THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for July, 2008

Another win for LED bulbs: Anchorage, Alaska plans to replace 16,000 streetlight fixtures—a quarter of all the streetlight fixtures in the city—with LEDs. The new streetlights will use 50% less energy than current fixtures, leading Anchorage to potential savings of $360,000 each year. The city has invested $2.2 million in the plan.

Since Anchorage has 85 days a year with less than 8 hours of sunlight, energy efficiency initiatives are critical to the city’s survival. With other programs currently in the works, they’re on the right track.

Cree, a US-based LED component manufacturer, started the LED City program in 2007. The initiative is designed to test the economic, environmental, and usage benefits of LED lighting in cities around the world.

Other cities that have already committed to the LED City program include Raleigh, North Carolina; Toronto, Ontario; Tianjin, China, and Torraca, Italy.

Posts Related to Lighting:

• Chicago Suburb Preserves Night Sky With Innovative Light Ordinance
• Look Into The Light: The CFL
• Recessed Lights and Greenwash

Add the name of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz to the growing list of investors throwing their hats into the ring of a booming wind energy and transmission industry in the American west.

The Anschutz Corp. said Tuesday it has acquired the rights to a proposed $3 billion, 3,000-megawatt transmission project that will bring electricity from Wyoming to Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The 900-mile TransWest Express Project will carry power from a 2,000-megawatt wind farm Anschutz is developing in south-central Wyoming, a large portion of which will be built on a ranch he has owned for about 15 years.

A study by National Grid released this month concluded that wind-generated power produced in southern Wyoming is the most viable option for meeting the clean power demands of the desert Southwest. Both the wind farm and the proposed transmission project still must get approval from federal officials to include an environmental impact study and opportunities for public comment. The permitting process will probably take 24-36 months to complete.

This is the fist venture into renewable energy for Anschutz, who made his fortune in oil, gas, real estate, telecommunications and entertainment. Today’s news comes in the wake of two major developments in US wind energy development: the well-publicized T. Boone Pickens push for a 4,000 MW wind farm and associated grid infrastructure in Texas, and the recent approval of a 909 megawatt wind farm in Oregon.

Related Posts:

• World’s Largest Wind Farm Planned in Oregon
• World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Back on Track
• Texas to Build Wind Power Super Highway

The Denver Post
Photo: Vestas

This summer, I have become addicted to taking pictures - now that you can view and share them without ever having to drive to the camera shop, drop off your film, drive back and pick them up, then choose the ones you like and send them out…you get the point…life is much easier since we have all gone digital.

You can snap a pic, plug in to your laptop and upload or upload directly to a photo sharing service like Flickr from your mobile.

Now, even companies like Ritz and Nikon are getting in the eco-game with the release of the Nikon Coolpix S52 digital camera that comes in a limited edition green to help offset 2 tons of carbon emissions with every purchase. The goal is to offset 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment. And, the Nikon’s 9.0 megapixels are pretty sharp.

For the photographer not quite ready to trade-in the power and control of the Digital SLR, LowePro’s Primus bag is the perfect carryall. The backpack is made from 51% recycled material, giving plastic Coke bottles new life as a stylish and comfortable pack for hauling your gear.

The bag has room for your camera, an extra lens and flash in the lumbar region of the bag with two side hatches for easy access to extra gear. You can stash any other “day” essentials in the top portion of the bag.

For those new to digitally sharing files, here are a few great photo sharing services to check out:

• Kodak’s Ofoto
• Snapfish
• Flickr

Happy shooting and sharing!

Despite the myriad recent examples of positive news in the alternative energy world, it’s important to remember that harmful non-renewables aren’t necessarily losing any ground. According to the US Department of Energy, 258 gigawatts of new generating capacity are needed to meet an expected 40% increase in consumption by 2030, and coal companies are stepping up to meet this need.

In the US, 17.5 gigawatts of coal-fueled generating capacity are under construction, and 7.3 more gigawatts are on the way.

Coal companies are recording huge profits as a result of the growing desire for their services. Arch Coal, one of the largest coal producers in the United States, has recorded a net income of $194.1 million in the first half of 2008—triple their income from the first half of 2007.

Curbing this trend will be difficult, if not impossible, as emerging markets such as Asia show no signs of slowing down. Arch Coal suggests that 1.1 billion tons of coal will be needed by 2012, essentially replicating the US coal industry in 5 years.

So what can be done to stop coal’s harmful effects on the atmosphere? One possibility is carbon capture, but mandatory heat-trapping emission caps are not yet in place in the United States—not to mention other large coal-producing countries. Unless major policy changes are somehow simultaneously made around the world, we’ll be dealing with massive coal emissions for a long time.

But is it greenwashing?

Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewer in the US, announced today that it plans to have its breweries rely on renewable energies for 15 percent of its needs by 2010. The Houston brewery plans to use biogas from a nearby landfill combined with an on-site bio-energy recovery system (BERS) that will make use of brewing wastewater, and the Fairfield, California facility will use solar panels in addition to a BERS. The other US breweries will use only BERS.

When the facilities are completed, 10 out of the 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries in the US will use alternative fuels.

It’s tempting to shake our heads and exclaim that this is just another example of corporate greenwashing that doesn’t mean anything. But in this case, that might not be entirely true.

Anheuser-Busch’s plan will produce 1 in 7 beers using alternative energy—that’s over 5 billion 12 oz. servings. Additionally, Anheuser-Busch is the world’s largest operator of BERS. Such cogeneration is extremely important for large breweries to pursue if they want to be at all sustainable. As I mentioned earlier, Anheuser-Busch is the largest US brewer. As such, they set an example for other large companies.

If other breweries choose to pursue BERS, even if it is just to look good in the public eye, I won’t complain. I don’t know anyone who plans to stop drinking beer in the name of sustainability anytime soon, so Anheuser-Busch’s plan is an excellent step forward.

More Posts on Alternative Energy:

• Wind-Powered Tall Ships Are Once Again Important As Oil Prices Hurt Trade
• 4 Reasons Why Germany Is A Renewable Energy Success Story
• Texas To Build Wind Power Superhighway