Green Options

Building solar power plants in the desert is a no-brainer, but until now there hasn’t been a cost-efficient way to provide solar power directly to homes in colder, cloudier parts of the word.  Cool Energy, Inc. believes it can do just that.  Last month the Boulder, Colorado based company announced the release of SolarHeart, an engine designed for home use that can convert low-temperature solar energy into sustainable electricity, and also saving up to 75% on heating oil or propane.

The SolarHeart engine is based on the legendary Stirling engine design, which harkens back to the early 19th century.  Stirling engines run on changes in the pressure of hydrogen as it is alternately heated and cooled in a sealed chamber, which drives a piston.  Cool Energy plans to integrate the SolarHeart engine into a complete solar energy system built into individual homes and other buildings.  If SolarHeart lives up to its promise, we could all be just a heartbeat away from off-grid living.

Anaconda, the enormous South American snake that hunts its prey in water and which spends a lot of time in water environments, is just what two British researchers needed as inspiration to develop an innovative wave energy concept.

The anaconda is a wave energy converter device made of a giant rubber tube which may hold the key to producing cheaper, sustainable electricity from the energy in sea waves.