tagged w/ Alternative Energy
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"New research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land underneath them during the night, a phenomena that could put a damper on efforts to expand wind energy as a green energy solution.
Researchers used satellite data from 2003 to 2011 to examine surface temperatures across as wide swath of west Texas, which has built four of the world's largest wind farms. The data showed a direct correlation between night-time temperatures increases of 0.72 degrees C (1.3 degrees F) and the placement of the farms.
"Given the present installed capacity and the projected growth in installation of wind farms across the world, I feel that wind farms, if spatially large enough, might have noticeable impacts on local to regional meteorology," Liming Zhou, associate professor at the State University of New York, Albany and author of the paper published April 29 in Nature Climate Change said in an e-mail to Discovery News.""New research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land... more
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"Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest – built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced – are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region's electricity grid says there's an oversupply of renewable power at certain times of the year.
The problem arose during the late spring and early summer last year. Rapid snow melt filled the Columbia River Basin. The water rushed through the 31 dams run by the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency based in Portland, Ore., allowing for peak hydropower generation. At the very same time, the wind howled, leading to maximum wind power production.
Demand could not keep up with supply, so BPA shut down the wind farms for nearly 200 hours over 38 days.
"It's the one system in the world where in real time, moment to moment, you have to produce as much energy as is being consumed," BPA spokesman Doug Johnson said of the renewable energy.
Now, Bonneville is offering to compensate wind companies for half their lost revenue. The bill could reach up to $50 million a year.""Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest – built with government subsidies and... more
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"Mitsubishi has decided to “mothball” its Fort Smith wind-turbine manufacturing that was expected to employ 400 at full production.
Officials with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said the demand for wind turbines in North America had stagnated, with new contracts difficult to obtain. The company is also in an ongoing legal battle with General Electric related to patent claims on wind-turbine equipment.
Since the 2008 banking crisis, demand for wind turbines in the North American market has stagnated, and the commercialization of cheap oil-shale gas and other matters have had a further dampening effect, making it more difficult for MHI to win new contracts,” the company noted in its statement. “In this market environment, the company has continued to promote the development of new and more competitive wind turbines, but in view of few signs of recovery in the North American wind turbine market, it was decided to take steps that include write-down of related inventory and to build a solid foundation for this business.”"Mitsubishi has decided to “mothball” its Fort Smith wind-turbine... more
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We accept that solar power and wind power are nice, but not enough to actually sustain a civilization. We accept that atomic power is always going to be toxic and disastrous. We accept that electric cars are for yuppie douchebags and public transit is for poor, smelly people. We read science fiction and dream of a nicer future, while accepting that our current alternate-energy tech is as cutting edge as it could possibly be because we’re Americans and we invented Google and the iPad and microwave popcorn so if there was something better than oil we would have created it already, right?
Don’t believe it. There’s much more to be done, and we’re not going to do much of it until alternative energy stops being a Mr. Wizard sideshow rarely seen outside of car expos and the covers of tech magazines, and starts being the only way to drag our kids to the soccer field. I’d love to be proved wrong, but I’m not holding my breath.
Full article at link. I hope he is wrong but I am afraid he is right.We accept that solar power and wind power are nice, but not enough to actually sustain... more
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"After exploring a variety of possible 3D configurations using a computer algorithm and testing them under a range of latitudes, seasons and weather with specially developed analytic software, the team built three different individual 3D modules and tested them on the MIT lab building roof for several weeks. The results showed a boost in power output ranging from double to more than 20 times that of fixed flat solar panels with the same base area.
By going vertical and collecting more sunlight when the sun is closer to the horizon, the team’s 3D modules were able to generate a more uniform output over time. This uniformity extended over the course of each day, the seasons of a year, and even when accounting for blockage from clouds and shadows.""After exploring a variety of possible 3D configurations using a computer... more
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Los Angeles Times...
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U.S. probes golden eagles' deaths at DWP wind farm
The toll makes the Pine Tree site in the Tehachapi Mountains among the deadliest in California's wind farm industry. Activists say birds' behavior should be studied before erecting more sites.
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PHOTO:
Wind turbines in operation in the Tehachapi Pass. The flight behavior and size of golden eagles make it difficult for them to maneuver through turbine blades.
(Anne Cusack, Los Angeles Times / July 13, 2011)
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By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times
February 16, 2012
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Two more golden eagles have been found dead at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains, for a total of eight carcasses of the federally protected raptors found at the site.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to determine the cause of death of the two golden eagles found Sunday at the Pine Tree wind farm, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles and 15 miles northeast of Mojave, said Lois Grunwald, a spokeswoman for the agency.
The agency has determined that the six golden eagles found dead earlier at the 2-year-old wind farm in Kern County were struck by blades from some of the 90 turbines spread across 8,000 acres at the site.
Those deaths give Pine Tree one of the highest avian mortality rates in California's wind farm industry. The death rate per turbine at the $425-million facility is three times higher than at California's Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, where about 67 golden eagles die each year. However, the Altamont Pass facility has 5,000 wind turbines — 55 times as many as Pine Tree.
The flight behavior and size of golden eagles make it difficult for them to maneuver through forests of wind turbine blades spinning as fast as 200 mph — especially when the birds are distracted by the sight of squirrels and other prey. Golden Eagles are about 40 inches tall and weigh about 14 pounds,
The DWP is developing a avian and bat protection plan that "will include measures for mitigating risks to golden eagles," utility spokesman Brooks Baker said.
Critics say the problem is fundamental. "The increasing golden eagle mortality at Pine Tree clearly points to wind turbines built in the wrong location," said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. The utility needs to redesign its 250-megawatt Pine Tree network and Kern County needs to put a moratorium on construction of nearby wind farms to prevent deaths, Anderson said.
Garry George, renewable energy project director for Audubon California, said the best solution is to devote years of research into golden eagles' behavior in an area before deciding where to erect turbines. "If you don't ... you wind up with a Pine Tree," George said.
Killing golden eagles is illegal under federal law, but so far, federal authorities have not prosecuted any wind farm operators for violations.
A prosecution in the Pine Tree case could force the booming alternative energy industry to revise its approach at a time when Kern County is drafting boundary maps for wind resource areas for dozens of proposed wind projects designed to generate electricity for Los Angeles County.
A year ago, the Kern County Board of Supervisors adopted a renewable energy goal of having 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy production by 2015. Los Angeles has a renewable energy goal of 35% by 2020.
A coalition of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Defenders of Wildlife recently sued Kern County to block construction of the proposed North Sky River and Jawbone wind energy projects, which would operate on 13,535 acres of mountainous terrain adjacent to Pine Tree.
According to the lawsuit, the projects would have an unacceptable effect on protected bat and avian species, including the golden eagle and the rare and protected California condor, and on an important avian migratory corridor.
.Los Angeles Times...
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U.S. probes golden eagles' deaths at DWP wind farm... more
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In the late 1880's, trade journals in the electrical sciences were predicting free electricity and free energy in the near future. Incredible discoveries about the nature of electricity were becoming common place. Nikola Tesla was demonstrating "wireless lighting" and other wonders associated with high frequency currents... In the midst of this technological explosion, where did the energy breakthroughs go? Was all of this excitement about free energy, which happened just before the beginning of the last century, just wishful thinking that "real science" eventually disproved? http://www.rense.com/general95/worldfre.htmIn the late 1880's, trade journals in the electrical sciences were predicting... more
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If you go read up on the old Fleicshmann and Pons events, you'll see that powerful people were interested in quashing cold fusion. And if you read up on Dr. Eugene Mallove, who did everything in his power to reveal the truth, you'll see that he was gaining traction and then conveniently wiped from the face of the planet. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.infinite-energy.com/images/pdfs/mitcfreport.pdf&pli=1If you go read up on the old Fleicshmann and Pons events, you'll see that... more
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Will an entirely new source of non-conventional energy come into the market this year? It looks likely... It is basic physics that nuclei of two atoms could be made to fuse, a process that releases enormous amount of energy. This happens all the time in the Sun, but to replicate that on the ground was regarded as practically impossible, and given up. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/article2772029.eceWill an entirely new source of non-conventional energy come into the market this year?... more
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Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind turbines look have made installing them anything but a breeze. New York design firm Atelier DNA has an alternative concept that ditches blades in favor of stalks. Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving. The designers came up with the idea for the planned city Masdar, a 2.3-square-mile, automobile-free area being built outside of Abu Dhabi. Atelier DNA’s "Windstalk"project came in second in the Land Art Generator competition a contest sponsored by Madsar to identify the best work of art that generates renewable energy from a pool of international submissions.Noise from wind turbine blades, inadvertent bat and bird kills and even the way wind... more
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Thomas Edison’s direct current technology is gaining popularity as engineers are finding that it can carry electricity over long distances with less loss of power than alternating current.
The revival of DC for long-distance power transmission began in 1954 when the Swedish company ASEA, a predecessor of ABB, the Swiss maker of power and automation equipment, linked the island of Gotland to mainland Sweden with high-voltage DC lines.
Now, more than 145 projects using high-voltage DC, known as HVDC, are under way worldwide.
While HVDC equipment remains expensive, it becomes economical for high-voltage, high-capacity runs over long distances, said Anders Sjoelin, president of power systems for North America at ABB.
Over a distance of a thousand miles, an HVDC line carrying thousands of megawatts might lose 6 to 8 percent of its power, ABB said. A similar AC line might lose 12 to 25 percent.
Direct-current transmission is also better suited to handle the electricity produced by solar and wind farms, which starts out as direct current.
In most situations, solar or wind energy has to be converted, and sometimes reconverted, into AC before it can be used. With HVDC, conversions can be reduced. DC grids can also more easily manage the variable output that occurs, say, when a storm hits or the wind dies.
http://www.siemens.com/about/pool/business/energy/e_hvdc_458px.jpgThomas Edison’s direct current technology is gaining popularity as engineers are... more
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Schatz Energy Research Center engineers prepare a fuel cell test station for the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in the United Arab Emirates.Schatz Energy Research Center engineers prepare a fuel cell test station for the... more
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OK Anyone intrested in forming a SENIOR GREEN" GROUP FOR SENIORS INTERSTED IN GLOBAL WARMING, ALTERNATIVE ENERGYNETC? THANKS!ANDRE'OK Anyone intrested in forming a SENIOR GREEN" GROUP FOR SENIORS INTERSTED IN... more
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Hi! All interetsd in supporting ALTERNAternative enrgy for all day is sept. 22nd. 2011 a DAY TO SUPPORT GREEN ALTERNATIVE ENRGYU! THANKS! DR. EDSON ANDRE' JOHNSON D.D.U.L.C.Hi! All interetsd in supporting ALTERNAternative enrgy for all day is sept. 22nd.... more
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On Fareed Zakaria this a.m., G.M. CEO states that they are sitting on 25 to 30 billion in profits, and WE, ( the PEOPLE ), own 30% of it!
He supports a gas tax increase to drive alternative energy development. Not only have they mfg'd the electrical Volt, but they are working on a hydrogen fuel cell with 0 pollution emissions.
When Big Oil with our Congress does not suppress alternative energy development, we can do anything in alternative energy!On Fareed Zakaria this a.m., G.M. CEO states that they are sitting on 25 to 30 billion... more
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http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/25/278369/this-looks-like-a-job-for-solar-pv-heat-wave-causes-record-breaking-electricity-demand/
This Looks Like a Job for Solar PV: Heat Wave Causes Record-Breaking Electricity Demand
By Stephen Lacey on Jul 25, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Here’s another strong case for more solar photovoltaics: Last week’s 30-state heat wave caused record-breaking demand spikes in three regional transmission systems, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. New York’s Independent System Operator came close — only 74 megawatts away from a 2006 record.
That record demand comes at an enormous cost. As power providers ramp up all the dirty, fossil-based “spinning reserve” capacity they have available, electricity prices shoot through the roof. In PJM, a transmission organization that covers the mid-Atlantic and some surrounding states, wholesale prices jumped to nearly 35 cents a kilowatt-hour. Today, the cost of solar electricity ranges anywhere from 12 cents to 30 cents per kilowatt hour — in some cases, potentially a third of what it costs to meet peak demand with conventional resources.
The second-highest prices were in New York’s ISO, where they reached almost 30 cents a kilowatt-hour. As we wrote about earlier this month, solar PV can already compete with retail electricity rates in New York City where grid congestion has driven rates 60% higher than the national average. New York State is currently considering a bill that could realize around 5 GW of solar PV — providing competitive resources that can help the state reliably meet peak demand, explained Rosalind Jackson of Vote Solar to Climate Progress:
“These sky-high electricity prices and outage alerts are a pretty clear indicator that New York’s business-as-usual energy approach is broken. Solar is primed and ready to cost-effectively address New York’s power needs, especially the peak demand that paralyzes the state’s power grid on hot summer days. The bill’s goal of 5 gigawatts of local solar development would go a long way toward repowering the state.”
The beauty of solar PV is that it matches up perfectly with demand on the sunniest summer days of the year. As Richard Perez, an energy expert from the University of Albany appropriately said to Climate Progress about his solar research: “we should be using the source of the problem to create the solution.”
If this graph doesn’t prove the value of distributed solar, consider this: During the 2003 Northeast blackout that caused $8 billion in economic losses, as little as 500 MW of solar PV deployed in the Midwest and Northeast could have prevented the disaster. Perez and a group of colleagues researched the issue back in 2004, shortly after the economically-devastating incident:
“Prior to the precursor events power flow from the south into Northern Ohio, Southern Michigan and Western Pennsylvania were of the order of 5000 MW, a substantial portion of this was transiting to Ontario. Had local dispersed generation been available in/near Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto, these transfers would have been reduced and inadvertent power line trips would have been inconsequential. A 10% power transfer reduction could have been achieved with a total PV resource of 0.5 GW dispersed throughout northern Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario.”
In a report released in June, Perez and two other researchers also found that the value of distributed solar can be worth more than the actual cost of the electricity — ranging from 14 to 30 cents. That value comes from decreased investments in transmission, increased reliability during times of high demand, and environmental benefits associated with reducing “peaking” fossil fuel generation.
As tropical heat waves around the U.S. become the “new normal,” these spikes in demand are only going to get higher and more frequent. It’s time we met that demand with clean generation that provides proven economic and environmental value.
(more at website)http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/07/25/278369/this-looks-like-a-job-for-solar-pv-heat... more
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$14.00 + $9.00 + $4.00 Per Gallon of GAS ! And Rising !
Jan For Gore has linked us to studies revealing that the side effect costs to society of carbon dioxide release in the U.S., currently add about $9.00 to each gallon of gas we each use. This is in addition to one estimate of $14.00 added to each gallon of gas we consume when factoring in what we each pay for in the military costs to provide Big Oil with constant access to cheap crude oil. However, others have estimated our military cost to provide Big Oil with crude to be much higher. These secondary costs must be factored in to the total cost of relying on fossil fuels to run our cars, when comparing the projected costs of alternative energy. We can afford a great deal of alternative, clean, and sustainable energy research and development for what we all pay for gas now!
http://current.com/technology/93341878_climate-change-costs-grossly-underestimated-by-government.htm$14.00 + $9.00 + $4.00 Per Gallon of GAS ! And Rising !
Jan For Gore has linked us... more
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Montana's free range, don't take crap from political status quo guv, Brian Schweitzer is on his last year as governor. Sadly, Mainstream Max has 4 years to go on his senate term. But we might be looking at a real DEM for that seat next time around.
Brian is really one of the good guys who knows ideology will not feed the family, yet he stands up pretty tall against legislative loons. He stood up to D.C. regarding our National Guard resources being squandered in the war for profit in Iraq and got our state guard's helicopters back here where we need them to help during bad fire seasons. He vetoed a boatload of bad legislation sent to his desk by RW courting legislative idiots. And he does everything with style that resonates beyond the halls of power and privilege.
When he ran for the US Senate years ago, the feds got all over his ass for taking tour busses full of senior citizens across the border to buy their meds in Canada for much less than they could in the US. He is that kinda guy; if the policy is insane, go around it even if your end run only serves to point out the insanity.
He is a soils scientist by training, and spend several years in Arabia, showing how to make parts of that vast desert produce something besides oil. He has no love of the family Saud. He wants the US to become energy independent. Sure, he will push for new uses for Montana coal, as an interim bridge to wean America off imported fuels as we apply some REAL resources to R&D all manner of alternate energy sources. He has been a big advocate for wind and Montana has seen wind turbines pop up and become more widely appreciated.
This guy gave workshops to other DEMS, if they just paid attention and got some spine, by his methods and courage
And he has a really cool dog, Jag, who goes with the guv as much as he can.Montana's free range, don't take crap from political status quo guv, Brian... more
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From September 2002 through January 2003 I was an Observer and International Consultant with the UN/FAO in Iraq. I was arrested one night crossing a bridge from the south side of the Tigris to the north in Al Hindia. I was captured wearing Iraqi clothing by a sentry hidden under the structural steel half way across. I speak fluent Iraqi Arabic. Because I was carrying my UN ID they were very polite to me. They apologised and said I had to wait for a 4 star Police General to let me go. Meanwhile they brought me tea and biscuits.
Later on one of my UN associates suspected I was with the CIA. He started a campaign among his associates to have me killed. The Director of the UN FAO Mission was from the same country he was and overheard their plotting to kill me. He arranged to have a decoy taxi drive to another hotel where they let out disinformation to the people plotting my death that led them there. Meanwhile about two hours later after they took the bait a private car drove me out through the back roads of Jordan.
Since 1974 I have been involved in many such operations and lived 5 years in Algeria in Oran looking over the Soviet Navy there and a submarine base inside the mountain west of the city. I used to get corroborating information from the women in Derbe a huge brothel in the west side of Oran that used to be the Jewish Quarter before 1967.
One day I was looking for a contact who didn't show up in the brothel. I lingered a bit too long and a seven foot tall Watusi woman appeared from the shadows and took my left biceps in her hand like a pencil. She whisked me into the street in a few steps as if I was an 8 year old child.
I actually started my career by going after the Children of God in British Columbia, Canada and met Moses Davis in the basement of the Nanaimo Crisis Center where a lawyer from the Government Human Resources Department was grilling Moe on his getting a check for $2 million for them to buy an old Orange Crush Factory. It was all a part of the drug business as the Children of God provided mules worldwide. My cover got blown and I escaped miraculously after being held from January to March, 1975 in my own home drugged and sitting in a chair. To keep from losing my mind I practiced math and chemistry problems in my head.
I escape one day when they left me alone thinking I was a vegetable. The rest of my story and others I can make available on request but all of it is true and verifiable.
I am a Licensed Professional Chemcial Engineer in Canada and the USA and I am currently creator if many patents in alternative energy generation and other things like a conveying system I have recently licensed to an Indian Mining Company that will supplant all rail one day. I will be recovering $1 trillion in coal for them in Mozambique with my processes to convert the middlings to DME and pump it to the Indian Ocean to Cape Class Ships for the Indian and Chinese Markets.
The coking coal will be sent by my conveyor at 2,000 tons per hour at 1,200 miles per hour to the offshore platform. The Indian Institute of Technology has provided third party verification of my technology and are building the pilot plant.
DME is used in China and India as a repacement for diesel. It burns soot free and is easily applied to all vehicles and can be generated quite cheaply from even low quality coal. I also have developed patents in the oxidative and steam hydrogasification of coal with 100% CO2 capture. To get the USA off crude oil coal could be exploited in this manner but the political will and funding are missing!From September 2002 through January 2003 I was an Observer and International... more
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