background preloader

Energy

Facebook Twitter

Solar Forest Keeps Cars Cool And Juiced. Wind Turbines a Tourist Attraction in Atlantic City (Visitors Want Rooms with a Wind Farm View) – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views. Clean Power Published on June 14th, 2011 | by Zachary Shahan There’s a lot of fuss made of wind turbines being an eyesore for people.

Wind Turbines a Tourist Attraction in Atlantic City (Visitors Want Rooms with a Wind Farm View) – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views

This is something I have never understood, as I think they are quite nice looking and, furthermore, they are certainly tons more attractive and pleasant than a coal-fired power plant. Apparently, I’m not the only one who likes the look of wind turbines (and loves seeing them when I visit other places). Local journalists in Philadelphia have a story this week on how Atlantic City wind turbines have become a tourist attraction there. “The 32-story turbines of the Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm have so dramatically changed Atlantic City’s skyline – perhaps more than any casino could – that tourists haven’t stopped asking questions about them since they went up five years ago along a back-bay salt marsh,” Jacqueline L. “Some casino hotel guests are so fascinated that they ask for rooms with a view of the five delicate fans, resort operators say.” Sounds cool. Tata Steel to Turn Steel Sheets into Solar Cells Using Spray-on PV Coating. A group of organisations including Tata Steel-led Corus and Swansea University (Wales, UK) are developing a new technology that would convert steel sheets into power generating solar cells.

Tata Steel to Turn Steel Sheets into Solar Cells Using Spray-on PV Coating

The technology involves coating steel sheets with photo-sensitive dyes. The technology has significant applications since it is highly efficient even in diffused sunlight. Therefore, countries at higher latitudes or those with limited solar energy resource can generate significant amounts of solar-powered electricity with going for large-scale power plants. If extended, the technology can find its way to the automobile industry where photo-sensitive dyes can be applied to cars to generate electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel cells. Tata recently invested in an American company, Sun Catalytix, which integrates low-cost catalyst with solar-powered fuel cells to generate power. Tata has been making significant investments in the renewable energy sector, both in India and abroad. Smart, Clean, and Ready to Go: How Solar Hot Water Can Reduce Pollution and Dependence on Fossil Fuels - Environment Arizona. Community Wind Across America. Getting Biofuel from the World’s Garbage.

There is plenty of garbage on this planet; in fact there is so much garbage that many developed countries are trying to dump their garbage on the lands of lesser developed countries, at a fee of course.

Getting Biofuel from the World’s Garbage

But does dumping garbage on other places solve the problem? On the contrary it spreads pollutions and diseases. In fact it is more dangerous to dump garbage in the less developed countries (because there are neither technologies available to process it nor enough awareness). Even creating landfills wastes precious resources. Rather than having to dump, what if garbage can be used to generate power? Global Change Biology has published new research that claims replacing gasoline with biofuel from processed garbage could cut global carbon emissions by 80%. Great strides are being made in the field of creating biofuels but a galling problem is that the biofuel production causes food shortage. But garbage is abundantly available, fortunately or unfortunately.

What do you think? More Garbage from the CA Senate SEQ. The Puente Hills Landfill is the largest operating sanitary landfill in the United States (and probably the world). It is scheduled to close in 2013. Now that AB 222 has finally "passed" through the Senate Environmental Quality Committee (SEQ), the question is, does the legislation meet the vision of what has passed through the full Assembly (54-13) and the Senate Utilities Committee (6-1) last year? The answer is a resounding "NO! " The Senators on the SEQ bowed to the traditional recycling industry lobby and gutted the bill to the point that its authors are loathe to recommend it because it will virtually kill investment in any conversion project in the state.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Home Page. Smart Energy Glass – switchable glazing powered by the sun. Ridgeblade wind turbine from The Power Collective Ltd. Penn State: Hydrogen. Beyond petroleum Is hydrogen the answer?

Penn State: Hydrogen

"I will get right to the point," declared Nobel laureate Richard Smalley, speaking before Congress. "Energy is the single most important problem facing humanity today. We must find an alternative to oil. We need to somehow provide clean, abundant, low-cost energy to the six billion people that live on the planet today, and the 10-plus billion that are expected by the middle of this century. " Smalley has a philosophical ally in Bruce Logan, Kappe professor of environmental engineering and director of Penn State's Hydrogen Energy Center. The race for solutions is on, and while ideas may diverge, the parameters are clear: The new energy source must be cheap, renewable, and environmentally clean. "It can't happen without breakthroughs," Logan acknowledges. Though their goal may be thirty years away, Logan and his colleagues are clear about one thing: "The time to lay the groundwork is now. " Energy Unbound Hydrogen is all around us.

Cracking hydrocarbons. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines.