ORN#12 Concentrating Solar Power

Hi friends,

It’s been a while.

We haven’t released a video for weeks now, mostly due to me spending a lot of time learning the ropes of the new job as a home energy auditor. It hasn’t left me much time to do video editing. Things seem to be going smoother now so we should be back to a more regular pace. It’s been incredibly gratifying to me in the new job though, and it’s a great feeling to spend my working hours helping people save energy. (and money!) It’s truly the kind of work I would do even if I wasn’t getting paid for it (shhhh….don’t tell my boss).

So….our latest video is ORN#12 Concentrating Solar Power, which is Carrick’s tour of Nevada Solar One, a different way of generating electricity from the sun. We’re used to seeing solar panels as a way of making electricity, but out in the desert of Nevada they are concentrating the heat from the sun using parabolic mirrors, which eventually turns a steam generator and makes electricity. This was yet another stop on our cross-country journey that was not open to the public, and we had to make special arrangements for a tour of the facility. Fortunately we sounded professional enough that they let us in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hna-SERm1uw



Nevada Solar One is one example of concentrating solar power (CSP) to generate electricity – here they use rows and rows of parabolic trough mirrors that follow the sun throughout the day, and the mirrors focus the intense desert sun onto a small receiver tube overhead. The fluid inside the tube is heated by the sun to 750 degrees and is piped to a heat exchanger that produces steam to turn a generator, making electricity. Our guide explained that while the concentrating solar aspect is newer technology, the steam generator is of course many generations old, so the basis of the whole system is easy enough to build and operate, and is scalable. You may have seen other types of concentrating solar power technology, like the field of mirrored dishes (that look like satellite dishes) that reflect their light onto a central tower. It’s the same idea.

One of the most amazing things we found out about concentrating solar power is that 100 square miles of desert would be enough to power the entire U.S. if it was filled with concentrated solar power plants like Nevada Solar One. Considering the vast stretches of desert we drove through in the Midwest, it seems like a no-brainer. Of course, you have transmission issues delivering it to the rest of the country, etc. etc., but it still serves as an example of a kind of renewable energy that is already proven and could provide power on a massive scale. Our guide Bob told us that there is a lot of research going into developing heat storage capacity so that they could continue to generate electricity after the sun goes down.

During the interview out in the field of mirrors, Bob offered to have one of the mirrors rotated down to our level so we could see it up close. Carrick, not one to miss an opportunity to have some fun, walked right up to it and started making faces at himself in the mirror reflection. I had to leave that part in!

A big setback for companies building concentrating solar power plants like Nevada Solar One is the upfront cost of building the plant. It’s a lot more expensive to build a power plant like this, but then the fuel is free and in the Nevada desert there’s almost a guarantee that it’s going to be really sunny, every day. Natural gas and coal power plants are cheaper to build than CSP plants but then they have to deal with sources of fossil fuels that have costs that swing wildly up and down. Places like Nevada Solar One can set a price to sell electricity that doesn’t change – nice and dependable, just like the sunlight that powers it.

There are two issues that I’ve seen come up with concentrating solar power, that are worth considering. First is CSP plants can use a lot of water because of the steam generation and cooling. Water is scarce enough in the desert but is getting even more difficult an issue because cities and farming farther north are using the resources up. I’ve read that the once-mighty Colorado River is now just a trickle by the time it gets to the Gulf of Mexico. Another issue is the destruction of wildlife habitat in the desert if CSP plants really scale up. To my eyes the whole region of Nevada desert we drove through looked dead, dead, dead, but I’m sure there is a wildlife ecosystem there regardless. That is certainly an important issue to keep in mind when talking about building miles and miles of these CSP plants.

That’s all from here – enjoy the video and hopefully we can get another one out to you soon.

Be well,
Colin & Carrick

ORN#11 Big Solar @ Google

Hi friends,

Here’s our latest video entry, ORN#11 Big Solar @ Google: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LI_7WlPFNw



In this video, Carrick gets a special tour at Google headquarters of their solar installation. At the time it was built a few years ago, it was the largest solar panel installation in the country by a company. Other companies have since built even larger solar installations, but the point of this video is to show an example of a company that went solar as a business investment, so it makes sense for homes AND for big businesses.

This visit was a hard one to set up – Google probably gets more media requests than they can handle. I read an interview with our tour guide in the video, Anthony, and I was persistent in getting through until I could talk with Anthony directly and he was happy to show us around. They’ve covered pretty much every available rooftop space with solar panels – over 9,000 panels altogether. They even covered the parking lots with solar carports, which charge plug-in electric cars for employees to use.

One of the local private schools in Worcester just added a big solar panel installation on their rooftop; I drove by the other day to have a look and I couldn’t see it. It’s installed on a flat roof so it’s not visible from the road. How many huge buildings with unused, open flat roofs are in your area? All those big-box retail stores are a good example. Even for people who think solar panels on home rooftops look strange, we could cover so many large buildings with flat, open roofs and you’d never even see it. That’s one thing we could do to incorporate renewables, one of many.

Be well,
Colin & Carrick

ORN#10 Biomimicry: Design by Nature

Hi friends,

I just finished and posted our latest video, ORN#10 Biomimicry. You
can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPXYMBWjIks



This is one of my favorite interviews that we did, at the Biomimicry
Institute in Missoula, Montana. Biomimicry is a design approach of
looking at nature for solutions when designing new products. Genius.
Why reinvent the wheel when there is already a design solution found
somewhere in nature? Engineering meets biology. During the interview
Carrick learned about many examples of biomimicry and saw some
first-hand, like the waterproof, stainproof fabric that mimics the
microscopic structure of a leaf!

We initially interviewed Janine Benyus, the biomimicry guru, in Boston
before we began our cross-country journey but unfortunately the video
camera we were using went on the fritz about 5 minutes into the
interview. We didn’t get enough footage to use for our video but I
decided to edit together what we did get into a bonus video, which you
can see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYzj4XcOHSs



I’m now officially part of the green workforce! I was hired full-time
several months ago to do weatherization work in homes and am now in
training to start as a home energy auditor in September. I’ve been
interested in becoming a home energy auditor for several years now,
and our cross-country eco-video project has really helped to inspire
me to make it happen. I’ll be helping people to make their homes more
energy-efficient, while saving them money – it’s hard to argue with
that! Massachusetts has one of the best utility-sponsored programs in
the country to weatherize homes. So now I’ll be working as an energy
auditor and still tuning pianos on the side.

I’m definitely behind on getting these videos out, but I’m plugging
along. We still have many more in the queue so stay tuned!

Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org

ORN#9 Hydropower at Hoover Dam

Hi friends,

Our latest video, ORN#9 Hydropower at Hoover Dam, is now online and ready for your viewing pleasure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NvyAlSeZFc



We visited Hoover Dam in Boulder City, Nevada (pronounced Nev-aaaa-da) to get an up-close example of big hydroelectric power. Hoover Dam is one of the largest hydropower dams in the U.S. and a national landmark…plus it was on the way.

I didn’t want to just show up with a video camera and try to interview someone there, so I called ahead to set up something official. The contact I spoke with told me about the filming fee for Hoover Dam, which was…significant to say the least. That wasn’t going to work. Fortunately, I contacted several different people and got a reply from someone else there who gave us the in, and we interviewed one of the tour guides for Hoover Dam which worked out great! We got to tag along on the tour and film inside the dam, which is a rare treat.

Hydroelectric dams produce most of the renewable electricity in the U.S., and Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that we could easily double the hydropower in this country by replacing older inefficient turbines and adding new capacity to existing dams. In fact, only 3% of the country’s 80,000 dams produce electricity – most are used for irrigation, flood control, and water treatment.

Hoover Dam produces 2,080 megawatts of electricity every year – that’s an incredible amount of power. That’s three times more power than the world’s largest wind farm we visited in Roscoe, Texas, and it’s a constant base-load source of electricity. It’s enough to supply 1.3 million homes with power!

There are very real environmental impacts for hydroelectric dams. Dams can greatly affect the ecology of a river system. Some dams build up lakes as storage behind the dams and others are run-of-river dams that let the water flow through. While flooding areas to become lakes behind the dams dramatically changes the ecosystem, some people argue that harnessing and controlling the river flow offsets the damage that comes from seasonal flooding. Of course, that’s a natural cycle too. There are lively debates on the environmental impacts of hydroelectric dams.

I included an internet-only video extra that is just for a bit of fun, ORN Extra: Bodies in Hoover Dam. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4teeOCLqxs)



While on the tour, the guide addressed the old rumor that there are bodies buried in Hoover Dam. There were, in fact, 96 men who died on-site during the construction of the dam between 1931 and 1936, but beyond that I’ll let the video give you the answer. This video extra is not going to be included in the DVD to distribute to schools – it’s a bit dark and off-topic for that. I included it online because it’s an interesting snippet about the dam, and it may be the kind of short video that gets passed around and generates a lot of hits - we’ll see.

Be well,
Colin

Hi friends,

We just released our latest video, ORN#7 Vertical Axis Wind Turbines,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp522phTgBc



While coming through Detroit we stopped in to visit Enviro-Energies, a
company that makes a very different kind of wind turbine. Vertical
axis wind turbines are more commonly mounted on rooftops and spin,
well, vertically instead of horiztonally. Think about a
merry-go-round with sails, and that’s a lot like what we saw on our
visit. Nothing like what we’re used to a wind turbine looking like.
Carrick chatted with Ken Johnson, President of Enviro-Energies about
vertical axis wind turbines, or VAWTs.

So why use a VAWT instead of the traditional propeller-type wind
turbine? WARNING: long answer to follow. From how I see it, they are
different products for different applications. Traditional horizontal
wind turbines are mounted on towers or poles – generally, the higher
you place the turbine the more consistent wind speed you’ll see.
They’re not meant to mount on a rooftop, not only because of the lower
elevation but also because the sloping roofs produce a lot of
turbulence in the airflow. The Enviro-Energies turbine actually
takes advantage of air turbulence from sloped roofs and is better able
to handle shifting wind direction.

For homeowners, putting up a wind turbine can be a tricky situation.
In our town in Massachusetts, the policy states that any pole or tower
would have to fall on my property in ANY direction, so if I have a
75-foot tower I’d better have a good amount of land. I don’t have
many acres of land so that wouldn’t work for me. Because VAWTs are
roof-mounted, this isn’t a problem for getting town approval.

VAWTs are marketed touting a number of benefits, some of which I will
take issue with. They are sold as being silent and harmless to birds
(suggesting those are problems with traditional propeller-types).
These claims play to many people’s mistaken impressions that wind
turbines are loud and a big threat to birds, which I and many other
people spend a lot of time refuting. In my experience, small
residential wind turbines do make noise when they’re really moving,
and larger commercial-sized wind turbines (newer ones anyway) do not.
The Enviro-Energies turbines they are silent at any size and speed.
Wind studies have shown that on average, wind turbines kill 2 birds
per year – again, cats, windshields, plate glass windows, etc., are
responsible for more birds killed annually than wind turbines.

What is really intriguing about the Enviro-Energies wind turbine is
that they have developed large-scale turbines that could be put on
tall buildings in cities. This is an application where traditional
horizontal turbines would not work. Usually wind power is generated
in rural areas with transmission to cities, but designs like this
could bring wind power to the cities themselves. The largest model
they can produce at Enviro-Energies is 200 feet wide, with bladders
filled with helium to significantly reduce the weight of the turbine.

Now, Enviro-Energies is not the only company out there making vertical
axis wind turbines. Actually, if you mention VAWTs to most wind
energy enthusiasts they will usually groan and roll their eyes. VAWTs
are relatively new to the game and there are a lot of new companies
making wind turbines that look neat, but haven’t been thoroughly
tested and usually produce much less energy than they are marketed
for. Just do a search online for vertical axis wind turbines and you
will see an amazing variety of designs, and a lot of amazing claims
with how much electricity they can produce at lower wind speeds.
During the interview, Ken talked about their approach to design and
how much the sails of the Enviro-Energies turbine catch wind more
efficiently at low wind speeds.

Another interesting feature of the Enviro-Energies turbines is that
they use magnetic levitation, which greatly reduces the friction while
turning. In the video you can see Carrick very easily turning a
20-foot turbine. That’s one way to get Carrick to burn off some
energy! Also, Ken mentioned that company logos and advertisements can
be added to the sails which make large and unique billboard, while
sending a green message.

So check out the video and enjoy – this visit was definitely one of
the best examples of being able to visit and report on something that
most people have never seen or heard of. I’m grateful that we had the
opportunity!

Be well,
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org

ORN#7 GM and the Chevy Volt

Hi friends,

I just posted our latest video, ORN#7 GM and the Chevy Volt.



GM has been developing a variety of alternative fuel vehicles, seeing the writing on the wall when it comes to the future of gasoline. They are working on developing hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, E-85 ethanol, and plug-in hybrids like the upcoming Chevy Volt. Our video features Carrick’s interview with Beth Lowery, Vice President of the Environment, Energy and Safety at GM, plus a tour of their battery development lab where they are testing the battery system for the Volt.

Getting into GM was an unlikely opportunity, to say the least. Months before we left on our cross-country journey, I had been, er…plugging away at trying to get an interview there about the Volt. I didn’t figure it was a good idea to just show up with a camera ala Michael Moore, so I researched the contacts there and tried everything I could but didn’t get anywhere. While we were interviewing Chelsea Sexton in Los Angeles I mentioned that I didn’t have any luck and sure enough, she had the connections to get us in. There is great irony there if you’ve seen the documentary, ‘Who Killed the Electric Car?’. So, as we were coming through Detroit on the way back home we got the red carpet treatment at GM and were fortunate enough to get the interviews we needed for a video about the Volt.

The Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid car that is very different technology that what we’re seen so far. The car has a 40-mile range on electric-only, then instead of a motor an on-board gasoline-powered generator produces the electricity to provide power. Unlike a combustion engine that is constantly under different demands for power, i.e. going up hills, changing speed, etc., the generator runs at a single, optimum speed for better fuel economy. The average commute to work and back is about 40 miles, so for many people the Volt would have enough range to get around without using any gasoline, but has the extended range with the generator if people need to drive further. The Volt is due out this November and I can assure you there will be great publicity and fanfare when that time comes!

Carrick’s interview with VP Beth Lowery was in downtown Detroit at GM’s Renaissance Center, which is the big skyscraper with the GM logo. The lobby of the building is a showcase of GM vehicles – it’s a busy, noisy place as you’ll see. One part that I did not include in the video is where Carrick tells Beth that when he grows up his first car is going to be a Tesla Roadster – she was a good sport and had a big smile at that one. Way to tell the vice president of one of the world’s largest automakers that you want to buy a competitor’s car….It was great to hear about the variety of alt fuel technologies they are working on, giving people a lot of choices in the future about how they want to power their cars.

We then traveled over to the battery development lab that is working on testing the battery system for the Chevy Volt. Carrick interviewed Doug Drauch, lead developer at the lab, about the technology that goes into the battery pack on the Volt. Outside the lab we also got to see GM’s earlier electric car, the EV1 (we actually saw the first EV1 made). The EV1’s were leased but never sold to customers, and that program certainly came to a controversial end about a decade ago. The Chevy Volt, however, will be for sale and they are projecting 10,000 vehicles off the line in the first year.

In the past, we’ve had our bit of fun with GM but it has all been in fun. Back in 2007 Carrick and I made a video about the Volt called ‘Darth Vader and the Chevy Volt’ which took some pokes but ultimately was a fun way to spread the word about the Volt.



My guess is GM probably hadn’t seen that one before they agreed to let us in. Considering their previous history with electric cars I think they deserve some ribbing, but beyond that I think what they’re doing with the Chevy Volt is great and I hope they are successful. GM is very much in the public about their strong commitment to the Volt. You can keep updated on their progress at the Volt website, www.ChevroletVoltage.com.

Be well,
Colin

ORN#6 World's Largest Wind Farm

This is one of my favorite interviews from our cross-country eco-video
project, when we met Cliff Etheridge in Roscoe, Texas, home of the
world’s largest wind farm.



The way Cliff explained, the rural town of Roscoe was dying out, and
once the Dairy Queen left town they knew they were in trouble. Cliff
had just retired as a cotton farmer and knew about the wind farms in
nearby Abilene and Sweetwater, and was interested to find out if
Roscoe could have a wind farm too. There is both plenty of wind and
plenty of open space in Roscoe. He brought in wind experts to assess
whether or not a wind farm would work there, and then got the support
of the townspeople for the idea.

A few years later, the world’s largest wind farm now stands in Roscoe,
Texas with 631 wind turbines producing enough electricity for 250,000
homes. Farmers and landowners are paid by the company who owns the
wind turbines for leasing their land, and they continue to farm around
the turbines. In a rural farming community, that extra money really
helps keep the local economy going. As we saw in so many places,
there are a variety of reasons to support renewable energy: the
environment, the economy, national security, etc. In fact, the week
before we arrived in Roscoe, Cliff won ‘Environmentalist of the Year’
from the state of Texas!

Standing in a field of 631 massive wind turbines was an amazing
experience. It was actually very quiet - just the noise of the wind
blowing. It made me wish that everyone who opposes wind farms could
stand where I was to experience it for themselves. They are quite
majestic, in my opinion. Our local newspaper just featured an article
on building wind turbines here in central Massachusetts, speaking of
the several that have been built in the last two years, and others
that are on the way. I read the online version of the article and it
was of course followed by comments on the website about how wind
turbines are noisy, kill birds, are a bad investment, etc. People may
not like how they look, and that's their opinion of course. I've
heard some complaints about wind turbines being noisy but I've never
experienced that myself with the turbines I've been close to. I know
the smaller residential wind turbines are are noisier. Many studies
have been done about bird mortality with wind turbines and it's
generally found that wind turbines kill about 2 birds per year. Cats,
windshields, and plate glass windows are a far greater menace to bird
populations than wind turbines. As far as wind turbines being a bad
investment, our first video in the ORN series features the wind
turbine at Holy Name High School which has a 7-year payback and then
free heat/electricity for years afterward. The Roscoe wind farm was a
business decision, to boost the economy of a rural town that was
dying. People can argue the numbers all day but in the meantime that
doesn't stop people from investing in renewable energy and
experiencing the very real benefits. If you hear or see these
arguments I encourage you to help counter them and try to correct some
of the misinformation out there.

Enjoy!
Colin
--
Our Renewable Nation, A Cross-Country Eco-Video Adventure
www.OurRenewableNation.org