Wind Power

By Chuck | Add a Comment »

Denmark gets 20% of their electricity from wind power. Germany gets around 7%. What about the United States? Well, not too impressive. At the end of 2007, only about 1.3% of the United States’ electricity production came from wind power. That percentage is changing fast, however. By the end of 2008 it will be around 2% I know that doesn’t sound like much, but if you look at the trend over the past 8 to 10 years, you will see that it is growing exponentially.

0.12% 1999
0.8% 2006 (approximately 31 billion KwH of wind power - AWEA 2006)
1.3% 2007 (based on total megawatts of wind turbines installed through 2007)
2% 2008 (based on estimated megawatts of wind turbines to be installed by end of 2008)

That, along with advances in wind turbine generator technology (they are getting bigger and more efficient), should allow wind power to reach 10% of the country’s electricity production by the year 2020. Most of this data is given by the American Wind Energy Association which is a good source of information. Other data was provided by Barr Engineering Co., Minneapolis, MN.

Where Do You Get Electricity?

By Chuck | Add a Comment »

Electricity is something we rely on every day, but where do we get the energy to produce that electricity? I decided to look into the matter. My search for a reliable source of information led me to the Energy Information Administration, the government source for “official energy statistics”. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until October of 2008 to get the statistics for 2007. The information I looked at was through 2006. How accurate is this information? I believe it to be accurate - this stuff is tracked very closely by many different public and private groups. I work for a private engineering firm that (among other things) is heavily involved in the construction of wind turbines, the power and mining industries, and environmental work for oil refineries and other large companies. We work directly with various government organizations, along with other clients who have to report to various government organizations. To the best of my knowledge, the data the EIA presents is reliable. Feel free to check the website yourself. Here is a summary of what I researched.

The total U.S. production of electricity is 4,064,702 million kilowatt hours (KwH). Yes, that is over 4 trillion KwH. A KwH is a measure of electricity use. Basically, it is 1,000 watts of power used in one hour. One 60 watt light bulb burning for 16 hours and 40 minutes would use 1 KwH (the average U.S. cost for electricity for 2006 was 10.4 cents/KwH). The total U.S. consumption of electricity is about 3.8 trillion KwH. Where do the other 200 billion KwHs go? Well, I’m not sure entirely. Some of it is exported to Canada and Mexico and a big chunk of it is just lost to some basic laws of physics.

The electricity comes from various sources of energy. Here is a list of them and the percentages each source contributes to the total:

Coal 49%
Natural Gas 20%
Nuclear 19.4%
Hydroelectric 7%
Oil Petroleum 1.6%
Other 3 % (wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, etc…)

I was asked the other day what percentage wind power contributes to the total. Well, stay tuned and you will find out.

Solar Energy Takeover

By Hayden | Add a Comment »

In a recent article about Solar Energy I read that solar will be responsible for 20 percent of the World’s energy production by 2040. That is huge. The Telegraph article goes on to talk about large financial gains in the Solar industry by 2010 and impacts on developing countries to create infrastructure around a wireless electricity system. Imagine the possibilities!

Great Idea OZ

By Hayden | Add a Comment »

While I was reading this article, Australia to ban old-style bulbs, I was reminded that lighting is a high percentage of our energy consumption.

As consumers we are always trying to find the best deal so to some having to switch from ordinary bulbs to the Compact Fluorescents(CF) seems extreme. They are expencive usually two to three times or more than incandescent bulbs. But that cost is negated many times over when you look at the life expectancy of the CF lights, the energy savings per month they are in use, and the decreased environmental impact associated with the CF light bulbs.

The decreased environmental impact is multi-benefiting. The lights themselves use energy. There is heat generated by incandescent light which is wasted energy and means increased cooling needs in hotter months.

So is that initial cost really that much?

Your Ecological Footprint

By Hayden | 1 Comment »

Recently we have started to hear about our ecological footprint and ways we are either increasing or decreasing our effect on the environment by how we live our daily lives. For instance driving a car to work every day increases your ecological footprint. On the flip side biking to work everyday decreases your footprint. These two examples are pretty well known and people have either made the decision to bike or drive and go on living without realizing what their contribution is to impacting the environment.

I didn’t know what mine was until a few minutes ago. According to the Ecological Footprint Quiz I am using up 14 acres for my lifestyle. 14 acres means that for all the humans to live on the planet as I do there would need to be 3.1 planets to go around. As an American I actually use well below the average of 24 acres per person. Yeah me. I could probably decrease my result more if I wasn’t a meat eater, but it is just so damn tasty I can’t help myself. Check out the link above and see how you are doing. Hopefully we are not all using 24 acres.

Photo Contest for Your River Pictures

By Hayden | Add a Comment »

American Rivers is hosting a photo contest for river pictures.

There are Three categories:

1. Best River Photo
2. Best People & Rivers photo
3. Best Wild & Scenic River Photo

So dust off the camera or pull out your portfolio and submit your works of art. Contest rules and prizes are listed on the link. Contest submission end date is February 28, 2007. Good Luck.

Hello and Welcome to Renewable Energy Logue

By Hayden | 2 Comments »

Hello all,

This logue is here for all of us to learn and discuss what is going on in the world of Renewable Energy. It was started because a group guys that have breakfast together every week wanted to talk about Renewable Energy and how it could fit into our businesses and lives.

We live in Portland, Oregon where there is a multitude of resources for lessening the environmental impact of daily living, which is not the case for everywhere. All of us have very different resources and knowledge regarding Renewable Energy and know that there are so many people out there interested in this same topic, so why not share what we learn with as many interested people as possible.

First post on Renewable Energy

By Hayden | Add a Comment »

Hello My name is Hayden and I’ll be writing about Renewable Energy. Go figure - the name of the blog has to do with the content of it.