realcleverscience:

business-and-technology:

FM radio becomes the world’s first plant-powered appliance

Moss, as a rule, isn’t that impressive. In the wetter regions of the world, the stuff grows pretty much wherever you let it. It’s green and squishy and pretty enough, we suppose. What moss isn’t is a good source of electricity, or at least it wasn’t until recently. By wiring together 10 little pots of the stuff, a group of scientists from the University of Cambridge have actually harvested enough moss-grown electricity to power an FM radio.

How the moss actually powers the radio is thanks to something called a Photo Microbial Fuel Cell (Photo-MFC). These are comprised of three basic parts: an anode to collect the electrons the moss strips from water during photosynthesis, a cathode where the electricity is consumed and an external circuit to connect the two. Each of the ten moss pots contained in the Moss FM rig is hooked up to its own Photo-MFC, and these in turn are hooked up to a battery.

The battery stores what energy it can from the process, currently about .01 percent of the moss’s output and then powers the radio. So far, that .01 percent output is only enough to run the radio’s speaker and tuner for a couple of minutes. That’ll change in the coming years, however, since researchers at the University of Georgia have already found a way, using microscopic nanotubules, to produce twice as much electricity from plants as you can get from today’s photovoltaic cells. Once the two approaches merge, we could easily see everything from moss to the trees lining our streets turned into, quite literally, the greenest power plants around.

Every now and then I read about an approach like this. I don’t know if it’s feasible, but it’s damn fascinating!

motherboardtv:

What Our Idyllic, Non-Dystopian Future Would Look Like If We Fixed the World

icancauseaconstellation:

Aerial collage view of the lightning farm, by Farah Aliza Badaruddin at the Bartlett School of Architecture

alexainslie:

Volvo’s Solar Charging Concept 

electricpower:

Wind turbine generates energy floating 350 feet off the ground

Trials have just been finished on a new kind of wind turbine — an inflated, helium shell containing traditional blades that floats in the air stream. The airborne turbine is designed to capture stronger, high-altitude winds to provide a clean, portable and power energy option.

In the recent tests held in Limestone, Maine, a 35-foot scale version of the turbine was shown to generate more than twice as much power at high altitude than generated at conventional tower heights.

The Altaeros Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT) is transported to its location by a towable, docking trailer. The AWT is then deployed — in this trial some 350 feet above the ground — and held in place by tethers which also send the electricity generated back to the ground. Raising, operating and lowering the turbine was successfully completed a in fully automated cycle

Now that successful trials have been completed, the manufacturer, Altaeros Energies, plans to scale up the technology to float turbines 1,000 feet off the ground where wind currents are over five times stronger and more consistent.

In addition to being more efficient, these new turbines are able to deploy with minimal set up and impact on the environment. This makes them perfect for just about any adaptation from civilian to military use.

The AWT was modeled after aerostats, which are essentially blimps that lift heavy equipment and keep them airborne over long periods of time. These industrial blimps can survive hurricane level winds and have built in safety features to control descent.

Between these aerostats and the promise of the emerging AWT technology, the FAA was moved to release draft guidelines in December 2011 to allow for the new class of airborne wind systems to be cited under existing regulations.

Altaeros Energies was founded in 2010 out of MIT and is currently looking for investors to help launch the first commercial versions of the prototype turbine.

Altaeros Energies, via Inhabitat

DVICE

quantumaniac:

Scientists Develop Solar Panels that Work in the Dark

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced today (November 30th) that they have developed and confirmed the design for a new high-efficiency solar cell that utilizes nearly the entire solar spectrum, instead of simply visible light! This solar panel can generate electricity in the absence of direct sunlight, meaning that they can work in the dark! In the past, solar cells have used certain semiconductors to channel and utilize one part of the spectrum. However, this new design uses layers of various materials to make use of nearly the entire solar spectrum! 

thisbigcity:

A low-tech solution, absorbing moisture in the air for irrigation in dry regions/cities, wins James Dyson Award this year.

這項低科技發明吸收空氣中的水分，灌溉乾旱區域／城市，贏得今年James Dyson大獎。

plantedcity:

Infographic: ‘Samso: The Energy Self-Sufficient Island’

It took ten years and $80 million, but the Danish island of Samsoe now produces enough energy to satisfy all its needs and still export 40 percent of its energy to the mainland. Going 100 percent renewable wasn’t easy, but the results have paid off handsomely. Farmers on the island who are powering their facilities with wind turbines are seeing a 6 to 7 year payback on those investments. And of course it’s remarkable that wind, unlike other energy technologies, is entirely compatible with agriculture.

(Source: SmartPlanet)

great very simple idea

“Reporting from Moffett Field, Calif.— 

Instead of sending its employees to space, NASA is building them an office of the future closer to home.

The curvy, space-age building at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley incorporates technology used by astronauts and will be one of a few structures in the state that can generate more electricity than it consumes. Construction won’t be complete until mid-July, but the federal government has already chosen the $20-million facility its green building of the year.

It has a name only government officials could love — the Sustainability Base — but it is generating a lot of buzz among businesses and government agencies trying to be more green. The structure, near San Jose, was designed to be a model of eco-friendly architecture.

"Buildings of the future could actually produce more energy than they use and reverse the trend of being a big, sucking drain without compromising anything,” said Steven Zornetzer, Ames’ associate center director.

Compared to other office buildings of similar size, the Sustainability Base will be about 6% more expensive to construct, he said. But NASA expects to recoup the expense within a decade because the building will cost less to operate.

 
…“

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

May 30, 2011, 8:01 p.m.

urbanfoodproduction:

Farmin’ in the

HOOD

electricpower:

India’s first tidal power plant gets the go ahead

Even with its potential for providing predictable and sustainable electricity generation with no visual impact, tidal power still accounts for only a fraction of a percent of the world’s total electricity generation. That is slowly changing though, with numerous tidal power plants being constructed or planned for coastlines around the world. India is the latest country to wade into the tidal power waters with the announcement of its first commercial scale tidal current power plant to be constructed in the Indian State of Gujarat.

Following a recent economic and technical study of prime sites in the Gulf of Kutch by Atlantis Resources Corporation, which yielded the discovery of as much as 300MW of economically extractable tidal power resources, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narenda Modi, this week approved a 50MW tidal power project to be constructed in the Gulf of Kutch.

gizmag

TOCCO DA CASAURIA, Italy — The towering white wind turbinesthat rise ramrod straight from gnarled ancient olive groves here speak to something extraordinary happening across Italy.

Faced with sky-high electricity rates, small communities across a country known more for garbage than environmental citizenship are finding economic salvation in making renewable energy. More than 800 Italian communities now make more energy than they use because of the recent addition of renewable energy plants, according to a survey this year by the Italian environmental group Legambiente….“  

- NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/science/earth/29fossil.html?src=me&ref=homepage

http://www.helixwind.com/en/

Helix, a San Diego-based wind company, is working on a wind turbine that is designed to power base stations in hard to reach, remote locations from Africa and the US.

Their wind turbines are not looking like the standard ones you see in open fields anywhere in the world, but they’re looking just like helixes. They produce vertical wind turbines, and the advantage is that the wind can power them from any direction

electricpower:

speshal-k:

Photovoltaic Solar Hot Water Panels Reap Multiple Benefits | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Solar panel manufacturer Solimpeks is offering a hybrid solar panel that is capable of providing both electricity and water heating from the same panel. The panels are ideal for applications where there is limited roof space available, but both solar electricity and solar hot water are desired. Even better, the combination of the two functions actually improves the efficiency of the electrical generation of the photovoltaics.

These hybrid panels address a problem most solar panels have: as photovoltaic (PV) panels get hotter, they get less efficient at generating electricity. A PV panel is about 1% less efficient for every 3.5 degrees F temperature increase. The Solimpeks panels address this by using water to absorb excess heat and keep the panels cooler. Water cooling is far more effective than air cooling, making this a very effective combination. The heated water is then used to provide the additional benefit of hot water for the building.

Testing has shown the efficiency of electrical generation to be as high as 28% while at the same time producing 140-160 degree F water. This works out to an improvement of 20% over a similar sized electric-only PV array, and without the added hot water benefit, either.

Keeping the panels cooler has the additional benefit of extending their lifespan, keeping them in service for a longer period of time. These panels will also be able to pay back their installation cost more quickly since they are providing both electricity and hot water.

This is an idea I had a while back.  It is a simple combination that simply works.  They need to be cooled down and water needs to be heated.  The only other addition could be a Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Conversion System, which uses heat transfer to create electricity as well.  It would be a very efficient combo.

electricpower:

speshal-k:

Pythagoras Makes Skylights that Also Make Solar Power : CleanTechnica

The unusual (philosophy M.A.) founder of Pythagoras Solar, Gonen Fink will be among the speakers at Intersolar 2010 in San Francisco this week. His start-up has designed a nearly transparent, yet fully solar glass using patent-pending optics, for use as an energy efficient skylight (and starting next year, a window wall) that also produces electricity.

Just the thermal efficiency alone would make it a good day-lighting option, blocking all direct solar radiation, to reduce building heating and cooling costs.

It is ideal for use as a skylight because it also provides better day-lighting compared to other BIPV or building-integrated photovoltaics (being essentially transparent), limiting lighting costs by replacing fluorescent lighting while looking like a regular skylight that provides real natural daylight.

amaples:

Photovoltaic and wind harnessing unit (leaves move with wind) by SMIT, LLC found at the ‘Action! Design Over Time’ exhibit last week at MOMA. 

http://www.landartgenerator.org/

age-of-ecology:

Defunct Ferris Wheel Envisioned as Giant Energy-Generating Windmill

Last year Melbourne’s iconic Southern Star Observation Wheel found a sad turn when it had to be shut down due to cracks and buckling caused by the intense summer heat. The $100 million wheel has since been decommissioned, but that hasn’t stopped designers from thinking about what to do next with the landmark. So why reinvent the wheel you ask? Because it could be transformed into an energy-generating windmill outfitted with solar sails!