This month’s Make magazine is all about remaking America, and there are a number of articles on DIY energy projects.  There is everything from a very nice homemade solar water heater, to a hybrid recumbent taxi, or using rainwater to flush your toilet.  If you’re at all handy and want to do some of this stuff your self, check it out.  It’s a great magazine in general if you like to make things.

The company that makes a new type of solar cell that is cylindrical, instead of the classic flat-panel, has received the first Federal Loan Guarantee for an alternative energy company. These new solar panels are expected to produce 20% more electricity than flat panels, and offer better performance on overcast days.

Read the article here.

A scientist at Montana State University discovered a fungus in the rainforest that makes Diesel.  Boom.  That’s it.  You feed the fungus, it poops, then you drive your truck with it.

Of course this is still in the early stages, and it will take years to set up a project to see if this is commercially viable and practical, but it’s stil very exciting.  Especially if we could feed the fungus with stuff we don’t want anymore, like garbage.

Hear the full story here on NPR.

If you live in the USA make sure you vote today.  A lot of great Americans fought and died so that we had the right to vote, and this election is the most important one in most of our lifetimes.

If you’re not sure who to vote for, I’d recommend Barack Obama.  Especially if you think renewable enrgy is important.

A nice article about the details of near-future plug-in hybrids (PHEV).  Good ol’ NPR.

Read the article here.

I still really want to make an electric car.  The main argument against electric vehicles I’ve heard recently is that they deliver an environmental mess courtesy of the batteries.  From what I’ve read tonight, that just isn’t the case.  According to the Electric Auto Association:

The Battery Council International reports that 93% of all battery lead is recycled. A higher recycling rate than newspapers (55%) or aluminum cans (42%). Typical new lead-acid batteries contain 60-80% recycled lead and plastic. A true recycling success!

Also the consensus seems to be that batteries will last 3-4 years depending on usage.  Most of the articles I found tonight were a year or more old, so I’m hoping that there is new battery technology now, or coming in the near future.  When I am ready to start on my electric car I will do some more in-depth research.

The article that got me all excited about electric cars again can be found here on the website Treehugger.com Please let me know if you have any better information on new and improved batteries.

I’ve been adding articles to this site from time to time and I think I ought to make a plug for the company I work for, which is working on making renewable energy available to everyone. Hey, Mark okayed it, so plugging your company must be cool! ; )

Shameless Plug for BeUtilityFree

Take the idea of energy sustainability and apply it to what are probably your largest energy uses: your home and car. That’s the approach of BeUtilityFree. Take a look at what we do at www.beutilityfree.com. (I’m the webmaster as well as a renewable energy installer, so I’d love to hear feedback on what you think of the site at brett_s AT BeUtilityFree.com.)

The grand plan is to start out by reducing the amount of energy you use through replacing your current fixtures and appliances with more efficient ones, or designing your new home with efficiency built right in. Then you can buy a much more affordable renewable energy system that will cover your modest needs.

Once you own your means of production, you start getting paid back through avoiding the ever-rising cost of fuel, selling renewable energy credits for your production, taking tax breaks and utility incentives and maybe even selling excess energy.

We sell energy-efficient appliances and lighting and renewable energy systems like solar electric, solar hot water, wind power, hydrogen cogeneration and ethanol stills. We’ll design renewable energy systems, install them or just sell the components to those who have the skills to set them up themselves.

Our special, can’t-find-them-anywhere-else items are Nickel-Iron batteries, the Superior Solar Storage Tank and our 3″ and 4″ column Ethanol Stills.

We are hoping to unveil a few exciting things in the near future. Among them are:

• A turn-key ethanol plant. Just put feedstock, water, enzymes and yeast in one end and watch the fuel pour out the other. We’re currently testing enzymes for cellulosic production so that making ethanol can be as inexpensive and sustainable as possible.
• A Purchase Power Agreement plan that lets anyone get solar energy from their rooftop without any up-front investment. We’d retain ownership of the solar system and sell you the energy at a rate lower than the utility company’s.

If we can get everyone to pump renewable energy into the grid or unplug and make their own energy sustainably, we’ll have taken a huge step toward getting this climate problem licked. And if everyone owns the source of their energy, we can all get out from under the thumb of the utility company and the US Oil War Machine and get back to making a poistive difference in the world.

Brett

We all use rechargeable batteries everyday in everything from cell phones, to razors, to hybrid cars, to power tools. It is SO frustrating to be working on a project and discover that your rechargeable tool is out of juice. Now you have to either wait hours for the battery to charge, use hand tools (which can take forever depending on the job), or not get your project done on time. There is always talk of the next big thing in battery technology that seems to be perpetually around the corner. Well, the wait may be over… for the small scale anyway.

I just read in the current issue of Discover magazine that there are two new capacitor gadgets out on the market. A bike light and a cordless screw driver. I am REALLY excited about the screwdriver. It’s made by Coleman, and has a recharge time of 90 seconds. Seriously, that is unbelievable. I have spent so much time waiting for hand drill batteries to recharge that it makes me edgy just writing about it. 90 seconds! Instead of a battery this driver has an ultracapacitor inside which, like all capacitors, has the ability to take a charge very quickly. You can learn more about it at flashcelldriver.com

Charges in 90 seconds! That’s right… 90 SECONDS!!!

The bike light is pretty cool too. It has a capacitor in it, and gets its charge from a magnet attached to the wheel of your bike. Every time the magnet goes by it allows the light to generate a little electricity. There are two models, one that flashes, and one that stays on continuously while you ride, and for a short time when you stop. Learn more at reelight.com

I should point out that I have not seen either of these devices in person.  I am relying on Discover magazine and the manufacturer’s websites, but even so, I’m pretty impressed.  Capacitors are still not useful for larger, more power-intensive machines like hybrid cars, but researchers are working on it.

Since open land is limited in New Jersey, and the state has pledged to get more of its power from renewable resources, moving wind turbines offshore seems to be the answer.  New Jersey is taking a leadership role in going for this offshore angle after other states have tried and failed.  Our current wars in the middle east combined with record high oil prices seem to be forcing people to take action and move toward renewable energy sources with a new enthusiasm that just wasn’t possible before.

Read the full article from Bloomberg.com here.

When I first started recycling in the 1980s it took some effort to find a place that would accept office paper. Lots of people recycled cans, since you got money back, and a few people would take in glass bottles, but that was about it. You couldn’t recycle plastic anywhere.

When I buy office products, I always try to buy paper products that have the highest recycled content I can find. Initially, I couldn’t find anything that had recycled paper in it at all, but over the years recycled paper products have become more and more available, and in steadily higher percentages of recycled content. The problem is that they are usually more expensive, and sometimes way more expensive.

On a recent trip to Staples for office paper, not only did I find 100% recycled paper (100%!), but it was actually cheaper than the other stuff. That is so great. I honestly never thought I would see this happen. Sometimes you have to look at the little things in order to see progress, but I would say that this is actually huge.