Makani Airborne Wind Power
Makani has an energy solution that harnesses the power of winds at elevations far beyond that available to ground based turbines. Their “tethered” wind turbine system uses far less material to construct that a typical turbine. The long term goal would be a system, that can autonomously launch when the wind conditions are right and land when the wind dies down.
“ …. autonomous wing fitted with onboard turbines … Flying at 1,000 ft, … mimics the motion, and speed, of a conventional turbine’s aerodynamically effective blade tips.”
Via: Makani LINK
hout turbine blades.
ergy from the wind as it flows around commercial and residential buildings. …”
bs / sq-ft with external (to the panels) wiring. GE is looking to develop systems in then range of 1 lb / sq-ft. with connected wiring. These could unfold at the installation site and be ready to install – without the need for heavy racking systems.
a novel design to mount HORIZONTAL wind turbines on overhead highway signposts. By modifying the existing signposts they can be become wind energy sources. See mocked up picture at RIGHT >>> 
Street sgns and utility power poles are almost everywhere. A project at The University of Nebraska is looking into ways to use wind power and solar panels on signs to power roadway lights and traffic signals. Any excess power will go into the local energy grid.
feature batteries for storage. " ... Each unit consists of a wind turbine generator and one or more PV panels mounted on the top of the pole for electric power generation." 
Ecotricity is a green UK energy supplier. 
VE.
illion pounds of carbon dioxide over a 25 year period. ...energy created ... equals more than 111 million miles not driven by a medium sized car ... 11 million trees would need to be planted to equal the same level of carbon dioxide reduction."
in a parking lot with the Sustainable Waste Solutions and knew there would be a blog post there. SWS is a local company with a Souderton, Pa address that turns waste to energy (W2E).
h electricity from waste to power tens of thousands of homes per day ..."
n uses no fossil fuels for heating. Instead they uses biomass from farming leftovers. 80,000 homes heated by biomass and not fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas! And this is an area of the world where it gets VERY COLD !
Supply and demand are always achieved on the grid. One issue for renewable energy is how to store the power which may be generated during low demand for use during high demand rather than have it go to waste.
In June of 2009 Dell announced that they source over 1/4 of their global energy needs from renewable sources. 
The US Army is getting greener. They are beginning " ... development of a 500-megawatt solar power plant at Fort Irwin, Calif."
"Minesto contributes a solution to the worldwide energy demand by offering a unique technology that explores the vast, renewable and abundant ocean power resource."
Springside School - Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia has the largest solar installation in the city of Philadelphia. You can see the solar progress with the monitoring station ... the system has the capacity of 92.4 k
W DC. 
Google has made its first DIRECT investment in a production scale wind farm ... 
Green Touch is a program at Alcatel-Lucent that focuses on green aspects of technology. " ... looking at how the world of telecommunications is responding to the urgency of preserving our natural environment. ... Green Touch ... a consortium of telecoms operators, manufacturers, universities and non-profit organisations with a mission to conceive and demonstrate the effectiveness of this revolutionary low-energy network - all within the next five years… "
Chicago's ConEd is conducting an experiment to determine how consumers manage their energy use when they have metrics on use, cost and use patterns. Home will be outfitted with solar panels and some homes will be allowed to sell back to the grid and others will not.
BloomEnergy has announced a novel fuel cell and unlike typical fuel cells if does not require precious metal catalysts. Fuel cells are typcially "cleaner" than other power sources.
David de Rothschild has built a boat from recycled plastic bottles and plans to sail it from San Francisco in the US to Sydney, Australia. 
The UTS Tower in Sydney, Australia is may get a proposed upgrade - a solar skin. This PV "wrap" would turn the tower into a very green and energy efficient structure.
Scientists from CalTech have developed technology that might lead efficient solar cells from silicon nanowires. This could lead to all sorts of configurations for solar cells including fabrics.
gawatt hours per year ... if they were classed as a separate industry, they would be the sixth-largest user of electricity ... "
"Samsung and Korea Electric Power Corp. will invest $6.6 billion into wind and solar projects in Ontario ... will build and maintain power plants as well as erect four new factories in North America for making the equipment for the power plants ... plants will employ 1,440 and building and maintaining the power plant will keep 16,000 busy ..."
Norway's Statkraft is looking at osmosis as a possible energy source. Currently the output is minimal but it may be the way of the future.
Green Fuels Ltd makes it possible to produce your own biodiesel ... with one of their FuelPod products ... 
The Dow Chemical company is active in the green energy space with several innovative products. They recently announced their entry into the solar cell market with the " ... POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle, ... panels in the form of solar shingles that can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingle materials. ... expected to be available in limited quantities by mid-2010 and ... more widely available in 2011, ..."
of people ... committed to addressing climate change."
tant as solar and wind start to power the grid.
Old WW II Ammunition bunkers in Nebraaka may have a 2nd life as secure data centers. Their location and construction make them ideal facilities for secure data centers ... and goethermal cooling allows them to be less energy intensive compared to the normal data center.
" Prairie Bunkers LLC said this week that it has completed a test well for a geothermal cooling system at its 760-acre Prairie Bunkers Data Center Park near Hastings, Nebraska. ... paves the way for the company to offer geothermal cooling for its innovative project."
"... hopes to convert dozens of World War II ammunition bunkers into data centers, hoping to capitalize on interest in ultra-secure data storage ... plans for geothermal power will help tenants achieve Platinum status ... (LEED) ... for energy-efficient builfings."
"A map published by the U.S. Department of Energy indicates that northwest Missouri has the state's highest concentration of wind resources and contains a number of locations potentially suitable for utility-scale wind development."
The small German town of Dardesheim (fewer than 1,000) and neighbors in Halberstadt in what was East Germany "... want to become 100% renewable using solar, wind, and biomass." 
Animal manure is a natural by-product of raising animals ... and needs to be disposed of properly. Improperly disposed of it can pollute water and make a smelly mess. 
Energy Ball is a wind turbine that generate electricity at very low speeds. Read on for more about this Netherlands based company.
" ... SolarChill ... aims to create a stand-alone solar powered refrigerator that not only preserves food, but also meets the World Health Organization's standards for vaccine storage ... One SolarChill unit can serve a population of 50,000 people for preserving vaccines. ... for use in emergency relief where electrical supply has been disrupted by war or natural disaster." 
Most of the bio fuel processes are require significant amounts of petroleum energy (i.e. to grow the basic crop like corn) or to power the process. Algenol is totally different ... it does not compete in a food vs/ biofuel stock like corn.
ny ... advanced 3rd generation biofuels technology producing ethanol from algae through a process powered by the sun ... industrial-scale, low-cost ethanol using algae, sunlight, CO2, and seawater.... does not use food, farmland, or fresh water."
Savings Via Behavior Modification ..." ... Educate ... by publishing real-time and historical data ... Cut electricity usage up to 10% by changing habits of building occupants ..." 
e power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.
its already substantial GREEN fleet of cars and trucks. 
There are multiple approaches to using solar to create power ... one option is PV (photovoltaic) where panels convert sunlight directly to DC current ... another is CSP (concentrated solar power).
Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson has introduced legislation to produce energy from bio-waste. Nebraska has the potential to make great use of this given the large number of cattle in the state ...using what is today a waste products to generate power serves to reduce waste disposal costs, help keep water sources clean and reduce consumption of oil ... as animal waste is likely to be a renewable fuel source for t he near if not long term.
.jpg "POTUS Oboma at Nellis with Solar Panels")
May 27th, 2009 - Nellis AFB - Nevada.
China is full of business opportunities and is also looking to become / embrace the green movement. The China Green Business Summit - 2009 is being held May 13 - 15th in Beijing, China.
Many crops have been considered / experimented with as a source of bio fuel or bio diesel. Some carry risks of causing unintended consequences as land is cleared for farming -- Now the mushroom is looming large!
eBay has many green aspects to its business model ... including the basic eBay design - helping people sell unneeded / unused stuff ... 
I was in Washington DC this past weekend and saw some small buses with the Smithsonian log on the side - promoting them as green hybrids. This prompted me to see what else our nations museum is up too in the green space. 
" ... Dell now powers its 240,000 square-foot Oklahoma City campus with 100-percent wind energy, the latest action in its commitment to become the 'greenest' technology company on the planet. ... partnering with Oklahoma Gas and Electric on the use of renewable energy and expects to avoid nearly 5,100 tons of CO2 emissions per year."
ental goals. ... was the first IT company to join the Carbon Disclosure Project's Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration to help suppliers with emissions reporting."
about a town of about 2,500 residents at any given moment. ..."
Radnor Township has a number of "green" sites: a new school has a green roof, restored wetlands at Villanova University and leaf pick up / composting by the township. Now they are presenting a series of lectures on Sustainability in Radnor. 
"British adventurer and pilot Neil Laughton poses in his Parajet Skycar ... on Wednesday kicking off a 3,600-mile journey from London to Timbuktu ... essentially a dune buggy with a fan motor and paragliding wing attached. Creators call it the "world's first bio-fuelled flying car.""
" ... travel by land and air through France, Spain, Morocco, the Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, returning home via Senegal. Joining Laughton for part of the trip will be engineer Gilo Cardozo, the brain behind the Parajet Skycar. The pair has participated in past flying expeditions to the Himalayas, Alps, and Venezuela."
Via: ZDNet.com 
" ... Christmas tree at 3rd and Poplar Streets in Northern Liberties [Philadelphia, Pa] is 40-feet-tall, and it's lit by solar panels ..."
million and 1 million pounds of carbon emissions over the anticipated 25-year life of the system."
"Santa Coloma de Gramanet, near Barcelona [Spain] , has placed 462 solar panels over its multi-storey mausoleums. ... the scheme was initially greeted with derision, but families who use the cemetery eventually supported the idea ... are now plans to erect more panels at the cemetery and triple the amount of electricity generated.
In addition to Federal tax credits, grants, loans, etc ... many states and or local utilities offer programs to help homeowners get into solar, wind or geothermal energy.
reight significantly further per gallon of fuel than a truck.
AMERIgreen provides biofuels in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.
r than gasoline and standard home heating oil. ... completely renewable, domestic, environmentally friendly fuels that enhance the nation's economy and energy independence." 
Waste heat recovery is the process of taking the heat from a heat emitting piece of equipment, like a computer, and using it for heating something else - rather than just dissipating it to the environment ... and potentially saving the cost of air conditioning.
"The Sustainable Living Fair is a solution based, hands-on, family oriented event designed to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about Sustainable Living Practices,... and more."
" ... 10,000 people attended last year, yet the Fair only produced 230 pounds of trash. Recycling bins and compost receptacles are everywhere, and the Fair also purchases offset credits. ..."
Key Note speakers include Ed Begley ...
Via: EcoLocolizer 
needs.
The 23rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition is taking place in Valencia Spain, Sept 1 - 5, 2008.
" ... two markets when it comes to utility-grade energy storage. ... storage devices that can store several hours or even weeks of electricity. ... are designed to make power generation resources, particularly wind or solar power, available when it's needed"
Including previously announced projects ... these are:
Good Energy is a provider of various sources of GREEN energy from all over Britain They make it easy for the homeowner or business to lower their impact on the environment by cutting CO2 emissions from power generation.
Steelcase manufactures furniture. They also sponsored a windfarm?!?
sponsor of this farm, Steelcase will be the largest buyer of wind power in the furniture industry."
Solio offers a line of solar chargers for smaller electronics like cell phones, GPS, cameras, etc. The California based company has some cool looking designs that offer solar charging or the aa
bility to plug into the wall and when charged act as a battery (replaceable). 
Ohio State University engineers have developed a process that can use egg shells to (used of course) into Hydrogen Fuel.
The New Belgium Brewery has many green aspects to their business ... In addition to their own waste water treatment plant ... they product their own methane!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS for Oct 7th, 2007!
New Jersey's Clean Energy Conference,on September 27 - 28, 2007 will honor nominees that are saving energy and advancing the state of clean energy in New Jersey. The winner will be named at the conference. 
chain ... including their ISP. 
What can an individual do to generate clean power? Not everyone is in a position financially or other) to put up solar panels or a wind turbine or a hydro power facility.
"... Toyota Prius Hybrid, the newest vehicle in the Green Collection. We have nearly 35,000 cars in the Green Collection fleet, all vehicles are: 
Some Pensylvania municipalities are making a go of becoming more green. Most townships over a certain population must recycle - that is the law. Others are taking it to the next level.
"... if everything works out just right, we could take a mile of our right of way and generate about 500 gallons of biodiesel per year," says UDOT Director John Njord. "Now that's pretty darn significant when you consider we have thousands of miles of right-of-way within our state.""
"Paramount Farms, ... tomorrow (May 23, 2007) will start up a $7.5 million 1.1-megawatt solar farm spread across eight acres. ... the largest solar farm on an agricultural site in the United States .... Over the next year, ... will generate about 15 percent of the electricity used by the ... nut processing plant."
"The processing plant that takes up 140 acres is located in Lost Hills, about 60 miles from Bakersfield, California, and 100 miles southwest of Fresno."
tfolio (PZD), which tracks the 
Clean Air Act
"Insulate your home: Make sure your walls and ceilings are insulated. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $245 per year." 
Sail Power may be the next big thing in energy savings for ocean going cargo vessels. 
I like beer, so I did not need an excuse to try another brand.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists have found a novel way to increase MPG with ethanol - and it is not E85!
VeraSun Erergy Corporation (NYSE: VSE) has a process to get more energy from each bushel of corn. They can make both ethanol and biodiesel from corn. VeraSun is "the nations second largest ethanol producer". 
East Japan Railway has "begun testing rubber floor mats that generate electricity when walked on." Currently the amount of power is rather miniscule - "a mat produces just 100 milliwatts with each commuters step". This means that 700,000 commuters you get about 70 kW or "barely enough to light a 100 watt bulk for 10 minutes".
