Green Options

The huge project to build a $555 billion renewable energy “belt” in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, funded largely by German companies, moved another step forward a few days ago.

The articles of association for the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII) were signed by the joint venture group of 12 companies and the DESERTEC Foundation in Munich on October 30.

Additionally, a CEO for DII was appointed — Paul van Son.

Earlier this month, Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation to buy solar power from relatively small private generators for rates above market value. Hawaii is next in line with this European-style tariff — the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission and Governor Lingle just recently set a similar initiative for Hawaii.

Hawaii’s initiative will make it possible for homeowners and businesses to sell power they generate from small to medium-scale renewable energy projects (i.e. solar panels) to Hawaii’s main power producers at higher than market-value rates.

It’s rare that you’ll encounter a home owner today who says that if they had the option, they wouldn’t want to reduce their carbon emissions or reduce their energy consumption, and in turn, the costs of home ownership. The problem is, that in many cases, greener home technology is just out of reach of many North Americans because of the high costs that are still associated with the options available on the market. This has been the case with voltage optimization technology that can accomplish the above goals, but until recently, it’s only been attainable to large organizations looking to optimize their energy use because of cost. A UK company has decided to address this lapse in the industry by introducing the VPhase, an affordable voltage optimization technology for home owners.

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.

Who said water and electricity don’t mix? At the Wye Island Marathon, the pairing of the two is celebrated as racers push more than 23 miles into 20 mph headwinds, 2 foot waves and rough chop, propelled only by DIY battery packs that can fail at any time.

This post is an excerpt of an article from Popular Mechanics. You can read the full post on their website. Written by Tyghe Trimble.

At the 8 ½-mile mark, Jim Campbell is at the head of the pack, in control of the race. The two-time defending champion has every reason to be confident—he knows the course inside and out, he owns the most time-tested vehicle and he still has a few tricks to pull out, including a parasail, which on this windy day could be a potent weapon. But when he grabs his remote control to adjust the speed, Campbell, his boat and its cargo—400 pounds of lead-acid batteries—suddenly stop.

“I think my nylon gear picked up static when rubbing against the plastic hull of the canoe and my electronics died,” he says. Campbell does the only thing he can—he whips out his emergency jumpers and charges 12 volts back into both of his motors. Then he adjusts his speed, dropping from about 4 knots (4.5 mph) to just less than 3 knots (3.3 mph). The race is no longer a sure win.

A new report ranks ten leading world cities on their greenhouse gas emissions. It also examines how and why the emissions differ.

As the report says, over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Leading cities of the world, global cities, are the places where greenhouse gas emissions really need to be cut. The greenest city from the study is Barcelona and the worst is Denver.

Dairy farm anaerobic lagoons without covers

The first large scale biogas plant linked to a beef feedlot, could make a more significant contribution to renewable energy in South Africa than the planned 3.8 MW of electricity, by advancing the technology in South Africa.

The Business

Independent power producer (IPP) Lesedi Biogas Project (LBP) is planning to build one of the world’s largest open-air feedlot manure-to-power plants, in Heidelberg, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Such plants use the anaerobic fermentation (bacterial fermentation of organic waste, with little or no oxygen present) to produce a methane rich gas which can be used to produce electricity or burn for heat.

The plant will be situated at the Karan Beef feedlot, which will supply the manure from its feedlot to the LBP. This would initially amount to 110,000 tons per year of manure, which would allow the production of 3,8 MW of base-load power reaching 6,2 MW of peak power.

Solar power comes in many forms, from rigid to thin film. The panels are shiny, gleaming and ready to harness the power of the sun.

They’re also usually silver. Yet they also come in colors, not just for looks, but for efficiency.

In a first, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have developed a completely tree-powered electrical circuit.

The nano-scale device—approximately 130 nanometers [a nanometer is one billionth of a meter] in size—consumes just 10 billionths of a watt (10 nanowatts).

Unlike the legendary science fair experiment in which a potato-based electric circuit is created using two electrodes (each electrode being a different metal, which react with the starch, causing a potential difference and thus a current), the UW device utilizes electrodes comprised of the same metal, and is able to generate (output) 1.1 volts. “As far as we know, this is the first peer-reviewed paper of someone powering something entirely by sticking electrodes into a tree,” according to paper co-author Babak Parviz, associate professor of electrical engineering at the UW.

This post consists of a few lines and a link to what’s happened since some of my recent posts where there has been significant action. Each item is identified and linked by the date and title of the original post.

July 2009 - Sable Antelope - One Sold for $ 385 000 and Giant Species Rediscovered in Angola.

Three more Giant Sable Antelopes, have been sighted in Angola. This brings to six the number of this rare species, which was feared to have become extinct, that have been sited in the last few weeks.

July 2009 - Mauling of Baboon by “Fighting Dogs”, Reopens the Cape Peninsular Baboon Debate

Two men were attacked by Pit Bulls in Ocean View ,the same Township in Ocean View this week, prompting a warning from welfare group TEARS.

According to the title of an article published in The City of Lancaster’s Outlook (Fall 2009) magazine “The Future Looks Bright for Solar Power in Lancaster”.

My small town,  all 475,000 of us, are at the forefront of solar energy! On August 5, 2009, eSolar unveiled the 5 MW (mega watt) demonstration plant known as Sierra SunTower. The solar power plant has 24,000 mirrors and two giant tower house boilers. The boilers create what’s known as “thermal solar” which is said to be more cost-effective than the standard photovoltaic approach used in solar cells. The process creates steam to drive the turbine generators. The project was completed in 14 month time frame and has already begun to distribute power to Southern California Edison.

eSolar’s site says “Sierra SunTower will supply 5 MW of clean, renewable energy to the grid. This full-scale power plant, the only one of its kind in the U.S., produces electricity for Southern California Edison (SCE) and will power up to 4,000 homes.”