Wind Energy Bumps into Power Grid's Limits

There seems to be a consistent problem with new energy sources getting to the final distribution point. Now with the new solar craze, I have to wonder...what is the solution?

The Energy Challenge

When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind farm spent $320 million to put nearly 200 wind turbines in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing.

That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.

The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.

Read Full article here.

Monitoring the Planetary Emergencies

clipped from www.federationofscientists.org The identification of Planetary Emergencies and their categorisation into fifteen main groups To date the World Federation of Scientists has established the following Permanent Monitoring Panels and Working Groups: Biotechnology Brain and Behaviour Climatology Defence Against Cosmic Objects Desertification Energy: www.energypmp.org Floods and Extreme Weather Events Information Security: www.itis-ev.de/infosecur/ Limits of Development Missile Proliferation Mother & Child Pollution Motivations for Terrorism Mitigation of Terrorist Acts Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Water

Ring Road: What Happens to China’s Environment After the Olympics?

clipped from blogs.wsj.com This Sunday, the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics will bring an end to the 2008 Games—and to the sudden spotlight on China’s environmental somersaults during the “green” olympics. Back to work, you (AP)

Zookeeper feeds baby squirrel in Bulgaria

I know its off track but I couldn't' resist.

clipped from blogs.usatoday.com

Water Desalination: Freshwater from the Sea

“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” So lamented Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ancient mariner 210 years ago. Today’s scientific advances in water desalination promise to edit that script into “and every drop to drink,” dramatically increasing our ability to transform sea water into fresh water and quench the thirst of 1.2 billion people facing shortages of water.

Did You Know?

Ocean water contains about 35,000 parts per million of salt. Fresh water contains less than 1,000 parts per million.

The first scientific paper on desalting was published by Arab chemists in the eighth century.

Desalination/distillation is one of mankind's earliest forms of water treatment. In ancient times, many civilizations used this process on their ships to convert sea water into drinking water.

Today, desalination plants are used to convert sea water to drinking water on ships and in many arid regions of the world, and to treat water in other areas that is fouled by natural and unnatural contaminants.

The largest inland desalination plant in the world, the El Paso-Fort Bliss desalination plant, has a design capacity of approximately 27.5 MGD (30,800 acre-feet).

The average cost to produce 1 acre-foot of desalinated water from seawater ranges from approximately $800 to about $1,400.

The size of each reverse osmosis membrane pore used in the desalination
process is about 1/100,000th the size of one human hair.

Listen to the Podcast

'beer goggles'

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Strangers really do look sexier when you drink booze, science confirms For the first time, scientists have proven that "beer goggles" are real — other people really do look more attractive to us if we have been drinking. Surprisingly, the beer goggles effect was not limited to just the opposite sex among the ostensibly straight volunteers recruited for the study — they also rated people from their own sex as more attractive. After 15 minutes, the volunteers were shown photos of 40 other college students from both sexes. Both men and women who drank booze found these faces more attractive, "a roughly 10 percent increase in ratings of attractiveness," said researcher Marcus Munafo, an experimental psychologist at the University of Bristol in England. "Everyone knows about beer goggles," Munafo said. "But some of our results suggest that there's more going on than we might have thought."   Poll: Have ‘beer goggles’ ever led you astray?

Solar Panels by the Square Mile in California

clipped from dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com Matthew Wald has just written a news article showing the power of a guaranteed market to bring about large-scale construction of energy technologies that currently cannot compete with the status quo. Two photovoltaic power plants, in essence, are going to be built in California, covering a total of 12.5 square miles and amounting to 800 megawatts of generating capacity (although remember that the peak is only hit for a small portion of the day). Two California companies said Thursday that they would each build solar power plants that were 10 times bigger than the largest now in service, creating the first true utility-scale use of a technology now mostly confined to rooftop supplements to conventional power supplies. Photovoltaics eventually would need to be as cheap as paint or roof shingles to begin to make a serious dent in coal burning, many experts say. solar thermal plants

The Answer To The Energy Problem

The change has taken Denmark nearly two decades to implement, but the most critical step was the introduction of smart- or net-metering, which required utilities to buy back electricity from consumers at 85% of the price. Denmark's success has convinced a growing number of policymakers and energy executives to follow suit.

clipped from www.forbes.com Before John McCain and Barack Obama say another word about America's energy future, maybe they should go to Denmark. Denmark has done what other countries only dream of doing: achieved energy independence. How'd they do it? Distributed energy. Unlike traditional "centralized" systems, distributed energy relies on small power-generating technologies like solar panels or ultra-efficient natural-gas turbines built near the point of energy consumption to supplement or displace grid-distributed electricity. Consumers can not only draw power from the grid, but can feed power into it as well. For instance, homes equipped with solar-power panels could feed unused electricity back into the grid, adding to the total available supply.

Wanted: ‘Young Eco-Geniuses’

clipped from dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com A few months ago, I encouraged Dot Earth contributors who wanted to eschew anonymity and the grayness of text comments to post video greetings. As a result, you’ve had a chance to “meet” Wang Suya, Jeff Huggins and others face to face. Some here think this may help sustain a civil, productive environment on the blog by reminding people that there are human beings out there amid the streams of electrons. Now you get to meet Paul Horan. Sitting amid lemon trees near Malibu, Calif., he offers up a reward to “deserving young eco-geniuses” who are willing to tell today’s ruling class how they define “what’s sustainable and what’s not.”

Green TV

A broadband TV channel for environmental films bringing together films from a range of environmental organizations and independent filmmakers.

Interesting site, worth the trip.

Check out this video Proper Education.

The video has a deep green message. It focuses on climate change and the issues surrounding global warming. Set in a London estate, it shows a gang of young people breaking into local flats, in order to switch appliances off standby, change light bulbs for energy efficient alternatives and place bricks in toilet cisterns.

An Olympic Stadium Worth Remembering

More than 90,000 spectators will stream through its gates on Friday for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games; billions are expected to watch the fireworks on television. At the center of it all is this dazzling stadium, which is said to embody everything from China’s muscle-flexing nationalism to a newfound cultural sophistication.

clipped from www.nytimes.com

OLYMPICS REHEARSAL

Follow the links for more.

clipped from www.abcnews.go.com 1 of 16 Olympics Rehearsal A student from the Tagou martial arts school from Henan province practices in front of the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, at the Olympic Green in Beijing, July 16, 2008. More then 2,000 students from Tagou martial arts school will perform during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and have been training on the outskirts of Beijing for a year, local media reported. Picture taken July 16, 2008. (Donald Chan/Reuters )

'Water Cube'

Looks awesome.

clipped from news.xinhuanet.com Photo taken on Jan. 28, 2008 shows the exterior view of the National Aquatics Center also known as "Water Cube" in Beijing. Photo Gallery>>> With a capacity of 17,000 seats, the Water Cube will host swimming, diving, synchronized swimming competitions during this summer's Olympics.

Looks awesome.

clipped from news.xinhuanet.com Photo taken on Jan. 28, 2008 shows the exterior view of the National Aquatics Center also known as "Water Cube" in Beijing. The National Aquatic Center was delivered for use on Monday after four years of construction. (Xinhua Photo/Luo Xiaoguang) clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn clipped from www.plasticsnews.com clipped from www.tropolism.com Wacky in a way only state-sponsored architecture can be is the National Swimming Center in Beijing, going up right next to another of H&DM's stadiums (no, not this one). The center is enclosed by what appears to be a wall whose structure is an irregular spaceframe (made to resemble the cellular pattern of soap bubbles) and is clad in what appears to be a frosted or patterened glass. All of this from a wonderful photo gallery at Structurae. The building was conceived by Australian-based PTW Architects. Structural design by Arup, of course. clipped from www.sportsvenue-technology.com clipped from images.google.com