Energy

MIT Goes Crazy for Green Energy

- Adam Clare

MIT researchers are looking into perhaps the most ambitious energy programs. Right now they would like you to use solar panels that are so green they use spinach. Why use an alternator in your car when light is more efficient?

Wired news has more information on MIT’s green electricity project.

“David Jhirad, a former deputy assistant secretary of energy and current VP for science and research at the World Resources Institute, said no other institution or government anywhere has taken on such an intensive, creative, broad-based, and wide-ranging energy research initiative.”

Green Wifi

- Adam Clare

green wifi logoGreen Wifi is a non-profit organization that wants to bring free wifi access to the internet using solar power. They are using off the shelf products installed with linux to keep costs as low as possible. The reasoning behind providing internet access is that development require easy access to information, and what better way to disseminate mass amounts of information than the internet?

This is the essential question though:
“Why Green WiFi? A number of non profit entities focus on addressing the digital divide by providing internet access to developing areas. Green WiFi addresses one of the biggest barriers to success: the lack of reliable electricity in developing areas required to power the network.”

Power, Water, and Refrigeration From One Source

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

A product of American military research is something that can actually help people. The army wants it to save money, but aid organizations can use it to save people. A new system that can fit on a truck can provide drinking water, electricity, and even refrigeration. The device is clever because it reuses energy that would otherwise be waster, making it more useful and efficient.

“The engineering researchers’ solution: a small system that ties a novel gas turbine power plant to a heat-operated refrigeration system. The refrigeration makes the gas turbine more efficient, while also producing cool air and potable water. The turbine can run on conventional fossil fuels as well as biomass-produced fuels or hydrogen.”

This would be amazing to have in disaster relief situations.

The Green Menace

- Adam Clare 3 Comments

iceThe BBC is reporting that the media is shilling ‘climate porn‘ and that this new kind of fetish is actually making people feel bad. People feeling bad for their actions? Whoa! Well, they feel so bad that they aren’t doing anything to change it: they feel powerless.

“The style of climate change discourse is that we maximise the problem and minimise the solution,” she said.

Apparently not enough people are reading ThingsAreGood.com, because readers here know that people can – and are – making a difference. Here are some more examples of change in action:

These Boots Are Meant for Energy Generation

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Wired is running an article on using floors to capture energy. Since walking causes vibrations energy is being produced and right now that energy is being wasted, Jim Gilbert wants to change that using some new technologies to capture that energy. The biggest hurdle, like with all renewable energies, is energy storage.

“Gilbert is working with hydraulic-powered heel-strike generators, which he believes could be installed in the floors of busy public places like subway stations. Those stations typically capture the footfall of 20,000 commuters an hour during peak usage — multiplied by 5 to 7 watts a person, that’s more than enough to power a building’s lights for the day.”

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