Thanksgiving is almost here. In America and other wealthy nations it's a time to reflect on our lives and give thanks, even if we only have two quaters to rub together. There are those in this world that don't have enough food, or clothes, or medical care. Pray that there are enough generous people who will come to their aid in any way they can, with money or volunteering.
Click on the Worthwhile Causes link.
Thank You
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Our Choice - Book By Al Gore
Our Choice" Book - by Al Gore
A Plan To Solve The Climate Crisis (Paperback)
A Plan To Solve The Climate Crisis (Paperback)
A well done book. Recommeded by USA alternative energy NOW
Saturday, November 14, 2009
America Recycles Day - Montgomery County, MD
Celebrate America Recycles Day!
Paper Shredding/Recycling & Clothing and Household Goods Donation Drop-off!
Saturday, November 14 from 10am to 2pm
Upcounty Regional Services Center
12900 Middlebrook Road
Germantown, MD 20874
And
Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center
3300 Briggs Channey Road
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Sunday, November 15
from 8am to 12pm
John F. Kennedy High School
1901 Randolph Road
Silver Spring, MD 20902
from 1pm to 5pm
Walt Whitman High School
7100 Whittier Boulevard
Bethesda, MD 20817
Link to: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/recycling
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Paper Shredding/Recycling & Clothing and Household Goods Donation Drop-off!
Saturday, November 14 from 10am to 2pm
Upcounty Regional Services Center
12900 Middlebrook Road
Germantown, MD 20874
And
Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center
3300 Briggs Channey Road
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Sunday, November 15
from 8am to 12pm
John F. Kennedy High School
1901 Randolph Road
Silver Spring, MD 20902
from 1pm to 5pm
Walt Whitman High School
7100 Whittier Boulevard
Bethesda, MD 20817
Link to: http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/recycling
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Bloomberg Oil Prices 13 November 2009
Bloomberg Oil Prices
Link to: http://www.bloomberg.com
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Link to: http://www.bloomberg.com
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Harnessing Irish Wave Power
The Atlantic coast of Ireland has some of the highest concentrations of wave power in the world. If this power is harnessed, it can be turned into electricity. So since 2005, the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC) in Cork has been working with industry (Ocean Energy Limited) to develop a prototype wave-power electric generator. The aim is to produce 500 megawatts of electricity from ocean energy by 2020.
Says Tony Lewis, the director of the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre at University College Cork (UCC) “The smallest scale that we use is this one-to-fifty scale which gives us an idea of how the concept will work, and when we get that then we scale up further to this one-to-fifteen scale model which then allows us to simulate, in a much more realistic way. The principle that it operates on is that there is a large ducting, or chamber, inside this device which is open to the sea at the rear and inside the chamber there is an air volume. That air volume is compressed by the waves and as the waves go by that compressed air is forced through the turbine which spins to generate electricity.”
After three years of experiments in the wave tank, a larger quarter-scale test device was moored one and a half miles off the coast of Galway on Ireland’s west coast. For the engineers on the project, designing a platform that could survive the harsh seas of the north Atlantic was the biggest challenge.
Says Richard Toll, research professor Economic and Social Research Institute in the Irish capital Dublin, “‘The reason why wave power is so expensive is two fold – first, very few people live in the ocean, it’s simply a long way away from where we need the electricity and that increases its cost and the second reason is that the environment is so hostile.”
But while wave power is expensive compared to other renewable such as wind, those costs should come down as the industry is scaled up. The future for wave power could still be bright.
Copyright © 2009 euronews
Link to: http://www.euronews.net/2009/10/28/harnessing-irish-wave-power/
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Says Tony Lewis, the director of the Hydraulics and Maritime Research Centre at University College Cork (UCC) “The smallest scale that we use is this one-to-fifty scale which gives us an idea of how the concept will work, and when we get that then we scale up further to this one-to-fifteen scale model which then allows us to simulate, in a much more realistic way. The principle that it operates on is that there is a large ducting, or chamber, inside this device which is open to the sea at the rear and inside the chamber there is an air volume. That air volume is compressed by the waves and as the waves go by that compressed air is forced through the turbine which spins to generate electricity.”
After three years of experiments in the wave tank, a larger quarter-scale test device was moored one and a half miles off the coast of Galway on Ireland’s west coast. For the engineers on the project, designing a platform that could survive the harsh seas of the north Atlantic was the biggest challenge.
Says Richard Toll, research professor Economic and Social Research Institute in the Irish capital Dublin, “‘The reason why wave power is so expensive is two fold – first, very few people live in the ocean, it’s simply a long way away from where we need the electricity and that increases its cost and the second reason is that the environment is so hostile.”
But while wave power is expensive compared to other renewable such as wind, those costs should come down as the industry is scaled up. The future for wave power could still be bright.
Copyright © 2009 euronews
Link to: http://www.euronews.net/2009/10/28/harnessing-irish-wave-power/
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/
Army Turns To Solar
Army turns to solar for mission power and more
Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 14:26
By DAVID DANELSKI, The Press-Enterprise
national
ShareThis
The U.S. Army, joining the push to turn Mojave Desert sunshine into electricity, plans to blanket as much as 21 square miles at Fort Irwin with solar mirrors and panels.
Generating solar electricity inside the gates of the Fort Irwin National Training Center near Barstow will allow the military to end its reliance on the potentially uncertain California power grid, Brig. Gen. Robert Abrams said during a recent briefing.
"This is absolute insurance that we will be able to continue our mission to prepare and train forces for deployment," said Abrams, the base commander.
The state power grid could get knocked out by war or terrorism, but the more likely scenarios would be loss of electricity during storms or in blackouts caused by too much demand during hot weather, Fort Irwin spokesman Kenneth Drylie said.
The endeavor is the largest solar energy project within the Defense Department and part of an overall effort to develop secure and alternative energy sources for the military, a defense official said.
Army and Defense Department officials say they will work out long-term leases with two companies to develop solar power at five locations that aren't suitable for training missions on the 1,100-square-mile base. Electricity could begin flowing as early as 2012.
Clark Energy Group of Arlington, Va., and Acciona Solar Power, an affiliate of Acciona SA Corporation in Madrid, plan to produce as much as 500 megawatts of power.
Fort Irwin consumes at most 28 megawatts in the heat of August, Abrams said. The remainder, enough for about 290,000 homes, would be sold to utility companies.
The base, which has a daily population of nearly 23,000 troops, civilians and families, often is the last training stop for soldiers, sailors and Marines before they are deployed to overseas conflicts such as the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, Abrams said. The focus is on live-ammunition training with tanks and troops in desert terrain and simulated Middle Eastern communities.
The companies expect to invest $2 billion over 13 years, said Laurence Greene, development director for Acciona Solar Power, which has offices in Henderson, Nev.
To pay for the leases, the solar energy firms would bear the cost of building roads, installing utilities and developing amenities needed at the military training center, said Jerry Hansen, an acting assistant secretary of the Army.
Fort Irwin's territory includes habitat for desert tortoises, a species threatened with extinction. Protecting tortoises is one of the issues that will be examined in environmental reviews that are required before construction can begin. The reviews are expected to take two to three years to complete.
Greene said the first power could be generated by 2012, and all 500 megawatts could be online by 2022.
The developers plan to use a combination of thermal concentration, in which a heated fluid is used to generate steam, and photovoltaic panels, which directly convert sunlight to electricity.
The Fort Irwin solar project is proceeding at the same time state and federal officials are encouraging stepped-up solar and wind development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ease the nation's reliance on foreign fuels.
Earlier his month, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the opening of a special renewable-energy office in Palm Springs to swiftly review applications for wind, solar and geothermal projects in territory controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
(E-mail David Danelski at ddanelski(at)PE.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 14:26
By DAVID DANELSKI, The Press-Enterprise
national
ShareThis
The U.S. Army, joining the push to turn Mojave Desert sunshine into electricity, plans to blanket as much as 21 square miles at Fort Irwin with solar mirrors and panels.
Generating solar electricity inside the gates of the Fort Irwin National Training Center near Barstow will allow the military to end its reliance on the potentially uncertain California power grid, Brig. Gen. Robert Abrams said during a recent briefing.
"This is absolute insurance that we will be able to continue our mission to prepare and train forces for deployment," said Abrams, the base commander.
The state power grid could get knocked out by war or terrorism, but the more likely scenarios would be loss of electricity during storms or in blackouts caused by too much demand during hot weather, Fort Irwin spokesman Kenneth Drylie said.
The endeavor is the largest solar energy project within the Defense Department and part of an overall effort to develop secure and alternative energy sources for the military, a defense official said.
Army and Defense Department officials say they will work out long-term leases with two companies to develop solar power at five locations that aren't suitable for training missions on the 1,100-square-mile base. Electricity could begin flowing as early as 2012.
Clark Energy Group of Arlington, Va., and Acciona Solar Power, an affiliate of Acciona SA Corporation in Madrid, plan to produce as much as 500 megawatts of power.
Fort Irwin consumes at most 28 megawatts in the heat of August, Abrams said. The remainder, enough for about 290,000 homes, would be sold to utility companies.
The base, which has a daily population of nearly 23,000 troops, civilians and families, often is the last training stop for soldiers, sailors and Marines before they are deployed to overseas conflicts such as the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, Abrams said. The focus is on live-ammunition training with tanks and troops in desert terrain and simulated Middle Eastern communities.
The companies expect to invest $2 billion over 13 years, said Laurence Greene, development director for Acciona Solar Power, which has offices in Henderson, Nev.
To pay for the leases, the solar energy firms would bear the cost of building roads, installing utilities and developing amenities needed at the military training center, said Jerry Hansen, an acting assistant secretary of the Army.
Fort Irwin's territory includes habitat for desert tortoises, a species threatened with extinction. Protecting tortoises is one of the issues that will be examined in environmental reviews that are required before construction can begin. The reviews are expected to take two to three years to complete.
Greene said the first power could be generated by 2012, and all 500 megawatts could be online by 2022.
The developers plan to use a combination of thermal concentration, in which a heated fluid is used to generate steam, and photovoltaic panels, which directly convert sunlight to electricity.
The Fort Irwin solar project is proceeding at the same time state and federal officials are encouraging stepped-up solar and wind development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ease the nation's reliance on foreign fuels.
Earlier his month, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the opening of a special renewable-energy office in Palm Springs to swiftly review applications for wind, solar and geothermal projects in territory controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
(E-mail David Danelski at ddanelski(at)PE.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
Environmental Media Awards
Environmental Media Association Gives Out Awards
20th Anniversary Awards
HonoringSir Richard Branson, Centropolis Entertainment,National Geographic Society & Jason Mraz
October 25, 2009 – 6:30pmHollywood, CA
The Environmental Media Awards honor film and television productions and individuals that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire personal action on these issues.
Produced by Scott Mauro EntertainmentScott Mauro, Executive Producer
Link to: http://www.ema-online.org/
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow,blogspot.com
20th Anniversary Awards
HonoringSir Richard Branson, Centropolis Entertainment,National Geographic Society & Jason Mraz
October 25, 2009 – 6:30pmHollywood, CA
The Environmental Media Awards honor film and television productions and individuals that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire personal action on these issues.
Produced by Scott Mauro EntertainmentScott Mauro, Executive Producer
Link to: http://www.ema-online.org/
Link to top of blog: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow,blogspot.com
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