Solutions: Alternative Energy

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on this page: Solar Energy Wind Energy Ocean Energy Hydrogen Technology Bio-Fuels Reading Material

"If everyone reading this replaced the five most frequently used lights in their homes with compact flourescent bulbs,
which use a quarter of the energy of regular bulbs, our country's consumption of coal would plunge overnight."
— Erik Reese, in The Nation

General Alternative Energy Information

WM Solutions: Alternative Fuel Vehicles Page

WM Things To Worry About: Energy & Global Warming Page
WM Books On The Subject: Energy

British Petroleum statement on 'Renewable Energy' [March 2003]
Canadian Renewable Fuels Assn.
CB's energy conspiracy page
MicroPlanet's Home Voltage Regulators
Alternative Energy Institute in Hope, ME
Freedom From Oil pages at Jump Start Ford website
Pure Energy Systems Network [est. 2003]

Introduction to Zero Point Energy
Zero Point Energy News website
NJ's Free Energy pages
New Energy Foundation & Infinite Energy Magazine

U.S. National
Interstate Renewable Energy Council
U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Information Portal
U.S. Dept. of Energy Renewable Energy Technology pages
U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory [est. 1974]
U.S. Dept. of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center
Center for Resource Solutions
C.R.E. / Green-e Renewable Electricity Certification Program [est. 1997]
Americans for Energy Independence
Rocky Mountain Sustainable Living Fair [Sept 2005] in Fort Collins, CO

U.S. By State
California Energy Commission
C.E.C. Transportation Choices
Californians for Renewable Energy
California's 'Flex Your Power' website
Montana Green Power
Albuquerque [NM] Alternative Energies
Wisconsin's 'Focus On Energy' site

R     Solar Power    R

The Solar Harvest Organization
solar energy division of British Petroleum
Solar Energy Intl.
American Solar Energy Society
International Solar Energy Society
Shell Oil Solar
Schott AG of Germany 'Solar Solutions'
Solar Buzz news portal
Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development [est. 2003] in Cambridge, MA
Sun 21 solar/renewables non-profit of Switzerland [mostly German-language]

First Solar, Inc. of Phoenix, AZ

California
EE Solar in Pomona, CA
Solar Living Institute of Hopland, CA [est. 1998]
Solar Living Institute's SolFest® [Aug 2006 = #11]
Solar Depot of Petaluma, CA
California Solar Center [Rahus Institute]
Northern California Solar Energy Assn.
California Solar Energy Industries Assn.
D.S.H. Solar Electric of San Diego, CA
Marmol Radziner & Assocs. of Los Angeles, CA - solar prefab housing

New Mexico
Matrix Solar Technologies [est. 1996] in Albuquerque, NM
Positive Energy Solar in Santa Fe, NM
Advent Solar [est. 2002] in Albuquerque, NM
New Mexico Solar Energy Assn. [est. 1972]
KTAO 101.9-FM solar-powered radio station [est. 1984] in Taos, NM
Germany's Schott AG 'Solar Solutions' division to build in Albuquerque, NM {announced 1/2008}
310 Solar in Albuquerque, NM
Sunergy Solar in Albuquerque, NM
D.P.W. Solar [div. of PLP] in Albuquerque, NM

Solar Technology Hardware
solar energy systems from Sharp™
Solar Works of Montpelier VT [est. 1990]
personal/portable SolarRoll™ power sources from Brunton®
portable SolarFlats™ panels from Brunton®
Solar Outdoor Lighting, Inc. [est. 1990] of Florida
Lumin Innovative Products solar-powered outdoor wireless access points
HelioVolt copper indium selenide thin-film solar power panels

Harold R. Hay & the Skytherm™ Solar Roof

historic Skytherm House [built 1973] in Atascadero, CA
Los Angeles Times / Business Section article (10 Nov 2007)

	"The Passive Solar House: The Complete Guide To Heating & Cooling Your Home" [orig 1980; rev 2006] by James Kachadorian Chelsea Green Publng 10x7¾ hardcover and CD-ROM [9/2006] for $26.40
	"Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of The Global Energy Industry" [2006] by Travis Bradford M.I.T. Press 9½x6½ hardcover [9/2006] for $16.47 author's website
	"Solartopia!: The Future of Energy" [2006] by Harvey Wasserman self-published 8x5 pb [1/2006] for $9.00 author's website
	"The Solar House: Passive Heating & Cooling" [2002] by Daniel D. Chiras Chelsea Green Publng 10x8 pb [10/2002] for $19.77 author's website
	"The Easy Guide to Solar Electric for Home Power Systems" [1999] by Adi Pieper ADI Solar 8¼x5¼ pb [2nd edition 1/2001] for $11.96 "The Easy Guide to Solar Electric Part II: Installation Manual" [2003] ADI Solar pb [11/2003] for $19.95
	"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solar Power for Your Home" [2002] by Dan Ramsey Alpha Books 9x7.3 pb [9/2002] for $13.97
	Solar Today Magazine published by the American Solar Energy Assn. 6 issues/12 months [USA only] for $43.34 magazine website A.S.E.S. website

R     Ocean Power     R

U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
E.E.R.E. Ocean Tidal Power Consumer's Guide
tidal power entry at Wikipedia
ocean thermal energy conversion entry at Wikipedia
Oceana Energy [est. 2005]
Think Tidal website
California Energy Commission Ocean Energy site
State of Hawaii Renewable Energy pages: ocean thermal energy • wave energy

R    Wind Power     R "All the equipment for wind turbines is made outside the U.S. because this country lags so far behind on the technology." — Fran Korten, Yes! Magazine [2004]

"Serious Wind": article by Bill McKibben [ July 2003 issue of Orion Magazine]
Southwest Windpower: Renewable Energy Made Simple
SkyStream™ home-size windmill systems
Bergey Windpower Co. of Norman OK [est. 1977]
WindStats Newsletter includes subscription to Windpower Monthly
Interwest Energy Alliance
Taos [NM] Wind Power, Inc.
wind energy page at New Mexico Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Dept.
North American Wind Research & Training Center at Mesalands College in NM
U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Wind Technology Center

World Wind Energy Assn.
American Wind Energy Assn.
European Wind Energy Assn.
Canadian Wind Energy Assn.
British Wind Energy Assn.
Irish Wind Energy Assn.
India Wind Energy Assn.
German Wind Energy Assn. English • Deutsch
South African Wind Energy Assn.
Finland Wind Energy Assn. English • Suomen
Australian Wind Energy Assn.
New Zealand Wind Energy Assn.

Le Éoliennes et l'Energie du Vent [French] Québec, Canada
Switzerland [French or German]
Norsk Vindkraft Forum [Norwegian]
IG Windkraft Österreich [Austria]
Svensk Vindkraftförenings [Swedish]
Estonian Wind Power Assn.
Polish Wind Power Assn.

	"Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Small & Micro Wind Systems" [1999] by Paul Gipe Chelsea green 10x8 pb [4/99] for $13.97
	"Wind Energy Handbook" [2001] by Tony Burton, David Sharpe, Nick Jenkins & Ervin Bossanyi Wiley & Sons 9¾x6¾ hardcover [11/2001] for $142.03

R   Hydride Nuclear Technology   R

Otis Peterson's Hyperion Power Generation of Santa Fe, New Mexico

R   Hydrogen Fuel Technology   R

Having just seen the "Who Killed The Electric Car?" documentary, I am clear that hydrogen energy
and hydrogen vehicles will not work. The clincher is that the Bush administration helped kill
the electric car in California in order to help the big businesses involved in the bogus hydrogen programs.

American Hydrogen Assn.
Shell Oil Hydrogen

	"The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact & Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate" [2004] by Joseph J. Romm Island Press 9&fracx6¼ hardcover [2/2004] for $17.00 National Academy of Sciences article/excerpt {in HTML} [3/2004] for $5.95 author's website 'Climate Progress'
	"The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the Worldwide Energy Web & the Redistribution of Power On Earth" [2002] by Jeremy Rifkin "Recommended." – Time Magazine Green Century Special Issue Tarcher Putnam 9¼x6¼ hardcover [9/2002] for $17.47

Los Angeles Times Saturday 14 February 2004 Main News Section / Science / In Brief [page A-14] Production of Hydrogen From Ethanol Advanced        from L.A. Times staff & wire reports        University of Minnesota researchers say they have produced hydrogen from ethanol in a prototype reactor small and efficient enough to heat small homes and power cars. Current methods of producing hydrogen from ethanol require large refineries and lots of fossil fuels.        The reactor is a 2-foot apparatus of tubes and wires that produces hydrogen from corn-based ethanol. A fuel cell, which acts like a battery, then generates power. The research appeared in the Dec. 13 issue of Science [Magazine].

Los Angeles Times Monday 26 January 2004 California Section / Letters to the Editor [page B-10] Many Bumps Await on 'Hydrogen Highways'        Re "Governor Pushes for 'Hydrogen Highways,' " Jan. 20: I'm all in favor of "Hydrogen Highways," but there's a growing misconception about hydrogen fuel. In the hydrogen economy, hydrogen is not a source of energy but only a means of storing and transporting energy. The energy must come from elsewhere.        Even though hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, there is no free hydrogen on Earth. It is all bound up in other compounds. Energy is required to separate the hydrogen from other compounds. This energy is then released when the hydrogen is "burned." Currently, almost all of the energy to produce hydrogen comes from use of fossil fuels, so our dependence on fossil fuels is not reduced, nor is pollution eliminated.        The key to a successful hydrogen economy is a clean, renewable source of energy that can be used to generate the hydrogen.        Gordon Rudd        Laguna Beach, California

R   Bio-Fuel Technologies   R

Renewable Fuels Assn.: The Voice of the Ethanol Industry
National Corn Growers Assn. Ethanol Information
Los Angeles [CA] BioFuel, Inc.
National Biodiesel Board [est. 1992]
Biodiesel NOW [dot] com
Community Power Corporation [modular biopower systems & services]
Willie Nelson's Farm Fresh BioDiesel
Pellet Fuels Institute
Forest Energy Corp. of Show Low, AZ
Marcus Sharpe's biodiesel info page
Eric Case's Biodiesel Blog
Biodiesel Industries of Santa Barbara, CA
Shell Oil Biofuels
Grease Car Vegetable Fuel Systems
BioFuel Canada
Midwest Renewable Energy Assn. [est. 1990] in Custer, WI
Midwest Renewable Energy & Sustanable Living Fair [June 2006 = #17] in Custer, WI

	"Alcohol Can Be A Gas!: Fueling An Ethanol Revolution For   The 21st Century" [orig 1983; rev 2007] by David Blume; Foreword by R. Buckminster Fuller Before petrol/gasoline was invented, early automobiles ran on alcohol. Intl. Institute for Ecological Agriculture pb [11/2007] for $47.00 official booksite
	"On the {^Clean} Road Again: Biodiesel & The Future of The Family Farm" [2007] by Willie Nelson Fulcrum/Speaker's Corner 7x4½ pb [8/2007] for $9.95 Willie's official website see also: National Family Farm Coalition [est. 1986] website
	"How To Make Biodiesel" [2005] by Dan M. Carter & Jon Halle Low-Impact Living Initiative 9¼x6¼ pb [3/2005] for $18.00
	"Biodiesel: Growing A New Energy Economy" [2005] by Greg Pahl Chelsea Green 9x6 pb [1/2005] for $12.24
	"From The Fryer To The Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide To Using Vegetable Oil As An Alternative Fuel" [1998?] by Joshua Tickell Tickell Energy Consultants 3rd edition pb [12/2000] for $24.95
	"Biodiesel America: How To Achieve Energy Security, Free America From Middle-East Oil Dependence & Make Money Growing Fuel" [2005] by Joshua Tickell Tickell Energy Consultants pb [7/2005] for $34.95

Business Weekly Magazine 25 September 2001 Corn for Fuel: Not Such a Hot Idea?        Commentary by Alan Hall, contributing editor According to one scientist, more fossil-fuel energy is required to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy you get from it.        A new word – gasohol – found its way into the dictionary during the energy crisis of the early 1970s. Blends of gasoline and grain alcohol were produced to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil, and the government jumped in with tax breaks to help a fledgling industry convert corn to ethanol fuel. More recently, the blends have been promoted as a way to replace gasoline additives that pollute air and water and cut carbon dioxide emissions that may contribute to global warming. And now with rising uncertainty in the Middle East and the possibility of oil-supply disruptions, renewed calls for ethanol production can be expected.        By some measures, the effort to cultivate a home-grown fuel has been a resounding success. A study by the California Energy Commission (CEC) found that 44 ethanol producers, most of them in the Midwest, are now converting about 7% of the annual corn crop into 2.2 billion gallons of ethanol a year at 57 facilities.        The Renewable Fuels Assn. (RFA), a Washington (D.C.)-based industry group, says this flood of alcohol adds $4.5 billion a year to farm revenues, creates 195,200 jobs, pumps $450 million in taxes to states, and improves the U.S. balance of trade by $2 billion. Moreover, the RFA estimates that present use of ethanol fuels will reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.64 million tons during 2001. "UNSUSTAINABLE"        But to one agricultural scientist, the idea of distilling alcohol from corn for fuel just doesn't compute. David Pimentel of Cornell University has done the math. His bottom line: It takes more fossil-fuel energy to produce a gallon of fuel-grade ethanol than burning it will produce. Growing crops to produce fuel amounts to "unsustainable, subsidized food burning," charges Pimentel.        A professor at Cornell's College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, Pimentel conducted a detailed analysis of the corn-to-car-fuel process, which was published in the Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences and Technology in September.        According to Pimentel, the 7,000 pounds of corn produced on an average acre of land can yield about 325 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing, and harvesting that much corn requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 – or about $1.05 per gallon of ethanol. And that's only to grow the grain. The corn must be crushed and fermented, then distilled and processed to extract the alcohol and produce 99.8% pure alcohol suitable for fuel. ENERGY DEFICIT        At the end of it all, alcohol production is gushing red ink, says Pimentel. He calculates that it takes 131,000 BTUs to produce a gallon of ethanol. But a gallon of ethanol has an energy value of only 77,000 BTUs. "About 70% more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in ethanol," says Pimental. The deficit: "Every time you make 1 gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTU."        And the price at the pump? Ethanol from corn costs about $1.75 per gallon to produce, compared with about 95 cents to produce a gallon of gasoline. In addition, it takes 11 acres of land to produce the 850 gallons of alcohol needed to travel 10,000 miles – the amount of cropland needed to feed seven people for a year, Pimentel says.        Even the approximately $1 billion a year now shelled out in the form of federal and state tax breaks doesn't balance the books, says Pimentel. Since about 70% of the corn grown in the U.S. becomes animal feed, the artificially high prices are reflected at the supermarket in the cost of meat, milk, and eggs. COMPELLING ARGUMENT        Then tack on some hidden costs. Pimentel argues that environmental damages would add on an additional 23 cents per gallon. He calculates that corn production erodes soil about 12 times faster than the soil can be reformed, and irrigating corn mines groundwater 25% faster than the natural recharge rate. "Corn should not be considered a renewable resource for energy production," he argues.        Still, some compelling arguments can be made for producing fuel-grade ethanol. At the head of the list is phasing out MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), an antiknock fuel additive introduced in 1976 as a substitute for additives using lead. By 2000, an estimated 4.6 billion gallons of MTBE were blended into gasoline in the U.S.        Like its predecessor, tetra-ethyl lead, MTBE, too, had a downside. Soluable in water, MTBE has leaked into the ground from buried tanks and fuel spills. On Sept. 4, the Environmental Protection Agency published new Safe Drinking Water rules that require water systems to monitor for the presence of MTBE. MEETING DEMAND        Acting ahead of other states and the federal government, California Governor Gray Davis ordered that MTBE be phased out by 2003. In its stead: ethanol – an estimated 660 million to 950 million gallons a year, a four-fold increase over present demand in that state alone.        For now, it's likely that supply will meet demand. Some 13 new distilleries are already under construction, and 34 others are in the planning stages. By 2005, the CEC estimates that 84 ethanol producers in the U.S. will be churning out nearly 4.5 billion gallons of grain alcohol a year.        But does it make sense to turn the gas-guzzling family buggy into a food gobbler as well? Clearly, few envision the nation's automobiles running on a steady diet of ethanol. Alternatives, such as fuel cells, are already on the road. In addition, using ethanol as an additive can be justified, but corn isn't the only way to get it. Ethanol can also be produced chemically from natural gas, for example.        Predictably, Pimentel's analysis was not greeted with enthusiasm by ethanol advocates. The RFA says the recent study is simply a "regurgitation" of earlier data that "has been fully refuted" by more recent studies. And the National Corn Growers Assn. has placed a point-by-point rebuttal on its Web site.        Without question, developing sources of renewable energy should be given a high priority. Still, the message in Pimentel's analysis is clear: Whether or not his particular calculations stand further tests, a close scrutiny of the data may show that the economics are not always what they seem to be.

R   Further Reading   R

	"Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy"   [2007] by Jay Inslee & Bracken Hendricks Island Press hardcover [10/2007] for $17.13
	"Energy Autonomy: The Economic, Social & Technological Case For Renewable Energy" [2007] by Hermann Scheer Earthscan 8½x5¾ hardcover [1/2007] for $19.77
	"Powering Our Future: An Energy Sourcebook For Sustainable Living" [2005] by Kimberly K. Smith iUniverse 9x6 pb [5/2005] for $19.95 from the Alternative Energy Institute
	"The Hunt For Zero Point: Inside The Classified World of Anti-Gravity Technology" [2002] by Nick Cook Broadway Books 8x5¼ pb [8/2003] for $10.17 Broadway Books 9½x6½ hardcover [8/2002] for $17.16
	"Quest For Zero Point Energy: Engineering Principles For Free Energy" [2002] by Moray B. King Adventures Unlimited 9x6 pb [1/2002] for $10.17
	Home Energy Magazine [est. 1984] 6 issues/12 months [USA only] for $67.35 magazine website

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Energy>/a> & Global Warming • Education • International Politics
Corporations vs. America

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