Alternative Energy Diggs

A revolutionary new design for personal wind turbines wins top prize. A unique design which uses vertical, rather than traditional horizontal, rotation. This feature gives a slower rotational speed, which allows the turbine to capture more energy from turbulent air flow, common to urban environments.read more | digg story

So many architects have tried to design transportable housing for emergencies; not many work. Wired covers a few of them: "Shipping costs are prohibitive -- it can sometimes cost twice as much to ship a design as it does to build it," says Architecture for Humanity's Kate Stohr. "Designs that are scalable, built using local materials...read more | digg story

The single MOST effective thing you can do to save the planet is to vote for the right leaders. "People often ask: I want to get greener, what should I do? New light bulbs? A hybrid? A solar roof?... It is so much more important to change your leaders than change your light bulbs."read more | digg story

The US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has decided to buy a hydrogen-fuelled robot plane which can cruise at 60,000 feet or more for five days at a time.read more | digg story

Researchers at Harvard University have made solar cells that are a small fraction of the width of a human hair. The cells, each made from a single nanowire just 300 nanometers wideread more | digg story

The world's first biodiesel jet. Flying the environmentally friendlier way...read more | digg story

GM has launched a fleet of over 100 hydrogen fuel-cell-powered Chevrolet Equinox crossovers in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C., as part of a large-scale market test called "Project Driveway." Progress towards a Hydrogen Infrastructure continues. Digg this up to show your support for clean, renewable energy.read more | digg story

Inventor, Steve Le Roy, developed a device that intentionally generates lightning strikes for the sole purpose of energy harvest.read more | digg story

The recent building boom in the Middle East has given rise to some of the world’s most extravagant and innovative buildings. The latest proposed tower to sprout up among the ever-changing skyline is the Burj Al-Taqa Energy Tower for the Middle East.read more | digg story

The Sun Powered Solar Racer set consists of two solar racers, a starting gate, over 5 ft. of race track and REAL solar cells! There are no batteries to toss out, none to recharge. The track has a push button starting gate and can be easily expanded by adding more sets. It is easy set up outside on a flat surface.read more | digg story

“A single 500 m**2 kite with 12 m/s nominal wind speed and aerodynamic efficiency (i.e. CL=CD) equal to 12 would be able to generate 10 MW mean power. 100 such kites towing a 1500 m radius carousel would generate 1000 MW mean power with about 7-8 km**2 land occupation and with an estimated energy production cost ten times lower than the one obtained by fossil fuel thermal plants. Note that a wind farm producing the same mean power, using the present wind mill technology, would have a territory occupation of about 250-300 km**2 and an energy production cost 40-50% higher than thermal plants.”read more | digg story

One of the touted benefits of the futuristic US hydrogen economy is that the hydrogen supply—in the form of water—is virtually limitless. This assumption is taken for granted so much that no major study has fully considered just how much water a sustainable hydrogen economy would need.read more | digg story

People depend on natural systems for survival, but these systems – and the lives they support-- are threatened by the inevitable impacts of climate change. It is crucial that we begin helping nature and people adapt to climate change now. A new bill in the Senate would provide funds to do just that.read more | digg story

The massive use of private cars causes serious problems. Despite parking problems and traffic congestions, for many the private car remains favourable. As an alternative, a new type of public intercity transport has been proposed, called Fast Transport on Request (FTR).read more | digg story

“Officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have made a serious proposal that consumers switch to UHT (Ultra-High Temperature or Ultra-Heat Treated) milk to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”read more | digg story

Reflective dishes may be the answer to make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of power, Israeli scientists say.read more | digg story

Reflective dishes may be the answer to make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of power, Israeli scientists say. A global race is on to find energy alternatives as subsidies tip the balance in favour of renewable sources of power, which answer security and climate change concerns about fossil fuels.read more | digg story

Through an innovative and efficient partnership with nature’s more ethereal forces, lightning generation and harvesting is currently gaining momentum and proving to be a viable and renewable way to create energy.read more | digg story

A Korean firm, Kyosemi Corporation, has developed a highly efficient spherical solar cell. It's called the Sphelar and represents a huge leap forward in solar development.read more | digg story

"Impossible!" you say. "Even wind and solar have carbon emissions from their manufacturing, and biofuels are carbon neutral at best. How can a fuel be carbon negative?" But listen to people working on gasification and terra preta, and you'll have something new to think about.read more | digg story

With all the talk about CAFE standards and gas taxes these days, many people wonder what a government could do to help bring the sale of gasoline powered cars down. How about a complete ban? Would that work? Sounds a little drastic, but Norway is considering doing just such a thing, and they are attempting to figure out if it's even legal to do so.read more | digg story

Scientists and engineers from the Iowa State University are looking at ways to strengthen difficult soils by adding lignin, a fibrous co-product of cellulosic biofuel production, so that better roads can be build on them.read more | digg story

See all of the energy saving gadgets in Sidwell Friends School's new LEED Platinum (the highest grade) Middle School.read more | digg story

A new plastic membrane could be key to making biofuels a viable and clean fuel alternative to natural gas and coal.read more | digg story

BBC reporting poll showing majority of people around the world believe humans causing climate change and support efforts to stop it.read more | digg story

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said Tuesday that its researchers have developed a fueling system for light-weight unmanned planes that enable up to 10 hours of flight without refueling.read more | digg story

Organic solar cells — made out of plastic-like polymers — are much cheaper when compared by the conventional inorganic, silicon and metal-based solar cells typically favored by the solar industry...While their solar cells may not have the highest efficiency, Plextronics' organic cells have several potential applications that conventional cells lackread more | digg story

Optoelectronic materials supplier Braggone announced a new product line last week that the company says increases the efficiency of solar cells and allows manufacturing facilities to cost-effectively increase their capacity.read more | digg story

Donkey-drawn carriages are apparently popular forms of transportation in many countries in Africa. A company known as Water and Wheel has added a new techno-twist to this old concept: solar cells. The cells charge a 12 Volt battery, which in turn can power mobile communications and water filtration systems.read more | digg story

"A new Pentagon study lays out the roadmap for a multibillion-dollar push to the final frontier of energy: a satellite system that collects gigawatts ’ worth of solar power and beams it down to Earth."read more | digg story

The vehicle, unveiled today by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), is a concept that is "designed to create a driving trend in urban societies."read more | digg story

By early spring of 2008, Waste Management of the Pacific Northwest will be producing 2 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from the Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon.read more | digg story

Scalable! Based on the same principle as the forces that shook apart the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.read more | digg story

Power grid operators, plant managers and energy traders will soon have a new forecasting tool that predicts sudden changes in wind energy production to help them reduce operating costs and increase system reliability and revenue, Eric Grimit, Ph.D., told attendees at the CanWEA 2007 Annual Conference today.read more | digg story

5402 designers from 98 different counties submitted entries on theme of "Living Simplicity and Furniture Design," and, after the dust settled, some really interesting designs rose to the top.read more | digg story

The speech that the president of the United States gave during the conference on "Energy Security and the Climate" that he organized in Washington deserves particular attention. It's the first time since his election in 2000 that Mr. Bush has devoted an intervention exclusively to the theme of climate change and has exposed his own doctrine.read more | digg story

Technology will help. Policy will help. But there's only one secret to a greener world.read more | digg story

Pablo gets down to the numbers and tells us exactly how the price of carbon emissions is arrived at.read more | digg story

Carbon nanotubes could help make nanoparticle-based solar cells more efficient and practical.read more | digg story

Popular Mechanics just held it's yearly Breakthrough Conference, and one of the winners was the Wind Belt an invention we've not seen before. The Wind Beltread more | digg story

When it comes to solving the fossil fuel crisis, it seems like every silver lining comes accompanied by a dark cloud. The rush to change over to a more ecologically friendly fuel source — ie, the rush to ethanol — is systematically causing damage to the Earth’s greatest natural resource. No, it’s not the kids of the future; it’s our water!read more | digg story

If the predictions of 1950s futurists had come true, we'd be whizzing to work in hovercrafts as domestic robots cleaned our prefab domes. While such idealistic prophesies are often tempered by time, that hasn't kept academics and inventors from creating bold visions about the home of tomorrow.read more | digg story

EA and BP are partnering to bring some of the harsh realities of global warming to the gaming universe. "With 'SimCity Societies,' we have the opportunity not only to demonstrate some of the causes and effects of global warming, but also to educate players how seemingly small choices can have a big global impact," said Steve Seabolt,read more | digg story

The new "engine on a chip" technology builds all the traditional parts of a gas-turbine engine using silicon, allowing for utterly tiny, reliable and efficient components. The turbine blades spin at 20,000 revolutions per second, and the mini-generator produces 10 watts of power once up and running.read more | digg story

The test bus is different in that it runs on battery power all the time. It has a diesel engine, but that is used only to charge the battery, although the bus also uses the brakes for that purpose. The diesel engine is different too. It is a turbine engine.read more | digg story

12 illustrators came up with design concepts that'll make our world a better place. Some are artful, whimsical and fun; some are hopeful; some humanitarian, but they're all pretty neat.read more | digg story

Space-based solar power, according to the report, has the potential to help the United States stave off climate change and avoid future conflicts over oil by harnessing the sun's power to provide an essentially inexhaustible supply of clean energy.read more | digg story

Our future is highly dependent on the way in which worldwide crude oil production is going to decline. If it goes rapidly, declining with a few percent each year or more, than it will be very difficult to complete the energy transition without severe economical consequences.read more | digg story

It's better design, not new technology, that makes these buildings the most energy efficient, least wasteful buildings in the country.read more | digg story

Amory Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) take pride in helping to design energy-efficient buildings that cost less than wasteful ones.read more | digg story