From The Workbench - Alternative + Renewable Energy Blog Valuable information for do-it-yourselfers interested in the latest in alternative + renewable energy

Hello and welcome back to the world of the working!  I hope and trust your Holiday was amazing and packed full of family, fun, food and more green living than you could shake a stick at.  We’re back to it, the work week and as such, I thought I’d kick things off with a new device that could do great things for this planet we reside on.

I just found an article about a new water device that many scientists think could be a very promising way to deliver clean, renewable energy all over the world!  That’s right my friends, clean energy all coming from existing waterways on this mostly-blue planet.  It’s all pretty darn scientific, so here’s what the article had to say about the jist of the device:

“a revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean currents could provide enough power for the entire world,…The new device, which has been inspired by the way fish swim, consists of a system of cylinders positioned horizontal to the water flow and attached to springs.   As water flows past, the cylinder creates vortices, which push and pull the cylinder up and down. The mechanical energy in the vibrations is then converted into electricity.”

I don’t know about you, but I like it!  The best news of all, however, is just how much more affordable it would be to produce.  According to scientists and research funded by the U.S. Government, “generating power in this way would potentially cost only around 3.5p per kilowatt hour, compared to about 4.5p for wind energy and between 10p and 31p for solar power. They say the technology would require up to 50 times less ocean acreage than wave power generation.”  Wow, sign me up.

How about they get this figured out, implemented and put into use as soon as possible, ok?  Ok.

Image by nathangibbs via Flickr

Each and every day, wireless carriers are expanding further and further into the world.  Whereas 10 years ago, cellular phone service and towers were few and far between and only major cities had major service, now, almost anywhere you go on this planet you can fire up your cell phone and get service.  The question remains…at what cost?

That answer might be too scary to answer, but the good thing is, wireless carriers the world around are now looking to harness the power of something readily available to us all, the sun, to help expand even deeper into the known world.  Base stations for cell phone service requires a lot of energy.  That energy can help drive costs up for service in developing areas; by using solar power to power the base stations, costs could go down and the number of people who could afford the service will go up.  Win win, right?

According to the article I read, “Solar power, of course, is not the only renewable energy source being looked at by carriers. Wind power may also have potential in areas that receive less solar energy, but it tends to be less predictable.” I just love seeing alternative energy being used as a viable means to power something that we all rely on.  Keep tuned to this one, I’m loving the idea!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Today my friends, is officially Solar Power’s day!  I love when Wednesday gives me great news, and this, is some of the best.  According to new reports, a concentrated solar company named SolFocus is preparing and prepping what will be, upon completion, the world’s largest concentrated solar deployment in the entire world!

The project, to be built in Spain for EMPE Solar, will be a multi-site installment that will end up costing an enormous $103 million dollars.  Once finished, the site will be a 10 MW, multi-site intstallment that should generate and provide massive amounts of solar energy.  What’s more, this site will be, as mentioned, a concentrated solar site, which basically means that, “SolFocus modules use mirrors and reflective optics to concentrate the sun’s rays 500 times onto a solar cell. As a result, the systems use 1/1000 the amount of photovoltaic material typically used in PV modules.” More power, less material.  Not too bad!

The project will not be finished until an estimated 2010 launch date, but all of us stuck Stateside shouldn’t worry, the same company is planning a very massive California installation sometime in the very near future.  Pretty soon, massive concentrated solar energy farms might be popping up everywhere!  In the meantime, you can still do your part, head over to Northern Tool and start shopping all of our amazing solar energy products!  The more we do, the more we help.  Why not start right now?

Image via Wikipedia

Way to go OREGON!  I love when Wednesday actually gives us good news!  Today’s awesome alternative energy bit of news is that one of our great states in this wonderful nation is prepping, planning and is officially going to build one of the World’s LARGEST Wind Farms by 2012.

According to new reports, major utility company Southern California Edison is going ahead with plans to build a 909 MW, yes, 909 MW, wind farm between California and Oregon.  909 MW!  Good Lord.  The article I read mentioned that “….the new installation will actually be installed outside California in Gilliam and Morrow Counties in North-Central Oregon between 2011 and 2012.  The installation will consist of 303 3-MW turbines in a 30 mile radius. Shepherd’s Flat will generate around 2B kWh of wind power for SCE, about 10 percent of its total alternative energy portfolio.  The wind-rich region is one of the nation’s “bread baskets” of wind power.”

To me, some of the best news about this new installation is the simple fact that in creating it, no new power transmission lines need to be built.  By doing this, the wind farm can come online in much less time than other wind farms, and will allow the alternative energy and even the return on investments to come in much faster.  Not only that, wind power, per kWh, is cheaper than solar energy and a great deal of other alternative energy sources to cultivate and harness.

The bottom line, kudos to SCE, kudos to Oregon and California for this new MASSIVE wind farm.  For wanting to go green, this is a massive step forward.

Image via Wikipedia