Fuel and Energy Alternatives

Dow chemical has given some backing to a startup, algenolbiofuels, that has a process to create ethanol as a byproduct of algae. This process apparently uses genetically modified cyanobacteria to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol. Their goal is 100,000 gallons of ethanol per year. (Seems a bit small actually….) I would hope that the genetically altered algea cannot find a way back out into the wild. The bioreactor apparently is a container with saltwater that has been pumped in from the sea.

(more…)

I thought this was an interesting flashlight – basically it’s designed to be a utility light for those places that don’t ordinarily have an abundance of lighting choices, but it looks like it would make a great emergency, utility light here as well. The idea is that it’s solar chargable, has LED lights for the lighting source, can run in low/medium/high beam mode. When you buy one, they give one through their affiliate organizations to places that need them. The batteries charge in 8-10 hours of full sun, there’s an auto switch off when the batteries are almost flat, niteglow strip to find it easily in the dark, there is a mechanism to switch it off in sunlight (meaning that they could be used as a trail or path light as well.

All in all, it looks rugged, has a carabineer clip and looks like a really well designed product.

Today I got a letter in the mail from Progress Energy about their Energy Wise program where homeowners can voluntarily allow them to install equipment which would allow them to switch off some of our appliances (air conditioning/heater/water heater) during peak demand times. In exchange for this they are offering up to $75 yearly credit. The peak demand times vary by the appliance (heater/water heater was 6AM-9AM and a stretch in the evening 5PM-9PM I think) (air conditioning was about 1pm-6pm) Now, they say in the notice that it’s entirely voluntary and it would be switched off for 15 minutes at a time for no more than 4 hours. (This last part was not written clearly, does that mean no consecutive blocks of 15 minutes and the total would be no more than 4 hours, or is it possible that it could be consecutive blocks up to 4 hours(?)) I’m all for saving power. I’ve got a kill-a-watt meter and from time to time audit things around the house. We’ve tried to resist going to the air conditioning this year and last…. unplug the water heater when we’re away for long enough and really try to save where we can.

(more…)

More fuel efficient cars are coming in all shapes and sizes now. Hybrid is a catch phrase that many dealers are pushing. Is it time to buy a hybrid though? The last time I did the math on the difference in cost (taking into account tax rebates for the hybrid). It didn’t make sense to spend the extra money unless gas went up to 8 dollars a gallon or I drove twice as much a year. (Or I kept it for 10-15 years.)

So, when does it make sense to buy a hybrid?

(more…)

We all want to save money on fuel oil and heating oil for our homes, even the home electric bills in the winter can be slightly scary. It’s a good thing to go through your house and evaluate where wasted heat and energy may be. Is the glazing on your windows old and flaking? Do you use blinds or curtains (curtains can cut heat transmission.) Newer energy efficient windows can be a good investment, of course, you don’t want to replace your windows in the middle of winter. Does your attic have enough insulation? Can more be added? It’s even possible to retrofit walls with sprayed in insulation. Most of the homes leakage though comes via the windows and doors so those are the biggest things to check. Proper weatherstripping can certainly help your heating oil and energy costs through the long cold winters, but you should also make sure you set your thermostat around 70 degrees or even 68 if possible and avoid the temptation to run it up into the upper 70s.

THIS is exactly the kinds of thinking we need to be doing. I’ve said it for a long time that we need to find a way to make fuel out of the things that NO ONE wants and is plentiful. (Kudzu…) Add coffee grounds to the growing list of things that could be a biodiesel source. I know many people use spent coffee grounds as a fertilizer of sorts, but the article reports that they estimate that spent coffee grounds could contribute over 300 million gallons of biodiesel around the world (I assume annually.)

The conversion process taking the oils from the grounds and converting to a biodiesel was cheap, the excess solids can be used as compost and is more stable than traditional biodiesels. Waste coffee grounds contain as much as 20% oil.

This is a neat project. A site called hackaday posted this project. It’s essentially a homemade wind generator (generates electricity from wind.) It’s not one of those large windmill style turbines that you might have seen. This is a vertical design. They’ve sliced pvc pipe lengthwise in half to catch the wind. One advantage of a design like this is that it would work with wind from ANY direction. Their design drives a small DC motor. (DC motors can be used two directions…. hook up a current and get motion or supply motion and get current…)

(more…)

I’ve been on my own personal campaign to tighten up air leakage around our house. Busy caulking windows and trying to find ways to blunt that cool air from getting in and the warm air from getting out.

This evening I was thinking about the power outlets. I’ve noticed that some of our outlets on the exterior walls are a bit drafty. Since you want to be careful around an electrical outlet I’ve been wondering about safe ways to insulate around the outlets. Fortunately I’ve found some very good tutorials on what to look for and how to do it.

(more…)

I saw this on the news last night, it looks like Fletcher, North Carolina is going to be home to the worlds largest solar heating and cooling system. A company called Vanir Solar Construction is building the system. They were previously known as Appalachian Solar Energy before being bought by the Vanir Solar Construction company. The second largest system is installed in the Olympic Village in Beijing China.

Appalachian Energy started out in 2003 and operates a small hydroelectric dam in Madison County which powers around 600 homes. As I understand this solar install will be in the Fletcher Business Park.

Pirates raiding ships have been in the news off and on in recent years. It’s been steady, but nothing really high profile. It’s probably passed underneath many peoples radar. This week though, the price of gas climbed $1 a barrel on news that a large oil tanker had been captured by Somali based pirates. After reading that linked article. It sounds as though, we’re seeing something not too different from the Barbary Coast Pirates of old (first overseas expedition of the US Marines (“To the shores of Tripoli”…))

(more…)