Do it ourselves, for the residences portion of energy consumption and provision
Rooftop Wind Turbines
November 24, 2009 by Rich Whittle | 4 Comments
RidgeBlade is a wind-power system that can be fitted to buildings with minimum visual impact and maximum energy conversion potential, reports trendspotter Springwise.
This micro-generation system employs discreetly housed cylindrical turbines positioned horizontally along the apex of a sloping roof. The slope of the roof naturally channels wind into the turbine chamber, meaning RidgeBlade can “produce electricity under low or variable wind conditions.”
This high efficiency means that the system could pay for itself within a few years. Designed by a former Rolls Royce turbine engineer under the wing of UK-based The Power Collective. It’s a rapidly accelerating industry—one to get involved in now!
Photo by The Power Collective.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Electricity Available from Intermittent Sources
Renewable Energy NewsFRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER, 2009 | |
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Harvesting Hydrogen With Solar Power
by Energy Matters
Using hydrogen as a clean fuel with relatively endless reserves certainly has potential, but also faces many challenges. For example, the production of hydrogen requires a great deal of energy.
However, some companies have made great inroads in utilising renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power in the hydrogen harvesting process. One such company is Avālence LLC; based in the USA.
Avālence’s hydrogen generators are electrochemical devices that convert water and electricity into high purity pressurized hydrogen gas through the process of electrolysis. Avālence's Hydrofiller system is a high-pressure hydrogen gas generator that doesn't require a separate compressor. According to the company, this cuts capital costs by up to 50% and operating costs by 20%.
Given the lower energy requirements, it also means the Hydrofiller system can be powered by solar panels or wind turbines.
The company says electrolysis is the most direct method for creating hydrogen fuel from fluctuating renewable energy sources. The Avālence Hydrofiller enables 24-hour electricity availability from intermittent energy sources from not just solar and wind, but also hydraulic and tidal power. In large applications, hydrogen produced during inexpensive or excess power production periods can be stored and later distributed to stationary fuel cell generators to supply electricity during expensive or peak demand periods.
Technology validation of the Hydrofiller has been completed on small-scale units for residential use and extensive factory testing using renewable energy has also been completed. The units are now being field tested and the company is presently undertaking a major scale-up of the core technology to a 300 kg/day design.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harvesting Hydrogen With Solar Power
by Energy Matters
Using hydrogen as a clean fuel with relatively endless reserves certainly has potential, but also faces many challenges. For example, the production of hydrogen requires a great deal of energy.
However, some companies have made great inroads in utilising renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power in the hydrogen harvesting process. One such company is Avālence LLC; based in the USA.
Avālence’s hydrogen generators are electrochemical devices that convert water and electricity into high purity pressurized hydrogen gas through the process of electrolysis. Avālence's Hydrofiller system is a high-pressure hydrogen gas generator that doesn't require a separate compressor. According to the company, this cuts capital costs by up to 50% and operating costs by 20%.
Given the lower energy requirements, it also means the Hydrofiller system can be powered by solar panels or wind turbines.
The company says electrolysis is the most direct method for creating hydrogen fuel from fluctuating renewable energy sources. The Avālence Hydrofiller enables 24-hour electricity availability from intermittent energy sources from not just solar and wind, but also hydraulic and tidal power. In large applications, hydrogen produced during inexpensive or excess power production periods can be stored and later distributed to stationary fuel cell generators to supply electricity during expensive or peak demand periods.
Technology validation of the Hydrofiller has been completed on small-scale units for residential use and extensive factory testing using renewable energy has also been completed. The units are now being field tested and the company is presently undertaking a major scale-up of the core technology to a 300 kg/day design.
Vote for the Bear River Playground
Bear River seeking playground
Voting for first stage of funding support ends in three days
by Leanne Delong/Digby Courier
View all articles from Leanne Delong/Digby Courier
Article online since November 26th 2009, 14:09
Bear River seeking playground
Voting for first stage of funding support ends in three days
Bear River lacks swings, benches, sandboxes and other equipment to keep kids busy and a community group called Women In Rural Enterprise (WIRE) is looking to change that by getting a playground for the area.
The project is still in its early stages and WIRE president Ginny Hurlock said the group has joined the Aviva Community Fund competition in hopes of funding and support.
“We’ve got the proposal together, a couple different options we’re looking at,” she added.
People submit community ideas to the Aviva Community Fund website. Which then advance to the semi-final round taking place Dec. 2 to 16.
Winners will be announced Jan. 25 and $500,000 will be divvied between several projects.
Hurlock estimated the cost of the Bear River playground project to be around $20,000.
“This is really just a first step to make our local community aware of what we want to do,” Hurlock said in a recent interview.
A final playground design and location has yet to be decided although WIRE members are looking at three or four sites in the area.
“There really is a need for this, it’s rural development at the heart of the community. We need to start from the ground up and that starts with the youngsters,” she said.
Even if WIRE does not win the competition, it will go another route to get a playground built in the community, said Hurlock.
To vote for the playground in Bear River visit www.avivacommunityfund.org
ldelong@digbycourier.ca
Send this text to a friend Print this article
Voting for first stage of funding support ends in three days
by Leanne Delong/Digby Courier
View all articles from Leanne Delong/Digby Courier
Article online since November 26th 2009, 14:09
Bear River seeking playground
Voting for first stage of funding support ends in three days
Bear River lacks swings, benches, sandboxes and other equipment to keep kids busy and a community group called Women In Rural Enterprise (WIRE) is looking to change that by getting a playground for the area.
The project is still in its early stages and WIRE president Ginny Hurlock said the group has joined the Aviva Community Fund competition in hopes of funding and support.
“We’ve got the proposal together, a couple different options we’re looking at,” she added.
People submit community ideas to the Aviva Community Fund website. Which then advance to the semi-final round taking place Dec. 2 to 16.
Winners will be announced Jan. 25 and $500,000 will be divvied between several projects.
Hurlock estimated the cost of the Bear River playground project to be around $20,000.
“This is really just a first step to make our local community aware of what we want to do,” Hurlock said in a recent interview.
A final playground design and location has yet to be decided although WIRE members are looking at three or four sites in the area.
“There really is a need for this, it’s rural development at the heart of the community. We need to start from the ground up and that starts with the youngsters,” she said.
Even if WIRE does not win the competition, it will go another route to get a playground built in the community, said Hurlock.
To vote for the playground in Bear River visit www.avivacommunityfund.org
ldelong@digbycourier.ca
Send this text to a friend Print this article
Turbines, localism and We're Not Alone
Thanks to Douglas's Blog in the U.K.
Wind turbines: nobody wants it, but they don't care
Another victory for big government and big corporations against local people; the Earls Hall wind turbines outside Clacton have been given the go-ahead. Please don't call it planning consent.
410 foot-high monster turbines will now be erected less than a thousand yards from people's homes - despite the fact that it was opposed at district, county and Parliamentary level. The industrialisation of the English countryside continues despite the opposition of those who live in it. So much for democracy.
Remember this next time you hear a politician talk the localist talk.
Contests such as this are always unequal. Plucky local campaigners rely on volunteers and themselves. Yet big corporate interests are able to hire big legal guns - paid for from the £ billions the developers receive in hidden subsidy taken from every householder's electricity bill.
And it will do nothing to stop the costs of your electricity bill increasing. On the contrary, your bill will rise very significantly to finance this stitch-up between big business and big government.
Posted on 24 November 2009 by Douglas Carswell
Comments
Unfortunately Douglas your party are signed up to all this environmental unproven idea.
We cannot have 'Direct Democracy' until we can disentangle ourselves from the EU and the political 'rule' they are able to exert on this country.
Posted on 24 November 2009 10:02 by WitteringsfromWitney
This process illustrates the problems with 'localism' Tendring council spent a large amount of taxpayers money against the advice of their planning offices and without any chance of winning. They should be personally accountable for wasting our money.
Posted on 24 November 2009 10:45 by Chris Southall
Wind turbines produce a minimal percent of energy which is needed to power the UK yet we are told its good for the environment. how can a big ugly 410 foot high wind turbine be good for the environment? it spoils the environment you can see the eyesores for miles but what can we do to stop it? There must be an alternative solution to these ugly monsters!
Posted on 24 November 2009 10:48 by Pip
The real shame of it is that windmills are so totally & completely useless. The big corporate interests make far more out of the subsidies than they can ever get from selling electricity. I have little objection to big corporate interests - who else will build the nuclear power stations we need to keep the lights on - but I do object to such interests whose profits & indeed solvency depend entirely on payola from the political class.
The visual intrusion of one such windmill is more than that of a nuclear power station (producing over 1,000 times as much), hundreds of homes or indeed a golf course & their support of windmills & opposition to building homes or CO2 free nuclear shows the "environmentalists" to be absolutely opposed to environmentalism & simply Luddites under a false flag.
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:16 by Neil Craig
So the "government inspector" isn't accountable to Parliament? Presumably he's from another Quango. Not a surprise, I suppose.
Do we save a fortune by not having district, county and national "democracy", leaving everything to the quangocracy and EU to run, or do we do it the other way around? There doen't seem to be any middle ground.
Which parties are going to listen to our opinions on this one, and which parties might be in Government after the next election? No, I can't see a correlation either.
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:33 by Mick Anderson
As much as I am "on board" with the whole Localism idea, it's never going to happen.
What we will get is some half-hearted 'nod' towards localism which entirely misses the point.
Most politicians don't want to give power away, they want to increase it. "Small government" sounds great in opposition, but once the reins of power are in hand - it's too addictive.
Don't get me started on the EU and Global Warming. Both just parts of the game being played to centralise power, IMHO.
Collectivism is alive and well and - everywhere.
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:35 by Steve Tierney
Good heavens, Douglas! You've found something upon which we can agree! Go-Dougie, Go-Dougie!
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:51 by Daid Gale
I want Direct Local Democracy now, I want a House of Commons legislature that holds government and big business to account on behalf of the people.
I do not want to wait for Douglas to eventually win the leadership of the Green and Red Conservative party in order to start the process of democratisation , I haven't got that long.
We are crying out for a leader with the courage to take on the fight and break the old order.
Posted on 24 November 2009 12:07 by libertarian
Mussolini would be proud of the UK, it's almost exactly his form of fascim with big business and the state calling the shots.
When are the likes of yourself going to gain control of the concervatiive party Douglas, it needs to become concervative again.
Posted on 24 November 2009 13:39 by chris southern
Libertarian - you and millions of others!
What politicians fail to realise is that the electorate is slowly but surely becoming more volatile. There may be few outward signs of what's coming but I fear that, if the current trend for disenfranchisement continues, there will be large-scale civil unrest. Of course, the government of the day will blame whichever small group of activists that are target of the month for the trouble but the reality is that people have had enough of government and business pulling their trousers down around their ankles, bending them over and giving their bottoms a right royal seeing to.
Politicians of all flavours - the writing is on the wall. Ignore it at your peril.
Posted on 24 November 2009 14:10 by David Gale
What is crazy is that the unelected inspector was not allowed to include the Gunfleet Sands wind farm as part of his decision.
Why the 'eck not?
I am all for renewable energies but we in Tendring are doing our bit. I suppose he cant include the Gunfleet sands extension project either.
Why dont they go the whole hog and flatten Holland on Sea and build a nuclear power station, and while your at it build a tidal barrage on the river colne.
Or even better: lets not worry about any of these and simply harness the hot air coming out of the Government benches
Posted on 24 November 2009 21:56 by David Filce
Wind turbines: nobody wants it, but they don't care
Another victory for big government and big corporations against local people; the Earls Hall wind turbines outside Clacton have been given the go-ahead. Please don't call it planning consent.
410 foot-high monster turbines will now be erected less than a thousand yards from people's homes - despite the fact that it was opposed at district, county and Parliamentary level. The industrialisation of the English countryside continues despite the opposition of those who live in it. So much for democracy.
Remember this next time you hear a politician talk the localist talk.
Contests such as this are always unequal. Plucky local campaigners rely on volunteers and themselves. Yet big corporate interests are able to hire big legal guns - paid for from the £ billions the developers receive in hidden subsidy taken from every householder's electricity bill.
And it will do nothing to stop the costs of your electricity bill increasing. On the contrary, your bill will rise very significantly to finance this stitch-up between big business and big government.
Posted on 24 November 2009 by Douglas Carswell
Comments
Unfortunately Douglas your party are signed up to all this environmental unproven idea.
We cannot have 'Direct Democracy' until we can disentangle ourselves from the EU and the political 'rule' they are able to exert on this country.
Posted on 24 November 2009 10:02 by WitteringsfromWitney
This process illustrates the problems with 'localism' Tendring council spent a large amount of taxpayers money against the advice of their planning offices and without any chance of winning. They should be personally accountable for wasting our money.
Posted on 24 November 2009 10:45 by Chris Southall
Wind turbines produce a minimal percent of energy which is needed to power the UK yet we are told its good for the environment. how can a big ugly 410 foot high wind turbine be good for the environment? it spoils the environment you can see the eyesores for miles but what can we do to stop it? There must be an alternative solution to these ugly monsters!
Posted on 24 November 2009 10:48 by Pip
The real shame of it is that windmills are so totally & completely useless. The big corporate interests make far more out of the subsidies than they can ever get from selling electricity. I have little objection to big corporate interests - who else will build the nuclear power stations we need to keep the lights on - but I do object to such interests whose profits & indeed solvency depend entirely on payola from the political class.
The visual intrusion of one such windmill is more than that of a nuclear power station (producing over 1,000 times as much), hundreds of homes or indeed a golf course & their support of windmills & opposition to building homes or CO2 free nuclear shows the "environmentalists" to be absolutely opposed to environmentalism & simply Luddites under a false flag.
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:16 by Neil Craig
So the "government inspector" isn't accountable to Parliament? Presumably he's from another Quango. Not a surprise, I suppose.
Do we save a fortune by not having district, county and national "democracy", leaving everything to the quangocracy and EU to run, or do we do it the other way around? There doen't seem to be any middle ground.
Which parties are going to listen to our opinions on this one, and which parties might be in Government after the next election? No, I can't see a correlation either.
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:33 by Mick Anderson
As much as I am "on board" with the whole Localism idea, it's never going to happen.
What we will get is some half-hearted 'nod' towards localism which entirely misses the point.
Most politicians don't want to give power away, they want to increase it. "Small government" sounds great in opposition, but once the reins of power are in hand - it's too addictive.
Don't get me started on the EU and Global Warming. Both just parts of the game being played to centralise power, IMHO.
Collectivism is alive and well and - everywhere.
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:35 by Steve Tierney
Good heavens, Douglas! You've found something upon which we can agree! Go-Dougie, Go-Dougie!
Posted on 24 November 2009 11:51 by Daid Gale
I want Direct Local Democracy now, I want a House of Commons legislature that holds government and big business to account on behalf of the people.
I do not want to wait for Douglas to eventually win the leadership of the Green and Red Conservative party in order to start the process of democratisation , I haven't got that long.
We are crying out for a leader with the courage to take on the fight and break the old order.
Posted on 24 November 2009 12:07 by libertarian
Mussolini would be proud of the UK, it's almost exactly his form of fascim with big business and the state calling the shots.
When are the likes of yourself going to gain control of the concervatiive party Douglas, it needs to become concervative again.
Posted on 24 November 2009 13:39 by chris southern
Libertarian - you and millions of others!
What politicians fail to realise is that the electorate is slowly but surely becoming more volatile. There may be few outward signs of what's coming but I fear that, if the current trend for disenfranchisement continues, there will be large-scale civil unrest. Of course, the government of the day will blame whichever small group of activists that are target of the month for the trouble but the reality is that people have had enough of government and business pulling their trousers down around their ankles, bending them over and giving their bottoms a right royal seeing to.
Politicians of all flavours - the writing is on the wall. Ignore it at your peril.
Posted on 24 November 2009 14:10 by David Gale
What is crazy is that the unelected inspector was not allowed to include the Gunfleet Sands wind farm as part of his decision.
Why the 'eck not?
I am all for renewable energies but we in Tendring are doing our bit. I suppose he cant include the Gunfleet sands extension project either.
Why dont they go the whole hog and flatten Holland on Sea and build a nuclear power station, and while your at it build a tidal barrage on the river colne.
Or even better: lets not worry about any of these and simply harness the hot air coming out of the Government benches
Posted on 24 November 2009 21:56 by David Filce
Ads on, or for, Turbine Towers?
From www.adn.com
Wind turbines OK, Kenai says, but no ads please
Published: November 24th, 2009 10:49 AM
Last Modified: November 24th, 2009 10:49 AM
Link: Peninsula Clarion Kenai has become just the second community in Alaska to adopt guidelines for construction of electricity-generating wind turbines, and proponents say the rules are better than those of Homer, the only other city to address the issue. The Kenai City Council says owners of a 20,000-square-foot lot in residential districts can build a turbine up to 80 feet high. In Homer, residents need a full acre. But Kenai residents can forget about selling advertising rights to their towers: The council prohibited billboards as well as bright colors.
Wind turbines OK, Kenai says, but no ads please
Published: November 24th, 2009 10:49 AM
Last Modified: November 24th, 2009 10:49 AM
Link: Peninsula Clarion Kenai has become just the second community in Alaska to adopt guidelines for construction of electricity-generating wind turbines, and proponents say the rules are better than those of Homer, the only other city to address the issue. The Kenai City Council says owners of a 20,000-square-foot lot in residential districts can build a turbine up to 80 feet high. In Homer, residents need a full acre. But Kenai residents can forget about selling advertising rights to their towers: The council prohibited billboards as well as bright colors.
Island Nurse Practioner Issue Not Resolved
From the Chronicle Herald
Nurse practitioner likely out of a job
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
Fri. Nov 27 - 4:46 AM
A group of about 60 residents of Digby Neck protest outside Province House in Halifax last month. They are upset over the recent dismissal of a nurse practitioner in their area. (Peter Parsons / Staff)
It now looks like a nurse practitioner on Long Island, Digby County, who was let go last month won’t be getting her job back soon.
And that doesn’t sit well with most folks.
Some say nurse practitioner Karen Snider was fired after she made public comments about the need for a full-time office clerk in a health clinic on the island.
And if she wants her job back, the local health authority wants her to recant by signing a letter that would possibly include an apology to be presented to the public, said Warden Jim Thurber of the Municipality of the District of Digby.
He is also the councillor for the district the clinic serves.
Ms. Snider was employed by the South West Nova district health authority.
Before the health authority would even discuss other conditions of her return, it requested "that she make a public statement which, in my opinion . . . would have made it look like she was the reason for . . . her dismissal," Mr. Thurber said Thursday.
"I guess that would be what would be insinuated from the statement she would have been required to make.
"It appears to us that the district health authority has no flexibility and we’ve been let down.
"We have a perfectly capable health practitioner who’s going to leave Nova Scotia (and) we don’t feel a proper replacement is going to come in.
"She was liked by the people. The people felt they were being properly looked after. The clinic was working better than it’s worked since it was established there.
The problem may have originated when the nurse practitioner commented locally in a community newsletter about how a clinic receptionist-clerk should be given full-time hours because more than 20 patients a day were often being seen.
"So the nurse practitioner made the case . . . (for) full-time funding by going directly to the public to argue for good health care for the islands," Andy Moir of the Islands health liaison committee said in an earlier interview.
The hours that the part-time office receptionist worked were never cut back, said an authority spokesman.
"They were temporarily increased to full time while they were implementing a new computer system and once that was done successfully, they put the clerical person back to her regular hours," said Fraser Mooney.
He said nurse practitioners are hard to recruit for places like Digby Neck.
"We’re not about to dismiss a nurse practitioner who has apparently been embraced by the community just because she spoke out or hurt our feelings," said Mr. Mooney.
"We would expect that there would be a lot more issues of concern that would lead to someone’s dismissal," he said, without going into detail.
The employer has been talking with the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union about the case, which has not been resolved, said Mr. Mooney.
The health authority said earlier that care provided by the nurse practitioner was never an issue.
On Saturday, the community will get together to decide on how to proceed, said Mr. Thurber.
Health Department officials said they cannot intervene, he said.
"We’ve still got hope that someone there can give us the right resolution to this."
He said he wanted to invite the health minister, the deputy minister and the premier to Saturday’s meeting.
"I’m sure the community . . . isn’t going to let this just disappear. They’re going to regroup and probably come back stronger than ever."
Health Minister Maureen MacDonald said Thursday she is aware the community is concerned, but the matter is an employer-employee issue.
( bmedel@herald.ca)
Nurse practitioner likely out of a job
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
Fri. Nov 27 - 4:46 AM
A group of about 60 residents of Digby Neck protest outside Province House in Halifax last month. They are upset over the recent dismissal of a nurse practitioner in their area. (Peter Parsons / Staff)
It now looks like a nurse practitioner on Long Island, Digby County, who was let go last month won’t be getting her job back soon.
And that doesn’t sit well with most folks.
Some say nurse practitioner Karen Snider was fired after she made public comments about the need for a full-time office clerk in a health clinic on the island.
And if she wants her job back, the local health authority wants her to recant by signing a letter that would possibly include an apology to be presented to the public, said Warden Jim Thurber of the Municipality of the District of Digby.
He is also the councillor for the district the clinic serves.
Ms. Snider was employed by the South West Nova district health authority.
Before the health authority would even discuss other conditions of her return, it requested "that she make a public statement which, in my opinion . . . would have made it look like she was the reason for . . . her dismissal," Mr. Thurber said Thursday.
"I guess that would be what would be insinuated from the statement she would have been required to make.
"It appears to us that the district health authority has no flexibility and we’ve been let down.
"We have a perfectly capable health practitioner who’s going to leave Nova Scotia (and) we don’t feel a proper replacement is going to come in.
"She was liked by the people. The people felt they were being properly looked after. The clinic was working better than it’s worked since it was established there.
The problem may have originated when the nurse practitioner commented locally in a community newsletter about how a clinic receptionist-clerk should be given full-time hours because more than 20 patients a day were often being seen.
"So the nurse practitioner made the case . . . (for) full-time funding by going directly to the public to argue for good health care for the islands," Andy Moir of the Islands health liaison committee said in an earlier interview.
The hours that the part-time office receptionist worked were never cut back, said an authority spokesman.
"They were temporarily increased to full time while they were implementing a new computer system and once that was done successfully, they put the clerical person back to her regular hours," said Fraser Mooney.
He said nurse practitioners are hard to recruit for places like Digby Neck.
"We’re not about to dismiss a nurse practitioner who has apparently been embraced by the community just because she spoke out or hurt our feelings," said Mr. Mooney.
"We would expect that there would be a lot more issues of concern that would lead to someone’s dismissal," he said, without going into detail.
The employer has been talking with the Nova Scotia Nurses’ Union about the case, which has not been resolved, said Mr. Mooney.
The health authority said earlier that care provided by the nurse practitioner was never an issue.
On Saturday, the community will get together to decide on how to proceed, said Mr. Thurber.
Health Department officials said they cannot intervene, he said.
"We’ve still got hope that someone there can give us the right resolution to this."
He said he wanted to invite the health minister, the deputy minister and the premier to Saturday’s meeting.
"I’m sure the community . . . isn’t going to let this just disappear. They’re going to regroup and probably come back stronger than ever."
Health Minister Maureen MacDonald said Thursday she is aware the community is concerned, but the matter is an employer-employee issue.
( bmedel@herald.ca)
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