The vast expanse of the Sahara desert has since long been seen as an available source of solar energy that can be tapped. However, there isn’t much progress to show on the issue. Now the idea seems closer to reality with a German-led consortium of 12 companies that intends to harness the desert sun to power Europe.

The Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) includes heavyweights like Siemens, E.ON, ABB, and Deutsche Bank. These, and the other organizations were brought together by an initiative of Munich Re. The plan is to supply 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050. Energy tapped from the sun in the desert will be transported to Europe through power lines laid across the Sahara and the Mediterranean sea.

It is a huge project, with nearly 400 billion dollars investment, and the DII hopes to put the plan into action quickly, with the possibility of beginning supply by 2015. These solar plants will use Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) to generate energy. CSP has been in use for a long time, but it is the scope of this project that makes it newsworthy. DII says the North African governments have displayed a positive response for the initiative.

Source: Guardian

The US President Barack Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden are expected to make important announcements that will provide stimulus for a greener future. An Obama administration official has said that the President will make announcement regarding Smart Grids during his visit to Florida. Obama’s announcement of a Smart Grid will be the government’s largest investment of economic stimulus funds in clean energy.

The Smart Grid will bolster the production of energy from clean domestic sources to consumers in 49 states. At the same time, this will also help create a more powerful, stable and robust grid with clean energy playing an important role.

In a separate visit to a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware, the US Vice Presiden Joe Biden will announce that the plant will be reopened for production of plug-in hybrid electric cars. However, it isn’t GM that is opening the plant, it is California based Fisker Automotive that will take control of the plant. Fisker is well known for its first plug-in electric vehicle, the Fisker Karma.

Source: Reuters

If you remember in Part 1, I set the table and server up the hors d’oeuvres, appetizer plates, and salads of harnessing Herricanes (If you don’t remember, STOP!  Go back and read Part 1 before continuing).  Now I will serve up heaps of real meat and continue the anger management presentation.

Waves, which seemed as big as skyscrapers and actually several times the height of the boats crashing down on the vessels, threatened to squash them all like cockroaches underneath Mother Nature’s shoe. Such power is just begging to be harnessed.

In fact, many companies including Lockheed Martin Corp. are developing utility-scale power-generation plants.  I am not talking about a couple of buoys in the ocean generating a few watts of electricity to power a light bulb of fan, but plants capable of generating power for cities.

A company named Pelamis has prototypes of what I call “Ocean Snakes” that are jointed mechanical snakes that bend in seas and generate electric power by pushing hydraulic fluid past turbines when their joints flex.  Imagine developing larger snakes that can function in 50-foot seas!

I can already hear your next question, gentle readers.  “Fred, hurricanes do not happen often enough to rely on them for power, so how do you address this?”

I have a solution for this also.  I am stealing someone’s science fiction idea:  heat generating sakes (if you remember the book, please let me know).  These mechanical monsters would be much larger than Pelamis’ prototypes and would generate huge amounts of heat when the flexed.

You might ask, so I’ll ask it now “What do heat generating snakes have to do with hurricanes?”  The Global Warming activists used to say rising temperatures feed the hurricanes and rising sea temperatures do this.  Localized changes in the sea temperature happen all the time globally, rising and falling with seasonal and longer periodic rates.  El Nino and La Nina are examples of this climatic change that have been around longer than man’s SUVs.

But, let’s just pretend that more hurricanes will result from Global warming; more hurricanes mean more electricity to meet our needs!          

Now, we just exploit what we know about making lots of hurricanes and activate these heat-generating snakes during hurricane season and use them to localize the hurricanes to places far away from land where possible and also use them to increase their fierceness.  In other words, use these snakes to make the hurricanes MAD!

Now, here is the ingenious part.  Combine all three (windmills, power snakes and heat snakes) and have them reinforce each other and create a synergy that will produce huge amounts of power.

Who knows?  Maybe this article will provide the catalyst for a group of companies to turn some cowboys loose and lasso this energy.

Kathryn Siranosian published a blog entry about Hurricane Rick and she got me to thinking.  While I believe it should be named Himmicane Rick and that has nothing to do with this article, hurricanes could be good for the energy business.

You may ask, “How so, Fred?  Don’t you remember Hurricane Katrina and the oil shortage and price increases?”  Yes I do and the loss to the oil supply was not even measurable as the oil companies knew it was coming and shut down the oil rig platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and secured the wells to reduce or even eliminate seepage.

The gasoline prices rose temporarily in response to speculators who expected the shortages and tried to make some money on it.  They lost as oil production resumed as normal a day after the hurricane left.

Now, as we all know, most herricanes are full of vitriolic, rancorous, and malicious anger, and are seemingly dedicated to the destruction of anyone or anything that gets in their way.  After a couple of unsuccessful marriages, I thought about trying to harness this power for the good of mankind, rather than its obliteration.

Kathryn states “Maximum sustained winds remain near 180 mph, with higher gusts. While fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next 24 hours, Rick is expected to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next day or two.”

WOW!  Just think of the electricity that could be generated by windmill farms based in the areas that hurricanes inhabit.  Just think of hundreds or even tens of thousands of windmills churning out megawatts of power with 180 mile per hour winds.

In fact, they do not need to be based there all year around.  Take them into dry-dock for maintenance during the off-season and tow them back to sea just before the start of the hurricane season.

Let’s see, how could we harness the hurricane even better?  AHA!  I remember several episodes on the Deadliest Catch on the Discovery channel and the crab boats with their crabby captains (we now know that crabs got their name from the captains of the boats that fish for them) fighting for their lives during a hurricane on the Bering Sea.

In Part 2, I will provide even more methods of capturing hurricanes and harnessing their power.

In fact, Chicago 2016 organizers even call their concept of the Olympics the “Blue-Green Games.”

Blue for clean air and water. And, green for parks and nature. Together, the blue and green combine to create the ideal conditions necessary for optimal athletic performance.

What’s more, Chicago 2016 organizers have developed a comprehensive plan that will deliver the most eco-friendly games in modern history.

Here are just a few of the green highlights from the Chicago 2016 bid:

• All electricity for Games operations will come from renewable energy sources.

• All generators supplied for the Games will run on biofuel.

• For the first time ever, athlete and spectator travel emissions will be offset in partnership with the Chicago Climate Exchange.

• Venues will reduce water consumption by 20% from baseline levels through design, technology and equipment, such as low-flow fixtures and smart irrigation.

• Waste will be minimized by reusing or recycling 85% of the materials used for the Games.

• Existing structures and parklands will be utilized whenever possible to minimize the carbon emissions associated with construction. Design and construction of all new and temporary venues will be conducted in accordance with best practices for sustainability.

“Blue and green reflect the natural landscape that all Chicagoans enjoy—the blue of Lake Michigan, and the green of our parks,” says Bob Accarino, the Director of Environment for Chicago 2016. “The name highlights these features and our Games plan further enforces it, with the majority of venues located along the lakeshore in our historic parks. From an environmental perspective, the concept of a Blue-Green Games emphasizes the importance of promoting clean water in addition to clean air.”

You can read the complete 31-page Blue-Green Games Commitment document here.

Photo of Chicago’s Grant Park from David Paul Ohmer.

The Japanese trading company will put up the money for research into reusable energy by Libya’s largest university. Japan will also supply test materials and send specialists to Al Fateh from 2009 to 2011. The two will also engage in field-tests of solar power generation systems at the university.

Libya is one of the world’s leading oil-producing countries. The country is also working to develop green energy. Libya is a prime location in that it has hours of intense sunlight each day. Mitsubishi and Al Fateh U want to develop technology and expertise. After that, they will cultivate leaders for the new industry.

Wind power is also on the docket because of the strong gusts that buffet the country’s coastal region.

Mitsubishi wants more trade with Africa. Libya is seeking technology from advanced countries. Win-win, eh?

Source (sub req!!)

An Israeli company is finding new ways to turn the trash into energy source by compressing and using olive waste into solidified rolls.

Olivebar turns waste produced from the olive plant into an energy source that produces 2.5 times the energy generated by burning the same amount of wood.

Using the waste is a double-edged sword that does the planet good in more than just one way. The rolled up stacks can be used in wood-burning stoves and their high efficiency compared to wood, ensures that fewer trees are chopped off each year.

Also, the natural decomposition process makes the waste a lot more harmful for the planet and the local water sources when left alone. Olivebar obviously is trying to extract every last ounce of energy from what we normally discard and that surely is a good thing. Even the residue left over after burning, can be used as manure for your home garden.

“It’s a totally green product, all natural, without any glues or chemicals,” according to general manager Eli Karniel. “Whereas once it was more economical to buy heating oil, today people are looking for all kinds of alternatives. People went over to wood, but now governments don’t want people to cut down forests, so they’re turning to natural alternatives like ours.”

That’s the good thing about editing/writing this blog. You learn as you go, and most of the time it’s pretty interesting stuff. I never knew the good part about olives, other than the benefits of olive oil up until now. Did you? [via Israel21c]

I wonder if the men and women punched their calculators to determine how many people depending on the fossil fuel industry will LOSE their jobs.

“With renewable energy growing four-fold not only in the electricity sector, but also in the heating and transport sectors, we can still cut the average carbon emissions per person from today’s four tons to around one ton by 2050,” said Philippines Campaign Manager for Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

“The global market for renewable energy can grow at double digit rates until 2050, and overtake the size of today’s fossil fuel industry. Currently, the renewable energy market is worth 70 billion dollars and doubling in size every three years,” said the Policy Director of the European Renewable Energy Council.

Well, for all I know, if Greenpeace said it, there’s got to be something wrong with the figuring. Still, we can dream, can’t we?

Source: Xinhuanet Image: myuiibe

The project generates power from renewable biomass resources that are in abundance and would otherwise be treated as rubbish.

The plant which is owned and operated by Yamagata Green Power a subsidiary of renewable energy development firm Japan Biomass Development, received the Best Renewable Energy Power Plant of the Year by Asian Power magazine.

Japan wants to increase renewable energy production to 3% of the country’s overall energy supply by 2010 an the biomass fuel production which is hoped to be 330MW by 2010, will sure help.

The plant is located in Japan’s largest cherry producing region and runs completely on wood gas without and backup fuel.

A forest nearby means the facility has a steady source of wood biomass for raw fuel and makes use of the forest’s trimmed branches, which had been disposed of previously. However, the basic question – can Japan grow trees faster than they can burn them up?

Press release