Generating electricity by harnessing the power of the wind in the most stylish possible way, here’s another rooftop wind turbine that offers a cost effective energy source for domestic, community and industrial use.

Designed by Cascade Engineering to be environmentally  sustainable, the Swift Wind Turbine uses a variety of patented technologies that makes it both safe and silent, and has a very sleek aspect. As for how effective it is, in just four years it becomes carbon and energy positive.

Aesthetically pleasing, the wind turbine is suited for both urban and suburban settings, and features a system that makes it easy to install and operate for every user. Here are more specs about it:

• Blade/Ring Diameter: 7 feet
• Minimum clearance from roofline: 2 feet
• Rated power output: 1.5kW @ 14 m/s
• Annual Power Supplied: up to 2000 kWh
• Electric power: 240VAC, 60Hz output voltage
• Noise: less than 35 decibels for all wind speeds
• Quiet mast mounting technology eliminates unwanted vibration to building/home

[SWT via DesignBoom]

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It is no new fact that hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles are the future for automobile industry as they are both an economical and ecologically the smart option. With crude oil becoming an absolute premium with each passing day, fuel cells are becoming more of a reality.

With that in mind, Alex Bell and Andres Pacheco – engineering students at Swarthmore College, ventured into creating something that could soon become the future for bikes. It’s a fuel cell powered motorcycle that uses hydrogen.

First of its kind, the model is a basic structure that uses hydrogen and reactive metals as fuel. Hydrogen is stored at low pressure in two tanks along with reactive metals like Nickel which form hydrides that can be tapped into for power. The initial metal hydride cylinders each hold 900 std. liters of hydrogen, but that could also go up with further research.

With a salvaged Buell cyclone chassis and fitted with a new fuel cell made by Ballard, the bike has an efficiency of mere 46% and is still plagued with a few transmission problems.

Coming from college students, it’s a little step forward in the field of alternate fuels for automobiles that shows what researchers are capable of if they channel resources in the right direction. [via TreeHugger]

Tapping into to wind energy as a clean source of power is an option that is quickly growing popularity thanks to inventive designers who are creating new and more acceptable designs for wind turbines.

This has seen a sudden and healthy growth in the number of wind turbines used across the globe, but what about maintaining them and checking for defects from time to time? That is a task far more difficult considering that not many would be willing to throw themselves at the opportunity of climbing up these sharp blades. But, developers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation are creating a volunteer who will gladly do it for you.

RIWEA is an automated rope climbing robot that will merrily crawl up both on shore and off shore wind turbines to check for any defects. The inspection system has an onboard infra-red radiator that emits waves and a high resolution thermal camera that will capture the images and check for defects. A similar ultra sound emitter and detector are also integrated as an additional system for finding flaws in metals with greater accuracy.

Considering that 60% of all wind turbines in US today need overhauling and the fact that none of us are willing to climb any steep rods, RIWEA is a convenience that we could urgently use! [via The BioEnergy Site]

Solar energy is hailed as the savior of mankind from the impending doom of global warming and along with hydrogen powered fuel cells, it’s solar energy that is expected to cater our energy needs in the centuries to come.

Many European countries and states like California have a very aggressive solar energy program and are riding high on the golden wings of solar power. But how safe is this path in the long term? How much damage does solar energy cause to the planet? Surely, solar energy is all green a d 100% planet-friendly, right? Well, WRONG, say the experts following it closely.

A report released by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition warns the solar industry that it could face an e-waste problem head on and is risking “repeating the mistakes made by the microelectronics industry.”

According to the SVTC, there is plenty of toxic waste that is being released by solar industry, which is going unnoticed under the radar. We are so happy about the clean results that we “neglect” to see the underlying danger. Silicon tetrachloride, for example, is a by-product that makes land unsuitable for growing crops. For each ton of polysilicon produced by the solar industry for its solar panels, four tons of silicon tetrachloride is generated! Imagine …

Surely this report will not slow down the wave of solar energy that is just starting to spread across the globe, but SVTC advises to take note and tone down on the toxicity of the products used and to use high quality chemicals despite them being a tad bit more costly. Also recommended are ‘Takeback Programs’ where manufacturers are supposed to take back their products when they are done. However, this looks unlikely with the long lifespan of the panels and the change in technologies by that time.

While there is no need to sound the alarm bells yet (or is it?), it is important to realize and understand that solar energy is not as clean as it made out to be.

What do you guys think?

Image courtesy of clownfish

Brussels is all set to ban energy-guzzling plasma TVs once the legislation gets passed in EU. The decision is going to be anything but popular with majority of Europe already having changed to plasma televisions – a popular option among the young and the old alike.

Plasma screens have been nicknamed the 4×4s of the living room by many, as they consume four times the power taken up by a traditional television set and produce four times the carbon dioxide while working. The EU is all in favor of implementing strict energy norms and that means many of these big flatscreen TVs will be no longer allowed to operate.

The LCDs obviously are less under threat as they consume far less power compared to the Plasma.

EU is taking every possible step to ensure that Europe does all it can to help reduce carbon emissions and set the reduction standards that nations have set for themselves. But one can wonder how effective this really is, when the remainder of the world goes on merrily adding more carbon dioxide each year!

Is plasma banning a good solution? Is it a small step towards a greener environment, or there’s more to it?

Source: DailyMail
Image courtesy of Ben Terret

According to stats given by Harvard University’s Alex Wissner-Gross, it would be safe to deduce that by just using the Google search, the world actually produces as much carbon dioxide as a country like Laos would do.

But how far are these claims real and if they indeed are true, do we really need to go ringing the alarm bells? According to Wissner-Gross, co-founder of Enernetics, two Google searches produce as much carbon dioxide as boiling enough water in an electric kettle for a cup of tea. And that is just the energy used up at Google’s end and not on our own system it seems.

The claims statistically might not really have much backing and to be honest it would be impossible to verify as there is no way Google is going to let you in to check on how much energy its hardware components eat and hence how much pollution it actually costs.

But the larger question on hand is about how the ICT sector is contributing to global warming and how it can actually cut back on its carbon footprint. It is already known that the carbon footprint of the ICT sector is as much as aviation- about 3% of the total carbon emissions produced.

But there is also little doubt that it is a necessity that we cannot escape and in fact saves more energy than it spends in the form of digital information. While we do hear the odd Yahoo and Google offices going green, Wissner-Gross’s statements do indeed merit a discussion. The net and its giants have a responsibility of going green to save energy, and they do indeed need to take the cause of the planet more seriously.

We wonder if that will help hasten the green wave, or not!

Source: Guardian
Image courtesy of Mark Knol

There’s an investigation going on in Lincolnshire, UK. Locals are saying that an UFO might be the cause for damage to a wind turbine. A strange light appeared from nowhere causing damage to the giant whirlygig.

Hmm … well, I don’t believe in UFOs, and I suppose there are people who don’t believe that wind turbines are a viable source for energy. i wonder what they are going to do with this. An act of God? Something else?

Apparently, the culprits made off with the third prop. Or perhaps it landed in France somewhere.

“It’s a bird, it’s a plane! No, it’s a prop off a wind turbine!”

“Huh!?”

Wind turbine usage is having enough trouble gaining traction. GP is sure they don’t need interference from Unpredictable Foreign Obstacles. Don’t you say?

It seems that the sinking Motorola is not going down without a fight and if not in the mobile world, it sure is winning the battle in the ‘green domain’ with the unveiling of the world’s first carbon neutral mobile cell phone at CES this year.

Motorola Renew W233 is being dubbed as the world’s first carbon-free mobile and that is not just in regards to its production. The green mobile from Motorola is not just eco-friendly in regards to its making by using 100% recycled materials and recycled water bottles, but also extends the planet-friendly features in its operation and disposal.

Motorola has partnered with Carbonfund.org to offset the energy to manufacture, distribute, and operate the phone by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. This keeps your conscious clean every time you make a call from your cell, as you will now know that you are really not causing any damage to the planet. The W233 will use packaging that is minimal in pollution and once you are done with it, you can mail it back to Motorola in a specially designed envelope that comes with the purchase.

Motorola has gone in a completely different direction with the Renew W233 and the mobile’s green features along with simple and ergonomic looks make it an affordable delight.

This obviously is no high-end smartphone, so do not expect a whole lot of features, but for those who care for the planet, Renew W233 is a fine start; a blueprint that hopefully will be taken up by other mobile firms. [via Inhabitat]

Japan gets almost all of its oil from the Middle East and has nothing to give in return…except water.

Ultra dry Middle East needs water, (doesn’t everyone?) and must produce it from the salt water nearby. There’s a consortium including Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. and Toray Industries Inc. that is developing a desalination plant. That’s not new news. But the plant will use half as much power as existing facilities. That’s BIG news. Imagine, using less fossil fuels to produce electricity to desalinate.

Desalination Process

There is a group of 14 companies, including Kajima Corp. that will build a prototype this year. They will work together in such areas as membrane production and plant design. More energy savings will come from reworking the water-treatment process. The new process exceeds current quality standards.

The Middle East is the target of the consortium. From 2010, other countries wil be in their sites

Usually, the annual MacWorld keynote speech always brings in some goodies for the eco geeks. This year they managed to please everyone by announcing that new battery in the all-new 17-inch MacBook Pro is now 60% more efficient.

The battery is expected to run for more than 8 hours on a single charge, allows more than 1000 charges (that’s like 5 years) and is recyclable. It sure sounds green to me, but there’s more to it. It also got an EPEAT Gold award for being arsenic, BFR, mercury and PVC free.

Other than these, there’s also a smart chip within the battery that deal with each cell to make adjustments to the current for each cell, making it last three times longer than the industry’s standard. And did we mention that the battery is just as thing and just as light?

Though the user is still not able to change the battery itself, we think Apple has taken a big step forward. Don’t you?

Photo via Gizmodo : Live @ Macworld