Eco20/20

Doing a few chores around the house this month can save homeowners major expense in the spring, according to Rick Felton, President of Homeservice Club of Canada. "By doing a little preventative maintenance now, you can prevent minor problems from escalating into a major headache in the spring," Felton said. "Minor repairs done now can prevent air and moisture penetration from attacking the structural integrity of your home down the road," he added.

Clean energy company Econcern will partner with China National Offshore Oil Corp and Sinohydro to invest 863 million euros ($1.09 billion) to build four Chinese wind farms, the companies said on Tuesday. Construction of the wind farms, which will generate around 720 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, will begin in 2009, Netherlands-based Econcern said in a statement.

Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Monday unveiled an ambitious plan that calls for installing solar panels on residents' rooftops to meet 10 percent of the city's energy needs by the year 2020. "Our solar initiative is the largest of any kind anywhere in the world. When it takes full effect, L.A. will have 1,280 megawatts more capacity -- more than exists in the entire United States today," said the mayor.

Energy Policies To Maximize Energy Security And Economic Development Hosted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance Date/Time: January 9, 2009 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Detailed Conference Agenda Location: Buntrock Commons, St. Olaf College - Northfield, MN Hear from the experts on Renewable Energy Payments (a.k.a. feed-in tariffs): * Paul Gipe, the North American expert [more info] gives his excellent tutorial * National policy expert, Wilson Rickerson [more info] llustrates the spreading wave of feed-in tariff legislation * German energy expert, Willi Voigt, shares his experience with implementing feed-in tariffs in Germany and their stunning success

TreeHugger has a post on micro-wind power devices for the home - Hot Home Wind Turbines You Can Actually Buy, Plus One You Wish You Could. Though solar panels definitely hog the renewable energy stage when it comes to home installations, a number of new, innovative wind turbines have entered the market in the past couple of months. Not all of these are intended to be mounted on your roof, some you'll need a bit of a yard (and a dearth of neighbors) to install and they vary in price from affordable to "when am I going to actually pay this off?", but they all go to show that there's more than one way to harness the wind to generate electricity. Check 'em out...

The thin film solar field is still a hot bed of activity - Technology Review has a post on a prototype cell that uses photonic crystals - Efficient Thin-Film Solar Cells. Researchers at MIT have unveiled a new type of silicon solar cell that could be much more efficient and cost less than currently used solar cells. Materials science and engineering professor Lionel Kimerling and his colleagues presented results of the first device prototype at a recent meeting of the Materials Research Society in Boston. The design combines a highly effective reflector on the back of a solar cell with an antireflective coating on the front. This helps trap red and near-infrared light, which can be used to make electricity, in the silicon. The research team is licensing similar technology to StarSolar, a startup in Cambridge, MA.

Yet another announcement from Project Better Place, this time spreading their wings to Hawaii - Hawaii goes electric. California's announcement last month of its aim to turn San Francisco Bay into the world's electric car capital has been followed by Hawaii jumping on the clean energy bandwagon. The state spends up to $7bn (£4.75bn) a year on importing oil, and cars account for almost 20% of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. In a mirror of the Californian plans, the electric transportation company Better Place will aim to build a network of kerbside charging points across Hawaii and create the equivalent of filling stations, where electric car owners will be able to replace their flat batteries for fully charged ones. With a full charge, a typical car will be able to travel 100 miles, ideal for commuting around urban areas.

Cleantechnica reports that the UK is experimenting with smart fridges (fridges that adjust their power consumption dynamically based on grid load) - UK Giving Away "Intelligent Fridges". Live in the UK? You may be the lucky recipient of a free "intelligent" refrigerator. 3,000 fridges that adapt power usage based on the demands of the electrical grid will be given away by the government next year. According to a report from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, the dynamic demand fridges could potentially save 2 million tons of carbon each year and £222m. In addition to saving energy, the dynamic demand fridges will also help ease the transition to intermittently produced renewable energy by reducing the minimum amount of power necessary to keep the electrical grid stable- in other words, the fridges limit the base amount of fossil fuels used in energy creation.

Grist has a post on new ideas for improving wind power technology, pointing to a Tyler Hamilton "Clean Break" column in the Toronto Star - Wind turbines get fancy. Solar energy sucks up a lot of research attention, partly because solar energy systems still have so much room for improvement. Wind turbines, on the other hand, have been around for over 1,000 years, and although the modern versions are vastly larger and more efficient than their ancient counterparts, the basic concept hasn't changed much. But the standard blades-on-a-horizontal-axle version of wind energy systems (as opposed to more exotic flavors like kites or blimps) may yet be poised for some big leaps forward, several of which were profiled in a recent Clean Break column.

The trip from Salt Lake City to southern Utah's red-rock playground-thousands of us make the drive to Moab during a typical year-will never be the same. There, where U.S. Highway 6 starts its cut through Spanish Fork Canyon, stand nine breathtaking, milk-white giants-the busily whirring turbines of the Spanish Fork Wind Project. The windmills are 405 feet high, and their blades, which from ground level look deceptively slow moving, spin at 170 mph, says Spanish Fork Mayor Joe Thomas. He should know. Shortly before the official ribbon cutting at the wind farm in early October, Thomas got the chance to climb to the top of a turbine.

The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe. Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.

Going solar seems to get easier by the day - both logistically and financially. Before, homeowners had to save up to pay the huge upfront cost of buying and installing solar panels. Now, would-be solar energy users don't need to put up startup funds - nor do they even have to deal with an extra repayment bill! The latest company making solar power accessible is Renewable Funding, a financial company with a new solar-friendly product called CityFIRST. CityFIRST basically allows homeowners to install solar panels with no upfront cost - using a solar installer or contractor of their choice - then pay for panels over 20 years via a line item on property tax bills.

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I apologize for being out of pocket lately, and that trend is going to continue at least through this week. I have a staff meeting all week, and then I fly back to Europe next Monday. So, my posting will be sporadic until then. However, I want to call your attention to a new website that discussed solar thermal in depth. The site just went live, and the topic is covered in detail. The site is: http://www.solar-thermal.com/

China will put 60,000 new-energy vehicles-including fuel-cell vehicles, hybrid-electric vehicles, and battery-electric vehicles-into trials in 11 cities over the next few years to support the development of a fuel-efficient, alternative-energy auto industry, according to a report in sina.com.

The (UK) Telegraph has an article on the Vivace tidal / current power device I mentioned recently - Ocean currents can power the world, say scientists The technology can generate electricity in water flowing at a rate of less than one knot - about one mile an hour - meaning it could operate on most waterways and sea beds around the globe. Existing technologies which use water power, relying on the action of waves, tides or faster currents created by dams, are far more limited in where they can be used, and also cause greater obstructions when they are built in rivers or the sea. Turbines and water mills need an average current of five or six knots to operate efficiently, while most of the earth's currents are slower than three knots.

The IHT has a report on a plan by Matt Simmons and George Hart to build the world's largest wind farm in the gulf of Maine - Plans for the world's biggest wind farm. It is not the usual green suspect. But it hopes to build a 5-gigawatt, deep-water wind farm - the largest in the world, equal to the output from five nuclear plants. "It" is the Ocean Energy Institute, a tiny research organization founded by Matthew Simmons. An energy investment banker who specializes in oil and gas, Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush. His main partner, George Hart, is a physicist who consults for the Pentagon on the Strategic Defense Initiative, where he uses supercomputers for the mathematical modeling of complex systems. He also co-invented a laser used for eye surgery and semiconductor manufacturing.

A new study shows that Germany has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions to the level pledged in the Kyoto Protocol. But a greater reliance on coal-fired power plants may soon reverse the trend. When it comes to global warming and concurrent efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, Germany has always tried to present itself as a leader. New data set to be released on Friday shows that the country has earned its bragging rights.

The development of geothermal energy in Australia is a step closer with the launch of an industry framework today. Geothermal energy is produced by harnessing the heat of so called 'hot rocks' buried kilometres underground. The framework has brought together industry, researchers and governments to work out how to make geothermal a genuine baseload power alternative.