Saturday, October 31, 2009

Indian engineer builds glaciers to stop warming

His glaciers have been able to each store up to one million cubic feet of ice, which in turn can irrigate 200 hectares of farm land. This can make the difference between crop failure and a bumper crop of more than 1,000 tons of wheat for the farmers.

Indian engineer builds glaciers to stop warming - SiliconIndia

Monday, October 26, 2009

Solar and Agriculture: Double Cropping Energy and Food

What sets this project apart is that it aims to not just co-exist with productive farm land, but actually enhance the agricultural process.

Solar and Agriculture: Double Cropping Energy and Food : TreeHugger

Green Building Materials Guide on Green Planet

When it comes to building or renovating a home, there are few simple choices. From styles and colors to location and design, there's an awful lot to consider, but, thankfully, you don't have to settle for materials whose production or use has a big-time negative impact on the planet. Here to help is our Green Materials Guide, which will help guide you through the process of finding green materials for every green project in your home.

Green Materials Guide : Planet Green

Monday, October 6, 2008

National Grid Wants Your Roof!

This looks very promising. It would be wonderful if utility providers all over would consider offering such incentives to businesses and individual home-owners. Think about all the roofs and roof-tops that are currently sitting vacant, absorbing the sun's energy but giving nothing in return.

With solar panels on those roofs they would actually be generating energy and income for their owners. Sweet!
National Grid Wants Your Roof! Utility Looking to Install Solar Panels on Customer’s Homes & Businesses
National Grid Wants Your Roof! Utility Looking to Install Solar Panels on Customer’s Homes & Businesses : TreeHugger

Friday, October 3, 2008

Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine for your Home

This looks like a good option for urban areas.
It's a "Magnetically-Levitated Axial Flux Alternator with Programmable Variable Coil Resistance, Vertical Axis Wind Turbine' , and it has just come on the market. Designed by Thomas Priest-Brown and Jim Rowan in Canada and manufactured in Texas, it"solves 11 different problems that previously limited the development of vertical-axis wind turbines for generation of electricity ."

The center hub floats on a magnet, and the coils that generate the power are at the outer ring, with magnets at the tips of the blades flying over them at high speed. It is designed for home installation in urban settings; It is only 4 feet high, so neighbours are unlikely to complain about its appearance. We asked about issues with ice and snow, and were assured that there was no problem. We also asked about noise (often a complaint) and was told that it was inaudible.

Unlike normal turbines, it doesn't mind a little turbulence, works well in developed areas, and gets an extra kick from something called "the roof effect" -evidently "A roof with a 10-foot vertical rise and a 30% angle will provide nearly a 200% increase in the amount of wind energy that is available to be turned into electricity. Compared to the same turbine just sitting on a pole, the roof effect increases the power yielded by operation of the wind turbine dramatically."

Mag-Wind Vertical Axis Turbine for your Home : TreeHugger