Green Options » windmill

Green Pumpkins with Ready Made

Kelly Rand — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:30:34 +0000

We sure are excited about the upcoming Halloween holiday here at Crafting a Green World. Do you have your costume ready? What about decorations?

Ready Made Magazine has this great refresher course on pumpkin-carving how to; including a clever CFL template to carve into your pumpkin! What a perfect idea to not only make your own costume for Halloween, but carve your green ideals for all the trick-or-treaters to see.

You could carve other environmental symbols into pumpkins and have yourself a very Eco-Ween with many different green jack-o-lanterns. You could carve a Prius, the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle symbol, or even a Windmill.

Let us know some other fun ideas to make your Halloween truly green!

[Image courtesy: Ready Made]

Alternative Energy Education: Sustainable Living in the 21st Century

Derek Markham — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:23:03 +0000

Teach your kids about alternative energy and the basic principles of physical science with a super educational kit from Thames and Kosmos.

Integrating technology, physical science and the adventures of living on a remote island and building a house, Power House teaches children about harnessing the power of the sun, the wind, electrochemical and plant energy. Power House was developed by physicist Uwe Wandrey, and includes a 96 page manual, 70 different experiments, and 20 projects to build.

New Study Says City-Based Rooftop Wind Power Doesn’t Pay Off

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:41:16 +0000

A new study put out by the UK’s Carbon Trust reports that domestic windmills in urban locations are actually net carbon emitters, as more energy goes into their production, shipping, and maintenance than is saved by their use.

Additionally, the study notes that home wind power could only provide .4% of UK electricity consumption and will only save .6 million tons of carbon dioxide. For reference, the Carbon Trust says that 1.5 TWh could be produced annually using urban windmills—and the UK used 2,700 TWh of energy in 2006.

The reason why urban windmills aren’t useful is fairly simple. The Carbon Trust explains that small wind turbines require open, exposed locations that have high wind speeds. These locations are usually found in rural areas, which can produce nine times more wind energy than urban areas. Since the output from urban windmills is low, the cost of the resulting energy ends up being high.

Green Family Values: The Power of Youth to Change the World

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:13:01 +0000

While stumbling upon the web, I came across the inspiring story of Malawi youth William Kamkwamba on Inhabitat. With all the doom and gloom news of climate change, William Kamkwamba’s ingenuity demonstrates what one person can do to improve their life with green technology. The story also demystifies alternative energy as complex engineering that keeps many Americans from jumping into finding greener methods to power their homes.

Malawi is a democratic, densely populated country in southeastern Africa. The Great Rift Valley runs through the center of the country from north to south. The GDP per capita is $596, and the economy is agricultural, and dependent upon tobacco, sugar, and tea; however, the staple of Malawi’s diet is maize. Many refugees from Mozambique, Rwanda, and Congo have fled to Malawi. One million people in Malawi live with HIV/AIDS. Malawi has been in entertainment news lately, as Madonna has been attempting to permanently adopt a Malawian child. Malawi youth William Kamkwamba’s story deserves media attention, too.

William Kamkwamba has built a windmill to power his home. Having dropped out of school because of a lack of funds, William studied donated books on wind power at his local primary school. Using salvage materials and investing about $16, he built his own windmill through trial and error. The original windmill could power a few light bulbs and a radio, as well as charge a car battery for days when the wind does not blow. According to Inhabitat,

The 12-meter tall windmill (it was originally only 5 meters) is made out of scrap timber. The blades, originally made from PVC, now steel, power a bicycle dynamo, the type that power a bicycle headlamp, which in turn provides electricity to the battery. William uses this energy for his house, as well as to help others recharge their batteries. Just recently, he moved from a car battery to a deep discharge battery, which will help improve with the power storage of his house.

William is now blogging about his experiences. William Kamkwamba’s Malawi Windmill Blog received 113,047 page views in its first month and is now translated to English. On his blog, you can read about his village, how he is spending the money people from the world are donating for his education and improvements for his village and family, his return to school, and the worldwide attention he has received. You can also view pictures of William. To donate to William, visit his blog. A generous donor will match donations of $50 or more.

William offers inspiration of how youth in less-privileged countries can improve their lives with materials on hand, rather than relying on the country’s infrastructure to build coal and oil power plants. William has used his ingenuity to improve his home with green technology. Perhaps he was not thinking of climate change when he set out with his project, but his story demonstrates how individuals can make a difference. I don’t suspect Americans will be erecting homemade windmills in their backyards out of scrap material, yet this story shows what power the youth have to solve our problems.