Advances In Wind Turbine Engineering January 27, 2010
Posted by Robert Desideri in Companies, Electricity, Heh, Wind.add a comment
January 19, 2010 – FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp. (“FloDesign”) is pleased to announce that it closed a $34.5 million Series B financing round in December, 2009 and has hired a new Chief Executive Officer. For the financing, the Series A venture investor Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers was joined by a syndicate of three major new investors in the Series B: a Goldman Sachs managed investment fund, Technology Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
Air Bike May 10, 2009
Posted by Robert Desideri in Carbon, Cars, Heh.add a comment
One of Air Bike’s designers says:
“Our professors had asked us to create something which nobody has done so far and is also pollution free. Something which is economical and affordable to a common man. So we thought of inventing a bike, which runs on air. There is no combustion in this bike as it does not use any petrol, diesel or anything.”
Vulcan CO2 Flyover February 21, 2009
Posted by Robert Desideri in 1.add a comment
Some good data via a Google maps flyover, a clever combination mapping of CO2 emissions by type and location courtesy the Vulcan Project:
Green Ideas September 14, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Batteries, Carbon, Cars, Companies, Electricity, Heh, Solar, Video, Wind.add a comment
The folks over at the X-Prize Foundation have a new challenge for you.
You could win $25,000 through our contest on YouTube, sponsored by Prize Capital, by telling us what you think the next Energy and Environment X PRIZE should be. Submit your video now!
Google Invests In Enhanced Geothermal Systems August 20, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Carbon, Electricity, Geothermal.add a comment
The folks over at google.org put some money to work in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).
The energy from the heat beneath the earth’s surface is essentially an unlimited resource. What if it could be developed to help solve our energy challenges and fight global warming? Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS, attempts to do just that. EGS produces heat and electricity by harnessing the energy from hot rock deep below the earth’s surface, expanding the potential of traditional geothermal energy by orders of magnitude.
To do this you need a few basic items, like to start drill bits to cut through the rock. Potter Drilling received an investment from Google for drilling technology. And you need management, AltaRock Energy is the development company, they too received investment from Google.
The concept of EGS is intuitively appealing, it’s simple enough to understand the science as well as the numbers. It’s carbon free, baseload, scaleable. From Wikipedia:
A 2006 report by MIT conducted the most comprehensive analysis to date on the potential and technical status of EGS. The 18 member panel, chaired by Dr. Jefferson Tester of MIT, reached several significant conclusions.
- 1) Resource Size: The MIT report calculated the United States total EGS resources from 3-10 km to be over 13,000 zettajoules, of which over 200 ZJ would be extractable, with the potential to increase this to over 2,000 ZJ with technology improvements – sufficient to provide all the world’s currentenergy needs for several millennia.[1] The report found that total geothermal resources, including hydrothermal and geo-pressured resources, to equal 14,000 ZJ – or roughly 140,000 times total U.S. annual primary energy use.
- 2) Development Potential: With a modest R&D investment of $1 billion over 15 years (or the cost of one coal power plant), the report estimated tha 100 GWe (gigawatts of electricity) or more could be installed by 2050 in the United States. The report further found that the “recoverable” resource (that accessible with today’s technology) to be between 1.2-12.2 million MW for the conservative and moderate recovery scenarios respectively.
- 3) Cost: The report found EGS could be capable of producing electricity for as low as 3.9 cents/kWh. EGS costs were found to be sensitive to four main factors: 1) Temperature of the resource 2) Fluid flow through the system measured in liters/second 3) Drilling Costs 4) Power conversion efficiency
Wind Energy Commercial June 5, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Electricity, Wind.add a comment
Enjoy…
Th!nk Electric! May 31, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Batteries, Carbon, Cars, Electricity, Video.add a comment
A company called PIVCO (Personal Independent Vehicle Company) of Norway was purchased by Ford in 1999, PIVCO manufactured electric cars. The company was renamed Think, they produced cars for Ford for a while. Ford bailed on the business, they even tried to scrap the manufactured cars by crushing them however Greenpeace and others pressured a change of plan; Ford exported the cars to Norway. It was only a few hundred cars at the time, zero emissions and oil prices were not yet on the minds of many North Americans.
Ford sold Think to a Norwegian investment group. Kleiner and Rockport came in later. What could Ford have been th!nking? Th!nk is now on the road to find out:
Citroën’s Italian Job May 20, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Carbon, Cars, Companies, Heh.add a comment
LOL. Citroën‘s Sexy Green Car Show advert homage to Italian Job:
Project Better Place March 24, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Batteries, Carbon, Cars, Electricity.add a comment
NanoSolar March 10, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Companies, Solar.add a comment
Converting energy radiated by the sun into electricity is nothing new, at least since the 1950s it’s been done. What’s interesting is doing it economically and with scale. NanoSolar is a player in this area. They are about ‘printing’ PV collectors, as one would print newspaper, then papering as it were roofs and other surfaces with the PV collectors. Here’s a quick video re NanoSolar’s process.
Energy Storage March 10, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Batteries, Solar, Wind.add a comment
The problem still re solar and wind is continuous production. And obviously for electric cars energy storage is key, the batteries have to not only recharge quickly but also store sufficient energy for conversion to sufficient distance plus also provide an overall lifetime and charge cycles statistic to make the whole thing economic. The Economist has a nice little piece re batteries, the various types and a brief history. Worth the read, requires 3 minutes.
Richard Branson re Ethanol March 1, 2008
Posted by Robert Desideri in Carbon, Ethanol.add a comment
Virgin Airlines founder Richard Branson talks about his ethanol investments:
