The Queen of England has made her Scottish estate, Balmoral, energy-independent by installing a small hydroelectric plant. The plant, near a stream on her estate, not only fuels her estate, but 1,000 area homes through net-metering. Balmoral is no stranger to renewables. The Queen had a water turbine as early as the 1920’s to provide electric lights to her castle, and in the 50’s, to a sawmill.
Iowa State University has figured out a way for the youngest and/or hippest generation of go-getters to power their iPods while maintaining that business professional look: solar neckties.
Via: Gagdets Blog News
The Environmental News Network shines a light on recent findings by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Asphalt, and all it’s heat-catching abilities, can be turned into a renewable energy source.
From the article:
“Through asphalt, the researchers are developing a solar collector that could turn roads and parking lots into ubiquitous—and inexpensive—sources of electricity and hot water.”
Photo source: Adam Williams, all rights reserved.
Cool looking contraption, huh? What you’re looking at is Finavera Renewables’ latest project in scalable wave power technology. If you think that picture is pretty cool, you’ll enjoy the animation:
Photo: U.S. Minerals Management Service
Nicknamed, the “Dragon Power Station”, a new apparatus at the port harnesses energy from big rigs. Still in test stage, the new technology is expected to produce 5000-7000 kilowatts per day in this one location.
Photo courtesy: AEST, Inc. http://www.aesti.com
I took this short video of a new, small vertical axis turbine at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Despite the fact that it sounds quite windy in the video, it really wasn’t. [try to ignore the sounds coming from my very excited dog]. Running time: 50 seconds.
See also: Top 5 Micro Wind Turbines
If your trees are shading your neighbor’s solar panels, you could be fined $1,000 a day. The 1978 California Solar Shade Act deems shading trees a nuisance. In Sunnyvale, CA, Prius driving Carolynn Bissett and Richard Treanor were convicted under the law after electric car driving neighbor Mark Vargas complained .
Source: New York Times
Read more interesting news from Silicon Valley:
Watch this excellent animation of how the new SeaGen project in Northern Ireland built by Marine Current Turbines will work. Transport of the units began a few weeks back and the installation of SeaGen should be completed shortly.
Bikini season is almost here. How about a photovoltaic bathing suit to charge your iPod?
For a more practical look at green bikini options, please visit Green Option’s newest blog Feel Good Style.
Source: Gizmodo
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