Bill Gates was in the news a few weeks back taking climate change deniers to task.
I must admit I lean to the skeptical side myself. I’m for off-grid power for reasons such as the probable coming oil famine and hyperinflation. But I don’t have the expertise and inclination to go on a crusade on either […]
Very Interesting. . .
Brad Linaweaver says he’s getting tired of the “Wall Street vs. Main Street” rhetoric, which he believes ignores the Empire as the dominant agency for the immiseration of the proletariat, comrade. (He wouldn’t put it like that.)
Brad suggested finding out if the Pentagon was located on a Street that could find its […]
Digg front page item shows a very cool (sorry) NASA photo of Great Britain covered with ice from orbit.
Global warming promoters have long said that the gulf stream is at risk. For example, this 2002 Science Daily story, “A Current Controversy: Is Europe About To Freeze?,” excerpt:
“One of the odd possibilities that could emerge from […]
ARS Technica describes a recent National Academies of Science report in an article, “New report offers grim assessment of plug-in hybrids.” Several commenters to the article naturally rejected the report’s fuel price assumptions as oil company fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD).
Which reminded me about the promising EEstor breakthrough that’s supposed to be demonstrated this year, […]
An item at The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia titled “How to Repair Our World” embeds a slick YouTube video about WeForest.
The video’s producer persuaded Stephen Fry to volunteer his time for narration during a chance meeting in Copenhagen (hence the “Fry-day” category and also because it’s still Friday in my local time zone).
WeForest encourages […]
Coca Cola was one of the companies listed on an often played TV ad in the U.S. that shows the word “Copenhagen” morphing into “Hopenhagen.”
Maybe Coke’s marketing department was thinking of their polar bear mascots.
The solution to stopping global warming proposed by scientist Saul Griffith, in his SALT talk in January of this year, […]
Harvard Gazette photo
If you’re confused why something tagged “Winds-day” is being posted on a day other than Wednesday, let me remind you that the universe isn’t tied to your homeworld’s orbital position. Not by a strong force anyway. Moving on. . .
Although the great Saul Griffith talks about global warming a lot, his Instructables site, […]
The BBC online story “Hydro-electricity in Wales: Turning streams into cash” describes micro-hydro turbines gaining popularity among farmers. The small systems are generating the amount of power used in surrounding communities.
For those who have streams, but without a steep waterfall drop that makes existing turbines worthwhile, Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder reports something new, “Technology to […]
Here’s an excerpt from email I got from J. Neil Schulman:
“Frankly — as a subscriber to Permakent who has it as the only external blog on my blog roll at J. Neil Schulman @ Rational Review — I’d been waiting for you to make a statement on this for several days. Just as I was […]
This Kurzweil AI item has a link to the Technology Review story, “Thin-Film Solar with High Efficiency.”
The article describes the San Jose based company, Solexant, in some detail including, “The company expects to sell modules for $1 per watt, with efficiencies above 10 percent.”
Nanotech leader Paul Alivisatos, of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Lab, sits […]
Conscientious Projector is hosting a free showing of Dirt the Movie in Tustin, CA this weekend (Sun., Nov. 9, 5 pm), which I plan to attend.
Here’s the Soul at Home location website with the Tustin address if you’re nearby and want to see the film.
There will also be a showing Wed., Nov. 18, 2009 […]
A description of a biodiesel making breakthrough, called the Mcgyan Process, from Minnesota’s Augsburg College and SarTec Corporation found its way into my inbox thanks to a Google Alert.
The name “Mcgyan” comes from the three inventors’ names–McNeff, Gyberg, and Yan.
Another article in WCCO describes the process and benefits in a concise nutshell:
“Taking an idea from […]
Brazilian Coast Oil Platform
ConsumerWatchDog published an article by Bradley Brooks from AP titled “Alternative Energy Powerhouse Brazil Finds Big Oil.”
To paraphrase a bit, Brazil currently leads the world in ethanol production and hydroelectric power. But the national company Petrobras, as well as partners such as BP, will develop the recent offshore oil find (deeper than […]
The cost of permits for a wind power system from various local government agencies may multiply the money you have to spend compared to just buying an installed system. Yikes!
Check out this outrageous item about Ventura County, California, “Will Red Tape Stop Green?”
Also, since finding out that the PVC cut-out blades for some homebrew designs […]
Hempcar.org
Alan Bock posted an item on Orange County Register’s “Orange Punch” online, “Testing hemp for biofuel,” with a link to the original story in Canada.
Bock wrote, “Think maybe this would be worth trying in California? Even on a pilot basis to see if Jack Herer’s claims about hemp hold water?”
ArsTechnica recently published a general summary […]
L.A. Times reports Jay Leno’s New Show to Include a Green Car Segment.
“One idea for a recurring comedy bit includes a ‘green-car challenge,’ in which celebrities would race electric or hybrid cars. Tom Cruise has already asked whether he could do some practice runs before competing, Leno said. (The host told him practice runs are […]
OCAW union
FreedomFest in Las Vegas had good attendance for a libertarian event. Read more about it at J. Neil Schulman’s FaceBook page (log in required).
The list of exhibitors leads off with energy and mining companies. They probably get hassled by Atomic unions lead by the likes of Homer Simpson. OCAW is an actual really for […]
Wind Simplicity’s WindancerTM
One objection to wind power is the ugliness of the turbines.
Even T. Boone Pickens said he wouldn’t have one of the turbines for his own Pickens Plan on his property for that reason.
If small wind systems became decorative and attractive, maybe homeowner associations (HOA) wouldn’t resist them so much, as is discussed in […]
TriplePundit reports “Small Wind Beginning to Make a Big Difference.” For those of you concerned with U.S. trade balance, there’s good news:
“What’s even more encouraging is that U.S. manufacturers–such as Mariah Wind profiled here on 3P–accounted for about half of total worldwide small wind turbine sales.”
For the cheap DIY folks, while I am skeptical of […]
An ARS Technica article titled “Google: 15,000 searches = 1 cheeseburger (hold the fries)” discusses the problems of Google’s analysis of the energy used to produce its internet search results, but otherwise praises the educational value of its Clean Energy information page.
“Early this year, a newspaper story made the rounds when, after extrapolating from some […]
LifeHacker has a story about Kamal Meattle’s TED talk video on three common houseplants that clean indoor air.
Some wit remarked at the YouTube video page that a simpler way is to open the window. But seriously, if you’re in the bowels of a high rise cube farm, there ain’t no stinkin’ window.
And at a place […]
YouTube video of SolTrekker RV tour in Portland, Oregon on Earth Day, 2009, according to the video description at the creator’s channel.
The green SolTrekker RV uses photovoltaics, contains no PVC, burns biodiesel but no petroleum or propane, and of particular interest on Thirst Day, collects rainwater and has a super insulated solar water heating system.
Wildman Steve Brill
A Slashdot post reports that Space Energy, Inc. claims to have a rock solid business model for their plan to beam down power via microwaves from solar energy collectors in space. I’ll get to survivalism and foraging in a minute, stay with me.
In a page linked from that article, at Universe Today, “aerospace […]
Mother Earth News reports that a DIY homebrew car, “MAX Wins 800-mile Race, without Gas.”
The challenge was to drive from Berkeley to Las Vegas without using petroleum based fuel, and without buying any fuel directly. This is a step in the MAX team’s attempt to win the $10 million automotive X-Prize for a 100 MPG […]
BioPro automation YouTube
From the Freeways To Fuel website, linked from Green Tech Media coverage of the National Biodiesel Conference in San Francisco this month:
. . .we estimate that 10 million acres of non-traditional agronomic lands are available to grow about 1 billion million gallons of biodiesel feedstock on our country’s rights-of-way.
Daryl Hannah made news at […]
Here’s a direct link to the Instructables page for a thousand watt wind turbine project.
“We built a 1000 watt wind turbine to help charge the battery bank that powers our offgrid home. It’s a permanent magnet alternator, generating 3 phase ac, rectified to dc, and fed to a charge controller. The magnets spin with the […]
Do I win a prize for the most bizarre headline? While we’re digressing, what’s up with “Cardinals” as a football team name? I think it’s fine for Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown, but on the gridiron a tweety bird is like a boy named Sue. Now give me some more tofu.
First some good news for energy […]
This Sat-urday item (what I’m calling satellite and other green/off-grid tech news) is from Cory Doctorow’s Boing Boing post about LightLane, a concept device that paints bike lanes using portable lasers from the bicycle.
Quoting the Good Magazine blog post “Superb Idea: Bike Lane That Travels With You’:
“While ridership is increasing every year, bicycle safety remains […]
Yesterday, there was a Boing Boing post about Leno’s Garage and a video featuring a magnetic levitating wind turbine, which will be delivered to Ed Begley, Jr.’s house. Jay took great pride in his own larger wind turbine. He bragged: “Mine is bigger than Ed Begley’s.”
Oddly enough, perhaps due to the “carbon footprint” needed for […]
BBC reports that the SeaGen tidal power generation project has reached its full power goal in a system test on December 18th. A Belfast Telegraph article headline proudly proclaims its local achievement “Northern Ireland tidal turbine breaks world energy record”.
Also, a front page item on Digg links to a CleanTechnica blog post titled “SeaGen Shatters […]
J. Kent Hastings
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