Author: Green Dude

Can your car – or your hybrid – help power the grid?

" … exploring plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) that not only use grid electricity to meet their power needs, but also the car’s potential to store electricity from the wind or sun, or even feed electricity back into the grid, earning money for the owner."

" … vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration … improve the sustainability and resilience of the transportation and electric power infrastructures … new era in which vehicles and electric "fuel" infrastructure become a system."

" electric cars become "distributed" storage, doubling as mobile holding tanks for electricity, ready to serve in their down time."

Via:  University of Michigan LINK
 

" … solar-powered sensor system developed at the University of Michigan is the smallest that can harvest energy from its surroundings to operate nearly perpetually."

" …could enable new biomedical implants as well as home-, building- and bridge-monitoring devices. It could vastly improve the efficiency and cost of current environmental sensor networks designed to detect movement or track air and water quality."

" … can run nearly perpetually if periodically exposed to reasonable lighting conditions, even indoors … "

" … could enable less-invasive ways to monitor pressure changes in the eyes, brain, and in tumors in patients with glaucoma, head trauma, or cancer. In the body, the sensor could conceivably harvest energy from movement or heat, rather than light, the engineers say."

 Via:  University of Michigan  LINK

San Francisco is known for embracing many things green.  The city recently developed and released an iPhone app for recycling information.

"San Franciscans already lead the nation in recycling – in May [2009] we announced a 72% diversion rate of all materials going to the landfill … pledged to recycle 75% of the materials that would otherwise go to the landfill by 2010 and zero waste by 2020."

" … find out where to recycle or properly dispose of materials using … location-based mobile application. Instead of dumping old electronics or furniture on the sidewalk, the EcoFinder iPhone app tells you where these materials should go, based on your location."

" … EcoFinder iPhone app is part of our ongoing effort to provide residents and businesses in San Francisco with the information and tools to be environmentally responsible."

Via:  CleanTechnica  LINK

U2 has taken a novel approach to getting fans to getting fans to think about the bands carbon footprint and in doing so may help promote the idea of carbon offsets.

U2’s show uses quite a bit of carbon in getting things set up and moved around the world.  They are promoting to fans that they can do their part to help offset the carbon footprint of the concert when they buy tickets … read on for more.

" …great fit for our dealers because it provides a variety of energy-efficient improvement options regardless of the current age and design of the facility … gives them flexibility in making choices that are right for them and their dealership.”

Via:  Ford LINK

The UTS Tower in Sydney, Australia is may get a proposed upgrade – a solar skin.  This PV "wrap" would turn the tower into a very green and energy efficient structure.

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Tower "upgrade" is " … Fueled by the university’s sustainability drive … turn the building into a “landmark environmental tower” by wrapping it in a photovoltaic skin."

"The sustainable energy system, devised by postgraduate students in 2008, has been funded to allow students to build and test the project."

 There are a number of propose upgrades including wind turbines and cogeneration … the solar skin " … stretches around walls and roof elements … the building is covered in a lightweight composite mesh textile that can collect rain water, generate electricity and complement the plan’s passive ventilation system that uses natural convection."

Via:  SmartPlanet  LINK

Scientists from CalTech have developed technology that might lead efficient solar cells from silicon nanowires.  This could lead to all sorts of configurations for solar cells including fabrics.

" … CalTech scientists say they have the underlying technology. Silicon nanowires, arranged in arrays, have been engineered that … grab power from visible light …"

" … a cell geometry that not only uses 1/100th the material of traditional wafer-based devices, but also may offer increased photovoltaic efficiency owing to an effective optical concentration of up to 20 times …”

" … CalTech’s cells have efficiency comparable to solar panels now being installed on roofs."

"If nanowires can be woven into a viable matrix, combined with other material, it means fabrics can double as solar connectors, once they have a way to off-load the power they create."

Via:  SmartPlanet  LINK

H-P’s newest data center in Wynyard England is cooled ENTIRELY by wind blowing off the nearby North Sea.  The North Sea is cold and so are its winds. It is H-P’s greenest data center yet …

The " … new 360,00 sq. ft. Wynyard center is 40 percent more energy-efficient than conventional data centers …"

" … Traditional data centers use thousands of megawatt hours per year … if they were classed as a separate industry, they would be the sixth-largest user of electricity … "

 Other energy saving / carbon saving features of the Wynyard data center are: " … harvesting rainwater … to maintain proper humidity levels in the air that’s brought in from outside … light-colored server racks because they reflect light, allowing for 40 percent less lighting to be installed compared to using black cabinets."

"HP had previously announced that it plans to reduce the combined energy consumption of operations and products by 25 percent below 2005 levels by 2010."

Via:  SmartPlanet LINK

I was looking at Bose Wave radios and noticed an interesting section about recycling batteries … they have 3 easy ways for you to recycle the rechargeable batteries in their Wave radios …  

… call Bose toll free, go to a Bose store or visit rbrc.com … which takes you to call2recycle.

 call2recycle has a look up by ZIP code feature for the US and Canada.  In my ZIP code I found a number of drop off locations including K-Mart, Radio Shack,. hardware stores and Home Depot.

"Call2Recycle^® offers consumers a free and easy way to care for the environment through its nationwide battery and cell phone recycling program … follow these three easy steps … If it’s rechargeable, it’s recyclable. Look for used rechargeable batteries and old cell phones in your home that are dead or not being used any longer … Find the recycling drop-off location nearest you and drop off your used rechargeable batteries and old cell phones."

Via:  call2recycle  LINK

Volvo is looking at a possible new battery technology that can double as the car "skin".    The idea is to make new hybrids lighter and more efficient by having the car’s "skin" serve a dual purpose.

"Researchers from Imperial College London … and Volvo are developing a prototype material that’s strong and light enough to be used as a car’s skin but can store and discharge electrical energy."

" … material is made of carbon fibers and a polymer resin and can store and discharge large amounts of energy much more quickly than conventional batteries."

" … does not use chemical processes, making it quicker to recharge than conventional batteries. Unlike conventional chemical batteries, the recharging process also causes little degradation in the composite material."

" … could also be used as both battery and shell of consumer electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers. Without conventional batteries, the devices could be smaller and more lightweight."

Via:  SmartPlanet  LINK

A MIT spin-off has created a solar powered refrigerator that can bring cooling to those far from the electric grid – especially those in developing countries like India and China.

"Promethean Power Systems has developed a solar-powered refrigeration system for commercial cold-storage applications in off-grid and partially electrified areas of developing countries. … store and preserve perishable food items … without the need for expensive diesel-powered generators"

" … a for-profit enterprise. We believe that creating a cost-effective solution for cold-chain food distribution in emerging markets is an excellent business opportunity that could deliver enormous social and environmental benefits."

" …  study revealed a large business opportunity in India for an efficient cold-storage solution targeted to the dairy industry … Cold-storage at the village level minimizes the number of collection trips and reduces transportation cost in half. Today, the only alternative is to use commercial refrigerators with diesel-powered backup generators, a no-win situation that further exposes the dairies to escalating energy prices. "

Via:  Coolectrica  LINK

Scientist have long suspected they could modify an existing microbe to produce biofuel from plant products.  They may now be one step closer with a strain of e. coli.

"Scientists with the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) recently published a paper in the journal Nature explaining how they engineered the e. coli strain to spit out fatty esters (basically biodiesel) … tweaked the e. coli so that it produces more fat than it normally would in a form it normally wouldn’t, and they also made sure the bugs didn’t eat their own fatty production. …"

"Ideally … would lead to a tiny, self-contained oil well: In comes plants, out comes fuels or chemicals. …"

"… biofuels breakthroughs are published with some regularity. But no one has been able yet to turn these breakthroughs into industrial processes that can produce something useful on a large scale at reasonable cost. …"

Via:  Forbes  LINK

Our food choices determine our carbon footprint / impact. Some choices are less carbon intensive than others. The video that follow shows how the choice of a grilled chicken sandwich has approx. 1/5 the carbon intensity of a cheesburger.

Check out the video for more on food choices and their carbon impact.

Via: SmartPlanet LINK

" … what to do with the 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide the human race produces every year by burning fossil fuels. Half … is absorbed by oceans, plants and trees. The rest contributes to the atmospheric build-up of greenhouse gas …"

" … a bold solution that will inevitably come up is to capture and sequester some of that carbon dioxide deep underground. Onshore geologic cavities in the U.S. could hold 2 trillion tons of CO₂ … enough to soak up 300 years of national output … and would generate a good deal of anxiety for those living above the gas…."

" … put the carbon where nobody lives … a perfect place 130 miles off the eastern U.S. seaboard and 2 miles below the ocean … porous sandstone formation, trapped under 3,200 feet of hard shale, that stretches from New Jersey to Georgia … "

"SCS Energy … aims to start injecting CO₂ into this undersea rock by 2016 and to make a profit … "

" … technique called coal gasification that heats coal and partially combusts it in pure oxygen to make carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Adding water turns the carbon monoxide into CO₂. The 5 million tons of CO₂ produced annually by the plant would be piped out to sea and injected into … sandstone. Almost all the hydrogen would be used to power a turbine during hours when the price of electricity is high. When power prices are lower, more hydrogen would be diverted to make ammonia or urea for fertilizer."

"Carbon capture and storage on a large scale is still more theoretical than real … Sequestration’s critics are legion, but it may be a requirement to meet the 2020 greenhouse-gas-reduction goals most countries set for themselves prior to the Copenhagen talks…."

Via:  Forbes  LINK

• Ford’s new Transit Connect is the ideal taxi platform as it is both big enough to accommodate CNG or Propane fuel tanks and is available with CNG or Propane engine options that from Ford – maintaining the  manufacturers warranty.

" … Ford also said it will introduce engine prep packages on all Transit Connect models … allowing conversion to efficient, clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) or propane (LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas) … are popular among taxi operators because of their low cost of ownership."

" … meeting with taxi operators … found considerable interest for vehicles that run on alternative fuels …"

"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CNG is less expensive and burns cleaner than gasoline, resulting in 30 percent to 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions. Propane also burns cleaner than gasoline."

“ … they provide an overall lower emission of greenhouse gases compared to gasoline. Additionally, operating on CNG or LPG provides the operators lower fuel/operating costs …"

Via:  Ford LINK

The GSA is renovating the 18 story federal building in Portland, Oregon.  Green features include a vertical green wall and reduced water usage with low flow fixtures and recycled roof water.

"… part of a $133 million renovation, the General Services Administration wants to grow “vegetated fins” on the western facade of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building … save energy year-round using one of Mother Nature’s own tools."

" … will use 60 to 65 percent less energy than comparable buildings. That translates to an energy cost savings of $280,000 per year."

"Solar panels could also provide up to 15 percent of the building’s power needs. Energy use for lighting will be halved."

"… building in question was already slated for an energy efficiency upgrade, but funds from last year’s federal stimulus package stressed projects that were environmentally friendly."

Via:  SmartPlanet  LINK

United Technologies is looking at how blood captures CO2 to see if this has potential for larger scale carbon capture / sequestration.  One targeted industry is coal-fired power plants.

"Blood cells in all breathing creatures are constantly capturing carbon dioxide and moving it someplace better–just what coal-fired power plant operators may soon have to do with all the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal."

" … trying to develop industrial blood–a synthetic version of the enzyme that blood uses to capture CO2 … best known chemistry for CO2 management … "

"Current carbon capture approaches use chemicals … system has to be huge and the process requires a pile of heat, which means a pile of energy and therefore a pile of cash. The cost of electricity from a coal-fired plant is projected to rise 80% in order to pay for a 90% reduction in CO2."

" … envisions a simpler, cheaper system involving membranes that sift carbon dioxide out of the flue gas …  hopes to do is dope the membrane with a substance based on the enzyme that blood uses to capture CO2, called carbonic anhydrase."c–are also working to develop carbon capture devices based on carbonic anhydrase.

Via:  Forbes LINK

“Frog’s Leap Winery … in … scenic Napa Valley … getting attention as one of first wineries in the U.S to be sustainable … the winery’s motivation to be green, is as much about the bottom line as it is about the environment. Financial benefits include: a solar installation that is saving the vineyard $50,000 dollars a month on electric bills and dry farming techniques that bypass the need for costly irrigation”

Via:  SmartPlanet  LINK