New Green MP3 Player

I've always had mixed feelings about green consumption - the manufacture and sale of 'earth-friendly' items that often have no real purpose. For example, at the bottom of this page there is a fan and handbag with built in solar panels that store energy in the day and glow at night. They are marketed as earth friendly. Um, ok, but no. This is just more consumption, and although it incorporates technology that can be green, it doesn't actually do anything green. In fact, in their current state of development, solar panels require several decades of constant use before they produce enough energy to exceed that used in their manufacture - thankfully that is expected to change drastically in the next few years.

But this new little gadget, the Eco Media Player (found via Boing Boing) might actually be quite useful. It is an MP3 player/electronic Swiss Army knife powered by a windable crank - you get 40 minutes of music for every 1 minute you wind the crank, and you can store up to 20 hours worth of energy. It's also chock-full of features - you can store computer files on it like a USB drive, it has a built-in radio, video player, photo viewer, torch/flashlight, audio recorder (which it converts to MP3s), and you can charge your mobile phone with it! It can also be charged via the USB connection, if need be. At £170, it is very competitively priced with similar non-green MP3 players. The built-in memory is a little on the low side at 2 gigs - that's 33 hours of music (the latest ipods hold 80 gigs - 1300+ hours of music.) But fortunately it has an SD memory slot, so you can add plenty of extra memory for just a few pounds more. It's highly functional, genuinely green, and affordable - everything a green tech should be.

I don't have an MP3 player - honestly I really appreciate silence when I can get it - but if I do get one, this would definitely be the one. I would use it while wearing my 30+ wheel rolling body suit.

I love the future.

Must. Have. Low. Impact. Woodland. Home.

Check out this stunning low-impact woodland home, built in Wales. It is built of mostly local natural materials (stone, timber, straw bale/earth walls, turf roof) and reclaimed scrap otherwise destined for a landfill (piping, wiring, etc.) The total cost was £3000, and the project was completed in 4 months without using professional builders. It's super-efficient, and absolutely gorgeous on the inside as well. It's not just a concept-home; the builder actually lives there with his family. Any self-respecting hobbit would be jealous!
The guy who built this has a website with full plans for building your own eco-home/hobbit hole. In fact, along with 8 other families, they are making a whole village of houses like these in Pembrokeshire, SW Wales. Very cool stuff!

Alternative Energy, Part 3: Acoustic Heat Engines

A new technology allows heat to be transferred into energy - by first turning it into sound. With current technology, heat uses convection currents to turn a turbine (like steam passing through a turbine). This heat must be fairly hot however.

With the new technology, ambient heat is captured in high-surface area objects, like glass wool. This resonates - like blowing over a bottle, or into a woodwind instrument - and this resonance forms a single sound wave and that in turn generates voltage.

Heat engines have been around for decades, but they have always been large and impractical. With new advancements, they are now only milimetres in size - and as energy efficient as diesel engines. They can be used in conventional engines and machinery to recapture waste heat, but more enticingly, they could be used to create a new generation of solar power. Current solar panels take a very long time to pay off the energy costs of their own creation. Improved, efficient solar panels could open up massive new sources of energy - and the technology is bound to only improve.


Article in Science Daily.

Article in New Scientist.

Alternative Energy, Part 2: Geothermal

Continuing in our Alternative Energy Series, we bring you Part 2, a look at recent developments in geothermal energy. If you remember, Part 1 focused on kite-like wind turbines that would stay suspended high up in the jet stream, where wind speeds are constant and very strong.

Ok, geothermal is an old idea, and is commonly used for heating in volcanic areas like Korea and Iceland. In those places though, the heat is very close to the surface, and is easy to tap. But really, no matter where you are in the earth, it is rarely more than about 2 to 5 miles down before it starts to get very hot. Previous limitations in technology made those 2 to 5 miles prohibitively expensive to drill into, but now, with technology advancing and costs dropping, it is not only possible, but profitable.

The idea is simple: Drill a hole into the earth that goes down a few miles. It’s very hot down there. Now put a lot of water down the hole. When the water comes back, it is very, very hot. The steam drives a turbine, which generates electricity. Once the steam has passed through the turbine and condensed, it can be sent back into the hole, all in a closed system. No fuel needed, no emissions are produced, the energy supply is constant, and the source is unlimited. Best of all, we have the technology to start building these things right now. Now that's pretty freaking awesome.

Really lame diagram made in Paint:


Interest has been renewed in geothermal energy since a recent MIT report that came out last autumn, and demonstrated that not only was geothermal energy possible in non-volcanic regions of the world, but most areas areas could support geothermal power plants that could become profitable within about 5 to 10 years of completion, at a cost as little as a few million dollars per bore hole. Keep in mind nuclear power plants typically cost billions, not millions. This isn't futurism; the technology is available right now.


New Scientist Summary

Interview with lead MIT researcher (podcast for 26 Jan)

Original MIT research study (very long)

Alternative Energy Series, Part 1

At the core of any move towards environmental responsibility, human behaviour, specifically a change in human behaviour, is the central element. New, cleaner, greener technology will be very important, but it is always secondary to human choices and actions.

That said, new green technology is pretty cool stuff, and provides a lot of the "wow" factor that turning off lights lacks. It always gets me pretty motivated when I read about some new technology. So with that in mind, I will be sharing some new green tech ideas as I come across them.

Today's new green tech: airborne wind turbines

What are the two big complaints about wind turbines? As far as I hear, 1) the wind is variable , thus requiring other power to be on standby and 2) they take up a lot of space for what they produce.

These flying wind turbines solve both of those problems.

Basically, these work like kites with turbines attached to them. They maintain altitude about 5 miles up in the jetstream, where wind is constant and massively stronger than at ground level. An aluminium tether keeps them from blowing away and relays the electricity back to the ground, while the turbines provide lift. In the rare event that the wind putters out temporarily, the turbines can be run in reverse to keep the whole thing airborne until it gets windy again. It is estimated they could produce energy for about 2 cents per KWh. The current cost of coal power in the US? 4 cents per KWh. A working set of prototypes could be operational within the next few years. This is an artist's rendition of what they would look like:


Cool stuff.

Original story from The Economist