Talk about the power of human energyQuestPoint

Watch out solar and electric vehicles. A British company, GENeco uses human poop as car fuel for the Bio-Bug. The Bio-Bug runs on methane gas generated during the sewage treatment process.Waste flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes in Bristol is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles. With support from the South West Regional Development Agency, GENeco, a Wessex Water-owned company, imported specialist equipment to treat gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works in Avonmouth to power the VW Beetle in a way that doesn’t affect its performance.

Mohammed Saddiq, GENeco’s general manager, said he was confident that methane from sewage sludge could be used as an alternative energy source and was an innovative way of powering company vehicles. He said: “Our site at Avonmouth has been producing biogas for many years which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid.“With the surplus gas we had available we wanted to put it to good use in a sustainable and efficient way.

“We decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK. “If you were to drive the car you wouldn’t know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around.”

Countries including India and China use compressed natural gas (CNG) to power vehicles and a number of companies in the UK are now using CNG mainly to fuel buses and commercial vehicles. In Sweden, more than 11,500 vehicles already run on biomethane produced from sewage plants. But using biogas from sewage sludge is yet to take off in the UK despite a significant amount being produced everyday at sewage plants around the country.

To use biogas as vehicle fuel without affecting vehicle performance or reliability the gas needs to be treated – a process called biogas upgrading. It involves carbon dioxide being separated from the biogas using specialist equipment. If all the biogas produced at Avonmouth was converted to run cars it would avoid around 19,000 tonnes of CO₂.

“Biomethane cars could be just as important as electric cars, and the water regulator Ofwat should promote the generation of as much biogas as possible through sewage works in the fight against climate change.”GENeco believes that more gas will be produced at its Avonmouth site when the company embarks on its latest green venture to recycle food waste. Mr Saddiq said: “Waste flushed down the toilets in homes in the city provides power for the Bio-Bug, but it won’t be long before further energy is produced when food waste is recycled at our sewage works.

“It will mean that both human waste and food waste will be put to good use in a sustainable way that diverts waste from going to landfill.”Bath-based Greenfuel Company converted the Beetle so it could run on biogas while bosses from GENeco ran a workshop at a University of Bath event for teenagers from schools in Bath and North East Somerset to come up with ideas for the car’s design.

Mr Saddiq added: “The choice of car was inspired by students who took part in a workshop. They thought it would be appropriate that the poo-powered car should be the classic VW Beetle Bug because bugs naturally breakdown waste at sewage works to start the treatment process which goes on to produce the energy.”

THE BLUES BROTHERS

On a mission

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Solar Power in the Mojave Desert

A California Energy Commission siting committee is recommending the approval of the planned Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Project in San Bernardino County. In its presiding member’s proposed decision (PMPD) released Tuesday, the committee said the approximately 370-megawatt facility as mitigated, will have remaining significant impacts on the environment, but found that the benefits the project would provide overrides those impacts. The committee determined the project complies with applicable laws, ordinances, regulations, and standards (LORS). The proposed decision was based solely on the record of facts, which were established during the facility’s certification proceeding. The PMPD is not a final decision on the project. The committee released the document for 30 days of public comment and will consider input before bringing the proposed decision to the full five-member Commission. The entire document can be found on the Commission’s website at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/ivanpah/documents/index.html.

BrightSource Energy, Inc. would develop three solar thermal power plants and shared facilities near Ivanpah Dry Lake in San Bernardino County, California on public land managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management in the Mojave Desert. The proposed project would be constructed in three phases: one 120-megawatt (MW) phase and two 125-MW phases and is based on distributed power tower and heliostat mirror technology, in which heliostat (mirror) fields focus solar energy on power tower receivers near the center of each heliostat array to generate steam-driven electricity. If approved by the Commission, the project would start construction in the fall of 2010.

The federal government and the State of California have established the need for the nation and state to increase the development and use of renewable energy in order to enhance the nation’s energy independence, meet environmental goals, and create new economic growth opportunities.

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Top 10 Green Industries

by Lisa Smith (Contact Author | Biography)

If you are looking for ways to put a little green in your wallet by putting some green in your portfolio, you might be surprised at the wide range of offerings available for your consideration. Let’s take a look at 10 interesting areas, which are highlighted below. Top Green Industry investing.

I’M LIKE A BIRD

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OREGON GETS GO AHEAD FOR THE COUNTRYs’ 1st WAVE ENERGY FARM

The Surfrider Foundation today joined over a dozen government agencies, ocean stakeholder groups, and environmental organizations in signing a historic settlement agreement with Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) in support of the construction and operation of the Reedsport OPT Wave Park.

The Reedsport OPT Wave Park is expected to be the first commercial-scale wave energy project in the United States, pending licensing from the Federal Energy and Regulatory Commission (FERC). Phases I and II of the project will consist of ten PowerBuoys installed 2.5 miles off the coast of Reedsport, OR.

The parties to the settlement agreement participated in a three-year process to develop consensus on aspects of project design, required monitoring, and contingencies for adaptive management. The Surfrider Foundation has served as a formal representative of recreational and environmental interests throughout the process.

“We believe this represents a really good approach for the development of wave energy technology,” said Pete Stauffer, Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Ecosystem Program Manager. “Incorporating good science and meaningful stakeholder involvement in the planning and management of wave energy projects is in the best interests of nearshore ecosystems and coastal communities.”

The Reedsport settlement agreement defines a precautionary approach to development of the Wave Park that is intended to minimize impacts to the nearshore environment and existing ocean uses such as recreation and fishing. An adaptive management program that includes monitoring of ecological and socioeconomic effects will inform the management and further build-out of the project.

The Surfrider Foundation recognizes that technologies utilizing ocean waves, tides, currents and wind may offer important benefits as renewable sources of energy that will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. They may also help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and the dangerous practice of offshore oil drilling.

The Surfrider Foundation has developed a policy statement on renewable ocean energy, which includes a set of principles to consider during the planning or evaluation of any proposed project. Employing these principles may help reduce impacts to ocean recreation, nearshore ecology, coastal processes, public safety, aesthetics, and fishing access

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FELY

IVORY COAST

MUSIC SENSATION

FELY

PERFORMING

August 8 Click Here

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New solar energy

process discovered by Stanford engineers could revamp production.

Stanford Report

New solar energy process found by Stanford engineers could revamp production.A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called “photon enhanced thermionic emission,” or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source.

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AVANCIS solar installers at work

The solar module manufacturer AVANCIS has recorded a new international efficiency record.

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GREEN FOR ALL ANNOUNCES

Green jobs are a reality, and now is the time to honor the innovative companies that are creating them. With support from the Citi Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, SJF Advisory Services and Green For All have partnered to launch a Green Jobs Award Program, which seeks to identify, recognize, and promote private companies that are leaders in quality green job creation.