Brunton Vapor-AF: Precision Stove Burns Any Flammable Liquid

What a cool bit of green gear for any traveler! Wired reviewed the new Brunton Vapor-AF, a precision stove that’s able to burn any flammable liquid from butane to kerosene. It’s easy to use, looks nice, and pumps out 12,000 BTUs. Perfect for camping, hiking, power outages or anytime you need an efficient little portable cook stove.

From Wired:

WIRED Comes with 20.3-ounce aluminum fuel canister and thick foil windscreen. Stuff sack pocket is a perfect stash for included multitool and jet-cleaning needle. Beerlover’s bonus: Multitool has an integrated opener. Precision flame control for both butane and liquid fuel — we can’t stress enough how fantastic this is.

TIRED No built-in ignition. Legs don’t lock in place. A tad noisy. Plastic fuel pump won’t outlive the brass/aluminum/steel stove. Modest 6-inch diameter from end to end, so no super-wide pots. Two bills for a single burner?

The Brunton costs $180 and is available over at Amazon.

Link [Wired]

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Pellet Stove Madness in Maine: Finding an Alternative to Oil

We may be in the midst of the heat of summer, but record oil prices are forcing many homeowners to start thinking about winter heating already. Those who use heating oil could be in for a nasty shock this year, as the price has risen so much that it can cost up to $5 per gallon. Consumers in the northeast – particularly Maine - are especially reliant on oil, so some folks in areas like Maine are looking for any possible alternative. For many, that means installing wood pellet stoves.

From The Examiner:

Here in western Maine, former ski mogul Les Otten is banking on European wood pellet furnaces with his Maine Energy Systems Inc., which he launched with two other investors. Otten once headed American Skiing Co. and was later a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Otten already has 400 orders even though he hasn’t taken delivery of his first shipment - they’re not due to arrive by container ship until later this month. To fuel those furnaces, he’s arranging for a fleet of trucks to make home deliveries of pellets made at plants in Maine, New Hampshire and Quebec.

Otten, who has a pellet furnace in his home in Greenwood, said it works much like existing forced-water heat systems, except the burner is fueled with wood pellets rather than oil or natural gas. Pellets are made out of compacted sawdust, wood chips or other wood material and look something like rabbit food.

Otten wants to replace 10% of residential heating in Maine with wood pellets. Pellet stoves are ‘flying out the door’ in the state, with consumers paying an average of $4,000 up front but expecting to make that money back in a year or two, assuming oil prices stay this high or get even higher.

Wood pellets are typically made from sawdust created as a byproduct to sawmilling and other wood transformation activities. Since they’re so dense, they burn with a very high combustion efficiency. Pellet heating is a low net-CO2 solution because the CO2 emitted during combustion is equal to the CO2 absorbed by the tree during its growth. New high efficiency stoves have also lowered emissions of Nox and volatile organic compounds, making it one of the most non-polluting heating options currently available.

Link [The Examiner]
Photo credit: Wikipedia

McCain Proposes $300 Million Prize for Alternative Auto Battery

If John McCain has his way, coming up with a new sustainable energy solution will be one big game show. McCain has proposed a $300 million prize to anyone who can develop an automobile battery that best surpasses existing technology.

From CNN:

McCain said the new automobile battery should have “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.”

“In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and excusing failure,” McCain said. “From now on, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success.”

Obama’s response, per the Detroit News:

“When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn’t put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win — he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people,” the Illinois senator said in a speech in Las Vegas. “That’s the kind of effort we need to achieve energy independence in this country, and nothing less will do.”

McCain’s battery proposal is no doubt an attempt to get back in the favor of some moderate environmentalists who disagree with his views on offshore drilling. If he were really serious about improving battery technology, he’d pledge to invest money in research grants and other incentives. Even with the possibility of $300 million at the end of the road, individuals and small companies would be unlikely to afford the research that would be necessary to create such a battery – more likely, the prize would end up in the hands of some huge corporation. Hardly a way to encourage American innovation. McCain might as well just ready himself for the reaming he’s gonna take in November.

Link [CNN] + [Detroit News]
Photo credit: Flickr user aflcio2008

McCain Wants 45 New Nuclear Reactors by 2030

Once again, Republican presidential nominee John McCain is proving that his ideas about ‘saving the environment’ don’t mesh with the majority of environmentalists’ views. McCain is advocating nuclear power in a big way – he plans to set the nation on course to build 45 new nuclear reactors by the year 2030.

From Reuters:

“If I am elected president, I will set this nation on a course to building 45 new reactors by the year 2030, with the ultimate goal of 100 new plants to power the homes and factories and cities of America,” he said.

There are 104 operating nuclear reactors nationwide at present, which generate about 20 percent of the nation’s power supply.

McCain has argued forcefully for further nuclear plants, seeing them as part of a solution to fighting climate change and establishing U.S. energy independence.

Obama, on the other hand, taking a more realistic stance. Last week, his campaign said that they see nuclear power as an important part of setting the U.S. on a path toward clean energy, but that the issue of disposing of nuclear waste and solving nuclear proliferation concerns are also crucial. On June 20th, Obama said that nuclear power was worth careful consideration but that it was not a panacea.

Link [Reuters]
Photo credit: Flickr user Christopher Peterson

College Green: The University of New Hampshire Will Get 85% of Its Electricity From Landfill Gas

I went to the University of New Hampshire in my first year of college way back in 96/97. It’s a great campus and I’ve been excited to read about their forays into sustainability over the years.

Here’s a wonkish video outlining UNH’s green initiatives, including their use of landfill gas that will provide 85% of their energy needs. Although I remember the food being good when I was a skinny 18 year old freshman eating in the dining halls, I missed out on their recent embrace of Slow Food- locally sourced minimally processed natural foods.

Go Wildcats!

Via [Environmental Leader]

Photo credit: Flickr user craptastic

Cooking Grease is Big Business as Gas Prices Soar

Don’t you wish you would have been one of those ‘weirdos’ who outfitted your diesel-engine car to use biofuels? Years ago, when people first started gathering used cooking oil from restaurants to fuel their vehicles, news of it was greeted by the public with amazement and more than a little scorn. After all, gas was still less than $2 a gallon and most people seemed to think we’d never run out. Well, who’s laughing now, bitches? Cooking grease is turning into a booming industry of its own, and the folks who are no longer dependent on petroleum are breathing a big ‘ol sigh of relief as the rest of the population worries about gas prices.

The Chicago Tribune has it:

Restaurants increasingly are being paid for their used cooking oil, icky stuff that historically they’ve had to pay to have hauled away. And sales of kits that allow diesel-powered cars to run on used cooking oil are soaring.

With all the attention, rendering firms are reporting a surge in grease thefts.

Grease’s rising star stems from rising energy prices. Demand for biodiesel is soaring, putting pressure on supplies of used vegetable oil, which can be used to make the alternative fuel.

Restaurants are getting into profit-sharing programs with companies that haul their raw used cooking oil away. Companies that make kits that convert diesel vehicles to burn straight vegetable oil are making money, too – one company, Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems in Massachusetts, expects to double their sales this year and are having trouble keeping up with demand.

Some drivers are still hitting up restaurants themselves to get oil for free and running it through filters to catch stray bits of food before putting it in their fuel tanks. Many, it seems, are also going the route of theft, making the business even more competitive. This cooking grease boom just goes to show that when they’re pinched, people get creative. Let’s see more of it!

Link [The Chicago Tribune]
Photo credit: Flickr user jsbarrie

Pedal-Powered Eco Cabs Debut in Sweden

If you visit Stockholm any time soon, you’ll have a new eco-friendly option for getting around the city: human-powered ‘eco cabs’. They don’t have A/C and probably aren’t the best choice if you’re in a hurry to get to the airport or something, but one bonus is you’ll be going slow enough to get a good tour of the scenery while en route.

Treehugger has it:

The Ecocab, that jazzy three-wheeled improvement on the older pedicab/rickshaw idea, debuted the first of May in Toronto and has been seen in cities such as Dublin and in Berlin for last year’s World Cup. In Toronto, advertising is to be the main revenue for cab company owners, at least at first. But while the new Stockholm-based fleet of eight Ecocabs trolling the inner city are brightly emblazoned with ads, they also cost cold hard cash, in some cases more than a regular taxi.

Stockholm’s Ecocabs, which will run only from May though September each year, charge 40 Swedish crowns ($6.50) per rider per 15 minute period. The ecocabs have a small 12v self-charging battery-driven engine to help the driver power up hills and run the indicator lights, and can reach a maximum speed of 25 kilometers per hour, though the average speed is closer to half that.

Something about sitting pretty while some poor schmuck has to work his ass off to pedal you around seems sorta wrong, but it’s certainly a great alternative to riding in a gas-powered automobile. Just be sure to give him a sugar cube and pat him on the head when you get to your destination.

Link [Treehugger]

Aarrrr! ‘Biodiesel Pirates’ Stealing Used Cooking Oil

Green business owners hoping to make money off used cooking oil to fuel vehicles have had a frustrating problem lately: ‘biodiesel pirates’ have been stealing their oil. As the price of gas rises ever higher, and many commuters find that their local mass transit systems aren’t so great, people are getting more and more desperate.

From MSNBC:

A few years ago, drums of used french fry grease were only of interest to a small network of underground biofuel brewers, who would use the slimy oil to power their souped-up antique Mercedes.

Now, restaurants from Berkeley, Calif., to Sedgwick, Kan., are reporting thefts of old cooking oil worth thousands of dollars by rustlers who are refining it into barrels of biofuel in backyard stills.

“It’s like a war zone going on right now over grease,” said David Levenson, who owns a grease hauling business in San Francisco’s Mission District. “We’re seeing more and more people stealing grease because it lets them stay away from the pump, but it’s hurting our bottom line.”

Drivers for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, a grease hauler that also manufactures biodiesel for San Francisco’s municipal program, often find the 300-gallon dumpster they store outside the Oakland Coliseum nearly dry, despite the dozens of concessions stands that regularly dump their oil there. Losses at that one site alone have cost the company $3,700 in foregone oil revenues in the last year, said Wesley Caddell, the Oakland firm’s business developer.

Sounds like some improved locks are in order. It seems like it was only a matter of time before people started realizing that used cooking oil was pretty easy to come by, and a lot of folks have come to expect that they can help themselves to it when it’s unsecured outside restaurants. If you want to make money off of it, you’ve got to protect it from thieves, people. Unfortunately, even ‘green’ folks can be dishonest.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Flickr user Per Ola Wiberg

Ooh, What’s That Smell? Gazans Using Falafel Oil to Power Taxis

Gaza is currently under fuel sanctions, making it difficult for taxis to continue business as usual. Luckily for them, people in the region love them some falafel (fried mashed, spiced chickpeas), and the oil can be used to power the vehicles. It makes for some rough running and isn’t great for the cars, but it works, and right now Gazans don’t have much choice.

Treehugger has it:

According to Reuters, Gaza’s taxi drivers say the used falafel oil works much better than the fresh stuff smuggled in from the Gaza-Egypt border. They either beg for it from falafel vendors, or buy it from the vendors who are hawking it for a profit.

“It makes the cars smell like a kitchen — you feel like falafel is following you,” said Ahmed al-Beltaji, crinkling his nose. “Next week they’ll be putting water in there.”

Beltaji runs a falafel stand near a taxi station and started selling his falafel oil leftovers in April. Others are turning to other creative measures –– using cooking canisters to power their cars, or are traveling by donkey or bicycle.

I can eat some falafel like nobody’s business, but I can’t imagine that it would be too pleasant to constantly smell it while you’re driving, considering that it’s mixed with turpentine. That could get you over an addiction to the delicious fried goodness pretty quickly. I also love that one of their alternatives to riding in taxis is to take a donkey. Imagine if this caught on in American cities: seeing Wall Street businessmen in their suits and ties gripping their briefcases while clinging to the back of an ass. How fantastic would that be?

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Reuters

A Truck that Runs on Wood Fuel: For the Truly Desperate

When gas prices are high and you’re desperate enough to just not give a f#!k, rigging your vehicle to run on wood fuel might just be your answer. All you need are some materials you’ve probably got laying around in your garage, and a lot of patience, because you’re going to be throwing trees into this thing like there’s no tomorrow.

A listener to the Coast to Coast AM with George Noory radio program, Dave B., submitted this photo along with a few others and had this to say about it:

I ran into this interesting character today at my local farmers market that drove up in an old pickup with a crazy looking contraption in the bed of the truck composed of ducting, PVC pipe, a 50 gallon drum, an old furnace, and of course, a lot of duct tape among other many other things.

I had to ask him what in the world was on the back of his truck. It was a wood burning oven that catches the combustible fumes from the wood coals, condenses any moisture, then feeds the fumes into the engine to make it run. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it.

Apparently this is a concept that was engineered back in WWII when there were fuel supply shortages. I have never heard of it.

Probably would not be good if we all did it, but at least I know there is someone in town with a truck that will run no matter what happens with gasoline.

You gotta hand it to the guy for ingenuity. The setup looks like a traveling moonshine still. If this isn’t giving Big Oil the middle finger, I don’t know what is. It’s not very practical, and the emissions factor makes it less than an eco-friendly choice, but it’s definitely funny.

[Update!] Back in 1981, Mother Earth News published this piece on using firewood to fuel a truck. A guy named Chicken John also has one with a pretty interesting setup

Link [Coast to Coast AM with George Noory]
Photo credit: Dave B., submitted to Coast to Coast AM with George Noory

Village in South Korea Runs on 100% Solar Power

Not too long ago, a town in Missouri proved that running on 100% wind power is an attainable goal. Now, the village of Donggwang on Jeju Island in South Korea is showing the world that solar power works, too. Hurray for innovation and leaders willing to take chances!

EcoWorldly has it:

Donggwang has achieved what even the most powerful countries in the world are still struggling to accomplish: total energy independence with clean technology.

On the roof of each of the 40 houses in Donggwang lies a large beds of solar panels. Even the small, local elementary school runs on free electric energy from the sun. The photovoltaic panels produce enough energy to power the entire area. Amidst cattle and fields, Donggwang is a state-of-the-art renewable energy village.

In 2004, the government helped to install solar systems in Donggwang, paying 70% of the installation fees.

When Eco Worldly writer Gavin Hudson asked Choo Chan Lee, a Donggwang resident, whether he was concerned about environmental issues, his easy response was that he just wanted to preserve the clean air of Jeju Island. Jeju-do is the largest of South Korea’s semi-tropical islands and is home to Halla Mountain, a volcano and the tallest mountain in South Korea.

This little paradise, so close to the overwhelming pollution of China, sets a great example for countries around the world – especially the United States. If we could accomplish this in a few of our own cities, more people would see that it’s not just ‘possible’, it’s reality – and it could mean a happier, healthier home for all of us.

Link [EcoWorldly]
Photo credit: Gavin Hudson, EcoWorldly

Conservative Hypocrite McCain Delivers Climate Change Speech at Foreign Wind Company

Oh, the irony. John McCain and his handlers are working (but not too hard) at making him look somewhat progressive on climate change to independent and thus far uncommitted voters. They’re trying to maintain a balance between pleasing the hard line conservative base and appealing to young people hip to the global warming crisis and the need for alternative energy. Too bad the setting they chose for his climate change speech only underlined the fact that he’s not the candidate that will actually do anything about it.

Gristmill has it:

Conservative presidential candidate Sen. John McCain chose a clever but ultimately hypocritical location for his big climate speech. I hope the media aren’t fooled by his ironic choice of wind turbine company Vestas as the backdrop, but I have little doubt they will run enticing photos and videos of wind turbines. McCain, however, does not deserve to be linked to such images.

I would title the speech “Not the man for the job” (see “No climate for old men”).

Let’s be clear: Conservatives like John McCain, or more accurately, conservatives including John McCain, are the main reason McCain has to go to a Danish wind turbine manufacturer to give a climate speech. With the major government investments in wind in the 1970s, the United States was poised to be a dominant player in what was clearly going to be one of the biggest job-creating industries of the next hundred years. But conservatives repeatedly gutted the wind budget, then opposed efforts by progressives to increase it, and repeatedly blocked efforts to extend the wind power tax credit.

Mr. McCain, you’re making this too easy. As Gristmill points out, you didn’t even show up for the vote that would have extended the wind power production tax credit, which would have shifted money from subsidies away from the oil industry. You’ve also opposed, on more than one occasion, a renewable electricity standard that would have set a minimum requirement for utilities to generate some of their power from alternative sources, including wind. These examples are just a small fraction of your record. Tsk, tsk. Try harder next time, old man.

Link [Gristmill]
Photo credit: Flickr user marcn

What Can Save the Floundering U.S. Economy? Green Technology!

The state of the U.S. economy has a lot of people worried. They’re not just concerned about their own bank accounts (though that is a major part of it), they’re concerned about their retirements, their businesses and their children’s futures. Everything seems like a bit of a mess at the moment, and New Yorker staff writer Nick Paumgarten had some big questions for Michael Novogratz, president of the Fortress Investment Group, at the latest New Yorker Stories from the Near Future conference.

From Wired:

Our current economic woes, he said, are analogous to the dot-com bubble burst.

The internet’s turn-of-the-millennium troubles were solved by the rise of second-generation web services. Globalization 1.0, as Novogratz called it, stalled after an initial purchasing power burst among the developing world’s newly-arrived middle classes, but will be saved by globalization 2.0. All will be well.

There’s only one catch: We need another wealth-generating economic bubble. And that, said Novogratz, must come — can only come — from new energy sources and green technology.

“As the price of oil goes up, there’s got to be a green revolution. I think of what will be the next driver of the American economy, and it’s green energy. That’s a huge growth opportunity. It’s not about the pollution. It’s about the energy. Gas will go to $10 a gallon,” he said.

Anybody interested in improving our future through sustainable, earth-friendly means has got to be psyched about that. Not only could it give the U.S. economy a major (and much needed) boost, it could result in an amazing burst of creativity on the green technology front. It’s just what we need to push past this ‘age of oil’ and enter a new era of green forward-thinking technology and practices.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s all gravy. We have some major hurdles to get over, and we probably won’t get past them unscathed. It’s going to get ugly for a while – there’s no getting around the fact that we’ve already done so much damage. But, at least green technology offers a silver lining in what seems like an increasingly bleak outlook of the future.

Link [Wired]
Photo credit: Flickr user borman818

New Firewinder Light Uses Wind Power

Years ago, ‘green’ things were known for being pretty boring. I can recall sitting through a demonstration at a power plant on a third grade field trip, desperately wishing I was someplace else while someone in a hard hat lectured to us about turning off the lights. Most of America feels the same way about all of the eco-education that’s going on right now, and that’s part of the problem. Green stuff isn’t thought of us fun. That’s why people like the inventor of the Firewinder make me happy.

From Firewinder:

Firewinder® is The Original Windlight™ – A decorative, 100% wind-powered outdoor light which harnesses the power of the wind from whichever direction it blows, to create a simple yet magical visual effect with a universal appeal.

Easy to install, you simply hang it up from a tree in your garden, on your roof terrace or mount it to a post or wall and watch it light up and glow every time the wind blows!

Firewinder’s patent pending technology elegantly transforms wind into light to enable the visualisation of the abundantly free energy in the wind as a mesmerising, endlessly upward spiralling helix of light.

It is pretty cool looking. Things like this would be a great help toward getting the general public to buy ‘green’. There’s a perception that green isn’t pretty or exciting, and that’s proving more and more to simply not be true.

Link [Firewinder]

Britain’s Armed Forces Could Run on Algae, Weeds & Solar Power

In a story that brilliantly illustrates the untapped potential that lies all around us, the Times Online writes about alternative energy sources currently being considered by the British Army. In an effort to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, scientists are working hard at new innovations, and some of them are truly amazing.

The Times Online has it:

Possible innovations include unmanned attack aircraft powered by the sun. They would fire missiles fuelled with hydrogen produced by feeding algae to microbes.

Tanks could be electrically powered or run on fuel produced from oil squeezed out of weeds so hardy they can grow in the desert.

Ships could run completely on electricity produced from generators powered by synthetic fuels made from grass.

The environmental requirements of the army, navy and air force will be presented this week to specially vetted defence and research companies.

These ideas aren’t likely to become a reality for a decade or two, but the fact that they’re working so hard at ideas like this is so encouraging. The need to ‘go green’ is all the more important to the British Armed Forces, as their fuel bill is currently £400m annually – double what it was four years ago. The Ministry of Defence is currently working on a range of sophisticated green technology plans that won’t be revealed to the public for a while; the plans are currently being made available for viewing only to select companies and researchers.

Link [Times Online]

Photo credit: Flickr user elroySF

Rock Port, Missouri Proves that Wind Power Really Works

Wind turbines haven’t just provided Rock Port, Missouri with 100% of their power. They’ve provided an extra 23% on top of that – enough to sell some to other cities.

Rock Port, Missouri, is a small city of 1,300 people, and they just made history by being the first city in the US to be 100% powered by the wind, also making them #1 in the US for percentage of renewable energy. The Loess Hills Wind Farm, built by the Wind Capital Group, employing 500 workers from 20 states for about a year, is expected to produce about 16 million kilowatt hours annually, while Rock Port only uses 13 million. The excess wind power will be sold to other communities in the area.

They’ve provided a great example for the rest of the nation. It’s time to start doing this in more cities. Of course, there are always those people that will complain that wind turbines are ‘ugly’ – the whole Not in My Backyard thing. Personally, I think they’re beautiful because of what they stand for: renewable energy. Doesn’t that mean more than having ‘eyesores’ in your city?

Link [Treehugger]

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Reuters Reporters Can’t Believe Billionaire Oilman Is Investing in Wind to Make Money

With a name like T. Boone Pickens, Jr., how could you not grow up to be a billionaire oilman?

80 year old T. Boone made his billions over the decades by growing his oil company through a flurry of mergers and acquisitions and is now setting his sites on the wind. His plan calls for spending $10B to build the worlds largest wind farm in Texas.

I found this news in a Reuters story, author Chris Baltimore seems blown away that someone actually expects to make money by doing something green. Check out:

But Pickens is not out to save the planet. He intends to make money.

Golly gee, a businessman invests in a green business and isn’t doing it to make the world a happier and shinier place? He actually will make money? Stop the presses, 1999 wants it’s storyline back.

Link [Reuters]