Hybrid Living

We featured the innovative Dockside Green community previously on MetaEfficient. Recently, the entire community was certified to be built to Platinum LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) standards. It was awarded the highest LEED score in the world. (…)Read the rest of Dockside Green Awarded World’s Highest LEED Score (220 words)

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Yes, there’s a double meaning to "catalyze" in that title. A couple scientists at MIT have created a new kind of catalyst that makes electrolysis much simpler, cheaper and efficient. Theoretically this could help save the world by:

1. Creating a simple way to produce hydrogen fuel for our automobile fleet
2. Storing electricity provided by intermittent renewables like wind and solar
3. Storing electricity during cheap off-peak times for use during peak hours
4. Eliminating the need for hydrogen transport, as it could be produced anywhere with connection to the electric grid

Probably the biggest deal here is number 2 and 3. We’ve already seen some steps toward a distributed power system where everyone has a fuel source in their house. Bloom Energy is hoping to create a system that would allow every person to have a hydrogen storage / electricity creation box in their home.

The new technique uses inexpensive catalysts containing cobalt and phosphate. Bit the biggest deal is that it bubbles 100% of the oxygen produced, meaning that they can close the loop and not have to discard any water to keep efficiency high.

Other electrolysis techniques don’t remove all of the O2 from he water, creating hydroxides that degrade performance. The new system, developed at MIT, removes all of the oxygen, so that electrolysis can be efficient at room temperature without electrolyte inputs to remove the hydroxides.

The scientists seem to be confident that this is a game changer, and a breakthrough, though they’re saying it’ll be a decade before it can be fully implemented. Nonetheless, this is a big freakin’ deal, especially if combined with the next wave of cheap renewables. Power storage remains a huge issue, and if this could solve that problem, it would be the second step we need toward a truly renewable future.

Sources: CNet Greentech, TreeHugger and Science Magazine Podcast

The car developed by Cree called SAM, a Swiss three-wheeled concept zero emissions electric car, didn’t seem to be making any progress, considering the designing company shut down in 2003. But Polish company Impact Automotive Technologies have scooped it up from the ashes, re-engineered it, and the Cree could be coming out of the factory soon.

The new design includes better lithium-polymer batteries to give it a longer range, a brushless AC motor, programmable on-board charger and a data logger. We haven’t heard if it performs any better, so we can’t compare it to some other three wheelers we’ve seen around here, but it has been road tested and certified in Italy and the UK – the only two placed it’s likely to find much of an audience. IAT’s plans are to send 500 vehicles on their merry way this September, and 5,000 to come out in 2009.

Via AutoblogGreen

ZapRoot keeps surprising me. While sometimes there’s a bit too much fluff for me to paddle through, other times the bust out with some of the most hard-hitting (though easy-on-the-eyes) eco-journalism on the web.

Sometimes a bit too hard hitting.

This weeks episode, for example, takes aim at T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oil man with an eye for wind (and, as it turns out, water.) Give Jessica a couple minutes of your time and she’ll have you convinced that Boone’s wind farm is the devil’s work.

Now, I’m not a big fan of draining the Ogllala Aquifer so Dallas can water its lawns for another ten years, but there are a lot of more evil ways to get rights for a water pipeline than by building a the world’s largest wind farm.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if we could have the wind farm without the water pipeline, that would be better. But just because the water pipeline is part of the deal doesn’t mean we should nix the biggest renewable energy project in the history of the world.

I think that Dubai is worth studying. How, exactly, does an oil state become the home of green innovations. It takes more than just money, of course, there are plenty of oil states who have remained in the cleantech dark ages. But I’m going to have to file that thought away for later, because I must announce a NEW planned ultra-green city.

Xeritown is green in both high and low-tech ways. They’ve centered the city so that the ocean breeze air-conditions the entire city. They’ve laid it out to be pedestrian friendly and inconvenient for cars. There’s no road more than two lanes wide in the whole 60 acres. And, taking it’s name from Xeriscaping, the city uses next to no water for non-domestic purposes. All landscaping is suitable for the desert and graywater will be used for industrial purposes.

But, of course, it comes with its fair share of photovoltaics to power the city. Panels will line the streets and shade the sidewalks.

Of course, unlike Masdar City, this project has not yet been approved for construction. But if Dubai’s record for surprising me stands, they’ll be breaking ground in no time.

Via Inhabitat

It’s quite a week for biofuel breakthroughs and news. Iowa State University research has revealed a way to reduce the energy and water use required to produce corn ethanol, saving ethanol plants a possible collective $800 million a year in energy costs and as much as 10 billion gallons of water a year. And it’s all based on a fungus, and recycling.

The new breakthrough is aimed at the dry-grind part of the ethanol production process. Basically, corn kernels are ground up, water and enzymes are added, starches are turned into sugars, and sugars are fermented to produce ethanol. The ethanol is recovered with distillation. At the end of the ethanol distillation process, there is a liquid left over – about 6 gallons for every 1 gallon of ethanol. Only about half of the leftover liquid can be recycled, and the process to remove solids and organic materials in it is expensive. When the fungus Rhizopus microsporus is added to the liquid and allowed to flourish, it makes possible as much as 80% of the organic matter and solids in the sillage to be removed, and the liquid leftover can then be recycled into the production process.

The fungus has another useful element – it can be eaten. Ethanol plants can harvest the protein- and nutrient-rich fungus and sell it as a livestock food supplement.

Implementing the new technology would cost an ethanol plant that produces 100 million gallons a year about $11 million – kind of a lot for ethanol plants right now, but still do-able. And, researchers say that investment could be paid back in as little as six months, thanks to the energy savings. The process is still waiting for a patent, and investors to help the project prove that the process can work on a commercial scale, so all this is still iffy. But iffy it works, then ethanol plants could have a new way to reduce overall costs and environmental impact on production.

Via Treehugger, Engineer Live; Photo via viknanda

India isn’t much of a solar user…so far. Its production made up just 1.7% of the world total for 2007. But it isn’t ignoring solar completely, but rather using it to make great strides in green housing. In an effort to meet its rapidly growing energy demands in an eco-friendly way, India has completed Rabi Rashmi Abasan, its first green housing project. If we thought Canada was cool, this project puts up some stiff competition.

The new complex is located in Kolkata on 1.76 acres in New Town. Designed and installed by SunTechnics India, 26 PV systems using modules customized for the homes roofs make up the 58 KW housing project. Each home puts out 2 KW of power, which is enough to fulfill the energy needs of the complex as well as send extra power to the public grid. The home owner can also access the grid for power when needed. The system saves about .5 kgs of CO2 emissions for every kw hour produced. Every little bit helps in that smoggy place.

As for the inhabitants, the homes’ design uses solar features to keep houses cool during summer, improve air circulation in the house, and provide hot water. To extend the green features, the complex has a shuttle system with battery operated vans, solar street lights, and a pool heated with solar power. Sounds like a pretty sweet place to live.

Via Inhabitat, IndiaPRwire

Boy, seems like just yesterday I was talking about smart grid stuff. There’s more news: Tendril Networks, a smart grid start-up, has announced all the goods on its networked in-home energy display, called Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE). There are a lot of versions of in-home energy displays out already, but the technology is pretty new so each new version is pretty unique, at least in layout.

Tendril’s in-home display takes the basic system that shows energy use at a given moment and builds upon it, providing information on how much money a home is spending on electricity at a given moment. This speaks much more loudly to the average consumer, since everyone knows what dollars mean. The software works with utilities’ back-office systems and devices that use ZigBee to generate the info. Tendril Insight, the actual display, reads information from advanced meters installed by the utilities to give users their real time updates that can be accessed on the web, and the information can be compared to other similar households so the competition can really get roaring among neighbors.

Saving money on energy is going to get pretty darn easy with systems like that – and it won’t cost too much to access. Tendril expects that by mid-2009, consumers with advanced meters can buy the hardware for somewhere between $30 and $50. How much all the other bells and whistles cost, I’m not sure. And access is admittedly still limited, since users need to update their junky old meters, and it works with ZigBee-enabled appliances, which aren’t yet universal.

Via cnet