Renewable Energy Roundup
Its been a busy week in the renewable energy world, so lets just (get up) get down to business going through the news that fell through the cracks.
The good people at our nations find auto companies have taken it upon themselves to start fake grass roots groups. The goal of these astroturf groups, keep fuel efficiency standards low. And they wonder why Toyota and Honda are kicking their ass…sheesh.
Hewlett Packard is spending 2 million dollars (cash) to “address global climate change”.
A new kind of micro-beasty might revolutionize the biofuel world. Because as we all know the best kind of beasty is the micro kind.
That’s not a turbine order, THIS is a turbine order. MHI receives massive wind turbine order. Lets hope they can keep up.
The EU is doing something about the problem of unregulated Biofuel, we desperately need to be paying attention to this sort of thing.
Check out the spectacular growth of the green energy market, nice.
Speaking of which GE seems to be double its green tech investment.
90% of Americans think solar should be available for all new home construction. “yes I will take the marble table tops, the solar panels, and the wood siding”
Looks like some new energy legislation in the senate could do a lot of good for the renewable energy market. Lets hope that they don’t end up full of crap amendments and sneaky backdoor loopholes for coal and oil companies.
Oh yea, and Bush said something about carbon emissions (most of the rest of the world thinks he is full of shit, and so do I), but in the interest of hope maybe just maybe something good will come of this.
An Obviously Good Idea - Save Money Save Energy - Freeaire
Every once in a while someone comes up with an idea that is so astoundingly simple that you have to wonder “why didn’t I think of that.” Every year in this part of the country a remarkable thing happens. The leaves fall off the trees, the sun goes into hibernation, and the rain turns into snow, we call it winter. Global warming aside, its a pretty regular event that can be counted on every year. The number one feature of winter that most people notice is that, it gets really freaking cold outside. This is key to the workings of an invention by a company called Freeaire.
The Freeaire system is an add on product for existing walk in freezers, coolers, meat lockers, cold storage, and any other refrigerated space (I am sure you could modify it to work with a home unit, but its designed for commercial spaces). It works with all those large walk in coolers that are in just about every corner store in the world.
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10 Questions - Peter Haas Executive Director Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group
When I stumbled upon Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, I knew right away that they were doing something special. There unique approach to creating positive change involves long term commitments to the community; I was especially impressed with their commitment to green technology. I was lucky enough to be able to get Peter Haas, the founder and Executive Director of the AIDG, to take some time out of his very busy schedule to answer ten questions for The Sietch.
1. The Naib: Could you tell Sietch readers about AIDG? Specifically how did it start, who is involved and what role do you play in the organization.
Peter Haas AIDG is a new international development charity that starts small businesses in developing countries to produce, install and repair clean and green technologies for the rural poor. We started a little over two years ago. Our first business, XelaTeco, located in the 2nd largest city in Guatemala, Quetzaltenango (aka Xela), was founded in August 2005.
The need for an organization like AIDG crystallized for me during a trip to Cuba (legal, of course) with Global Exchange. We were studying urban agriculture at the time and visited many farms. Two farms struck me the most; both were pig farms outside of Havana. One had a biodigester that had been installed by a family member in technical school. A biodigester is a system that turns animal waste and kitchen scraps into biogas and fertilizer. This place was clean, free of the normal pig-farm smell, and tree-covered. Their kitchen lacked the black soot normally associated with open wood-burning stoves.
Adam And Eve - Dinosaur Hunters
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Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson On The Environment
Interesting. Again I really think that his ideas are the right ones. I would be interested in learning how he plans to go about them, but the fact that he wants to do them is more than we can say for the current leaders. It will take large, visionary thinking to get us out of the mess we are in.
If you are interested here is Clintons views on this topic.
New Legislation Could Cripple Wind Industry
In an era when global warming is increasingly seen as the number one problem facing the nation, and our president has said we are addicted to foreign oil, the last thing we need is legislation that would cripple the wind industry. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) , a man known for his support of large coal subsidies and who once said about coal “For so many, filthy coal is a dirty four-letter word, these individuals, I tell you, have their heads buried in the sand.” (via) has just introduced a bill (H.R. 2337 full text of bill .txt file) that would place enormous, wrong-headed restrictions on America’s growing wind energy efforts. If enacted, the bill would severely hurt farmers, ranchers and other landowners who have – or want to have – clean, income-producing, wind energy turbines on their property.
Anti-Wind Energy Section of H.R. 2337, establishes onerous standards for siting, construction, monitoring, and adaptive management that must be satisfied by all wind projects to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse impacts on migratory birds and bats despite the fact that wind turbines cause less than 0.003% of human-cause bird mortality.
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Early Morning Solar Gadget - Sunprint Solar Photograph Paper
First introduced in the late 70’s at the Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley Sunprint paper allows you to take “solar Photographs” by laying things on top of the paper and then exposing it to the sun. When you have finished exposing the image you want you dip it in water and the picture stays. You can get it just about anyplace, but here are a few links. I think what I like best about this process is that the pictures have that haunting blue color to them that for some reason makes it feel “old fashioned.” It’s also a good way to teach students about solar energy.
With the right kind of eye the effects can be pretty interesting. (more pictures after the fold)
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Bring Us Your Carbon Neutral Transport Yearning To Breathe Free - Solar Wind Hybrid Ferry To Ply Waters Around Statue Of Liberty
Circle Line (the company that runs the ferry service to the statue of liberty) has unveiled a state-of-the-art solar and wind powered hybrid electric ferry named Miss Statue of Liberty that they predict will join their Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island fleet and will bring a green revolution to waterborne transportation in New York Harbor.
The solar and wind powered hybrid vessel, uses a “solar sail” covered in solar panels to collect energy from both the sun and wind. The boat will emit almost no noise, vibration or fumes.
“This is the first vessel of its kind and represents the very latest in environmental and nautical technology,” said JB Meyer , President and CEO of Circle Line - Statue of Liberty Ferry, Inc. “Miss Statue of Liberty will quite simply revolutionize how we move on water. With its exceptional comfort for passengers, and the fact that it emits zero emissions while docking, it will change the nature of transportation in New York’s harbor forever.”
Bill McKibben - Deep Economy
A while ago I wrote about Bill McKibben’s Excelent new book Deep Economy, here he is talking about the ideas in that book.
Early Morning Solar Gadget - Solar Powered LED Illuminated Road Signs
Carmanah has come out with a bunch of really interesting solar powered road signs. Here is a taste of some of the more interesting. (we have talked about some other Carmanah products before)
Because these signs can achieve such a dramatic savings on energy costs (PDF), they can often pay for themselves in just a couple of years. More pictures after the fold.
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