Green Options

Huiming Yin, an assistant professor at the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, is developing a solar panel that could help put sustainable energy within reach of more U.S. households.  The system incorporates solar cells that have a conversion rate of 12 percent, which makes them a good deal less effective at converting sunlight to energy than some of the new technology on the market, but they have the potential to become a good deal more affordable.

Rather than focusing on getting the highest solar cell conversion rate, Yin is concentrating on other factors that can make solar power more cost-effective and attractive to homeowners and other property owners.  To do this he combines two emerging trends in the solar industry: “integrated” solar panels that double as building elements, and “hybrid” solar systems that produce both electricity and hot water.

NASA has announced a plan to develop next-gen intelligent, automated monitoring systems for both offices and research environments.

Collaborating with Integrated Building Solutions (IBS), the system will enhance energy efficiency, reduce consumption and provide a more comfortable workspace. The system will be tested at NASA’s Sustainability Base after its completion in 2010. The base is being built at the Ames Research Center.

Pitchers and catchers don’t report for spring training until February 18 but the Minnesota Twins are already getting a jump on the 2010 baseball season by installing a huge new rainwater harvesting and recycling system at the team’s new home, Target Field.

The new Rain Water Recycle System was designed by by Minneapolis-based Pentair, a global water innovator.  Using a gigantic underground water storage tank the size of a freight car, the team aims to save more than two million gallons of water yearly - and that’s all part of a bigger sustainable plan for Target Field.

Ecovillages are great habitats and support systems for people who want to live environmentally friendlier, happier, healthier lives. One of the most famous modern ecovillages, Findhorn Ecovillage, starts this ecovillage spotlight series.

Ecovillages often combine ecological planning and design with innovative social, political and/or economic systems. Additionally, they often include certain cultural or spiritual goals.

The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) states, “Ecovillages are urban or rural communities of people, who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. To achieve this, they integrate various aspects of ecological design, permaculture, ecological building, green production, alternative energy, community building practices, and much more.”

Due to their great features but still rather obscure existence, I decided to do this “Ecovillage Spotlight” series to highlight some of the great ecovillages that exist around the world.

The ecovillages that follow show some of the great possibilities that are out there for ecologically friendly, community living.

Solar energy innovator Konarka is out to prove that you can have your sustainable cake and eat it, too.  The Massachusetts-based company has launched a pilot project that will integrate its proprietary Power Plastic solar panels into the non-loadbearing exterior wall of a building, called a curtain wall. The new design makes solar energy a seamless part of the building rather than an afterthought.

The solar energy curtain wall project will be constructed in Tamarac, Florida, at an office building owned by Arch Aluminum & Glass Co., Inc. Arch and Konarka have teamed up to demonstrate that an active solar glass wall could enable the structure of a building to generate sustainable energy for its internal operations.  For now the partners appear to be focused on commercial and industrial applications, but if the curtain wall proves cost-effective it could also open the door for integrated solar panels in a wide range of residential and institutional structures.

Taiwan’s Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2007. Now, it is looking to become the world’s tallest GREEN building.

The building’s owner, Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFC), is putting in $1.9 million to give this 101-story building a green makeover.

Here’s a low carbon cooling technology that uses hot water from waste to make A/C without fossil fuels, saving 80% over fossil-fueled chillers.

This industrial scale chiller from the Chinese company Broad Central Air can convert many different kinds of waste heat into air conditioning. The waste heat can come from many industrial sources, including what the Chinese site calls “town gas”  - methane from town landfill, collected and burned to generate heat.

From the outside, the Comfort Inn La Estancia near San Diego looks like your garden variety mainstream hotel, complete with free parking for truckers and RV’s.  But soon it will share something sustainable that many boutique “green” hotels boast, 100% solar power for its electricity usage.

The greening of Comfort Inn is thanks to a partnership with Pursol Solar Systems, which will install an 83 kilowatt photovoltaic system under its Solarize financing program, basically guaranteeing the hotel a 20% savings on its electricity bill without any up-front costs.

Solar Decathlon 2009: The Construction Site

The solar capacity of the National Mall in Washington D.C. has increased exponentially in just a week as teams of college students from 20 international schools hurriedly reassembled their submissions for the fourth ever Solar Decathlon, a competition in which students must create “the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.” The three-week event kicked of yesterday with an opening ceremony that featured a speech from Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who

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The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the largest energy efficiency program in U.S. history, authorizing $3.1 billion in consumer rebates and efficiency programs over the next three years. This brings the state a giant step closer to implementing AB32, according to Lara Ettenson, director of California Energy Efficiency Policy at the NRDC.

Ettenson told me that the funding comes from the part of the budget that California’s regulated utilities may use to invest in conventional electricity. This may include “negawatts” [...]

Global Solar Center just finished a comprehensive, 50-state survey of solar incentives and adoption. Who leads the nation? It is surprising. As they say, it is the states who were “solar laggards” that are now “solar leaders”. But incentives aren’t the only issue.