Green Power Projects Around our Nation

I just love technology and what better technology is there than green technology? Well, I do believe that over the past few years, as a nation, we have become more environmentally aware and because of that inventors and companies are finding ways to capitalize on this emerging market.

Today, I am going to take a look at two projects that I feel are noteworthy in hopes that our readers find them interesting yet important to our environment. Let's begin with the nation’s first offshore wind turbine farm that was announced back in mid- July with an estimated ticket price of $1.6 billion.

Delaware Utility and Bluewater Wind are collaborating on this project which will be situated about 12 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware bringing power to approximately 50,000 homes a year. The remainder of the power will be sold to customers with in the area and the project is expected to begin generating power by 2012. Let's keep our fingers crossed that our government doesn't get in the way of this one.

In contrast to the clean power that we can generate from wind, let's take a look at what the city of San Antonio plans on doing with their sewage. Back on September 11, San Antonio Water System announced it would sell captured methane gas generated from the utility’s treatment center to Ameresco Inc. a Framingham, Massachusetts based energy Service Company.

The city of San Antonio expects to generate $250,000 a year by providing the company with 900,000 cubic feet of natural gas daily and will continue to convert the remainder of the bio-solids into compost that it sells to use in gardens and yards. Although projects such as these are far and few between, our government needs to do a better job of promoting and giving benefits to those companies and citizens who partake in them.

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Sapphire Energy Paving way For Renewable Energy

I was searching online for an interesting topic to write about this morning and low and behold; didn't I come across a local San Diego-based company with a very unique and environmentally friendly solution to the ever-growing global fuel crisis.

Sapphire Energy (private) has developed the world’s first-ever clean crude oil that harnesses both sunlight and CO2. In this day and age, companies such as Sapphire offer a very attractive value proposition to consumers and fuel producers worldwide: Fuel from waste and immensely available and renewable natural resources.

Sapphire Energy has been soliciting funds from private investors over the past several months and got word recently that Bill Gate’s Investment Firm - Cascades Investments LLC - will join their already elite group of investors.

The company has been able to raise more than $100 million in funds to date, providing them with the necessary financial resources to move forward with plans to construct a 10,000-barrel-a-day algae-derived oil facility. Sapphire Energy is eager to get under way and is confident that they have the solution for tomorrow, today. The company has already proven its ability to produce a "green crude oil" made directly from CO2 using the natural process of photosynthesis.

On a very positive note, the byproduct from Sapphire's process is ASTM compliant and does not require the use of food crops or agriculture land, which will ultimately help prevent food prices from soaring globally. Lastly, the renewable green fuel is carbon neutral and can potentially eliminate our country’s dependence on foreign fuel. Sounds like a winner to me!

Although Sapphire Energy is not publicly traded, the company has a lot to offer to Americans as we continue to persevere though increasingly tough times and hunt for an environmental friendly solution to our growing fuel problem.

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Solar Power Could Supply Energy to 4 billion Worldwide by 2030

According to the Solar Generation V Report recently published by Greenpeace and the European Photovoltaic Association [EPIA], “Solar electricity can contribute largely to the energy needs of two-thirds of the world's population - including those in remote areas - by 2030.”

The report also estimates that more than 1800 gigawatts of photovoltaic systems will be installed worldwide by 2030. That's enough power to meet approximately 14% of global electricity demand and supply energy to more than 4 billion people.

Not only is solar power beneficial to the environment, it's also quite positive for the economy.

The new Solar Generation report also reveals that the global population of "green collar" workers responsible for the sale, installation and maintenance of photovoltaic solar systems is expected to balloon from 120,000 currently to more than 20 million in 2020 and nearly 10 million by 2030.

These jobs are created locally and therefore promote the economic advancement of local economies in virtually every corner of the globe. Increased dependence on solar power should also hopefully move us closer to more sustainable communities.

Currently, grants and tax breaks are helping facilitate the growth of the solar industry. Hopefully, by 2015 to 2020 the solar field will be cost-competitive with conventional energy sources. One of the main solar companies out there is LDK Solar Co., for more information click here.

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Vertical Farms

With the oil prices so high, the demand for corn as a fuel source and food demands from China, the world is facing food shortages in less fortunate countries around the world. The old saying is apropos here, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” We have to show the world how to grow and cultivate their own food sources instead of just giving them hand outs.

A way to teach those countries how to feed themselves, and teach us how to feed ourselves more efficiently, has been brain stormed at Columbia University. Professor Dickson Despommier of Environmental Health Sciences gave birth to the idea in his Medical Ecology class which examines the health consequences of a damaged environment. Over the last three years he has focused on the effects of agriculture on the environment which lead to his idea of Vertical Farms.

He gives the idea to the class of a community of 50,000 people who have no other food source than a vertical farm. The students had to figure out the size of the farm to sustain that community and the result was a 30-story building that covers a New York City block. One building of this size is equal to 588 acres of farm land. One hundred and ten of these farms could feed NYC instead of the expansive 64,680 acres of farmland equal to that.

Dickson says that the vertical farm is to farming as the skyscraper it to offices. He also believes we need to give as much attention to vertical farming as we did to space exploration. His goal is to replace all horizontal farming with vertical and let the land replenish itself. The farms would house plants and animals up to pigs. Cows, he said, would have to be raised elsewhere if desired. Nothing is new here, all the foods are being grown under roofs as we speak, but this would bring it all to one central location and make the community it fed more sustainable and would reduce emissions and cost from transporting food all over the globe.