Wind power is brilliant, but there is so much opposition against wind farms and even when they get planning permission, a wind farm can be seriously expensive mean that the return on the investment makes for a long wait.

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However, in the Netherlands, researchers from the Delft University of Technology are working a working model of variant of the wind farm, except this time, they are using kites to generate enough power for around ten homes, which is around ten kilowatts per ten square metre kite. The kites are tethered to a generator this produces the electricity.

In the longer term, there are plans, which could hold more kites and rise up to 30,000 feet in the air producing around 100 megawatts of electricity.

Source [Inhabitat]

In a small town of 1,300 residents true green innovation is taking place. In Rock Port, Missouri 4 giant 40 story windmills power up the entire town. Watch video below for the interesting story.

In the food business, gas and waste are two of the high needs that owners would have to worry about. Hiring someone to carry out the garbage and getting rid of spoiled oil are two things that they have to cater to and this cycle and innovation that has been developed by The Red Blazer is truly something that most current restaurant and dining owners would want to check out and consider.

Karathanasis learned of the device at a Chicago trade show, and found it solved an immediate problem — his staff had to lug out heavy bags full of empty glass bottles to the garbage bin in back. That practice had led to a couple of injuries, he said, and the glass crusher — which pulverizes empties and dumps the remains into a bucket — solved that problem.

Not having to throw the empties away meant a lot less garbage in the outside bin. That translated to lower costs for hauling it away. As in $8,400 a year lower.

Overjoyed with this success, Karathanasis began looking at other ways to conserve. He switched out the restaurant’s light bulbs. He installed a new dishwashing system that saves on water and electricity, helping reduce his power bill substantially. When he was once paying $8,000 a month for electricity, this past month he paid just $5,500 — in the height of summer, with its consequent need for air-conditioning inside the restaurant.

(Source) Union Leader

New line of eco friendly solar bags have hit the market. Sakku Solar Bags aside from harnessing the power of the sun to juice up electronics and gagdets, is also made using recycled wind sail material.

This is great for many reasons, first instead of having the wind sail cloth end up in landfills, it is re-used and re-purposed into something useful and funky. The solar recycled bags are currently only available in the UK, but plans are in the works to bring them to the US.

The designs naturally turn out well, and each bag comes with a tag outlining the origin of the wind sail cloth. So you will know exactly which boat it came from, and abit of trivia behind it. Pretty neat.

It is very interesting to learn of the opportunities that lie before the current and future generation of students. As of this writing wind technician training is underway at colleges in North Dakota.

As more and more wind turbines hit the American landscape, professionals are going be needed that know how to properly install and service these alternative forms of energy.

Wind technicians are so popular right now, students are not even making it through to the end of their class training, as they are being hired within months of starting class, according to the Wind Energy Association.

Let’s hope students stay in class, and learn all the safety rules and guidelines before moving on to employment.

Having said that, with the demand so great, it is a NEW! and booming time for eco minded students.

Source: [Clean Technica]

Very cool service provided by a company in Dublin, Ireland called Eco Cabs. They run a small cab operation that uses pedal powered cab rides in an eco friendly tricycle type mobile wagon.

Source: [SpringWise]

The rides are free to pedestrians, and the cost is offset by advertising and sponsorship on the wagons. Big name advertisers such as 7 Up plaster the wagon with ads, and this enables the rides to be offered at no charge.

The eco cabs do carry a battery as back up, but they are mostly pedal powered by a human. These are available currently in Dublin, Ireland with other sies planned. Very cool.

Most of us would have seen how bio fuels are made, it takes some basic equipment and the ability to be able brings the mixture to the boil! See at this point I get really put off from doing that, there is something about boiling a mixture of vegetable oil and diesel that simply scares the hell out of me.

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However, some have the need and courage to produce their own fuel, the oil comes from fast food places and the cost of a litre is around 70p (140 cents) is a good deal, until it all goes wrong.

An unnamed man had built a bio fuel factory in his garage, when things went wrong. He suffered twenty per cent burns and had to be airlifted to hospital.

Source [BBC]

It is a debatable question but if this device does, what it says on the box and the price is right, and then yes this could well be the best solar powered unit yet. Quite simply because this unit will charge just about anything that needs charging and if the sun is strong it may only take around three hours to do so.

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Features:

Capacity: 20000 mA/H (74W/h)

Output

-USB: 5V/ 500mA

-Voltage Port: Selectable 16V, 18V, 22V, 24V (all 3000mA max)

Input: 18V/ 2000mA max

Solar Panel Type: Monocrystalline

Charging Time

- AC: aprox 3 hrs

- Solar: aprox 8~10 hrs

Working Temperature: -5 ~ +60 deg C

Dimension: 205×282x18mm (LxWxD)

Manufacturer Ref.: DOSSS8Z2YDF1

Other Features:

Circuit Protection

Overcharge

Discharge

Short Circuit

- Heat

Included Wall AC Adapter + Car Cigarette Power Adapter

Included 11 Laptop Adapters to work with most laptops

- ASUS, HP, Samsung, ACer/T1, Dell, IBM, NEC, Toshiba

Included 13 Mobile Phone Adapter to work with most mobile phones

Motorola, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens, Sony Erickson, AppleUltrasonic Mosquito Speaker: Emits high pitched frequency sound to repel mosquitoes

Accessories:

Manual

Mobile Phone Adapters

Laptop Adapters

AC Power Adapter

Car Cigarette Power Adapter

Manufacturer and Origin: China

Source [Eco friend]

Here is a great way of staying cool, this fan is solar powered so that when the sun is out and it is getting so hot. You will be able to stay really cool with this solar powered light weight fan, which will simply clip onto the edge of your baseball cap and keep your head from getting hot.

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Clearly, there are some limitations like there has to be sun, but without the sun, there would not be much need for the device anyway. It is a good little idea that will help many out during those hot days and at only $10 each, this just has to be a bargain.

Features:

Solar Mini Clip Fan

Fan Diameter: 7.3 cm

Light weight

Package Included:

1 piece Solar Mini Clip Fan

Source [Eco Friend]

We have seen various alternative ways to create energy and this one is something worth looking into. From the usual solar energy panels to hydrogen power, imagine energy being generated from potato waste. Now that is something.

In my previous post I already put out a post that some groups in the world today are looking to transform their trash to energy. While there were no specifics, this is because there are a lot of different waste categories to choose from. It is not solely from “trash” alone.

Potato Waste

Farmer Philip Johnson asked Durham County Council for permission to produce electricity – enough to heat 1,200 homes – from potato waste from the Walkers’ crisp factory, in Peterlee.

With the request granted, about 1,000 tonnes of potatoes a year will be pumped through an anaerobic digester, along with about 7,000 tonnes of agricultural crops and 2,000 tonnes of manure.

That will generate 500kw of electricity for the National Grid and 8,000 tonnes of fertiliser.

(Source) The Northern Echo