Soda Bottle Solar Bulbs Bring Light to Thousands - bulbs are made out of a soda bottle, purified water and some bleach.

November 30, 2011

Soda Bottle Solar Bulbs Bring Light to Thousands in the Philippines

VOA - Simone Orendain | Manila

Photo: VOA - S. Orendain

Sheila Royeras admires the soda bottle solar bulbs that were installed in her shanty home. The bulbs are made out of a soda bottle, purified water and some bleach. San Juan City, Metropolitan Manila, Philippines, November 18, 2011.

Thousands of small houses in low-income areas of the Philippines’ capital region are receiving ultra cheap, energy-efficient light bulbs this week. The installations are part of a broader push to install the bulbs made from plastic soda bottles in one million homes by 2012.

Sheila Royeras says she, her husband, her mother and two children spend much of their time in the dark - even during they day. Their tiny house sits less than a meter from a two-story building under construction and among close, cramped units. Natural light comes in only through the small front door. They cannot afford to use electric lights during the day.

On a recent morning, volunteer workers outfitted Royeras’ house with solar light bulbs made out of used plastic soda bottles, some purified water and bleach.

The workers cut a circle exactly the size of the bottle’s diameter into the corrugated metal roof. The one liter bottle, filled with water and two caps-full of bleach- to keep it clean and clear- is placed inside the hole, with half of the bottle poking through the roof to the inside of the house. The bottle stays in place with sealant - to keep rain out - and a small metal brace that is hammered into the roof. The liquid inside refracts sunlight and disperses about 55-watts of light into the house below. The bulbs have a five-year life.

At the end of the installation, the 15-to-20 square meter house is illuminated by three solar bulbs. Speaking in Tagalog, Royeras says having the free lights will bring a lot in savings.

Royeras says she is much happier because she expects the next electric bill to be quite a bit lower. She laughs and says she will be able to buy food for her family.

Illac Diaz, who heads the non-profit MyShelter Foundation, which is heading up this project, says in the tropics poor people live in cramped, darkened areas sealed off from rain and the searing sun. Diaz says residents should opt for this kind of bulb, instead of relying on candles or other potential fire hazards.

“It’s safer. It’s healthier," says Diaz. "It’s brighter and the funny thing is the light bulb actually comes from the place you’d least expect it, which is the trash bin. So it’s the cheapest light bulb in the world.”

Government officials say the Philippines has the highest electricity rates in Asia. Diaz says this low-tech alternative to energy efficient light bulbs will save customers an average of $10 per month on their electric bills.

The light bulb project is also set up to help poor people gain employment. The foundation currently pays a small fee to scavengers who collect the bottles and assemble and install the bulbs. Diaz says some are making a business of it.

“Once we give the technology to grassroots entrepreneurs to build it," said Diaz. "There is no limit to where it goes.”

Diaz says he has helped set up offices in Mexico, Columbia and India, where other non-government agencies have started the lighting project.

Biofuels and High Food Prices

June 14, 2011

US Official: Biofuels 'Scapegoat' for High Food Prices

VOA - Steve Baragona

With food prices at or near record highs, agriculture ministers from the Group of 20 major economies will be meeting for the first time next week in Paris. Critics say one factor putting pressure on food prices is the use of food crops to produce biofuels like ethanol.  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Monday said the American ethanol industry plays only a minor role in rising food prices. But he added government support for the industry may be waning.

Secretary Vilsack told a luncheon gathering in Washington not to believe everything one hears about ethanol's role in today's high and volatile food prices. "The truth of the matter is that corn-based ethanol does not deserve the scapegoat reputation that some folks often attempt to assign to it," he said.

Cape Wind Energy Project - U.S. Approves First Offshore Wind Farm

U.S. Approves First Offshore Wind Farm
VOA - Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

The U.S. government has approved a controversial plan to build the country's first ocean wind farm in a picturesque bay off its northeast coast.

U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar said Tuesday construction of the Cape Wind Energy Project could begin as early as this fall in Nantucket Sound off the coast of the state of Massachusetts

The wind farm plan includes 130 wind turbine generators, each with a maximum blade height of 134 meters. The German company Siemens will build the turbines.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said the plan puts the U.S. “one step closer” to benefiting from green jobs, clean energy and the long-term economic advantages resulting from the nation's first offshore wind farm.

The plan has sparked controversy among those who visit or live on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island, all exclusive vacation destinations in Massachusetts. Nearly a dozen lawsuits have been filed against the plan.

Salazar said Tuesday the government has taken “extraordinary steps” to evaluate the wind farm's potential impact on the region's environmental and cultural resources.


U.S. Approves First Offshore Wind Farm
Article from VOA


Should there be a wind energy project in the Chesapeake Bay?

Nuclear power projects on hold for review, while Germany and some countries cancel them.

After Fukushima, Nations Put Nuke Plant Development On Hold

VOA - Zulima Palacio April 06, 2011

Three Mile Island nuclear power plant

Just a few months ago, experts were talking about the "renaissance" of the nuclear power industry.  After more than two decades of relatively safe operations and with public demands growing for clean, carbon-free power plants, many nations, including the United States, seemed ready to embrace nuclear energy as a clean, safe and efficient alternative to fossil-fuels. And then came the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that severely damaged the Fukushima-Daiichi reactor complex in Japan.  Worldwide, countries like China with active nuclear power projects put them on hold for review, while Germany and several other countries simply canceled them.  Overnight, new doubts have arisen about the future of nuclear power.

With the shutdown and radiation cleanup efforts at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant expected to last months, if not years, experts are wondering how the disaster will affect the growth of the multi-billion dollar nuclear power industry around the world.  Even the most optimistic analysts forecast a serious slowdown.

Adrian Heymer is executive director of strategic programs at the U.S. Nuclear Energy Institute:

"After the incident in Japan, nuclear energy is going to continue to move forward," said Heymer. "It won’t move forward in the same pace in the next two or 3 years."

In the United States, not a single nuclear power plant has been built in 32 years - not since the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania in 1979.   Public fears of the environmental and public health risks of radiation leaks and the rapid development of other clean, renewable sources of energy have kept nuclear energy development in a box.  And Fukushima, some experts say, could turn that box into a coffin.

Chris Flavin is the president of the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental watch-dog group in Washington:

"This could well be the end of nuclear expansion worldwide," said Flavin. "The industry was already on a very narrow field of opportunity because of the huge costs and the significant public opposition in many countries."

But nuclear power advocates say mishaps have been rare. And they note that amid growing concerns over climate change, air pollution and the need for cleaner, carbon-free energy, nuclear power is already playing a vital role.  Charles Ebinger is the director of the Energy Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"Nuclear power currently accounts for about 14 percent of all global electricity; and the simple reality is that if we were to forego further nuclear development in the near term that would place a great burden on additional fossil fuel utilization," said Ebinger.

"One small pellet in reactor fuel is equivalent to one ton of coal," said Heymer. "And there are normally between 80  to 100 railroad cars full of coal that are burned in a power plant each day."

Construction costs for a modern-day nuclear power complex can run  into the billions of dollars and owners can spend years waiting for final operational approval.  That has prompted many countries to question whether they want to approve any nuclear plants - new or old.  Soon after the accident at Fukushima, Japan, many countries reacted. Charles Ebinger explains:

"Germany initially said they were going to close down seven plants and do safety reviews," he said. "They have now gone further and they are calling into question the future of nuclear power or new plants in Germany all together."

Countries like China and India - both facing the problems of air pollution and climate change - are investing heavily in non-fossil-fuel energy - like solar, wind, and especially nuclear power.

"China, which is leading the nuclear renaissance with 23 reactors under constructions and plans for 60 or 70 more in the near future,  announced too that they were temporarily going to slow down and review their safety procedures," said Ebinger.

"When we write the final history of does Fukushima actually becomes the final chapter of the global nuclear industry, what happens in China will probably be the thing that determines how that story comes out," said Flavin.

In the United States, the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant cast a long shadow over the industry.  The federal government's Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, has been in  no hurry to grant new operating licenses:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
"There is only one reactor under construction in the U.S. despite passage nearly six years ago of legislation that gives loan guarantees to the next four plants," said Ebinger. "There are now 20 plants in the pipeline before the NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission], but they are moving very slowly and their supporters aren’t exactly pushing hard for it."

In the meantime, people still need electricity - and lots of it.  According to the International Energy Agency, between now and the year 2050, the global demand for energy will triple, requiring an investment of about $350 trillion in energy infrastructure.  How much of a role, if any, nuclear power will play is a question whose answer may lie in the smouldering ruins of the Fukushima reactors.

After Fukushima, Nations Put Nuke Plant Development On Hold

Article and Video from VOA

Artificial Leaf Solar Cell Could Power Homes

Artificial Leaf Turns Sunlight into Electric Power
Nature-inspired solar cell could power homes
VOA - Rosanne Skirble | Washington, D.C. April 01, 2011

MIT scientists have created an artificial leaf which mimics photosynthesis and could be useful as an inexpensive source of electricity.


Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have turned to Mother Nature for inspiration, inventing a device that mimics photosynthesis, the process plants use to convert sunlight and water into usable energy.

The MIT researchers announced their invention at the American Chemical Societymeeting in California. MIT chemistry professor Daniel Nocera says he and his colleagues took their cues from plants, which are literally buzzing with electricity.

"What happens is that sunlight comes in and hits the leaf and then the leaf immediately takes that sunlight and makes a wireless current," says Nocera.

During photosynthesis, the energy in sunlight splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen joins with carbon dioxide to make sugar, an essential fuel for plant growth. In Nocera’s laboratory, scientists replicated that chemical process using a silicon device about the size and shape of a playing card, only thinner. It’s coated with nickel and cobalt catalysts that when exposed to water and ultraviolet light, accelerate a chemical reaction.

The hydrogen is then recombined with the oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity. Nocera’s work builds on previous research. John Turner of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory pioneered the concept in 1998 using materials too expensive and unstable for commercialization.

Nocera’s says his so-called practical artificial leaf uses less expensive materials, is more stable and more efficient than that earlier design. He says the challenge is to collect the gases coming off the silicon and store them until the energy is needed. "It has to be engineered still," he adds. "It will be something that we will start doing soon. You’ll be storing a fair amount of energy because this system is working at more or less the efficiency of the solar cell."

In laboratory experiments, Nocera’s solar cell prototype operated continuously for 45 hours without a drop in electrical output. Nocera notes that it works in any type of water. "You can use natural water sources, which for us is a big deal, because if you are in rural parts of the world, especially where they are poor, it is really costly to bring in pure water and so, the fact that you can go ‘over there’ to a puddle and pick the water up and begin using it, is something that is very powerful for us."

Nocera believes the artificial leaf could be especially useful as an inexpensive source of electricity for low-income populations in developing countries. The goal, Nocera says, is to make each home its own power station. He predicts a commercial version of the artificial leaf will be on the market within three years.





Artificial Leaf Turns Sunlight into Electric Power


Nature-inspired solar cell could power homes

Article from VOA

Green Gyms - Exercisers Burn Energy While Creating it

Exercisers Burn Energy While Creating it
Green gyms use equipment designed to make electricity
VOA - Deena Prichep | Portland, Oregon March 17, 2011

At times, the Green Microgyms generate more power than they draw, but on the whole, they don't create enough electricity to meet their own demands.


The modern gym typically uses a lot of electricity to run the treadmills, the big-screen TVs that keep exercisers entertained, and the air-conditioning to cool them. However, not only are some gyms trying to use less power, but they are even putting some back into the grid.

Power up

In order to look good in a swimsuit for her upcoming trip to Hawaii, Cory Bilger hits the elliptical trainer at Portland's Green Microgym pretty hard these days. And she's not just burning calories, she's creating electricity - 4.19 watt hours of energy - by pumping her arms and legs. The elliptical trainer she exercises on generates electricity in the same way a windmill does.

"Wind turns the turbine, that kinetic energy is converted into electricity through a generator," says Aaron Bird, chief technology officer for Resource Fitness, which developed the equipment. "It then runs through an inverter to convert it to AC electricity, which goes into the grid."

At times, the Green Microgyms generate more power than they draw, but on the whole, they don't create enough electricity to meet their own demands.
In this case, instead of the wind, the power comes from an exerciser’s arms and legs. And all of Resource’s machines send that energy directly into the electrical grid.

Bird says that makes them a much more efficient power source than earlier generations of exercise equipment which stored the energy in a battery.

More efficient

"The problem with a battery is when you charge the battery, and then when you drain the battery to get the energy back, there's efficiency loss in both directions," says Bird. "There's also efficiency loss when the battery's just sitting there because it doesn't hold the energy forever."

According to Bird, there's still some unavoidable loss in the conversion. But overall, energy-generating exercise equipment is pretty efficient. And it's cropping up across the country in gyms, college athletic centers and community rec rooms.

One company is getting ready to outfit an array of bikes at Edwards Air Force Base.

Exerciser energy

So how much power is created from an hour's worth of exercise?

"Generally people generate somewhere between 30 to 60 watt hours," says Adam Boesel, owner of Green Microgym. "Thirty watt hours can power an iPad for three hours. Sixty watt hours can power a stereo for an hour."

There are times when the Green Microgym actually generates more power than it draws, say when all the machines are going full speed during a spin class. But on the whole, the gym doesn't even create enough electricity to meet its own demands. Still, Boesel says, every little bit helps.

"The way we look at it is that you can choose to be in a gym with machines that waste a lot of electricity, or you can choose to be in a gym that's very energy efficient, where you're creating electricity."

For Microgym member Cory Bilger, reducing her carbon footprint is definitely part of the draw. And if she can do it while getting ready for a Hawaiian vacation, all the better.




Exercisers Burn Energy While Creating it -
Green gyms use equipment designed to make electricity
Article from VOA

Nuclear Power Plants - How safe is nuclear power in the USA?

Did you know that two nuclear power plants, the San Onofre plant and the plant at Diablo Canyon, are both built in active earthquake zones in the USA?


Video highlights security operations at nuclear power plants, including patrols by armed guards, detection equipment, physical barriers, and the design of nuclear power plants. Learn about security operations at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland.


Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant (CCNPP) is located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland http://www.calvertcliffs.com/

Oil - What will the future bring?

Will Political Turmoil Collapse the Old Oil Order?
VOA - Joe DeCapua March 09, 2011

The political turmoil in the Arab world may not only lead to much higher oil prices, but greater competition for resources and a shift in priorities for oil-producing nations. So says the author of Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet.

What’s happening in North Africa and the Middle East, says Michael Klare, is the collapse of what he calls the “Old Oil Order.”

“The old oil order, as I see it, is a network, a constellation of governments in the region, largely authoritarian, that were devoted to producing oil and making it available for sale to international markets. And these governments were supported to a great deal by the United States and the West, not all of them, but most of them, because these governments favored the international market – the trade in oil,” he says.

Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He says some cracks were seen in the old oil order over the years in such countries as Iran and Iraq.

Now what?

The new oil order that’s emerging, he says, will cater less to Western desires.

“I think it’ll look a lot like Venezuela, in some cases, where (President) Hugo Chavez rules the state oil company, PDVSA, and uses the money for social purposes and political purposes in his country and to promote what he sees as the welfare of his people. And he’s not very interested in improving the capacity, the efficiency of the company. So, Venezuela’s oil production has fallen since he’s been in power,” he says.

He says any new governments that emerge in the Arab world, whatever their political orientation, will face “tremendous social and economic challenges.” Those challenges will arise from growing populations and high unemployment.

“Their priority is going to be to use their money from oil production to improve employment, not to feed the thirst for oil in the rest of the world,” he says.

Pumped up price at the pump

Klare says, “With the demise of the old oil order, we will see the end of cheap petroleum forever.” That means much higher fuel prices. How high? That depends on Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia,” he says, “is the linchpin of the global oil order because it has the world’s largest reserves. It is the largest supplier of oil to international markets and it has the largest spare capacity – the ability to ramp up production in times of crisis like you have today. So, as long as Saudi Arabia remains stable and keeps producing, I think oil won’t go beyond the record it set in 2008 of about $140-$150 a barrel.”

But, he says, if Saudi Arabia goes the way of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, then there are no limits to how high the price of oil could go.

“$200 a barrel wouldn’t surprise me,” says Klare.

That could mean gasoline costing at least $5 a gallon here in the United States. He says tapping the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve to hold down gasoline prices would only have a temporary effect. One thing, he says, that could cause oil prices to drop suddenly is another global economic crisis like the one in 2008.

What's food got to do with it?

The professor of peace and world security studies says it’s important to remember that oil and food prices are intertwined. And that prior to the economic crisis, a food crisis gripped the world.

“While the price of oil is rising, we have also seen a huge surge in the price of food, partly because oil is so expensive. When oil rises, the price of food rises. And it’s been the high price of food that triggered many of the uprisings, first in Algeria, then in Tunisia and Jordan and in some of the other cases. And the price of food continues to rise, too. And I expect that we’ll see more uprisings about food. And I fear that there’ll be more of this in the future because of global climate change,” he says.

Climate change has been blamed for many droughts and floods, both of which destroy agricultural land.

Klare says the 21st Century brings greater competition for food, fuel and water among the western powers, as well as India, Russia and China. Sub-Saharan African oil producing nations, such as Angola and Nigeria, he says, will be pressured to solve domestic problems, while trying to meeting growing demand for oil.

Klare says the world must develop some type of new energy system soon, not only to meet greater demand, but to deal with climate change, as well.




Will Political Turmoil Collapse the Old Oil Order?
Article from VOA

Alternative Energy in the USA - Is Alternative Energy Viable in US Market?

Is Alternative Energy Viable in US Market?
Peter Fedynsky | New York March 03, 2011 - VOA

The Obama administration devoted more than $80 billion towards alternative energy research and energy efficiency as part of the 2009 Recovery Act

The Obama administration devoted more than $80 billion towards alternative energy research and energy efficiency as part of the 2009 Recovery Act

The current spike in oil prices sparked by unrest in the Middle East is not the first one to hit the United States. Traditionally, higher prices have prompted calls for American energy independence through alternative energy. But skeptics say such calls amount to little more than talk in a nation heavily dependent on cheap foreign oil.

The latest increase in U.S. fuel prices was driven by unrest in the Middle East. In the past, Americans have faced higher energy costs following hurricanes that disrupted oil supplies; after major oil spills; or during energy embargoes by the OPEC oil cartel. Each spike focused attention on America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Thomas Wallin, president of Energy Intelligence, an energy information company, says few people have noticed that the Obama administration devoted more than $80 billion towards alternative energy research and energy efficiency as part of the 2009 Recovery Act.

“But I think at a time that governments are trying to cut spending and austerity is sort of the word of the day, it gets very hard to tilt the whole playing field of energy in favor of alternatives, which is what you effectively need to do to make them come in faster,” noted Wallin.

The 2009 Recovery Act that funded President Obama’s energy initiatives has expired. And the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is trying to rein in government spending.

The director of market intelligence at the NASDAQ stock market in New York, Anu Sharma, says the current spike in oil prices will likely provoke a political debate.

“You’re going to hear people talk about trying to explore new areas for research and development, as well as drilling," noted Sharma. "That’s going to come up. And the other side of the debate; the alternative whole energy sector is going to rise up when it comes to solar and wind.”

But Thomas Wallin says America loses the political will to embrace a dramatic shift in energy policy when oil prices decline.

“We’ve been through these crises before in the past," noted Wallin. "There’s been a lot of plans and a lot of talk. And then, when things get easier, we’re suddenly not spending the money in that way; we’re not pushing those programs the way we were.”

As a result, if the past is any indication, Americans will likely rely on foreign oil until permanently higher oil prices force them to find alternative sources of energy.





Is Alternative Energy Viable in US Market?
Article and Video from VOA