CLEANTECH: Gov.'s Green

Got new energy technologies? A walk through the Climate Change Solutions Showcase at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit November 18-19 in Beverly Hills showed no shortage of gizmos to sustain life as we know it, even as a warmer world faces climate change impacts. The showcase featured more than 30 advanced energy and environmental technology companies that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said are “growing green economies in our own backyards.” Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle said the new technologies “save us money, create jobs, help secure our world, and improve our air and water.” Already the technologies are changing the way the power grid operates and portend even bigger modifications in the years ahead, according to Benjamin Gilbert, FPL Energy vice president of business management. He and other energy industry executives agreed that the new renewable and distributed energy technologies are driving the power industry toward smart grids and demand side management. The technologies also offer solutions for managing the grid as it suffers stress from the impacts of global warming itself, be it more frequent fire weather or increasingly high peak loads during prolonged heat waves. For instance, need to cut off power during Santa Ana winds to prevent downed lines from causing brush fires without jeopardizing people who depend on electronically-powered medical equipment? No problem. As long as the wind blows, vulnerable people can depend on the Airdolphin Wind Turbine, made by Zephyr in Japan and being marketed by JETRO, a technology marketing office of the Japanese government. The lime green turbines stand about six feet tall and can produce 1 kW of power. Businesses, households, schools, and government offices in 24 nations around the world already are using the devices to make power. They can be grid connected with battery storage backup for $10,000. All that’s needed to bring them to Southern California, the company says, is a U.S. distributor. Or how about shaving peak power demand and saving the money needed to build new power plants that run only on the hottest days of the year when the state’s inland residents run air conditioners full blast? Colorado-based Ice Energy has a solution. Its air conditioning system makes ice when power is cheap and demand is low then cools homes during hot afternoons by blowing air over the ice, eliminating the need to run a power-gobbling compressor. The company estimates that if it could achieve a 20 percent market penetration in California, the technology would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 260,000 tons a year, the same as taking 100,000 cars off the road. It also would cut smog-forming pollution. Then there’s what Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry envisions as the zero emission house, powered by solar panels, fuel cells, or small wind turbines, or all three. It comes equipped with energy efficient big screen televisions, clothes washers that recycle water, mirror duct lighting, and even a personal “humanoid robot” made by Honda Motor Co. to take care of mundane chores while you exercise, work on your computer, or soak in a Mitsubishi Rayon Soda Bath, which simulates a mineral water hot spring in your own home. Finally, if you’re already one of the hundreds of thousands of Californians who own a car that can run on pure ethanol but can’t find an ethanol pump, Los Gatos-based E-Fuel Corp.’s got you covered. Its EFUEL Micro Fueler--billed as “Earth’s first home ethanol system”--turns waste sugar into as much as 35 gallons of ethanol a week at a cost of between $1 and $2 a gallon. It comes with a pumping system, of course. The price tag: ten grand. The concept: priceless.

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CLEANTECH: Gov.'s Green

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