Nevada city actively seeking ecopower development

Carson City, Nevada, has launched a private-public initiative called Team Nevada, with the aim of drawing businesses willing to invest in renewable energy technology.

According to this article, the project also has backing from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and renewable energy investment engine NV Energy.

From wind to solar to geothermal, Nevada offers a lot of renewable energy potential. To harness this, Nevada is building a 250-mile long grid that runs north-south, enabling renewable energy projects to tap into the delivery system.

Smart states are getting ahead of this trend. Every state has an economic development commission of some sort. Now is the time for state business interests to convince government to establish separate commissions to go after cleantech. Or at least to have working groups within the existing commissions.

Windmill 101

There are some good general insights about installing wind power at this site.

Homemade wind turbine built using 55-gallon plastic drums and PVC

Gotta love homespun ingenuity. Learn more at the builder's blog.

Here's part two, which covers actually making electricity from the project. This produced about 12 volts, or enough to keep charge on a typical car battery.

UK wind turbine

This video of a homemade wind turbine in the United Kingdom shows what a little ingenuity and experimentation can produce.

This turbine can produce up to a kilowatt of electricity but on average makes 200 watts.

Making water

Some say that future wars will be fought over water, not oil.

With the growth of human population, we continue to move to areas that don't have good, quality natural water sources. Thus grows the need to create potable water from less-than-ideal sources.

This Popular Mechanics article has a rundown on five ambitious water projects.

Pedal-powered homemade submarine

In what sounds like a very slow way to cross the Atlantic Ocean, a man plans to pedal a one-man submarine from West Africa to Barbados.

The trip would take about 50 days, according to this article.

Inventor Ted Ciamillo is no stranger to marine propulsion technologies. In 1997, he designed the Hydrospeeder, a sort of underwater motorbike. (see image below)


Later, he invented the amazing Lunocet, a tail fin that you strap onto your feet, allowing you to swim much more like a dolphin. See the Lunocet video:



Ciamillo obviously has some talent. And to think about taking a homemade sub across the Atlantic he has cajones. A very interesting story.

Hopefully just a false start

Demand for solar and wind power systems is plummeting, according to this New York Times article.

Low energy prices, the credit crisis and lack of general confidence in the economy are to blame.

From the article:

Much of the problem stems from the credit crisis that has left Wall Street banks reeling. Once, as many as 18 big banks and financial institutions were willing to help finance installation of wind turbines and solar arrays, taking advantage of generous federal tax incentives. But with the banks in so much trouble, that number has dropped to four, according to Keith Martin, a tax and project finance specialist with the law firm Chadbourne & Parke.

But this is just a bump on the road. At some point, the world economy will recover and demand for energy and commodities will resume its healthy growth rate. When that happens, the United States needs to have renewable energy infrastructure in place. We need to have factories ready to export such technology and products.

If President Obama wants to look for a place to inject stimulus funds, this is it. The future is now if we make it so.

The wild Canadian Hinterland

A Canadian automotive design group led by executives from Bombardier (airplanes, boats) has a design for a long range electric car.

The Hinterland uses a German word as its namesake (Hinterland is a a place untouched by man, far from urban areas). Check out some more images and information on the vehicle here.

The car would be constructed of aluminum.

From company press materials:

This original form is also an attempt to find a characteristic image for a Canadian economy electric car that could become a recognizable national icon, rather like our distinctive and characteristic emblems (Olympic Stadium, Montréal Metro). The case of London’s and New York’s taxis are good examples of this.

By combining sources of artistic, technical and scientific expertise (recreational vehicles, electric motors and batteries, aeronautics, aluminium, plastics processing, video games, etc.), we could design, produce and sell a technically and distinctly innovative passenger vehicle, elegant in its simplicity, non-polluting, recyclable, safe and adapted to the North American climate, while providing jobs for thousands of specialists and qualified workers.

Another city of the future being planned

In the unlikely nation of Azerbaijan, a radical eco-city may be about to take wing.

An island named Zira will become a 1 million square-meter tourist resort and residential area with zero carbon footprint, according to this Fast Company article.

Zira, in the Caspian Sea, will receive its makeover from Dutch architects Bjarke Ingels Group. Buildings and architecture will resemble the Seven Peaks of Azerbaijan. View a slideshow of the project details here.

Solar and other sustainable energy features will be integrated throughout the structures, and off-shore wind turbines will provide a big chunk of electricity too.



The eco city will feature beaches, a hanging garden, golf course and promenade.

Here's a view of the cityscape.



Here's a representation of the city's resemblence to the seven peaks.

Google and NASA launching school to help humans keep up with computers

From the world of truth is stranger than fiction comes the news that Google and NASA are partnering to create a special school for futurists in Silicon Valley to "prepare scientists for an era when machines become cleverer than people," according to the Financial Times article.

The institution - “Singularity University” - will be led by Ray Kurzweil, who predicted the exponential pace of technological change.

Among other things, Kurzweil gained notoriety for his stance that before 2050 artificial intelligence will outpace humans, thus meaning we will be living in the freaking Matrix.

To quote the FT article:

The so-called “singularity” is a theorised period of rapid technological progress in the near future. Mr Kurzweil, an American inventor, popularised the term in his 2005 book “The Singularity is Near”.

Proponents say that during the singularity, machines will be able to improve themselves using artificial intelligence and that smarter-than-human computers will solve problems including energy scarcity, climate change and hunger.

Yet many critics call the singularity dangerous. Some worry that a malicious artificial intelligence might annihilate the human race.

Well, I'm glad NASA is on this one. We will need the world's brightest minds to save us from computers. Aren't we already addicted enough to these things?

Not to trivialize a significant matter, because the law of unintended consequences is alive and well. Who knew that those computer punch cards of yore would lead to where we are today, a world where people text instead of talk, surf instead of walk and theorize without chalk.

Welcome to the future.

Green social networking online part I: Just Means

"Where good work lives." That's the motto of green social networking site JustMeans.

This site claims to give users the ability to "talk to companies about their social and environmental impact."

Prominently on the front page, registered users can make posts about what they're up to, what they think, what they'd like to see happen, using the 140 characters or less standard employed by twitter.

There's a pretty decent green jobs board. Users can create profiles, post their resume, manage a job search.

For companies wanting to spread the word about their environmental and social programs, there is a place to post press releases.

There is an events listing page.

Are you a member of JustMeans? Let us know what you think of the site.