Energy – Page 90 – Things Are Good

Salt Lake City to use Waste Power

Salt Lake City is going to start a small pilot project that will use sewage to heat and cool buildings. The idea uses the simple concept of heat transfer to transfer energy from one source to another.

“The system should sufficiently heat and cool Lear’s 8,000-square-foot building about 95 percent of the time. For the remainder, Lear will pool 1,800 gallons of water in the basement, also using the water to irrigate the building’s lawn.

It’s a bit expensive – the system costs $20,000 more than traditional systems – but if it works well, Lear hopes it could be eventually used by the masses.”

Ducks for Desalination

Water is becoming more precious round the world, yet the oceans are filled with the wet. If someone found a way to turn salty water into potable water easily and cheaply there would be a lot less thirsty people out there.

Stephen Salter at Edinburgh University has found a way to use the power of waves to remove salt from water. Desalination takes a lot of energy and by using waves, the energy cost obviously is a lot lower. The system is shaped like a duck and works by popping in the water and using that force to steam water for clean, drinkable goodness.

THe inventor also invented the first system to use wave energy for electric power and he was inspired to make this system from a trip to India.
“I visited India just after they had missed two monsoons and water was becoming a worry,” Salter told New Scientist. “I thought that using wave power for desalination would be a neat idea.”

Build Your Own Solar iPod Charger

For those of you with iPods, you may want to ensure that you never have to worry about the battery dying. This is a neat use of small scale solar power, it’s a homemade solar panel that attached to a backpack using velcro that connects to an iPod.

The instructions are easy to follow, and one step is sipping on some coffee (which is hopefully fair trade and organic). If I had an iPod I would try making this, not just for cheap power, but for solar style.

People and Solar Power

There are many ways to use solar power, and News.com is looking at all these ways. They have a video online that is narrated by none other than John Cleese about people using solar power. The video is a clip of a larger production, how people use solar power.

Be warned that there is an annoying ad before the video starts.

House of the Future

Students at the University of Nottingham are moving into a new, futuristic house.Â This three-storey home is being built as an example to the world on how people can cut carbon dioxide emissions.Â Over a period of 20 years, students will live in the house and monitor heat, light, and water consumption.Â The goal of the experiment is to cut CO2 emissions by 60 percent.

The house features an earth-air heat exchanger for heat; a grey water management system to reuse shower water for the toilet; a rainwater-harvesting system to collect water for the washing machine, shower and gardens; solar heating; and a ventilation / heat recovery system.

Mike Hinman of Stoneguard, the company building the house, states, “This building is, quite simply, 44 years ahead of its time.”