Bloom Box Already In Place at Major Corporations

Google, eBay, Staples, Walmart. These are just a few of the companies who are taking advantage of the latest in fuel cell technology as provided by Bloom Energy.

The Bloom Box is a tightly packaged box that can draw energy from just about any source to provide electricity at about half the usage need as other types and will utilize solar, wind, methane, hydro, natural gas or fossil fuels to draw its power. Not only does it save the source but it will save the client boat loads of money.

I only had a chance to catch this last night on 60 Minutes so I haven’t done a bunch of research into its history, viability or future plans but I encourage everyone to check out the clip from last night’s show and see for yourself how this latest inexpensive, zero emission, fuel cell innovation could potentially revolutionize energy technologies for the Greener. If K.R. Sridhar has his way there will even be one gracing the organic vegetable garden at the White House.

Go directly to the Bloom Energy video where they encourage us to be responsible, part of the overall solution.

Or check out the full 60 Minutes segment from last night’s show (also below).

What do you think? Can this type of technology change our way of thinking about how and where our energy comes from?


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From Burning Coal to Wind Power: A Weekend in PA Part II

Locust Ridge Wind Farm

After leaving Centralia we headed up the ridge to find the turbines we had seen the day before from the highway on the way in. What I never expected to find was that the project was so large or so accessible!

The Locust Ridge Wind Farm is a project consisting of approximately 51 turbines including 13 which were already put in place two years ago during the first phase of this extensive project. The ground covered by the entire project stretches over 10 miles which is why it is not only visible from the highway but from the back roads as well.

I snapped this shot on the way up the mountain. I am calling it my “money shot” because I feel it fully encapsulates rural Pennsylvania’s efforts to be environmentally responsible through the addition of this wind farm.


Once we arrived at the site there was a small entrance on the right. We are natural explorers so since the no trespassing sign was long worn we figured it was no big deal to check it out. Hey I’m a journalist after all!

Here is a shot that gives the idea of the scale of these babies from the ground. I have pointed out the top of Matt’s head; the full blade doesn’t even make it into the picture.

Iberdrola Renewables is the company behind the wind project which is slated to provide power to over 20,000 homes. Cool! This company is fairly innovative in their approach as they don’t just provide electricity but also natural gas, natural gas storage and energy plans to their rapidly growing customer base. They currently operate in 23 countries world wide and can supply their clean energy to over 800,000 people in the US alone.

Locust Ridge was the first wind farm Iberdrola initiated in the United States.

This project at Locust Ridge was only completed within the last year but the turbines are spinning and energy is being stored to provide a new and renewable, natural resource of power to the people of Schuylkill County in Pennsylvania. And they are certainly impressive to look at.

One of the communities who could take advantage of the 70,000 megawatt hours of power produced by this farm is Pottsville, the very town we stayed in this past weekend. After driving around the general geographic area for a couple days it is clear there are a vast number of valleys with homes and the rising ridges above them which could certainly benefit from such a resource.

With such a small footprint (only 150 square miles out of 5700 is actually utilized for the placement of the turbines) power could conceivably be supplied to all homes in the great state of Pennsylvania! And this is only one farm in one state; similar projects and those even larger are all over the country now.

As we were leaving the base of the turbine Matt said something so right on I had to write it down and quote him here:

“Pennsylvania is clearly making up for its dirty industrial past in places like Centralia with a Green future with this wind farm.”

Yes, they certainly are.

Why not check to see if your power company can get its supply from wind power and switch today? To see if Iberdrola supplies your company’s power check out this page. If they do not serve your area call your power company and ask! The more of us who request these natural resources the more likely they will be provided, lowering costs and helping the Earth one spinning blade at a time.

Resources for statistics:
National Wind Watch

Recharge a Cell Phone, With No Cords!

The cutting edge of technology these days is always the latest wireless offering such as laptops, gaming system components or even a traditional cell phone. But once the batteries run down or run out completely we are forced to grab the cord and plug into an outlet. Not only does this limit mobility with the device, but it draws on energy that is new to re-power it. Well Nokia is attempting to figure out a way to take the unused energy floating around everywhere to act as a recharging system for a new cell phone they are developing and hope to have operational within the next three to five years.

The phone would very slowly recharge on electromagnetic waves emitted into the air, something Nikola Tesla was attempting to deem possible in the late nineteenth century. I have always been fascinated with Tesla (inventor of the ‘Tesla’ coil, for more information on this breakthrough in electricity please check out this website). This man was a pioneer in adopting radio frequency, electromagnetism and a host of other seemingly impossible ways to manipulate waves that today are proving possible.

Here is an excerpt from the article on Nokia’s technological advance:

“Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.”

Please find the rest of the article here.

Recycling energy at its finest!

Cape Wind Is Clear for Construction

Here in Massachusetts we have the area of the coast known as Cape Cod, a decent sized peninsula that hooks around north forming what looks like a bent arm at an elbow. The Cape, as it is called in these parts, is a fantastic place to vacation with lots of wonderful beaches, cutsie New England-esque shops and amazing scenery. Frequently bunched in with The Cape is most always The Islands. This refers to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, two small islands, just south off the coast. In the Nantucket Sound strong winds tend to gust and Cape Wind has been waiting patiently to make use of this natural resource.

On May 28, 2009 Governor Deval Patrick expressed his enthusiasm for the approval of permits across the state to begin construction on the 130 turbine project. The project is expected to generate enough power to provide electricity to upwards of 420,000 homes from the 420 megawatts of electricity generated by the wind power available in the Sound.

As the first fully operational, offshore, wind turbine farm in the United States, Cape Wind will be making history. There are many who are not too keen on the idea of creating that kind of historic mark however. Fishermen and wildlife experts are concerned of the possible displacement of marine life and the need to go further offshore to acquire these species. In addition many residents within eyeshot of the proposed farm site location are convinced it will cause a reduction in home values as they feel it will create an offshore eye sore.

Regardless of the opposition the approval of the permits is an exciting thing as this will create a whole slew of jobs in the Green Collar sector for a large mass of people who are greatly in need of one at this time. In addition it will make use of a fully sustainable, rapidly renewable resource to provide electricity -- wind power.

The Cape Wind website contains a plethora of information on this project. Everything from Press Releases to the benefits of using wind as a resource to an area specifically dedicated to how to teach our children about the benefits of using wind as an alternative to oil or even natural gas to power our lives.

Now that the permits are in place for Cape Wind I do truly hope it is done in a responsible way so as many natural resources as possible are protected as well as a creation of jobs is provided for so many struggling workers. I personally will enjoy every minute of watching those majestic blades spin this summer!

Power Shift 2009

Bill McKibben, author and environmental activist, speaks both passionately and enthusiastically in this video from Power Shift 2009.

What is Power Shift?

Power Shift was an event held in Washington DC from February 27 - March 2 of this year. A collective of amazing speakers as well as America’s youth (who are adamant about continuing the fight to stop global warming, increase use of renewable energy and lessen climate change impacts) gathered to enjoy lectures, concerts, workshops and receive training at the DC Convention Center.

Please enjoy as Bill shares his thoughts and experiences. He emphatically supports the organization 350.org. This is an organization dedicated to pursuing the shift back downward to 350 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. That number is considered the minimum safest level. Currently we are at 387.



I urge everyone to visit the websites for Power Shift and 350.org for more information on how to get involved.

All Nations Are Joining in the Fight for a Better Environment

This video from the Scottish Environmental Minister is inspiring to watch as he details their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the year 2050 as well as their impending marine bill and use of renewable energy resources. It is a global issue and it is fantastic to see that many other nations, large and small, are not only aware of the threat but that they are taking steps to do their part to better the planet for all living things. Way to go Scotland!

Impossible Not To Notice

Meet the Press is one of my personal favorite ways to spend a Sunday morning. Although I do not consider myself highly politically motivated, it is still important to me to watch how the people running our country respond to pointed questions that in other circumstances they may not want to answer. Tim Russert was my favorite host of this show because he was tough and relentless. After he passed away last summer and they brought in recently retired Tom Brokaw, replaced by Brian Williams on the Nightly News, to temporarily fill in I thought it was a fine choice.

This morning the televised interview was one that Tom recorded yesterday in Chicago where he interviewed President Elect Barack Obama. The interview was well put together with excellent questions as well as brilliant follow ups and there were times that Tom appeared to put a bit of the hammer down on Barack, such as the time frame for the middle class tax cut now that things have changed, economically speaking, so much since his campaign, or when it comes to his smoking. Like I said, the interview was good but that is not at all what struck me over the course of the hour long program. For the first time I paid more attention to the commercials than the program I was watching.

I wish I had counted because it would be a safe estimate to state that approximately 75% of the televised support was from companies or organizations promoting the environment.

Yippie!

There were some old standby ads such as those offered by Exxon Mobil for fuel efficiency or a spot or two of the NBC standard “The More You Know” but one commercial in particular, shown near the beginning of the program, struck me so positively that I actually remembered the website without writing it down.

That site is called This Is Reality.

The commercial is shown immediately upon clicking on the site so speakers are in order and what we hear is a gentleman telling all of us he is entering a new clean coal facility. He walks through the door and we see him suddenly standing in the middle of the desert. The end of the commercial flashes one simple sentence on the screen:

In reality, there is no such thing as clean coal.

Halleluiah! With all the mind boggling confusion over this extremely sensitive issue it is great to see someone finally putting the truth right out there.

The reason that coal is not a clean energy resource is complicated. Mining it involves disruption to the Earth itself -- destruction of mountains -- and because of the location anything left behind, missed or forgotten can enter run off rain, ending up in our waterways. The coal itself is a dirty substance as it is essentially a rock created from biodegraded plants preserved in earth and water. Burning this substance will release CO² emission, better known as greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. If power plants were able to capture those emissions prior to their release (known as carbon capture and sequestration or CSS) it would create a system where coal could in fact be burned more cleanly but still there is no way to be 100% “clean” when it comes to coal.

Sadly, not a single plant in the United States has put into place a way to capture the gas or address the other environmental challenges presented with ecologically responsible coal mining. The coal we burn is about as far from clean as we can get. Not to mention that since coal is a fossil fuel source it will eventually run out. So what is the alternative to burning coal since it is the number one leading resource for creation of electricity in this country?

Renewable resources such as wind, solar or hydro power can replace the dirty, dangerous business of coal mining and burning. These are areas where efforts in this country could truly make a world of difference and This Is Reality has reminded me today of why we should all look into those resources to keep our planet strong.

I am granting This Is Reality a Four Leaf rating for its information, desire to get it out there and courage to tell the truth.

The Answers Are In

Here in Massachusetts we had three publicized questions which were binding (meaning it will go into law) and a forth in only eleven districts which was non-binding (meaning people would be generally expressing to their legislation what they want to see happen). All of the questions were serious points to consider and the non-binding question was one available in my district; I was happy to fill in the black blob for all four this time around.

Question 1 was to reduce personal income tax (currently at 5%) to 2.65% as of the first of next year and then eliminate it completely by the first of 2010. A yes vote for this question would cut state revenues by more than forty percent of the total state budget surely reducing aid, education funding, safety and potentially other programs -- as reported by those against. Those for indicated that there is waste of over 40% in Massachusetts already, that each of the 3.4 million residents would gain $3,700 annually (upon complete elimination) and no services would be cut.

Since it was not accurately expressed exactly what would be cut if the income tax was eliminated, and I did not want to take the chance that someone like my Aunt who works for the Parks Department would lose her job due to the reduction of alleged waste, I happily voted NO.

69% of the state agreed.

Question 2 (I am showing only the basis for those over eighteen in my summary) was a proposal to replace criminal penalty for those possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, keeping it off a criminal record (will not show up on background check) and make it a civil crime resulting in a $100 fine and relinquishment of the substance. Those in favor estimate that $30 million and 7,500 arrests could be saved and spared annually, freeing up police to pursue more serious crime. Those against insist it would encourage use of marijuana and send a lackadaisical message about selling to drug dealers.

For those who are unaware of my stance on this issue, I fervently voted YES.

65% of the state concurred.

Question 3 would ban dog racing, meeting and wagering on those races across the state and anyone in violation would be subject to payment of no less than a $20,000 civil fine. Those in favor indicate the inhumane treatment of the animals both while racing (living in confinement, injuries and positive testing for drugs such as cocaine) and after their career has come to an end (potential cardiac arrest, paralysis and broken legs). Those opposed note the over 1,000 jobs that would be lost as a result of shutting down an institution that has been in place for over seventy years as well as revenue for the two towns where this type of racing still exists.

Although I do agree that revenue and job loss for anyone is a blow, I had to vote from the heart on this one. I do not support racing of any animals and happily voted YES.

56% of Massachusetts was ready for change tonight as well.

Question 4 would instruct legislation to vote in favor of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the year 2020 and begin working to eliminate tax incentive for projects which drain on energy resources while simultaneously expanding efforts to increase green job creation, conservation and sustainable agriculture efforts.

Although all of the precincts have not yet reported on this question as of the time of my writing I am happy to report that all precincts in my district have and we are all in unison saying YES! For the other districts not yet in but some votes tallied it is looking as if this measure will get a yes vote almost all the way across the board.

Go Green! Go hope! Go positive vibes!