Wave Energy for Desalination

CETO Wave Energy has designed a system that uses tidal power to both pump water and desalinate it! Desalination is a growing necessity in areas lacking fresh water that have access to sea water; however, it is energy and cost intensive. By using a renewable resource, it makes desalination a viable option.

Unlike other wave energy systems currently under development around the world, the CETO wave power converter is the first unit to be fully-submerged and to produce high pressure seawater from the power of waves.
By delivering high pressure seawater ashore, the technology allows either zero-emission electricity to be produced (similar to hydroelectricity) or zero-emission freshwater (utilising standard reverse osmosis desalination technology). It also means that there is no need for undersea grids or high voltage transmission nor costly marine qualified plants.

Sustainable Seafood

Greenpeace recently ranked grocery chains in how environmentally friendly their seafood is (full report as a PDF) and it seems that grocery stores are responding. Giant Food is already changing their way.

Giant Food announced support for the principles of the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions, a coalition of nonprofit groups that works with retailers to change the way they buy seafood.

Giant said it is committing to work toward buying environmentally responsible products, making information on seafood products readily available and supporting policy changes that have positive environmental impact. The company’s seafood buyers are now also ranking their purchases on how plentiful the species is, how it is caught and what effect fishing has on the species’ natural habitat.

Optimistic Take on Economics and Climate Change

“We’ve just seen the first big win in the fight to stabilise the world’s climate”

Green Futures has an interview with Lester Brown and Brown has a neat take on the current state of the human relationship with how we use the environment.

Sound business sense, says Brown. “Unlike the Texan oil fields, there’s no way they’re going to deplete the wind! So when you build the infrastructure – the wind farms, the transmission lines and so on – you’re basically there for the long haul. Sure you’ll have to replace parts from time to time, but once it’s there, it can last as long as the Earth itself.”

And once you make that decisive shift to renewables, he adds, you start benefiting from all kinds of positive feedback loops. “For example, in the US, we use [a huge amount of] freight fuel to transport coal. If you phase out coal, you have a dramatic drop in diesel fuel use, and an associated fall in carbon emissions. It’s the same with water. If you have wind farms in place of thermal power plants (whether coal, gas or nuclear), water demand drops precipitously.”

Michigan Wins Solar Car Race

The 2008 North American Solar Challenge has ended in Calgary and the winners are from the University of Michigan, who have won it many many times in the past.

“A tremendous amount of work went into getting to this point. A lot of us have been on the team for over two years,” said a beaming Brooke Bailey, 23, who drove the blue-and-gold car for the final leg.
“The car has done everything we hoped for and we’re here. We made it.”
The solar cars resemble flying saucers with tiny cockpits that drivers cram themselves into for six hours at a time, enduring no air conditioning and little ventilation.
“When we were down in Texas the heat was pretty bad. We are pretty cramped, and by the end you’re ready to get out,” Bailey said.