Category Archives: sustainability

Earth Day 2011 – Here is the first post

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I am probably going to post Earth Day stuff for the next week. I see it as a way to hook up with old friends like today’s Shawna Coronado or new friends unknown.

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/gardening-nude/2011/04/green-tip-6-earth-day-is-every-day-just-ask-my-plastic-bag-thong-underwear-oak-tree-art.html

Green Tip #6-Earth Day Is Every Day, Just Ask My Plastic Bag Thong Underwear Oak Tree Art

Plastic Bag Thong.jpg

Earth Day should be every day. Just ask my oak tree which currently has a plastic bag hanging in it 28 feet up that remarkably resembles a pair of thong underwear. No kidding.

Why are we celebrating the earth just one day of the year? It has given us everything we have, wear, and eat – yep, even thong underwear. Without the earth humanity would not exist. With the earth we exist. Pure and simple.

Stop messing around people – pick up your trash so it does not get caught in a tree for some bird to get tangled in. Recycle your glass, plastic, and paper, so we save our natural resources. Make a difference every day, not just on Earth Day – it is the right thing to do.

Now. Who’s going to climb 28 feet up to help me get the thong out of the tree? Volunteers?

www.shawnacoronado.com

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HB 14 Is Still A Bad Idea – But this is a great article

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I have many problems with this legislation. For example, if a Power Company wanted to build a powerplant would this be considered an infrastructure improvement subject to 8 1/2 month review after construction had started? It’s the “after construction has started” part that is most bothersome. To the argument about 44 other states having similar statutes, as your mother said, “Would you jump off a bridge because you saw a friend do it”? Amend that to, “Would you jump off a bridge if you saw a whole bunch of people do it”? We usually call those folks lemmings.

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=184920

Electricity legislation sparks debate

by Kate Springer
April 14, 2011

Everyone can agree on one thing: Illinois needs to update its energy grid. But the Energy Modernization Act, also known as House Bill 14, would allow  $2.6 billion worth of upgrades. It sounds like a good thing but the proposal is meeting resounding opposition from critics.

The AARP, Citizens Utility Board and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan have dubbed HB 14 a “Trojan horse” or ComEd’s “automatic rate-hike bill” in an effort to fight the legislation.

During the past three months, Commonwealth Edison Co. and Ameren Corp., a downstate utility, have been lobbying legislators to pass HB14, which would allow them to invest in “smart meters” and infrastructure upgrades over the next 10 years in return for an alternative way to set rates.

In the current system, ComEd must spend about 11 months in hearings to convince the Illinois Commerce Commission that it needs a rate increase based on wholesale electricity prices.

Most recently, ComEd petitioned the ICC for a $396-million rate hike. Ten months after its request on April 13, an ICC judge recommended a $166-million increase, or a hike of 3 percent, on the average monthly bill. That was only half of ComEd’s request. The official adjustment will be decided by the end of May.

It’s a familiar pattern and one that ComEd would prefer to avoid.

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She is a pretty good writer. And she has 2 blogs:

http://katespringerblog.blogspot.com
http://katespringerblog2.blogspot.com

More tomorrow.

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Alternative Forms Of Energy Are Winning – At least it looks like it

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Is this the beginning of a wave whose crest will be high? Or the crest of a wave that is spent? It depends on the impact that events in Japan have. Already Germany has abandoned Nuclear Power and has limits on the carbon products it can produce. If everyone follows suit, the future could be bright.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/business/energy-environment/07electric.html

G.E. Plans to Build Largest Solar Panel Plant in U.S.

By TODD WOODY
Published: April 7, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO — In a move that could shake up the American solar industry, General Electric plans to announce on Thursday that it will build the nation’s largest photovoltaic panel factory, with the goal of becoming a major player in the market.

PrimeStar

Workers were reflected on a panel built by PrimeStar Solar, the Arvada, Colo., manufacturer that was bought by General Electric.

Green

A blog about energy and the environment.

“For the past five years, we’ve been investing extremely heavily in solar,” said Victor Abate, vice president for G.E.’s renewable energy business. “Going to scale is the next move.”

The plant, whose location has not been determined, will employ 400 workers and create 600 related jobs, according to G.E. The factory would annually produce solar panels that would generate 400 megawatts of energy, the company said, and would begin manufacturing thin-film photovoltaic panels made of a material called cadmium telluride in 2013. While less efficient than conventional solar panels, thin-film photovoltaics can be produced at a lower cost and have proven attractive to developers and utilities building large-scale power plants.

G.E. has signed agreements to supply solar panels to generate 100 megawatts of electric power to customers, including a deal for panels generating 60 megawatts with NextEra Energy Resources.

G.E., a manufacturing giant, operates in a range of energy businesses, from nuclear power plants to natural gas turbines. It has been aggressively expanding its energy portfolio, particularly through acquisitions.

Mr. Abate said G.E. had completed its purchase of PrimeStar Solar, the Arvada, Colo., company that made the thin-film photovoltaic panels. G.E. said the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently certified that a PrimeStar solar panels manufactured at its factory in Colorado had set a 12.8 percent efficiency record for cadmium telluride technology. Conventional solar panels typically are 16 to 20 percent efficient at converting sunlight into electricity.

“We believe we’ll be a cost leader, a technology leader and we’re excited about our position in a 75-gigawatt solar market over next five years,” said Mr. Abate.

The global conglomerate’s entry into the highly competitive photovoltaic market is likely to prove a significant challenge to First Solar, the thin-film market leader and the dominant manufacturer of cadmium telluride panels.

Also at risk are start-ups like Abound Solar, a Colorado company that in December obtained a $400 million federal loan guarantee to build factories to manufacture cadmium telluride panels.

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More tomorrow.

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Electric Cars Are Here To Stay – Finally after 100 years

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But will they do any good? I am not sure if I agree with this analysis but it is pretty detailed. Please go see the rest here:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17767977?nclick_check=1

Will buying an electric car make an environmental difference?

Sure, you might get a carpool sticker and a tax break. But if you buy an electric car, will it make much environmental difference?

Experts say that depends on three factors: What were you driving before? How is your electricity generated? And how many other electric cars are going to be sold?

In many cases, people who trade gasoline-powered cars for electric ones won’t be dramatically lessening the smog they emit. But when it comes to global warming, even when emissions from generating the electricity are taken into account, electric vehicles have a much smaller carbon footprint than gas-powered vehicles because they are much more efficient. However, it will take a decade or more until enough electric vehicles are on the road to make a significant impact.

“If you have a person who is driving a nice, newer car, having them switch to an electric car, there isn’t going to be much benefit in reducing smog,” said Tom Cahill, a professor emeritus of physics at UC Davis. “But there could be a whole lot of gain in climate change.”

Because all-electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf burn no fossil fuels, and plug-in hybrids like the Chevy Volt burn only small amounts of gasoline, tailpipe emissions from electric cars are basically zero. In smoggy cities like Los Angeles, driving one on summer days may actually clean the air because the tailpipe emissions contain less pollution than the air.

Yet most people currently buying electric cars weren’t driving old, smog-belching vehicles. They are often affluent motorists who drove newer-model gasoline cars. And because California has for 50 years had the toughest tailpipe standards in the nation, a 2010 gasoline-burning car puts out only 2 percent or less of the pollution spewed by a 1980s model.

Along with the national-security benefits of reducing America’s use of foreign oil, the main societal benefit of electric cars might be their dramatically smaller global warming footprint.

A 2008 study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, which include emissions from both manufacturing and operating a vehicle, are 32 percent less from plug-in hybrids than from gasoline-powered cars.

That finding was based on America’s electricity mix: 45 percent of U.S. electricity is generated from coal, 23 percent from natural gas, 20 percent from nuclear, and 12 percent from dams, solar, wind and other sources.

The global warming footprint of electric cars varies by region. Some states get nearly all their electricity from coal, the most polluting fuel. But only 15 percent of California’s electricity comes from coal, nearly all imported from other states, with 46 percent from natural gas, 15 percent from nuclear power, and 24 percent from dams, solar, wind and other sources.

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More tomorrow.

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I Was Looking For A Joke – What I got was this

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I typed in “best way to avert a nuclear disaster” thinking that I might get a joke or something other then Japan’s smoking nukes. I was wrong but this guy is pretty insightful.

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26916.html

Nuclear Power Industry Praying Japan Will Avert a Nuclear Disaster

Stock-Markets / Nuclear Power Mar 14, 2011 – 10:59 AM

By: Martin_D_Weiss

Explosions and meltdowns at nuclear reactors in Japan this past weekend will forever change the world of energy.

Authorities have already scheduled widespread power outages starting today — and they could continue the planned outages for weeks or even months.

Nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, on Saturday, following that nation's strongest earthquake in history.
Nuclear power plant explosion in Fukushima, Japan, on Saturday, following that nation’s strongest earthquake in history.

But that’s just a metaphor for the sustained global energy shortages that are likely, as the safety and long-term viability of nuclear power comes under more intense scrutiny than at any time in history.

How do we know that’s the likely outcome?

Because prior nuclear disasters, such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, had a major long-term impact on nuclear plant construction.

Moreover, those two disasters were ultimately written off to antiquated facilities or poor safety precautions. In contrast, the Japanese nuclear industry prides itself on safety, and the plants struck by the earthquake had far better staff training and equipment, including multiple back-up systems, all of which failed.

Some nuclear experts will counter that newer and safer technologies now exist or can be developed. But given the history of similar promises in the past, those are bound to fall on deaf ears.

The public will now ask …

Is there a fundamental incompatibility between the potential dangers of nuclear energy and the unpredictable wrath of Mother Nature?

That question defies any quick answer and could take years to resolve. Until then, further growth in nuclear power production could be drastically reduced, with potentially far-reaching consequences:

  • Chronic global energy shortages, especially in countries that were counting on new nuclear energy for a large portion of their electric power.
  • Massive, long-term upward pressure on crude oil prices as producers, consumers, and investors upwardly revise their forecasts of fossil fuel demand.
  • Vast sums of investor money diverted from nuclear power plant construction to other alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar, and bio-fuels.

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Still battling viruses. So hopefully more tomorrow.

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The Cure For Nuclear Disaster – Solar panels on your roof

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Go there and buy some.

http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/residential-solar-energy

Residential solar energy the top investment

Residential electricity rates have grown by an average of 25% over the last 6 years.  This is one reason that residential solar energy is growing rapidly.  The new 30% federal tax credit has created a dramatic boost to the residential solar energy market.  Falling solar panel prices have also added to the financial incentives.  In some locations, with combined federal, state and local incentives, the payback on the initial residential solar energy investment can be as short as 6-10 years.  Since the beginning of 2009, residential solar energy installations have grown by 50%.

The economics of residential solar energy

With electric utility rates increasing substantially every year, estimates are that the average homeowner will spend over $100,000 in the next 25 years on electricity.  With costs that high it makes sense to turn that expected cost into an investment that yields numerous dividends.  Returns on a residential solar energy system can be as high as 20-25%.  This figure reflects the lower cost of investing in a solar energy system now – combined with the increase in value to your home.  According to the National Appraisers Institute, the value of your home increases 20x the annual savings in electricity. So if you save $1,000, your home value increases $20,000 without increasing property taxes.

Net-Metering and feed-in tariffs

Most residential solar energy systems will be connected to the grid through a meter enabled for net-metering.  This means that when your solar panels are generating more power than you are using, the excess power will be fed back into the grid and your meter will actually spin backwards.  Your electric utility will give you credit for the energy you generate, deducting money from your bill.  In some locations that are using feed-in tariffs, the utility company is required to pay consumers up to 300% more for the power generated.  While feed-in tariffs are not currently widespread, you can see the impact they have on consumer demand for residential solar energy.  Ask your solar installer if there are feed-in tariffs working in your area

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More tomorrow.

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Inproved Solar Panels By Transphorm – What is in an element

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Gallium nitride makes the DC to AC conversion process much more effective.

http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/google-transphorms-solar-efficiency/

Google Startup ‘Transphorms’ Solar Efficiency

google transphorm energy efficiency

The name of the company is Transphorm, and since its inception in 2007 it has been busy transforming the very nature of energy.

No bumps on solar cells, no cars that run on jellied jellyfish. Transphorm, emerging at the head of the class after three years of sitting in the back row, has discovered a technology that could ultimately capture some of the power lost in converting from alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).

This is done by your regional electric utility, which transmits electricity in DC and delivers power to the plug-ins in your home as AC. Why? It’s cheaper, for one thing. It’s also safer, and the amount of power lost to heat during transmission is minimal.

dot dot dot as they say

Increasing energy efficiency is one of the best ways of achieving that  “green energy” economy we all want and need. Waste not, want not, as my mother used to say, and this particular waste-not strategy benefits not only large power users (factories and control centers, for example) but also the smallest user, which means you and I. This is because the cost of lost power is built into the cost per kilowatt-hour charged by the utility.

Transphorm’s secret weapon? Gallium nitride, a material that has to be fabricated, making it initially more expensive but consistently more efficient than silicon. It is, according to CEO Umesh Mishra, “a miracle material.”

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for more on that see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_nitride

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in bright light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronic, high-power and high-frequency devices. For example, GaN is the substrate which makes violet (405 nm) laser diodes possible, without use of nonlinear optical frequency-doubling.

Its sensitivity to ionizing radiation is low (like other group III nitrides), making it a suitable material for solar cell arrays for satellites. Because GaN transistors can operate at much hotter temperatures and work at much higher voltages than gallium arsenide (GaAs) transistors, they make ideal power amplifiers at microwave frequencies.

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More tomorrow.

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Wind Power Blows – So this is the alternative energy Presidency

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You think it has been a bad year for nuclear power or Japanese grown vegetables?

http://www.frontlinestocks.com/hrte/

Wind energy declines in USA

28 July 2010

Wind power installations to date this year have dropped by 71% from last years level, according to the latest quarterly report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

Only 700 MW of wind turbines were added in Q2 2010, down 57% from comparable 2008 levels and down 71% from 2009.

Even with 5.5 GW of wind power under construction and a more active second half of the year anticipated, AWEA projects that total 2010 installations will be 25% to 45% below 2009 installations, depending on policy developments.

Combined Q1 and Q2wind energy installations in 2010 are 1239 MW, 57% below 2008 half-year levels and 71% below 2009.

AWEA and a coalition of renewable energy, labor, utility and environmental groups are calling on the US Congress to enact a strong national renewable electricity standard (RES) to spur demand for green power, attract manufacturing investment and save (and create) jobs.

“Strong Federal policy supporting the US wind energy industry has never been more important,” says Denise Bode of AWEA. “We have an historic opportunity to build a major new manufacturing industry.”

“Without strong, supportive policy like an RES to spur demand, investment and jobs, manufacturing facilities will go idle and lay off workers if Congress doesn’t act now – before time runs out this session,” she adds.

US wind energy now in ‘coasting momentum’

There is no demand beyond the present “coasting momentum” and, without stable policy, without demand and new power purchase agreements and without new wind turbine orders, the domestic industry is sputtering out, the group notes. “Passage of a strong national RES will boost demand and fire up the industry’s economic engines.”

The US wind energy industry has repeatedly criticized the ‘boom-and-bust’ cycles which result in layoffs and also discourage investment in new manufacturing facilities. The USA is losing the clean energy manufacturing race to Europe and China, which have firm long-term renewable energy targets and policy commitments in place, warns AWEA.

According to a national poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, an RES is popular among US voters with strong support from 65% of Republican voters, 69% of Independents and 92% of Democrats.

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More tomorrow…

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I Am Tired – Of being ripped off by the North American wealthy elite and

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I am tired of the death and destruction in Japan. So today it is kids fun.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=riddles

Q: How did Benjamin Franklin feel when he discovered electricity?

A: Answer

Image of a man fishing.

A: Goes fission.

Cartoon image of a baseball batter. 

Q: How is energy conservation like a baseball team?

A: Answer

Image of a light switch.

A: They can both use a switch hitter.

image of a half moon and a car 

Q: What is burned by cars driven late at night?

A: Answer

image of a clock and oil can

A: Midnight oil.

Image of a beach. 

Q: How are renewable power plants like people who enjoy going to the beach?

A: Answer

Image of sun, wind, and water.

A: They all like sun, wind, and water.

Image of a criminal behind bars. 

Q: In which part of the jail are energy criminals kept?

A: Answer

Image of a fuel cell diagram behind bars.

A: The fuel cells.

Image of a school. 

Q: What is a renewable energy source that is used every day at your school?

A: Answer

Image of gears inside profile of a head.

A: Brain power!

image of a cloud with a face 

Q: What did the solar cells say to their cloudy boss?

A: Answer

Image of sun and a solar cell.

A: We need rays!

image of a man of a ladder 

Q: How many energy students does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Answer

image of fluorescent light bulb

A: None! They’re smart enough to use energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, which rarely need to be replaced.

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More yucks tomorrow.

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Nuclear Power Plants Explode – Gas Prices Explode

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I may have crafted the perfect google whore headline. So which do you think is more important? The nukes or the pocketbook? I vote for the nukes. But which source to cite? God what a beautiful day. Actually it is cold and rainy here but I just meant it at a philosophical level. First the ground rules: 1. None of these nukes will create a China syndrome, 2. They will be messy to clean up but produce no widespread radiation meaning spreading any further than 100 miles, 3. They will not kill off the nuclear power movement worldwide.

First the bad news:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/0314/Second-explosion-at-nuclear-power-plant-in-Japan

Second explosion at nuclear power plant in Japan

Monday’s blast destroyed the containment building but the reactor is still intact. Japanese officials also said cooling systems have failed at a third reactor

By Jenna Fisher, Staff writer / March 14, 2011

A new explosion hit Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Monday, two days after an explosion at a different reactor housing unit at the power plant. Japanese officials said cooling systems have also failed at a third reactor as a result of Friday’s earthquake and tsunami that knocked out electricity to much of the region

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said 11 people were injured in the blast, which authorities said was probably a hydrogen explosion causing the roof and walls of the building to blow away, reported Japan Today.

Today’s explosion has increased concern about a possible release of radiation, such as the fallout from Chernobyl that devastated Ukraine in 1986. However, a number of American and European scientists, as well as Japan’s nuclear safety agency, have downplayed that risk.

IN PICTURES: Japan’s 8.9 earthquake

Despite Saturday’s explosion at reactor No. 1 and Monday’s blast at reactor No. 3, Japan’s nuclear safety agency has said there is “absolutely no possibility of a Chernobyl” style accident at the Fukushima I plant, according to the national strategy minister, reports The Daily Telegraph. While the explosions blew the roof off each of the reactor containment buildings, officials said the reactors themselves remained intact.

“Everything I’ve seen says that the containment structure is operating as it’s designed to operate. It’s keeping the radiation in and it’s holding everything in, which is the good news,” Murray Jennex, of San Diego State University, told the Telegraph.

“This is nothing like a Chernobyl,” he added. “At Chernobyl you had no containment structure – when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere.”

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For a better discussion of why I mandated guidelines, please see the below related article. The bottom line is they will probably have to pump sea water into at least three reactors, making them pretty much a total economic loss. It will take at least a month for them too cool down. But they were 40 years old and this is what you get when you put your hand in the nuclear cookie jar.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/0313/Japan-s-nuclear-crisis-and-Chernobyl-key-differences

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More tomorrow.

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