A projection of future and past shorelines in North America as global warming advances:



Being a huge Elvis fan, I have a very hard time with Graceland being located on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, a.k.a. the Gulf of North America if this continues...and we're only talking 50 more years at most. Click on the picture above for more information...
- posted by Daniel @ 11:31 PM

 
Finally, it begins, and TEXAS is leading the way.

AWEA Small Wind News and Alerts:
The AWEA Small Wind News and Alerts list is a timely source for information updates, news clips and action alerts focusing on small wind energy. This list is announcement-only with low-traffic, weekly mailings.

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awea-smallwind

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is 1 message in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. WEWT
From: Vaughn Nelson


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:29:02 -0500
From: Vaughn Nelson
Subject: WEWT

Can still sign up through next week

Vaughn Nelson

WIND ENERGY AND WIND TURBINES
Physics 302, Fall 2003
West Texas A&M University
Instructor: Dr. Vaughn Nelson

Web Based Course through WTOnline, F 03, Class starts week of 8/25, ends
12/5.
Course Information:
http://wtonline.wtamu.edu/schedule/courseinfo.php?courseid=149

Can be taken for college credit, continuing education ($500), or
certificate ($400).
Registration information:
https://www.wtamu.edu/administrative/vpa/ce/courses/physics302.html

Course Description
Introductory course with some math, calculations and use of spread sheet.
At the end of the course you should be able to
Understand energy and power as it relates to wind resource and wind
turbine energy production.
Be able to measure (instrumentation) wind parameters and analyze data
Understand operational parameters of wind turbines (mechanical,
electrical, control).
Size systems and predict performance.
Understand institutional issues: local, environmental, and national.
Calculate economic values from simple payback to life cycle costs.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Energy
3. Wind Characteristics
4. Instrumentation and Measurement
5. Wind Turbines
6. Design of Wind Turbines
7. Electrical Aspects
8. System Performance
9. Siting
10. Wind Industry
11. Institutional Issues
12. Economics
- posted by Daniel @ 5:41 PM

 
Great Lakes Daily News: 22 August 2003
For links to these stories and more, visit http://www.great-lakes.net/news/

Did you miss a day of Daily News? Remember to use our searchable story
archive at http://www.great-lakes.net/news/inthenews.html


The blackout is getting Michigan to think green
----------------------------------------
Last week's power outage has given a boost to environmental and conservation
forces, as well as to companies in the business of setting up clean energy
systems. Source: Detroit Free Press (8/22)


Buy a boat or dream
----------------------------------------
The 24th annual Michigan City In-Water Boat Show, Lake Michigan's largest
in-water display of boats and boating gear, runs through Sunday at
Washington Park Marina in Indiana. Source: Gary Post-Tribune (8/22)


Shoreline grooming group forms PAC
----------------------------------------
Save Our Shoreline, Inc., the group which has fought for the right to
conduct beach maintenance on areas exposed by low water levels, is forming a
political action committee to advance its cause. Source: The Bay City Times
(8/22)


Chemical spills into drinking water
----------------------------------------
A Canadian chemical company faced questions on Wednesday from angry
residents demanding to know why they weren't told earlier about a toxic
spill into the St. Clair River following last week's power failure. Source:
Detroit Free Press (8/22)


Huron gets mixed reviews in lake report
----------------------------------------
Lake Huron, which is recovering from decades of environmental contamination,
but still faces threats from shoreline development and invasive species,
receives a "mixed" rating in a State of the Great Lakes 2003 report. Source:
The Bay City Times (8/21)


GLP seeks to update electricity corridor between Wawa, Sault
----------------------------------------
Great Lakes Power Ltd. is seeking regulatory approval to refurbish its
167-kilometre transmission corridor between Wawa and Sault Ste. Marie.
Source: The Sault Star (8/21)


DEC provides new patrol boats
----------------------------------------
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has added four patrol
boats for environmental and navigation law enforcement operations on the
state's waterways. Source: Capital News 9 (8/21)


Cormorants straining West Sister Island ecosystem
----------------------------------------
Ohio's sole national wildlife refuge is being besieged by double-breasted
cormorants, a burgeoning bird species that's wrecking the ecosystem with its
corrosive droppings. Source: The Port Clinton News Herald (8/21)


Conference addresses beach water quality
----------------------------------------
On Aug. 14, a group of city and county employees attended the Northeast
Wisconsin & Lake Michigan Watershed Planning Conference in Green Bay.
Source: Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter (8/20)


Monroe Harbor pier plan opposed
----------------------------------------
A $27 million proposal to add new docks and piers at Monroe Harbor would
turn a jewel of Chicago's lakefront into a cluttered "trailer camp" for
boats, according to advocacy groups. Source: Chicago Sun-Times (8/19)


For links to these stories and more, visit http://www.great-lakes.net/news/


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Great Lakes Daily News is a collaborative project of the Great Lakes
Information Network (www.glin.net) and the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium (www.glrc.org), both based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
- posted by Daniel @ 5:28 PM

 
Alt Power Digest group at Yahoo Groups just came across with a great write:

¤?°`°?¤?,¸¸,?¤?°`°?¤?¤?°`°?¤?,¸¸,?¤?°`°?¤?

All-Energy News and Discussion
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/All-Energy

¤?°`°?¤?,¸¸,?¤?°`°?¤?¤?°`°?¤?,¸¸,?¤?°`°?¤?

________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 14:03:15 -0400
From: Tom Gray
Subject: Good Clip on Germany

Germany Leads the World in Alternative Energy
By JANET L. SAWIN New Internationalist (08-19-03)

Berkeley Daily Planet
Edition Date: Tuesday, August 19, 2003

Clusters of tall white wind turbines spin gracefully atop green hillsides.
Solar photovoltaics (PVs) are integrated into windows and rooftops of
modern homes, factories and office blocks. Even the old renovated seat of
government is fitted with solar panels.

A utopian fancy? No, just Germany today. Remarkable considering that in
1990 Germany had virtually no renewable-energy industry and appeared an
unlikely candidate for it. Utility monopolies, entrenched nuclear and coal
industries and a general conservatism made Germany appear barren ground for
renewable-energy advocates.

Joschen Twele, a wind-energy expert recalls: 'When I started my job in wind
energy [in the 1980s] I thought it had only a chance in remote areas of
developing countries. So I concentrated on Africa.'

Yet by the end of the 1990s, Germany had transformed itself into a
renewable-energy leader. With a fraction of the wind and solar resources of
the U.S., Germany now has almost three times as much installed wind
capacity (38 percent of global capacity) and is a world leader in solar
photovoltaics as well.

And it has created a new, multibillion-dollar industry and tens of
thousands of new jobs. The German wind industry now employs more people
than nuclear power (an industry that provides 30 percent of the nation's
electricity) without a commensurate increase in electricity costs.

Germany now generates 4.5 per cent of its electricity with the wind and
appears on track to meet government targets of 25 per cent by 2025. The
government also considers solar photovoltaics an option for future
large-scale power generation.

What's more, the government recently pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide
emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, much of this to be
achieved by switching to renewable energy. Not quite the 60 percent many
climate-change experts say is required worldwide, but vastly more
impressive than commitments made thus far under the Kyoto Protocol.

How has Germany done it?

The main obstacles that keep renewables from producing more than a small
share of energy in most of the world are lack of access to the transmission
grid, high up-front costs, lack of information, and biased, inappropriate
and inconsistent government policies.

Germany's dramatic success has been achieved through a combination of
consistent, ambitious policies designed to address these barriers and
create a market for renewable energy. These policies were driven by the
public's rising concerns about global climate change, risks associated with
nuclear power, and a need to reduce dependence on imported fuels.

Most significant has been the grid access and standard pricing law, enacted
in 1991 and inspired by effective Danish policies. Under this law,
renewable energy producers receive above-market payments for power they
feed into the grid and the costs are shared among all electricity consumers
in Germany. These preferential payments for renewables are not considered
subsidies, but means of internalizing the social and environmental costs of
conventional energy and providing compensation for the benefits of renewables.

But some barriers remained. For example, as the number of wind turbines
skyrocketed in some regions, local opposition and lengthy, complex siting
procedures had the effect of stalling the development of new projects. The
government responded by encouraging communities to zone specific areas for
wind energy--a step that addressed concerns such as noise and aesthetic
impacts and assured prospective turbine owners that they would find sites
for their machines.

To address the start-up costs barrier, the German government has offered
long-term, low-interest loans and income tax credits to projects and
equipment that meet specified standards.

These initiatives have drawn billions of dollars to the renewable energy
industry, while technology standards have reduced risk and created
confidence by keeping out substandard machinery. The government has also
promoted awareness of renewable technologies and available subsidies
through publications and training programs.

Such rock-solid policies ended uncertainties about whether producers could
sell their electricity into the grid and at what price. They also provided
investor confidence--attracting investment money and making it easier for
even small renewable power producers to obtain bank loans. Germans from
diverse backgrounds and income levels have been able to invest in renewable
energy projects, leading to a surge in installed capacity and associated
jobs, and reinforcing political support.

Increased investment has also driven improvements in technology, advanced
learning and experience, and produced economies of scale resulting in
dramatic cost reductions. Between 1990 and 2000 the average cost of
manufacturing wind turbines in Germany fell by 43 percent. Between 1992 and
2001, PV capacity experienced an average annual growth rate of nearly 49
percent. German PV manufacturers plan to expand their facilities
significantly over the coming years to meet rapidly rising demand, a step
that will further reduce costs and increase employment.

Germany has demonstrated not only that it is possible for renewable energy
increasingly to meet the energy needs of industrialized society but also
that the transition to a more sustainable energy future can happen rapidly
with political will and the right policies. To begin with, policies must be
consistent and long-term. On-and-off policies in the US have created market
cycles of boom and bust, making it difficult to develop strong domestic
industries. As a result, the U.S. is the only country where total
wind-generating capacity has actually declined in some years.

Market creation must also be prioritized. Germany began funding research
and development of renewable energy in the 1970s but saw little commercial
development until market incentives were enacted two decades later. Today
at least 300 companies are involved in supplying solar panels. Last year
Germans installed more than 2,000 new wind projects, all of them feeding
into the grid. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Germans own shares in
wind energy projects, while many own shares in solar PV and other renewable
projects as well.

The issue of who owns the production and distribution of electricity is
highly significant. When a nation's electric system is centralized and
utility-owned, power is concentrated in the hands of a few, both literally
and politically. In the U.S., for example, some of the most politically
powerful voices are those of the various energy-related industries. But
when almost anyone can be an energy producer, as in Germany, the public can
play a greater role in decision making, creating a more democratic society.

Renewables now generate eight percent of Germany's electricity and the
country has nearly two-fifths of the world's wind capacity. But the share
of total wind capacity owned by large companies is also rising, as the
sizes of machines and projects--and thus costs--increase.

The advantages of shifting away from conventional energy and towards
greater reliance on renewables are numerous and enormous: climate
stability, air quality, health, job creation, political and economic
security, to name but a few. Renewable energy also offers models for
diverse and democratic ways of producing, buying and selling power. Yet
change is never easy and there are strong forces globally--including
politically powerful industries--that wish to maintain the status quo.
While resistance to change is inevitable, the world cannot afford to be
held back by those who are wedded to energy systems of the past.

Janet L Sawin is an energy and climate change writer and researcher based
at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington DC.
- posted by Daniel @ 5:02 PM

 
Now this one, also from ENN, really gets my goat, no pun intended. These clowns want to end farm susidies by the federal government when most U.S. farmers have already been driven out of business. I'm not talking the huge corporate farms, I'm talking the small family farmer. I think we should only give subsidies to farmers that own the land they farm, not to corporations, but that's another issue. What surprises me is that U.S. farmers aren't agressively pursuing wind energy as the new cash crop in addition to traditional agriculture. Both have a tendency to coexist extremely well together. Where the heck are the AG COOPs on this? It used to be American farmers were some of the most innovative people on the planet at brilliant capitalism. The individual ones that have survived the "corping" of the American farm sure should be. All the same, we're already a country at war on two fronts plus shadow wars and we can barely manufacture or own washing machines, ahhh, duuuhhh, what happens if we P.O. the little country that makes our bullets for fifteen cents an hour? So now we're going to export our food production too? This is good for national security? This is not some very rotten third-world BALOGNA? Enough soap boxing, though. Seriously, U.S. farm cooperatives and individual farmers would be very well advised to get solidly behind wind and other renewables, especially in light of stories like this one...

Friday, August 22, 2003
By Reuters


WASHINGTON — The United States has a moral duty to slash its farm subsidies even if developing countries do not reciprocate by opening their markets to more U.S. farm goods, officials with a leading private sector development group said Thursday.

The United States is under pressure in world trade talks to reduce the billions of dollars in subsidies it pays to farmers each year. Leading U.S. farm groups have vowed to fight such an agreement unless developing countries reduce their tariffs to allow in more agricultural imports.

Gawain Kripke, a senior policy advisor with Oxfam, said the United States had a greater responsibly to eliminate subsidies that depress prices for farmers in poor countries and make it harder for them to compete for export sales.

"It doesn't work to demand that developing countries roll over on their agricultural sectors in order for the U.S. to reduce its subsidies," said Kripke. "The U.S. is sinning — and so is the E.U. (European Union) — by subsidizing and dumping products on poor countries."

Also, in an era of $400 billion U.S. budget deficits, farm subsidies "may be a luxury we can't afford," he said.

U.S. farmers are expected to receive about $19 billion in...(Read on in: US has responsiblity to cut farm subsidies, says Oxfam
- posted by Daniel @ 4:38 PM

 
Also from ENN, it's hot rock candy Down Under...

Friday, August 22, 2003
By Marie McInerney, Reuters


INNIMINCKA, Australia — Australia's unforgiving outback swelters for months every year, but the heat of ancient rocks beneath the red sands at towns such as Innimincka is about to be tapped as a source of renewable energy.

Engineers are preparing to trigger a range of micro-earthquakes in the Earth's crust just outside Innimincka to test whether the rocks can unleash green energy at volumes equivalent to about half of Kuwait's oil reserves.

If they're successful and a feasible operation can be mounted, Innimincka's Habañero Well — named after the world's hottest chilli variety — could deliver a major new renewable energy source, at least competitive with natural gas.

"You might not feel it," Bertus de Graaf told his visitors as they swatted flies and stumbled over gibber rocks at the remote site 1,050 km (650 miles) north of Adelaide. "But you are all standing above the hottest spot in the Earth's upper crust outside volcanic centers," he said.

De Graaf is managing director of Geodynamics Ltd, which is drilling Australia's deepest well 4.9 km (3.0 miles) into basement granite to tap into hot rock temperatures of up to 300 degrees Celsius (570 degrees Fahrenheit).

"The geothermal resource below is so large that it can potentially generate massive amounts of zero (greenhouse) emission energy," he said. "We have here potentially a 'gusher' in hot rock geothermal energy," said de Graaf.

Tapping Natural Heat

It all may sound a little like Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth, but hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy is one of the great hopes of renewable energy. As Geodynamics says, generating electricity from the Earth's heat isn't new. Countries such as Italy, Iceland, New Zealand, and Japan have been...(Read on in: Outback Australia sizzles with hidden power)
- posted by Daniel @ 4:25 PM

 
From ENN, a new article on the Nantucket Sound Winders and Whiners:

Friday, August 22, 2003
By Associated Press


BOSTON — Opponents of a proposed power-generating wind farm in Nantucket Sound were dealt a legal setback when a federal judge ruled that the state had no authority to stop construction of a test tower currently operating there.

Opponents of the proposed $700 million wind farm had filed suit against the developers, claiming the company needed a state permit to build the 197-foot tower, which measures environmental conditions.

The tower, which has been operational since the spring, was built...(Read on in: Judge says state had no authority to prevent test tower of Nantucket wind farm)
- posted by Daniel @ 4:16 PM

 
Amazing grace...

By Emmanuel Koro


12/08/2003

Water harvesting has enabled women to grow vegetables in their backyards

A water harvesting method currently being applied in rural Zimbabwe’s naturally dry Masvingo Province, south of the country, has seen small-scale commercial farmers such as the Shagashe Farmers Club (SHAFAC) able to enjoy better harvests despite the persistent drought.

The method is simple. It involves digging pits that are one meter deep and a meter wide.

How is the Water Harvested?

Basically, the pits fill up from rainfall and retain the water, which soaks slowly into the ground depending on the soil type. The water also drains slowly from the water harvesting pits as the low-lying parts of the crop field run out of moisture.

Mr. Osmond Mugweni, a Sustainable Agriculture Consultant with the UNDP Africa 2000 Plus Network is proud of this technique, which he believes can solve the country’s drought-threatened food security if promoted nationally. He said water harvesting filtration pits “help to raise water tables” due to the water harvesting pits’ water retention capacities. The capillary activity draws water from the water table to the surface.

“This has a double effect,” said Mr. Mugweni. “The wet conditions are good for the crops and also promote the growth of a variety of grass species and herbs, enhancing conservation.” (Read on, it's wonderful: Zimbabwean Farmers Bag the Clouds
- posted by Daniel @ 10:47 AM

 
AWEA Small Wind News and Alerts:
The AWEA Small Wind News and Alerts list is a timely source for information updates, news clips and action alerts focusing on small wind energy. This list is announcement-only with low-traffic, weekly mailings.

Group home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awea-smallwind

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are 2 messages in this issue.

Topics in this digest:

1. Energizing Off-Grid Power
From: "Kevin Fullerton"
2. NORTH DAKOTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
From: "Kevin Fullerton"


________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 13:04:21 -0700
From: "Kevin Fullerton"
Subject: Energizing Off-Grid Power


Energizing Off-Grid Power


Blackout Raises Interest in Alternatives
To Nation's Stressed Electricity System


By JEFFREY BALL

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL



In the aftermath of last week's power outage, which shut businesses in
the Northeast and the Midwest, an idea once viewed as radical is
generating new buzz: What if enough U.S. buildings could generate enough
of their own electricity to collectively ease the load on the nation's
overstretched power grid?

Proponents of this idea, known as "distributed generation ," have been
advocating it for years. Peddling everything from natural-gas-powered
engines to solar cells to "microturbines" to, more recently, fuel cells,
these companies argue the country is kidding itself if it thinks it can
rely exclusively on a decades-old model of electricity production --
huge centralized power plants connected to consumers and companies by an
aging web of transmission lines -- as the U.S. population, and the
average American's electricity use, continues to rise.

Many of the companies that supply the alternative gear are small and
not-yet profitable. But major players including General Motors Corp. and
even some traditional utilities are getting into the
distributed-generation business. Companies including Dow Chemical Co.
and major commercial-real-estate owners are installing
distributed-generation systems in a bid to cut their energy costs.

Typically, the public's interest in distributed generation -- along with
the stock prices of small publicly traded companies in the business --
surges every time the grid goes down, only to subside just as quickly
when the lights come back on. That was the case with the rolling
blackouts in California a few years ago.

Now, in the wake of last week's more-sudden blackout, the biggest in
U.S. history, distributed-generation backers are arguing that their time
has come. "One couldn't ask for a more exciting marketing and
advertising campaign than what happened in the Northeast," said John
Tucker, chief executive of Capstone Turbine Corp., a Chatsworth, Calif.,
manufacturer of small turbines, known as microturbines, that generate
electricity.

The popular image of distributed generation is of a feisty homeowner
declaring independence from the grid by slapping solar cells on the roof
or damming a stream to generate power. But if distributed generation is
to perceptibly ease the load on the nation's grid, experts say, lots of
big electricity users will have to adopt it: entire residential
communities, big office buildings and major factories.

Today, distributed generation accounts for a small fraction of the
approximately 900,000 megawatts of electrical-generating capacity in the
U.S. People disagree on the exact percentage because they disagree about
what equipment to count. (One megawatt equals 1,000 kilowatts; the
average house uses one to five kilowatts, depending on its size, energy
experts say.)

Diesel-powered generators are a widespread source of backup power in
some houses and many large buildings and hospitals. But they require
fuel tanks that take up valuable space and that need to be refilled.
Installing the units in major cities is getting tougher because of
increasingly stringent government limits on diesel emissions.

Proponents of distributed generation have grander plans. They envision
newer technologies that produce less in the way of smog-causing and
global-warming emissions. They say using these clean technologies to
generate power at the site where it is consumed can be far more
efficient than generating it centrally. That's because sending
electricity through transmission wires wastes energy while producing
electricity on site allows waste heat from the process to be captured
and used -- for instance, to heat the building -- in a process known as
"cogeneration."

Still, few advocates of distributed generation believe that large
sectors of the economy will become independent of the grid. Rather, they
hope to get a significant number of customers to produce at least some
of their own electricity. That would reduce demand on the grid
particularly during times of peak use, such as on hot summer afternoons
like this past Thursday.

Distributed generation faces big hurdles, which its backers hope the
attention raised by last week's blackout will help them overcome. Among
their druthers: heftier tax breaks to defray the high initial purchase
price of the electric-generating equipment and government help to get
established utilities to make it easier for electricity users to hook
their generating devices to the grid.

There's also a more fundamental challenge: convincing investors, whose
backing the nascent distributed-generation industry needs to help
finance its projects, that this equipment can be profitable over the
long term. "Among the big challenges is going to be financing these
things," said Dan Reicher, a former assistant energy secretary in charge
of energy-efficiency programs under President Clinton and now executive
vice president of one distributed-generation company, Waitsfield,
Vt.-based Northern Power Systems Inc.

Mr. Reicher has helped found a private-equity fund that hopes to raise
$100 million to finance distributed-generation projects. So far, the
fund has raised only about $1 million of seed money, but Mr. Reicher
said his investors believe last week's blackout will provide a big
boost. "A couple of them wrote to say, 'Wow! This could be a break!' "
Mr. Reicher said.

The idea of producing power on-site where it's needed isn't altogether
new. Before centralized utilities with far-flung distribution lines
sprung up early in the 20th century, some large businesses, ranging from
railroads to steel producers, generated their own electricity at their
own facilities. Eventually, the grid offered an economy of scale that
was tough to beat, and most large industrial users hooked up for at
least part of their electricity needs.

Diesel generators -- internal-combustion engines that are hooked to
alternators to crank out electricity -- account for the bulk of
distributed generation in the U.S. today. Caterpillar Inc., the dominant
player in this business, says about 8% of its $20 billion in revenue in
2002 came from selling generators that run on either diesel or, more
recently, cleaner-burning natural gas.

Its generators range from home backup units that crank out about 5
kilowatts and sell for about $10,000 to 15-megawatt units that sell for
upwards of $1 million and can be strung together to form what's
essentially a standalone commercial power plant. In between are
2-megawatt Caterpillar generators -- each of which is fitted into a
truck-trailer size shipping container -- that kept at least critical
services running during last week's blackout in much of New York's
financial district and at buildings across the country.

Even before last week's blackout, some big companies already were
showing increased interest in generating power everyday on their own.
Equity Office Properties Trust, which owns more than 700 office
buildings nationwide, is installing distributed-generation equipment at
12 buildings in and around Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San
Diego and San Francisco, three of which involve Northern Power. The
devices use natural gas to generate 20% to 30% of a building's power
needs.

Each of these systems costs $1 million to $5 million. But Equity
believes it can recover the cost over time by reducing the amount of
electricity it has to buy from the grid during times of peak demand, the
hours during which office buildings are busiest and power usually costs
the most, says Thomas W. Smith, vice president of energy operations for
Chicago-based Equity.

In addition, Equity plans to use the machines as marketing tools to lure
tenants such as financial-services firms that want emergency backup
power for their critical systems. Since last week's blackout, several
Equity tenants have inquired about hooking up to the new
distributed-generation units.

Meanwhile, General Motors and Dow Chemical are involved in a
cutting-edge project. The companies announced in May what they said is
the biggest deal to date to install fuel cells, devices that turn
hydrogen into electricity.

Dow will buy GM fuel cells to use at Dow Chemical's largest factory, in
Freeport, Texas. Each fuel cell will sit on a truck trailer and provide
75 kilowatts of power. Dow Chemical will take hydrogen that is a
byproduct of its chemical-production process and run it through the fuel
cells to produce electricity to help run the plant.

The goal over several years is for GM to provide Dow with enough fuel
cells to generate 35 megawatts of electricity, a small fraction of the
Texas complex's total requirement. For Dow Chemical, whose factory
already makes some of its own electricity from natural gas, the benefit
will be reduced electricity costs, since Dow will be making power from
what is essentially waste hydrogen.

For GM, the objective is to help the world's largest auto maker figure
out how to reduce the cost of manufacturing fuel cells, which GM says it
ultimately wants to crank out in large numbers to power automobiles.

Even some big electric utilities are getting into distributed
generation. Some utilities view these emerging technologies as a threat
to their established businesses. But DTE Energy, whose territory covers
southeastern Michigan and was darkened by the blackout, has been
investing for eight years in on-site generating equipment ranging from
natural-gas-powered engines to turbinesto fuel cells, said Robert
Buckler, chief executive of DTE Energy Technologies, the DTE unit
involved in distributed generation.

"We decided that we thought it was going to be a big enough item that we
were going to participate in it as opposed to fight it," he said.







________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 13:27:52 -0700
From: "Kevin Fullerton"
Subject: NORTH DAKOTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NORTH DAKOTA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

INSTALLS WIND TURBINE

__________________________________________

The Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC) in Belcourt, N.D., a tribal
college that serves the Ojibwa Indians of the northern plains, announced
that it would install a Vestas V-47 660-kW wind turbine. The
installation completes a 3-year plan to make TMCC completely energy
self-sufficient.



The spectacular 109,000-square-foot college building is designed around
the concept of the Four Directions and the Seven Teachings of the
Ojibwa. The building is entirely heated and cooled with geothermal
energy. When the college erects its new wind turbine, the college will
be a net exporter of electricity. The annual average energy consumption
for TMCC is more than 2.6 million kWh. The wind turbine is expected to
produce more than 3 million kwh per year. TMCC is expecting to save
more than $84,000 annually on its electricity bills. The excess power
generated from the turbine will be sold to the local utility company at
a profit.



"The wind energy that's captured will supply power for our geothermal
system, making it fully operational on its own," explained Dr. Carty
Monette, TMCC president. "We designed it this way because fuel is very
expensive in North Dakota and we wanted to save money. The end result
is that we should be completely independent of fossil fuels by next
year, and that's a big deal economically and culturally."



Monette has designated the Foundation for the American Indian (FAI) as
co-project manager for the project. FAI will provide technical
assistance and provide project management, assist in the installation
and commissioning of the wind turbine, and assist the College in
negotiating power purchase agreements and interconnect agreements for
the project. FAI is donating staff time toward the successful
completion of this project.



FAI will also assist the TMCC in identifying potential retail green tag
customers. These green tag sales could generate an additional $75,000
each year. FAI will also help in identifying additional sources of
project funding, and in building an observation deck for the wind
turbine, where the College will educate visitors about the technical
attributes and environmental benefits of the wind turbine as a renewable
energy source.



The project will be the first on an Indian college campus in the U.S.,
and the first utility-scale wind turbine installation on any college
campus in the U.S. Monette says that Turtle Mountain may also be the
first college in the nation that runs completely on renewable energy.
Tom Carbone, vice-president of sales and marketing of Vestas-American,
said, "We recognize the tremendous opportunity and benefits of wind
power in Native American communities. Wind power supplies affordable,
inexpensive energy to the local economy. It also provides jobs and
other sources of income without causing pollution, generating hazardous
wastes, or depleting natural resources. Vestas believes in building
long-term relationships and is looking forward to working closely with
the Foundation for the American Indian and the Turtle Mountain Chippewa
Community."



In 1999 and 2000, the U.S. Congress appropriated $571,000 for the
design, purchase, construction, and implementation of the project.



For further information, contact Carty Monette, TMCC president, phone
(701) 477-7862; Joseph Brignolo, FAI program development director, phone
(513) 899-9152; or Joan Andrews, president of the Foundation for the
American Indian, phone (203) 629-9030.
- posted by Daniel @ 5:17 PM

 
Great Lakes Daily News: 21 August 2003
For links to these stories and more, visit http://www.great-lakes.net/news/

Did you miss a day of Daily News? Remember to use our searchable story
archive at http://www.great-lakes.net/news/inthenews.html


Poisonous algae visit Erie again
----------------------------------------
Once written off as a menace of the past, a toxic, potenially lethal algae
known as microcystis has mysteriously reappeared in Lake Erie almost every
summer since 1995. Source: The Toledo Blade (8/21)


EPA reports positive and negative trends on lakes' health
----------------------------------------
Bald eagles are on the increase in the Great Lakes region, but so are
unwanted invasive species, according to two of the findings of a joint
USEPA/Environment Canada report on the state of the Great Lakes. Source: The
Munster Times (8/21)


Lake Michigan beach monitoring to go high-tech next year
----------------------------------------
Chicago-area beachgoers will know if Lake Michigan water is safe for
swimming before they dip their big toes in, thanks to a new monitoring
system scheduled to be set up at two beaches next summer. Source: Glencoe
News (8/21)


Eat more fish, eat less fish?
----------------------------------------
Medical studies have shown that eating fish at least twice a week may reduce
the risk of several health problems, but decades of contamination have
increased the levels of mercury and PCBs in Lake Erie fish. Source: Erie
Times-News (8/21)


Firm to take over transmissions, upgrade grid
----------------------------------------
A new Cleveland-based company is poised to take over interstate electrical
transmission along the so-called Lake Erie loop, whose failure led to the
nation's largest blackout. Source: The Cleveland Plain Dealer (8/21)


The lure of the Lyman wooden boat
----------------------------------------
The Lyman boats were christened in the choppy water of Lake Erie, which is
why the wooden vessels have endured long after production ceased. Source:
The Cleveland Plain Dealer (8/21)


Kennedy to Canada: Halt heinous pollution
----------------------------------------
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said PCB leakage into the St. Lawrence River from
a 100-year-old landfill site south of downtown Montreal is one of worst
cases of pollution he has seen in 20 years. Source: The Toronto Star (8/20)


Land use report stirs hope among Michigan farmers
----------------------------------------
Michigan farmers hope recommendations from the Michigan Land Use Leadership
Council released Monday will translate into programs that make small farms
more profitable. Source: Traverse City Record Eagle (8/19)


Emergency declared as drought worsens
----------------------------------------
Wisconsin farmers are threatened by bone-dry conditions that prompted Gov.
Jim Doyle on Tuesday to declare a statewide drought emergency. Source:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (8/19)


For links to these stories and more, visit http://www.great-lakes.net/news/


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Great Lakes Daily News is a collaborative project of the Great Lakes
Information Network (www.glin.net) and the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium (www.glrc.org), both based in Ann Arbor, Mich.
- posted by Daniel @ 4:55 PM

 
From Wired News:

The best way to keep the power from going out is to make your own.

That's the line taken by home-power enthusiasts who tout mostly solar power -- along with a bit of wind and even less hydroelectric -- as the ultimate way to avoid grid-induced power shortages, while also reducing pollution and preventing global warming. Read on in: Time to Escape From the Grid?
- posted by Daniel @ 12:53 AM

 
New from CNN:

TORONTO (AP) --Environmentalists in the United States and Canada fear last week's blackout will provide potent ammunition for the politicians and business groups seeking massive investments in new power plants and transmission lines.

A better legacy of the outage, activists say, would be a bold push for renewable energy and effective conservation measures. They hope that the post-blackout spectacle in Ontario will be replicated elsewhere -- a pro-business Conservative government preaching conservation to industry and householders alike, to the point of suggesting clothes-washing in cold water.

"Building more plants and transmission lines -- for consumers and people uneducated about the issues, it's an argument that will seem to make sense," said Steve Clemmer, energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass. "Those are the obvious responses, but it's more complicated than that." Read on in: Will blackout fuel more dirty power or less?
- posted by Daniel @ 12:20 AM