Here's a few unrelated, but related items.
Yeah, baby it's cold outside
But the Wildcat Bluff Nature Center has a Night Hike coming up December 11 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for children and seniors and members are free. Bring a flashlight for the hike and activities. They promise hot chocolate after the hike. It better be really hot.
The next day at the Bluff is a program on land management and fire.
From 10 a.m. to noon hear a lecture on fire ecology and then hike to an area that was burned in November 2008 to get smart about the importance of fire in our ecosytem. Admission is the same as for the Night Hike.
The Bluff is out Soncy Road north from Interstate 40 on the west side.
Powering up
Makes sense. Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge is getting $96,000 in recovery money from Uncle Sam to install solar power panels. Natural power in the middle of nature - the ducks will probably approve.
Boost your bill
SPS is asking pretty please in Austin to put a new charge on your bill. The money would go to purchase Renewable Energy Credits. It's a voluntary program the PUC has to approve, but monthly payments to help fund wind energy might be a handy way to do it.
Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Monday, December 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
All over but the crying
The Solar Decathalon is history now.
There's a fine Web site to check out if you haven't been following this event closely.
There's a lot of sweat and fancy thinking spent on these projects, and the contestants take it very seriously.
I won't spoil the finish for you, but there's a lot of nice work on the part of 20 university teams from Europe and North America. It was all played out on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
LED lights strategically placed in the base of the house and deck help the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's solar-powered house illuminate at night during the Lighting Design contest at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,(Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Big House On The Prairie
Sure, she looks a little rustic, but the first building at Mariposa ecoVillage is coming along.
The last I saw her, there were a few long blocks of compressed earth stacked on a low cement wall. She looked like a giant lincoln log project just getting started. She didn't have much vavoom, although there was some promise.
But this morning I checked and was impressed. The walls are complete with openings for windows and doors. The roof is on and you can see how the ceiling will have a gentle upward curve to it. The structure now looks like something. She's even a little imposing in her sturdiness out on the hill northwest of town.
The walls are still draped with what's left of black plastic sheets meant to slow down the curing of the compressed dirt blocks. But the wind this morning, and apparently before that, was taking a toll on the covering.
After a walk around, it was time to go inside. Wow, there's a big pile of dirt inside on the floor. Wait, what floor? There was only rough, bare ground. Then I remembered. Linda Lloyd, the project manager, told me even the floor would be earthen. A highly packed and polished layer of dirt, mined on site, just like the dirt for the walls. But first there are pipes to lay that will carry water heated by the sun, giving off gentle warmth from inside the "floor."
The thick, solid walls will insulate the inside of the visitors' center for the planned ecologically sound community, so people with inquiring minds this winter can feel comfortable taking in the promise of Mariposa. The idea is for the 18-inch thick walls to keep the temperature between 62 degrees in the winter and 72 degrees in the summer.
I'll give it a couple more weeks and go out to take some photos to post here for a proper sneak peek. She's still not quite ready for primetime, but she's shaping up.
The last I saw her, there were a few long blocks of compressed earth stacked on a low cement wall. She looked like a giant lincoln log project just getting started. She didn't have much vavoom, although there was some promise.
But this morning I checked and was impressed. The walls are complete with openings for windows and doors. The roof is on and you can see how the ceiling will have a gentle upward curve to it. The structure now looks like something. She's even a little imposing in her sturdiness out on the hill northwest of town.
The walls are still draped with what's left of black plastic sheets meant to slow down the curing of the compressed dirt blocks. But the wind this morning, and apparently before that, was taking a toll on the covering.
After a walk around, it was time to go inside. Wow, there's a big pile of dirt inside on the floor. Wait, what floor? There was only rough, bare ground. Then I remembered. Linda Lloyd, the project manager, told me even the floor would be earthen. A highly packed and polished layer of dirt, mined on site, just like the dirt for the walls. But first there are pipes to lay that will carry water heated by the sun, giving off gentle warmth from inside the "floor."
The thick, solid walls will insulate the inside of the visitors' center for the planned ecologically sound community, so people with inquiring minds this winter can feel comfortable taking in the promise of Mariposa. The idea is for the 18-inch thick walls to keep the temperature between 62 degrees in the winter and 72 degrees in the summer.
I'll give it a couple more weeks and go out to take some photos to post here for a proper sneak peek. She's still not quite ready for primetime, but she's shaping up.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Some utilities have all the fun
Well, sorry for my absence. I’ve been distracted by family issues with my father failing despite his hospice care and my mother-in-law trying to find her way after the July 4 death of her husband.
I’m going to do better
Here’ something happy about our region’s power supplier. It would be more happy if they were doing these experiments here, but it’s way happier than getting their bills.
Xcel Energy recently announced the first phase of its SmartGridCity in Boulder, Colo., is up and running. It’s a combination of infrastructure and software engineered to increase reliability, provide energy usage info to customers, allow remote reading of electricity meters and the installation of devices the utility or customer can control remotely to manage usage.
One immediate benefit was the system detected four transformers about to croak, allowing Xcel to replace them before customers were left in the dark for hours. It’s an experiment, but the utility says it’s looking good so far on the way to refining a truly smart grid for the future.
An Xcel partner, Spanish energy company Abengoa Solar, just announced another Colorado test, this time in Grand Junction. Abengoa will install a parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant at Xcel’s coal-powered Cameo plant.
That’s the confusing way of saying a trough of mirrors that move to follow the sun and they focus the light that hits them to heat synthetic oil in a pipe, according to Abengoa. The hot oil moves to the power plant and turns water into steam that spins or helps spin the turbines that generate electricity. That and makes plant run more efficiently, using less coal to make the same amount of electricity. More efficient, less carbon emitted. Don’t ask me the details. I’m still working on finding that out.
But why don’t they try that stuff around here? Not that any emissions stay around long with our gentle breezes – except Hereford’s, Borger’s and Pampa’s, I guess.
I’m going to do better
Here’ something happy about our region’s power supplier. It would be more happy if they were doing these experiments here, but it’s way happier than getting their bills.
Xcel Energy recently announced the first phase of its SmartGridCity in Boulder, Colo., is up and running. It’s a combination of infrastructure and software engineered to increase reliability, provide energy usage info to customers, allow remote reading of electricity meters and the installation of devices the utility or customer can control remotely to manage usage.
One immediate benefit was the system detected four transformers about to croak, allowing Xcel to replace them before customers were left in the dark for hours. It’s an experiment, but the utility says it’s looking good so far on the way to refining a truly smart grid for the future.
An Xcel partner, Spanish energy company Abengoa Solar, just announced another Colorado test, this time in Grand Junction. Abengoa will install a parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant at Xcel’s coal-powered Cameo plant.
That’s the confusing way of saying a trough of mirrors that move to follow the sun and they focus the light that hits them to heat synthetic oil in a pipe, according to Abengoa. The hot oil moves to the power plant and turns water into steam that spins or helps spin the turbines that generate electricity. That and makes plant run more efficiently, using less coal to make the same amount of electricity. More efficient, less carbon emitted. Don’t ask me the details. I’m still working on finding that out.
But why don’t they try that stuff around here? Not that any emissions stay around long with our gentle breezes – except Hereford’s, Borger’s and Pampa’s, I guess.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Blinded by science
All the details are beyond me, but think about how cool it would be to be able to paint a solar panel onto almost anything.
Chad Boutin recently reported for the National Institute of Standards and Technology that scientists are developing organic photovoltaics (see, I’m already getting a little confused). The short version is that they would replace rigid silicon cells. They would begin as a kind of ink that you could paint on various surfaces.
One rub is that the best organic photovoltaics currently can only convert less than 6 percent of light to power and don’t last very long.
Scientists at the institute are working on improving that performance and recently made discoveries that should help make progress.
“The 'ink' is a blend of a polymer that absorbs sunlight, enabling it to give up its electrons, and ball-shaped carbon molecules called fullerenes that collect electrons. When the ink is applied to a surface, the blend hardens into a film that contains a haphazard network of polymers intermixed with fullerene channels.”
See, clear as mud. But the important part is that, “By applying X-ray absorption measurements to the film interfaces, the team discovered that by changing the nature of the electrode surface, it will repulse fullerenes (like oil repulses water) while attracting the polymer.”
That means improvements in performance and lifespan because the materials aren't mixed haphazardly. That seems like a good thing to me.
And organic photovoltaics, try typing that fast six times, are a hot topic these days. A quick Google search brought up about 230,000 results. Go there for some light reading.
Chad Boutin recently reported for the National Institute of Standards and Technology that scientists are developing organic photovoltaics (see, I’m already getting a little confused). The short version is that they would replace rigid silicon cells. They would begin as a kind of ink that you could paint on various surfaces.
One rub is that the best organic photovoltaics currently can only convert less than 6 percent of light to power and don’t last very long.
Scientists at the institute are working on improving that performance and recently made discoveries that should help make progress.
“The 'ink' is a blend of a polymer that absorbs sunlight, enabling it to give up its electrons, and ball-shaped carbon molecules called fullerenes that collect electrons. When the ink is applied to a surface, the blend hardens into a film that contains a haphazard network of polymers intermixed with fullerene channels.”
See, clear as mud. But the important part is that, “By applying X-ray absorption measurements to the film interfaces, the team discovered that by changing the nature of the electrode surface, it will repulse fullerenes (like oil repulses water) while attracting the polymer.”
That means improvements in performance and lifespan because the materials aren't mixed haphazardly. That seems like a good thing to me.
And organic photovoltaics, try typing that fast six times, are a hot topic these days. A quick Google search brought up about 230,000 results. Go there for some light reading.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Dreams going up
It was pretty interesting to see several dreamers get their hands dirty to start Mariposa ecoVillage on Friday.
Linda Lloyd, the project manager, Larry Williamson and Gary Hames, of EarthCo Building Systems, and several volunteers were like a tribe with a mission. The sun and wind were typical Panhandle - strong. But the group got started laying columns of compressed earth like giant Lincoln logs to create the hospitality and marketing building for the development devoted to a different lifestyle.
It was messy work - sweat, dust, mud - and then it showered a couple of times just to goo things up. But everyone was smiling and joking, happy to be where they were.
Building the earthen structure is as primitive as any native hut of mud, but they cut the 18-inch-wide columns with electric chisels that work like jackhammers with blades. Then comes the mud, a slurry of water and dirt used to fill cracks, smooth seams and make one column stick to another.
Kind of a humble beginning for a big dream that could include live/work spaces, homes of compressed recycled plastic, car-free zones and people capturing rainwater and the sun's rays. Not far from the day's of half-dugouts in the Panhandle, but miles from today.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
This is going to hurt just a little
GE announced yesterday it is working on home plans for building or retrofitting homes to be net users of zero electricity. The company hopes to debut the plans by 2015.
The keys to making this work are more efficient energy-using products, management of how much energy the home uses, generation of electricity and storage of that energy. Makes sense – light bulbs and appliances that use stingy amounts of power, solar and wind generation on site and making decisions to not use power.
Wait. GE, and others promoting some smart-grid proposals, think an informed consumer will make a conscious decision to cut back on energy use if they just understand how much they are currently using. Are we talking about American consumers?
According to GE, residential housing uses 37 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. Of that usage, appliances, lighting and heating and cooling account for 82 percent.
We already know turning off the blow dryer will cut energy consumption and so will keeping the thermostat set higher during the summer and lower in winter. Has that really changed a lot of lifestyles?
The nifty highly efficient water heaters GE is dreaming up and residential solar and wind sound good, except for the neighbors who will complain about the looks. But it will be really hard for a lot of people to quit being energy hogs.
Friday, June 5, 2009
It's not unusual
Wow, smarmy-but-sexy Tom Jones (and Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins for balance) and now this. The tiny nation of Wales will share some of its native riches at a conference this summer on getting rid of all carbon emissions.
This year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., will host experts discussing the buildings, food and energy use of the future at the Convergence on Zero event. It will be on June 25 and 26.
The Smithsonian is focusing on Welsh cultural traditions at the Folklife Festival, so it makes sense the country will be given a chance to show off a traditional roundhouse that is powered by the sun. Also, Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan will speak at the conference. He recently announced a plan to reduce fossil fuel use in his country by 90 percent.
The conference is supposed to host leading environmental thinkers and doers from the nation of Wales who will share their sustainability ideas and actions with the United States.
“This conference will build bridges between two countries, so different in scale yet both affected by the same challenges: climate security, energy security and economic security,” according to the Centre for Alternative Technology, which is coordinating the event.
It will be free and open to the public.
And check out the Folklife Festival site if you’re interested in all the other doings at the 2009 Wales Washington Cymru.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
No Saudia Arabia of Solar
State Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, is fond of calling the Panhandle the Saudia Arabia of wind for its potential to pump out the power. However, his bills to promote solar energy died this legislative session as did a companion bill in the Senate.
It's not as big as not renewing transportation department (sure to be revisited), but the legislators never put the solar bills up for final votes.
Swinford proposed in one bill to create a fund for rebates to homeowners installing solar by charging electric customers a small fee. The other bill would have set mandates for developing "emerging renewable energy." That means anything other than utility-scale wind farms. The mandate called for adding 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020. That would have been enough to power about one million average homes.
His bills join the ban on trans fat in restaurants on the dead bill list. They just couldn't get the votes the successful bill to require training and certification of laser hair-removal technicians.
It's not as big as not renewing transportation department (sure to be revisited), but the legislators never put the solar bills up for final votes.
Swinford proposed in one bill to create a fund for rebates to homeowners installing solar by charging electric customers a small fee. The other bill would have set mandates for developing "emerging renewable energy." That means anything other than utility-scale wind farms. The mandate called for adding 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020. That would have been enough to power about one million average homes.
His bills join the ban on trans fat in restaurants on the dead bill list. They just couldn't get the votes the successful bill to require training and certification of laser hair-removal technicians.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Try not to think about it
Some things are just better left in the dark, and don't forget Mom said the Internet can be an icky place.
Looking for blog fodder, I went a food insider Web sit to do a little trend shopping. The content ranged from interesting, FDA rules Cheerios cereal is a new drug due to health claims it makes, to blah.
But the ads made me want to quit my label reading, which would please my wife, and just accept whatever food makers send my way.
Who needs to know about freeze-dried coconut water? And I'm not really in the market for carmel food color, so a free liquid or powder Carmel Color Library is out, even if the company's been in the biz since 1880.
But leave it to the big boys to really stand out. How about "Cargill Texturizing Solutions - Thoughts For Food." It starts out innocently enough with the question of whether you're a fan of "naturally, high-quality chocolates." Well, who isn't except enemies of the state?
Then we go to the question of whether we are looking for a lecithin that isn't genetically manipulated - huh?
So many questions, but, of course, the answer is Cargill's Topcithin from sunflowers. The natural solution that really needs to stay behind the curtain.
Isn't the recipe really supposed to be a little chocolate, a little cream, a dollop of love?
Looking for blog fodder, I went a food insider Web sit to do a little trend shopping. The content ranged from interesting, FDA rules Cheerios cereal is a new drug due to health claims it makes, to blah.
But the ads made me want to quit my label reading, which would please my wife, and just accept whatever food makers send my way.
Who needs to know about freeze-dried coconut water? And I'm not really in the market for carmel food color, so a free liquid or powder Carmel Color Library is out, even if the company's been in the biz since 1880.
But leave it to the big boys to really stand out. How about "Cargill Texturizing Solutions - Thoughts For Food." It starts out innocently enough with the question of whether you're a fan of "naturally, high-quality chocolates." Well, who isn't except enemies of the state?
Then we go to the question of whether we are looking for a lecithin that isn't genetically manipulated - huh?
So many questions, but, of course, the answer is Cargill's Topcithin from sunflowers. The natural solution that really needs to stay behind the curtain.
Isn't the recipe really supposed to be a little chocolate, a little cream, a dollop of love?
Friday, May 1, 2009
Partly cloudy for solar?
Sorry it's been a few days since the last post. I've been suffering from the disease formerly known as the swine flu. No, I don't have it, but I've been sidelined by having to help figure out and report what's going on.
But back to more pleasant business while the disease continues under the cover of the public health system's caution.
The bill to give people incentives to install solar energy equipment is shining fairly brightly after passing the state Senate. On Tuesday, it went to the House Energy Resources Committee.
It provides for funding the incentives through a charge to electric customers - 20 cents monthly for residential users, $2 for commercial and $20 from industrial. It also calls for electricity providers to purchase any excess power generated by the solar outfits.
The bill also says up to 70 percent of the funding could be used for a utility-scale installation if the Public Utilities Commission says that would be more cost effective or a greater benefit to the grid.
Because of the wording, it is unclear just what impact the law would have up here on the tundra. And there's all those bureaucratic rules to be written if the bill passes that could have a big impact on implementation.
On the not-so-bright side, State Rep. David Swinford's bill to encourage more sustainable energy than just wind got slapped down by the House State Affairs committee when it didn't get enough votes to move on. He wants to establish a renewable energy standard that mandates utilities get solar energy into the electricity mix.
The Austin American-Statesman reports it may get another life next week if the committee chooses to vote again.
But back to more pleasant business while the disease continues under the cover of the public health system's caution.
The bill to give people incentives to install solar energy equipment is shining fairly brightly after passing the state Senate. On Tuesday, it went to the House Energy Resources Committee.
It provides for funding the incentives through a charge to electric customers - 20 cents monthly for residential users, $2 for commercial and $20 from industrial. It also calls for electricity providers to purchase any excess power generated by the solar outfits.
The bill also says up to 70 percent of the funding could be used for a utility-scale installation if the Public Utilities Commission says that would be more cost effective or a greater benefit to the grid.
Because of the wording, it is unclear just what impact the law would have up here on the tundra. And there's all those bureaucratic rules to be written if the bill passes that could have a big impact on implementation.
On the not-so-bright side, State Rep. David Swinford's bill to encourage more sustainable energy than just wind got slapped down by the House State Affairs committee when it didn't get enough votes to move on. He wants to establish a renewable energy standard that mandates utilities get solar energy into the electricity mix.
The Austin American-Statesman reports it may get another life next week if the committee chooses to vote again.
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