Wind Me Up: Urwerk Wind Powered Watch

UR 202

Urwerk is getting a lot of notice right now. Not for it’s quirky company name, but for it’s UR 202 wind-powered watch that is quite the hit among high rolling technophiles, stylephiles and ecophiles alike. The watch, which uses compressed air from integrated wind turbines and kinetic energy to keep ticking, is made by third [...]

How to Power the Planet? "Use the Force, Luke."

Tokyo Energy

(Quote shamelessly borrowed from Star Wars via Lucasfilm Ltd.) There’s a basic law of physics that everyone can agree on: you can’t create energy from nothing. So when an invention comes along and seems to do exactly that, scientists are skeptical. Some get downright prickly. The problem is, these inventions exist, and everyone who looks [...]

First Full-Scale Floating Wind Mill

wind turbines

StatoilHydro, a state-run oil company in Norway, recently announced a 2 year test of a floating 2.3 MW wind turbine off the coast of Norway. Cables will be used to transmit the power to shore for this $80 million pilot project. The turbine has a height of 65 meters above the sea surface and a [...]

What Do You Do About the Waste? Recycle and Reuse.

Dry Cask storage

As a long time proponent of the increased use of nuclear energy, I have been involved in thousands of conversations on the topic. (Trust me, I am a boring guest at a cocktail party and a real pain around the water cooler.) Nearly every one of them eventually included the comment that sounds like a [...]

3 Hidden Costs of High Oil Prices

gas prices

As a barrel of oil hovers around $130, the news has been bombarding us with the obvious effects of high oil prices. As most people weep at the pump, some environmentalists are rejoicing. Gas consumption is down, but there are additional hidden costs to high gas prices that leave even green minded folks with a [...]

Big Money Bets Solar Cheaper than Coal by 2020

The planets may be aligned to finally make solar competitive with coal, according to an article in Bloomberg.com by Greg Chang. Rising natural gas prices, the extension of tax credits for solar investment, and the near-certainty that carbon emissions caps will be imposed by the next U.S. administration, will make it happen. A concentrated solar [...]

Underwater Wind Turbines? bioWAVE System Designed to Create Energy from Ocean Currents

Bio Wave underwater wind turbine

Picture a kelp bed on the ocean floor swaying in the current. Done? Now picture an underwater field of bioWave turbines (pictured to your left) doing the same. But, unlike the kelp, supplying one half megawatt of electricity. (In kelp’s defense, it does provide oxygen, food, and a place for the elusive leafy sea dragon [...]

Solar Thermal Islands: Cool Concept or Pipe Dream?

photo of pilot project

I ran across this article at The Oil Drum and thought it was too tasty to pass up. It describes a new design to help concentrated solar power (CSP) increase efficiency and reduce cost. Here’s the problem: solar thermal collectors focus the sun’s heat onto a clear tube of fluid (see: Intro to Solar Thermal). [...]