tagged w/ Alternative Energy
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Living a green lifestyle isn't all about spending a lot of money but rather changing your daily habits and mindset. Learns some simple ways you can help the planet and save some money in this episode. Join the conversation!!!Living a green lifestyle isn't all about spending a lot of money but rather changing... more
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SHOCKING NEW NASA DATA / NEW PREDICTION = "3 TO 5 YEARS NO ICE IN ARCTIC"
THE PERMAFROST = IS NOW THAWING....
3-5 years All Arctic Ice will be gone. Five years after that... no ice on either pole!
Watch Video as prehistoric methane gas is released under the ice from the thawing permafrost below is ignited.
NEW DATA: The original time to reach the permafrost thawing tipping point wasn't predicted to happen until 2050.
We need to understand what is happening and how the effects of what is now taking place... will change all our lives in the "months and few years ahead".SHOCKING NEW NASA DATA / NEW PREDICTION = "3 TO 5 YEARS NO ICE IN ARCTIC"
THE... more
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Global warming... is much worse that you think.
PLEASE SELECT: "WATCH FULL PROGRAM"
Summary:
Dan Miller's presentation focuses on why the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports are actually best case scenarios. For example, IPCC climate models do not include the effect of melting permafrost releasing greenhouse gases, even though the permafrost is melting now and it holds more greenhouse gases than all that mankind has ever released.
Another example is that IPCC predictions of sea level rise only take into account thermal expansion of the oceans and melting of glaciers; the largest factor, disintegration of glaciers, was not included because it is hard to model. The result is that sea level rise will likely be substantially higher this century than the IPCC predicts.
Miller discusses several other potential catastrophes that are not included in IPCC predictions and also discusses tipping points that could put climate change solutions out of our reach in years or decades, the psychology of climate change, and why it is difficult for people to respond to the threat posed by a warming earth.
His talk concludes with a discussion of ways to address climate change and the risks and opportunities that companies face due to the climate crisis.
More Information:
The Climate Project
http://www.theclimateproject.org/aboutus.php
NASA | Earth Observatory
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6632
NASA | Science for a Hungry World: Part 6
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=6632
HOME PROJECT: A Visual Global Tour /current effects of global warming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
.Global warming... is much worse that you think.
PLEASE SELECT: "WATCH FULL... more
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As if turning grapes into wine wasn't enough, now wineries are aiming to transform their wastes into fuel.
The first example of a new renewable method for generating hydrogen fuel from wastewater is now operating at a California winery.
The refrigerator-sized generator takes waste from the Napa Wine Company in Oakville, Calif.,
and feeds it to microbes inside. With the aid of a little electricity, these naturally occurring bacteria break the organic material in the wastewater into hydrogen gas.
There is a lot more energy locked in the wastewater than is currently used to treat it, explained researcher Bruce Logan, an environmental engineer at Penn State University. Eventually, the winery would like to use the hydrogen to run vehicles and power systems.
"It's nice that Napa Wine Company offered up their winery and facilities to test this new approach," Logan said. "We chose a winery because it is a natural tourist attraction. People go there all the time to experience wine making and wine, and now they can also see a demonstration of how to make clean hydrogen gas from agricultural wastes."
http://www.livescience.com/environment/091103-renewable-wine.htmlAs if turning grapes into wine wasn't enough, now wineries are aiming to transform... more
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KSirys
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added this
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5 days ago
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Excerpt:
"I spoke to the Green party this morning, and discovered that Mercer had left out a crucial piece of information. The biodiesel used in its bus was made from waste cooking oil, not virgin oil. As I've been arguing since I first started attacking the practice of feeding cars rather than people, used cooking oil is currently the only sustainable feedstock for biofuel: once it is unfit for human consumption it can only be dumped or burned. It makes sense to burn it in place of fossil fuels. The Green party has now published a response in the comment thread and is requesting a correction.
Burning virgin vegetable oil is an entirely different matter. In doing so, you are directly commissioning farmers to do one of two things: divert cropland which would otherwise have been used to grow food, or break land which would otherwise have been left fallow. In either case you are harming people or the environment."
One more:
"Growing rapeseed to burn is crazy, growing oil palm to fill the gaps is madness on a different scale altogether, in view of the massive impacts on climate, indigenous people and wildlife when the forests of Indonesia and Malaysia are cleared to plant it."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2009/oct/29/oil-climate-chan...
How could they not look at the big picture and understand that crops for energy is just plain foolish?
It's appalling to me.Excerpt:
"I spoke to the Green party this morning, and discovered that Mercer had... more
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fKeM4Lrz0
Coed Hills is situated in the picturesque Vale of Glamorgan, just 8 miles west of Cardiff, Wales. At the heart of Coed Hills lies a core community of around 20 people that embrace the new and old in order to lead a more sustainable existence, both ecologically and socially.
The site is run on alternative energy, there is permaculuture garden, and residents and volunteers live a variety of structures such as Mongolian Yurts, tipis and straw bailed buildings.
The place is an inspiration for the budding and more experienced eco-conscious, and a chance to engage with the community engage and share in their knowledge and enthusiasm for sustainable living.
http://www.coedhills.co.uk/
01446 774084
info@coedhills.co.uk
This short film is part of "The Journey" an unique documentary project that delves into environmental, socio-culture and economic issues, with a questioning mind.
The focus of the project is to find and film inspiring ideas and projects over a wide spectrum of individuals and cultures, whilst examining our ability to reform our ideals, and our lifestyle in order to make positive changes for our planet and the human race.
The “Journeymen” (a person whom travels in order to gain experience, skills and knowledge) go in search of these stories - equipped only with minimal filming gear and personal possessions, they document their experience as they travel to global communities to observe, question and learn.
It is an organic process that grows, evolves and takes it’s own direction. With no planned route nor destination, the journeymen believe they will connect with the right people and places at the right time to film, aid and guide them on.
The project is currently filming and traveling through the UK. As the project travels short films are uploaded that can be viewed on this website. It is the long-term goal that this project will travel internationally to create a feature length film that will be released, to be viewed for free.
The projects aims to benefit individuals, projects and communities by sharing knowledge, offering solutions and connecting people through film.
It is the hope this project will touch and inspire people, by conveying the beauty within human nature and our world and resonating what is actually possible, when it comes it comes to our ability to change the world for the better.
know of an inspiring story? want to get involved?
info@the-journey.tv
follow “the journey” on facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Journey/81206620786
www.the-journey.tvhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fKeM4Lrz0
Coed Hills is situated in the... more
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Rooftop solar panels are unlikely to elicit complaints from neighbors–they’re silent and relatively unobtrusive. But loud rooftop wind turbines? That’s where the virtually NIMBY-proof Ridgeblade turbine comes in. The turbine, designed by a former Rolls Royce turbine engineer at UK-based The Power Collective, boasts a sleek profile that is both powerful and visually pleasing.
Instead of creating a free-standing turbine that sticks out for all the neighbors to see, The Power Collective designed its long-bladed turbine to fit in along the ridge of a roof, where wind currents are strongest. The Ridgeblade packs a powerful punch, too — it has the wind-capturing potential of a medium sized turbine.
The turbine isn’t yet on the market, but a $750,000 grant from the Green Challenge Awards has given The Power Collective a big push towards commercializing the Ridgeblade. No word on how much the turbine will cost when it is finally released, but your neighbors’ peace of mind might just be worth the extra costRooftop solar panels are unlikely to elicit complaints from neighbors–they’re... more
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Boston’s new bike sharing system is set to debut this spring and will provide 1,000 to 3,000 bicycles for public use throughout the city, and we’ll be chatting with Nicole about her hopes for this exciting new project and the challenges she’s faced. We’re also going to try to convince her to move to New York City and launch a similar program here! Bostonians, New Yorkers and anyone who cares about greening your city and improving the cycling landscape, this is going to be a CAN’T MISS DISCUSSION with a fascinating visionary, so join us for our latest webcast in our Green Talks series today at 3:30 pm EST!Boston’s new bike sharing system is set to debut this spring and will provide 1,000... more
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I contacted Katrina Pollard,at Hidro+ and asked her a few questions about this innovation. I would like to share this interview with all of you who might be interested in a new alternative to nuclear power and without the shortcomings of wind and solar energy:
Katerina Pollard:Firstly thank you for you email and interest in Hidro+.
Me: Do you have any plans to export this technology to the United States or to the European Union?
Katerina Pollard:*Yes we will be establishing in US, European Union by the exclusive territorial licensing of the Hidro+ technology.
Me: If so, how quickly would you be able to get this product to market?
Katerina Pollard:* Hidro+ Technology is now ready for commercial roll-out.
Me: I saw your informational video and it seems to show a short segment of your invention running. Is it still running? Could someone come and see it producing energy?
Katerina Pollard:* Yes you're right their is a brief segment at the end of of the Hidro+ informational video of the large-scale demonstration unit running. * Yes still running and someone could come and see the demonstration unit. Currently the Hidro+ demonstration unit is in QLD, Australia and in the not to distance future it will be transported and displayed in Jakarta Indonesia.
Me: I know that a certain portion of the technology would probably be a carefully guarded trade secret but I think that if your invention is the genuine article, it needs to be in the forefront of the news.
Katerina Pollard:*Patents for Hidro+ (hydrodynamic energy generation system) have been granted from Geneva and all claims are considered to be novel, inventive and for industrial application and the Australian application for the Hidro+ technology has been accepted by the Australian Patent Office. Each patent for the Hidro+ has been published by the WIPO in Geneva and the technical papers are currently being published internationally. You are absolutely right there is a certain portion of the Hidro+ technology that is and will remain a carefully guarded trade secret.
*The Hidro+ technology can be verified with a large-scale demonstration unit, support from renowned professors and the Hidro+ technology has also undergone due diligence from various independent engineering experts who have reviewed the technology for exclusive territory license agreements.
I am sure you can appreciate in order to achieve the above standards there has and continues to be alot of hard work, nor are we marketing people or have an abundance of resources or hours in our days and so in order to sustain the Hidro+ technology our resources and efforts have been concentrated on the actual deployment of the Hidro+ technology rather than talking of its potential.
Me: We are being told by energy producers that nuclear energy is our best bet for solving the climate crisis. What is your opinion of this position?
Katerina Pollard:*For anyone to make value judgement of this critical issue they need to first of all understand what nuclear generation means because by getting this issue wrong it will have a long-term permanently adverse impact on this planet.
When a comprehensive life-cycle analysis is completed for electricity generated by Nuclear Power, from the upstream through to the downstream processes it leaves an immense carbon footprint on the planet, not to mention that an immense amount of water is required.
The Upstream processes includes:
The extraction of uranium ore requires both a great deal of fuel and electricity to manufacture and operate the specialized equipment & heavy machinery needed for the processing, handling and transportation.
The Downstream processes includes:
Further spent fuel processing, requiring significant use of fuel and electricity for the handling, transportation and burying the abundance of radio active materials.I contacted Katrina Pollard,at Hidro+ and asked her a few questions about this... more
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A year from now, roughly 1,000 all-electric vehicles will be whispering around Washington state's Puget Sound as part of a federally funded project that eventually may lead to an electronic corridor stretching from Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, B.C., where drivers could swipe a credit card and receive a 15-minute charge to speed them on their way.
Washington is one of five states with metro markets selected to participate in the 36-month study, funded by a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy under the economic recovery program.
The first corridor that will be developed runs between Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz., a distance of just over 100 miles. Others corridors could be developed between San Diego and Los Angeles, and Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga in Tennessee. Colin Reed, a spokesman for the EV, or Electric Vehicle, Project, said a corridor running along Interstate 5 between San Diego and Vancouver, B.C., may not be possible because there are no major population centers in far northern California and southern Oregon.
In Washington state, about 1,000 of the nearly 5,000 Nissan zero-emission electric vehicles, dubbed the LEAF, will be deployed to cities around central Puget Sound. More than 2,000 charging stations will be installed mostly in homes, but also in public and commercial areas.
"This is the largest deployment of electric cars and charging stations ever," Reed said. "No one has ever tried a project like this."
An estimated 1 million to 1.5 million plug-in electric cars could be on the road within five years. According to other estimates, by 2030, a third of all new cars in the Northwest may be plug-in electric cars.
Electric cars aren't just some green fantasy, Reed said. "This is real."
More @ links
http://www.theevproject.com/
http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car/#/car/intro
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/77324.htmlA year from now, roughly 1,000 all-electric vehicles will be whispering around... more
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The United States Navy is taking a big leap forward in "greening" its 50,000-strong, gas-guzzling fleet of vehicles, committing to a 50 percent cut in oil use by 2015, the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus declared in a speech at the Naval Energy Forum.
That's not all. Mabus said the Navy will attempt to get 50 percent of its total energy from alternative sources by 2020, including its ships, aircraft, tanks, vehicles and bases. Currently, that figure is at 17 percent.
The reason: The Navy's imported oil addiction is socking the service with billions of dollars in losses. The Navy's new "hybrid of the seas," the USS Makin Island (pictured above), is expected to yield $250 million in savings over its lifetime, Mabus said. The ship has an electric motor that kicks in at low speeds. The money-saving hybrid-electric systems will soon be installed on 12 vessels.
The same is true for planes. Improving the efficiency of each aircraft by just 3 percent would save the Navy 127,000 barrels of fuel per plane, per year. That's $15 million per aircraft, annually, at today's fuel prices.
What it boils down is that the geopolitics of petroleum has gotten costly. The numbers don't lie ...The United States Navy is taking a big leap forward in "greening" its 50,000-strong,... more
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KAIST’s newly developed electric vehicle system could be onto something. The vehicle does away with batteries completely and relies on pulling power from a system of cables buried beneath the road. The On Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) is comprised of electric buses that drive over tracks containing power coils. When a bus crosses the track a boost of electricity is delivered, allowing the vehicle to continue travelling without having to stop and recharge.KAIST’s newly developed electric vehicle system could be onto something. The vehicle... more
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The bodies of thousands of rabbits culled every year from the parks in Stockholm’s Kungsholmen neighbourhood are being used to fuel a heating plant in central Sweden.
The decision to use Stockholm’s rabbit cadavers as bioenergy to warm Swedes living in Värmland doesn't sit well with Stockholm-based animal rights activists.
“Those who support the culling of rabbits surely think it’s good to use the bodies for a good cause. But it feels like they’re trying to turn the animals into an industry rather than look at the main problem,” Anna Johannesson of Vilda kaniners värn (‘Society for the Protection of Wild Rabbits’) told the local Vårt Kungsholmen newspaper.
Every year, the city of Stockholm kills off thousands of rabbits in an effort to protect trees and shrubbery in the city’s extensive network of parks and green space.
According to Tommy Tuvunger with the Stockholm Traffic Office, the agency responsible for controlling the city’s rodent and wild animal population, part of the problem rests with delinquent pet owners who decide to release their rabbits into the city’s parks.
“Many of the released rabbits are tame,” he told the newspaper.The bodies of thousands of rabbits culled every year from the parks in Stockholm’s... more
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The bodies of thousands of rabbits culled every year from the parks in Stockholm's Kungsholmen neighborhood are being used to fuel a heating plant in central Sweden.
The decision to use Stockholm's rabbit Cadavers as bioenergy to warm Swedes living in Värmland does not sit well with the Stockholm-based animal rights activists.The bodies of thousands of rabbits culled every year from the parks in Stockholm's... more
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Because of today's climate( no pun intended) with environmental, health, food shortages, and philanthropy, The Bill and Melinda Foundation is never in short supply of issues to address and solve. Agriculture is a perfect place to start...Because of today's climate( no pun intended) with environmental, health, food... more
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Solar energy technology is enjoying its day in the sun with the advent of innovations from flexible photovoltaic (PV) materials to thermal power plants that concentrate the sun’s heat to drive turbines. But even the best system converts only about 30 percent of received solar energy into electricity—making solar more expensive than burning coal or oil. That will change if Lonnie Johnson’s invention works. The Atlanta-based independent inventor of the Super Soaker squirt gun (a true technological milestone) says he can achieve a conversion efficiency rate that tops 60 percent with a new solid-state heat engine. It represents a breakthrough new way to turn heat into power.Solar energy technology is enjoying its day in the sun with the advent of innovations... more
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ScottP
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added this
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26 days ago
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A brewery in Wisconsin is utilizing by-product from its brewing processes to power a local hospital.A brewery in Wisconsin is utilizing by-product from its brewing processes to power a... more
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The sun had just crested the distant ridge of the Rocky Mountains, but already it was producing enough power for the electric meter on the side of the Smiley Building to spin backward.
For the Shaw brothers, who converted the downtown arts building and community center into a miniature solar power plant two years ago, each reverse rotation subtracts from their monthly electric bill. It also means the building at that moment is producing more electricity from the sun than it needs.
"Backward is good," said John Shaw, who now runs Shaw Solar and Energy Conservation, a local solar installation company.
Good for whom?
As La Plata County in southwestern Colorado looks to shift to cleaner sources of energy, solar is becoming the power source of choice even though it still produces only a small fraction of the region's electricity. It's being nudged along by tax credits and rebates, a growing concern about the gases heating up the planet, and the region's plentiful sunshine.
The natural gas industry, which produces more gas here than nearly every other county in Colorado, has been relegated to the shadows.The sun had just crested the distant ridge of the Rocky Mountains, but already it was... more
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Maybe T. Boone Pickens is onto something ... MPGomatic.com gets the scoop on IMPCO's propane powered duel-fuel Ford Mustang at the 2008 Alternative Fuels and Vehicles conference.Maybe T. Boone Pickens is onto something ... MPGomatic.com gets the scoop on IMPCO's... more
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