As I have mentioned in previous posts I am excited about alternative energy (wind, solar, fuel cells). In browsing the WEB news today I came across an article that literally had me bouncing in my seat.
It seems that Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, has been tinkering with coming up with a better means to split Hydrogen from water. By better, I mean more efficient than current and traditional means not to mention safer and less hazardously.
Splitting Hydrogen off in and of itself is not a miracle. I have done many times before using nothing more than a 9 volt battery and some wire.
Where Daniel's advancements make me excited though are from the implications of using this as a storage mechanism to allow you to capture the sunlight during the day (say through a photovoltaic array) saving it as a potential energy (in the form of Hydrogen) and then being able to safely and cleanly be able to use it on demand (via a fuel cell).
When it comes down to it, aside from Nuclear power, all other power sources mimic this process.
Coal, oil, natural gas, wood, grass pellets all do the same thing. They are representations of solar power collected through the biosphere and stored away.
Even wind power takes off on this concept when you consider that wind is simply capturing and converting the mommentum of air caused by the warming and cooling actions of having (or not having) sunlight.
So, read the article and see what you think.
Showing posts with label Alternative energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alternative energy. Show all posts
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A Midsummer Nights Entry
I am even more lax now than in March in making entries.
Snow is no longer the complaint of Massena. After a seemingly endless Winter, Spring finally made an appearance and gradually made way for Summer. And now we complain of rain.
We have only had a few weekends with nice weather. One or two days of rain has been the norm. Just enough that my attempts to keep up with the lawn are continually thwarted. Looking into the dark out my back windows I can't see it, but I know that the lawn is too long to be respectable. And, I swear I can hear it laughing at me as it grows!
And now to start looking ahead to Autumn and the start of another school year.
Even though my sons have moved on to Boy Scouts, I still find myself leading Cub Scout Pack 31. I am eagerly looking to hand over leadership to a new group of parents and have high hopes for several that are promising (and whose boys seem to really like being scouts).
The wind farm located to the East of us in Ellenburg is up and running. I have had a chance to drive by several times now. It really amazes me how the turbines/towers fade into the background from a distance. The shade of paint they use is perfect camouflage. Unless you know where to look you just can't see them. Up close they are awe inspiring. They are quite graceful and I can imagine them being designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as they so perfectly fit the purpose they are designed for while at the same time fitting in, blending in, and actually complementing the environment they are a part of.
I can't understand why people are so opposed to wind farms. The NIMBY groups out there would rather have a 'natural' view in their back yard while out of sight (and out of mind) a coal or diesel plant spews pollution while providing the power for them to make their lattes.
Snow is no longer the complaint of Massena. After a seemingly endless Winter, Spring finally made an appearance and gradually made way for Summer. And now we complain of rain.
We have only had a few weekends with nice weather. One or two days of rain has been the norm. Just enough that my attempts to keep up with the lawn are continually thwarted. Looking into the dark out my back windows I can't see it, but I know that the lawn is too long to be respectable. And, I swear I can hear it laughing at me as it grows!
And now to start looking ahead to Autumn and the start of another school year.
Even though my sons have moved on to Boy Scouts, I still find myself leading Cub Scout Pack 31. I am eagerly looking to hand over leadership to a new group of parents and have high hopes for several that are promising (and whose boys seem to really like being scouts).
The wind farm located to the East of us in Ellenburg is up and running. I have had a chance to drive by several times now. It really amazes me how the turbines/towers fade into the background from a distance. The shade of paint they use is perfect camouflage. Unless you know where to look you just can't see them. Up close they are awe inspiring. They are quite graceful and I can imagine them being designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as they so perfectly fit the purpose they are designed for while at the same time fitting in, blending in, and actually complementing the environment they are a part of.
I can't understand why people are so opposed to wind farms. The NIMBY groups out there would rather have a 'natural' view in their back yard while out of sight (and out of mind) a coal or diesel plant spews pollution while providing the power for them to make their lattes.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Giving Thanks
It is the day after Thanksgiving here in Massena. After a self imposed day off of the web I am sitting here in the afterglow of hot coffee and leftover pumpkin pie, what very well may be one of the best breakfasts ever.
While browsing all of my favorite blogs I came across a post on Elise's Simply Recipes that made me stop and think.
I have a lot to be thankful for.
My Red Sox took the pennant. For this I am happy (perhaps even giddy).
My Patriots are running over all of the other teams in the NFL. For this I am appreciative of thier overwhelming skill, determination and teamwork.
There are a large number of alternatively powered vehicles that will be hitting the showroom floors in the next couple of years. For this I am anticipating freeing the choke hold of the oil driven world.
But am I thankful for these? Well, sort of. But they really are not that important.
I am really thankful for my family, my health and the good graces thatGod has granted us over the years.
I hope that this holiday season finds you content in what you have, not too envious of what you don't and with a sense of inner peace in the world in which you live.
While browsing all of my favorite blogs I came across a post on Elise's Simply Recipes that made me stop and think.
I have a lot to be thankful for.
My Red Sox took the pennant. For this I am happy (perhaps even giddy).
My Patriots are running over all of the other teams in the NFL. For this I am appreciative of thier overwhelming skill, determination and teamwork.
There are a large number of alternatively powered vehicles that will be hitting the showroom floors in the next couple of years. For this I am anticipating freeing the choke hold of the oil driven world.
But am I thankful for these? Well, sort of. But they really are not that important.
I am really thankful for my family, my health and the good graces thatGod has granted us over the years.
I hope that this holiday season finds you content in what you have, not too envious of what you don't and with a sense of inner peace in the world in which you live.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Alternatives
Last weekend I drove over to Burlington, Vermont to run some errands. It was a great day for a drive - just a few clouds, mostly sunshine.
On this side of Ellenburg New York I was able to see one of the most stunning sights I have ever beheld. Tall, slender and graceful, soaring a couple of hundred feet into the air, a number of nearly completed wind turbines. Rather than engineering marvels they actually appeared as works of art leaping from the ridge line. As I entered Ellenburg village I soon spotted the sign for the office of the Marble River Wind Farm.
I have been reading and hearing accounts in the news, both locally as well as in North-Eastern Vermont of the uproar proposed wind farms can cause. Concerns of noise, spoiled views and such are the mainstay of the naysayers. I wonder how many of them have ever even seen one, from a distance or up close?
I did not find the turbines that obtrusive. Their neutral gray color caused them to blend into the background. It was only after looking closely that I even noticed units that were further away. They were not operating so I could not hear the noise impact they will make (though I plan to go over as soon as they start up to see, or should I say hear, for myself).
From the research I have done over the last week it does not sound like the noise will really be an issue. At the slow speeds that these units operate and with the efficient design of the turbine blades they will be magnitudes quieter than thier cousins of a decade or two ago. My guess is that neighboring land owners (only after they have turned off thier TVs, Internet, iPods and then also turned off their SUVs) will only notice the noise on only the quietest, stillest days. Even then, my guess is that what they can hear will soon blend in with the background noise they already contend with on a day to day basis.
I think that the main thread of the naysayers is that they are members of the NIMBY club. While they may talk the green talk in the open they do not want to have it be a real part of their local environment. Secretly I think that as long as the Coal, Oil, Gas and Nuclear plants are located somewhere where they cannot see them, thier industrial ugliness and their polution, that out of sight is out of mind.
I would like to see a wind farm in my back yard. I think that they represent one of the energy sources of the future that we will start needing to depend upon as the petroleum reserves start to fail and the rising cost (financial) of the fossil fuels makes them prohibitive to use.
We need to face it, the alternative fuel selections are thin. Most viable hydro sources have already been tapped. So, we cannot look into that direction to magically solve our future woes. That leaves us with nuclear, solar and wind power as our major widespread energy sources.
In this lattitude solar on the commercial level is really not feasible (though at the homeowner level I think that it has a future).
I think that Nuclear power will again become popular down the road, especially when the safety fear is assuaged by realization that modern reactor technology is much safer than that used in our country which is decades old.
Now wind is available in the majority of locations. Aside from the pollution generated as a by product of manufacture, once the turbine is in use there will be no emissions, no green house gasses. None of the negatives that we currently have with the fossil fuels. This really seems to be the direction we need to be going. And, due to the longevity expected from each turbine (a ~$2MM up front cost per unit) they should prove to be cost effective to operate which should relate to being a cost effective solution for the consumer.
Transportation
The only place where wind does not seem to offer a solution is in the transportation sector. Or maybe I am wrong.
The two most promising alternatives for fueling our cars are electric (battery) or hydrogen (either fuel cell or internal combustion) based. Batteries and hydrogen have one thing in common - they are only storage mediums for energy. Batteries still need to be charged. Hydrogen still needs to be generated (through electrolysis).
On second thought, wind can power our transportation sector.
Patience
I think that time is on wind's side. When gas prices hit double or triple current levels and our electric bills grow by the same magnitude due to increased generation costs and when the goods and services that we purchase cost more from the impact of these, then (and probably only then) will the naysayers (not looking back) state 'why didn't we implement wind sooner'.
Copyright (c) 2007, Gary Novosel
On this side of Ellenburg New York I was able to see one of the most stunning sights I have ever beheld. Tall, slender and graceful, soaring a couple of hundred feet into the air, a number of nearly completed wind turbines. Rather than engineering marvels they actually appeared as works of art leaping from the ridge line. As I entered Ellenburg village I soon spotted the sign for the office of the Marble River Wind Farm.
I have been reading and hearing accounts in the news, both locally as well as in North-Eastern Vermont of the uproar proposed wind farms can cause. Concerns of noise, spoiled views and such are the mainstay of the naysayers. I wonder how many of them have ever even seen one, from a distance or up close?
I did not find the turbines that obtrusive. Their neutral gray color caused them to blend into the background. It was only after looking closely that I even noticed units that were further away. They were not operating so I could not hear the noise impact they will make (though I plan to go over as soon as they start up to see, or should I say hear, for myself).
From the research I have done over the last week it does not sound like the noise will really be an issue. At the slow speeds that these units operate and with the efficient design of the turbine blades they will be magnitudes quieter than thier cousins of a decade or two ago. My guess is that neighboring land owners (only after they have turned off thier TVs, Internet, iPods and then also turned off their SUVs) will only notice the noise on only the quietest, stillest days. Even then, my guess is that what they can hear will soon blend in with the background noise they already contend with on a day to day basis.
I think that the main thread of the naysayers is that they are members of the NIMBY club. While they may talk the green talk in the open they do not want to have it be a real part of their local environment. Secretly I think that as long as the Coal, Oil, Gas and Nuclear plants are located somewhere where they cannot see them, thier industrial ugliness and their polution, that out of sight is out of mind.
I would like to see a wind farm in my back yard. I think that they represent one of the energy sources of the future that we will start needing to depend upon as the petroleum reserves start to fail and the rising cost (financial) of the fossil fuels makes them prohibitive to use.
We need to face it, the alternative fuel selections are thin. Most viable hydro sources have already been tapped. So, we cannot look into that direction to magically solve our future woes. That leaves us with nuclear, solar and wind power as our major widespread energy sources.
In this lattitude solar on the commercial level is really not feasible (though at the homeowner level I think that it has a future).
I think that Nuclear power will again become popular down the road, especially when the safety fear is assuaged by realization that modern reactor technology is much safer than that used in our country which is decades old.
Now wind is available in the majority of locations. Aside from the pollution generated as a by product of manufacture, once the turbine is in use there will be no emissions, no green house gasses. None of the negatives that we currently have with the fossil fuels. This really seems to be the direction we need to be going. And, due to the longevity expected from each turbine (a ~$2MM up front cost per unit) they should prove to be cost effective to operate which should relate to being a cost effective solution for the consumer.
Transportation
The only place where wind does not seem to offer a solution is in the transportation sector. Or maybe I am wrong.
The two most promising alternatives for fueling our cars are electric (battery) or hydrogen (either fuel cell or internal combustion) based. Batteries and hydrogen have one thing in common - they are only storage mediums for energy. Batteries still need to be charged. Hydrogen still needs to be generated (through electrolysis).
On second thought, wind can power our transportation sector.
Patience
I think that time is on wind's side. When gas prices hit double or triple current levels and our electric bills grow by the same magnitude due to increased generation costs and when the goods and services that we purchase cost more from the impact of these, then (and probably only then) will the naysayers (not looking back) state 'why didn't we implement wind sooner'.
Copyright (c) 2007, Gary Novosel
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