MetaFilter posts tagged with renewableenergy

A little sunshine on a rainy day...

saulgoodman — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:33:51 -0800

The Virtual Power Plant: "Critics of renewables have always claimed that sun and wind are only intermittent producers of electricity and need fossil fuel plants as back-up to make them viable. But German engineers have proved this is not so." A pilot program funded by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment offers a rebuttal to critics who claim renewable energy sources have an insurmountable variability problem.

Better then nothing

delmoi — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:44:56 -0800

US Carbon Dioxide emissions in 2012 were at their lowest levels since 1994 According to the the Business Council on Sustainable Energy. Some interesting statistics: Total energy consumption has dropped 6.4% since 2007, Despite an overall increase in GDP of 3%. A lot of that had to do with increased fuel economy in cars. Electrical generation capacity Natural gas provided about 27% of total energy use, and renewables (including hydroelectric) provided 9.4%. Non-hydro renewable energy (wind, solar, etc) accounted for about 4.1% (Increasing from 194 TWh in 2011 to 217.4 TWh in 2012). Meanwhile in Germany, solar energy increased from 3.2% to 4.8% of electricity generated, a 66% increase over 2011, and a 960% increase since 2007

Solar cone power art

stbalbach — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:07:51 -0800

Solar art. V3Solar has a spinning blue crystal prototype that has many advantages over flat-panels. Some details on costs. Via GizMag.

High-altitude wind power

stbalbach — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:08:10 -0800

In honor of the opening of Shepherds Flat Wind Farm in Oregon this week, the largest wind farm in the United States, let's take look at 'high-altitude wind power', HAWP: A recent Nature analysis of potential wind power found that wind turbines placed on Earth's surface could extract kinetic energy at a rate of at least 400 TW, whereas high-altitude wind power could extract more than 1,800 TW. At these rates there would be pronounced climate impacts, but since the world currently uses 18 TW, effectively unlimited. Accessing HAWP wind is pretty tricky but a number of start-ups are trying. They say it's cheaper and easier to deploy than ground wind technology. The technologies are all different but have the same premise, something like a kite or blimp in the air tethered to the ground. * Makani Power (California) is the furthest along to deployment with $20 million backing from Google and ARPA. Makani hopes to build a 92-foot ridged wingspan rated at 600 kilowatts (150 households) (video), but in the future they want to build a 5-megawatt version with a 213-foot wingspan for offshore. *Ampyx PowerPlane (Netherlands) is also close to deployment. The kite pulls on the tether on the ground which rotates a turbine. They expect to be operational within a few years. *Magenn Power (California), a helium-filled, blimp-like structure floats 1,000 feet up and the entire balloon spins as the wind blows. It has undergone successful test flights. *Altaeros (Boston), another a helium-filled device but it basically lifts a standard turbine into the air (video). *WindLift (California), a soft-wing kite design noted for ease of transport and quick set-up for use in temporary situations (funding from U.S. Marine Corps). *EnerKite (Germany), uses a similar system as the WindLift. On the down side, without help from the government, these technologies could take 20 years or more to overcome reliability problems in large scale operation. It's estimated that a $100 million government program could bring that down to 5 years. All of the above fly within a few thousand feet of the ground, the HAWP Holy Grail is the Jet Stream 5 or 6 miles up. [This post derived from Yale360]

RIP Hermann Scheer (1944-2010)

gompa — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:43:00 -0800

Hermann Scheer - long-serving German parliamentarian, "Europe's Al Gore," father of the feed-in tariff, and perhaps the most important green politician of our time - died yesterday at the age of 66. Though mostly unknown in North America, Hermann Scheer was among the most prominent European proponents of renewable energy. Scheer, a Social Democrat, and Hans-Josef Fell of the Greens, co-wrote and championed Germany's Renewable Energy Sources Act, passed by the Red-Green Coalition government in 2000. This feed-in tariff legislation set prices for electricity from renewable sources far above those for conventional power. It is credited with creating more than a quarter of a million jobs and vaulting Germany to the front ranks of the global green economy. It has since been copied in dozens of jurisdictions the world over, from Italy to the Canadian province of Ontario to Gainesville, Florida. Scheer was also instrumental in the establishment of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He was given the Right Livelihood Award (aka the "alternative Nobel Prize") in 1999. He wrote several influential books on what he called "the techno-logic" of renewable energy. From a 2009 interview with German journalist Franz Alt:

The transition to renewable energy is a switch from imported energy to indigenous energies, from commercial fuels to non-commercial fuels, from large power plants to small and medium production facilities and to new conversion technologies – and not just the avoidance of emissions and nuclear waste. The totality of expenses for renewable energies – except for bio fuels – results from technology costs. This is a transition from fuel business to technology business, from energy dependence to energy autonomy. I call this the techno-logic of energy sources. That is why we need a global technology market for the deployment of local and regional renewable energy resources. Many have misunderstood this concept – even advocates of renewable energy. The manifold mental barriers result from this misconception.

Hermann Scheer 29 April 1944 - 14 October 2010. RIP.

Don't be Carbon-emitting?

HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:36:30 -0800

Google, an internet search company, announced a US$ 4.4 trillion proposal for reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels by 2030. Google CEO Eric Schmidt, chided political leadership in the U.S. and the rest of the world for not showing initiative on the issue. Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org has already made significant investments in alternative energy solutions (previously) that will naturally tie in to this plan.Google stock has bounded on the news, but is their plan the way to go?

And it's day-glow orange. Srsly.

ardgedee — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:56:55 -0800

All of the light, 40 times the power. Improve the performance of run-of-the-mill solar cells by standing orange pieces of glass on them. MIT's Mark Baldo describes the technology. The performance claims are outstanding, manufacture is cheap (and defect-tolerant), and the time to market is predicted to be three years. It can also be used to turn building window panes into solar energy collectors. The paper's published in the latest Science Magazine -- but you can only read the abstract unless you're a subscriber.

Tornado Engines

louigi — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:32:01 -0800

Atmospheric vortex engines : or, more evocatively, giant, human-controlled tornados. It's Louis Michaud's idea for cheap, renewable energy. Whether or not it's feasible I don't know, but if our aim is crazy, post-apocalyptic looking power stations, then I think he's on the right track.

End of the World? ABC wants your ideas

stbalbach — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:14:46 -0800

Earth2100.tv is a project by ABC (video preview) to solicit ideas from the public and experts about the dangers facing world in the next 100 years. "The world’s brightest minds agree that the “perfect storm” of population growth, resource depletion and climate change could converge with catastrophic results. We need you to bring this story to life."

Is it time to look at Renewable Energy sources again?

infini — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 16:29:57 -0800

Aurore, a renewable energy (RE) service provider in South India has been designing and developing RE products like solar lanterns and street lights, arranging for microfinance to support installation in remote villages and winning prestigious awards for their work. Cleaner, safer and cheaper than fossil fuels, their business philosophy is grounded in a greater vision than mere profit.

A True Convergence of Drinking and Driving

fenriq — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 13:47:26 -0800

Saab's new 9-5 2.0T Biopower sedan runs on regular boring old gas and pumps out a respectable 148 horses. But, because its an FFV (Flex-Fuel Vehicle), fill it up with E85 ethanol (or grain alcohol to you, rummy) and, with the turbo (especially suited for use in ethanol powered vehicles because of ethanol's higher octane), the power is boosted to 184 horses while reducing the bulk of emissions and using a renewable energy source. Only problem is that there are only a little over 300 ethanol fueling stations in the US, it should be noted that the car is not aimed at the US market so our loss is Europe's gain (though not for long). [More Inside]
Read about it last night in the latest issue of Popular Science. Previous MeFi ethanol post.