New Blog

It is definitely worth checking out the new blog: www.grownasspeople.blogspot.com (GAP)

The blog is fresh, intelligent, informative and fun.

GAP will cover politics, the environment, robotics and more. The writers are unusually intelligent with a real sense of humor.

Check it out and add it to your bookmarks!

Cheers

jsbarrie

New Solar Cell Process Saves $$$

Univ. of Utah Students Cut Germanium for Solar Cells

University of Utah engineers devised a new way to slice thin wafers of the element germanium for use in the most efficient type of solar power cells. They say the new method should lower the cost of such cells by using less raw material and reducing waste.

Germanium solar cells, the most efficient solar cells, now are used mainly on spacecraft, but with the improved wafer-slicing method, "the idea is to make germanium-based, high-efficiency solar cells for uses where cost now is a factor," particularly for solar power on Earth, says Eberhard "Ebbe" Bamberg, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

Dinesh Rakwal, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, adds: "We're coming up with a more efficient way of making germanium wafers for solar cells - to reduce the cost and weight of these solar cells and make them defect-free."

Bamberg and Rakwal are publishing their findings in the Journal of Materials Processing Technology. Their study has been accepted, and a final version will be published online late this month or in early October, and in print in 2009.

Their novel process uses a brass-coated, steel-wire to slice round wafers of germanium from cylindrical ingots. The brittle germanium cracks easily, requiring a saw with a soft touch. The width of the saw creates waste. In the past a significant amount of germanium is lost during the cutting process. The new U of U sawing method improves efficiency by about 10%.

The new method for slicing solar cell wafers - known as wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) - wastes less germanium and produces more wafers by cutting thinner wafers with less waste and cracking. The method uses an extremely thin molybdenum wire with an electrical current running through it.

More Info at: U of Utah

Check Out: Sustainable Design Update

New HP Laptop - 97% Package Free!

HP - Laptop Without Box

I saw this over at Gizmodo and thought it deserved to be a Friday post.

From Gizmodo:

We've seem our share of good packaging ideas and bad packaging ideas, but this new method from HP is a great packaging idea. Their Pavilion dv692 systems available at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will sit on the shelf in their own recycled material messenger bags, stabilized and protected with internal air bubbles. This alternative to huge boxes shoved full of styrofoam has reduced HP's individual consumer packaging by an outrageous 97%.

Via: Gizmodo

Megabus - MegaEfficient Transportation

Megabus

Last weekend I had a chance to catch the Megabus from Chicago to Ann Arbor. The Megabus is a new intercity express bus line that provides fast, safe and inexpensive travel between select cities in the Midwest and the Northeast.

Mass transit options are increasing to keep pace with the price of fuel. The bus I rode is a double decker that holds 79 passengers in comfort. It gets about 6 - 7 miles per gallon so that works out to 474 - 553 passenger miles per gallon. You would have to pack 10 passengers Clown-Car style in your Prius before you reached passenger fuel economy equivalent to the Megabus.

Costs are low and Megabus overhead is kept to a minimum by ticketing only online. There are no Megabus Stations. For my trip I caught the bus near the Chicago Union (train) Station. The pick up is a public bus stop with no shelter. At Union Station there is a sign on the door stating:

You have chosen a carrier that has not provided an indoor passenger waiting area for you. Amtrak and Chicago Union Station have no business relationship with 'Megabus' and cannot provide assistance unless patronizing Chicago Union Station establishments. Please wait outdoors for your bus.

More at: Sustainable Design Update

Living Like Ed

Ed Begley Jr.

I met Ed Begley Jr. this weekend at the Great Lakes Green Conference. Ed was speaking on how to make your home energy efficient and incorporate renewable energy without going broke. He also has a new book, "Living Like Ed". I got a chance to review a copy and it is the ideal place to begin if you want to make your house more energy efficient.

We had a chance to talk a bit after his presentation. Ed comes across as a down to earth, no nonsense kind of guy. His sincere nature and desire to save the earth makes a great contrast with his wife Rachelle, who goes along with many of Ed's ideas on how to live sustainably, but has her own ideas of what living comfortably is. The Begleys are filming their third season of "Living With Ed".

If you get a chance you should ask Ed about his rather cut-throat competition with Bill Nye - The Science Guy.

Ed has been a committed environmentalist ever since the first Earth Day He has always tried to “live simply so others may simply live.” Now, as more and more of us are looking for ways to reduce our impact on the planet and live a better, greener life, Ed shares his experiences on what works, what doesn't–and what will save you money!

From Random House:

These are tips for environmentally friendly living that anyone–whether you own or rent, live in a private home or a condo–can try to make a positive change for the environment. From quick fixes to bigger commitments and long-term strategies, Ed will help you make changes in every part of your life.

And if you think living green has to mean compromising on aesthetics or comfort, fear not; Ed's wife, Rachelle, insists on style–with a conscience. In Living Like Ed, his environmentalism and her design savvy combine to create a guide to going green that keeps the chic in eco-chic.

From recycling more materials than you ever thought possible to composting without raising a stink to buying an electric car, Living Like Ed is packed with ideas–from obvious to ingenious–that will help you live green, live responsibly, live well. Like Ed.

Check Out:
Living Like Ed: A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life

Efficient Ethanol

Corn - Photo Credit: MarS via Flickr

We at SDU are big fans of ethanol - if it is made from cellulosic materials. Corn ethanol is problematic. Making ethanol from corn consumes a lot of energy so the pay-off, or the net increase in energy, is small compared with other biofuels. To make corn based ethanol more energy efficient, researchers at Washington University are demonstrating a process used in breweries and wastewater treatment facilities: oxygen-less vats of bacteria that naturally feed on organic waste produced from the fermentation process.

This "new" process is one we have covered many times. (Link) The WU team is using a simple biodigester after the fermentation process. The biodigester uses bacteria in the absence of oxygen to produce methane.

As the bacteria break down waste, methane is released, which can be used to power the distillation process. The methane generated can offset much of the energy required to make ethanol.

From Technology Review:

Largus Angenent, a professor of chemical engineering, and his team at Washington University have tested anaerobic digestion on waste from ethanol plants and found that the process could cut down an ethanol facility's use of natural gas by 50 percent. The team has published the results in the recent issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Angenent says that the process would serve as a short-term solution until more-efficient biofuel, such as cellulosic ethanol, is commercially viable. "Rather than have hope for new technology that comes to fruition in 10 or 20 years, we need technology we can implement now," says Angenent, who recently became an assistant professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University. "This is an interim process, and it's off the shelf."

Nearly all ethanol biofuel in the United States is made from corn. Typically, the ethanol production yields organic waste that is then consolidated into two parts: a dry, cake-like substance and a syrupy solution, called thin stillage, that's layered on top. The concoction is used as animal feed. Angenent says that a large portion of this feed, particularly thin stillage, which is laden with salts, provides low nutritional value but may have high energy potential for powering a plant when broken down via anaerobic digestion.

To test this theory, the researchers cultivated thermophilic bacteria from a wastewater treatment plant in two small, five-liter anaerobic digesters. Angenent and his colleagues then slowly began feeding waste samples into the digesters, which were kept at 55 °C to maximize the bacteria's activity. As the digesters ran, the team measured the amount of methane released.

Via: Technology Review

Check: Sustainable Design Update

Vertical Farming - Will It Work?

Vertical Farm

I have been asked several times lately what I think of vertical farming - the proposed practice where crops are grown in skyscrapers. The idea is being pushed by academics and enthusiasts.

My big doubt about vertical farming is based on the economics of building a superstructure with sufficient structural capacity to hold crops, water, soil (in the non-hydroponic proposals) humans and machines. Plus the live loads associated with rain, snow and wind. The structure would have to be at least as robust as what we currently build for offices and the infrastructure would be just about as expensive as any other building. So, based on current costs for construction, the cost of a vertical farm could be about $100.00 per square foot.

The cost of Georgia farm land is $2,074 per acre, average (University of Georgia Study), which is about 5 cents per square foot. This gives the Georgia farm a serious advantage. The rent on a $100.00 per square foot structure is about $21.00 per square foot per year, so space on a vertical farm might go for $10.00 = $21.00 per square foot. Corn brings in about $259.00 per acre ( www.profitablefarming.com) or about 7/10 of one cent per square foot. And corn is considered a profitable crop!

I can't see the economics of vertical farming working out.

Check out: Sustainable Design Update

Check out this very cool video of an advocate for vertical farming on the Colbert Report.

Via: AIDG Blog