http://smartgreenenergy.com Source for quality information on efficiency, conservation, and clean energy Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:52:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Energy storage is the least talked about, and most challenging problem facing green energy today. There's plenty of potential power from either wind or solar, but these sources are intermittent. What's needed is reliable storage. There are four broad general ways to store energy[1]: Chemical, with batteries being the most ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/09/17/more-on-energy-storage-flywheel-batteries/ Efficiency is the ugly stepchild of solving our energy woes. While solar panels and windmills are high profile and focus on alternative sources of energy, efficiency focuses on needing less in the first place. How dull. How do you spice this up? How about the idea that you ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/08/29/homes-without-heat/ I just finished reading an article on RenewableEnergyAccess by Ron Pernick that took a very positive viewpoint of the sea change with alternative and renewable energy. [Clean energy sources] will they represent the highest growth and innovation opportunity in the energy sector and double-digit chunks of our energy infrastructure... He quotes ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/08/11/clean-energy-reaching-a-tipping-point/ In terms of what you can do at home to make a difference, one of the top items on the "more expensive but worth it" list is solar thermal -- essentially hot water generated by rooftop collectors. We like our hot water. We talk about taking a "long hot shower", ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/08/06/why-isnt-there-more-solar-thermal/ Wow. There's been so much press lately about liquid coal. Between "liquid coal" and "clean coal", there's almost a buzz, especially among non-technical people. Gee, this stuff sounds great. OK, my analogy for "clean coal" is it's as if you referred to sewage that's had 90% of the ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/07/27/mythbusters-what-about-liquid-coal/ Now here's a challenge. In the recent issue of Scientific American, there's an article about the "rebound effect". This is something straight out of Economics 101: "If prices decline, consumption will increase". When applied to efficiency, what this means is that, as energy consuming devices, like cars ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/07/27/the-rebound-effect/ I've ignored geothermal in the blog for some time, so it's time to make up for that. I just read an article in Technology Review titled "Abundant Power from Universal Geothermal Energy". The article is essentially an interview with Jefferson Tester, professor of chemical engineering at the MIT ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/06/27/more-on-geothermal/ One challenge for solar and wind sources is that they are intermittent -- power is only generated when the wind blows or the sun shines. Utilities prefer what they call "firm" power -- essentially power that is comes with a future delivery commitment. Because wind and solar are ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/06/27/hybrid-power-solutions/ NREL (the National Renewable Energy Lab) recently published information on their new experimental "Wind to Hydrogen" facility. This is an idea that has been promoted for some time by the Leighty Foundation, and it's a clear example of "Smart Green Energy". The challenge: Wind power is intermittent. The solution: ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/06/19/nrel-wind-to-hydrogen-facility/ Geothermal is a seldom discussed alternative source of power. Yet there is a vast potential geothermal energy resource located as heat in water and rocks at drillable depths of about 2 to 6 miles[1]. Interest in geothermal comes and goes. Just this past week, U.S. Rep. ... http://smartgreenenergy.com/2007/06/19/what-about-geothermal-power/