American Wind Projects

The U.S. wind industry is on its way to charting another record-shattering year of
growth. That capacity will generate over 60 billion kWh of electricity in 2009,
enough to serve over 5.5 million American homes and eliminating the burning of

* 30.4 million short tons of coal (enough to fill two 1,000-mile-long coal trains),
* 91 million barrels of oil per year, or
* 560 Bcf of natural gas (about 9% of the natural gas used for electricity generation)

Hull, Massachusetts – Offshore Wind Turbines
This resort town, population 11,000, plans to moor four 260-foot-tall turbines a
mile and a half offshore, at a total cost of $40 million. Along with Hull’s two
existing onshore turbines, wind power could generate 14 megawatts, enough to supply
energy to the entire community.

Mojave Desert, California – Solar Farms
This fall, construction begins on a five-square-mile stretch of heliostats, small
moveable mirrors that follow the sun’s rays and reflect them onto a boiler on top
of a central tower. The sunlight heats water inside the boiler’s pipes to temperatures
above 1,000°F, creating steam that generates electricity in a nearby turbine. By 2011,
the plant will produce its first 100 megawatts.

Pembrokeshire, Wales – Wave Power
As part of the U.K.’s goal of running on 10 percent renewable energy by 2010, this
summer Wales will install a Wave Dragon converter, the world’s largest wave-energy
generator. The 980-foot-long device captures waves in basins. When the water rushes
back into the sea, it spins turbines, producing seven megawatts of electricity.

If you do not think that there is a movement beginning, you are wrong!

A little town very close to me here in deep East Texas, Lindale, has decided
they need to develop some opportunities to grow the city.  They are now working
with Decker Energy International, Inc., a Florida based privately held company,
to assist them in building a 35-50 megawatt wood-fired biomass power plant.
This plant will have 25 full time jobs.  Along with more jobs to build it. Yeah!

The proposed site is 43 acres that is currently owned by the Lindale Economic
Development Corporation (LEDC) which will also be part of the Lindale
Industrial Park.  This project will cost the city about $130 million.

They have already applied for a air quality permit from the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality.  This a lengthy process that takes a couple of
months as the commission will have to ascertain whether this project will
be detrimental to the health of the public.  The plant will be called
Lindale Renewable Energy.

The plant is part of a “green initiative” in that biomass energy provides
significant greenhouse gas benefits and is carbon neutral because no new
carbon is added to the active carbon cycle.

Wood chips would be used as fuel for an enclosed boiler to create steam,
which drives a steam turbine.  The wood used would come from construction,
demolition waste, forest residuals, and of course, storm damage.

According to Decker Energy, the use of waste wood products for fuel instead
of allowing them to decay in a landfill, on the forest floor, or on the
side of the road, helps reduce the quantities of methane production.

The plant will be able to supply 40,000 homes and that the electric co-ops
could purchase the energy without affecting the consumers electricity rates.

So far, there is no opposition to the proposed plant.  It will take approx.
1 year before ground can be broken.  And since NO COAL is involved with this
plant, there should be only steam coming from the pipes to be seen probably
on cold nights.

The grass roots movement of going green is alive and well in deep East Texas.

Wind Turbines

The tallest wind tower in America — 345 feet — is in Scurry County,
Texas at Enel North Americas Snyder Wind Project. By comparison, the
Statue of Liberty is 305 feet.

The tips of a 300 foot diameter wing spread are moving at about 100 mph.
The blades revolve about 21 times per minute.

Who taps the wind?

Germany leads all nations in production of wind power. It also has a huge
investment in solar power. Both technologies are heavily boosted by tax
incentives.

Below are the World Wind Energy Association’s rankings of wind power by
megawatts installed:

Germany 22,247
United States 16,819
-Texas 4,356
- California 2,439
Spain 15,145
India 7,850
China 5,899

Wind through the home:

All homes need adequate ventilation. Without it, contaminants such as
formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), unpleasant orders can
linger, radon gas can accumulate, and excess moisture will cause mold
growth.

In the past most homes got adequate ventilation from the natural air moving
through the unsealed windows and doors, etc. But with improved housing
technology, uncontrolled ventilation has been drastically reduced to such
an airtight degree that it’s necessary to compensate by installing a whole
house ventilation system. You may remember attic fans, same thing, just
new and improved.

Most applicable in cold climates during the summer. Not advisable in warmer
climates with humid summers because the fan can draw moist air into wall
cavities, where it may condense and cause moisture damage. However, even
in those locations, they can be run in the fall and early spring.

Whole house ventilation systems creates healthy home enviroments and are
extremely energy effiecient especially compared to air conditioning.

Just as there are huge wind farms now providing backup power for conventional
electricity generation, central solar power towers will likely do the same in
the future.  The facilities generate electric power from sunlight by focusing
concentrated solar radiation on a tower mounted receiver.  Hundreds of
thousands of small sun-tracking mirrors reflect sunlight to the receiver.  In
some technologies, liquid salt is pumped and heated through the receiver and
then stored until power is needed from the plant.  The molten salt is then
pumped into a steam-generating system that turns a conventional electric
generator.

In November, an Australian company signed a $500 million agreement with
Pacific Gas and Electric to produce 177 megawatts at a solar-thermal plant
in California’s Central Valley.  The project should be on line in 2010.

The experimental Solar Two Plant in California’s Mojave Desert, financed
in part by the Boeing Company and Bechtel Corp., is be followed by Solar Tres,
a commercial solar collector in Spain.  Meanwhile, Torresol Energy, an
international consortium, recently announced it will design, build and
operate three central tower receivers in Spain.  Beyond Spain, the company
has it sights set on developing other commercial solar generating plants in
sunbelt areas around the world, including the United States.

So, there seems to be a movement of companies around the world who are trying
to get electricity from the sun or wind.  OR are they trying to get ahead
of the game before the people do it for themselves?

By using the technological equivalent of the power of lightning, a company called
Plasco, has a goal to turn our garbage problem into a profitable energy solution.

Plasmagasification is the process of turning waste into electricity.  Plasma is
sometimes called the 4th state of matter. The first state is solid, add heat to a
solid and it becomes the second state, liquid.  Add heat to a liquid and it is
converted into the third state which is gas. Add heat to gas and you get the fourth
state, – plasma.  The sun and lightning are both examples of plasma.

They harness this lightning like power by creating an electric arc between two
electrodes. A small amount of gas is passed through those electrodes. The gas then
ionizes and is transformed into plasma.  The Plasma torches can reach temperatures
of 5,000 to 10,000 degrees Celsius, that is 4,000 degrees hotter than the outer layer
of the sun.

Even tho it is exposed to intense heat, the waste is not incinerated because
plasmagasification works in the absents or near absents of oxygen, which means it
is a process of decomposition and not combustion. The super heated plasma has the
unique power to totally decompose any kind waste, down to it’s elements.
For example:   diaper in a landfill   = 500 years to decompose
diaper in plasma chamber = 5 seconds to decompose

When the municipal waste arrives at the processing plant it travels up a screw
conveyor, drops into the main chamber of the converter, where it’s converted into a
raw or crude synthetic gas, that “syngas” travels up into the refining chamber where
the plasma torches convert it into the product quality gas. The cooled and clean
syngas is piped over to 5 engines. Each engine capable of producing just under 1
megawatt of power. Once the process gets going, it powers itself.

Almost nothing goes to waste, the plasma torch is used again to melt any of the left
over ash into a glass like slag. This silicate slag can be sold for everything from
road bed aggregate to jewelry.

For cities like New York which pays $90 a ton to handle it’s garbage, the power and
slag that is created by plasmagasification could allow the city to actually EARN
$15 a ton.

The only waste left over in the entire process is 1.3 kilograms per ton of waste, of
heavy metal and activated carbon. That’s just over 2/10th of a percent away from
zero waste.

Plasco’s sophisticated control system produces more power per ton of waste than
any other waste conversion technology yet known.

In the future this technology will be able to turn our trash into any fuel gas, even
hydrogen to power future cars.

This technology is still being tested and approved so it might still be a few years
before plasma is disintegrating your trash and powering your neighborhood.
But it is one step closer to zero waste with very green benefits.