tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11286947048870588312024-10-24T00:41:09.895-07:00Exploring, Analyzing, and Advocating Clean Technologies and their Contribution to a Sustainable Civilization.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-72489112038428055332008-02-16T20:23:00.000-08:002008-02-16T20:42:36.748-08:00

The 37th annual Solar Conference, SOLAR 2008, will be held in San Diego, 3-8 May 2008 at the Town and Country Resort. That's the older convention center in Mission Valley, just a few miles north east of the airport. Highlights of the conference will include, keynotes from Van Jones and Senator Gary Hart, and sessions on policy, marketing, technology, community, and best practices for

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-13053572331183574942008-02-10T21:43:00.000-08:002008-02-10T22:18:08.560-08:00

San Diego's ISE Corporation designs and builds hybrid-electric drive systems for heavy-duty vehicles such as buses and trams. Since its inception in 1994, ISE has converted a dozen types of large transportation vehicles to run on electric, hybrid-electric, or fuel cell power.ISE also sells individual subsystems and components, including integrated battery and ultracapacitor packs, motive drive

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-11037553392453690942008-02-06T22:28:00.000-08:002008-02-06T22:50:43.012-08:00

There was a surge (:-) of solar-powered water heating (SPWH) in the US twenty years ago, but policy makers discontinued the incentives and SPWH fell out of favor. Some countries in Europe, require all new construction houses to install solar-powered water heaters. Why burn expensive non-renewable fossil fuels to heat your water when the sun is shining?There has been a resurgence of interest in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-15758443329234861952008-01-16T22:44:00.000-08:002008-01-16T22:47:35.035-08:00

If you have $1200 burning a hole in your pocket, this Clean Energy Roundtable in La Jolla, April 8-10, looks upbeat and informative.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-2393447847819029432007-12-22T08:37:00.000-08:002007-12-22T08:47:31.179-08:00

The governor of California has proclaimed that there shall be a hydrogen filling station every 20 miles north south along the hydrogen highway. There are twenty filling stations open now, 14 clustered around Los Angeles County, and 6 in the San Francisco vicinity. Ten more will open in early 2008. Most of the hydrogen for these filling station is created by reforming natural gas and then

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-85704962959724160112007-12-13T14:01:00.001-08:002007-12-13T22:03:19.881-08:00

GM recently announced their Sequel hydrogen-powered car. I visited the Sequel web site and applied for the pilot program via a long questionnaire. I was notifed immediately that i did not qualify, and later learned from Marc Puckett at United Solar of America that only applicants in Burbank are being considered. I also learned that there are hydrogen bus test programs underway in Palm Springs,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-63239953793106891802007-12-06T20:29:00.000-08:002007-12-06T21:13:17.436-08:00

Synthetic genomics is a new research area within the field of synthetic biology that uses gene therapy, genetic modification, or genetic fabrication to create a new life form, ie., a life form that does not exist in nature. In addition to using custom-designed base pair series, genomicists believe it may be possible to use genetic codes other than the four base pairs of DNA that compose all DNA

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-25352202905928200292007-11-27T22:32:00.001-08:002007-11-29T06:57:07.426-08:00

Flying electric generators, sometimes called tethered rotorcraft, use wind power to keep themselves airborne and at the same time to generate electricity. Operating at altitudes above 15,000 feet, the northern and southern hemisphere jetstreams provide the ideal strong reliable wind conditions for rotorcraft. High altitude Rotorcraft solve the visual and noise problems inherent in terrestrial

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-65831514906367467432007-11-20T21:02:00.000-08:002007-11-23T23:30:20.996-08:00

Many processes generate heat as a by-product. Most often the heat by-product is dissapated and thus wasted. Example processes that generate waste heat include: incineration, electricity generation, water heating, manufacturing, central heating, and turning an engine.If waste heat could be captured and stored, it could potentially power other processes at very low cost. Hi-Z has developed a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-1049703184200356662007-11-15T22:36:00.000-08:002007-11-15T22:50:28.190-08:00

The World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) publishes an amazing number of high-quality reports and E-newsletters. One of today's E-newsletters included a story about Pennsylvania researchers who have developed an efficient process for generating hydrogen from biodegradable organic material. In a process called electrohydrogenesis, an electrical charge is applied in a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-50778092609427821302007-11-14T22:18:00.000-08:002007-11-16T22:05:27.846-08:00

For most of its history Float Inc has developed large pneumatically-stabilized off-shore floating platforms for various industrial and military applications. Float is now developing technology that uses the movement of ocean waves to generate electricity. Here's an excerpt from Float's web site:Wave energy is, in effect, a stored and concentrated form of solar energy, since the winds that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-83653414991632798332007-11-12T21:52:00.000-08:002007-11-12T22:15:00.532-08:00

On November 8th, the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) hosted a small alternative fuels conference organized by the San Diego Regional Clean Fuels Coalition and the San Diego Regional Sustainability Partnership Transportation Committee. The morning agenda was excellent.Joanna Underwood convincingly argued in her keynote that natural gas is the only sensible stepping stone to a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-74662230136492897892007-11-07T23:33:00.000-08:002007-11-07T23:40:18.727-08:00

At a recent Greenovations meeting at UCSD I met Nathan Owens, the lead author of a cleantech report commissioned by the City of San Diego. In the report, Nathan establishes clean technology criteria, and then describes 143 companies that meet his criteria. The excellent report is on the www.sandiego.gov site here .

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-39126053586622372062007-11-06T21:12:00.000-08:002007-11-07T23:19:48.535-08:00

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDGE) has set a goal of delivering 20% of its power from renewable sources by the year 2010. Toward this goal, SDGE has contracted with Bull Moose Energy to purchase 20 megawatts of electricity in 2008, sufficient power for 20,000 homes. Bull Moose will create the power by gasifying wood that would otherwise have been dumped in a landfill. Bull Moose Energy was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-38674223053906481692007-11-04T20:55:00.000-08:002007-11-04T22:50:07.945-08:00

Wikipedia defines an Energy Management Systems as, "a system to control, monitor, and optimize the generation and flow of Electric Power." Founded in 2002, San Diego-based P&E Automation is a leader in the EMS field. P&E provides consulting services for: energy audits, energy conservation engineering, feasibility studies for solar & co-generation power production, LEED certification,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-18587660276049325722007-11-01T21:01:00.000-07:002007-11-02T21:20:25.741-07:00

This 3-seater autonomous vehicle from French car maker Venturi requires no gas, no hydrogen, and no wall socket. It charges itself via solar panels on the roof and/or via a deployable wind turbine. Its called the Eclectic. Falling into the category of vehicles known as Neighborhood Electric Vehicles, the Eclectic NEV has a range of 50KM (31 miles) on a full charge and an maximum speed of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-58649472167702050202007-10-29T22:26:00.000-07:002007-10-29T23:30:07.197-07:00

Energy Eye has developed a wireless energy management system for installation in hotel rooms, apartments, classrooms, offices, or any other building where temperature controls are used. The Energy Eye system utilizes a passive infrared sensor, a motion sensor, and a door sensor to determine if a room is occupied or not. If the door sensor detects that the door was propped open, the sensor

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-70946099388242794132007-10-25T18:37:00.000-07:002007-10-26T23:07:05.012-07:00

Solar Energy Conference 2007 in San Diego was hosted by the California Center for Sustainable Energy . Presenter slides are here . Highlights of this well-organized high-quality event included:Solar thermal technology (heat water in pipes on your roof) is returning to the USA after dying a political death in the 1980s. Residential solar thermal is required by law in much of Europe, and is

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-7921564679003294752007-10-23T22:04:00.000-07:002007-10-24T08:49:30.141-07:00

Biomimicry is the idea of studying and emulating natural processes to reduce the load placed on the planet. Biomatrica has developed a number of products that enable bench scientists to safely and efficiently store their laboratory samples at room temperature. This technology will reduce the electricity required to run lab freezers where samples are normally stored, reduce the number of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-42832963759040974492007-10-21T21:48:00.000-07:002007-10-23T21:59:41.332-07:00

On Friday I visited Enviro-Bike's new storefront location at 374 Encinitas Blvd in North San Diego County. John the proprietor was in LA, but Stephanie showed me around the electric scooter showroom. Enviro-Bike sells three brands of electric scooter, QElectric, ScooterTeq, and Palmer. I didn't get to see the new Palmer, but i did test drive the ScooterTeq Classique 500R around in the parking

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-7353681929257067882007-10-17T22:04:00.000-07:002007-10-18T22:13:37.540-07:00

San Diego-based Innergy Power Corporation was just acquired by Scottsdale-based Ecotality. Innergy will operate as a subsidiary of Ecotality.Founded in 1989, Innergy had recently opened a manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico.Innergy is a market leader in integrating solar panel chargers with battery packs. One example is the Innergy thin pack which contains a solar module and a thin

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-63456173491948159632007-10-15T22:57:00.000-07:002007-10-15T23:16:25.200-07:00

Not a clean technology, but an organization that advocates electric vehicles, the Electric Vehicle Association of San Diego holds monthly meetings, hosts events, shows movies, and recently sponsored a long-distance driving event to raise awareness.The EVAOSD website offers dozens of links to informative sites, an on-line library, a calendar of events, a photo album, EVs for sale, and a jobs

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-78638466590544556292007-10-11T22:37:00.000-07:002007-10-11T23:08:52.836-07:00

I usually try to focus on San Diego cleantech, but I'm straying to Japan-cleantech in this column to discuss the Honda FCX concept car. The FCX is a hydrogen fuel cell car scheduled to be released by Honda in the U.S. market in 2008. Much sooner than anyone expected to see a mass-produced hydrogen-powered electric car. The car's range is 270 miles per tank of highly pressurized hydrogen, and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-73692878092705537692007-10-10T22:57:00.000-07:002007-10-10T23:46:43.747-07:00

Envision Solar designs, develops, and installs Solar Trees™ in parking lots. The advantages are many. One tree generates 17,000 kW hours per year, enough electricity to power three typical homes. The next generation Solar Tree™ will be larger, will use more advanced Kyocera photovoltaic modules, and will generate over 30,000 kW hours annually. The trees are silent, clean, shady, virtually

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1128694704887058831.post-21653515715904962882007-10-08T21:34:00.001-07:002007-10-10T23:48:09.625-07:00

Quanlight is a San Diego company developing new technology for light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Existing AlInGaP-based YAR LED performance has plateaued. Quanlight has developed a new material (InGaNP) for manufacturing LEDs with superior performance over AlInGaP. Appropriate for use in signal, signage, automotive, and theatrical/architectural lighting applications, the Quanlight LED chip is less

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0