New Home Wind Turbine Design

Treehugger has this interestiung new design of Wind Turbine at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/swift-rooftop-wind-energy-system-cascade-engineering.php Apparently it can generate 2000 kwhs of electricity at low or high wind speeds in a year - that should be enough to power a single home in South Asia. The Swift Wind Energy website is: http://www.swiftwindturbine.com/?intro=skip

Again, I hope that these guys will try and sell abroad. Exim Bank funds, guys! Even in the worst market, the Federal Government is ready to support your business. Forget about dealing with private banks!

T Boone Pickens gets it in the Solar Plexus

Green Daily has a detailed post on how cheap oil has affected T Boone Pickens' "Pickens Plan." The link is here: http://www.greendaily.com/2008/10/28/will-the-pickens-plan-survive-the-oil-price-collapse/ Boone would have to have been stupid to think that the Arabs would not try to drown him. I still think that he could get his own back if he were to use his very significant fortune to push the sale of renewable energy equipment abroad, using US Exim Bank funds to do this. I do know that Pakistan is looking seriously at importing large wind turbines, both on and offshore, and that India and Sri Lanka are likely to look for Solar Thermal Powerplants soon. If Boone were to sell these, he would push the price of oil and other fossil fuels like coal down even further, hurting the people out to drown him. He could also sell very highly fuel efficient vehicles like the Aptera cars and the Norwegian Think electric city cars in Texas and other parts of the USA - there are people who will buy these and who have the money to buy environment friendly vehicles. He could also promote environment-friendly housing and retrofit solar panels, for example, on existing homes.

Will he do this? I am not sure if he will . . . Let's hope that he does because that is the only way he could keep his plan from collapsing and ending up as yet another forgotten experiment, albeit one that was good intentioned.

Edit: Treehugger says that the publicity generated by the Pickens Plan seems to be working as far as creating awareness is concerned: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/poll-shows-pickens-publicity-plan-working.php Now, how about capitalizing on it, Boone, by selling more environment-friendly stuff? Huh? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink . . .

The Ultimate Gobar Gas Plant?

Vermont is probably the most beautiful state in the miserable American Northeast. I can't stand New York and I despise the fascists who rule over most of that region. However, Vermont, as I said, is different. Green and clean and with beautiful mountains and more . . . Turns out that they also have a very advanced system of using cowdung to generate electricity. I remember the push that India tried to make in the 1970s in trying to promote gobar gas, failing miserably like every government initiative in the country has. Perhaps, the Indian government needs to talk to private industry or encourage farm co-operatives to take something like this up. With the world's largest cattle population in the country, there would be enough dung to generate a lot of power. . .

Check out: http://www.cvps.com/cowpower/

Thanks, Treehugger!

A Simple Solution for India's Soot Belching Buses and Trucks

Treehugger has this entry about a device that has been making waves in green circles over here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/eco-friendly-car-filtration-device-blade.php The thing looks simple enough: a filter that traps pollutants emitted by vehicle exhausts. While the designs on this page are meant for extremely clean California Spec cars, there is no reason why bigger ones could not be manufactured and mounted on the filthy trucks and buses that run all over India poisoning the air. Yes, the filters would also have to be changed more often in India, but, on the whole, this would be a good product to use there. Now, is there any way to make Ashok Leyland, Tata and others look at this? Anybody know?

Interesting Rooftop Wind Energy Kits for You Homebrewers

Just found this very interesting website through the Pickens Plan: http://windenergy7.com/turbines/ I have linked to the blog on my profile page, so you guys who would like to visit it from time to time to check ideas out and respond to them, could check it out there. It is an interesting site especially for those who would like to try some home-brewing and build their own wind energy generators.

Do let the site owner know if you try something and, of course, send me pics if you do build something so that I may post about your work over here.

Cheers!

Solar Roof Tiles that Blend In with Non Solar Ones

Treehugger has this entry about a product that needs a close look at - roof tiles that blend in with your regular ones but which are actually solar photovoltaic tiles which would power your home: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/solar-save-buiilding-integrated-solar-photovoltaic-roof-tile-open-energy.php The design is lovely and I could see a huge market for them if they would sell their products, for example, in India, Sri Lanka etc. I guess the company will have its marketing department busy selling these in the USA itself - hope they do well enough to move abroad and aggressively! Check their website out at: http://www.openenergycorp.com/ Their other products like Solar Architectural Glass etc also look superb. Great work, guys!

A Change in Direction

I had to do this - no idea why I didn't earlier. I guess I AM lazy and this is a better way to get visitors here to check out the other blogs that I get a lot of superb information from. Today, I just linked to the other blogs: Treehugger, Greendaily, Ecogeek, Autobloggreen etc that I get information from. Of course, when I find something particularly interesting, I shall post a link to it on one of my posts. But, otherwise, visitors will be able to check out these superb blogs themselves. The guys who run those blogs put in a lot of really hard work - there is no reason for me to not acknowledge it. By linking to them, I have made this blog a hat off to them for their hard work.

Do check their blogs out if you have time. And, if you don't, the best news (IMHO of course) will definitely be highlighted here.

Cheers!