There’s a Paradigm Shift Underway in Energy Efficiency. If you dropped $100,000 on the street, you'd probably notice it and want to pick it back up. Yet for 30 years, building owners have been leaving thousands -- if not millions -- of dollars on the table by not doing energy efficiency projects and plugging energy that leaks. But that is a trend that we believe is about to change. The opportunities and obstacles within energy efficiency are well known. Since buildings are responsible for 40 percent of global energy consumption and 33 percent of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions, the potential size of the retrofit market is massive: Deutsche Bank estimates that $289 billion worth of investment would produce savings in excess of $1 trillion in the U.S. alone; put another way, every dollar invested in energy efficiency produces three dollars of savings. But to quote Yogi Berra, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
To date, most of these innovations have existed in a vacuum and without cross-sectoral comparison or application. Water Stress Threatens Future Energy Production. Riverbend Steam Station, a coal-fired power plant on North Carolina’s Catawba River. Nationwide, thermoelectric power production requires more than 200 billion gallons of water a day, most of it to cool the plants. Duke Energy retired the Riverbend plant in April as part of its effort to modernize its power stations. Photo: Flickr/cc/Duke Energy When we flip on a light, we rarely think about water.
But electricity generation is the biggest user of water in the United States. Large quantities of water are needed as well for the production, refining and transport of the fuels that light and heat our homes and buildings, and run our buses and cars. And of course hydroelectric energy requires water to drive the turbines that generate the power. In short, energy production is deeply dependent on the availability of water.
Consider these examples from the DOE report: Locations of the 100 coal-fired power plants most vulnerable to water stress. India is building Solar Canals to Produce Energy while Slowing Water Loss | artselectronic. An experimental project in India is combining solar photovoltaic panels with an irrigation system in an attempt to save water while generating electricity. A 1 MW array has been built over nearly half a mile of the Narmada Canal in the state of Gujarat. The combination will not only produce electricity but also conserve land and water, according to officials of the state government . The project is meant to show an efficient use of land in an agricultural region by putting solar panels over a waterway rather than over fertile ground.
It also should reduce evaporation of the canal water by an estimated 237,750 gallons of water each year. The Gujarat State Electricity Corporation developed the project and hired U.S.based SunEdison to build it. This is not the first time someone has thought of putting solar panels over water to save space and preserve scarce water supplies. It is still relatively uncommon, however.
Gujarat has seen many solar arrays installed in recent years. Like this: Thin-film PV Breakthrough Could Cut Solar Costs By One Third. Clean Power Published on July 14th, 2013 | by Giles Parkinson This article first appeared on RenewEconomy A new Silicon Valley developer of thin film solar PV modules, backed by an Australian venture capitalist, has claimed an engineering breakthrough that could cut the manufacturing costs of PV modules by one third.
RSI has broken cover after five years of development to announce it has created a 1.5 square metre cadmium telluride PV (CdTe) module, twice the size of conventional modules. It says this will enable solar PV modules to be manufactured at a cost of less than 40c/Watt, around one third cheaper than current mass-produced thin film and silicon based modules – and hastening the charge towards grid parity for solar PV. First Solar, currently the world’s largest thin film solar PV module manufacturer, had predicted reaching 40c/W by 2017 through increases in efficiency. Fox told RenewEconomy that the technology breakthrough would hasten the march towards grid parity for solar PV. SheerWind's INVELOX Wind Turbine Can Generate 600% More Energy Than Conventional Turbines. US-based wind energy company SheerWind just unveiled the INVELOX – a tunnel-based wind turbine that can produce up to 600% more power than traditional wind turbines.
The company states that after extensive field-testing, their new INVELOX turbine “significantly outperforms the traditional turbine” and could reduce installation capital costs to less than $750 per KW. The INVELOX energy system works by capturing ground-level breezes and funneling them through a tapering passageway that naturally accelerates wind flow. Unlike other turbines, it also minimizes environmental and animal impact, and it requires no government subsidies to be profitable.
All of this makes INVELOX a potentially game-changing renewable energy solution that could be easily integrated within commercial renewable energy operations. SheerWind claims that the INVELOX turbine can operate at wind speeds as low as 1 mile per hour, and it has generated a record high energy production capacity of 72%. In a statement, Dr. Gizmodo. Repowering the Planet. Electricity from the sun and the wind. Now you must evaluate the reception that you got to your initial presentation of the concept.
You determine the scope of your initial project based on this reception. If it was overwhelmingly good, you could present a reasonable sized simple "by the book Earthship" as your project that you are requesting a permit for. If the reception was somewhat skeptical then you reduce the scope of what you are asking for. The point is to not ask for too much at first. What you are doing here is allowing an official the chance to see the concept before they are asked to risk their job on it. The point here is to determine just how small of a 'bite' to ask the inspector to swallow in this phase.
You present this demonstration as a rammed earth thermal mass dwelling - not a rubber tire house. Another factor of your presentation is not to mention all the other systems at first. We are here to help you! > Earthship Biotecture Consultation. Green Fuel Online | Future of Clean Energy. What are the different types of alternative energy. Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy. US Home Internet Devices Suck Enough Energy to Power Silicon Valley. Although appliances and consumer electronics are getting more efficient, they still represent about 35 percent of the energy consumed in U.S. homes. And it's not just the big appliances using up energy. A 2011 study from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that typical HD-DVR cable boxes consumed more electricity than a new Energy Star-rated refrigerator.
Because electronic devices use nearly one-quarter of electricity while in "standby" mode, they cumulatively add up to a major source of consumption within homes. (Interestingly, the study also found that the newest DVR models had cut energy consumption in half.) Here's another silent energy consumer to add to the list: internet connection equipment. NRDC just released an analysis of small network equipment like routers and modems, finding that these devices together in a household consume about as much energy as a new flat-screen television. Making that switch isn't easy today.