Fission Fast! New Slogan for Nuclear Energy Revolution

Just as our industrial development was finding more and more ways to use energy to improve human health and prosperity, we found an fuel that contained two million times as much energy per unit mass as the hydrocarbons that had been powering that development.
http://theenergycollective.com/rodadams/191626/fission-fast-new-slogan

Honda Transmission contracts with Juhl Wind for two utility-scale wind turbines at Ohio plant; up to 10% of electricity for operations

Honda Transmission Mfg. of America, Inc. announced an agreement with Juhl Wind, Inc. to develop, install, and operate two utility-scale wind turbines (each rated at about 2MW) to generate electricity for the plant's operations.

The plant manufactures automatic transmissions, gears and four-wheel-drive systems, including the next-generation Earth Dreams transmission technology. The two wind turbines will supply up to approximately 10% of the plant's electricity. Based on their location and actual wind speeds, combined output from the two wind turbines is estimated at 10,000-megawatt hours (MWh) per year.

Once the turbines begin operating later this year, the Honda transmission plant in Russells Point, Ohio will be the first major automotive manufacturing facility in the United States to obtain a substantial amount of its electricity directly from wind turbines located on its property.

Studies commissioned by Honda Transmission indicate that wind-generated power is a cost-effective source of electricity for the plant and that the project will not adversely impact local wildlife or the environment.

The decision to go forward with the project followed a thorough evaluation of renewable energy sources for the plant, which Honda announced in February 2012. The turbines, with blades approximately 160 feet (49 meters) long, will be installed on 260-foot (79 meters) towers on Honda Transmission property, which is suited for a maximum of two wind turbines. Last June, the Washington Township (Logan County, Ohio) Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance to the height limitation for the wind turbines.

Juhl Wind will be primary developer of the project and own the two turbines. Through agreements with Honda Transmission, Juhl will generate electricity for the plant, and be responsible for the interconnect agreement with the Logan County Electric Cooperative and the power purchase agreement with Buckeye Power, Inc.

Globally, Honda has established voluntary goals to reduce the environmental impact of its products and manufacturing operations by 2020. This includes a 30% reduction in CO₂ emissions from Honda products, and significant CO₂ reductions from the company's plants and other operations, compared with year 2000 levels.

To achieve these new environmental targets, Honda is accelerating its efforts to advance the environmental performance of its products, and its operations throughout North America. The wind turbine project is among a number of other initiatives at Honda plants to reduce energy use and waste from manufacturing operations.

• Two Honda automobile plants in Ohio have earned the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) ENERGY STAR certification for the sixth year, while a Honda auto plant in Indiana earned the designation for the first time in 2012, boosted by energy efficiency gains from the start of a second shift of auto production.

• Honda leads all automakers with twelve LEED-Certified "Green Buildings" in North America, and 10 of its 14 North American manufacturing facilities are zero-waste to landfill.

• Honda of America Mfg. auto plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio have ongoing initiatives to reduce energy consumption. Major areas include installation of energy-efficient equipment, implementing new technologies in auto-body painting systems and lighting efficiency improvements.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/01/htm-20130125.htm

Volkswagen inaugurates 9.5 MW solar park at Chattanooga plant in US; key element of VW Group's strategic sustainability targets

The 9.5 MW solar park at Chattanooga is owned and operated by Silicon Ranch; VW has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement. Click to enlarge.

Volkswagen inaugurated its largest solar facility in the world-also the largest solar facility operated by an automaker in the US-at its plant in Chattanooga, TN, which produces the Passat model for North America. The Volkswagen Chattanooga Solar Park has a peak output of 9.5 MW. The power will be used directly in production; solar power will provide up to 12.5% of the electric power required in full-capacity operation and 100% of demand when the plant is not in production.

The new solar park is an integral part of Volkswagen's worldwide sustainability strategy, which includes generating more power within the Group from renewable energy sources, said Volkswagen Group Officer for the Environment, Energy and New Business Areas, Wolfram Thomas.

The Volkswagen Group has set itself the goal of becoming the world's leading automaker in environmental terms by 2018. At the Geneva Motor Show in 2012, we stated specific, ambitious targets for our products, production and the group. We have adopted the most comprehensive approach possible. Clean cars from a clean factory and an attitude to the environment that aims to change the way of people's thinking.

Financially, we have laid the foundation for profitable sustainable growth. We have defined consistent CO₂ reduction for the protection of the climate as a binding objective for the group. To do so, we have adopted a diversified strategy throughout the world. We are German, and we are thorough. All our 100 plants are to be environmentally optimized. All our plants are to become 25% more environmentally compatible.

The main focus is to include increasingly efficient production as well as increasing energy supplies to all plants. VW is also an energy supplier that generates a growing share of the power needed for the group. We are increasing the share of green energy in a modular way. The new solar park here is a further green module in this strategy, and will make production at the plant more sustainable in the future.

-Wolfram Thomas, at the solar park launch event

In Germany, the Volkswagen Group provides 62% of its own power, with more to come, Thomas said. Czech-based Skoda generates 73% of its power, with a renewable share of 23%. SEAT in Spain, with an 8MW solar array, generates 56% of its own power. (Thomas was Executive Vice-President for Production of SEAT before assuming the Group environmental role.)

Volkswagen sustainability targets. At the Geneva show in 2012, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Volkswagen Group Board of Management, laid out the group's sustainability targets. These included:

• The Volkswagen Group will be investing ‚Ǩ62.4 billion (US$83.4 billion) worldwide plus an additional ‚Ǩ14 billion (US$19 billion) in China during the period to 2016. More than two-thirds of this investment program will be spent directly or indirectly on ever more efficient vehicles, powertrains and technologies as well as environmentally compatible production at Group plants.

• CO₂ emissions by the European new vehicle fleet will be reduced by some 30% during the period from 2006 to 2015-emissions will be below the threshold of 120 grams CO₂/km for the first time by 2015.

• Every new model generation will on average be 10 to 15% more efficient than its predecessor.

• There is to be a 25% improvement in the environmental compatibility of production in the Volkswagen Group by 2018-i.e., 25% less energy and water consumption, waste and emissions.

• 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with production-related energy supplies by 2020.

• Some ‚Ǩ600 million is to be invested in expanding the use of renewable energies such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power. (At the launch event at Chattanooga, Thomas put the figure at $850 million, or ‚Ǩ636 million.)

The Chattanooga Solar Park. The solar installation at Volkswagen Chattanooga confirms the awarding of the LEED Platinum certification to VW by the US Green Building Council in late 2011. At that time, the Building Council called the Chattanooga manufacturing facility "the world's greenest auto plant" and noted it was the first automotive manufacturing plant in the world to receive the top LEED certification. Today, the Chattanooga plant remains the only auto plant worldwide to earn the LEED Platinum certification.

The Volkswagen Chattanooga Solar Park occupies 33 acres, or half of the 66-acre land parcel adjacent to VW's plant. The solar park contains 33,600 polycrystalline solar panels (each rated at 285 watts) from JA Solar designed to produce 13.1 gigawatt hours of electricity per year-equivalent to the energy consumed annually by around 1,200 homes in the area. The modules are mounted on a Unirac racking system, with a fixed angle at 25° tilt.

Ten SMA inverters and 5 transformers (rated at 1500 KVA each) convert the 9.58 MW of DC power to 7.6 MW of AC power connected to VW's substation. There are 3,360 panels per inverter made up of 168 strongs at 20 modules per string.

Silicon Ranch, which develops and operates solar energy solutions tailored to meet its customers' needs, will own the solar park and sell the electricity to Volkswagen under a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Phoenix Solar Inc., the US subsidiary of Phoenix Solar AG, provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services in building the solar park.

Mobilization took place in July 2012, and power started to be generated in November 2012.

Volkswagen Chattanooga. Volkswagen has invested about $1 billion in the facility. In December 2011, the plant received a platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification program.

Aspects of the plant that earned LEED recognition include:

• Superior insulation provided by six inches of mineral rock wool, resulting in 720,000 Kilowatts per year savings.

• Green power from the local hydroelectric dam.

• Use of LED lighting on the exterior results in 68% less energy used, up to 262,500 kWh per year and a reduction in light pollution. (T5 fluorescents are use don the inside.)

• Rainwater collected and reused to flush toilets and cool the welding machines.

• White roof membrane is highly reflective, minimizing heat island effect by up to 50¬∞F.

• Natural flowing creeks to capture heavy rains and restore a natural habitat.

• Low-flow water fixtures and no-touch sensors throughout the plant reduce water usage by 30%.

• Plant was built on a brownfield property (former TNT manufacturing site) with no destruction of untouched nature. Protected 100 ft. wide creeks and wetlands were established to create natural habitats with low impact on natural habitats.

The adjacent Volkswagen Academy was also certified by USGBA as a Platinum LEED facility. The primary purpose of the Volkswagen Academy is to prepare new employees for work at the Volkswagen plant. In conjunction with Chattanooga State and Tennessee Tech, the Academy also offers an Industrial Technology degree and an apprenticeship program.

The Chattanooga plant is being used as a blueprint for three other Volkswagen plants: two in China, and one in Mexico.

Volkswagen hosted Green Car Congress for the inauguration of the solar park.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/01/vw-20130124.htm

Michael Pawlyn: Using nature's genius in architecture, dematerialization, and biomimicry

What if you had a building, a greenhouse in a desert, that cooled itself without power but instead through water evaporation, grew plants, desalinated water, and produced enough desalinated pure water to water the ground around the greenhouse to convert desert into a green plant-filled landscape? Magical? That's what one man says can come from using biomimicry principles to design systems.

Biomimicry principles, he says, can produce systems which perhaps 1000x energy and resource savings. He points to animals for example spiders who can weave silk stronger than anything humans have been able to make, the closest requires special materials, high pressures, and produces loads of pollution, whereas the spiders do it at ambient temperature with the simplest of raw materials. Obviously, as he said, "we have a lot to learn".

The challenges we face to maintain our technological society requires

• Radical increases in resource efficiency
• Switching from linear systems to closed loop systems
• Switch from a fossil fuel to solar energy economy

He claims that biomimicry can easily produce these changes.

The natural world around us is the result of billions of years of "research & development" by Nature.

Resource efficiency: Naturehas, through evolution, developed the most efficient shapes and chemistries.

Closed loop systems: In Nature, everything is reused. One creatures waste is another creatures food. "Waste" is the wrong way to look at the system.

Solar energy: Nature doesn't convert sunlight to electricity to use it. It just directly uses it as an analog process. Perhaps that's more efficient than conversion to electricity?

7 GEN Newsletter #2: Clean Coal, Clean Sustainability Technology, and what happens when you put 2gb of flash memory in a pen

This is the second newsletter issue from www.7gen.com. I am restarting publishing newsletter issues and I hope to get into a regular monthly schedule. Unfortunately I skipped a month due to life issues.

Change

Since the last issue the Obama administration came into office (finally) and began their wave of Change. Hopefully their brand of Change is truly what we can believe in. Most of the changes I hear are good and what I believe in. But some are bothersome.

There's a debate in the news about what to do in regard to the past sins of the Bush Administration. I have long called for Impeachment of the Bush Administration but that didn't happen. And I am firmly of the opinion that the Bush Administration did many illegal, immoral, impeachable acts while in office. And that some of the changes enacted by the Bush Administration were incredibly damaging to the purpose of the U.S.A.

Some recent articles say that under the Bush Administration we were technically living under a dictatorship. During that era I'd hear and dismiss statements like that thinking they were hyperbole. But technically the U.S. legal system was undermined with claims of arbitrary power by the Bush Administration, that the Administration could choose to ignore any law it pleased, and that for example with the 'Enemy Combatant' system they could make up whole extra-judicial systems on the whim of their crazy legal theories.

It seems the general trend is to "move on" and put the past behind us. But leaving illegal acts by a U.S. President stand without prosecuting those illegal acts can serve as precedent by future Presidents to also claim those same powers. I believe it is dangerous to simply move on and forget the past. Otherwise the precedent set by the Bush Administration will haunt us and bite us in the butt in the future. I believe it is better to take some real solid action to make it abundantly clear that many of the changes enacted by the Bush Administration were counter to the goals of the U.S.A., and that the citizens of the U.S.A. will not permit those things to remain as a valid precedent.

Keeping with the Change theme. The word 'Change' is very general. The Bush Administration could well have described their Changes as Change that 'We' can believe in (for some definition of 'we'). It seems the U.S.A. has two extreme polar camps of belief and that for some of the U.S.A. citizens they believed in the Bush Administration changes.

Change simply means making things different than they were before. The Obama Campaign promised Change. Change to What?

Coal, and Clean Coal

A particular Change they seem to want is the use of Clean Coal technology. I don't understand Clean Coal well enough but have heard it dismissed as a fantasy land fabricated from hopes and pushed by the Coal Industry to keep themselves in business. But the proponents of Clean Coal hold high hopes for it. And the Obama Administration has been making statements in support of Clean Coal. It should help one to remember that Obama comes from Illinois, a state rich in Coal deposits, making it possible that Obama has been influenced by Coal interests in his home state.

I'm studying up on Coal and have begun a handbook section on www.7gen.com: Clean Coal? Misnomer?

Clean Green Technology? Sustainable Technology?

Another idea I want to know more about is the definition of Green Technology. There's a lot of talk about how Green Jobs will save America setting off a wave of building new industries and companies and the jobs which will go along with that. I certainly prefer that vision over the Bush Administration vision of turning America into a war mongering military state where military industries are the growth area.

But I find the phrase 'Green Technology' to be very unspecific. What is 'Green' besides a color? What would Purple Technology be?

My latest podcast episode looks into this: Technosanity #23: Defining green technology and sustainable technology

Some green sustainable products

I have also spent some time researching Green and carbon neutral web hosting providers and wrote a blog posting on greenprofs.com Green businesses need green infrastructure and need green web hosting. Green businesses probably have a purpose of offering products or services that aid us in being sustainable. This means we, as business owners promoting sustainability, should also be using sustainable services for our business. That includes our web hosting arrangements.

I personally satisfy much of my personal transportation needs with an electric bicycle. I use it for grocery shopping runs and around town trips. I recently measured the electric bicycle to have 1120 miles/gallon fuel efficiency. And I have also produced a couple podcast episodes about Electric bicycle conversion kits

Gizmos

What happens when you embed a camera, a computer, and 2gb of flash memory in a pen? The result costs a pretty penny, is pretty chunky, but has amazing powers of dictation and recall.

The result is the Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen (APA-00002)

The Livescribe Smartpen is a rather thick pen that you absolutely do not want to lose as it costs a lot more than a regular pen. Embedded in the pen is a small camera, an audio recorder, a speaker, a computer, 2gb of flash memory, and connections allowing you to dock the pen with a computer.

The pen knows what you wrote because it tracks the pen motions you make. They require that you use special paper which has microdots on the surface encoding identifier marks on the paper which tell the pen which page is being written on, as well as where on the page the writing is occurring. The paper looks and feels like regular paper, it simply has these identifying microdots. They sell notebooks with the special paper and you can easily flip back and forth between pages at random, writing on the pages at random, and the pen just keeps track for you with no fuss. This is because each page has identifying microdots and the pen simply recognizes, automatically, which page you're scribbling on.

The audio recorder and playback is also very interesting. The pen can record what's happening around you while you're writing. Are you in a meeting and racing to take notes? It's much easier this way because the pen records the spoken part, you write whatever you can in real time, and you can easily go back over it later to recall more of the discussion. It should also work for students taking notes in a classroom, the pen records the lecture and the student writes whatever they can and can go back over the lecture later without having to struggle to remember what the heck the teacher said.

If you double click the pen on your notes (later), the pen plays back precisely what was spoken at the time you wrote those notes.

An interesting variation is as a writing assistant. For example while brainstorming I like to speak the ideas out loud and then I've found it difficult to remember and write down quite what I said. With this pen I can be talking and writing at the same time and the pen records both parts of the brainstorming. Plus its user interface is very natural to use because, well, it is first and foremost a pen. The audio recorder doesn't interfere with its use as a pen, you simply write and it records both audio and writing.

For years the technologists have said computer technology would bury itself in the woodwork and we'd see a new wave of incredible devices. The livescribe Smartpen is clearly one of these new incredible devices. Massive computing power is embedded in a lowly ink pen, giving the pen advanced capabilities.

Unfortunately the pen also costs quite a bit. This pen is not disposable and clearly its price means you'd better make sure not to lose this pen. However I'm very happy with mine so far.

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)

URL: 

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)

Description: 

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) is the Northeast’s leading organization of professionals and concerned citizens working in sustainable energy and whole systems thinking. NESEA facilitates the widespread adoption and use of sustainable energy by providing support to industry professionals and by educating and motivating consumers to learn about, ask for, and adopt sustainable energy and green building practices. NESEA accomplishes this through its Building Energy conference and trade show, K-12 resources, an advocacy network, high profile public events such as the Tour de Sol and the Green Building Open House, its chapters and members, and its Sustainable Yellow Pages.

Air Conditioning: "We're cooking our planet to refrigerate the diminishing part that's still habitable"

In The deluded world of air conditioning William Saletan offers a very interesting perspective. "We're cooking our planet to refrigerate the diminishing part that's still habitable".

When you air condition a building you're taking heat that's inside the building and moving it outside. That's what an air conditioner is, a heat pump. The fluids that go through an air conditioning system? They're the medium through which heat is exchanged, or rather pumped, from one place to another.

And, when we pump heat outdoors that costs energy. The energy used comes from somewhere, most likely through burning natural gas. So when we run an air conditioner and pump energy outside, that natural gas that's burned to make the electricity emits carbon into the atmosphere, which then in turn increases the greenhouse and global warming effect.

Air conditioners hasten global warming. So it's a fools journey to run an air conditioner because when you do it's just tightening a noose around your neck. Unfortunately the tightening of that noose is happening slowly enough that it's hard to connect the air conditioner with the global warming.

And, it's not just air conditioners. It's the whole range of gadgets that use electricity or gasoline. Want to clean up the fallen leaves in your yard? Are you going to get out a rake, or use a leaf blower? Want to go grocery shopping? Are you going to drive a Hummer or a Geo Metro or a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) or a bicycle? When your teenager turns 16 do they get a car immediately? Do you know what a "phantom electrical load" is?

In this hot summer air conditioning is a, er, hot topic. There are some alternatives to consider. But something I wonder about is, just how the heck did our ancestors survive without air conditioners?

Why do we have to use air conditioners when there are thousands of years of human experience that could show us how to live without air conditioning in the first place?

For example, there are herbal ways to cool down. Ways that do not require refridgeration or air conditioning.

In the Middle East Sekanjabin (?sp?) is a traditional drink. It's main active ingredients are mint and sugar. Both are known to herbalists as cooling substances that, when ingested, will act to cool the body.

How can you prove this to yourself? Let me offer a simple test from Healing with the Herbs of Life. First take a sprig of fresh mint, crush it up, and pop it in your mouth. Doesn't your mouth feel cool? Take a breath in and out. Cool?

Now take some cinnamon, just a dab, and put it in your mouth. Hot?

Mint is a cooling herb, while cinnamon is a heating herb. Healing with the Herbs of Life goes into this in extensive detail from the perspective of Chinese Medicine. But the concepts are known to herbalists of all societies.

Another example of how the thousands of years of human experience can show us how to cool our living quarters without air conditioning. A few years ago I visited some friends who own some land in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was mid-summer, on a hot day. On their land is an old one-room schoolhouse that sits out in the direct sun all day long. However, the inside of that schoolhouse remains cool all day long. How? Thick walls. Similarly in California there are many old buildings left from the Spanish. These are "adobe" buildings and the main feature is the thick walls.

Thick walls mean good insulation. You might think insulation only helps keep heat inside. Actually what insulation does is impede the flow of heat. So the heat outside the building has a harder time getting inside the better the insulation.

Another alternative to air conditioning is offered by the plant kingdom. Plant trees around your house, trees that are large enough to shade the roof. The trees will keep the heat from hitting your house in the first place. If you live in a place that that gets real cold in the winter, then you want trees that shed their leaves in the fall. That way in the winter the branches are bare and the sun will reach your house to provide some heat.

Reference: The Deluded World of Air Conditioning

Scoot Coupe, a high fuel efficiency three-wheeler that's perfect for city use

URL: 

Scoot Coupe, a high fuel efficiency three-wheeler that's perfect for city use

Description: 

The Scoot Coupe is an interesting vehicle that's a cross between a car and a scooter. A lot of the underlying parts seem to be from scooters, such as the handlebars and the 49cc gas motor. However it's a three-wheeler, giving it more stability than a scooter, and seats two people side by side. The best part is it gets over 60 miles/gallon. As a three-wheeler it will register as a motorcycle, but will not require a motorcycle license (at least this is the case in California).