Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
December 1st, 2009Note from IR2: Worth a look….
Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
True story: A small college in the Midwest wanted to put up a wind turbine on their campus. The school, being on top of a hill in the middle of the prairie, had enough wind to produce upwards of 3/4 of their needed electricity, so the project made good sense. But when it came time to talk to the people living nearby, the school ran into some opposition. In particular, from a farmer who thought the noise and appearance of the wind turbine would lower property values.
The punchline: He was a pig farmer.*
Technorati Tags:
Green Policy, Wind Power
Demonstrating a CO2 Recycler
December 1st, 2009Sandia scientists successfully test a machine that creates fuel from carbon dioxide.
Note from IR2: A closed system that addresses multiple issues! Creating energy and decreasing CO2. I’d love more people thinking this way.
By Tyler Hamilton
Technology Review
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have successfully demonstrated a prototype machine that uses the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into the molecular building blocks that make up transportation fuels. The “Sunshine to Petrol” system could ultimately prove a practical way to recycle CO? from power and industrial plants into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, assuming the process can become at least twice as efficient as natural photosynthesis.
Technorati Tags:
Climate Change, CO2, Solar Energy
Solar for Dark Climates
July 21st, 2009
Technology Review
Note: Looking forward to this technology!
Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half of the United States and countries such as Canada and Germany
Technorati Tags:
Solar Power
Dow to Test Algae Ethanol
July 21st, 2009Florida startup Algenol Biofuels says that it can efficiently produce commercial quantities of ethanol directly from algae without the need for fresh water or agricultural lands–a novel approach that has captured the interest and backing of Dow Chemical, the chemical giant based in Midland, MI.
Technorati Tags:
Bio Fuels