Renewable Energy

Good afternoon from the New Forest.  It has been an intersting day at the conference.  The general theme of the day has been ‘evolution, not revolution.’  Scientists have been describing ways to improve efficiency and add addition additional renewables as a way of reducing pollution.  Here are some interesting points:

•  One scientist has designed a new motor that can be used on machines and air conditioners in facotries.  It can save facotries 57% of their energy and it is cheaper than regular motors.  Since industrial businesses account for more than half of all carbon emissions, this is a huge advancement.
• Many scientists have talked about CHP, or ‘Combined Heating Production.’  In this technique, boilers used to heat homes and buildings also create electricity with the machine’s exhaust.  Since electricity costs are very high, these CHP machines save homeowners money by taking a waste product (exhaust) and using it to generate electricity.
• Several other presenters from the Netherlands talked about creating heat and electricity by femrenting human waste (yuck!) to create methane gas.  You can then burn this gas in a CHP to make heat and electricity.  One man’s waste is another man’s treasure!
• One interesting talk from a sociologist looked at results from a survey that asked people about their energy attitudes.  He found that many people want to be energy conscious, but very few actually do anything.  He also talked about how electrical appliances use electricity even when they are ‘off.’  Up to 10% of a house’s electricity bill is due to this wasted energy.  He talked about the importance of teaching people to create a ‘Culture of Energy’ where conservation and efficiency become second nature.  I hope that the work that we do with next year’s Expedition accomplishes this.
• Two presentations focused on wind energy.  In one, a scientist looked at the total amount of energy that it takes to create a windmill (mining the steel, manfucaturing and installing the parts, and doing maintenance).  He proved that the total energy and cost to make a windmill is very small compared to the energy it saves and money that it generates.  A regular windmill will pay itself pack in less than a year (whereas a solar panel could take 16 yrs of operation before it recovers its manufacturing costs).
• Another scientist from Taiwan used GIS mapping of his country to pick the best spot for a windmill.  I would like to use his technique with GIS information of Maine.  We could look at maps of land forms, vegetation, animals, and average windspeed to determine sites within the state that would be best for wind power.

During lunch went went to an historic river ship building site called Buckler’s Hard.  It has been building ships for Britian since the 1600s.  There was an interesting museum and many paths down along the river.  The weather didn’t quite cooperate, but, much like Maine, the weather quickly changed back to being sunny.

 Take care!

Greetings from across the pond! Today was the first official day of the Energy 2007 conference. The conference is being held at the Wessex Institute of Technology. This university is located inside a national park called The New Forest (most of the forest is 1,000 years old). It’s a nearly magical place. There are wild deer and wild horses roaming freely (I haven’t tried to ride any yet).

The conference itself is an eclectic mix of scientists, policy makers, and graduate students. Each day, there are 15-20 20-minute presentations on an assortment of topics. One thing that struck me was the diversity of the attendees. They come from 24 countries and 6 continents. Another thing that struck me was the predominance of men. 25 of the 30 attendees are men. Presentations ranged from an Iranian discussing methods of protecting electric power lines and generators from earthquakes that often occur in Tehran to a Taiwanese grad student discussing the relative environmental impact of motorcycles versus passenger cars in Asian cities.

Some interesting things that I learned and thought you might be interested in:

• A town in Italy, Catani, generates electricity from its gravity-fed drinking water infrastructure. I instantly thought that Portland might be able to harness this strategy, since our drinking water supply, from Sebago Lake, is also gravity fed. Plus, this method is really cheap. To install the system would take less than $200,000, and the system would pay itself back within three years.
• Researchers in Beijing, China are investigating a way to predict daily energy usage based on the forecasted temperature. They hope to know in advance if there will be an energy shortage.
• Every year, 300,000,000,000,000,000,000J of energy is generated from coal and oil. Every DAY, 56,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000J of energy reaches our planet from the sun. Obviously, there is more than enough solar energy to meet our energy needs.
• According to researchers in Taiwan, the increased use of cars has the greatest negative impact on the environment. The greatest improvement to the environment can come from increasing the fuel efficiency of all cars. Funny. We haven’t seen any Humvees or Escalades over here.
• Trinidad and Tobago, a small island nation in the Caribbean, is the United States’ third largest supplier of natural gas. Because they have no place to deposit the toxic waste from natural gas production, Trinidad and Tobago export all of this waste to the US. Scientists for the government-owned oil industry there are figuring out a way to store the waste in their own country.
• An architect from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (near Saudi Arabia) discussed how developers are ignoring efficiency when designing buildings. Instead, they go for the cheapest and fastest method of construction. This architect is designing windows that can keep air conditioning bills low while repelling intense sunlight. His design could possibly reduce cooling costs by 50%.

On a personal note, driving isn’t as bad as we thought it would be, mainly because of our excellent navigator (those Jersey driving skills are really coming into play!). Oh, and Peter had venison sausage for dinner. (Is anyone really surprised by that?) Sorry, Bambi. And jet lag’s a bugger.

I’m glad we’re heading out of the country in six days. It has become increasingly difficult to sequester myself from any information regarding the Sopranos’ series finale. I’m hoping Tony Blair’s last few days in office will trump news about my favorite fictitious mobsters.

For a while now we have been having the (internet) age-old debate: “Bring the laptop, or don’t bring the laptop?” Or, in honor of our impending overnight in Stratford-Upon-Avon, “To laptop or not to laptop, that is the question.”

I think it’s official. We won’t be bringing the laptop. On the advice of some coworkers we’ll be doing our blogging at internet cafes. That lightens our travel load and allows us to get out into towns and talk to people. Being the frugal type, I will also be forced to minimize the number of times I check my email (or the progress of my fantasy baseball team, for that matter).

In other technology news, I purchased a Griffin iTalk mic for my iPod. This will allow me to record presentations at the Energy 2007 conference, interviews with the public, personal reflections, and random songs about sheep Erin and I compose while driving through the English countryside. We’re also debating whether to rent an international cell phone for the trip. Our verizon phones only have CDMA technology and can’t be used in the UK. Its an extra expense, but the safety and convience of having one will probably make our road trip smoother (because driving on the other side of the road certainly won’t!)

T-minus fourteen days.

Recently, we have been investigating our exact route. If you have any suggestions about any of these places, please let us know. So far, it looks like this:

6/19-6/22: UK. Energy 2007 Conference Wessex Institute of Technology, New Forest, England

6/23: Visit Stonehenge, check out wind farm sites, and drive to Exeter, where we’ll spend the night at the Telstar Guest House

6/24: Drive to and explore Delabole, Cornwall, Wales, where there are some pretty sweet wind farms. We’ll actually be spending the evening in Tintagel, the rumored site of King Arthur’s Camelot, at this green B&B.

6/25-6/26: Drive to and stay in Swansea. Investigate sites on Gower Peninsula, meet with local author/activist Tom Anderson, meet with Welsh Minister of Environment. Spend two nights at the Ael-y-Bryn House near the waterfront.

6/27: Drive to Milford Haven, stay in Aberystwyth. Visit Castle Pill Windfarm site, meet with Wave Dragon engineers

6/28: Visit Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, and then spend the evening at a lodge in Bangor (that’s Bangor, Wales, folks, not Bangor, Maine)

6/29: Examine wind farms on the Isle of Anglesey. Then drive to Stratford-upon-Avon (gotta keep the English teacher happy) where we’ll spend the night and revel in the aura of the bard.

6/30: Mosey around Stratford-upon-Avon a bit more, drive to London and fly to Dinard, France, where we’ll spend two nights.

7/1: Examine Barrage de la Rance.

7/2: Train to Paris. The end!

As part of an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Fund for Teachers grant, I will be traveling through the United Kingdom (England, Wales, and Scotland) and France researching wind power and tidal power. First, I will be attending a scientific conference at the Wessex Institute of Technology in New Forest, England. After that, I will be doing field work in Wales, Scotland, and France.

I have three goals for this fieldwork:
1. Learn about current and cutting edge renewable energy technology.
2. Learn about the obstacles, process, and problems, of installing renewable technology.
3. Interview scientists, lawmakers, authors, activists, and the general public to learn about the benefits and drawbacks of installing wind and tidal power facilities.

My fieldwork will go from June 19th to July 2nd. I will be collecting materials, pictures, video, and audio recordings of my researching. I hope to use these materials when teaching Windsor 8’s renewable energy expedition.

Stay Tuned!