By Leslie Quigley •
August 30, 2009
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.”
By Tina Casey •
August 22, 2009
SolarBee, the North Dakota company that has made a name for itself with solar-powered circulators to improve water quality in ponds and lakes, has developed solar equipment for wastewater treatment plants as well. The devices could have a huge impact on electricity consumption at thousands of wastewater plants in the U.S. alone, without the need for costly retrofits. A SolarBee unit requires only 36 watts to operate, and it improves the treatment process while replacing up to 25,000 watts of grid-connected equipment with sustainable solar power.
By Reenita Malhotra •
August 9, 2009
This column highlights the top economic stories of the week.
Having children is the surest way to send your carbon footprint soaring, according to a new study from statisticians at Oregon State University.
The study found that having a child has an impact that far outweighs that of other energy-saving behaviors. More on this story here.
A quarter-century ago, in the wake of America’s first energy crisis, a young scientist named Amory [...]
By Susan Kraemer •
July 29, 2009
Interestingly, while big wind can generate far cheaper power than big solar, small wind turns out to do quite the opposite.
A comparative turbine test performed over the last 12 months in Zeeland, Holland revealed that small wind turbines generate very little power for the money. The smaller the rotor, the less power. So I did some comparisons between small wind and solar. I found something surprising.
Small wind could cost 10 times the cost of residential solar to make the same power.
The energy yield was measured in an average wind speed of 8.5 mph over the year.
Here are the results, translated for the U.S. reader, with the comparative solar costs:
By Jeff Kart •
July 29, 2009
When the sun goes down, some walkways in Birmingham, Michigan, start to glow.
They’re fitted with a phosphorescent glow-in-the-dark pavement marking system from Glow-Mark Technologies LLC of Royal Oak, MIchigan.
The system consists of encapsulated “pucks” fitted into brick pavers, wood or other material with a boring drill.
By Zachary Shahan •
July 24, 2009
New Zealand is considered a world leader in environmental topics of all kinds. It is a leading producer of organic produce, it conserves vast amounts of natural and ecologically diverse land, and it has taken a leading step in goals to reduce greenhouse gases and stop or slow climate change. As early as 1992, New Zealand became a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, a report released by the New Zealand government this month shows that they have experienced a sharp rise in greenhouse gas emissions since last year. The reason? Climate change.
As electric vehicles gain traction, a concern is how to produce renewable energy to charge them up. Well, look no further than your refrigerator. One company is using onions to produce electricity and the owner, Steve Gill along with brother David Gill of Gills Onions, are crying all the way to the bank. In the new energy paradigm, many experts predict that we will no longer transport our energy around the world but will create it within our own communities. Using the waste juice from onions fits right into this scenario.
Gills Onions is the largest fresh onion processing plant in the world. The company has more than 15,000 acres of farmland and 300,000 square feet of processing and warehousing facility. Gill was looking for ways to reduce his costs in his farming operation when he began to experiment using the juice from his onion crop in Oxnard, California to create the energy to run his lighting and refrigerators. The result was the creation of an Advanced Energy Recovery System (AERS).
By Susan Kraemer •
July 17, 2009
Renewable sources of energy are beginning to replace coal power in the U.S.:
Every year the percentage of U.S. electricity generated from renewables has been increasing, according to the latest figures released by the Energy Information Administration in its Electric Power Monthly report.
As a result, by April of 2009, the total was 12.97 percent, with hydropower accounting for 8.73 percent and other renewables like solar and wind 4.24 percent of all U.S. electricity on average among all the states. Higher wind generation totals in just 4 states accounted for 62.2 percent of the national increase in wind powered generation: Texas, Iowa, New York, and Indiana.
By contrast the percentage of electricity from fossil power is now actually decreasing.
Comparing April 2008 to April 2009, coal-fired generation fell by 20,551 thousand megawatt-hours, or 13.9 percent. Declines in 7 states accounted for 52.3 percent of the national decrease in coal-fired generation: they were Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Texas.
On Wednesday, June 10, astronaut Maurizo Cheli set a world record while piloting the fully electric SkySpark. During an eight-minute flight at the World Air Games 2009 in Turin, Italy, he hit a top speed of 155 mph (250 km/h).
That’s a record speed for a 100-percent electrically powered aircraft.
Achieving a goal of 100 percent energy independence is a little closer for San Jose thanks to a momentous move by the City Council today. The City Council authorized the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop potential lease terms and guidelines for developing an organics-to energy bio-gas facility.
