, or $450 million, of its financing from, yes, U.S. stimulus funds.
Someone better turn on those spin machines right about now....
Amanda Little built a journalistic career decrying the pains and convulsions of our petrol-obsessed society, but it wasn't until she embarked on a very personal quest did the story of oil become illuminated in human terms. Amanda tells TreeHugger Radio how, to write her first book, Power Trip: From Oil Wells to Solar Cells--Our Ride to the Renewable Future, she went inside the Pentagon and the Talladega Superspeedway, visited corn farmers and rode along with T. Boone Pickens, witnessed a boob job and landed on a Gulf Coast oil rig. Through it all, she learned a new-found respect for the hydrocarbon, and a renewed vision for a green future.
Listen to the podcast of this interview via iTunes, or just click here to listen, right-click to download.
Also check out our text interview in which Amanda talks about her recent move to Nashville....
image: Sopogy
When you think of solar power on roofs your quite naturally think of photovoltaic panels or solar hot water heaters. Well, expand that idea a bit: Anaheim, California-based Sopogy has just deputed the first commercially available solar thermal system for industrial rooftops:...
Low tech magazine
One of my favourite websites is Low-tech Magazine, where Kris De Decker looks at simpler technologies that have been around forever, worked really well, and asks why they shouldn't be used again. Kris always goes into extraordinary detail, producing essays rather than posts. A good example is the recent article on the traditional windmill, where energy from the wind is converted directly into mechanical energy, without the messy intermediate conversion into electricity that we do with wind turbines today. He suggests that for certain uses, it might even be more efficient....
Look, TreeHuggers, a fun widget! Put your kid on our cover. Or your cat. Or your dog. Or your weird witch doll. Go crazy here.
And that's just one part of our brand new climate package. In fact, the November/December issue of Mother Jones is full of important stories to read in the lead-up to Copenhagen.
Editors-in-Chief Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery wonder what we'll tell our kids when they wonder why it took us so long to start fixing the climate. Kevin Drum writes about how Big Ag got everything it asked for in the climate bill--and then it came back for more. And residents in one small California town ask, You want to pump how much carbon under our yards? Much more inside the issue.
Over at the Blue Marble blog, Julia Whitty lists the five preventable health problems that shrink our lifespans the most. And speaking of unhealthy and preventable, Fiji Water might have been burning its trash, releasing carcinogens into the air of its beleaguered island home. Meanwhile, India gears up to go nuclear. Cool or scary?
Lastly, some good gadget news: Soon you'll be able to charge your cell phone using any kind of light. Windowless cube workers rejoice. ...
Vertical axis wind turbines are an intriguing technology that most people still know little about. The turbines we are accustomed to use blades to turn a horizontal axis (which is often housed in the little cupola on the top of the turbine's tall stem). Vertical axis turbines turn a vertical shaft (picture a barber's pole) to generate power. Helix Wind, a US maker of some very slick looking vertical axis wind turbines, has struck a deal with a West African telecom company to power cell phone towers with wind. This allows the towers to operate autonomously without transmission lines or diesel generators....
Is a Storm Brewing in North Carolina? Image via: InhabitatShare
The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (UNC) isn't dismayed by reports of other states having a tough go at getting mountaintop wind turbines approved. In fact, they weren't even dismayed when their own state of North Carolina announced earlier this year that they just might ban wind turbines for the state just for being ugly, and no we're not kidding. Those Tar Heels are taking it all in stride and working with Duke Energy to get wind turbines installed just off the coast, reports UNC News. ...
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 11.20.09
Photo: CleanTechnica
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Good to see some bigger wind power projects being completed... 
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See the bee? Aim the pee. Photo 
photo: PetroAlgae
And then there were five... 
Eight jet contrails from exhaust vapor mess with radiation balance. Photo by 
Image credit: Ecotricity
UK wind energy developer 
Image: ILSR
Well, Not Literally 100 Miles...
The 
Images: 
image: Desertec
It's been a couple of months since we've had an update about the mammoth 
photo: 
image: Sopogy
When you think of 
Low tech magazine
One of my favourite websites is 
Look, TreeHuggers, a fun widget! Put your 
Is a Storm Brewing in North Carolina? Image via: 
