Fly ash is a waste product of a coal combustion plant.  It is the non-combustible portion of coal that used to be released into the air before through the smoke stack before the government put more strict regulations on what can be release into the atmosphere.  The particles themselves are spherical and smooth and more fine than cement particles.

When fly ash is added to concrete, it reduces separation,increases the workability, and reduces permeability.  Fly ash cement has greater corrosion resistance, substantially higher fire resistance (up to 2400° F), high compressive and tensile strengths, a rapid strength gain, and lower shrinkage.  This translates to higher durability.   The lifecycle of this kind of concrete can be measured in hundreds of years instead of decades.

There are over 600 fly ash dump sites in the US all of which can be turned into concrete.  This kind of concrete could save hundreds of acres of dump sites currently used for the disposal of coal combustion products, and could also protect water sources from being polluted as a result of fly ash leaching into water supplies.

via science daily and bulkgroup

1. In terms of the shape of the cell, I think Solyndra has it right in making cylindrical solar cells. They don’t have to be mounted at an angle. They can be mounted flat which saves installation costs and makes them more durable because they will be more wind resistant. They can collect both direct and diffuse light and stay cooler b/c there is space between each solar tube.

nanoantenae solar sheet

2. You had to have figured that nanotechnology would make its way into this idea…so instead of tubes wrapped in the copper-indium-gallium-selenide like the Solyndra solar tubes, they could be wrapped in the nanoantenae solar sheet created by the Idaho National Labs. These solar sheets have up to 80% of the available energy in light as opposed to the ~20% offered right now. It can absorb infrared energy as well which is given off by the sun, absorbed by the earth, and released later. This means it can collect energy at night, and it is flexible, so it can be wrapped on to the tubes.

3. We will then pull from the 12 year old William Yuan’s research into nanotubes and increase the absorbtion of light energy into the ultraviolet range. This will enable our super solar cell to absorb energy in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges which are both able to penetrate cloud cover. No need to worry about that rainy day, our super solar cell will do just fine.

Solyndra solar tubes

4. MIT researchers have come up with a way to combine solar and hydrogen power to store solar energy. It would split and recombine hydrogen and oxygen atoms within the fuel cell. This would help power homes at night when the nanoantenae solar cells are only collecting the radiant infrared light absorbed from the earth. The extra power would be needed at night b/c more lights are turned on and assuming we are all headed toward the electric car…our cars would need to be charged.

5. While our super solar cells are already efficient, they will still produce heat. So in order to increase efficiency once again, we will use technology from PVT Solar. This improves efficiency by focusing on the heat generated by the solar cells and converting into something useful. Underneath the solar tubes another system of tubes would exist to pump the hot air into the home or be used to heat water allowing the converted energy of the system to be used for electrical purposes.

All of these technologies are relatively inexpensive and would make it more affordable to the average person. It should be implemented on a home by home basis rather than be powered from a grid b/c it would prevent blackouts and we should be able to use and produce our own electricity. I don’t know that the government would allow everyone to disconnect from the grid and lose all the tax money that comes from the it but this is possible in the next 10 years. All the technology is available, and most of them should be available to the public in the next few years.

photo credit psy

via nytimes, cleantechnica, presskit

There are problems with the current renewable energy sources we have now. Wind energy requires large plots of land and are noisy. Geothermal and tidal is specific only to location and cannot be used in a wide scope. Nuclear doesn’t pollute the air, but we have to deal with the radioactive waste. Solar can only be used during the day…unless…we send large collectors up in space and beam the energy down to the earth in the form of harmless microwaves for our consumption.

It sounds like something a 3rd grade child would come up with for the solution to our energy problems, but it is not a far fetched solution at all. The idea is not new. In fact it was first thought of by Peter Glaser in 1968 and has been gaining more interest in recent years due to the rising cost of oil.

Let’s break it down into its parts. First we would have to consider if the technology is there. We know how to build solar panels, and improvements in efficiency are being made seemingly daily. We know how to build microwaves, and we know how to get into space. It is estimated that a single solar power satellite could deliver five to 10 gigawatts of energy to the ground continually. The entire state of California produces 4.4 gigawatts. The final result could be a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt hour.

I admit, solar power satellites won’t be cheap. Constructing one would cost about as much as building a nuclear power plant: on the order of $1 billion. That money, though, needn’t come from the taxpayers; it could be raised by the private capital market. Oil companies invest that kind of money every year in exploring for new oil fields. But the risk involved in building an SPS, as with any space operation, is considerable, and it could be many years or even decades before an investment begins to pay off. So how can we get private investors to put their money into solar power satellites?

This nation tackled a similar situation about a century ago, when faced with building big hydroelectric dams. Those dams were on the cutting edge of technology at the time, and they were risky endeavors that required hefty funding. The Hoover Dam, the Grand Coulee Dam and others were built with private investment — backed by long-term, low-interest loans guaranteed by the U.S. government. They changed the face of the American West, providing irrigation water and electrical power that stimulated enormous economic growth. Phoenix and Las Vegas wouldn’t be on the map except for those dams.

Solar power satellites could be funded through the same sort of government-backed loans. Washington has made such loan guarantees in the past to help troubled corporations such as Chrysler and Lockheed. Why not use the same technique to encourage private investment in solar power satellites? If we can bail out Wall Street, why not spend a fraction of that money to light up Main Street?

via washingtonpost

The result was a black silicon wafer, but under an electron microscope, the surface was riddled with “spikes.” Much like many accidental discoveries, the researchers didn’t know what they created, but after testing, they found that they had just created an ultra-sensitive silicon material that can potentially be used in a wide array of products. The most important of which is solar panels. Early findings show that black silicon could absorb twice as much light as a traditional silicon wafer and can also detect infrared light which traditional silicon cannot detect. The possibility to see solar efficiencies jump from the 40% range up to the 70-80% range does not seem impossible.

Another great thing about the find is that traditional manufacturing processes do not have to be overhauled. It seems that any manufacturer of solar panels can make the black silicon without much effort. Unfortunately, the first to get their hands on this new technology is, of course, the military.

via nytimes

The technology works by putting microorganisms from sewage to an anode’s surface and then degrading the waste in the swage using a battery. The waste decomposes and leaves protons that move to the cathode and combine with electrons producing hydrogen. It is predicted that this technology will drive the cost of hydrogen down to the USDE goal of $2-3 a gallon. As an added bonus, the new technology cleans the sewage as it produces the hydrogen….and to think that we might have been flushing the answer to the world’s energy problems down the toilet.

via cleantechnica

As I said, one of the reasons to disregard him as just blowing a bunch of carbon monoxide in my face is that his lifestyle seems so contradictory to what he “preaches”. We think we have mcmansions here in the States? He and his family were the progenitors of the idea of royal opulent living as we know it today. It could be argued that the Royal family is one of the most non-green, inefficient, and wasteful on the planet. And looking at the neighborhood he built in Poundbury in what is called a traditional new urbanist neighborhood, its almost as if he wants to go back to the middle ages with all of us serfs looking up to his castle.

However, as I continued to read and look at his life’s work, he is an environmentalist. He does care about the history of his city and country. We in the United States don’t really have that. The oldest buildings here are 100 maybe 150 years old. There are building there that have been standing for over 500 years, and in my visit to England and more specifically London, that is part of the beauty of the city.

“Why, I must ask, does being ‘green’ mean building with glass and steel and concrete and then adding wind turbines, solar panels, water heaters, glass atria – all the paraphernalia of a new “green building industry” – to offset buildings that are inefficient in the first place?

He is right…to a certain degree. There is a need to build upwards. There would be an enormous cost to buy 30 blocks in the city to build a building that would hold as much workspace as a scyscraper. However, the skyscraper might not need to be built out of glass.

Perhaps the true solution is somewhere in the middle, although admittedly I don’t exactly know where that is.

via telegraph, treehugger

I really like the mixture of materials and that the home, although modern, is not cold. It has a very inviting feel to it with all the light coming in.

From the architects:

Located on a nature preserve in the beautiful Santa Lucia Mountains, this home’s stunning site consists of oak forests and steep meadows, which strongly constrained and inspired our unconventional design.

In order to reduce the impact of our buildings, we sank them into the ground and planted the overhanging roofs with tall native grasses. We also divided the spaces into a series of “pavilions” to break up the house’s overall mass. After passing through an entry grove, visitors can see distant views in-between and over the various building elements. As they are drawn into the widening view, they are led down from the tree-lined ridge to a large terrace that serves as an outdoor living room for the house.

via contemporist