Green Options

The economy is down, but here is another sign that green technology may be the way out of our economic dilemma. US clean energy patents hit a record high last quarter.

Wind power is a great, effective way to make energy, but only when the wind blows. Or if you can find the open space to plant large wind farms that tear apart birds, bats, and low-flying hot air balloons. There are also many people who would hate to live in the shadow of one of these wind farms. But what if the turbines were 1,000 feet in the air?

This is the idea behind a conceptual wind turbine in the sky built by Magenn Power Inc. Called the MARS (Magenn Air Rotor System), this system utilizes an inflatible rotor that floats high above the air without requiring a tower, just a tether.

How do you make a better wind turbine? With lasers, of course.

The Manassas, Virginia-based Catch the Wind(TSX-V: CTW.S) has signed an agreement to work with the National Renewable Energy Lab in Boulder, Colorado, to test the company’s Vindicator laser wind sensor.

While public opinion remains divided about the risks and benefits of installing wind farms in the Great Lakes, several of the eight states with Great Lakes water are racing to be first to approve projects capturing energy from frequently strong offshore winds. It remains to be seen whether a public generally supportive of developing wind energy will support turbines in the Lakes for the first time. Opposition to the proposed Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound because of aesthetic impacts has slowed that saltwater proposal.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported good news for renewable energy enthusiasts this week. Energy from renewable resources has increased significantly over the last year. It is now higher than energy produced from nuclear power.

Solar power seems to be the most logical renewable choice in Africa, but that hasn’t stopped the African Development Bank from initiating the Lake Turkana Wind Power project (LTWP)–a $755 million, 66,000 hectare project on the edge of the world’s biggest permanent desert lake. The site is ideal for wind power, as volcanic soil is swept up into the air year round through the channel.

Twenty-five workers holed-up in the Vestas facility on the UK’s Isle of Wight for about a week now may have saved their jobs if a proposed deal is agreed upon by both parties - but only if they happen to work in the offshore research division.

Whatever the relative merits and drawbacks of biomass are, they are preferable to continuing to mine and burn coal. Until we start to bring large-scale base loading renewable capacity online, we continue inexorably on the same business as usual curve.

Texas start-up Baryonyx awarded two offshore wind energy leases

Which state’s waters will be the home of the United States’ first offshore wind farm? Will it be Massachusetts, where an eight-year battle for a wind farm near Cape Cod seems like it may never end? How about a little further south, in Rhode Island or New Jersey? Will it be Delaware, where Bluewater Wind hopes to develop a project that would provide almost 1/3 of the energy needed by Delmarva Power? What about other Mid-Atlantic states like North Carolina or Virginia, where the Department of Interior says sites with easily-developed shallow water wind resources dot the coastline?

Well, if you answered none of the above, you may be on to something.

Texas General Land Office last week awarded leases to Baryonyx, authorizing the company to develop wind farms on three sites, two of which are offshore, with a total potential capacity of 3,000 megawatts.

I thought this was a neat idea and if the manufacturer’s claims are true, it could be the first step towards individual energy independance for a lot of people. Honeywell, the same people who made my safe, teamed up with Earthtronics to produce a home wind turbine that lacks many of the drawbacks of larger wind turbines. Namely, all it takes is a gentle breeze to turn the blades, providing up to 2,000 kWh of energy annually.

It is a compact and neat idea. My only question is, does it actually work?

Wind turbines have been around since just after the dinosaurs began making fossil fuels.

These days, a team from Purdue University and Sandia National Laboratories are working to make future blades more efficient, more cost effective and more reliable.

In other words: Plans for the smart grid, meet plans for the smart blade.

Engineers have embedded sensors inside wind turbine blades, and are testing the technology at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s [...]