Category Archives: burn free generation

Windows Are For Losers – If you want to see the outdoors go outside

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OKOKOK so that may seem a little extreme. Rammed Earth houses commonly have glass faces facing south. The owners still have to curtain them for half of the year. Light tunnels are a way to bring sunlight into the house and direct it to any task, with much less resulting heat gain.

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/linkslibrary/skylink.html

Skylights and Light Tunnel Links

The Skylight Guy

The Skylight Guy distributes Natural Light Energy System’s tubular skylights and solar powered attic fans.  These skylights are built to last and perform flawlessly… truly the “Contractor’s choice”!

HotAttic.com

HotAttic.com offers a variety of electric and solar-powered ventilators to help reduce dangerous attic heat build-up.  They are also a certified dealer of Solatube tubular skylights!

Solatube International

Solatube International manufactures “tubular” skylights, allowing you to introduce natural light into darker areas of your home without using any electricity!  

Sun Tunnel Skylights

The Sun Tunnel is a skylight that allows light to enter a room through a lens on the roof. The light travels down a shaft to a ceiling-mounted glass plate. Lots of light and no loss of heat. Check it out!

 

http://millworkforless.com/skylights-suntunnels.htm

 kitchen.jpgsun_tun_nl.jpg

SUN TUNNELS: Rigid and Flexible
SUN TUNNEL Skylights
 Easiest and Most Affordable Way to
Utilize the Beauty of Natural Light 

The unique Flexi-tube design allows installation for those hard to get at places.


The SUN TUNNEL™ Flexi-tube skylight system is becoming the industry leader in natural lighting. Affordable, efficient, and easy to install, the SUN TUNNEL™ is perfect for lighting your hallway, bathrooms, kitchen or anywhere that needs more natural light.The SUN TUNNEL™ is available in 14″ or 21″ with the patented flexible tubing which allows the unit to go around virtually any attic obstructions unlike other lighting systems. 

 Rigid models  available in a 10″ or 14″ and a rigid SUN TUNNEL™ is nearly as bright as a 21” flexible tunnel.  The rigid tubing gives the greatest light brightness and dispersion.

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Look if you really really need to see out side put in 4 portholes (N,S,E, and W) and open them up once in awhile. 

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Social and Environmental Justice Graduation Pledge – A brief break from our residential meditation

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My favorite cousin, Matt Nicodemus, has been involved in the pledge process for years and years to I told him I would post this here and CES’ Bulletin Board. All of you should take it.

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Latest development (6/13): At Fujen University, where one instructor has been handing out the Graduation Pledge in his ethics classes since 2006, Dean of Student Affairs Yang Bai-Chuan (??????) has just this week decided to offer all Fujen graduates the opportunity to take the voluntary oath at the school’s commencement this Saturday, June 14.  See contact list at bottom for contact information for Dr. Yang and his secretary, Ms. Chi.  This event will be the last chance this year to get photos, videos, and live interviews with graduates, faculty, administrators,and graduation guests.

GRADUATION PLEDGE PROGRAMS EXPAND, MATURE IN TAIWAN — NEW EFFORTS UNDERWAY IN INDIA

                                                               Graduation Pledge Alliance–Asia Regional Center (GPA-Asia)

                                                                P.O. Box 10123, Taipei, Taiwan 10099

                                                               Contacts: Matt Nicodemus, Executive Director (English language)

                                                                                (e-mail) mattnico8@yahoo.com, (cell) +886-972-170-392

                                                                                Sonia Zhan, Project Assistant (Chinese language)

                                                                                (e-mail) soniazhan1126@gmail.com, (cell) 886-919-978-979

                                                                                Steve Masters, Pledge Coordinator, GPA                                                                               

                                                                               (e-mail) smasters@bentley.edu, (tel) 1-413-478-7628                                                                                                                                                                 Prof. Neil Wollman, Ph.D, Senior Fellow, BentleyAlliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility,                                                                                 Bentley College, Waltham, MA 

                                                                                (e-mail) nwollman@bentley.edu, (tel) 1-260-568-0116

                                                                                (website) www.graduationpledge.org

June 23, 2008, Taipei) Six years ago saw the introduction of the Graduation Pledge of Social & Environmental Responsibility to Asia, at the Singapore campus of INSEAD business school.  Now, with pledges offered at five universities in Taiwan and two colleges in India, the graduation pledge programs are not only spreading through the region but are also growing in sophistication and impact.

Students taking the voluntary oath promise to explore the social and environmental consequences of jobs they consider, and to try and improve the social-environmental performance of organizations for which they work.

According to Matt Nicodemus, executive director of the Graduation Pledge Alliance-Asia Regional Center (GPA-Asia) in Taipei, 2008 marks several firsts for the Pledge in Taiwan.  At Soochow University (SCU), where the career center has taken over coordination of the school’s pledge program, students recently participated in more than a week of activities designed to increase awareness of ethics and responsibility in career choices and on-the-job decisions.  The GPA chapter at Chinese Culture University (CCU) last month joined the school’s administration to co-sponsor the first-ever Earth Week on campus.  At National Taiwan University (NTU), the Student Graduation Association is creating new forms of pledge-taking ritual, and getting faculty involved.  And at National Taipei University of Education (NTUE), future teachers are being encouraged to spend the week before commencement reflecting on how they could educate their own students to help make the world better.

“Taking the Pledge is so much more than just signing a piece of paper,” said Nicodemus, who helped start the first pledge program 21 years ago at Humboldt State University in Northern California, “and organizing a pledge program is so much more than just offering pledges to graduating students.”

Nicodemus noted that the most effective pledge efforts have three components: 1) educating the campus community about the Pledge and social-environmental responsibility issues that students will face in their work lives; 2) making the pledge available for graduates to take; and 3) following up with pledge-signers to provide the information and support they need to live out their pledge commitments.  “Now, more and more, we’re seeing these different components in the pledge programs here in Asia.”

Charged by Soochow University’s office of student affairs with responsibility for managing the school’s pledge program, Career Center director Beauty Yu and her staff have put together a multi-faceted, highly engaging and informative series of activities to introduce students to the Pledge and issues of ethics and responsibility in employment-related choices.  Beginning in mid-May, “Ethics at Work: Responsibility for your Work, Satisfying Cooperation with Colleagues, and New on the Job” ran for more than a week and included lectures, workshops, and trainings.  “We hope students will be responsible to themselves and find the proper job which fits with their own values, then try their best to make the society better,” said Yu

While the Pledge has been available to Soochow grads since 2005, this year’s distribution will reach a far greater number of students, and offer them much more than a single pledge card.  A pre-commencement public education program is being carried out on both the main Shihlin and downtown Taipei campuses, featuring beautifully designed informative banners, posters, and wall displays.  At graduation ceremonies on June 7th, students will receive special decorative bags containing pledge cards, special “ribbon stickers” that can be worn on their gowns to show commitment to the Pledge, and information to help pledge-takers successfully live out their commitments to social-environmental responsibility.  Faculty members and university administrators attending the events will also be able to wear ribbon stickers, to demonstrate their support for students considering and making the pledge promise.         Angel Hsu, an instructor in the English department who coordinated Soochow’s pledge program last year, has brought the Pledge into her classrooms, having students write essays about how they could be socially and environmentally responsible in their jobs.  “For me,” she explained, “it was one of the most meaningful assignments I’ve given, especially because I wrote an essay myself to show the students that all of us have to consider these important questions.”   Business management senior Gina Chou volunteered for “Ethics at Work” and plans to sign the pledge at Soochow’s June 7th graduation.  She emphasized, “For me, the Pledge is not only a promise to myself but to the whole world,” and noted that by signing and following through on the Pledge, she might be able to positively affect many people around her.Ilan County high school English teacher Huei-Wen Tsai, a graduate of CCU who signed the Pledge when it was first offered in 2004, admitted she didn’t really understand the commitment until she started to teach English in an Ilan high school.  “I think it has been very lucky for me to be a public school teacher,” said Tsai, “because the call of a teacher, in essence, corresponds very well to the cause of GPA.”  She fulfills her promise by often incorporating themes of environmental and social issues into her regular classroom instruction.The Graduation Pledge is spreading steadily in Taiwan, gaining new schools each year, and has also taken root in India, where several educational institutions have either begun offering the Pledge to their graduates or are considering doing so.  Frequently, the programs of the pledge schools have been started by a single faculty member who decided to offer pledges to their own students.  Success of the Pledge in their classroom then led to bigger and better things.  At Fujen University (FJU) in Taipei, Father Daniel Bauer, a longtime instructor and regular newspaper columnist, has taught about the Pledge and distributed it to students in his ethics courses since 2006.  Recently, he wrote that he’s “lending a hand in back of the scenes” with the goal of FJU beginning to include the Pledge in its official commencement ceremony.Meanwhile, GPA-Asia is working hard to compile and create practical resources that pledge-signers can use in making important choices of jobs and on-the-job choices, and also developing materials and processes for training students, teachers, and career counselors.  Group leaders are also meeting with a variety of governmental agencies and private organizations with which it shares goals, seeking support and cooperation.  “We’re quite excited about the interest that’s been shown in the Pledge and our work for social-environmental responsibility,” commented Matt Nicodemus, adding that contacts with Taiwan’s ministries of education and foreign affairs have been particularly promising.               

 Most active pledge schools in Asia:

Chinese Culture University (CCU, ??????), Taipei

Graduation and pledge activity date: June 7 

Website: www2.pccu.edu.tw/pledge

Coordinator & faculty contact: Terry Wu (????), Director, Language Center, Instructor, English Department and Coordinator, GPA-CCU

terry0530@yahoo.com

(office) 02-2861-0511 x24401

(cell) 0928-528-464

Fujen University (FJU, ???????), Taipei

Graduation date: June 14 

Pledge program coordinator: Dean of Student Affairs: Dr. Yang Bai-Chuan (??????)

005087@mail.fju.edu.tw 

(office) 2905-2229

Secretary: Ms. Chi

046477@mail.fju.edu.tw 

(office) 2905-2229

Faculty contact: Father Daniel J. Bauer (??? ??), SVD, Associate Professor, English Department and Chairman, English Department, School of Continuing Education 

015130@mail.fju.edu.tw

(office) 02-2905-2565

National Taipei University of Education (NTUE, ????????), Taipei

Graduation & pledge activity date: June 7

Administration contact: Prof. Chen Chin-Fen (???), Dean of Academic Affairs

fen@tea.ntue.edu.tw

(office) 02-2732-1104  x2008, 2170

(cell) 0939-565-157
National Taiwan University (NTU,), Taipei

“Shout for Declaration” pledge activity date: June 6 (12:00 pm) Graduation date: June 7“Shout for Declaration” web page: www.bonvoyage.club.tw/10/shout_for_declaration.htm Student Graduation Association president: Cindy Hsu (???)

scjorme@hotmail.com

(cell) 0928-973-901

SGA pledge program organizers:

Sophia Kuo (???)

since19865@hotmail.com

(cell) 0955-293-575

Damien Chang (???)

damien0327@hotmail.com

(cell) 0921-823-321 

Soochow University (SCU, ????), Taipei

Graduation & pledge activity date: June 7 

Website: www.scu.edu.tw/career/

Career Center pledge program coordinators:

Beauty Yu (???), Director, Shihlin campus center

beauty@scu.edu.tw

(office) 02-2881-9471 x7571

Faculty contact: Angel Hsu (???), Instructor, Dept. of English

yesangel@hotmail.com

(cell) 0939-720-779

Residential Solar Photovoltaics Are Affordable – Now is the time to buy

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I think this story tells itself:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/evergreen-solar-panels-460608

6.19.2008 12:38 PM

More Efficient, Lower

Impact Solar Panels Developed

Evergreen Solar Announces

Improved Solar Technology

Massachusetts-based Evergreen Solar has announced a new line of high efficiency solar panels this month.

Called the ES-A Series, the 200, 205 and 210 W solar panels are made with Evergreen’s proprietary “String Ribbon” technology. Inside the company’s custom furnaces, a set of special parallel strings are pulled through a molten pool of silicon. A thin “ribbon” forms between strings as the silicon cools. The ribbon is then cut into wafers, which are fashioned into solar cells.

According to Evergreen, the carbon footprint of these new panels is up to 50% smaller than those of competitors, and they have a quicker energy payback — reportedly as fast as 12 months for installed panels. This last point is particularly exciting, since the amount of energy required to make solar panels has long been a bone of contention among critics of the technology.

Back in the late 90s, energy paybacks for solar panels were as high as seven years. Today, they are often reported as “1-5 years.”

Evergreen says it will begin production of its new panels by July. They will be built in its new manufacturing plant in Devens, Massachusetts, where the workforce has reportedly swelled from 300 to 1,000.

The company says its final products will include longer cables for easier installation, new clickable connectors and a new low voltage configuration for greater flexibility.

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http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/06/18/evergreen_solar_gets_2_contracts_worth_about_600m/

Evergreen Solar Gets

2 contracts worth about

$600M

 June 18, 2008

MARLBORO, Mass.—Solar panel producer Evergreen Solar Inc. said Wednesday it signed two sales contracts extending through 2012 with a combined value of about $600 million.

The contracts are with White River Junction, Vt.-based groSolar and Germany’s Wagner & Co Solartechnik GmbH, which designs and installs solar electric and hot water systems.

The solar panels for the new contracts will be made in Evergreen’s Devens, Mass., facility starting in July.

Evergreen Solar said its contractual backlog now stands at $1.7 billion.

Shares jumped $1.37, or 13.4 percent, to $11.56 in after-hours trading. The stock closed at $10.24 in the regular session.

Every Engineer Must Become A Social Engineer – If the residential housing market is to make in modern times

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For instance the home refrigerator must be totally redesigned. NOT made more efficient but redesigned. Light tunnels need to totally replace windows. The HOUSE itself needs to be completely rethought.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Energy_Housing_and_Recycling_Advances_To_Be_Unveiled_At_TMS_2008_Annual_Meeting_999.html

Energy, Housing and

Recycling Advances To Be

 Unveiled At TMS

2008 Annual Meeting


Energy efficiency is also one of the problems with today’s housing. Stephen Lee, professor in the School of Agriculture at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says American methods of homebuilding are not responding to global and regional changes.

by Staff Writers
Warrendale PA (SPX) Dec 18, 2007
Energy, housing and recycling solutions for the 21st century are among the research topics that will be presented at the TMS 2008 Annual Meeting and Exhibition, March 9-13, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. These topics are part of the “Materials and Society” vein of the meeting, which focuses on engineering solutions to some of society’s most perplexing problems.

“Engineers solve problems, make things happen and enhance the quality of life on this planet. This has always been a constant; however what has changed over time has been the needs of society and how engineers have responded to those needs,” according to Diran Apelian, Ph.D., Director of the Metal Processing Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, and chair of the Materials and Society program.

“With 20 percent of the world population living in absolute poverty; 18 percent of the population lacking access to safe drinking water; 40 percent having no access to sanitation; energy consumption increasing at a higher rate than population growth; and healthcare needs and expectations increasing out of sync with the cost of health care delivery; there is no doubt that the engineer for the 21st century has to be a social scientist.”

One such challenge is finding clean, alternative sources to produce energy at economically, competitive rates given the world’s demand for energy, and global warming. Tomas Diaz De La Rubia of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, will discuss the efforts to date to develop new materials for energy applications in his presentation, “Energy Sources for the 21st Century – Implications and Challenges.”

“Meeting the growth in energy demand while mitigating climate change will demand new energy sources beyond fossil fuels, such as solar, nuclear and, ultimately, fusion.” Dr. Diaz says these new materials must be highly efficient, safe and reliable in extreme environments.

Energy efficiency is also one of the problems with today’s housing. Stephen Lee, professor in the School of Agriculture at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, says American methods of homebuilding are not responding to global and regional changes.

“Our houses of today are not meeting the needs of the users, nor are they performing as good global citizens.” Professor Lee believes applying industrial engineering principles to the housing delivery process could solve these problems. In his presentation, “Housing for the 21st Century – Design, Technology and Construction,” he will use the 2007 Carnegie Mellon Solar Decathlon house as a case study to illustrate process solutions.

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Reengineering is actually pretty simple
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http://bita.hdinc.com/en/art/?132

But “resizing” is an inadequate definition for reengineering. Classic reengineering is re-deciding the way we do business based on the best options available to us at that time. It is not driven fundamentally by people, but by changes in technology that occur over time.

Take the example of our CEO’s house. Sixty years ago a young accountant told his fiancee, “I’ll build us the best home money can buy.” Then he worked with an architect to design the house. Some of the decisions he made were about which plumbing and lighting options to install. He and his architect looked at all the options available in the 1930’s and chose the best ones. So they “engineered” the house. Sixty years later, Dutch (Holland) and his wife, Jan, sat down with an architect to consider some changes. Once again they had to make decisions about plumbing and lighting. This time they had an entirely different set of options to look at. Based on these new options, they “reengineered” the house and put in plumbing and lighting systems not available to the original builder. We would expect that someone purchasing the house in 2020 will probably make different choices … ones that Dutch and Jan don’t — can’t — know about.

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AHHHHH home sweet home

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http://www.solardecathlon.org/homes_gallery.html#carnegie

cornell.jpg

penn.jpg 

aandm.jpg

The last one is my favorite – I love personal windmills…

Barack Obama Or John McCain Whose Energy Policies Are Better? Time will tell

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I am not even going to get into this until after the conventions. There will be plenty of time to talk about it then. Right now it looks like we are on a fault line. One guy wants to get us off hydrocarbons as fa uel and headed towards a new green future. The other guy wants nukes, clean coal, and “drill often and drill here”. I will let you guys figure out whom is who.

Canadian Kids Rock On the Environment – What polluters don’t understand about a rapidly changing population

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For 3 generations now, environmental stewardship has been taught in the k-12 school systems of many countries. The change it will bring is only now a wave but soon it will be a tidal wave:

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/index.cfm

kids.gif

Welcome to the EcoKids recognition zone. The place where EcoKids clubs strut their stuff to the world-wide-web! Have a look around to see what’s going on across Canada and who’s doing what in your province. Get ideas for your own club by reading about the efforts and successes of others.

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I put up examples – for a complete list go to the site

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 Delwood Elementary School, Edmonton

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/atlantic/Ecole_St._Catherine_School.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/bc/FourSeasonsMontessori.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/manitoba/Stonewallhomepage.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/ontario/Gore_Hill_Public_School.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/quebec/CirqueduSoleilAlegriaSchool.cfm

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/saskatchewan/Ecole_Elsie_Mironuck_School.cfm

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Here is a sample of what they do:

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/home_pages/schools/atlantic/NorthEastKingsEducationCentre.cfm

One of our major projects for this year was our penny drive for the World Wildlife Fund. This program was called “Pennies for the Planet”. Over five weeks, we were able to raise $759.29 in pennies. It took a lot of time and dedication to count all of the pennies. On average, about five students every lunch hour would count pennies by hand. This took approximately a month. All together, that´s close to 76 000 pennies! We used the money to adopt a Panda bear, an owl, an Orca, a Sea turtle, an Asian elephant, a Polar bear, part of the boreal forest, the Arctic and the oceans 

Another project that we´ve been working on this year is our Peace Garden. We worked very hard to clear it of trash and weeds and planted new flowers and plants. We also raised awareness about global warming and littering. One of our environment club members gave a speech about global warming this year and another member is part of a news crew that makes announcements once or twice a month about littering.

To help get the message out, we made posters about different environmental issues. Some of the issues were anti-idling, composting and waste reduction. To help encourage the use of composters, we were able to purchase a compost bin for our cafeteria

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Uranium – The Best Place For It Is In The Ground

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Wow!  The Australians rally kicked the energy ball forward. I suppose this would be called the ultimate hot rocks project. Drill to the uranium and get the heat. An electricity generator that could last for 25,000 years and be totally clean. Where are the investment bankers when you need them?

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508132406.htm

Tapping Into Australia’s Unique

Hot Energy Resources

ScienceDaily (May 12, 2008) — Australia is uniquely endowed with heat-producing elements under its surface that could provide potentially unlimited amounts of geothermal power for this country, says geoscientist Dr Sandra McLaren.

Dr McLaren will speak about her research into Australia’s heat-producing elements, and their potential for future energy production, at the Academy of Science’s peak annual event Science at the Shine Dome May 7.She says that west of the line between Cairns and the mouth of the Murray River lies a belt of rocks containing the enriched elements uranium, thorium, and potassium that are around 1.5 billion years old. These enriched elements are essentially a heat source located in the upper part of our continental crust.’Our status as one of the most prospective countries in the world for geothermal power generation is due to this extraordinary enrichment in uranium. That’s because when we bury these enriched rocks, even beneath only about two or three kilometres of sediment, they’re capable of generating extremely high temperatures which we can use to generate geothermal power.’

She says that nuclear power and geothermal power use the same source of fuel – enriched uranium.

‘The fundamental difference between the two energy options is the degree to which the uranium is enriched in a particular spot, and the way in which we choose to use it. So, although as geoscientists we are aware of this resource, there is still a lot of work we can do in assessing and documenting it and developing new exploration strategies and, further down the track, new technology to exploit this.

‘Its an extraordinary resource that we have. Its had profound impact on our geological past, and we’re at the point in time, in terms of society, of making a choice of what to do with that resource into the future.

‘We have on average 2-3 times the normal concentration of uranium, thorium and potassium in the crust, so we’re in a better position than probably any other country in the world to generate this type of geothermal energy.’

In terms of the future of geothermal power in Australia she says: ‘Its potentially unlimited in terms of the actual resource. I think the thing that’s going to constrain how and when we can use this resource for generating power is more on the engineering side, more understanding how to exploit it once we’ve identified how much is there.

‘The exploration companies in Australia are used to exploring for base metals and gold and metallic resources. Exploring for geothermal energy is a different ask all together and we really need to develop a framework to get better data sets for us to assess different resources and better ways of looking fo

Dan Piraro Is One Of The Funniest Cartoonist Alive – Well at least to me

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I am told that unofficially and off the record, Chris Robertson and the people at Peak Sun Silicon think so too.

http://bizarrocomic.blogspot.com/

I think the Peak Oil People are wrong. I think Oil Speculation has DOUBLED the price of oil. The Saudi’s claim that they believe oil is worth 70$$ a barrel. The real question is who tried to corner the Oil Market and Why? The second question is like the Hunt Brothers before them (in silver) when will they go to jail?

A bigger question is will the Saudi’s give the money back that they made as a result? Unfortunately they may have screwed the pooch because people are switching to mass transit and scooters.


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piraro3.jpg

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Vertical Wind Turbines Go Wild – Stripped down bare and undulating in the wind

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The big breasted modern urban turbines make a man hard as steel. OKOKOKOK so pornography will never sell electricity but the new generation of wind turbines is enough to set the heart aflutter. When I posted on this last year these sexy designs were nowhere to be found.

A New Wind Power Design Good For Rural And Urban Environments
By Zulima Palacio
Washington
10 June 2008

New Wind Power / Broadband – Download (WM)
New Wind Power / Broadband – Watch (WM) 
New Wind Power / Dialup – Download (WM)
New Wind Power / Dialup – Watch (WM) 

Wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of alternative energy in the world.  More and more, wind power mills are seen in the countryside, in large wind farms and for the most part, away from city life.  But a new form of  “wind power” is now designed to work in an urban environment.  VOA producer Zulima Palacio has more in this Searching for Solutions report. Mill Arcega narrates.

Wind farms, like these ones in California, are becoming more common in rural areas of the U.S.   An industry association says last year, alone, wind power capacity in America grew by 45 percent.  Mostly wind power is generated by large propellers that can only be placed in the countryside.

But now, a U.S. company is offering a propeller-free personal windmill that can be set up in city or suburb.  The president of Mariah Power, Mike Hess, demonstrates what he calls the “Windspire.”

“This one generates 25 to 30 percent of the power in your house, but if we are building a three kilowatts version, which is only twice the width, same height, then it generates 100 percent of your power requirements,” Hess said.

This new system was part of an environmentally friendly exhibit at the U.S. Botanical Garden in Washington.   The design was inspired by a 3,000 year-old windmill the Egyptians used to grind wheat. 

The company had the modern version independently tested, here in Utah, to prove it can be competitive with large propellers of traditional windmills. 

The large blades have been known to kill birds and bats.  And because they move much faster than wind speeds, they can be noisy.

But Hess says the Windspire’s verticle-axis wind turbine is not only very quiet, but also bird-friendly.

“Bird friendly yes, because they only spin at two and a half times the speed of wind, so they can see it.” He explained.

http://ecotality.com/life/category/green-building/

Duval’s hotel won’t have conventional wind turbine – instead, he’s looking at a German-designed vertical axle turbine, thought to be was safer than having a high-speed rotating propeller that could cause serious damage if it became dislodged. The building internal environment also is a factor in the choice, he says. “We are on top of a building. We can not have anything that vibrates or emits sound. It’s got to be very smooth.”

Duval also plans to install a pyramid of solar panels on the roof.

Vertical axis wind turbines are a growing segment of the wind turbine industry. Mercedes Benz recently installed one at one of its facilities in Great Britain.

The company said that the 20m-high turbine, developed by wind energy company Quiet Revolution, was one of only six in operation in the UK and had been designed to work quietly and efficiently in urban environments where the wind direction changes frequently.

Mercedes-Benz plans to use the energy generated to power electric cars and has installed three charging points next to the turbine. It estimated that the installation will generate enough power for 30,000 miles of driving a year using its electric Smart fortwo cars, equivalent to the electricity needed to power two average homes. Wilfried Steffen, president and chief executive of Mercedes-Benz in the UK, said that the installation was part of a project to ultimately generate 10 per cent of the company’s energy onsite through a combination of wind energy, ground-source heat pumps and solar water heating.

From London to New Zealand, vertical axis wind turbines appear to be gaining popularity as a way for just about any business to get in on the generation of power from the wind

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And they look so cool:

mill2.jpg

http://www.bluenergy-ag.net/English/products_wind.html

 mill31.jpg

Bluenergy Solar-Wind-Turbine

BSWT is a vertical wind turbine based on sailing engineering. The wind rotor is rotated by two spiral-formed vanes. For best performance, these vanes are covered in solar cells, so that sun and wind produce electricity as one element. The BSWT installation costs relatively little, produces no noise or significant shadowing, can be easily maintained from ground level, and is an attractive addition to any home.

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It doesn’t get any sexier then that.

Even Jay Leno has one:

 http://www.ecorazzi.com/2007/05/29/jay-lenos-garage-gets-a-vertical-wind-turbine/

Jay Leno’s Garage Gets A Vertical Wind Turbine

Filed under: green and famous, transport — michael @ 2:37 pm

Popular Mechanics and Jay Leno have been working together on a project to take Jay’s car garage and turn it into a model of sustainability. We covered Jay’s ownership of some of the first electric cars last month and now we’re happy to report that a vertical wind turbine will shortly be joining the solar panels on the roof of his garage.  From the article,

“[The Turbine] can produce 10 kw at around 28 mph and has a cut-in wind speed of 6 mph. These turbines don’t need a braking mechanism and can self-start at very low wind speeds—something similar designs in the past could never do. They take up very little space, they’re virtually silent, and multiple units can be placed within feet of one another. Delta II units can also be stacked vertically up to 50 kW.”

Vertical wind turbines are a sort of “Holy Grail” for wind energy because they tend to alleviate some of the environmental concerns associated with large scale blade turbines. While Jay’s turbine is still considered small, the design is holding promise for commercial farms. The 500-watt unit Pacwind dropped by his garage with costs just under $3K. For his 17,000-sq-ft. garage, however, a more powerful 10kw version called the Delta II will most likely do the job. This unit comes in at $20K — but with the proper rebates will most likely fall closer to $12K. Granted, Jay’s probably not too concerned with counting pennies. 

You can take a look at Jay’s progress on his green garage by visiting the Popular Mechanics site here. Of course, we’ll keep you updated on the latest as it zooms into our laps.


What A Difference A Month Makes – The mouth piece for the rich was bitchin about all the “money” we spend on alternatives

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Oh I meant the Wall Street Journal, sorry….I bet this article wouldn’t see the light of day today. Wait till oil hits 200$$ a barrel and we shall see what they say then.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121055427930584069.html?mod=opinion_main

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Wind ($23.37) v. Gas (25 Cents)
May 12, 2008; Page A14

Congress seems ready to spend billions on a new “Manhattan Project” for green energy, or at least the political class really, really likes talking about one. But maybe we should look at what our energy subsidy dollars are buying now.

Some clarity comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), an independent federal agency that tried to quantify government spending on energy production in 2007. The agency reports that the total taxpayer bill was $16.6 billion in direct subsidies, tax breaks, loan guarantees and the like. That’s double in real dollars from eight years earlier, as you’d expect given all the money Congress is throwing at “renewables.” Even more subsidies are set to pass this year.

An even better way to tell the story is by how much taxpayer money is dispensed per unit of energy, so the costs are standardized. For electricity generation, the EIA concludes that solar energy is subsidized to the tune of $24.34 per megawatt hour, wind $23.37 and “clean coal” $29.81. By contrast, normal coal receives 44 cents, natural gas a mere quarter, hydroelectric about 67 cents and nuclear power $1.59.

The wind and solar lobbies are currently moaning that they don’t get their fair share of the subsidy pie. They also argue that subsidies per unit of energy are always higher at an early stage of development, before innovation makes large-scale production possible. But wind and solar have been on the subsidy take for years, and they still account for less than 1% of total net electricity generation. Would it make any difference if the federal subsidy for wind were $50 per megawatt hour, or even $100? Almost certainly not without a technological breakthrough.

By contrast, nuclear power provides 20% of U.S. base electricity production, yet it is subsidized about 15 times less than wind. We prefer an energy policy that lets markets determine which energy source dominates. But if you believe in subsidies, then nuclear power gets a lot more power for the buck than other “alternatives.”

The same study also looked at federal subsidies for non-electrical energy production, such as for fuel. It found that ethanol and biofuels receive $5.72 per British thermal unit of energy produced. That compares to $2.82 for solar and $1.35 for refined coal, but only three cents per BTU for natural gas and other petroleum liquids.

All of this shows that there is a reason fossil fuels continue to dominate American energy production: They are extremely cost-effective. That’s a reality to keep in mind the next time you hear a politician talk about creating millions of “green jobs.” Those jobs won’t come cheap, and you’ll be paying for them.