tagged w/ Alternate Energy
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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.tvCoed Hills is situated in the picturesque Vale of Glamorgan, just 8 miles west of... more
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Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit an aggressive and supportive role played by local government.
That support is seen in numerous ways: Wind-energy producers and equipment makers enjoy state tax breaks, and projects of 25 megawatts or smaller don't need to be certified by the utilities board. In addition, producers know ahead of time that they will be able to recover their costs from customers, which makes them more likely to invest. Iowa counties, meanwhile, appreciate the revenue and the jobs that wind farms produce, and have few zoning regulations for wind turbines.
"Iowa shows that concentrated and consistent leadership from governors and consistent support from the state regulatory commission can get a lot done," says Hans Detweiler, director of state policy at the American Wind Energy Association, or AWEA, a trade group based in Washington, D.C.
Indeed, as more states and the federal government seek to encourage more production of renewable energy, Iowa may point the way.
"There's very little regulation," says Terry Monson, who deals with permitting and legal work at independent power developer Renewable Power Markets Access Inc., based in Juno Beach, Fla. "It's very expeditious." Mr. Monson's company has eight wind projects established or under development in Iowa.
Flat Is Good
Nature and geography have lent a hand, too, of course.
Iowa may point the way as more states seek to encourage production of renewable energy
."First, it's relatively flat, making it easy to build," says Scott Jacobson, managing director of wind power finance at Iberdrola Renewables SA, a Spanish engineering and renewable energy company that entered the state in 2003 and now has more than 300 megawatts of local wind projects. Iowa is also "relatively rural, making land control easy," Mr. Jacobson says.
What's more, winds there are strong, and the state lies in an enviable position on the grid—close to load centers like Chicago and Milwaukee.
Last year, Iowa added 1,600 megawatts of wind capacity, jumping ahead of California for second place behind Texas. At the end of the second quarter of 2009, Iowa had 3,043 megawatts of total wind capacity, compared with 8,361 megawatts in Texas and 2,787 megawatts in California, according to the wind-energy association. Iowa's wind now powers about 15% of the state's electricity consumption, which represents a lofty goal for many other states.
The so-called Corn State began promoting renewable-energy sources as early as 1978, when, in response to the oil shock, it passed a property-tax exemption for wind, solar and other types of generators whose electricity was used on site. Then, in 1983, the state adopted the first renewable-energy mandate in the U.S., requiring that its investor-owned utilities draw power from 105 megawatts of renewable generation by 1990.
That's not much by today's standards, but it got the ball rolling. During the 1990s, Iowa added a few megawatts of wind installations a year, until 1999, when the total jumped to 232 megawatts installed, thanks largely to new federal tax credits and the arrival of powerful new European turbines. Iowa met its renewable-power mandate goal in 1997.Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit... more
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Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida's renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.
For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation's largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy, giving Florida a momentary spot in the solar energy limelight.
The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light's 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S.
The White House said President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the facility Tuesday, when it officially goes online and begins producing power for the electric grid.
As demand grows and more states create mandates requiring a certain percentage of their energy come from renewable sources, the size of the plants is increasing. The southwest Florida facility will soon be eclipsed by larger projects announced in Nevada and California.
"We took a chance at it and it worked out," said Bove, construction manager at the project, set on about 180 acres of land 80 miles southeast of Tampa. "There's a lot of backyard projects, there's a lot of rooftop projects, post offices and stores. Really this is one of the first times where we've taken a technology and upsized it."
Despite its nickname, the Sunshine State hasn't been at the forefront of solar power. Less than 4 percent of Florida's energy has come from renewable sources in recent years. And unlike California and many other states, Florida lawmakers haven't agreed to setting clean energy quotas for electric companies to reach in the years ahead.
California, New Jersey and Colorado have led the country in installing photovoltaic systems; now Florida is set to jump closer to the top with the nation's largest plant yet.
The Desoto facility and two other solar projects Florida Power & Light is spearheading will generate 110 megawatts of power, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3.5 million tons. Combined, that's the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road each year, according to figures cited by the company.
The investment isn't cheap: The Desoto project cost $150 million to build and the power it supplies to some 3,000 homes and businesses will represent just a sliver of the 4 million-plus accounts served by the state's largest electric utility.
But there are some economic benefits: It created 400 jobs for draftsmen, carpenters and others whose work dried up as the southwest Florida housing boom came to a closure and the recession set in. Once running, it will require few full-time employees.
Mike Taylor, director of research and education at the nonprofit Solar Electric Power Association in Washington, said the project puts Florida "on the map."
"It's currently the largest," Taylor said of the Desoto photovoltaic plant. "But it certainly won't be the last."Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future... more
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Within the Consolider HOPE project (projects funded by the Ministry of Innovation and Science), a group of scientists at Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO), headed by Juan Antonio Anta, are working on the optimisation of a type of photovoltaic cell (Grätzel cell) that artificially mimics photosynthesis.
Grätzel cells are photovoltaic devices that take advantage of the interaction of a structured semiconductor less than nanometre in size and an organic dye that acts as a solar collector.
According to Elena Guillén, member of UPO's Coloides y Celdas Solares Nanoestructuradas (Nanostructured Colloids and Solar Cells) Group, this dye can be either synthetic or natural and can even enable the use of chlorophyll for this type of cell.
Thus, researchers at UPO have begun a study with which they hope to increase the efficiency of these eosin or mercurochrome -based organic components by incorporating ionic salts, known as green solvents, with a view to preventing evaporation of the liquid compounds and the consequent reduction in efficiency.
Previous studies show that ionic salts are less volatile and it is this characteristic that the group headed by Professor Anta seeks to exploit. "Notwithstanding its liquid state, these types of solvents have high viscosity levels and, therefore, during the coming months we will continue our study, working on different alternatives within ionic liquids, their synthesis, etc.," comments Elena Guillén.
The pros and cons of the new generation
Although there are already some third generation cells on the market (for example, for recharging mobile phones), according to the researchers their practical use is anecdotal. However, due to their properties of flexibility and variety of colours and shapes, the future of these cells lies in new market niches such as decoration or use in coloured windows that not only allow light through but use this light to generate electricity.
On the other hand, apart from the rapid amortisation of energy production costs -estimated in one year's use-, there is also the low cost of the materials. "Organic materials are usually cheaper," affirms the researcher, despite which the search continues for an alternative organic dye to the one currently used, derived from ruthenium.Within the Consolider HOPE project (projects funded by the Ministry of Innovation and... more
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FAR out to sea, the wind blows faster than it does near the coast. A turbine placed there would thus generate more power than its inshore or onshore cousins. But attempts to build power plants in such places have foundered because the water is generally too deep to attach a traditional turbine’s tower to the seabed.
One way round this would be to put the turbine on a floating platform, tethered with cables to the seabed. And that is what StatoilHydro, a Norwegian energy company, and Siemens, a German engineering firm, have done. The first of their floating offshore turbines has just started a two-year test period generating about 1 megawatt of electricity—enough to supply 1,600 households.
The Hywind is the first large turbine to be deployed in water more than 30 metres deep. The depth at the prototype’s location, 10 kilometres (six miles) south-west of Karmoy, is 220 metres. But the turbine is designed to operate in water up to 700 metres deep, meaning it could be put anywhere in the North Sea. Three cables running to the seabed prevent it from floating away.
It is an impressive sight. Its three blades have a total span of 82 metres and, together with the tower that supports them, weigh 234 tonnes. That makes the Hywind about the same size as a large traditional offshore turbine.
Even though it is tethered, and sits on a conical steel buoy, the motion of the sea causes the tower to sway slowly from side to side. This swaying places stress on the structure, and that has to be compensated for by a computer system that tweaks the pitch of the rotor blades to keep them facing in the right direction as the tower rocks and rolls to the rhythm of the waves. That both improves power production and minimises the strain on the blades and the tower. The software which controls this process is able to measure the success of previous changes to the rotor angle and use that information to fine-tune future attempts to dampen wave-induced movement.
If all works well, the potential is huge. Henrik Stiesdal of Siemens’s windpower business unit reckons the whole of Europe could be powered using offshore wind, but that competition for space near the coast will make this difficult to achieve if only inshore sites are available. Siting turbines within view of coastlines causes conflicts with shipping, the armed forces, fishermen and conservationists. But floating turbines moored far out to sea could avoid such problems. That, plus the higher wind speeds which mean that a deep-water turbine could generate much more power than a shallow-water one, make the sort of technology that the Hywind is pioneering an attractive idea.FAR out to sea, the wind blows faster than it does near the coast. A turbine placed... more
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SYDNEY scientists have scored gold, helping create the world's most efficient technology for turning sunlight into electricity.
Just as swimmers and runners struggle to shave 10ths of a second off their times, solar cell scientists battle for years to add fractions of a per cent to the efficiency of their creations.
US researchers developed experimental technology that could turn 42.7 per cent of the sunlight received into power - a world record.
By comparison, commercial cells often used in solar modules on Australian roofs convert only about 15 per cent.
The US technology was made of five separate cells, each tuned to draw energy from different parts of the light spectrum. One, for example, was designed to collect energy from the ultraviolet light band, while another, at the other end of the spectrum, was tuned to the far infrared.
By replacing one of the US cells with a new design developed by the Photovoltaic Centre for Excellence at the University of NSW, the technology's efficiency has now been nudged to a record 43 per cent.
The Sydney cell converts 46 per cent of red and near infrared light received into electricity, ''dragging up'' the overall efficiency of the American technology just 0.3 percentage points.
While progress may seem agonisingly slow, ''years of effort went into developing the cell'', the university's photovoltaic centre research director, Martin Green, said.
Although highly experimental, and far too expensive for commercial solar panels, the cell will inevitably inspire other researchers to race to develop even better technology.
snip
Professor Green estimated that by combining hundreds of advanced experimental cells, each tuned to different parts of the spectrum, an efficiency rating of up to 86 per cent was theoretically possible. But, he warned, ''it's not as easy as it sounds''.SYDNEY scientists have scored gold, helping create the world's most efficient... more
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It is disappointing that for all of the innovative work going on in the field of solar energy that we still do not have a more aggressive saturation of the solar market en masse in the United States.
___________
On a 104-degree Friday in July when sunlight bathed The University of Arizona campus, doctoral student Dio Placencia sat before a noisy vacuum chamber in the Chemical Sciences Building trying to advance the renewable energy revolution.
As a member of UA professor Neal R. Armstrong's research group, Placencia conducts research aimed at creating a thin, flexible organic solar cell that could power a tent or keep a car charged between trips to work and back home again.
He's passionate about renewable energy and says it's a waste that so little solar has been incorporated into society. "I have a little flat panel that I walk around with," Placencia said. "I usually put that on my backpack, and I charge my cell phone when I'm walking to school."
The sun is clean and free. "Here it is," he said. "Why not use it?"
Across the University, professors, researchers, students and others involved in policy planning and economic analysis are working to make that question moot. In a region noted for abundant sunlight, they are chipping away at problems like how to employ solar at the utility-generating plant level, how to harness it to charge the newly indispensable products of the day - cell phones, MP3 players, laptops - what to do at night and when clouds halt the energy giveaway from the sky.
The research proceeds in labs amid state-of-the-art equipment funded by multimillion-dollar federal grants. It's the product of students' hunches and long careers spent unlocking the mysteries of science. Along the way, students are being immersed in a nascent industry that many hope will be the economic engine of the next decade.
"Looking at renewable energy is a perfect place to emphasize that we don't know where the next breakthrough is going to be," said Leslie P. Tolbert, UA vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development.
"Somewhere in a lab someplace, there's somebody figuring out a whole new way to capture sunlight. In fact, there are many people doing that. And even they are depending on knowing that there is, behind them, a cadre of basic science researchers producing new information that will feed their thoughts."
Armstrong, a professor of chemistry and optical sciences at the UA, occasionally teaches freshman chemistry. He decided one day near the end of the semester to try to make the material even more relevant. "I said to myself, well, lithium ion batteries in my cell phone, in my iPod," - his daughter had given him one - "I wonder how much coal we burn to charge those guys up at the end of the day.
"Because that's one of the big drivers for portable power, to get all this stuff off the grid." After making some very conservative calculations, he arrived at an answer, which he shared with the class: "You burn about a quarter of a pound of coal per charge of your lithium ion battery, and you generate about half a pound of CO2 per charge, per battery, per day .... The room got really quiet."
The next time, he intends to calculate how much coal is burned per Twitter tweet.
"It really is chilling," Armstrong said. "You start doing the math and thinking about the number of consumer electronic devices that you and I have added to our lives in the last decade that I charge up typically once every night - my laptop computer and my cell phone. Then you start thinking about, 'What if I do buy an electric car, and I come home at night and plug that sucker in,' and you do the same thing. We'll shut this grid down in no time."
end of excerptIt is disappointing that for all of the innovative work going on in the field of solar... more
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On one of the fields where students learn about agriculture, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will soon be planting a new kind of crop with a constantly renewable yield - 20 acres' worth of photovoltaic panels, the largest solar farm in the state.
The 2.1-megawatt system, to be built by Beltsville-based SunEdison, will generate electricity for the 4,100-student campus in Princess Anne when it's finished, which is expected by the end of the year.
"We hope it will be a model for other universities as well as the surrounding businesses in the area," said Suzanne Street, the university's spokeswoman.
The solar farm, about the size of 22 football fields, should help stabilize electricity costs for the historically black university, its officials say. And in the process, they say, getting electricity from the sun should displace more than 100 million pounds of climate-warming carbon dioxide over the next 20 years that a coal-burning power plant would otherwise emit to keep the lights on on campus.
The project, announced this week, indicates renewed interest in the fledgling solar power industry, which had seen new installations slowed since last fall by the slumping economy, industry officials say.
"It's a good sign that they're starting to come back," said Peter Lowenthal, a renewable energy consultant in Washington and regional director for the Solar Energy Industry Association.
Energy incentives in states like Maryland, in addition to increasingly generous federal ones, are turning the Mid-Atlantic region into a hot spot for new solar projects, said Monique Hanis, spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
"We expect it to vie with California for becoming one of the better regions for solar in the next five years," she said, noting that New Jersey has the second-largest amount of solar power generation installed.
Maryland has a long way to go to challenge other states for solar supremacy. Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas boasts the largest photovoltaic system in the nation for now, a 14-megawatt array spread across 140 arid Nevada acres. A batch of much larger ones are in the works.
But by itself, the university project will nearly double the state's solar generating capacity of about 3 megawatts, says Christina Twomey, spokeswoman for the Maryland Energy Administration. The next largest is a roughly 1 megawatt photovoltaic system installed by Constellation Energy last year on the roof of McCormick & Co.'s mill and distribution center in Hunt Valley.
"For one system, that's a pretty significant accomplishment and a good step forward," said Joseph Verrengia, spokesman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. Although the Sunbelt is seeing some huge solar farms proposed, Verrengia said that systems can convert sunlight to electricity efficiently even in more northerly places like Maryland.
"Maryland is really coming on strong," said Matthew Dickey, SunEdison's sales manager, who noted that his company has installed solar arrays on four Montgomery County schools and has a contract to do four more.
end of excerptOn one of the fields where students learn about agriculture, the University of... more
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And people think we will pay with cap and trade or a carbon tax? Why then aren't the same people crying about the huge amounts of money taxpayers are left holding the bag for by these loans given to energy/coal companies they don't pay back? THEY DESERVE TO BE TAXED.And people think we will pay with cap and trade or a carbon tax? Why then aren't the... more
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SRS Energy has completed one of the first residential installations of the Sole Power Tile system at a residence in Bermuda Dunes, CA. The Sole Power Tile is the first building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing product designed for curved roofing systems.
"This installation illustrates how homeowners can go green and make smart, sustainable choices without compromising curb appeal," said Marty Low, CEO of SRS Energy. "The revolutionary design of the Sole Power Tile system will enable this home to generate clean solar energy for decades to come."
The Sole Power Tile system seamlessly blends with several styles of US Tile's clay tiles, providing energy and preserving the home's roofline, unlike unsightly roof-mounted solar panels. The combination of clay and solar tiles delivers the Spanish-style aesthetics of traditional curved clay tile roofs commonly found in the Pacific West and Southwest.
The Sole Power Tile system employs cutting-edge thin film solar technology, valued for its ability to convert a greater range of light - including the light at dawn and dusk - into solar energy when compared to other solar technologies.
The curved design of the tile allows for greater air circulation under and around the tiles, helping to prevent degradation in performance caused by the region's desert heat.
SRS Energy installed approximately 300 square feet of Sole Power Tile on the residence's roof. The tiles are expected to generate approximately 2,400 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The Bermuda Dunes home is one of several demonstration installations SRS Energy and US Tile are undertaking this summer to support the product's launch. The homeowners will be able to install a larger solar upgrade beginning this fall when commercial shipments commence.
The Sole Power Tile system was installed in three hours by Roof Tile Specialty, a Sole-Certified US Tile contractor based in the Palm Springs area. Sunshine Solar Energy of Costa Mesa, CEC-approved solar contractors, installed the system's off-roof components to the utility grid.SRS Energy has completed one of the first residential installations of the Sole Power... more
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Good to see it is being led by the US and China... however, what will it mean if both these countries continue to spew oil and coal emissions out at about the same pace as now? We need to wean off coal and oil and become much more aggressive into bringing affordable accessible solar into people's homes, businesses, etc. Investing is great, but it needs to go beyond that now.Good to see it is being led by the US and China... however, what will it mean if both... more
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As curator of the Sustainable Agriculture Group I also think that the future of energy is here in solar. Therefore, I thought it only fitting to start a Solar Energy group to discuss solar energy and it's uses, innovations, and advantages. Solar energy is truly one of the more positive sides to the opportunities and vision awaiting us for the future.
So if solar is your thing too, please join the Solar Energy Group!As curator of the Sustainable Agriculture Group I also think that the future of energy... more
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New Energy Technologies has announced that new tests of the Company's ultra-small solar cells for use in its transparent SolarWindow have demonstrated substantially superior performance over current thin-film and solar photovoltaic technologies at generating electricity from artificial light - an important advantage over conventional solar technologies which are limited by their capacity to function well where exposure to direct sunlight is available.
"One of the biggest issues with today's solar products is their dependency on direct sunlight, which our cells have demonstrated the potential capacity to overcome," explained Mr. Meetesh V. Patel, Esq., President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc.
"We're now actively working to coat these cells onto transparent glass in order to fabricate our SolarWindows, which generate electricity and have the potential to be installed virtually anywhere that either direct sunlight or artificial lighting such as fluorescent systems emit visible light.
In contrast, today's building-integrated solar and photovoltaic products are limited to installation on south-facing surfaces, as is the case with currently-available solar materials tested in these newest experiments."
In a series of new experiments, researchers repeatedly tested New Energy's ultra-small solar cells on a 1"x1" substrate against today's popular solar materials for their capacity to produce electricity under varying artificial light conditions, mimicking the levels of light exposure in homes and commercial offices.
In every case, New Energy's solar cells, the smallest reported organic solar cells of their kind in the world, exponentially outperformed all of the conventional materials tested.
Under normal office lighting conditions, without the benefit of outside natural light from windows, New Energy's ultra-small solar cells produced:
Almost 2-fold greater output power density than monocrystalline silicon, an established commercial solar cell material; More than 8-fold greater output power density than copper-indium-selenide, known for its high optical absorption coefficients and versatile optical and electrical characteristics; and
More than 10-fold greater output power density than flexible thin-film amorphous-silicon, a popular 'second-generation' solar thin-film material.
New Energy's solar cells generate electricity not only from the visible radiation found in sunlight but also by using the visible light found in artificial illumination, such as the fluorescent lighting typically installed in offices and commercial buildings.New Energy Technologies has announced that new tests of the Company's ultra-small... more
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Hello USA. Not politically feasible?
excerpt:
'As developed nations juggle with the numbers attempting to dodge the issue of agreement on ambitious carbon emissions cuts, the Scottish government has unveiled plans to cut the country’s carbon emissions by a staggering 42 percent, more than the 40 percent recommendation given by IPCC.
This is the most ambitious emissions reduction goal adopted by any country thus far, Germany has plans to 40 its emissions by 40 percent while Britain formally adopted a 34 percent reduction goal this April. Scotland, with its strong renewable energy infrastructure and bold plans to expand the same, has raised the bar even further.
In the recent weeks the developed countries have been in the line of fire of the green groups as they proposed disappointing emission reduction goals. Completely ignoring the IPCC recommendations of 25-40 percent reductions by 2020, Japan and Russia proposed cutting their respective emissions by merely 8 and 10-15 percent. These are only just better than the Kyoto Protocol goals which bind them to cut their emissions by 5-6 percent by 2012 from 1990 levels.
The driving engine behind this highly ambitious goal is the strong renewable energy infrastructure of Scotland. The Scottish government has unveiled numerous clean energy projects in the recent years which has helped the nation make the transition from fossil fuels to clean fuels.
Scotland’s geographic position is a blessing as it harnesses the high speed winds coming from the North Sea to generate electricity through offshore as well as onshore wind energy farms. The total wind energy potential is estimated to be 25 GW. Scotland has quite a few wind farms including one which is the largest onshore farm in Europe.
Last year the Scottish government announced a three fold increase in subsidies on small scale wind and solar energy systems for home owners and small businesses. This shows that the government is serious about promoting renewable sources as reliable sources of energy. Similar efforts from other countries are essential if we want to replace fossil fuels as the major source of power generation around the world.
Scotland has also taken some innovative initiatives in order to conserve and produce energy in a clean manner. The Glasgow City Council was provided with blueprint of a revolutionary idea of harnessing solar power. The plan, developed by Glasgow-based ZM Architecture, calls for deployment of floating lily-shaped solar panels in the Clyde river which will generate electricity & supply directly to the national grid. The company hopes that the city council would approve a pilot project which could eventually result in a large scale implementation of the project.'
end of excerpt.
This is what REAL political will looks like.Hello USA. Not politically feasible?
excerpt:
'As developed nations juggle with... more
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In this awesome first edition of “Science is Speaking!”, I interview the ambitious and inspirational Dr. Woodrow Clark II about sustainable energy, politics and what we need to do to put America back on the right track.
Dr. Clark earned three separate masters degrees from different universities and his Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley. He was Senior Advisor on Renewable Energy, Emerging Technologies, and Finance to California Governor Gray Davis from 2000 to 2003. In 2007, Clark was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize due to his co-authorship and co-editorship for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1995-2000 in which he is still active today.
Q: There are so many types of renewable energy sources; solar, wind, biomass- it seems we could easily run America on sustainable energy! What’s the biggest obstacle to this goal right now?
A: Primarily public policy -- it is far too limited and "afraid" of change. See what the Europeans and Japanese are doing. I am and some scholars refer to this difference as The Third Industrial Revolution (renewable energy, storage and new technologies, smart girds and cities etc). That is the USA is still in The Second Industrial Revolution that is influenced and "controlled" by lobbyists for the oil & gas industry as well as auto (although that might change now, finally!)
Q: What steps does America need to take to emerge as a leader in what you describe as the 3rd Industrial Revolution of sustainable energy?
A: We need to get elected officials in office. The Obama Admin is a good example of that. In many ways the young voters today (under 40 who get the issues and DEMAND change) get what he is all about. It reminded me of the Anti - Vietnam War era. And makes sense as the National Election "skipped a generation". Some scholars refer to them as the New Millennium.
Q: In your UCLA lecture you discuss how politicians can be corrupted and even “bought off” by businesses like those involved in so called “Clean Coal” and Nuclear energy. Are you concerned that the scientific voice in America is overshadowed by corporate interests?
A: Absolutely. And there are signs in the Obama Admin that this is true even now. People who argue for "clean coal" are only delaying the need for society (globally) to get off the dependency on fossil fuels. They pollute and are the key cause to climate change. What we need are these government funds focused instead on renewable energy and making The Third Industrial Revolution real: in short it is "The Sequel to An Inconvenient Truth" We are doing just that here in LA at the Community Colleges.
Q: Let’s talk local- what’s the number one thing your average citizen can do to that will make a difference as we strive towards a sustainable future?
A: Aside from everyone being aware of the environment (turning off lights, computers and TVs etc) we all need to recycle and DEMAND that local programs are there to do it. That means participating in the local government and committees. Above all we need to vote, as they did in LA, for new programs that ensure our future as being off the dependency on fossil fuels. Here in LA, over 71% of the voters passed in the Nov 08 elections, 2 bond measures for making the the K-14 schools and colleges less dependent on fossil fuels by putting renewable power generation, LEED level buildings and infrastructures on campuses along with education, training and job creation. IT IS A POLITICAL MYTH that voters do NOT want to pay higher taxes. What they need now is correct and positive information about what the taxes are for --- climate change is front and center on ALL the surveys today.
Q: You’re a doctor, author, teacher, Nobel Prize Winner and more! What’s next for you?
A: An Academy Award for dramatic film that I am making on this topic along with Emmys for a TV/Cable series that will spring off of that. Another long story!In this awesome first edition of “Science is Speaking!”, I interview the ambitious... more
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In developing countries - where food is scarce and reliable energy supplies are even scarcer - necessity often becomes the mother of invention; so it is in Uganda, where farmers have resorted to using human urine and excreta - mixed in with banana peels, algae, water hyacinth and poultry droppings - as an inexpensive source of biogas. This cheap alternative is being pushed by Heifer International Uganda (HIU), an NGO working to reduce hunger and poverty around the world by sharing livestock and knowledge.In developing countries - where food is scarce and reliable energy supplies are even... more
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Acumentrics Corporation, a leading developer of solid oxide fuel cells has won the 2007 New England Innovation Award from SBANE, the Smaller Business Alliance of New England. The company was one of 7 winners chosen from a pool of 171 applicants.
Carbon neutral biogas
Another highly important feature of the SOFC's is that they do not require hydrogen or the hydrogen economy - which is mired in controversy because it requires huge investments in production, distribution and storage technologies. Acumentrics' fuel cells instead run on biogas, natural gas, propane, ethanol, diesel, and biodiesel
The combination of the efficiency of the SOFC fuel cells - which is far higher than power plants using combustion engines or turbines - and the low carbon footprint and efficiency of biogas production based on organic waste, may probably be the cleanest and most efficient large-scale energy system currently in operation anywhere.Acumentrics Corporation, a leading developer of solid oxide fuel cells has won the... more
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Wayne Keith is headed to Las Vegas in an old Dodge pickup that runs on, of all things, wood. He gets about 1.6 mpp (that's miles per pound) and reckons he needs about 1,000 pounds to get there. No problem. He's carrying a chainsaw and a list of lumberyards along the way.
Such are the provisions you need for Escape from Berkeley, a madcap alt-fuel race that mashes up Mad Max and Cannonball Run with a touch of the Darpa Challenge and Burning Man. If the rules are simple -- no petroleum allowed, and fuel must be scavenged along the way -- the challenge is anything but.
"The basic premise is build a vehicle out of junk, we'll give you the equivalent of one gallon of gas and you have to drive 600 miles to Las Vegas. Oh, and you can't buy any fuel along the way," says Jim Mason, the artist and inventor behind the race. "That's a pretty heavy stone to carry."
That isn't keeping the 10 teams lining up for this weekend's race from giving it a try in everything from a veggie-oil Lotus 7 to a steam-powered three-wheeler that looks like it rolled right out of the 19th century.
The race has drawn geeks and gearheads, artists and academics and even a rancher from Alabama, none of whom are waiting for General Motors or Toyota to lead us beyond oil. They've cobbled together an impressive fleet of street-legal and roadworthy cars, proving automakers aren't the only ones who can make autos. "I think energy will be our next hacking culture," Mason says. "If there's any goal here, it's to see how we can move energy from a commodity culture to a hacker culture."
Mason started hacking World War II-era Imbert wood gas technology three years ago. He's developed a DIY gasifier kit (he's sold 35 of them, at two grand a pop) and installed it in the 1989 Honda he's making the run to Vegas in. "A gasifier isn't a practical solution for urban transit," he concedes. "But it shows it can be done."
Still, if there's a favorite to take the $5,000 grand price, it's Alabama rancher Keith Wayne. He's making the run in a 1987 Dodge Dakota pickup truck, which is the fourth truck he's converted to run on wood gas. He's already put 30,000 miles on it, so he knows it works. "Gasification is a little tricky to grasp, but once you understand it, it's pretty simple," he says. "It takes a lot of rigging and welding and doing and redoing. But it's a cheap ride, and it's carbon-neutral. The scientists at Auburn (University) tell me it's cleaner than an electric car."
Those scientists oughta know, because one of them -- Dr. David Bransby -- is Keith's teammate. They're making their way across the country in a pair of wood-gas pickups, spreading the gasification gospel before making the run to Vegas. "We've been in touch with Lowe's and Home Depot and other places that will have scrap, and we'll be getting wood from them along the way," Keith says. As for those stretches of road where there's nothing but scrub and brush, well, Keith's got a chain saw and the rules allow him one gallon of gas, so he figures he's got it covered.
"We're looking forward to it," he says. "You get a group of people together, give them rules like this and tell them to drive from Point A to Point B without gas, well, there might be something come out of it you've never seen before."
Wayne Keith is headed to Las Vegas in an old Dodge pickup that runs on, of all things,... more
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China's main source of power is so destructive that its social and environmental impact costs £160bn annually, warns a new report from green campaigners.
The country is the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, relying on it for more than 70% of energy production, compared with a global average of around 40%.
The True Cost of Coal, published by Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and The Energy Foundation, says by-products ranging from water pollution to mining deaths cost China an additional 1.7 trillion yuan, or more than 7% of annual GDP.
"From extraction to combustion, every step in the process of using coal damages the environment," warns the report.
"To ensure its energy security, environmental protection and healthy economic and societal development, China must reduce its reliance on coal."
The report catalogues the effects of the industry across a wide range of areas. According to official figures, coal is responsible for 70% of soot, 85% of sulphur dioxide, 67% of nitrogen oxides and 80% of carbon dioxide emitted in the country — leading to respiratory diseases and contributes to global warming.
Thousands die annually in the country's mines, despite a safety drive in recent years. Wastewater and solid residue damage water systems and agricultural land.
Land subsidence caused by mining damages road, railway lines and power lines and results in the relocation of 2,000 people for every 10m tonnes of coal produced.
Each tonne of coal consumed in 2007 cost China an extra 150yuan in environmental damage, the study shows.
The authors — from well-regarded research institutes in China — show how the government could ensure those costs are internalised, suggesting the price of coal would rise by 23%.
They accept that would reduce GDP by 0.07%, but argue it would increase China's long-term international competitiveness and increase social wealth by 940bn yuan.
"Environmental and social damages are underestimated while using coal in China, as a result of market failures and weakness in government regulations," said economist Mao Yushi, lead author of the report.
The report suggests that imposing environmental taxes, improving compensation schemes and other restructuring the coal industry could all slash coal use.
"Recognising the true cost of coal would create incentives to developing cleaner, sustainable energy sources. The government should introduce an effective price signal for coal, which would ensure a massive improvement in energy efficiency and large-scale implementation of renewable energy.
"This would reduce China's environmental pollution and show its leadership in fighting climate change," urged Yang Ailun, climate and energy campaign manager of Greenpeace China.
China's main source of power is so destructive that its social and environmental... more
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