Solar power transportation, at night?! The future of commerical air flight.

...link via Kendall Crever

Now, this is still far off, but pretty impressive. We are not going to be flying in carbon neutral planes tomorrow to go visit the aunts and uncles, but it could very well be in our life time, and the first steps are being put in place right now. A Swiss Company named Solar Impulse, has successfully tested a solar powered airplane that lasted in flight for over 26 hours, including through the night on July 7th and July 8th. Their overall goal is an around the world flight via solar power, and a trans-atlantic flight by 2012. The craft flew just over 28,000 feet above sea level, and the wingspan of 208 feet same as a Boeing 747-400. This was just a lightweight prototype, but it shows that the technology is sound by staying aloff for 26 hours. It set records for the longest and highest solar powered flight. How does the power work? According to the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, part of the U.S. Department of Energy:

"The aircraft's nearly 12,000 silicon mono-crystalline solar cells—mounted on its wings and on its horizontal stabilizer—absorbed the sun' rays on the ascent and supplied the craft's four electric engines and lithium-polymer batteries, enabling Impulse to average about 26 miles per hour for the flight"

The Solar Impulse HB-SIA in action, in the great blue yonder.What are the implications of this for you and I. Like I said before, these are babysteps, but they are important movements towards commercial aircrafts using this technology to create carbon-neutral flights for you and I. According to the Carbon Footprint Calculator at Terrapass a round trip for 2 to JFK Airport in New York from LAX Airport in Los Angeles would be about 3,468 pounds of CO2. If we can cut into that number in the future for normal passenger flights using this technology it would be a great victory. Right now the airline industry accounts for about 12 percent of all of the CO2 released into the atmosphere. This technology is a step in the right direction, and is exciting in a very nerdy type of way (the way I like it). I hope to see more developers get into this arena and hope to see solar panels on my flights in future years to come.

Whole article from the EERE can be found here:

Swiss Solar-Powered Plane Makes First Night Flight

---Justin J. Stewart (link via Kendall Crever)

What is a kilowatt-hour?!!!??!

...link via Karen Stucke

Let's talk about some definitions here. We are trying to save energy at our homes and trying to reduce that magical kW/h number. It's an easy concept, the number goes down over time, you are reducing your cost and increasing your efficiency. Here is the real question though, what exactly is you impact. What exactly is a kW/h?

                                                               

Now, a kilowatt/hour is 1000 watts of usage in one hour or 3.6 megajoules! Wow! That's a lot of megajoules right? Or is it a little bit of megajoules? What is a megajoule? What is a watt? Right, it is all confusing that can get to a bunch of scientific definitions, which I could go into with you, but that doesn't save you energy right? No. Not really. We want to express ideas into reality and real life applications. One 60 watt light bulb used to 1 hour is equivalent to .06 kilowatt/hour (i.e. (60W/1000)/1 hour, and 60 Watts being .06 kilowatts, because there are 1,000 watts in a kilowatt. So it would be 60/1000). You would have to leave that light on for about 16 hours and 40 minutes to get one measurable kilowatt hour (which is most if not all electricity companies charge you for).

Now, I just gave you a bunch of math, and still it probably doesn't help you with day to day operations of how much energy you really use. So here is further research. Thanks to one of our readers out there, Karen, we have been supplied with an awesome link to see how equivalent energy is being used in your part of the country versus an amount of kilowatts. The Green Power Equivalency Calculator comes from United States Environmental Protection Agency, and is a quick and easy way to see how much Coal, Gas, or CO2 would be used with your kilowatts that you enter (you can pick any number that you want). The Calculator is supposed to figure out how much your "green" energy purchase through the EPA saves from going into the environment, but can be used as a reverse calculator of also telling you how much of the equivalents you just put into the environment.

I used my last month's electricity bill and entered my 477 kw/hs for my region (region 21 ERCT according to the map on the page). I was then informed that my 477 kw/hs is equal to 242 kilograms of CO2 emission. Or equivilent CO2 emissions of 27 gallons of gasoline, .563 barrels of oil, 10.1 propane cylinders for BBQs, .001 railcar worth of coal, and .029 of the average American home in one year. Interesting stuff I say. It makes you get a better grasp of how much Carbon-Dioxide you are giving off into the air. I am not sure if I ever really answered what is a kilowatt-hour, but I hope I gave you a fun tool that can help you grasp it more...

---Justin J. Stewart (link via Karen Stucke)

The Stone House, a new wine and cheese bar, looks at retail and food service sustainability

...link via Angie Fretz

I like to eat. Those that know me, you know I like to eat. I also like to drink a plethora of beverages. I like fresh squeezed juice, I have a passion for coffee, I like cheap shwag beer and non-cheap micro-brews, and I love wine. So when I see a new cool place opening up around the country, I get excited. Especially when it's cheese (which I love), and Wine (which I have already stated my previous mention of love for). Now, you are saying, "Justin! What does this have to do with home energy usage or sustainability at all?".

Great question...

I have journeyed to many coffee houses. One of my biggest complaints about coffee houses are how they are not taking proper steps to reassure a sustainable practice. For some examples: non-recycling offered on the premise (even though their cups are #1s or #2s, yes, I'm looking at your Starbucks), thrown away coffee grounds, and preferred disposable containers offered to in-house purchases instead of washable cups and dishes.  I am singling out coffee shops because it is easy to assess all the waste that takes place in one. Fine sit down dining is a little harder, because you don't know what goes on in the kitchen. Coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and other in and out type locals, its a lot easier, and you know what I see? I see a lot of waste! There are some great independent local coffee shops that I've seen, one of them being The Cartel Coffee Lab in Tempe, AZ, that deals great with waste. But it is rare when a new bar lets you see what helped them make some responsible decisions.

The Stone House, a new wine and cheese bar in Eureka Springs, AR has designed a restaurant based around sustainable practices. The owners renovated an old 1800s stone built house in Eurka Springs, and given it a new chance for a new life. This is sustainable urban planning at it's finest, true cradle to cradle usage. They use locally grown organic produce in their meals. The best part of all, which was inspired by Jay Fretz, is the use off biodegradable and compostable food service products that would normally being thrown in the trash. The Stone House went looking for a supplier of these materials and found a company called World Centric. World Centric states on their sustainability page:

"Sustainability is the idea that civilization as a whole can act in a way that supports not only social equality but also protects the earth’s ecosystems and natural resources for generations to come. At World Centric we try our best to do our part - in the products we sell, how we run our business, what we do with our profits and the values we hold. We list the things we are currently doing to be a sustainable company..."

This a great news for entrepreneurs like The Stone House, and other upstart restaurants that want to be environmentally responsible. It also gives us as consumers, choices of where we want our spending dollars to go and in what directions we want to see new businesses develop. Also, another great thing for us at home is World Centric products are available for home use at Whole Foods, and Cost Plus World Market.

So here I am raising a glass of wine to the success of The Stone House! We need more businesses like you and your vision of how to run a business! If you know of any other sustainable run food service businesses, let us know, we would love to share!

The Stone House on Facebook

The Stone House while being renovated.The inside of The Stone House near the end of renovation.

--- Justin J. Stewart (link Via Angie Fretz).

GE Geosprings Hot Water Heater shows to be a great investment for homeowners

...links via Kevin Fretz, via Jay Fretz

Now, I am not a homeowner. I do not have the benefit of changing large appliances to save energy and money down the road, but I don't have a house to maintain at the same time! Anyways, one of the first things I would look at replacing before anything else would be my hot water heater. Your hot water heater takes an amazing amount of energy, and in most homes, have been there for a long time. I've stressed before the importance of replacing something when it needs replaced, and not sooner, but with large appliances that one has had around or that has been being used for a long time, sometimes replacing it with a more energy efficient item is a good idea, especially if it is close to the end of it's lifespan.

The new GeoSpring Water Heater Electric Heat Pump Water Heater from GE, is offering a 62% reduction in energy costs with this water heater. It is using ambient warm air around the device that is then filtered back into the heater, reducing energy used for heating. Also coupled with computerized energy management settings, this water heater isn't the old water heaters of yesteryear. The GeoSprings is carrying a Energy Star energy factor rating (EF) of 2.35, and does qualify for The Energy Economic Stabilization Act. The Energy Economic Stabilization Act offers a tax credit on qualifying Energy Star products. For hot water heat pumps this offer is through December 31, 2010 and is for up 30% off of your cost and instillation for up to $1500.  That could be up to a $450 tax credit depending on your final cost.  The GeoSprings Hot Water heater is retailing for around $1500, but with a chance to save $320 a year in just heating costs, and the tax credit, you could quickly break even, and start saving money. If you are currently a homeowner, and looking for a quick upgrade to your house that could save you money and energy over time, consider looking into this product. If anyone out there has any experience with this product, or changing out the water heater, let me know! I'd love to year from you.

Here are some useful links about the product and tax rebate information:

Tax Credit information for Energy Star Products:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=tax_credits.tx_index

The Product page from GE:

http://www.geappliances.com/heat-pump-hot-water-heater/

The GE GeoSprings for sale at:

Sears

Lowe's

---Justin J. Stewart (links via Kevin Fretz, via Jay Fretz)

Solana Generating Station in Gila Bend, AZ gets federal funding

...link via Kevin Fretz

The Solana Solar Station in Gila Bend that has been drawn up for a few years has finally received federal funding to start building the project. This project was championed by many Arizonians that felt that solar power was the way to go in the state. Finally getting the green-light and the funds is a huge relief to those excited about the project.

From the Arizona Republic:

"The 280-megawatt plant will be able to generate enough electricity to serve 70,000 houses at once when running at full capacity, and will be able to make power during the peak hours of demand from about 4-7 p.m. when traditional solar panels generate little electricity the low light of dusk."

The project will also add over 1,600 jobs to the Arizona economy, and use less water than the farmland that is currently there. The original website owner, Jay, was a huge fan of this project, and so was I when I first caught wind of it, and read about it. Looks like it will open in 2013. Here is a link to the article:

Arizona solar plant gets big boost from feds.

---Justin J. Stewart, link and news article via Kevin Fretz