2nd Green Revolution

Despite announcing his intention not to seek a second term as governor of Colorado, Governor Bill Ritter has continued to pursue a clean energy future for the state. While many states have mandates of 20% or 25% electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 2020, Ritter is pushing ahead toward 30%. Ritter’s goal is one of the most ambitious, ranking in the top three states as measured by a percentage of electricity production.  Read the rest of this entry »

As a science teacher I can tell you that people find science scary. Perhaps you already knew that. They think it is something they “can’t do” or “don’t get.” They may say they do not have a scientific brain. I can also tell you that these are entirely untrue. Real world, personally accessible examples, instead of theoretical situations, help make the connection to the here and now. For instance, the title of this post “Inefficient Devices and the Laws of Thermodynamics” would probably be enough to scare off most readers. However, by thinking about your own home, this scientific concept comes to life. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday’s post about fake and real Christmas trees and menorahs developed out of several conversations during the holidays, but was precipitated by an article in The New York Times about the use of so-called rare earth elements in the manufacture of clean energy components. Cradle to cradle design would suggest that all materials used in consumer products ought to be capable of serving some function once the original purpose of the object has long passed. This design philosophy necessitates making components for consumer goods out of materials that can return to the ecosystem with toxification of the soils, water, or atmosphere. Read the rest of this entry »

Denmark stands at the forefront of clean energy development. Nearly 20% of the electricity generated in the country comes from wind power. A New York Times article from earlier this month discusses the state of electric cars in Denmark – host to the United Nations Climate Change Conference. With such a significant percentage of energy produced from wind, storing the energy becomes an important issue.

Currently, “the biggest Danish power company is working with a Silicon Valley start-up in a $100 million effort to wire the country with charging poles as well as service stations that can change out batteries in minutes. The government offers a minimum $40,000 tax break on each new electric car — and free parking in downtown Copenhagen.” With huge financial incentives, the Danish government is hoping that collaborating with Shai Aggasi’s company Better Place will Read the rest of this entry »

• The United States is likely to install just one-eighth as much new solar power this year as Germany.
• China is expected to surpass the United States this year as the leader in adding new wind energy capacity.
• General Electric, which has 10,000 wind turbines in the United States, says that to encourage growth in the wind industry, the nation should adopt a target of obtaining 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2012.
• Some note that even with the administration’s recent moves, it has spent less than one-fourth of the $80 billion clean energy component of the stimulus package. Administration officials boast that the $80 billion figure is by far the largest amount ever committed to renewable energy.
• Solyndra, a company that makes solar photovoltaic panels in Fremont Calif., received a $535 million loan guarantee to finance a manufacturing plant, creating 3,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.

Source: New York Times

- 2nd Green Revolution

[image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

By now wind farms, the large collections of towering wind turbines, have become a familiar site in parts of California, Iowa, the Dakotas, farm land in the Northeast, and across Texas. In order to generate electricity locally from wind, the next step may be looking to wind power that comes from turbines on the roofs of buildings downtown or on individual plots of land. Several months ago 2nd Green Revolution wrote about the need for locally produced renewable energy. Several companies have developed wind turbines that are designed to sit atop structures and spin a generator regardless of the wind’s direction. Read the rest of this entry »

• The U.S. has three electric grids: Eastern Interconnection, Western Interconnection, and ERCOT (Texas)
• The Tres Amigas “superstation” has been proposed to be built in Clovis, NM to connect the grids and spur development of renewable power that would otherwise be too remote to efficiently reach population centers.
• The substation would be able to carry 5,000 megawatts of electricity – an amount many times greater than current substations and equivalent to the output of 5 nuclear power plants.
• The Tres Amigas substation would use superconducting cable from American Superconductor Corp that is chilled to minus-300 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Public Service Co. of New Mexico has more than 7,000 megawatts of proposed wind generation that could benefit from the project.

From Wall Street Journal article: “Transforming Clean-Energy Industry Into a Local One“

Oil tycoon turned wind and natural gas promoter T. Boone Pickens has decided to hold off on his plans for a massive wind power project in the Texas Panhandle, at least temporarily. What was to be the largest wind farm in the world has been shelved due to tight credit markets and low natural gas prices. According to Pickens’ BP Capital Management spokesman Jay Rosser, interviewed by the Washington Post, “Boone still remains committed and focused on developing wind energy in the United States. The timing is not as aggressive as he originally outlined because of the collapse of the capital markets and because of the steep downturn of natural gas prices.” (Many utilities are choosing natural gas to generate electricity). Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday’s post about New Belgium and the triple bottom line provided background information on the brewery’s sustainability efforts. Today’s post focuses on their energy policy.

As mentioned in an earlier post, New Belgium Brewery has an anaerobic digestor on their property. This piece of equipment cleanses water and produces methane as a by-product, which they then burn to generate energy. Approximately 12-15% of the electricity consumed by the brewery is derived from this process. Their on-site water processing facility also decreases overall energy consumption. Ms. Wallace stated that the payback for the digestor was a mere 18 months. In addition to the methane-to energy-system, New Belgium has plans to install a 200 kilowatt photovoltaic system (pv) over the next few years. This pv project is part of their collaboration in Fort ZED. Ms. Wallace stressed the collaborative effort and nature of sustainability, which is readily apparent in Fort ZED.

Producing clean energy on their grounds represents one of the foundations of New Belgium’s “energy philosophy”. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 35 years ago American architect Robert Venturi along with Denise Scott Brown and Steven Izenour published a treatise on architecture titled Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of the Architectural Form. The premise of the work relates to a perceived need at the time for a shift in architectural design and meaning. According to the American Studies program at the University of Maryland, “The mission . . . was to document and analyze the physical form of Las Vegas in order to learn from contemporary urban sprawl.” Urban sprawl represents truly unsustainable behavior.

After visiting Las Vegas this past weekend, 2nd Green Revolution came away with a vision of an updated version of this work with a focus on sustainable development. The country’s recent economic woes have been particularly challenging for the city, which depends heavily on tourism. Flying into Las Vegas, one appreciates the difficulties facing the city. From the air, there is a lack of fresh water, fertile land, and growth plan. As a result of these limitations and the faltering economy, now is the time to reinvent the city. In late March, we wrote about a “New Vision for Paris” in which urban planners and architects submitted proposals for a re-envisioned layout of Paris. The bold thinking exhibited exemplifies that ideas abound for the future of cities.

One of the main inhibiting factors is the lack of diversity in Las Vegas’ economic engine. Dependent on tourism (including gaming, conventions, and restaurants) the city has one major industry upon which the rest depend. When the tourists and financing dry up, as has happened over the past several months, the construction jobs also disappear. Using the construction work force that is currently underemployed, Las Vegas would benefit from an overhaul of their city planning and their resource usage. With abundant sunshine, the use of solar thermal collectors and concentrators to generate hot water and electricity would be a fitting use of clean energy. In addition, a proposed high speed rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles would reduce the congestion on the streets. Many of the trips between hotels and clubs are currently taken using taxis which could be upgraded to hybrids or augmented by a fuel cell, electric or alternatively fueled bus system that shuttles visitors around the city. In addition, making the city walkable helps connect people with the city itself.

On the bright side, change is coming to Las Vegas. Read the rest of this entry »