Energy

Small Windmills, Big Power

- Adam Clare

Good form of power- windWireless technology has made small remotely-placed electronics more practical, but there was always a problem of how to power the electronics.

An inventor has found a way to make small windmills practical by using piezoelectric crystals. The crystals, when bent, produce a small electric current with more than enough power for a small device.

The breeze moves the fan which, in turn, compresses the crystals which, under pressure, release an electric current, then the power can be used for whatever.

Fuel Cells for Portable Devices Soon

- Benny Powers

Motorola has invested in a micro-fuel cell developer called Tekion. Banking on their ability to produce a fuel cell to power portable devices such as laptops, cell phones and music players, Motorola has taken a big step towards reducing the amount of batteries that hit landfills (and thus the water cycle) everyday.

$53 Million for Solar Power from DARPA

- Adam Clare

a good source of energySlashdot has a need post on DARPA’s (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ) new project for solar power. The goal is to create solar cells that operate at about 54 percent efficiency in the laboratory and 50 percent in production

The discussion thread over there is not bad either.

Thanks, Benny

Zero-Energy Homes Become Practical for Rich

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Previously shunned by the vast majority of people in the developed world, zero-energy housing is gaining in popularity. California (of course) is on the forefront of this trend. Newsweek has more to say about lowering the energy cost in new houses.

“Aside from the bright patch of solar modules on the roof, Premier Gardens looks like a community of conventional homes. But inside, it’s clear why they save energy.”

The zero-energy home is also making headway in Canada has a housing developer recently announced a new green development in the Toronto area.

Standard Offer Contracts for Renewable Energy

- Cam Proctor 1 Comment

The Ontario Government funded the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) to review the impacts and benefits of adopting a Standard Offer Contract (SOC) system similar to many countries in the European Union. Germany, Denmark and Spain have phenomenal sucess with this system, as evident by these countries high percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources and growth in renewable energy investment.

Currently Ontario uses a very complex and very competative tender system that discourages any but the larger corporations, scaring away many potential investors. Furthermore, the government has to fairly weigh and analyze all submission, at significant cost.

The OSEA report demonstrates that SOC’s eliminate these difficulties by granting approval to any project from any investor (go farmers!) while gauranting a higher than market price for the energy from these renewable energy projects. The application process is significantly streamlined and there are not limits on the number of renewable energy projects, giving renewable energy technologies one advantage over their fossil fuel counterparts.

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