2nd Green Revolution

This post comes from a 2nd Green Revolution reader who forwarded us the idea. Originally from the Maine Solar Primer booklet 2nd Edition by Richard Komp with drawings by Caleb Crawford, the SunGrabber is a relatively easy way to capture some of the sun’s heat by attaching a home-made solar panel to an existing window. Also known as a “thermal siphon”, the idea in its simplest form works on the principal that hot air rises. The best way to understand the concept is to look at the drawing after the jump or at this URL at Build It Solar. Read the rest of this entry »

Bloom Energy had the official public unveiling of their solid oxide fuel cell technology today in Silicon Valley. After years of flying under the radar as a stealth start-up, the company made it’s debut on the world stage with a bang. California governor Arnold Swarzenegger was on hand as was former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Google co-founder Larry Page, venture capitalist John Doerr, and executives from eBay, Walmart, Coca-Cola, and FedEx. These companies have been generating energy from Bloom Boxes (units that contain stacks of these fuel cells) on a trial basis. According to TechCrunch, “Five Bloom energy boxes about the size of a parking space each now provide 15 percent of the power at eBay’s campus. Walmart is testing the boxes in two locations where [they are] carrying 60 to 80 percent of the energy load of an entire store.” A video describing the technology can be found here. Below is Bloom Energy’s explanation of how their technology is more flexible and better than “hydrogen” fuel cells. Read the rest of this entry »

Green energy start-ups often promise revolutionary technology in going after the Holy Grail of clean, cheap, efficient, and abundant energy only to disappoint in the end. What makes Bloom Energy and the claims that they make any different? Well, perhaps nothing. But perhaps they will back up their talk when a mysterious countdown on their homepage is explained on Wednesday. Featured recently on 60 Minutes, the company is the product of a foray into business by former NASA engineer KR Sridhar. The origin of the technology goes back to a project to produce oxygen for astronauts on Mars. Once that program was scrapped by NASA, Sridhar reversed his design to make a fuel cell that uses oxygen and fuel to produce electricity. Read the rest of this entry »

Many couples will be doing something such as dinner and a movie to celebrate Valentine’s Day this weekend. Single guys may opt for “Rambotine’s Day” instead, having a few drinks at a friend’s house before eschewing the romantic for the “Rambotastic” by hitting the theater to watch something like Fight Club, Wolfman, or one of the many bloody Rambo series. Of course, should Rambotine’s Day not be an option, Hollywood has made sure that there are plenty of more romantic options. One such film is Valentine’s Day, a star-studded story in which “intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine’s Day”, according to IMDB.

Warner Bros. apparently paid some attention to reducing its carbon footprint while filming the movie. Read the rest of this entry »

The world's largest lithium reserves are under the salt flats in Uyuni, Bolivia.

There’s no shortage of discussion about what the United States should do to wean itself off of oil. Such heavy dependence on one main fuel source to power our transportation systems (and thus keeping our economy humming) means the U.S. is vulnerable to the unpredictable gyrations of oil and gas prices. Aside from those concerns, security risks and political considerations from having to deal with OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)  and many less than democratic countries are often the cause of much strife. Last but not least are the environmental concerns from relying on a petroleum based economy. Electrification of the transportation sector has been hailed as one of the solutions to our current oil dependence. By switching to electric vehicles, it is argued, we can avoid many of the problems mentioned above. The need for a reliable and renewable electricity source other than coal to charge those cars is one major concern. The batteries needed to power our electric vehicles is another. Those batteries need lithium, and lithium is not so equitably dispersed around the world.  Is there a chance that there will one day be protests against “Big Lithium” or some other mineral instead of big oil? Here are a few facts about lithium today, taken from work by the Electrification Coaltion: Read the rest of this entry »

Last month’s lengthy post titled “Inefficient Devices and the Laws of Thermodynamics” failed to relate the abstract laws of thermodynamics to everyday life. This post aims to tie the two together in a more easily digestible package.

Devices that consume excessive amounts of energy, convert energy inefficiently, or perform tasks that can be accomplished with less energy are wasteful and need to be replaced. This latter option, achieving a goal with less energy (i.e. carpooling instead of driving individually or cooking indoors on a cold day and leaving the oven ajar to release heat throughout your home) represents a version of low-hanging fruit.
Read the rest of this entry »

A few months ago Solar Roadways was the recipient of extra attention in the blogosphere. 2nd Green Revolution did its part and brought you news of this company as well. All of the attention resulted in a redesigned website with flash animation. The older version of the site (one of which can be seen here) lacked the “Wow” factor that is now a part of the new site.

While the revamped site contains a wealth of information on the benefits of solar roadways in an attractive, easy to access format, there does not seem to be much movement on the development and implementation side. Read the rest of this entry »

In finance, a good rule of thumb for managing a budget and staying out of debt is “Don’t spend more money than you make.” This same simple premise can also be applied to energy management. Take homes, for example. With efficiency gains, energy conservation, and home energy production through solar power, geothermal power (see one homeowner’s perspective) and other types of renewable energy, it is becoming possible to create or retrofit a home to be energy neutral. ZETA Communities is designing houses that don’t use more energy than they make. Partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy, ZETA’s zero energy homes

provide one of the first nationally scalable solutions to these unsustainable environmental impacts. Using a whole-systems design approach, high performance materials, and an innovative mechanical core, ZETA homes require 40%-60% less energy overall and 65% less energy for heating, cooling, and hot water than a comparable structure (based on data published by ZETA’s partner: U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America program). To achieve net zero energy, ZETA homes use grid-tied photovoltaic systems and other clean energy sources.

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive feature that shows how ZETA’s design features listed below can allow homes to produce as much energy as they consume and create a healthier environment for their inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »

The other day we had a post about the pros of geothermal energy along with some of the concerns that come with tapping the earth’s underground heat. Today, Samantha DeLair, a homeowner in upstate New York, shares her thoughts about geothermal as she and her husband take a major step toward going off the grid. We are excited to published her comments below.

We are very excited that we are able to install the geothermal system at our new house in upstate New York. We are well into the project now and haven’t had any worries – it is a relatively simple system and setting aside cost, an easy option for us to choose, particularly in the Northeast, where solar is a little less reliable. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ll be featuring “Green IQ Tests” all this week as a way to mark the climate change negotiations in Denmark. Regardless of the outcome of the conference, the second green revolution is well underway among consumers and businesses.  Here are another couple of questions from the Wall Street Journal’s Green IQ Quiz to test your knowledge.

Just how does the U.S. keep the lights on? Match the share of electricity generated this year to the fuel source:

A. Coal
B. Nuclear power
C. Natural gas
D. Hydroelectric
E. Other renewables

1. 3.4%
2. 22%
3. 45%
4. 21%
5. 7.4% Read the rest of this entry »