Green Options » storage

First Wind Powered City

Sarah Lozanova — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:00:49 +0000

Rock Port, Missouri is the first 100% wind powered city in the US. Loess Hill Wind Farm, with four 1.25 MW wind turbines is estimated to generate 16 gigawatt hours (16 million kilowatt hours) of electricity annually. 13 gigawatts hours of electricity have historically been consumed annually by the residents and businesses of this town of 1,400 people.

The local electric company, Missouri Public Utility Alliance, will purchase excess electricity when available. They will then supply power when there is not enough wind energy available. Excess wind energy will not be stored but rather fed into the city’s high voltage line, making it an intermittent source of power.

Several factors made this smaller scale project possible. The city has a bluff within the city limits with good resources, John Deere’s Wind Energy financing the project, and proximity to the power grid.

The Greening of Information Technology

jeffatdell — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:45:19 +0000

Infomration technology (IT) should have a minimal environmental impact. But many companies still sell computers, monitors and other IT equipment with lead, fire retardants and other harmful chemicals. There are, however, some companies that go way beyond simplly recycling cans and paper at the office. Let's have a conversation about those companies like Dell and others that are making environmentalism a standard business practice.

Information Technology should be greener

jeffatdell — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 17:42:41 +0000

Nuclear Power is Green! Renewable Energy Wrecks the Environment!

Max Lindberg — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 10:28:17 +0000

Here's another one who thinks nuclear power is the energy panacea we all need, and that renewable energy production is, as he states, "a rape of nature." Strong words and I just had to talk about it. The story comes from Science Daily, and there's also a link to Nuclear Waste Storage that pretty well explains the problem, and takes a good look at the controversial Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada.

New Company May Commercialize Wind Power Storage

Maria Surma Manka — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:15:10 +0000

A new company called General Compression [1] says it will commercialize its idea for storing wind energy. Using compressed-air energy storage and a $5 million round of seed funding, the Massachusetts company plans to use compressed-air technology to store energy from wind turbines. A typical wind turbine has a generator that sits on the turbine (the nacelle), and the electricity from the generator goes down the turbine and onto the grid. General Compression places an air compressor on the nacelle that sends highly compressed air down the tower and into underground storage (like a cave or empty gas well) or through pipelines. The pressurized air can be expanded and released when needed to make electricity. According to the General Compression website, this power would be “the lowest cost per megawatt of any wind farm in the world." See a video of the technology here [2]. If this idea works, it would revolutionize the wind power industry. Using compressed air to store energy is not a new idea, but companies have been wary of pursing commercialized concepts in the past because of the cost and technology barriers. But with the cost of wind power falling and worries of fossil fuel prices increasing, there’s a renewed interest. Josh Magee, senior wind analyst at Emerging Energy Research, told CNET news.com [3]:"If you could figure out a way to do it cost effectively and show [utilities] you can be very profitable at it...then you would have the ability to rapidly scale wind power. If all of the sudden you had capacity, you can make a bigger dent in climate change, energy security and make a significant contribution to peak demand."Currently a prototype device of the air compressor exists and a large-scale version is being tested later this year. General Compression plans to test on a turbine in the field in 2008.General Compression has to overcome quite a few hurdles to make this concept a reality, including finding appropriate sites for their wind turbines, which not only have to be located in windy areas, but also near geological formations suitable to storing compress air. However the company says that where the geology isn’t conducive to storage, underground pipelines could store 6-12 hours of a wind farm’s power. CNETNews.com, via EcoToolbox.com [4]General Compression [1] [1] http://www.generalcompression.com/ [2] http://www.generalcompression.com/ [3] http://news.com.com/Saving+wind+power+for+later/2100-11392_3-6170659.html?tag=nefd.lede [4] http://www.ecotoolbox.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=526 [5] http://www.generalcompression.com/

Green Options » storage

First Wind Powered City

Related Posts on Renewable Energy:

The Greening of Information Technology

Information Technology should be greener

Nuclear Power is Green! Renewable Energy Wrecks the Environment!

New Company May Commercialize Wind Power Storage