Some product information below;

The Swift turbine is mounted on an aluminum mast with a minimum blade-roof clearance of approximately 2 feet. It is usually mounted at the highest point of a roof, in a position which benefits from maximum prevailing wind, but it will work effectively in almost any location. The Swift is designed to be both aesthetically pleasing and quiet.

The Swift turbine mounting brackets incorporate a damping system, specifically designed to absorb a wide range of frequencies. The patented diffuser minimizes turbine noise by preventing noises at the blade tip. In addition, the five bladed design allows for a slower speed of rotation to further reduce noise, making the Swift Wind Turbine one of the quietest wind systems. Now you can have a quiet vibration free energy generated right from your rooftop.

Swift Wind Turbine will be manufactured by Cascade Engineering in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cascade Engineering will be manufacturing all blades worldwide and will do assembly for all turbines sold in the United States.

Wave energy is a large, widespread renewable resource that is environmentally benign and readily scalable. In some locations — the northwestern coasts of the United States, the western coast of Scotland, and the southern tips of South America, Africa and Australia, for example — a wave-absorbing device could theoretically generate 100 to 200 megawatts of electricity per kilometer of coastline. But designing a wave-capture system that can deal with the harsh, corrosive seawater environment, handle hourly, daily and seasonal variations in wave intensity, and continue to operate safely in stormy weather is difficult.

Chiang Mei, the Ford Professor of Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been a believer in wave energy since the late 1970s. After the recent oil-price spike, there has been renewed interest in harnessing the energy in ocean waves.

To help engineers design such devices, Professor Mei and his colleagues developed numerical simulations that can predict wave forces on a given device and the motion of the device that will result. The simulations guide design decisions that will maximize energy capture and provide data to experts looking for efficient ways to convert the captured mechanical energy to electrical energy.

The Portuguese plan is to integrate the OWC plant into the head of a new breakwater at the mouth of the Douro River in Porto, a large city in northern Portugal. Ultimately, the installation will include three OWCs that together will generate 750 kilowatts — roughly enough to power 750 homes. As a bonus, the plant’s absorption of wave energy at the breakwater head will calm the waters in the area and reduce local erosion.

The challenge is to design a device that resonates and thus operates efficiently at a broad spectrum of wave frequencies — and an unexpected finding from the MIT analysis provides a means of achieving that effect. The key is the compressibility of the air inside the OWC chamber. That compressibility cannot be changed, but its impact on the elevation of the water can be — simply by changing the size of the OWC chamber. The simulations showed that using a large chamber causes resonance to occur at a wider range of wavelengths, so more of the energy in a given wave can be captured. “We found that we could optimize the efficiency of the OWC by making use of the compressibility of air — something that is not intuitively obvious,” Mei says. “It’s very exciting.”

He is currently working with other graduate students on wave power absorbers on coastlines of different geometries and on how to extract wave power from an array of many absorbers.

Mei continues to be enthusiastic about wave energy, but he is not unrealistic in his expectations. Although costs have been falling in recent years, wave energy is unlikely to be commercially viable for a long time — perhaps several decades. Nevertheless, Mei is adamant that more attention should be given to this renewable source of energy, and he would like to see a team of MIT experts in different fields — from energy capture and conversion to transmission and distribution — working collaboratively toward making large-scale wave energy a reality.

“Given the future of conventional energy sources, we need lots of research on all kinds of alternative energy,” he says. “Right now, wind energy and solar energy are in the spotlight because they’ve been developed for a longer time. With wave energy, the potential is large, but the engineering science is relatively young. We need to do more research.”

This article is adapted from a longer version that appeared in the autumn 2008 issue of Energy Futures, the newsletter of the MIT Energy Initiative.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081216114102.htm

Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options.

Energy and vehicle options, from best to worst, according to Jacobson’s calculations:

Best to worst electric power sources:

1. wind power
2. concentrated solar power (CSP)
3. geothermal power
4. tidal power
5. solar photovoltaics (PV)
6. wave power
7. hydroelectric power
8. a tie between nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

Best to worst vehicle options:

1. Wind-BEVs (battery electric vehicles)
2. wind-HFCVs (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles)
3. CSP-BEVs
4. geothermal-BEVs
5. tidal-BEVs
6. solar PV-BEVs
7. Wave-BEVs
8. hydroelectric-BEVs
9. a tie between nuclear-BEVs and coal-CCS-BEVs
10. coal-CCS-BEVs (tied with nuclear-BEVs)
11. corn-E85
12. cellulosic-E85
    

Original Article http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210171908.htm

Adapted from materials provided by Stanford University..

http://www.findsolar.com/

http://www.getsolar.com/

Once you have selected a provider, the first step is usually a quick suitability review from the installer.  With an address, they can pull up google maps and get a view of your house, determine the orientation and roof structure.  From that initial review you get some immediate feedback about solar applicability on your house.

A site review is usually next, some firms will charge for this survey.  I imagine in their mind it is a way to determine the seriousness of customers.  The survey in my case, consisted of a 90 min review of the house.  The technician was looking at potential places for the installation, roofing and support structure, trees and shading issues, sun orientation, location of the inverters in the basement – a vented cabinet size area is needed for that and finally a review of my electric bills for the past year. This cost me $100.

About 10 days later, I received a detailed proposal.  The proposal contained pictures of the proposed installation, it’s orientation, any trees or shading that would need to be addressed, estimated energy production on my specific installation, savings and the most importantly the state and federal credits available.

A well structured ROI ( return on investment was included), and a cash flow over the life of the system were included.

The details of this installation;

Rooftop Solar Array:
Azimuth (Direction of array): 240º
Inclination: 22º (flush with roof)
Solar Access: 92%
Derate factor: 0.708
Size of solar installation: 4.94 kW DC. (26 solar panels model ES-190)

Price of Solar Installation (all costs) $35,243
Instant Savings (Commonwealth Solar Rebate) -$20,995

Upfront Cost to You $14,248

Recovered costs in year one: (Tax Credits)
State Income Tax Credit1 -$1000
Federal Income Tax Credit2 -$4274

Cost to you after rebates and tax credits $8,974

Estimated savings over 25 year life of solar panels: $85,600
Estimated increase in home value $22,500 – (based on a study by the Appraisal Institute)
Payback including increase in home value Immediate
Payback not including increase in home value 5 years
Usable life of solar panels 25+ years
Estimated annual energy production 4900 KWH
Carbon Dioxide emissions displaced per year 4510 lbs

I know that I would believe in the increase in home values in today’s economy, but the payback without that is still only 5 years.  I also don’t know if I believe the 25 year life of the panels.

I am meeting with the installer to review the proposal and get more details on what I would need to do ahead of time.  They are recommending I remove some trees, and also replace the roof prior to installing the units.

The panels are from Evergreen, which is a quality company.

Some initial questions;

Review the tax credit and or rebate process, income level qualifications, paperwork process, and timing, when does paperwork need to be submitted when would I see a check

Part guaranty and installation guaranty.

Licensing and insurance of installers

Maintenance needed

Snow and ice

What else should I be asking?

Like a dieter who loses a few pounds after the first week, let’s not settle back into our old habits and think we will keep it off.

Good progress has been made making the public aware of the need to reduce our dependency on oil by looking for alternative, sustainable alternatives.  Politicians talk about it, CNN reports on it, Newspapers write about it.  Now that oil prices are falling http://mygreensuit.com/2008/10/12/oil-prices-falling/ again let’s not get lazy. We need to keep the momentum going.

The current political campaign has not discussed energy alternatives very well.  There has been too much time and discussion on more drilling, clean coal and nuclear.  Hopefully, as a country that rises to challenges, that has the best workers that are innovative and creative,  we can do better. This are a sad statement to our current capabilities if we think we have to use the crutch of coal and nuclear.  Leaving this aside, and giving kudos to the millions spent by T.Boone Pickens  www.pickensplan.com , discussion of alternatives have become mainstream.

People are expecting progress.  I am expecting progress.  From venture capitalists to scientists, to the residential owners, to commuters we are all expecting the excitement to continue.  Are we so shallow that the fact that gas prices come down 25% that we will no longer look for more efficient cars?

I think things have fundamentally changed.  The fat, greedy, energy hungry American has to change.  This is a forced diet, an intervention by the globe that must continue. We have already moved towards solutions.  Automakers have adapted their designs to be more energy efficient, venture capitalists have funded billions of dollars into the green economy.  They will expect a return on their investment.  Assuming they produce good products at a reasonable price, consumers will buy them and we can ‘Keep it Green’.

The Temple University team has tested this for six months on a diesel powered car and increased fuel efficiency for both highway and city driving by 20%.

They are actively working with a local trucking company to test it further.  Diesel trucks are a logical use of this, but the same technology works safely on gasoline, kerosene and other fuels.  Exciting stuff.  Innovation and Engineering will lead us out of this energy mess !

Original Publication

John Bell and team’s work focuses on a thin film of titanium dioxide layered into the window.  This is coated with a dye to increase light absorption.  The windows have slight red hue, but are completely see through.  This same glass could be used on skylights, atriums, doors or windows.  An average home in Australia would require about 10 square meters of this glass to provide it’s power.   Assuming US houses are bigger and we get less sun (a good assumption), you are talking about 10-15 standard double hung windows.

This technology is a few years away from production and you would still need the inverters and electrical systems in the house.  But imagine the possibility for new home, mall, and office building construction.  What premium would they have to pay in price to add this power generation into their facilities?

Marc Baldo and team, approach the problem with different thinking.   It is more of a solar concentrator.  His team still uses the window surface, but instead of a film, they use the absorption dye to push the sunlight to the edges of the surface where solar cells convert the sunlight into power.  The potential for this recent discovery is absolutely huge.

Existing solar panels could add these units on and increase their efficiencies by up to %50.  Any surface where you collecting sunlight could be used.  This approach would lower the cost of solar installations, since it is using many less expensive photovoltaic cells.  Again, timing is three years away.

The discoveries are out there.  We need the initiative and money to get these to market.

This company has made substantial progress in the market place for both wind farms, commercial and residential installations. Helix Wind, www.helixwind.com .  Unlike my previous posts on early entrants into the vertical wind market, see http://mygreensuit.com/2007/09/10/vertical-wind-turbine/ .  Helix has built products that are quiet, efficient, and look good.  I could see this is a back yard, knowing that it was producing energy and helping our environment.

See their video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9flSPAdOLk

Look for costs to continue to come down, as lower cost materials are used and mass production starts.  Believe it or not the height required for most of these units in a residential setting, is 30 feet above the tallest trees in your surrounding area.  Clearly, many people could get away with a simple, lower cost installation and start going green.

Reprinted from ENS http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-31-091.asp

CHAMPAIGN, Illinois, July 31, 2008 (ENS) – A giant perennial grass that tolerates poor soils, uses less acreage and produces more biofuel than either corn or switchgrass – it sounds too good to be true. But researchers at the University of Illinois have demonstrated that the the grass, Miscanthus x giganteus, outperforms current biofuels sources by a long shot.

Corn, switchgrass and Miscanthus have been grown side by side in experimental plots in Urbana, Illinois since 2005 in the largest field trials of their kind in the United States.

“What we’ve found with Miscanthus is that the amount of biomass generated each year would allow us to produce about two and a half times the amount of ethanol we can produce per acre of corn,” said University of Illinois crop sciences professor Stephen Long, who led the study.

University of Illinois crop sciences professor Stephen Long stands in a Miscanthus field. (Photo by Don Hamerman courtesy U. of I.)

Long is the deputy director of the BP-sponsored Energy Biosciences Institute, a multi-year, multi-institutional initiative aimed at finding low carbon or carbon neutral alternatives to petroleum fuels.

Using corn or switchgrass to produce enough ethanol to offset 20 percent of gasoline use – a current White House goal – would take 25 percent of current U.S. cropland out of food production, the researchers report.

Getting the same amount of ethanol from Miscanthus would require only 9.3 percent of current agricultural acreage.

In field trials in Illinois, researchers grew Miscanthus and switchgrass in adjoining plots. Miscanthus proved to be at least twice as productive as switchgrass.

In trials across Illinois, switchgrass, a perennial grass which, like Miscanthus, requires fewer chemical and mechanical inputs than corn, produced only about as much ethanol feedstock per acre as corn, Long said.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t know how to grow switchgrass because the yields we obtained were actually equal to the best yields that had been obtained elsewhere with switchgrass,” he said. Corn yields in Illinois are also among the best in the nation.

“One reason why Miscanthus yields more biomass than corn is that it produces green leaves about six weeks earlier in the growing season,” Long said. Miscanthus also stays green until late October in Illinois, while corn leaves wither at the end of August, he said.

The growing season for switchgrass is comparable to that of Miscanthus, but that grass is not nearly as efficient at converting sunlight to biomass as Miscanthus, found Frank Dohleman, a graduate student and co-author of the study.

“One of the criticisms of using any biomass as a biofuel source is it has been claimed that plants are not very efficient – about 0.1 percent efficiency of conversion of sunlight into biomass,” Long said. “What we show here is, on average, Miscanthus is in fact about one percent efficient, so about one percent of sunlight ends up as biomass.”

“Keep in mind that when we consider our energy use, a few hours of solar energy falling on the Earth are equal to all the energy that people use over a whole year, so you don’t really need that high an efficiency to be able to capture that in plant material and make use of it as a biofuel source,” he said.

The field trials also showed that Miscanthus is tolerant of poor soil quality, Long said.

“Our highest productivity is actually occurring in the south, on the poorest soils in the state,” he said. “So that also shows us that this type of crop may be very good for marginal land or land that is not even being used for crop production.”

Because Miscanthus is a perennial grass, it also accumulates much more carbon in the soil than an annual crop such as corn or soybeans, Long said.

“In the context of global climate change, that’s important because it means that by producing a biofuel on that land you’re taking carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it into the soil,” he said.

Using Miscanthus in an agricultural setting has not been without its challenges, explained Long. Because it is a sterile hybrid, it must be propagated by planting underground stems, called rhizomes.

This was initially a laborious process, Long said, but mechanization allows the team to plant about 15 acres a day.

In Europe, where Miscanthus has been grown for more than a decade, patented farm equipment can plant about 50 acres of Miscanthus rhizomes a day, he said.

Once established, Miscanthus returns annually without need for replanting. If harvested in December or January, after nutrients have returned to the soil, it requires little fertilizer.

This sterile form of Miscanthus has not been found to be invasive in Europe or the United States, Long said.

There are at least a dozen companies building or operating plants in the United States to produce ethanol from the non-edible parts of plants, called lignocellulosic feedstocks, and companies are propagating Miscanthus rhizomes for commercial sale, Long said.

Although research has led to improvements in productivity and growers are poised to begin using it as a biofuels crop on a large scale, Miscanthus is in its infancy as an agricultural product, Long said.

“Keep in mind that this Miscanthus is completely unimproved, so if we were to do the sorts of things that we’ve managed to do with corn, where we’ve increased its yield threefold over the last 50 years, then it’s not unreal to think that we could use even less than 10 percent of the available agricultural land,” Long said. “And if you can actually grow it on non-cropland that would be even better.”

Researchers at the University of Illinois are exploring all aspects of biofuels production, from the development of feedstocks such as Miscanthus, to planting, harvest, storage, transport, conversion to biofuels and carbon sequestration.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.

INCENT to INVENT !

A $10M dollar prize for a commercially viable 100mpg car. The  X PRIZE is an    international competition designed to inspire a new generation of viable, super fuel-efficient vehicles. The independent and technology-neutral competition is open to teams from around the world that can design, build and bring to market 100 MPGe (miles per gallon energy equivalent) vehicles that people want to buy, and that meet market needs for price, size, capability, safety and performance.

To date, more than 60 teams from nine countries have signed a Letter of Intent to compete for a share of the prize purse and global publicity.  Including most recently Tata Motors, who is launching their $2,500/75mpg Nano in India shortly.

The window for applications will be open until mid 2008, when a thorough qualification process will assess safety, cost, features and business plans to ensure that only production-capable, consumer-friendly cars compete. Those that qualify will race their vehicles in rigorous cross-country stage races in 2009 and 2010 that combine speed, distance, urban driving and overall performance. The winners will be the vehicles that exceed 100 MPG, meet strict emissions standards and finish in the fastest time. Host cities involved in the competition route are to be announced shortly.

This is a great competition at the right time.  Good luck to all the teams.

See the many active teams below;

http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/auto/prize-details/teams