When it comes to renewable energy solar has to be the star, so to speak, followed by wind and then it’s a toss of between geothermal and hydro power. But, even within hydro power, the most often overlooked area is small hydro which is capable of rapid expansion if the financing is there.

Business partners, Bob Fairchild and David Coyte decided to recycle an unused small hydro electric plant upon the Kentucky River. The three water turbines on the lock and dam have been sitting idle for at least 6 years when Coyte and Fairchild decided to revive this renewable energy source.

The business partners can monitor the operation of the hydro turbines from their home computers, but occasionally need to make in person visits to clear debris. The small hydroelectric plant was built in 1928 and is called the Mother Ann Lee Hydroelectric Station.

This station is the only low impact hydroelectric plant in as it “adequately protects river flows, water quality, aquatic life and other factors as certified by the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, an independent non-profit in Maine.”

Coyte and Fairchild have combined recycling with small hydro to provide very clean electricity to the local Kentucky residents. One has to wonder how many other abandoned hydro electric plants around the U. S. could also use a makeover and a kick start to help other communities go a little greener.

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On Friday, June 26, 2009 the U. S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which some are calling the “Cap and Trade Bill.”

So, what this means is that there will be a cap on how much pollution such as coal-fired power plants and other industrial complexes can emit. If they go above this limit, then they will have to buy credits from other less polluting companies.

Critics of cap and trade use the sky is falling scare tactics of saying that consumer electricity costs will rise by $4,000 per year. Other, more level headed and reasoned types put the increase at around $175 per year for the average family and this won’t kick in until around the year 2020.

While companies such as the coal-fired power plants will be negatively impacted by cap and trade, the benefits will go towards other companies such as renewable energy companies that sell solar, wind, geothermal, biodiesel and other low CO2 fuels.

In fact, the point of cap and trade is to transition from a fossil fuel based economy dependent upon foreign energy into a nation that is energy independent. The transition from coal, oil and natural gas to solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric and other less polluting companies and devices will not be without initial pain.

But, the positives are cleaner air, cleaner environment, less dependence upon foreign hostile nations, more jobs in the renewable energy sector and supporting industries and basically keeping the green for ourselves both environmentally and financially.

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About 10 days ago I talked about smart metering in Indiana and other places (like my home in Southern California) where the electric companies are stepping up to bat and installing the necessary infrastructure so that they and homeowners can take more control of electricity use.

Now, besides the electric companies there are other big players on the Information Technology (or is that Internet Technology) side that are also interested in smart grid applications. Companies such as Google, Intel, Verizon, Cisco Systems, and IBM all have a keen interest in seeing smart grid technology rollout.

But, why would IT companies have such a large interest in the electric companies? As it turns out the electric companies are not very IT savvy or IT equipped when it comes to smart grid technology.

There is money to be made helping the electric company track power usage in their service areas. Using the right software and hardware infrastructure can help avoid power outages in general (and especially as more electric cars are being plugged into the grid in the near future) and quickly start load sharing with other resources.

Like I stated before smart metering inside the home is also supposed to let people monitor their own appliances to see which use more power so that either physical changes or behavioral changes can be made. Let’s for instance say that one day you’ll be able to Google your water heater and see that it is using way too much electricity.

At this point you may want to go down to the hardware store and purchase a $20 blanket for it. Let’s also say that you Google your refrigerator and it is consuming much more electricity that others in the neighborhood.

You can then tell your kids that “they are letting the cold air out” when they endlessly stare at the open refrigerator looking for something to eat or you can fill your refrigerator with food or jugs of water, which also help keep it cold and use less grid juice.

No matter what, when consumers have the information on just how and where the electricity is being consumed in their own homes then conservation may become a bigger motivator in going green for many who wouldn’t have bothered or known how to before.

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The Carnegie Institution and California State University have identified New York City as a prime location for high flying wind turbine kites. The turbine kites would fly between 20,000 ft and 50,000 ft above the ground, harnessing the winds’ power to create electricity.

The reason that the kites need to fly is that the jet stream starts at around 30,000 ft above the ground and it is this continuous blast of wind that could be harnessed to produce electricity. Now, this also begs the question that since the major airlines also use the jet stream to travel from coast to coast cutting down on flying time, will this kites present a problem to air travel?

Wind kite farms would have to be developed and mapped out so that pilots could avoid collision with the high flying electricity generators. In addition, will these kites not attract and be compromised by lightning strikes as well? We wouldn’t want a bunch of Ben Franklin scenarios now would we?

Obviously there are many technical and logistical issues to be worked out before we see a farm of Kite Runners popping up above the Big Apple anytime soon. If these logistics can be worked out if would be mean a short distance of travel between alternative energy source and users (unlike traditional wind farms).

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A scientist named Jared Potter has created a couple of prototypes for deep drilling for geothermal energy. Right now, companies are using diamond drill bits for grinding through granite and other compact rocks in order to tap into geothermal energy far below the Earth’s surface.

The first prototype is called a Flame Jet Drill and it works by using hydrogen heated to 3200 degrees F and drills through granite three times as fast as a traditional drill, with no breakage of drill bits. The superheated hydrogen does not melt the rock into magma as one would imagine but rather causes the granite to fragment and the outcome is a perfectly round hole.

The second prototype that Potter is working on is for deep water drilling for geothermal energy. The Hydrothermal drill superheats hydrogen to 7200 degrees F, which in turns heats a jet of water that serves to drill through granite and other hard rock.

Deep drilling for geothermal energy has long been a dream with many scientists with limited success. With Jared Potter’s prototypes soon to be commercialized the dream may turn into reality more quickly that previously imagined.

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Duke Energy Corporation will be rolling out smart meters to consumers in a new initiative. This new initiative also includes rolling out solar panels, wind turbines and solar thermal water heaters to some homes.

The installation of the smart meters will affect around 800,000 homes in Indiana. Duke Energy is also moving forward with smart meter technology in part of North Carolina as well.

Other states that have smart metering projects include California, Colorado and Florida. In fact, this week a technician from Southern California Edison, which services my home installed a new meter.

I spoke with the technician about the new meter tying into Edison’s smart metering system and it looks very promising. The feature that sounds most encouraging to me is that homeowners will be able to logon to the Internet and see which appliances in their homes are using the most electricity.

I’m the kind of person who would like to see that my Energy Saver appliances are living up to expectations and be able to gauge and make behavioral adjustments on how to more efficiently conserve energy.

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Reuters is reporting that methane could be the solutions for storage of extra electricity produce by wind and solar power. Scientists have discovered a microbe, Methanobacterium palustre, that can convert electricity directly into methane as long as you add a little hydrogen to the mix.

The problem is that methane is also a greenhouse gas and even more deadly than CO2. Methane is also the main component in nature gas. But, methane is made up of CH4. That means one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.

What is the point of adding electricity and hydrogen to produce methane, when you can use hydrogen, which produces zero greenhouse emission for storage? Today, most hydrogen is produce from natural gas by stripping out the carbon and selling it on the market as its own commodity.

A better way to store extra electricity generated from renewable resources such as wind and sun is hydrogen. You take the electric current and use modern electrolysis methods to produce hydrogen and oxygen. You store the hydrogen for use with fuel cells and sell the oxygen on the open market.

The only reason to make methane from microbes is as an interim step to producing hydrogen. Zero emissions will clean up greenhouse gasses and global warming far faster than low emission methods. And the time to start thinking this way is now.

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The New York Power Authority has reversed an earlier decision regarding a potential Yahoo data center considered for the western part of the state. One of the points of contention has been Yahoo’s desire to acquire low cost hydropower from Niagara Falls for its new facility.

The new Yahoo data center could start building as early as fall 2009 and be completed in January 2011. The new east coast data center would mean 125 new high tech jobs and an average pay level of $65,000 per year.

New York’s Governor David Paterson and the New York Power Authority have agreed to sell Yahoo 10 MW of cheap hydropower for the initial phase of construction. In the second phase of construction of the $150 million data center starting in the Spring of 2012, Yahoo will be sold an additional 5 MW of hydropower.

Now, the California-based Yahoo has already taken measures to reduce its carbon footprint and has set up the Yahoo! Green page to help consumers do the same. With the addition of hydropower from New York, Yahoo is once again competing with Google on the green front as well as the search front.

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Once the cost of solar energy reaches the same price as electricity from the grid, then the state of “grid parity” will exist. California is close to grid parity now as it is one of the sunniest states with some of the highest utility bills.

At this point consumers may see the value of installing solar panels and cost averaging them over a 25 year period in order to realize the savings. Or better yet, some solar panel installation companies will do this for you.

They will install the solar panels for free and then charge homeowners a flat monthly rate over the next 25 years for the electricity produced and in most cases the cost will be less than that charged by the large utility companies.

The solar grid parity situation will also create jobs for entrepreneurs who will be able to compete head on with the utility companies. Given a choice, many consumers will opt for even monthly payments from solar energy rather than paying the winter / summer rates and changing fees from the utility companies.

Also, homes in sunny areas will be less affected by blackouts and brownouts in summer months during peak demand. In fact, in some areas, homeowners will be able to sell solar electricity back to the utility companies and roll back their meters. And this would be a sweet situation to be in, now wouldn’t it?

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President Obama this week toughened the CAFE standards for cars and light trucks beginning in 2016 giving automakers the 7 years they need to develop a whole new line of fuel efficient vehicles. The present CAFE standards are 27.5 MPG for cars and 24 MPG for light trucks. The light truck standards will increase to 26 MPG and cars will increase to 35.5 to 39 MPG, depending upon whom you ask.

The increase in the standards has several groups smiling. According to About the groups shaking hands about the new announcement include “…union members, environmental activists, auto industry executives and elected officials, both Republican and Democratic.”

The faction that is noticeably missing from this group, however, are the oil company executives. More MPG’s mean less oil dollars at the pumps.

Another issue that is not clear is the exemption for heavy trucks over 10,000 lbs. The CAFE exemption for SUV’s was closed in 2007, but not for larger vehicles such as the Hummer and Ford Excursion.

One loophole that has been pointed out to this whole plan is the disparity between CAFE MPG numbers and EPA MPG numbers for vehicles. EPA standards are often tougher than CAFE but the numbers also tend to be inflated compared to real world numbers the average driver achieves.

No matter what the downsides, loopholes and items yet to be addressed, the new CAFE standards are a move in the right directions for reducing emissions and conserving fuel.

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