Green Daily

T. Boone Pickens -- who we previously reported is building the world's largest wind farm -- placed his order Thursday for phase 1 of the unprecedentedly huge renewables project. The $2 billion order for 667 GE turbines was the largest order ever for a single site, and it's only phase 1 of 4 -- no kidding. When the oil tycoon completes the Pampa Wind Project in the Texas panhandle, there will be 2,500 turbines cranking.

Because of the sheer size of the order -- and I'm assuming the backlog of turbine orders that GE has piling up -- the deliveries to the Pampa site won't begin until 2010, the whole thing should be up and running by 2014. The farm will pump out enough juice to power 1.3 million homes, the hard part is getting it to the homes. As the wind-boom continues to surge, energy companies are scrambling to beef up energy infrastructure. According to Pickens, of the $10 billion project, $2 billion is going to transmission lines alone.

Last week eBay opened its brand new offices settled under the largest solar panel roof that San Jose has ever seen. The 197,000 square foot building was designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates. "Building 17" will house 800 employees from eBay's Pay Pal branch.

In addition to its impressive roof, many of the textiles from carpeting to cubical fabric are made from post-recycled materials. Lights will turn off if rooms are empty and shades will automatically close if the sun is too hot. There is even a large reflection pool outside that will help to cool the building as the water evaporates. EBay claims to have achieved a LEED's gold rating for their new office.

And all this time, I thought eBay was run by little men in my computer. Weird.

In the world of green gadgets, there are innovations, and then there is just really cool junk -- it's hard to say exactly which category the SOLo Lounge Table falls into. It certainly isn't the first solar-powered workstation we've seen, or even the first solar table, but it does have wheels, built-in speakers, and an LED light show to keep those creative juices flowing as you stare blankly at your desk.

All sorts of tech companies (like Microsoft, ahem) seem to be trying to squeeze more functionality out of the simple and timeless table. How about this for sustainability: make a simple table out of sustainable materials that won't become obsolete in 5 years? Although I do like the SOLo table's design -- wheels and all -- I'm not sure I see the logic in putting solar panels on a surface that's usually covered with stacks of paper and junk. Hope you have the corner office with the giant window, or you'll be SOL (that's probably not what the name stands for, btw).

[via Inhabitat]

Slashdot announced this week news of a town in Missouri that will soon be 100% wind powered. Rock Port, Missouri has a population of only about 1400 people (according to the 2000 census), so it only takes four 1.25 Megawatt wind turbines to provide enough power.

The turbines are located at the Loess Hill Wind Farm. According to the farm's website, the turbines connect directly to the city's high voltage line, though the supply does have backup from other power sources in the municipal system. The U.S. Department of Energy's State Energy Program highlights Rock Port here.

Sounds like a win-win situation, doesn't it? Unfortunately, not everyone likes the sight of these towering turbines, which brings us to another problem often associated with environmental remedies: NIMBY, which stands for Not In My Backyard. Everyone likes the idea of green power, but when it comes down to having to look at the tall metal structures, many people refuse. One man has caused quite a stir in his historic Atlanta neighborhood, where neighbors say the windmill owner has "invaded the public view" and also accused him of erecting the structure simply to show off his "environmental bling."

Honestly, I never found mounting the actual panels on the roof to be the intimidating part of installing a solar setup. Connecting the panels to the inverter and the grid always seemed like the more technical part of the process to me. Still, Lumeta's light-weight, adhesive photovoltaics make it easier than ever to slap solar panels up on your roof -- and that's good for all kinds of reasons.

Over the last few months, solar companies have seen a declining interest due to the high costs associated with equipment and installation. By cutting down on the time and costs of solar installation, Lumeta's parent company, DRI, is hoping to switch on a larger section of public. The Power-Ply 380 panels can be installed in a matter of minutes and DRI estimates that their peel-and-stick system reduces hardware costs by 70%.

In an attempt to answer the numerous questions about biofuels and whether they are a sane way to cut greenhouse emissions, the Seattle Post Intelligencer has put together a chart that can help us see for ourselves. Because, isn't it about time that we get to see the information with our own eyes? The chart was created using the data from various research universities around the US and the Nature Conservancy.

Sadly, the chart tells us what we already know to be true. Although corn-based ethanol is by far the least efficient of the biofuels being explored -- producing roughly the same levels of greenhouse gases as regular diesel -- it's really the only one with any availability in the US. Switch grass and algae-based fuels both seem promising, but they're still years away in terms of development. In the meantime, what we're really talking about is corn. From what we've seen so far with the speculation and hoarding that is going on, it looks as if using food crops for fuel is a very volatile proposition at best. So, is it worth it? Click on the chart to see a the full version.

[via Treehugger]

Windmills aren't just for jazzing up the mini-putt anymore. A new report from the Department of Energy says that the wind could rock 300 gigawatts of electricity into the grid by 2030, providing 20% of America's electrical needs. The key word here is "could" , since it'll require an approximate 20 fold increase in the amount of wind power being produced, meaning the number of turbines being installed will have to increase from 2000 in 2006 to 7000 in 2017.

However, change is in the, uh, wind. Tycoon T. Boone Pickens is planning to drop $10 billion for a 4 GW wind farm in Texas, and 2008 is set to be a record-breaking year for the number of wind GW being generated in the US. Overall, wind power production reached almost 17 GW last year, of which 5 GW was installed in 2007 alone. And with oil prices hitting new highs weekly, investors are starting to like the look of wind farms on the horizon.

Apart from the obvious benefits of weaning America off of fossil fuels, which still generate about 70% of US electricity (mostly from coal and natural gas) the impact on climate change mitigation efforts would be considerable. It's estimated that if 20% of electrical power were supplied by wind turbines, it could reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants by 25%.

Read the full report here.

via [Wired]

On one hand, when I read a news story about an entire village in South Korea drawing 100% of its power from the sun, I get excited and optimistic, but on the other hand, it only makes me sad to think we don't have something like this going in the United States.

Sure, there are plenty of solar-powered homes in the US, and there are plenty of entire cities that are extending into a more off-grid power structure, but the kicker of this story is the fact that the South Korean government covered 70% of the installation fees for this project! Government-funded alternative energy projects in action, what a novel idea! Not only that, they announced a plan to raise Jeju-du Island's wind power generation capacity to 500 megawatts by 2020. I'd hate to think about how many solar panels a Blackhawk helicopter could buy.

If you're into electric car news, than you'll be excited to hear that Renault is throwing some major financial resources -- $1 Billion -- into an ambitious electric car project. Teaming up with a California company called Project Better Place, Renault plans to roll out a swappable-battery electric car and hundreds of thousands of charging stations in Israel and Denmark. Renault -- which owns a 51% stake in Nissan -- will provide the actual cars while Nissan will be installing its Li-ion battery packs.

The goal for Better Place is to have these vehicles charge off of completely renewable energy sources. In Denmark, that's not too unrealistic -- since 20% of Denmark's energy comes from wind turbines and 7% goes unused, enough to power all of the country vehicles. Israel's a different story. Their power is mostly generated by coal and other fossil fuels, so Better Place hopes to charge the cars from solar panels in the Negev Desert.

The jury may still be out on whether Ethanol and biodiesel are the solution to the world's oil addiction. There's some evidence that diverting food crops to fuel production is raising the prices of food, and it's questionable whether you could grow enough fuel crops to power all the vehicles currently relying on gasoline. But what if you could fill up your car with Ethanol produced in your backyard, not in a field in Iowa?

The EFuel100 Micro Fueler is a contraption that will let you do just that. Basically, you add some water, sugar, and yeast, let it sit for a few days and you've got ethanol that you can use to power your car. The Micro Fueler can also take alcohol, and co-founder Thomas Quinn says he sometimes makes ethanol from discarded alcohol picked up from bars and restaurants.

Between supplies and electricity, it costs about $1 to produce a gallon of ethanol. But the up front costs are a bit higher than that. A Micro Fueler will set you back about $10,000, although with government subsidies, you can probably chop a few thousand dollars off that price.

[via Gizmodo]

Austin Williams, the author of the new book "The Enemies of Progress" is convinced that our current global push for sustainability is a deterrent for creativity. He thinks that sustainability, being fundamentally against human activity and progression, makes it actually stunt the growth of innovation. I tend to strongly disagree.

To me, the exact opposite is true. When you don't have much to work with -- which is becoming the case in this decaying economy of ours -- you have no choice but to make due with what you have. As the saying goes: Necessity is the mother of invention. Our necessities include, most importantly, food and shelter. When the cost and availability of these staples extend beyond the grasp of the common working family, they are forced to turn to alternatives. These alternatives include growing their own food and building their own homes, independent of utilities in some cases. Sorry Mr. Williams, but this is the definition of sustainability.

Think that you might want to tap into wind energy for your home, but you're worried about subjecting your family to the unwanted noise of a conventional turbine? Starting in July, a quieter and, in my opinion, more aesthetically pleasing option will be come onto the micro-wind scene. The Swift rooftop turbine is a small-scale wind system that has a cool updated windmill design and -- under good wind conditions -- it's expected to provide at least 20% of your home's energy needs.


The Swift is designed to run at under 35 decibels at any wind speed, keeping it quiet enough to meet the zoning requirements of most fussy communities. For a point of reference, whispering is measured at 40dB. The Swift system only needs 2 ft. of clearance from the top of your roof, so it also eliminates some of the need for giant poles. Still, as with most turbines -- the higher the better.

2008 is on pace to be the windiest year ever for the US. That is, in terms of energy production. It's not a huge surprise to learn that wind turbines are selling like hotcakes compared to other years on record, especially with oil going for over $120 a barrel. In the first 3 months of this year, 1,400 MW of wind generating capacity had already already been installed -- that's enough to power 400,000 homes.


In total, 5,600MW worth of wind turbines will be cranking by the end of 2008, edging out the current record of 5,300MW set in 2007. One of the forces driving the wind boom -- aside from a public outcry for renewable energy like we've never seen -- is that developers are in a race to finish their projects by the 4th quarter this year -- just in case congress doesn't extend production tax credits that are now in place. It's hard to imagine lawmakers pulling the tax credits though, when there's $11.5B of wind energy investment capital at stake.

Global warming and peak oil might sound nasty to you, but for some folks working on green technologies it sounds like "Ka-ching." With growing concern about CO2 from fossil fuels that may or may not be running out anyway, venture capitalists pumped a record $2.2 billion into cleantech last year, says a report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers entitled "Cleantech Comes of Age."

Much of the boom is focused on alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and biofuels with total investment in that area reaching $1.1 billion. However, pollution mitigation and recycling also attracted funding, with 29 recorded deals totalling over $202 million.

It'd be nice to think that the surge in interest in eco-friendly tech has to do with our collective consciences driving us to better stewardship of the planet, but we all know it's because oil is at $123 a barrel and rising, making alternative energy and straight-up conservation look a lot more attractive. But whatever the reason, it's all a step in the right direction.

via [Green Tech Blog]

Solar powered gadget chargers may be all the rage these days, but what do you do if your iPod runs out of juice while you're spelunking? Well, I certainly hope your solution isn't to pull a pedal powered generator out of your pocket, because that just seems kind of dangerous if you're in a cave. But if you're sitting at home and trying to think of ways to get a bit of exercise while keeping your phone or MP3 player charged, this Chinese pedal powered doohickey could be just what you're looking for.

This little charger packs what looks like a pretty hefty battery, and it even has an LED flashlight on the front in case the power goes out. I wouldn't normally bother to point that out, but there's a big shiny picture on the product homepage showing off the flashlight, so I guess it must be important.

If you get tired of pedaling with your feet, you can also place the charger on a table or desk and use it as a hand crank. This ¥14,800 ($141 US) generator isn't the only pedal powered gadget charger we've seen. But it's certainly the blue-est. That's got to count for something, right?

[via EcoFriend and TFTS]