• Delaware Coast to get Offshore Wind Power Farm

    Posted in Alternative Energy on June 25, 2008

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    Bluewater Wind, an offshore wind power company has won the contract to build America’s first offshore wind turbine park off the coast of Delaware. Using electricity generated by the wind, “Delmarva Power will be able to light about 50,000 homes a year, every year” for the duration of the 25-year contract, with first power expected by 2012. The project may help stabilize consumer energy costs, since the contract locks in the price Delmarva will pay per kilowatt-hour. Each turbine sits on a pole about 250 feet above the waterline. The units will be constructed in such a way that it will withstand hurricane-force winds. Each blade on the three-blade rotor is to be 150 feet long.

  • Electric Mercedes to be out in 2010

    Posted in Transport on June 24, 2008

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    Although they have been planning on a non-gasoline vehicle for some time now, but according to the news trickling in, Merc could be out with their electric Smart car in 2010. in a recent interview, Daimler’s chief executive was quoted as saying that an “electric Smart [was planned] for 2010,” and he also said that an electric Mercedes model would be arriving “the same year.” For the pricing details he said that the cost would depend greatly “on whether it sells the batteries or leases them.” There was even a mention of a fuel cell car in 2010.
    Source

    Britain’s first eco-nightclub needs peppy dancers to generate electricity

    Posted in Alternative Energy on June 23, 2008

    eco-nightclub_1.jpg The DJ of this new eco-nightclub better play great music if he wants to keep his turntable working. For if the feet stop thumping so will the power. Britain’s first eco-nightclub, set to open in King’s Cross, will require the patrons to dance on a modified dance floor that will harness the energy expelled by the clubber’s moves and convert it to electricity. This place is so Green-oriented; they even plan on using a recycled water system to flush their lavatories. The Club will also serve organic spirits served in polycarbon cups. Entry to the club will cost £10, but those who can prove that they cycled, used public transport or walked to the venue will be welcomed in free. That’s not it customers will have to sign a pledge before entering the club that they will work towards curbing climate change.

    TGER – Turning trash into precious fuel

    Posted in Alternative Energy on June 21, 2008

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    Trash, as it turns out, is an attractive feedstock. There are several commercial companies developing technologies that use wastes as fuel. The military currently burns its trash in incinerators, emitting icky emissions and eating up a lot of fuel, time, and human power since it takes quite a few people to run one. Also, cutting down on the use of diesel fuel is especially important since the trucks that haul the fuel are basically moving targets sure to make huge bangs. They have developed a prototype generator that uses trash as fuel to generate power. The generator is called TGER (“tiger”) and the acronym stands for Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery. The prototype, which uses a variety of technologies to run an electrical generator, will be tested until August. The purpose of the unit is to cut down on the amount of diesel fuel used and to cut down on the amount of garbage that camps generate, which are security risks. The wet and dry wastes are separated. The dry trash is crushed, pelletized, and fed into a gasifier where the pellets are heated until they’re turned into synthetic gas, which then fuels the generator. The wet waste is converted with the use to enzymes into hydrous ethanol, which is then blended with synthetic gas to boost the generator’s output to 55 kW.

    Hydrogen car makes history, travels 650miles on a single tank

    Posted in Transport on June 21, 2008

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    As the fuel prices are expected to escalate to dizzying heights, the options to find a reliable alternative are the primary concern for scientists and researchers. It’s not everyday such breakthroughs are achieved in which a team manages to keep a hydrogen vehicle powered for six days without needing any refueling. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have successfully achieved a world record for the maximum distance travelled by a hydrogen powered car. Until now the fleet of hydrogen-electric Toyota Prius’s sold in the market and used by some city governments, run on compressed hydrogen gas, and have a limited range of around 80 miles between refuels. Even a pretty un-ambitious three-gallon tank fills the entire trunk of a Prius, yet still only enables a range of approximately 200 miles, which does not qualify as a gasoline competitor. By using liquid hydrogen, this takes up around a third of the volume of compressed gas.

    Gotwind – A Green PowerStation for hungry mobiles

    Posted in Alternative Energy on June 19, 2008

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    Batteries dying out at multi-day events are not an unfamiliar sight today, but simply having a conventional power dispenser is not an easy option for event managers. To keep mobile phone users from avoiding such events, Mobile Operator Orange is working with a renewable energy company Gotwind, the recharge Pod is an evolution of the Orange portable wind charger, tested at 2007’s Glastonbury Festival. The recharge Pod will be stationed within the Pennard Hill camping grounds at Glastonbury and will be a free service allowing all festival goers to charge their mobile phones throughout the weekend. Over 7 meters in height, the free standing “recharge Pod” is a self sufficient unit that supports a wind generator and solar panels and can charge up to 100 mobile phones per hour.

    Rice Mill in California installs 1Megawatt solar array

    Posted in Alternative Energy on June 19, 2008

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    Although the picture shows a totally cultivable land concretized and converted into a solar farm, this is somehow a green solution to the energy crisis that we face today. Far West Rice Mills in Nelson, Calif., on Wednesday dedicated a one megawatt solar array that will provide three-fourths of its electricity. The Global energy crisis have hit business bottom lines hard, that’s the reasons Corporations and agribusiness invest in these systems to get a predictable electricity price over several years, to keep a check against rising prices.

    Faraday Mark II – An all electric truck

    Posted in Transport on June 19, 2008

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    Trying to fit a compact car with revolutionary fuel technology or electric components is a quiet hard to do at present or when the technology itself is experimental. However the dynamics change with bigger vehicles as many more components can be easily placed and studied in much more detail. That’s exactly what Ford is trying to do with its F650 trucks. Smith Electric Vehicles along with Ford plans on producing commercial electric vehicles for Europe and North America. The first of these vehicles was unveiled at the Commercial Vehicle Show as the Faraday mark II, a pure electric truck using the Ford F650 chassis cab, with a GVW of up to 13,000kg.

    US and India join hands for emission free power generation

    Posted in Alternative Energy on June 19, 2008

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    The US and India both rely on coal for its power generation needs; the US has now initiated a 10 year joint venture to produce and share technology for emission free power between both countries. FutureGen is a $1Billion a year plan to build a zero-emission, coal-fired electric and hydrogen production plant. It aims to integrate advanced technologies in coal gasification, extracting hydrogen from coal, power generation, carbon dioxide containment, and geologic storage. Around 55% of India’s total power consumption is based on coal. Last year, 500 million tons of coal was used for power generation in India.

    Futuristic residential house-The Zero Emission House to be ready by June end

    Posted in Architecture on June 19, 2008

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    To coincide with Hokkaido Toyako Summit, the G8 summit, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan is constructing a futuristic residential house the Zero Emission House.The Zero Emission House is a single-storied steel structure prefabricated house with a total floor area of approximately 200m2and an exterior that has been designed to imbue traditional Japanese beauty. The house will showcase state-of-the-art Japanese energy and environmental technology to the world, with features including a 14.5kW capacity photovoltaic generation system, energy efficient lighting, a household fuel cell, and energy saving household appliances.