"Play It Again God"

Good Deeds, Good News, Good Times

Posts Tagged Green Energy

Exercise converted to electricity

Sep 1

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments


Pedal power is gaining traction as thousands of bikes and elliptical machines are retrofitted to produce electricity.

Gyms are using sweat equity to help power their facilities. A Brooklyn eatery uses it to make smoothies. Female inmates at a Phoenix jail pedal to power their TV to watch soap operas. Actor Ed Begley Jr. bikesrides a bike to run his toaster.

“Business is really taking off,” says Jay Whelan, CEO of The Green Revolution, a Connecticut-based company that retrofits bikes for spinning classes.
usatoday.com

Tags:

NYC ad exec gives panhandler a lot of credit _ and sure enough, he returns her Amex card

Aug 16

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City ad executive says she never doubted a homeless man would return the credit card she loaned him in lieu of change.

Merrie Harris says she didn’t have any cash when Jay Valentine asked for some Monday, so she let him use her American Express platinum card instead.

Friends and bystanders told her she’d never see it again. But Valentine soon returned it after buying deodorant, body wash, cigarettes and water for a total of $25.
latimes.com

Tags:

Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeover

Aug 11

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

LISBON — Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves.
Beyond Fossil Fuels

Today, Lisbon’s trendy bars, Porto’s factories and the Algarve’s glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago.
nytimes.com

Tags:

Man delivers pizza, saves heart attack victim

Jul 22

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments


A laid off paramedic who turned to delivering pizzas to make ends meet is credited with saving the life of a man who went into cardiac arrest just as a pizza was delivered to his door.

Christopher Wuebben, 22, was delivering a pizza late last week to the suburban Denver home of George Linn, when he heard the man’s wife screaming for help, according to Wuebben’s boss, John Keiley.

“Chris told the woman that he was trained in CPR and knew what to do,” Keiley, owner of Johnny’s New York Pizza, said on Tuesday. “He got him on the floor and brought him back to life before the fire department showed up.
montrealgazette.com

Tags: ,

Solar plane soars for 24 hours

Jul 10

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

By Eliane Engeler
The Associated Press

Experimental aircraftcollects enough energy in daylight to stay up all night

PAYERNE, Switzerland

An experimental solar-powered plane completed its first 24-hour test flight successfully Thursday, proving the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.

The test brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.

Pilot Andre Borschberg eased the Solar Impulse out of the clear blue morning sky onto the runway at Payerne airfield about 30 miles southwest of the Swiss capital Bern at exactly 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET).

Helpers rushed to stabilize the pioneering plane as it touched down, ensuring that its massive 207-foot wingspan didn’t scrape the ground and topple the craft.

“We achieved more than we wanted. Everybody is extremely happy,” Borschberg said.
usatoday.com

Tags: ,

Sisters Reunite After 61 Years

Jun 25

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

 

Tags: ,

New State-by-State Wind Power Data Helps Build a Green Grid

May 4

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments


by Konstantin Gorshkov, Green Economy Post

New wind resource maps and wind potential tables for the lower 48 states were recently released by AWS Truewind in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This new data marks the first state-by-state comprehensive update of wind energy potential since 1993. Accurate information about the wind resources available in each state will help keep the momentum in wind energy development going strong in 2010. If state and federal policies need valid evidence of wind potential to promote this clean energy source, then that data has arrived.

We know that wind power is an inexhaustible source of energy that can play a large part in creating a sustainable future, but there are real-life factors that keep this resource grounded. Transmission and storage of the generated energy requires a modern power infrastructure that is expensive and controversial. Additionally, developers need a stable policy environment if they are expected to commit to long-term projects with tremendous up-front costs. But no wind-power skeptic can spend a few days in Texas and claim that wind is not a viable solution to our future energy woes — just check the new map.
greeneconomypost.com

Tags:

Sun shines on US renewable energy industry

Apr 16

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

Report shows US solar industry defied downturn last year to deliver a 37 per cent increase in installed capacity

The US solar energy industry has become the latest renewable energy sector to report impressive growth figures for 2009, further underlining the extent to which clean tech industries have defied the economic downturn.

According to new figures from the Solar Energies Industry Association (SEIA) released yesterday as part of the trade association’s annual report, the amount of installed solar capacity in the US grew 37 per cent last year to 2,108MW.
businessgreen.com

Tags:

Spray-On Solar Cells

Apr 13

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments


Solar cells soon could be painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops with nanoparticle inks, according to one chemical engineer.

The new nano-ink process could replace the standard method of manufacturing solar cells, which requires high temperatures and is relatively expensive, said Brian Korgel of the University of Texas at Austin.

“The sun provides a nearly unlimited energy resource, but existing solar energy harvesting technologies are prohibitively expensive and cannot compete with fossil fuels,” Korgel said.

Also called photovoltaic cells, solar cells convert sunlight directly into electricity and are typically made from silicon, although other materials that are flexible are gaining steam. Solar panels used to power homes and businesses each consist of 40 or so of these cells, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Rather than silicon, the inks developed by Korgel’s team are made up of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) — sunlight-absorbing nanoparticles that are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair.
livescience.com

Tags: ,

Worldwide growth in wind power

Feb 18

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

The Global Wind Energy Council, a trade group, estimates that wind power capacity grew by 31 percent worldwide in 2009, with 37.5 additional gigawatts installed.

The Global Wind Energy Council, a trade association based in Brussels, estimates that wind power capacity grew by 31 percent worldwide in 2009, with 37.5 additional gigawatts installed, bringing global wind power capacity to 157.9 gigawatts.

China accounted for a third of the new capacity, and the Chinese market experienced more than 100 percent growth.

According to the trade group, more than 500,000 people are now employed by the wind power industry around the world, and the market for wind turbine installations last year was worth about $63 billion. The primary markets today are in Asia, Europe and North America.

”The continued rapid growth of wind power despite the financial crisis and economic downturn is testament to the inherent attractiveness of the technology, which is clean, reliable and quick to install,” Steve Sawyer, the secretary general of the council, said in a statement issued late last week. ”Wind power has become the power technology of choice a growing number of countries around the world.”
wbcsd.org

Tags: , ,