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A large dairy in the Ukraine is powered by the energy generated by the cows’ own manure. In fact, the cows generate a surplus of electricity that the dairy sells back to the electrical company:
The combined heat and power (CHP) plant–the first biogas cogeneration plant in the Ukraine–has successfully been powering the Ukraine Milk Company’s factory for 9 months with 625 kW of electricity and 686 kW of thermal output. That’s enough to fully power the factory and sell energy back to the grid. The advantages of using poop power are threefold: UMC improves its factory efficiency, cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions, and keeps excess manure out of the waste stream. After UMC’s manure goes through its biogas plant, leftovers can be used as agricultural fertilizer.
Link | Photo (unrelated) by Flickr user law kevin used under Creative Commons license
A Swedish start-up company called Minestro is developing a system for harvesting energy from ocean currents. “Deep Green” consists of kites and turbines anchored to the ocean floor:
When operational, the turbine is expected to generate 500 kilowatts of power.
One of the big advantages of their technology, Minesto executives say, is its small size — 12 meters for the wingspan and one meter for the turbine — relative to other tidal-energy designs. [...]
The company hope to begin trials of a scale model in 2011 at Strangford Lough, in County Down, Northern Ireland — which is already home to a commercial tidal power device operated by UK renewable energy company, SeaGen.
Link via DVICE | Company Website | Video
Solar Dog is a prototype cell phone recharging station developed by Erik Schiegg of Switzerland. The user mounts it on a dog’s back to collect solar energy as it plays outside. Schiegg writes:
My Android phone is charged in no time… The dog feels good and I’m feeling good and planet mud is turned a little bit more into planet earth. But this idea would be interesting? for farmers around the world, letting their animals collect electricity, too. Without the cost and waste for installation and the ground.
via Make
Rochus Jacob designed and built the Murakami Chair. As the user rocks back and forth during the day, the chair charges a battery that powers the lamp. Jacob writes:
I was looking for opportunities to generate energy through activities we naturally do. The final result is a rocking chair that enables the user to experience production and consumption of electricity in a gentle and rewarding way. An abstract process becomes tangible and eventually cultivates natural awareness. Complexity is covered by simplicity. Advanced nano-dynamo technology which is built in to the skids of the chair and more efficient light sources such as the newly developed OLED generation makes it possible to build a rocking chair with a reading lamp running on electricity generated from the rocking motion. During daylight the energy gets stored in a battery pack. The construction of the flat and bendable organic light emitting diodes allows new form factors such as using the traditional shape of a lamp but instead of having a light bulb the lampshade himself turns out to be the light source. To have a drastic reduction of consumption the big challenge will be to make consuming less feel like getting more.
The Italian firm KiteGen Research is developing a generator that harnesses the wind through kites. As a kite flies into the air, it unspools a cord that cranks the turbine. Carina Storrs writes in Popular Science:
The company developed a prototype that flies 200-square-foot kites to altitudes of 2,600 feet, where wind streams are four times as strong as they are near ground-based wind turbines.
As the kite’s tether unspools, it spins an alternator that generates up to 40 kilowatts. Once the kite reaches its peak altitude, it collapses, and motors quickly reel it back in to restart the cycle. This spring, KiteGen started building a machine to fly a 1,500-square-foot kite, which it plans to finish by 2011, that could generate up to three megawatts—enough to power 9,000 homes.
Norfolk Southern’s NS 999 electric locomotive runs entirely on 1,080 12-volt batteries and produces 1,500 horsepower. From the company’s press release:
NS 999 is an entirely electric locomotive that uses a lead-acid energy storage system comprised of 1,080 12-volt batteries to operate in railroad switching applications without the use of a diesel engine and with zero exhaust emissions. The plug-in locomotive also can regenerate dynamic braking energy through a system provided by Brookville Equipment Company. The recovered dynamic braking energy continually replenishes the energy storage system, and uses this recovered energy for tractive effort in rail operations. The batteries are carefully monitored and controlled through an elaborate battery management system to assure safety and maximum battery life, and when fully charged NS 999 is able to operate three shifts before recharging is required.
Link via Popular Science
The world’s largest windfarm began operating today. The Roscoe Wind Complex is composed of 627 turbines over four counties in western Texas. According to E.On Climate and Renewables North America, the owner, it is already generating at full capacity — that’s 781.5 megawatts, or enough electricity to power 230,000 homes. John McFarland wrote for the Associated Press:
At the Roscoe wind farm, the turbines range in size from about 350 to 415 feet tall, and they’re generally spaced about 900 feet apart, Woodson said. The land is leased, mostly from dryland cotton farmers who continue to work the fields around them, Woodson said. Texas is the nation’s leading producer of cotton, most of it from West Texas.
“It’s a use that appears to be quite complimentary,” Woodson said. “This whole community was extremely welcoming to us.”
E.ON has facilities around the state, but it could be awhile before the company builds more huge wind farms in West Texas because of the glut of wind companies and lack of transmission lines, Woodson said. The state is planning more lines from West Texas to more heavily populated areas, but they won’t be completed for at least two more years.
Link via TigerHawk | Image: Biggunben, used under Creative Commons license
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