10 MW Ocean Power Plant Planned for China

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the difference in temperature at different water depths to produce energy, similar to how geothermal works. A green resort in China is going to be powered by the OTEC system and the companies involved in building the power plant are hoping that this will prove the technology works well enough for larger projects.

OTEC uses the natural difference in temperatures between the cool deep water and warm surface water to produce electricity. There are different cycle types of OTEC systems, but the prototype plant is likely to be a closed-cycle system. This sees warm surface seawater pumped through a heat exchanger to vaporize a fluid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia. This expanding vapor is used to drive a turbine to generate electricity with cold seawater then used to condense the vapor so it can be recycled through the system.
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The companies claim each 100 MW OTEC facility could produce the same amount of energy in a year as 1.3 million barrels of oil and decrease carbon emissions by half a million tons. Assuming oil trading at near US$100 a barrel, they estimate fuel savings from one plant could exceed $130 million a year.

Read more at Gizmag.

Stop Desertification With Wildlife

Allan Savory wants to end desertification by helping grasslands flourish. Many parts of the world are experiencing desertification, including China which is planting trees to fight the growing dunes, so a solution to this growing problem is needed. Savory’s solution is counter-intuitve and absolutely brilliant:use wildlife to save the land.

Algae-Powered Building Opens This Week

Algae can be used for all sorts of wonderful things from cleaning up oil to producing energy. Architects in Hamburg have built a building that uses algae to power the complex and it opens this week. The building is meant to be a demonstration of cutting-edge sustainable architecture.

“Using bio-chemical processes in the façade of a building to create shade and energy is a really innovative concept.” says Arup’s research lead for Europe, Jan Wurm. “It might well become a sustainable solution for energy production in urban areas, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario.”

Arup led the design project, which also included work by Splitterwerks Architects from Austria and Germany’s SSC Strategic Scientific Consult. It was funded by the German government’s “Zukunft Bau” (“Future Construction”) subsidy, which looks to support innovation in the construction industry when it comes to renewable and zero-energy design.

The BIQ building itself contains 15 apartments, of which two apparently don’t have rigid interior layouts. Instead, the “individual functions of the apartment — bathroom, kitchen, sleeping area — can be swapped about or combined to form a ‘neutral zone’” by residents as and when they need to. According to the International Building Exhibition, an “increased demand for adaptable housing spaces” means this is how we’re going to live in the future.

Read more at Wired.

Band of the Month: Patrick Watson

Hello readers!
This time I’ve decided to feature a band not so unheard of, but one that has owned so much play time in my headphones over the last several days. Montreal’s Patrick Watson has a prolifically beautiful and articulate way of musically flirting with a marriage of classical and contemporary. The band has toured with the likes of The Cinematic Orchestra, Feist, and James Brown, showing a versatile yet accessible sound that can persuade everyone from babies to bubbies to sing and sway along.
Check them out below!

Band of the Month by Greg O’Toole

New Homes in Lancaster, California Required to Produce Solar Energy

Lancaster, California has nearly half a million citizens and they want to reduce their carbon footprint. Their most recent step to being a green city is a world’s first as far as I know: every new residential development in the city is required to produce energy using the sun.

“However, to truly establish ourselves as the Alternative Energy Capital of the World, we must continue to take a progressive approach. I would like to commend our Planning Commission for this innovative revision of the Residential Zones, which will rapidly advance us towards becoming a net-zero City in record time.”

Read more at Solar Tribune.