Fuel and Energy Alternatives

Alternative Energy is a booming area right now, there is a great deal of interest in new and different ways to provide energy. Really, there should be. It’s nothing less than a national security issue when we have so much of our energy needs imported from overseas. Imported from places that don’t have our best interests at heart. That’s why a new launch of something like Bloom Energy’s new fuel cell approach get’s so much buzz. This week they introduced us to the concept of the energy server. Which is, I think a clever way to market their new offering.

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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.

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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.

Wow! I just read this article over at the Guardian about miniature nuclear reactors that could power 20,000 homes, cost $25 million US dollars and essentially be buried underground, refueled every seven to ten years.

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This from the WOW – “where can I get some of that” category. A fungus has been found growing in the Patagonian Rainforest that naturally synthesizes a hydro-carbon compound that dramatically resembles diesel. From the article:

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Last night our local news had a story on the exciting potential of the Jatropha nut for biofuel purposes. They talked about how well it grew in marginal soils, so I looked online. The first thing I found was this story. The Jatropha plant can grow in barren, marginal land that it appears otherwise would not support other major crops. However, it isn’t without it’s drawbacks.

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