Green Fact

"Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetative cover. This wind flow, or motion energy, when "harvested" by modern wind turbines, can be used to generate electricity." (windeis.anl.gov)

Solar Made Simple

What exactly happens before you buy them.

Iceland Is Taking the Lead

Here's something to see.

Crowd Power

by Vinny

Two MIT students have developed a way to use people in crowded places to create energy. Their idea is to have these blocks under the ground in a crowded place. These will go down slightly creating friction and making energy through a dynamo. Now, one person would barely make any energy, but huge crowds of people all day could make quite a bit. They announced this amazing idea at the Holcim Forum 2007 Awards, and won! For more information, click here.

Helix Wind Turbine

by Vinny

Here is yet another wind turbine that could be used.

Solar Shingles

By: Caden

Want to convert to solar energy but don't want to install those huge rather ugly solar panels on the top of you house? Solar shingles are solar panels that look like normal roof shingles. Although the initial cost of these solar shingles is expensive in the long run it can end up making you money! To see a video about these solar shingles click on the link below.

http://ecologue.com/

Windstar Turbines

by Vinny

Recently, I came across a web page that had a few different models of wind turbines. Some of these turbines on this page have been developed since 1975! Since then, they've just been making them better and better. Its interesting that there are so many new ideas for ways to get energy, yet many people have never heard of a lot of these ideas. I'm sure that there are some ideas that could have helped a lot, but no one ever saw it or cared about it. So without further adieu, here is the site.

High oil and gas prices.

By Clarissa



Oil and gas prices are skyrocketing through the roof. The national average is now $3.386 which is up from $3.373 for regular gas. The national average for unleaded is $3.596 and has risen to $3.582 from yesterday. Premium is $3.725 which is up from $3.711 yesterday. Diesel has risen from $4.108 . It is now $4.119. The average is now over $4 a gallon. Gas prices are OUTRAGEOUS! The average for a barrel of fuel is now almost $114 dollars. Something really needs to be done world wide to help lower these prices.

In The National Business Review (NZ), they ran an article that attempts to explain why the climate is not highly sensitive to CO2 warming:

In December last year . . . [the author]heard . . . a paper . . . that showed while the IPCC models predict that greenhouse gases would produce an extensive "hot spot" in the upper troposphere over the tropics, the satellite measurements show no such hotspots have appeared. . . .

a large part of this discrepancy is the result of some basic errors in the IPCC's assessment of the Stefan-Boltzmann equation. When they applied their revised factor to the effect of greenhouse gases, the temperature rise was about a third of that predicted by the IPCC. . . .

The findings that the predicted "tropical hot spots" do not exist are important because the IPCC models assume these hot spots will be formed by increased evaporation from warmer oceans leading to the accumulations of higher concentrations of water vapour in the upper atmosphere, and thereby generating a positive feedback reinforcing the small amount of warming that can be caused by CO2 alone. . . .

The new Nasa Aqua satellite is the first to measure the effects of clouds and rainfall. Ron Spencer's interpretation of the new data means all previous models and forecasts are obsolete. . . .

There is a mechanism at work that "washes out" the water vapour and returns it to the oceans along with the extra CO2 and thus turns the added water vapour into a NEGATIVE feedback mechanism. . . .

The IPCC models assumed water vapour formed clouds at high altitudes that lead to further warming. The Aqua satellite observations and Spencer's analysis show water vapour actually forms clouds at low altitudes that lead to cooling.

Furthermore, Spencer shows the extra rain that falls from these clouds cools the underlying oceans, providing a second negative feedback to negate the CO2 warming. . . .

(Thus) The climate is not highly sensitive to CO2 warming because water vapour is a damper against the warming effect of CO2.

So global warming must not be real.......right?

Wikienergy

A website called peswiki.com is a useful resource for research about alternative energy. It is just "Wikipedia", except it is dedicated to energy. The description they give themselves is:

PESWiki is guided by the New Energy Congress, a network of 40+ energy professionals who are dedicated to clean energy technology advancement. Both the NEC and Pure Energy Systems (PES) Network (http://pureenergysystems.com) were founded by Sterling D. Allan, CEO. Many others knowledgeable in the industry also help make this site what it is -- a movement for identifying and promoting the best clean energy technologies.

The only problem is that it can be edited freely just like Wikipedia, so it can not always be trusted. So, the next time you need to know something about energy, just get on the computer and go to this website ... then double check!

Cow Creating Biofuel

Miriam Sticklen has announced that she has used an enzyme from a cow's stomach to make a new strain of corn. Biofuels Journal reports:

“Cows, with help from bacteria, convert plant fibers, called cellulose, into energy, but this is a big step for biofuel production. Traditionally in the commercial biofuel industry, only the kernels of corn plants could be used to make ethanol, but this new discovery will allow the entire corn plant to be used — so more fuel can be produced with less cost…..Now, the sugars locked up in the plant’s leaves and stalk can be converted into usable sugar without expensive synthetic chemicals.”

Could this be the new fuel that we've been looking for, or is it just bull?