Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

"I HAVEN'T paid an electricity bill since 1970," says Richard Perez with noticeable glee. He can afford to be smug. While most of us fretted over soaring utility bills this year, he barely noticed. Nor is he particularly concerned about forecast price hikes of 30 to 50 per cent in 2009. Perez, a renewable-energy researcher at the University at Albany, State University of New York, lives "off-grid" - unconnected to the power grid and the water, gas and sewerage supplies that most of us rely on. He generates his own electricity, sources his own water and manages his own waste disposal - and prefers it that way. "There are times when the grid blacks out," he says. "I like the security of having my own electricity company."

legislative package on August 5 that will encourage people throughout the state to install grid-connected solar and wind power systems, systems that generate power from farm wastes, and green roofs. Most of the bills relate to net metering, which allows homeowners and businesses to earn credit for any excess power that they feed back into the electric grid

up to 2 megawatts in capacity, or equal in size to the customer's peak load, whichever is less, and increases the maximum solar power system size for residential customers to 25 kilowatts, up from 10 kilowatts

Nuclear energy doesn’t live up to its billing as the “emission-free panacea,” says a study from Pennsylvania’s Clarion University.

It will take years before bacteria can generate enough energy to generate electricity for transportation, homes or businesses, but researchers at the University of Minnesota studying bacteria have found a way to convert waste into electricity.

All industrial activities have considerable impact on the environment. Emision, wastes and use of energy result in pollution and depletion of natural resources. Thus, sustainable development  stands for progress.Maintenance is an important part for improving life cycle, energy, safety and envionmental management. Maintenance to-day goes together with Quality Management, Environmental Management, Occupational Health and Safety Management and Social Responsibility. We have to develop Maintenance for energ-saving issues!

Researchers at the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University have come up with an alternative way of generating electricity. In a new study featured in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering, lead author Andrew Kato Marcus and colleagues César Torres and Bruce RittmannThey mentioned that they are using the tiniest organisms on the planet—bacteria—for this purpose. They added that they are looking forward to commercialization of a promising microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. The microbial fuel cell will generate electrical energy by using any kind of waste, such as sewage or pig manure.

All kinds of biodegradable garbage — from sewage to leftover food — could yield valuable hydrogen fuel, an alternative to fossil fuels, with the aid of microbes cultivated in special reactors.