Cheap solar (at last?)

Again a nice title... Cadnium Telluride thin film solar panels. Still waiting to hear the efficiency (many houses are space constrained). Still, at $1/Watt, cover any surface in it!

clipped from www.treehugger.com New Solar Panels Produced at Less Than $1 Per Watt

NZ goes 90% renewable

Now that's a headline that we'd like to see more of. Mind you, New Zealand already uses 70% renewable energy, mostly a combination of hydro and geothermal. There must be some wind about too, judging by Lord of the Rings. Perhaps we should be harnessing Mount Doom?

clipped from www.subzeroblue.com New Zealand Commits to 90% Renewable Energy by 2025

Backyard wind turbine

Its great to see that there's more urban wind turbines coming out. They've got their own (serious) challenges, like cost and truly effective harnessing of the wind (how good is the wind quality beside a roof?), and maintenance, but even so its great to be able to do something positive from the comfort of your own home. Still, it may all be a bit of green spin...

clipped from www.treehugger.com

Cow Power

It's not only the methane that cows produce that could be turned into energy (the question becomes how to capture their burps and farts without making them look like cowstranauts), you can also make biofuel from whey (little did little miss Muffet know)!
Put a cow in your tank

clipped from www.treehugger.com NZ has its own dominant industry, outside of sheep, that is:- Dairy. So why not make ethanol from all that by-product from milk production, namely whey. Gull Petroleum convinced New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Helen Clark, to pump their first public tank of Force 10 biofuel, which contains a 10% blend of whey-derived ethanol and 90% high octane petrol lthough whey is a waste product this is not the first creative use of the residue. Anchor Ethanol, a subsidiary of Fonterra Co-op, who is making the ethanol for Gull, already supply the market with the milk-based raw material for production of pharmaceuticals, perfumes, printing inks and even vodka and rum. All derived from whey

Building Integrated Wind Turbines

I'm real proud of the Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) solar projects I've been involved with. There's an elegance to using solar panels as elements of the facade, as a freeway noise wall, or shading device. But there's some pretty significant challenge.
This building integrated challenge has been taken one step further - building integrated wind turbines. See a picture of one below.

The challenge is that in urban environments, the wind quality can be poor - hence the turbines are mounted at height to ensure laminar flow. However, because the building cannot turn to face the wind, the yield can be far less than optimal. That said, its far better than no yield. Well done to the architects and engineers who work on this innovative concept. See another one in Bahrain: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/bahrain_install.php, and Melbourne's innovative (but futile) attempt at making some energy from turbines that double as heat exhaust fans. http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=171&pg=1933
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/urbines_at_elep.php

clipped from www.treehugger.com

People Power

This website http://62.169.138.193/features/peoplepower_page2927.aspx has an excellent summary of how to produce power from human movement. Pity the amounts are minuscule. But this kind of thinking can lead to pervasive solutions...

clipped from 62.169.138.193 “When the DJ clears the room with cheesy Europop, he’s harming the planet in more ways than one.” Every step you take, every move you make, every spin of the pedals on an exercise bike – you’re generating tiny amounts of power. Now scientists are working out how to turn it into electricity. Chris Alden reports. The last year has seen an explosion of ideas on how to do just that. In Zanzibar, there are plans for a luxury hotel gym which will convert the effort you spend on its machines into electricity [see GF63, ‘Zero in Zanzibar ’]. In Hong Kong, inventor Lucien Gambarota has rigged up 13 exercise bikes to turn pedal power into watts.

BioMimetic Ocean Power

I like the idea of mimicking the best nature has to offer in solving our energy needs. Nature has evolved some very efficient means of achieving outcomes that we struggle to replicate. Obviously, fish move through the ocean in a very energy-efficient manner - mimicking this movement to produce energy is very elegant. Other similar ideas include solar panels that produce power through photosynthesis, which Climate Managers would love to implement, once they become commercially available.

clipped from www.worldchanging.com Biomimetic Ocean Power

Solar Energy, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Innovations

Welcome to this blog, which will concentrate on innovative technologies that can help us live sustainably on this earth. Technologies such as:
* Solar Energy, including solar (PV) power, solar thermal power, solar heating and solar cooling (solar air conditioning), and solar desalination/water production.
* Other renewable energy sources such as wind, geothermal, tidal, and micro-hydro.
* Innovative new technologies such as hot dry rocks.

It'll be a good repository of such information, which I collect as part of my work as a manager in Climate Managers. The views expressed within are my own.

I hope you enjoy.

Warwick Johnston