Published on January 24th, 2010
Certain politicians may be having a hard time wrapping their heads around the reality of climate change, but that hasn’t stopped the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The USACE is rolling right along with sustainability programs that range from an award-winning oyster habitat restoration project to the installation of 1,200 solar powered street lights in Fallujah and a solar parking lot in New Jersey.
The Commanding General of the USACE, Lt. Gen. Robert Van Atwerp, pulled it all together just a couple of weeks ago with a blog post about the USACE and climate change, and he didn’t mince words on the USACE’s attitude about the whole issue: “It’s a very real concern that could have very real consequences all over the world, and we’re on it.” That can-do spirit has lead to some interesting new partnerships for the USACE with civilian organizations like The Conservation Fund. Maybe it’s time for the climate change deniers to come out of their shells and join the party — you know, support the U.S. Army, right? Hello?
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Published on January 6th, 2010
Wineries are notorious for using large amounts of water, with estimates ranging up to 20 gallons of water needed to produce a singe gallon of wine. Jackson Family Wines is one wine maker that has found a high tech way to put a billion-gallon dent in its own annual water consumption, and the implications could be enormous for wine rich, water poor states like California.
Jackson Family’s new water recycling system has just completed a “proof of concept” pilot run certified by the University of California at Davis. Once in full swing, the system will involve about 70% of the winery’s water use, which primarily goes to rinsing barrels and tanks. The new system will recycle 90% of that water for up to ten rinses but wait, there’s more: the recycled water also keeps 75% of its heat, which will save a significant amount of energy that would otherwise be needed to warm up cold water.
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Published on November 25th, 2009
Taiwan’s Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2007. Now, it is looking to become the world’s tallest GREEN building.
The building’s owner, Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFC), is putting in $1.9 million to give this 101-story building a green makeover.
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Water
Published on November 16th, 2009
Paul O’Callaghan is CEO of Cleantech consultancy firm, O2 Environmental Inc. and author of Water Technology Markets.
Canadian firm, Saltworks Technologies, just came out of stealth in relation to their desalination technology, which they claim reduce the electrical energy required for desalination by over 70%. They report they can produce 1m3 of water with 1kW hour of electrical energy, compared to the 3.7kWhr per m3, which is what is currently achievable using reverse osmosis with the use of energy recovery devices.
So how to they do it? Well its novel. It appears to be a new approach. And novel and new are two things scarce as hens teeth in relation to desalination technologies.
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Published on November 13th, 2009
Back in October, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding NASA’s project of crashing a LCROSS satellite into the moon to determine if there is in fact water on the moon. While it was initially believed by spectators and researchers alike that the mission was a big failure, since there was no visible lunar dust or any other substances that resulted immediately from the cash; NASA says today that it actually was a success, indicating that the moon has a substantial water supply.
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Published on November 3rd, 2009
An ecologist and an engineer at Michigan State University are working together to create robot fish that can better monitor various factors in aquatic environments.
Combining the brilliance of nature with some top-notch engineering, these two scientists are on to something and getting the funding for it.
The researchers are breaking ground with this and looking to raise water monitoring to another level.
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Tags:
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Elena Litchman,
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Xiaobo Tan
Published on October 23rd, 2009
Solar water disinfection is an idea so simple, it hurts. Now a Georgia Tech scientist may be on to a new high-tech twist that could make this no-cost, zero emission ultraviolet (UV) water disinfection method even more quick and effective.
Solar disinfection is a proven method of killing germs in drinking water by exposing it to direct sunlight in a clear plastic or glass bottle. Dr. Jaehong Kim of the Georgia Institute of Technology has just been awarded a $100,000 innovation grant by the Water Environment Research Foundation for his work in developing a new coating that could be applied to bottles to shorten the solar disinfection process and improve its effectiveness. Though not (yet) practical for large volumes of water, solar disinfection has proven to be a sustainable answer for people in remote locations or impoverished areas that lack the resources to disinfect their drinking water through other means.
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Published on September 29th, 2009
MIT professor Daniel Nocera formed a company earlier this year to commercialize a new technology that can “split water” and store solar energy. The company’s key objective now: achieve a solar energy breakthrough.
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Published on September 28th, 2009
Traditionally, if you are in a water-poor region that has access to desalination technology and seawater, you were in luck. Israeli cleantechnology company ROTEC has developed a reverse osmosis system designed to remove salts from brackish groundwater. In other words, nowhere near the sea.
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Published on September 17th, 2009
Yesterday, I wrote about the new DH9 from DewPointe, one of the cool eco-innovations to be showcased at West Coast Green October 1-3 in San Francisco. The DH9 is capable of extracting water vapor from the air and converting it to (very) pure drinking water, at a rate of about 6.5 gallons per day. The technology is inspiring, in that this is a free-standing water manufacturer, needing no water supply, and conjures up images of moisture farms and growing forests where once there was desert. Indeed, even in 30% relative humidity, which is akin to some of the driest deserts in the world, the DH9 can produce 4 gallons of water per day from the air.
The big drawbacks are the cost ($1600 retail price) and the need for electricity. While standing, the DH9 uses 80 Watts, and while actively filtering, it uses 500.
Researchers in Stuttgart, however, have solved one of those two problems: their system is completely based on renewable, on-site energy. Read the rest of this entry »
