Zero Energy Fridge Invention

This one’s a weird one, kids, but still cool.  A new concept for a zero-energy refrigerator uses an odor-free, gel-like substance to cool and preserve food items.

The Bio Robot Refrigerator was designed by Yuriy Dmitriev and is currently a semifinalist in Electrolux’s Design Lab competition.  The Bio Robot has no motor, compressor or other electrical components, but it does contain a green biopolymer gel that uses luminescence to preserve food. Read the rest of this entry »

The Europe Wind Energy Association is reporting that the amount of new power from wind turbines this year will be about the same as new power from natural gas plants, with wind possibly ranking as number one.

Wind power has been steadily catching up with natural gas, the current leader in power generating capacity in Europe.  New wind power exceeded new gas power in 2008 and 2009, and the total installed capacity in the EU is now 85 GW.  Comparatively, natural gas generated 119 GW in 2007 (the latest figures available).

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Jet skis are fun, but they’re also dirty.  They’ve been known to leak oil and offer up a nice dose of air and noise pollution.  To change all that, Silveira Customs has debuted their all-electric personal watercraft called the Green Samba.

Silveira Customs found that creating an electric jet ski took more than switching out a gas-fired engine for an electric motor.  They designed a new jet propulsion unit that uses one-sixth the power of a normal unit, which drains the battery less and produces the torque necessary to for good performance.  It is also built from carbon fiber, making it light and easy to maneuver.

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The State of California has granted approval for a new solar thermal power plant. The 250-megawatt Beacon Solar Energy Project is the first solar thermal power plant to be licensed in the United States in nearly 20 years. Commercial operation is expected to start by the third quarter of 2011.

Several other solar projects are also in the pipeline and seeking approval by the end of the year, including the Brightsource 400 MW solar tower. More than 4 GW of other solar thermal projects are also pending with the state.

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The world’s largest tidal turbine, standing more than 5 stories tall, has been unveiled in Scotland before being installed in the waters off Orkney later this summer. The Atlantis Resources Corporation’s AT-1000 turbine is 22.5 meters (73 feet) tall and has a rotor diameter of 18 meters (59 feet) and weighs 130 tonnes. It will produce 1 MW of power from a water velocity of 2.65 meters (8.7 feet) per second. This is considerably larger than the river turbines other locations have proposed.

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Climate change is having a dramatic affect on the oceans — rising sea levels, warming temperatures, increased acidity — all of which will take its toll on sea life.  The clownfish will have a particularly hard time surviving, as scientists have discovered that rising CO2 levels in the oceans alter their sense of smell, preventing them from evading predators and finding shelter.

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The Solar Impulse, a solar-powered, single-seater plane, achieved its first successful daytime flight just a few months ago and now we’re about to see if it can fly at night.

The plane will takeoff from Payerne airbase in Switzerland on Thursday morning, fly around Switzerland and eastern France and then land early the next morning — the plane’s first round-the-clock flight. The team says the plane will need 25 hours of clear summer weather to successfully complete the the flight.

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If you have a need for a car port that both protects your EV and charges it with renewable energy, Phat Energy has a solar-powered one to fit the bill.

The PHATport 350 fits a single car and comes equipped with a 2.5kW solar array.  The port can be customized with lights, electrical outlets and, of course, EV chargers.

The PHATport, which made its debut at the Dwell on Design 2010 conference, could also be used as a patio cover, or really any other kind of cover that would benefit from be solar-powered.

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Forget the iPhone 4 that everyone is talking about today, there is a far cooler Apple-related news item to discuss.

Apple has filed a patent for a full range of “media players with integrated touch sensor solar panel surfaces.”  Basically, we may soon be seeing solar-powered iPods, iPhones and even iPads.

The neatest feature of this patent that puts it a few steps above your typical solar-cell-covered cell phone is the placement of the solar cells underneath the multi-touch surface.  Your iPhone will still look like an iPhone, but it will run on the sun’s energy.

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There’s more news on the sustainable and renewable energy front in Europe. Not only is wind power nearly on par with natural gas in Europe, but in Sweden now, biomass has passed oil as the top source for energy generation. The most recent figures indicate that biomass energy production reached 115 terrawatt hours in 2009, representing 32% of all energy consumption. At the same time, oil-based fuels were used to produce 112 TWh.  Biofuel use is expected to increase, while fossil fuel use should further decline in the coming years.

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