The planet may not be hospitable for very long if humans continue to abuse it, the way we have been doing for the past several decades. Taking the eco friendly path has become more than just a safe option or a way to save money, it’s even in style. So, whether you choose to be one of the elite or just someone looking to cut short your power bills, the SolarClover would sure appeal to you.

Created by Armageddon Energy, the SolarClover is a three-leafed power saver that will bring you tons of good luck (at least when it’s time to pay the power bill). The clovers are made of a triangular frame made from a Teflon medium, micro inverter and three lightweight silicon hexagonal solar panels. Setting up each SolarClover would only take a few minutes and the whole thing weighs less than 13 pounds so transferring them from one place to another would be a piece of cake.

Each SolarClover generates about 400 watts which wuld contribute to slashing off a huge amount from the power bills. Forget that, think about how much the environment would be thanking you every minute.

Via: ArmageddonEnergy

In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, African countries are boycotting climate change conferences. They allege that ‘the world’s rich nations must do more to cut emissions.’ This is just one of the hurdles being encountered by the controversial climate deal negotiations whose final agreements hope to be signed next month. ‘Talks over how to cut back global carbon emissions to ease the effects of climate change have broken down, with African nations arguing that rich nations are not doing their fair share.’

In Barcelona on November 2-6, climate talks ‘aimed at looking into a number of natural remedies that might help manage the rise in global emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the main by products from the burning of oil, coal, and other fossil fuels in electrical power plants and heavy industries.’ The conference saw adverse reaction from African countries, thereby stalling climate negotiations. According to South African delegation head Alf Wills, “They’re saying let’s focus on the real issues, which is targets for developed countries. Richer nations are using “delaying tactics” rather than talking about how Europe and the industrial nations can share the burden more fairly in cutting back on carbon emissions.”

Climate change, however, is a grave issue for Africa that is touted to be the biggest victim of global warming. Its vast arid areas and its poorer population’s reliance on subsistence farming make the continent the most vulnerable to climate change.

According to Christian Lambrechts, a policy coordinator for the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi, “Africa is heavily impacted by climate change.  Africa has experienced some of the world’s highest warming trends, and its relatively poor citizens are living so close to the very edge of subsistence that when major climate changes occur, large numbers are unable to adapt, and must simply move to other areas.”

The current argument from African nations involves the notion of who has the greater responsibility in global warming. These countries argue that ‘it is the richer nations that have been producing greenhouse gases for decades. It is richer nations, too, that have the financial resources to clean up their acts, and it is the richer nations that need to make greater sacrifices.’

Via The Christian Science Monitor

Few people respect their excretory system as much as we all should, but if it weren’t for the elimination of bodily wastes we would all be poisoned y the unhealthy accumulation of some seriously unnecessary chemicals in our body. The fact that the elimination of waste products is vital for the survival of the organism is further fortified by the trouble scientists are having with bio-batteries.

The idea that all these gadgets we so completely depend on everyday (read, mobiles and iPods) can be powered by biological fuel has fascinated scientists for years. Research into the creation of bio-batteries has not been a complete failure but scientists have gotten stuck at one point. It turns out that the bio-batteries they have been working with make use of microbial yeast based fuel cells and this involves the creation of certain waste products when the cells metabolise glucose while creating energy.

If these waste products are not eliminated, they would endanger the yeast cells and hamper the further creation of energy. That’s almost like saying the waste products in your system would eat away at your body if they weren’t eliminated in some way. Talk about science mimicking nature.

Via: Gizmodo

Tinkering with the design of nature and adding some clever accessories inside tiny little organisms might not be the brightest idea if you watched those countless Hollywood flicks where genetic engineering (eccentric mad-scientist styled stuff) goes horribly wrong.

But then this is real life and with the very real and growing demand for cleaner and more energy efficient fuel growing by the second, Joule Biotechnologies decided to fiddle with the genetics of tiny little algae to create a biofuel that will be effectively ‘carbon-neutral’. These genetically modified organisms use photosynthesis to directly create the molecules that form the basis of diesel; in other words they convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into fuel!

The advantage of the technology lies in the fact that the biofuel that is produced in this unique fashion will in turn release less amount of carbon dioxide when it burns, making the entire process effectively carbon-neutral. Joule Biotechnology plans to build farms of these modified organisms that are suspended in a solution and placed directly under sunlight.

So, unlike in the case of other biofuel sources, no irrigation land is wasted and food crops do not take a beating with this brand new technology. Just place them out in the vast desert wastelands and you could be milking fuel all day long… Of course, this now means that the US can now invade the Middle East for the desert land as much as for the oil wells!

Joule Biotechnologies

It was around a century or so ago that the street lamps in some of the major cities of the world were powered by biogas that was produced using cattle manure and now it seems that designers have turned their attention back to this very basic concept to provide the lighting of the future roads. This ultra-sleek and futuristic looking streetlight is a lamppost that is powered by organic trash. Just go and dump all the decomposable waste in its digestive chamber and your streets will be lit up all night long. Designed elegantly by Haneum Lee, the decomposing chamber even shows the status of power generation and will give you an exact idea of how long the light will further last and the amount of energy that is being generated.

While the design is just a concept for now, do not really be too surprised if such ‘cool’ concepts get incorporated into plans and turn into reality very soon. You can even use the left over compost as manure after decomposition. This not only provides for our energy needs, but also solves over growing problem with waste disposal. As islands of waste continue to flow in Northern Atlantic maybe solutions like the trash lamppost are the best way to go forward. A dual-edged sword to tackle a couple of serious eco-issues!

Yankodesign

With those clamoring for greener energy options and cleaner energy sources constantly keeping their focus fixed on solar power, there is no doubt that wind energy has taken a back seat for sometime now. But with the help of creative new engineers who are altering the traditional perception of windmills and some help from Mother Nature herself, the Windfarm in Spain has managed to create a record that might be hard to beat for sometime now. With strong winds that battered the Iberian Peninsula, Spain’s huge network of windfarms jointly poured the equivalent of 11 nuclear power stations’ worth of electricity into the national grid. The astounding performance over the weekend saw 53% of total national power being supplied by windfarms alone!

This not only has seen a sudden spurt in interest when it comes to wind energy but has given further boost to many Windfarm projects that are taking shape across the globe. Spain’s officials themselves are hoping to increase the national wind energy output from the current 17Gw to 40 GW by 2020 and that ambition seems all too modest after this weekend’s blitz. Of course, with wind’s fiddle nature, it is always better to be cautious than overconfident… Let’s just hope Spain’s performance is repeated elsewhere as well.

Guardian

Managing with its small amount of resources and increasing demand for fuels, Japan is one of those countries of the world that largely depends on renewable sources for energy consumption. No wonder this yearning led the country to launch an audacious multi-billion dollar eco-friendly concept, the Space Solar Power System (SSPS) that would take form by 2030.

Cashing in on the fact that power of the sun is five times stronger in space when compared to Earth; the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is looking forwards to launching an array of photovoltaic dishes measuring several square kilometers (square miles) beyond the Earth’s atmosphere into the geostationary orbit from where the energy collected would be zapped down through laser beams or microwaves. These would in turn be collected by the enormous parabolic antennae to be set up in restricted areas of the sea and dam reservoirs. This one gigawatt system that would be the size of an average atomic power plant is expected to generate electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour which happens to be six times cheaper than the current cost in the country.

The government is roping in several Japanese high-tech giants like Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp as a part of this project. So, not very far in the future, we might spot an extraterrestrial solar power station while watching the sky through our telescopes!

Via Yahoo News

Excessive salt might ruin the taste of your food, but when it comes to solar energy, plenty of salt seems to be very good news- at least for the folk in California. Using a technology that will harness power through the sun and molten-salt, Solar Reserve, a California based solar firm intends to generate power round the clock in a green and clean fashion. The site chosen for this project is Rice, a town in San Bernadino County of California and the planned plant will have a 12-foot pedestal to which a total of 17,500 24 x 28 feet heliostats will be placed surrounding the Solar Power Tower. In a technology that is fast gaining popularity, heat from the sun will be concentrated and used to generate power.

The heat reflected from the vast set of heliostats onto the tower will be used to melt the4.4 million gallons of molten salt on top of the 100 meter tower. This molten salt will drive the attached turbines to generate power and to convert all that solar power into useful electricity. While this is not the first project to use molten salt, SolarReserve claims that their special technique of using synthetic oil along with the salt will make their plant 3-times more efficient than others before it.

So when can we see the plan at Rice operational? If all goes well the California can expect a salty tinge added to their electricity by 2013!

Goodcleantech

Cleantech depends on energy policy. US President Obama deals with two core climate issues: meeting the larger goal of reducing carbon emissions, and finding a way of rescuing the renewables industry from Wall Street’s collapse. The benchmark of 450 ppm is a crucial figure issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. ‘Limiting concentration to 450 ppm requires halting emissions at current levels.’ This needs tremendous policy structure.

But Obama is unflinching and relentless in his pursuit of cleantech. He believes that clean energy is not only the path to the future but also the key to economic revival. He says, “To truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.”

He puts the money where his mouth is. ‘The stimulus alone dumped $167 billion in grants and loan guarantees for clean-energy and other projects onto the Department of Energy, dwarfing its $27 billion annual budget to such a degree that its inspector general frantically warned that the department could buckle under the strain. There’s even talk of refitting the White House with solar panels.’

Clean technology is based on the principle that ‘the growing scarcity and higher cost of fossil fuels, coupled with environmental concerns, will drive society toward alternative sources of energy, with enormous wealth accruing to whoever can supply them.’ It is still a capitalistic venture for the sake of economy. Along with conjuring up images of ‘towering wind turbines, sleek electric cars, and acres of mirrors shimmering in the desert’ is the strategic viability of having these commercially available.

Only the commercial readiness of cleantech can transform it from advocacy campaign to green economy.

Via The Atlantic

The Kyoto Protocol is an obvious failure in its mandate to enjoin countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, and quite ironically, ‘global carbon-dioxide emissions have grown by 25% since the protocol was adopted in 1997.’

There are glaring reasons why the soon-to-expire Kyoto Protocol did not succeed. This treaty left out of the roster of considerations such a huge problem as deforestation. Also, ‘potential participants were put off by the idea of internationally binding commitments.’

The Copenhagen climate deal that is supposed to be signed by countries in December 2009 is touted to be a more effective replacement or follow up to the failed Kyoto Protocol. After all, it has the benefit of hindsight.

Some are starting to suspect that the much awaited climate deals in Copenhagen will not be closed. The aims of the summit deal in terms of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions targeted at specific years will come at huge economic costs to economies that are still dependent on fossil fuels. A crash is, in fact, anticipated at Copenhagen. The participants just might not buy into the details, thereby creating an incohesive deal. For starters, developing countries already fear that ‘internationally binding commitments could be used as justifications for imposing tariffs on them.’

Some have forwarded diplomatic strategies to avoid the impending crash through ways and means in getting the climate negotiations on the right track for the desired successful deal. The trick, some say, is ‘moving the negotiations onto a different diplomatic track.’

Salient suggestions have come from Australia. ‘All countries would come up with a “national schedule” of programmes, such as cap-and-trade and low-carbon regulations. Developed countries would also specify an amount by which they mean to reduce their emissions. These commitments would have the force of domestic law, but would not be subject to international sanctions. And measures that have the force of domestic law are more likely to stick than those signed up to in a treaty under diplomatic pressure.’

Via Economist.com