In 2006, Mag Wind arrived on the home energy production scene with their roof mounted magnetic levitation residential wind turbine that had some remarkable features. Low cut in speed, high energy production, and virtually no noise. Now, after many delays, some redesign work and with a new company, Mag Wind technology is back, and they’re finally available to buy.

Now offered by Enviro-Energies, using patented magnetic levitation axial flux permanent magnet generator technology, the turbines have an incredibly low wind speed requirement of 1-2mph to start, and begin producing power at 4mph wind speed. The turbines continue to produce power up to a wind speed of 90mph, at which point an electromagnetic brake engages to prevent damage to the turbine hardware.

The wind turbines range in power from 2.5kw to 10kw, and all have sound outputs of less than 20dB; to put this in perspective, a telephone dial tone is roughly 80dB. Since one of the main complaints about wind turbines is the sound they produce, this is a huge advantage over other turbine designs.

Endorsed by well known eco-celebrities such as Ed Begley Jr. and Jay Leno, the MVAWT turbines are a very affordable and reliable home energy option when compared to other alternative energy technologies such as solar PV. The MVAWT 2.5 KW starts at $11, 495 as of this writing, with the highest output turbine, the MVAWT 10KW, starting at $41, 995.

You can read about Enviro Energies product line, or request additional information from one of their authorized dealers.

Enviro Energies Wind Turbines

Greywater is a subject that doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, but as demand grows and water supplies dwindle, it’s important to use our water as efficiently as possible. A new company in Los Angeles is now offering greywater irrigation systems, to allow you to make the most out of your water.

Greywater is the waste water from your washing machine, dishwasher, showers, bathroom sinks, basically any drain except for toilets and kitchen sink. Typically this water goes straight to the sewer, but there’s a better use for it; watering trees and plants in your yard!

Greywater Corps was founded in 2009 by architect & ecologist Leigh Jerrard, who is both a LEED Accredited Professional and a graduate of Greywater Action’s Installer Program. The process for having a greywater system installed is simple, the company will send a team to your house to install the components of the system and then teach you how to use it.  Through the money saved on water, the systems typically pay for themselves within 2 years. Each system is custom designed for your home, and options are even available for rental properties.

If you wish to learn more about greywater systems, a book by Art Ludwig called The New Create an Oasis with Greywater is probably the best place to start.

Currently Greywater Corps only works in the LA area, but as building codes are amended to allow greywater irrigation use, you can expect to see more companies like this appearing all over North America.

Greywater Corps, via Re-Nest

Two weeks ago a massive algae bloom formed off the coast of Qingdao, China, and has now expanded to cover more than 150 square miles. The Chinese government has dispatched a response team consisting of 66 vessels, ten forklifts, and 168 people to collect the algae before it starts to decompose.

The bloom is a result of result of rising ocean temperatures and excess nitrogen in the water caused by industrial runoff, and can have devastating effects on local ecosystems if left unchecked. As the algae decomposes, it can strip oxygen from the water, suffocating local wildlife, and also releases noxious gases.

More than 4,000 tons of algae has been removed so far, but there is much more yet to remove. A similar bloom in the area in 2008 resulted in a staggering 170,000 tons of algae. By removing the algae before it decomposes, it can be processed into useful products such as biofertilizer or animal feed.

Another option that I haven’t seen presented yet, is to dry the algae to use as feedstock in making biochar. If the 2010 bloom ends up being anywhere close to the 2008 one, that is potentially a lot of biochar.

Guardian, via TreeHugger

Currently, emissions from coal burning power plants account for 36% of total carbon output in the United States. Aerospace firm ATK, best known for producing the booster rockets used on NASA’s Space Shuttle, hopes to change this by using their rocket nozzle design to capture carbon from coal power plant smoke stacks.

The idea is quite simple in concept; a rocket derives its thrust from exhaust expanding rapidly out of the combustion chamber through a nozzle. During this expansion, the exhaust gases cool considerably, some components even below freezing. This is the effect ATK plans to utilize with coal plant smoke stacks. By pressurizing the exhaust gases and then letting them expand through a rocket nozzle, the carbon dioxide will freeze into its solid form of dry ice crystals, which can be captured.

Conventional chemical scrubber technology typically increases the cost of coal-derived electricity by 80%, ATK estimates their technology could reduce that to 30%. The company plans to commence laboratory testing of the idea within 14 months, with tests on live power plant stacks after that.

The better solution, of course, is to plan to stop burning coal as soon as possible, but until that happens technology that removes as much carbon dioxide from the exhaust gases is worth looking into. This technology could have benefits for biomass power plants as well, capturing the carbon from the burning of a carbon-neutral source is a very interesting idea.

Discovery News, via Ecofriend

It’s easy to see pollution in the air from vehicle exhausts, factories, and power plants. What’s not so easy to see, is air pollution in your home, and it may be even worse for your health. Luckily there’s a solution, and part of that is a group of common houseplants that will help scrub your air clean.

Toxic chemicals like trichloroethylene, formaldehyde and benzene can come from a variety of common household sources such as cleaning products and your home itself. Effects of these chemicals range from simple throat irritation to headaches, asthma, and even cancer.

NASA studies, conducted by Dr. BC Wolverton, show that there are several species of plants that can significantly reduce the amount of these chemicals in your air. Since most of us spend upwards of 90% of our time indoors, and are likely not living in a LEED-rated house designed to have high indoor air quality, we’re taking in a plethora of harmful chemicals with each breath.

Good Magazine has released a helpful chart based on Dr. Wolverton’s work, showing common sources for the chemicals trichloroethylene, formaldehyde and benzene. Also included is a list of the plants that are most effective at removing these chemicals from the air naturally, without an expensive air filtration system.

This information, as well as further details on many other plants that can remove additional chemicals from your air, is found in Dr. Wolverton’s book How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office.

Good Magazine, via Green Upgrader

As author George Monbiot wrote in his 2006 book Heat, conventional air travel is unsustainable, no matter how you look at it. The carbon footprint of a jet is immense, and his controversial solution for this problem is to curb our use of air travel. That would be a very hard sell for most people, but airship technology may provide a means to do just that.

Airships fell out of public favor after the tragic demise of the Hindenburg in 1937, having seen only limited recreational use in recent decades such as the ever-present Goodyear Blimp  floating silently over sporting events. Airship technology has improved greatly since 1937 however, and modern eco-friendly airships could replace fixed-wing aircraft for hauling cargo and passengers within a decade.

In a report by UK’s The Guardian, former chief scientific adviser Professor Sir David King stated that “massive helium balloons – or blimps – would replace aircraft as a key part of the global trade network as a way of cutting global warming emissions.” King says that “as a result, the helium-powered ships could be carrying freight – and even passengers – in as little as a decade’s time.”

Although airships are much slower than jets, traveling at  an average top speed of 125kph (78mph), they have much lower fuel costs and a carrying capacity much higher than a standard Boeing 747 jet. This lower speed and reduced fuel requirement has some people speculating that carbon emissions for air freight could be reduced by up to 90%. Airship technology, combined with increased use of clean fueled high speed rail networks, could rein in our carbon footprint to well within the guidelines set forth by Monbiot.

Although I don’t see high speed fixed-wing passenger aircraft becoming obsolete, I do see them as moving into more of a specialty realm, more like a luxury than the standard for long-distance travel. For the average person, airship travel may become a vacation in itself, with the possibility of luxury airships floating like cruise ships silently through the sky.

Guardian UK, via Treehugger

Most people are familiar with bamboo products now and are aware that it’s a rapidly renewable material, but up until now it’s been mostly decorative, in the form of flooring, wall panels, and other accessories. San Diego based Cali Bamboo is looking to change that with their new dimensional lumber product Lumboo, but how green is it?

Lumboo is created by combining strips of shredded bamboo with a low-VOC resin and pressing them into lumber forms with thousands of pounds of force. The end result is a piece of lumber that is very strong, termite-resistant and has the pleasant appearance normally associated with bamboo products.

The strength of the material poses some issues however, it is more difficult to cut than wood, and requires pre-drilling and screws to fasten it to other pieces. Currently Lumboo is being distributed by a bamboo fence company, but other applications are possible for this material.

Does it make sense to import bamboo from another part of the world to avoid cutting down trees here? It might, depending on how the bamboo is grown and transported. Growing bamboo locally would be an ideal solution to this, although not one that would work in every climate. For areas where it could be grown locally, Lumboo may prove to be a very serious competitor for wood as a green structural building material in the near future.

Cali Bamboo, via Inhabitat

Although many car parts enjoy second lives in other vehicles, broken windshields are doomed to go straight to the landfill, until now that is. Portland-based company Second Glass has created a cold melted recycling process that is turning broken windshields into new glass panels for architectural use.

The glass panels can be framed, hung, colored or tinted to fit nearly any interior design use. The glass panels are cheaper to produce than new glass, as well as being easier to clean and produce. For projects under the LEED-NC designation, Second Glass panels could potentially contribute to achieving MR3 and MR4 credits, which reward recycled materials.

As a result of their production process, the glass panels have a unique cracked or scratched appearance, which lends visual interest and appeal. The panels would fit in with many different types of design, thus guaranteeing a large market for Second Glass. And, with the number of cars on the road today, they’ve got a lot of windshields to use up.

Second Glass, via Jetson Green

The month of June marks World Environment Day, World Ocean Day, and Global Wind Day – three environmentally conscious days whose main purpose is to spread awareness of environmental issues taking place in today’s world.  The Gulf oil spill is a huge reminder that now is the time to invest, innovate, and utilize specific renewable energy technologies that can reduce our dependency on oil consumption and preserve our environment.

Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition (OREC) is a national trade association that is “dedicated to promoting marine and hydrokinetic energy technologies from clean, renewable ocean resources.” They incorporate over 40 members, some of which are literally “turning the tide” when it comes to renewable energy by using the known green technique of harnessing ocean waves and currents to produce energy:

• Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) is doing this via their PowerBuoy 40 [i] that acts as a “wave energy converter” while submerged.

• The Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) is installing power systems all along the Gulf Stream’s ocean currents (which has 21,000 times the energy of Niagara Falls). With the constant flow of the Gulf Stream, if ORPC harnesses just 1/1000 of the Gulf’s renewable energy that would still be enough to power up to 7 million homes.

Wave power technology, while underused, has been a known technology, for years. However, a more recent and developing green source of energy with a lot of potential can be found in algae within the ocean.  Using algae as a source of energy is a new ideology but many believe them to be “the ultimate in renewable energy” [ii].

Half of algae’s weight is based off of oil, which can be made into bio-fuel that could be used on anything from cars to airplanes. Considering that there over 65,000 known algae species this could potentially be a big time future energy source.

The time to develop these technologies is now. Former President Clinton cofounded the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), along with counselor Doug Band [iii], in order to address world issues.  Today, solving the energy problem is one of their top priorities.  Clinton recently issued a statement claiming that the U.S. Navy may have to step in and blow up the oil well in the Gulf to stop further leaks.  A statement like this really puts the magnitude of the problem into perspective.

It’s clear to see that now, more than ever, protecting our oceans stands for something much greater.  By saving our oceans, we are making a commitment to the preservation of our natural resources, our wildlife, and our humanity. Through the promise and development of a sustainable, renewable energy future, we can follow a new path which will redefine the meaning of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Article Written by Marcus Reyes

Marcus Reyes studied public policy with a focus on energy research and environmental sustainability.  He is an advocate of clean energy technology and contributes written work to the blogosphere related to energy conservation and environmental preservation.

[ii] Algae: “The ultimate in renewable energy” – CNN Tech Editorial

[iii] Doug Band – University Article

All across the world, tonight is Earth Hour. Join millions of other people in shutting off your lights (and computers and TVs etc…) for 1 hour starting at 8:30 tonight. The action of shutting off our lights and other energy-consuming devices for 1 hour across the globe has noticeable effects in terms of power consumption, improvements in night sky visibility, and reductions in sound, which begs the question.. why don’t we do this more often?

When the lights go out, consider taking a walk, enjoying a candle-lit dinner, or as I often enjoy doing, sit and chat with friends about sustainability issues (or anything for that matter). If you’re home alone with that special someone, I’m sure you can think of something to do in the dark for an hour. I refer, of course, to alphabetizing your collection of environmentalism books by candle light… what did you think I meant?

So go on, do your bit and participate in this global action event. Save some power, reduce our impact on the planet for a little while. Afterwards, why not keep the lights off, and pop in a DVD (or Blu-Ray) about nature or sustainability? Some of my favorites include BBC’s Planet Earth, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11th Hour, the PBS e2 series narrated by Brad Pitt, or my new favorite Food Inc. And, of you enjoy doing this… consider doing it more often. Every bit helps.

What are you doing for Earth Hour? Share your plans in the comments!

See what it’s all about, at EarthHour.org