Our Green Streets Blog

From the Governor’s Energy Office:

Colorado Carbon Fund Advisory Committee Meeting

The Colorado Carbon Fund’s Advisory Committee meets Monday, March 1 from 2-4 pm at the GEO office.

The Agenda includes:

• An update on Colorado Carbon Fund marketing and plans for 2010.
• An introduction to Ben Vitale, the new president of The Climate Trust, our partners in managing the Fund and finding high quality projects.
• An Executive Session review of proposals received during the RFP for solar hot water systems. This portion of the meeting will be closed to the public.

If you’d like to listen in by webinar, please register online.

To attend in person, please contact
Susan Innis

On March 17 in Greensboro, NC, the American Wind Energy Association is bringing  representatives from a diverse range of industries, international and U.S.-based wind turbine manufacturers, component suppliers, service providers to the wind energy industry, and hear first hand the wind energy industry’s needs, challenges, and opportunities for growth.

Don’t miss this opportunity to network and share resources and best practices with industry leaders and experts, and your peers.
For more information visit:
www.awea.org/events/supplychain4

Mark Edwards, PhD

For those wanting more information on algae and its low-carbon potential as an alternative fuel source, take a visit to Oilgae , a blog focused on this subject.

Some might even want information on how to grow their own. Below are clips from today’s post:

“Cultivation of Algae in Photobioreactor”

“Algae can also be grown in a photobioreactor (PBR). A PBR is a bioreactor which incorporates some type of light source. Virtually any translucent container could be called a PBR, however the term is more commonly used to define a closed system, as opposed to an open tank or pond.

Read more of this >>

Windpipe developer, John Tuttle Photo: http://windpipenews.com

The dramatic vista of noisy wind farms featuring towers that go the length of a football field will soon change, if John R. Tuttle has any say about the matter. “We’re nearing the end of that road,” says this engineer and inventor, who has multiple patents pending for his direct conversion wind-to-electricity system known as the Windpipe.

The most remarkable detail about this simple mechanism is that has no visible moving parts – only a hollow pipe with a configured nozzle that draws wind down its length, then converting it to electricity. The Windpipe requires no propellers, turbines, or rotating machinery. And unlike numerous propeller-driven towers, does not stop generating electricity when the wind velocity reaches higher than 55 miles per hour. Read more of this >>

A world turning with low carbon energy is no small feat, even if everybody wants such a clean place. Poised before the open of the the summit at Copenhagen, there is no better time than now to equip oneself with the correct information in setting goals to switch to low-carbon energies. Implementing change for world climate issues, no matter how good it might be for all, is an action requiring an extraordinary amount of time, infrastructure, and will.

In the December 3 issue of Nature, Gert Jan Kramer and Martin Haigh point to this reality in their article, “No quick switch to low-carbon energy.”

In the first of two pieces on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, the two writers analyze historic growth in energy systems in explaining why deploying alternative technologies will be a long haul that could span multiple decades.

Below is a summary of their content, plus highlights of facts all should consider.

* There are physical limits to the rate at which new technologies can be deployed * Governments need to design policies targeted at specific technologies to accelerate deployment
* More action is required on demand side to increase efficiency and curtail consumption.”
“To combat climate change, the world’s entire energy system needs a major overhaul before the middle of the century. But can we build new energy supplies that quickly? …… Because the scale of the energy system is so huge, it takes time to build the human and industrial capacity to achieve substantial deployment.” Read more of this >>

BioLyle's two-DVD set is available for $39.95

Lyle Rudensey, in Seattle, was kind enough to send a copy of his two-DVD set, “BioLyle’s Biodiesel Workshop,” for us to review. For anybody interested in knowing about biodiesel, whether as a hobby or part of a cooperative effort, watching this video set is a great way to get started. But be prepared to spend some time with it, as the running length tallies up to 224 minutes.

I am happy to add that the viewer’s time will be well-spent. Lyle Rudensey takes viewers into the classroom for an in-depth lesson concerning everything from the chemistry to the tools required for manufacture, then into his garage for a ’seeing-is-believing’ demonstration that covers all of the steps involved, from collection and filtering, to titration, processing, storing, and cleaning.

On the Utah Biodiesel Supply website, Graydon Blair writes that Rudensey “has taught literally hundreds of people how to make their own Biodiesel through his hands-on Biodiesel workshops in the Seattle, WA area. His relaxed teaching style combined with his incredible knowledge of the Biodiesel production process makes for an incredible experience that students come away from raving about. Not only does he make the whole process incredibly easy to learn, but you’ll come away knowing so much more about why Biodiesel works, why anyone can make it, and how you can get started on a budget!” Read more of this >>

Graydon Blair, Utah Biodiesel founder, visually samples biodiesel Photo: Utah Bio

Graydon Blair, the owner of this biodiesel concern, Utah Biodiesel Supply, is one of the first in line to say the fuel alternative in which he specializes is not going to answer all the world’s fuel challenges.But it will address some.

Plus, watching and hearing a vehicle smoothly roll down the highway on a tank full of used fryer oil is a sight to behold, and one that’s considerably less smelly than petroleum-based diesel. Her then, is good reason for shouting to the rest of the world know this is one alternative fuel source very much worth considering.

Here are some of the reasons Blair has posted on his comprehensive website:

First, economy:

“Biodiesel can be produced by individuals on a small scale relatively inexpensively when compared to Petrodiesel. Figures range anywhere from $0.40 a gallon to about $1.25 a gallon depending on the cost of materials required to make it. With prices that low, most people are able to save hundreds of dollars on their fuel bills. In some cases it even goes into the thousands of dollars. With savings like that, most people are able to recoup their initial investment on the equipment needed to make biodiesel within a matter of months.”

Second, the product is renewable:

“Biodiesel has been touted far and wide for it’s renewable properties. Instead of making a fuel from a finite resource such as crude oil, Biodiesel can be produced from renewable resources such as organic oils, fats, and tallows. This means that it can be made from things that can be regrown, reproduced, and reused. So, if you need more, you can just grow another crop of seeds for the oil.”

Read more of this >>

A note from Peter Olins, co-founder of the Northern Colorado Entrepreneurs Network, my emphasis provided:

Glenn:

“Almost certain you’re on Al’s list, but just in case.
It’s almost worth a blog article about the next generation of nonpartisan “political” speech and action.
It also helps to be Nobel laureate :~)

Regards,

P.”

REPOWER AMERICA

When a clean energy economy finally becomes a reality in America, people will look back to the day that together, you and I launched The Repower America Wall.

The Wall is a place where literally thousands and thousands of people committed to a revolutionary new energy future for our nation and the world are coming together — to express our hopes, share our resolve, and step up to a leadership role in building a grassroots movement for change like nothing America has ever seen. It’s an opportunity for you to be part of the climate movement in a new way, in a way that takes us beyond ourselves.

Read more of this >>

Carbon Sciences (CABN), reported last week on Green Streets as a promising developer of technology to recycle CO2 emissions into fuels, has posted a video on its website and YouTube explaining its technology and nano-engineering innovations that CEO Byron Elton believes will lead to an industrial-scale process to produce fuels.
Read more of this >>

News on the fourth annual Solar Decathlon from Environmental News Service . (NOTE: previous link does not work; use DOE site. ) I would love to be there and see the many solutions.

from Environmental News Network: “More than 800 students in 20 teams from the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany will compete all week in ten contests that evaluate the architecture, engineering, comfort, marketability, appliances and lighting of the solar houses. The teams will perform everyday tasks, such as cooking, laundry, and washing dishes, to test the energy efficiency of their homes.”

Read more of this >>