Category Archives: Using Clean Energy

Innovative Solar Projects

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Sahara Desert, Photo Credit: Cliff Williams (http://bitly.com/stxdLt)

Sahara Desert, Photo Credit: Cliff Williams (http://bitly.com/stxdLt)

Around the world, exciting solar projects are being designed and undertaken. From the African desert to the sunny California coast, innovations in solar technology are making this clean energy more affordable, available, and usable in our everyday lives.

This year, India launched its national solar mission, “Solar India.” The Worldwatch Institute commented that this move “confirms the country’s intention to assume a global leadership role on solar energy and to stake out a low-carbon development path at home.” hopes to install 3,000 MW of solar by 2017, and projects that with international investment, that number could reach as much at 10,000 MW. The primary goal of Solar India “is to create an enabling policy environment for rapid diffusion of solar technology across the country.”

On a more local level, the America Solar Energy Society has a National Solar Tour every year that is “the world’s largest grassroots solar event” and “offers you the opportunity to tour innovative green homes and buildings to see how you can use solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies to reduce monthly utility bills and help tackle climate change.” It is one way to learn the practical, economical side of small-scale, home solar panel usage. On the other side of the world and on a much larger scale, in the Saharan desert, two monumental solar projects are in the development process: Desertec and the Sahara Solar Breeder Project (also known as the Super Apollo Project).

Desertec is the brain child of German particle physicist Gerhard Knies, who has been working on the idea since 1986. According to Clean Technica, “Desertec is a set of plans for a massive network of solar and wind farms stretching across the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and intended to connect to Europe via high voltage direct current transmission cables.” One exciting component of this project is how international it is in nature: though the idea comes from Germany, companies from 15 different countries are involved in the project.  To learn more about how Desertec will actually work, check out this article.

The Sahara Solar Breeder Project will also harness the incredible heat and sunlight of the Saharan Desert. Created as a joint project between universities in Algeria and Japan, it is being led by Hideomi Koinuma of the University of Tokyo. Like Desertec, there are some serious desert-related obstacles to overcome. In this case: “frequent sandstorms, the need to use liquid nitrogen to cool cables and to bury them in the sand to minimize fluctuations in temperature” are two of the big ones.

While Desertec’s goal is to power 15% of Europe by 2050, the Sahara Solar Breeder project has the much loftier goal of powering half the world by 2050. Do you think these are achievable goals?

Green Cars

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Students work with an actual General Motors production vehicle, adding technologies to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. (EcoCar)

Students work with an actual General Motors production vehicle, adding technologies to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy. (EcoCar)

In November, the finalists for the 2012 Green Car of the Year award in the United States were announced. The actual winner was revealed a couple of weeks later at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show. The finalists included a variety of different styles operating on different clean energies, from the Ford Focus Electric to the diesel-powered Volkswagen TDI to the Honda Civic Natural Gas. The eventual winner? The Honda Civic Natural Gas, “the cleanest-running internal combustion vehicle certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with a 48 MPGe highway fuel economy rating.”

There is some contention over the Honda taking home first prize because of serious concerns about the most popular extraction method for natural gas, hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). The process involves injecting a slurry of water and chemicals into rock to create cracks that will allow the natural gas to flow out; the issues come from the chemical-laden water seeping into water systems and contaminating people’s land and drinking water. There is the other issue of comparing “fuel efficiency” in America versus other places like Europe, where many cars get significantly higher mileage than even the most advanced “green” models in the U.S.

Regardless, taking steps towards making cleaner running vehicles more popular in the U.S. is an exciting and worthy endeavor. As more people request vehicles that do less damage to the environment, car manufacturers are keeping up with demand and creating cars that run better, are more green, while still offering the amenities many people look for in their cars.

For more information on innovations in green cars, check out GreenCar.com.  It has an entire section on green technology and alternative fuels, to help answer any questions you have about the differences between electric, diesel, natural gas, etc.

What type of car and clean energy operating system do you think is the future?

Solar Decathlon: Team Canada Journal

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Johann Kyser is an environmental design student at the University of Calgary and a member of the Canadian team participating in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon.  We asked Kyser to chronicle seven days this summer when the team was finalizing work; here is his journal. Last week, we caught up with two members of the team, Lee Crowchild and Alexandre Ste-Marie, and asked them about their experiences at the Solar Decathlon.  Check out their videos!

Solar Decathlon: TRTL Blessed in Native Blackfoot Ceremony

June 21, 2011

Today is the summer solstice and Canada’s National Aboriginal Day. It was perfect timing for the groundbreaking ceremony for our Solar Decathlon 2011 home called TRTL (“turtle”) — short for Technological Residence, Traditional Living.

The ceremony was an important step to validate TRTL according to the traditional protocols of our Native Treaty 7 partners.

Treaty 7 was an 1877 peace agreement between the British and Canadian governments and the Native tribes of Southern Alberta. Such treaties continue to play a critical role in the relationship between Native peoples and Canada’s federal, provincial and municipal governments.

Today we also announced our title sponsor, Cenovus Energy, whose generous contribution of $600,000 was essential to our project’s success. We’re so grateful for Cenovus’ support and for the commitment the company has shown since the project’s beginning.

Our spiritual-cultural adviser and the former chief of the Piikani Nation, Reg Crowshoe, was the guest of honor. After opening the morning with a Blackfoot prayer, he led team members through the ceremony, using a branch to mark the construction site at the four cardinal directions and its center, each time acknowledging the sun.

This process is an important component of Native tradition, which draws on venue, action, language and song to bless a home — and to connect it to the greater natural order.

It was a very emotional experience for me. As the master of ceremony, I spoke about my recent research into Native housing to highlight the significance of TRTL. For six of the past eight weeks, I’ve been travelling to Native communities across Canada, attending conferences and researching sustainable housing initiatives.

My research confirmed for us the nature and scope of the Native housing crisis, including key issues of health, safety, durability and ownership. This experience also pointed to the importance of working with the community to explore holistic and sustainable solutions.

Read the rest of Johann’s journal entries below!

Construction Begins
Fine-Tuning our Brand and Message
Good Community Feedback
Got to Use Good Materials
Solutions to Canada’s Native Housing Problems
A House That Will Last

Solar Decathlon: Team New Zealand Journal

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Ben Jagersma is a graduate student at Victoria University’s School of Architecture and one of the students leading the New Zealand team in the 2011 Solar Decathlon. The competition closed on Sunday, October 2nd, and New Zealand came in third place overall and first place in engineering!  Back in May, we asked Ben to write down his thoughts about the project as they were building it; the first journal entry and links to all 7 entries are below.  We met up with Ben and his teammate, Nick Officer, to ask them about their experience in the competition.  Check out the video to hear about their favorite parts of the Solar Decathlon and their advice for students interested in solar energy!

Journal Entry #1: Time to Test the House”

May 16, 2011
Over the last two years, our team has been working hard to design and build our solar-powered home: the Meridian First Light house. Now we have just about finished the build stage and can finally get around to the operational side of things.

I’ve been involved in the project from the start, when I and three other students became finalists in the Solar Decathlon. My role has centered on the technologies in the house. I’ve been working to design the system along with a team of students from the Building Science program.

Now that we have everything installed, it’s time to test the house to see if our planning paid off.

The Meridian First Light solar home against the Wellington skyline. (Courtesy Team New Zealand)

The Meridian First Light solar home against the Wellington skyline. (Courtesy Team New Zealand)

This morning, we got the controls for the heating, cooling and ventilation system hooked up. All that can now be managed from a touch screen interface inside the house.

In one test we’ll be monitoring how many people are in the house at any given time, and how this affects the indoor temperature. Today, we set up a time-lapse camera inside the house to track that.

We also set up seven temperature and humidity sensors throughout the home to begin the first of three thermal performance tests. We will monitor the temperature and humidity inside the house at night when there is no external heating.

The house is open to the public during the testing period to reflect the competition period in the U.S. I will keep you up to date over the next week about how things are going with testing, touring and finishing the house. It’s going to be a busy week!

Click below to see the rest of Ben’s journal entries!
Thousands Show Up To See Our House!
First Light Becomes Family Affair
Media Visits and a Green TV
Missing Ramps Cause Rampant Confusion
Solar-Powered Espresso Hits the Spot
People Want to Buy Our House!