Construction of renewable energy projects has revealed some serious environmental issues that will have to be dealt with as we speed toward a clean energy future.  We recently wrote about the conflict between land conservation efforts and renewable energy projects in deserts out west.  Land that is ideal for solar energy production is also pristine land in need of protection.

In California, a similar conflict is arising between solar projects and water conservation.  Solar farms demand a lot of water, a resource that is stretched very thin in the arid areas where they're being developed.  A large solar farm can use upwards of 500 million gallons of water a year for cooling purposes and there are currently 35 big projects slated for development in California desert.

A "dry cooling" technique exists that uses 90 percent less water than "wet cooling," but it's more expensive and reduces the efficiency of the solar plant.  Even so, some plants are giving in and going the dry route.

Solar plants are fighting with state regulators to get the water they need.  Some are succeeding, while others are failing.  Just with land conservation, there doesn't seem to be one right side here.  Ideally, a new technique for cooling will be developed that doesn't require large amounts of water or a dip in efficiency.

via Green Inc.

Bright Automotive, best known for its 100-mpg IDEA plug-in utility van, announced a new $1.4 million contract with the U.S. Army to build a plug-in hybrid for non-combat use.  The PHEV will be designed to cut Army fuel consumption as well as to demonstrate how an EV could potentially feed power back to the grid.  The project is part of an Army initiative to explore how bases could eventually run off-grid.

The Army contract isn't the only way that Bright is lending its expertise these days.  The company has also launched eSolutions, a consulting program where they will provide automotive manufacturers knowledge on how to develop EVs.  The company will give guidance on design, engineering, energy storage, propulsion, conversion systems and how to green operations.

Bright is hoping these new endeavors will speed up EV development around the world.

via Autoblog Green

Dell is doing it again, this time on-site, with a series of solar trees that will not only help power it's headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, but also serve to charge electric vehicles parked there. Of course, there aren't currently any electric vehicles parking in the Dell lot, but hopefully that will change in the next few years.

The solar trees were put in place by Envision Solar, who's work we've seen at Google Headquarters previously.The Dell installation will provide 130,000 kW/h per year and shades the parking spots of the 56 employees who get to the lot first. Everyone else gets punished for being late by having to park in the sun.

The project uses more than Envision's technology though. The charging points are provided by Coulomb Technologies while the solar panels themselves were manufactured by BP Solar. All together, they made themselves (and Dell) a pretty sexy-looking parking lot. Hopefully we'll see a lot more of these in the future.

Via Jetson Green

The inside of a skyscraper is, literally, the most expensive "land" in the world. So it probably isn't the best place to grow our food.

The idea of vertical farming (growing food in high-rise buildings in the middle of cities instead of out on farms) has been gaining a lot of interest lately. Most recetly, it showed up on BoingBoing, one of our favorite blogs. We've seen a few of these proposals, and we've been following the concept for some time. It seems EcoGeeky enough, but a quick glance at the actual economics of farming shows that this isn't ever going to work.

At first, it seems to make all the sense in the world. Moving production of food into population centers to eliminate shipping. Creating highly efficient "food factories" that allow land elsewhere to be freed from cultivation. But when you look at some of the practicalities behind constructing buildings like these, vertical farms make no sense. As the Vertical farm Project itself notes: "The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate)." And a vertical farm is the opposite of efficiency.

A farmer can expect his land to be worth roughly $1 per square foot...if it's good, fertile land. The owner of a skyscraper, on the other hand, can expect to pay more than 200 times that per square foot of his building. And that's just the cost of construction. Factor in the costs of electricity to pump water throughout the thing and keep the plants bathed in artificial sunlight all day, and you've got an inefficient mess.

Just looking at those numbers, you need two things to happen in order for vertical farms to make sense. You need the price of food to increase 100 fold over today's prices, and you need the productivity of vertical farms to increase 100 fold over traditional farms. Neither of those things will ever happen. And as much as I hate to burst bubbles, the main claim to the efficiency of vertical farms (the elimination of transportation costs) is not vaild. Even if most of the calories we consume were to be grown inside of cities, almost all of it would be shipped out for processing (most of the food we eat isn't fresh veggies...you may have noticed.)

None of this is to say that we think farming will remain forever as it is today. EcoGeek is glad that there are many changes coming to agriculture, some of which will increase yields enough to keep prices low while feeding the 10 billion people the Earth will house by 2050. And with the right technologies, we should be able to do this without harming the Earth too much.

We're not even saying that farms will remain outside. Building multi-level (not necessarily muti-story) automated farming units on inexpensive land within 100 km of food processing plants, for example, might make a lot of sense. But if you're going to make farming more efficient, you aren't going to do it by moving it into the most expensive land in the world.

Science-fiction author (and former EcoGeek of the Week interviewee) Tobias Buckell also saw the article and offered his own comments on the topic, as well.

'Vertical farm' articles on EcoGeek

The potential of small-scale wind power is starting to be discussed more.  Soon, like small-scale solar installations, wind turbines will be springing up in backyards and on rooftops.  If you're thinking that you'd like to be one of the people with a turbine out back, you'll need to assess the wind speeds around your house.  Luckily, as the commercials say, there's an app for that.

A new iPhone app by Mariah Power lets you measure wind speeds around you by simply holding your phone in the air.  The program uses the microphone to pick up the noise of the wind and then calculates the speed based on decibel level.  The program filters out ambient sound, but you need to avoid louder noises like lawn mowers for the app to read the breeze - or the gust if you're wanting to crank out some watts.

The company claims the measurements are accurate within 1.5 mph.  Once you take your measurements, you can share them on a map to help them build a database of wind maps.

While this app is cool, it is also a blatant marketing tool for Mariah's Windspire residential wind turbine.  The 1.2-kW turbine is 30 feet tall and works in areas with average wind speeds of 10 mph or greater.  The company recommends calculating wind speeds over the course of a year before deeming your home turbine-suitable.

via Green Inc.

It's not necessarily a more efficient fan than other fans (Dyson doesn't have any information about the relative efficiency of their fan on their website yet), but it's certainly an innovative design, and that could make it more acceptable to have a fan in a space, where a conventional bladed fan might be objectionable. The noise level from this fan is also not indicated yet. The sleek appearance of the Air Multiplier also makes it easier to clean than bladed fans. However, the Air Multiplier is not truly 'bladeless.' The blades are just concealed in the base of the unit.

Fans can be a far more efficient method of cooling than air conditioning. Moving air can provide a cooling effect with much less energy use. The Air Multiplier offers a stylish way to do this. While it has just been released, and availability is limited, it will be interesting to see if the performance of this fan makes it a real winner, rather than an expensive curiosity.

via: Treehugger

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released their third annual state energy efficiency scorecard yesterday and the most energy efficient state was, no surprise, California, while Wyoming was ranked dead last.

The organization judged all 50 states plus D.C. on six criteria:  utility-sector and public benefit programs and policies; transportation policies; building energy codes; combined heat and power; state government initiatives; and appliance efficiency standards.  States could amass 50 points among the areas.

The report found that the recession had little effect on energy efficiency programs and some states like Maine, Colorado, Delaware, D.C., South Dakota and Tennessee made huge leaps in energy efficiency initiatives.

The top ten states are: California (1); Massachusetts (2); Connecticut (3); Oregon (4); New York (5); Vermont (6); Washington state (7); Minnesota (8); Rhode Island (9); and Maine (10).  The bottom ten are:  Arkansas (41); Missouri (41); Louisiana (41); Georgia (44); Alaska (45); West Virginia (45); Nebraska (47); Alabama (48); Mississippi (49); North Dakota (49); and Wyoming (51).

You can view each state's score and a list of its policies here.

via Press Release

Microsoft announced on its blog recently that Seattle City Light will be the first utility to offer customers the ability to monitor their energy consumption with the Hohm application.  Customers who sign up for the service will receive automatic data feeds on their energy use through the online software.  All other users of the software can still enter their energy information manually.

Hohm's major competitor, Google's PowerMeter, has been partnered with a handful of utilities for a few months now, but recently, Google made their software available to users of the TED 3000 devices, allowing customers to skip their utility and get their energy use information directly.

As this is Microsoft's first full-fledged partnership for the application, it will be interesting to see if they answer Google's move and come out with their own gadget venture.

Hohm, from first impressions, appears to be a much slicker and comprehensive software than PowerMeter.  I'm excited to see how it performs when linked with its first utility.

via Microsoft Environment Blog

Toyota announced yesterday that it will be contributing ten plug-in Priuses to the SmartGridCity project, the world's first comprehensive smart grid demonstration.

The project is being coordinated by Xcel Energy and the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) at the University of Colorado at Boulder, a new research venture by NREL and the university.  The project aims to demonstrate how a smart grid can bring enhanced reliability and visibility to grid energy use.  Participants will be able to monitor and remotely-control their homes' energy use with smart meters.

Toyota's participation in the project will allow researchers to test how plug-in EVs can fit into a smart grid.  RASEI will analyze customer charging patterns and monitor the interaction between customers and the utilities.  As a bonus, Toyota will be able to test the cars' lithium-ion battery performance in cold weather and high altitudes.

Other projects have been launched to study the impact of plug-ins on a grid or to test smart meters with utilities, but this is the first to bring all the components together and study how a fully functioning smart grid can work.  The Priuses will be delivered to the project in March 2010.  We're anxious to hear the results of their research.

via Press Release