See How This University Is Turning Trash Into Treasured Clean Energy

Within the dining halls at the University of California, Davis, tossed-out food scraps have recently become empowered—quite literally.
Waste is being converted to power in the campus’s newly unveiled Renewable Energy Anaerobic Digester (“biodigester” for short), a set of large, white tanks that eat 50 tons of trash per day and burp out 12,000 kilowatt hours of renewable electricity, right into the campus’s grid. That’s enough to power almost 1,000 homes for a year, says a UC Davis release.
The mound of trash feeding the biodigester is composed of not just UC Davis cafeteria food scraps, but also campus yard clippings and waste from local restaurants and businesses. The system is expected divert 20,000 tons of waste from local landfills each year.
Unveiled on Earth Day, it’s the U.S.’s largest anaerobic biodigester on a college campus, and it owes its existence to technology developed by UC Davis biological and agricultural engineering professor Ruihong Zhang.  Anaerobic digestion isn’t exactly a new concept, but the UC Davis biodigester, built using Zhang’s technology, can consume more waste—and a greater variety of it—than previous versions, significantly increasing its efficiency.
Zhang had been working to get her patented technology out of the lab and onto the campus grid for nearly a decade, but found funding to be a major obstacle. When the university partnered with Sacramento-based CleanWorld—a tech company focused on anaerobic digestion systems—the UC Davis biodigester finally had the means to reach commercial scale. CleanWorld paid for the majority of the $8.5 million biodigester with private equity and commercial loans—though $2 million in public assistance came from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission.
Here’s hoping that other U.S. universities take note, and find ways to get their food scraps—and campuses—similarly empowered.

How This U.S. Army Base Is Leading the Way in Alternative Energy

As the largest energy consumer in the United States, the Department of Defense is ramping up efforts in renewable energy, and Arizona U.S. Army base Fort Huachuca is setting the bar for the military’s greener future.
Fort Huachuca, located about 50 miles southeast of Tuscon, Ariz., is breaking ground on a photovoltaic array, or solar panel installation, aimed at replacing 25 percent of the base’s electricity.
The ambitious, 68-acre project is described as the Department of Defense’s largest solar undertaking yet, according to Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for military installations, energy and environment. Officials hope to launch commercial operations by the end of the year.
The announcement is one of several recent efforts by the U.S. military to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy to meet a 2025 deadline to produce a quarter of all energy from renewable sources. Last week the DoD issued a department-wide directive on its energy policy, emphasizing a push toward more alternative energy. 
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Thanks to cheaper costs of wind and solar installment, renewable energy installations are expected to rise 37 percent over the next two years, according to research group Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
But residents at Fort Huachuca have been bucking the trend over the last few decades, paving the way for future adapters.
The base has spearheaded a number of energy conservation projects since the 1980s, when the fort installed a solar pool-heating system, a domestic hot water system and small photovoltaic systems, according to the U.S. Army. Fort Huachuca also opened a wind turbine in January 2011 and is home to the Col. C. Smith Middle School, a “net zero” or self-sustainable school, which has won national and international recognition for its environmental design and stewardship.
“The project goes beyond the megawatts produced,” Maj. Gen. Robert Ashley, Fort Huachuca commanding general, said in a statement. “It reflects our continued commitment to southern Arizona and energy security. The project will provide reliable access to electricity for daily operations and missions moving forward.”
The Fort Huachuca solar project is a collaboration between the U.S Army Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF), Fort Huachucha, The General Services Administration, Tuscon Electric Power (TEP) and German-based developer E.ON Climate and Renewables. TEP will fund, own and manage the project, which means no taxpayer dollars spent on the ambitious installation.
Though the project is months away from commercial use, the public-private partnership underscores a new era of alternative energy expectation, and one that Fort Huachuca has long held.

The U.S. Navy May Have Found A Game Changer in Renewable Energy

The U.S. Navy is known to call itself “a global force for good,” and thanks to a recent renewable energy breakthrough, it may be living up to its reputation.

Last week researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Materials Science and Technology Division announced the successful flight of a small model airplane powered by a liquid hydrocarbon taken from seawater. Yes, that’s right. The ocean.
While it may just sound like a group of scientists flying a toy plane, the development could mean a future powered by one of the world’s largest infinite natural resources (here comes the oil industry hand-wringing).
The process, which extracts carbon dioxide and hydrogen from ocean water and recombines it into hydrocarbon chains, may advance efforts to refuel aircraft carriers and vessels while out at sea. The Navy currently relies on 15 oil tankers to deliver almost 600 million gallons of fuel to vessels at sea per year, according to the BBC. Though it takes an exhaustive 23,000 gallons of ocean water to create just one gallon of fuel, vessels equipped with nuclear reactors onboard can process the very water they float on to refuel, without having to wait for an oil tanker to help out.

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Researchers anticipate the new process will be ready in the next seven to 10 years, with the goal of dramatically reducing the $4 to $5 billion the military spends annually on 1.3 billion gallons of fuel. The potential green fuel would cost an estimated $3 to $6 per gallon—an expensive undertaking—but within target of the rising costs of gas. In 2012 the Navy paid about $3.60 a gallon.
Currently the Navy’s 289 vessels rely on oil-powered fuel but approximately 72 submarines and some select aircraft carriers are powered by nuclear energy. So should we expect to run our cars on saltwater anytime soon? Not so much. The Navy hopes to partner with universities for further research and plans to scale up the system onto land-based stations before shipping off a ocean-powered ship.
Regardless, the new development means that reliance on oil could be a thing of the past in the not-so-distant future and yes, some day you could be pumping the Atlantic and Pacific over regular and premium at the corner station.

Read About the Remarkable Scientists Making Corn-Free Ethanol

When we first heard of the sustainable biofuel known as ethanol, it was heralded as a smart, home-grown alternative to our dependence on foreign oil. It turns out, however, that while corn-based fuel has a lot going for it, it’s far from being the most environmentally-friendly type of energy.
There are a whole slew of problems with ethanol — from the amount of land space, natural resources, and startling amount of money it takes to grow so much corn. (It takes, for example, about 800 gallons of water to grow a bushel of corn, which yields just three gallons of ethanol.) The challenge, it seems, is to find a way to reap all the benefits of ethanol without taking a toll on the planet.
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Now, it appears, researchers from Stanford University have developed an eco-friendly alternative to traditional ethanol. The best part? They’ve done it without using any corn or other crops.
As announced in a recent press release, the California-based team has figured out how to produce liquid ethanol from carbon monoxide gas using an electrode made of a form of copper.
Matthew Kanan, an assistant professor of chemistry at Stanford and co-author of study, told Reuters that the prototype could be ready in two to three years.
“I emphasize that these are just laboratory experiments today. We haven’t built a device,” Kanan said. “But it demonstrates the feasibility of using electricity that you could get from a renewable energy source to power fuel synthesis — in this case ethanol. There are some real advantages to doing that relative to using biomass to produce ethanol.”
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As Fox News puts it lightly, the team has pretty much produced fuel out of thin air. Just think — if this Stanford method were to actually leave the laboratory, it could completely eliminate acres and acres of crops, water and fertilizer needed to produce biofuel. Sounds like smart — not to mention, eco-friendly — move to increase our country’s energy independence.
 

Texas Breaks a Record, But Not the Kind You’d Expect

Everything’s bigger in Texas, which partly explains how a state known for its oil rigs, giant steaks, and five-lane highways has just broken a national wind energy record.
On the evening of Wednesday, March 26, wind power fed 10,296 megawatts of power into the state’s electricity grid — almost 29 percent of all wind power used in the state at that time. According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, that’s a record for all power systems in the United States.
Texas is actually the largest producer of wind power in the United States, with the potential to collect more power than Italy, France, or the U.K., according to Next City. It’s no surprise, then, that the morning after the wind energy record, Texas broke a “wind power share record,” when 38.43 percent of the state’s power came from windmills. (To be fair, that happened at 3:19 a.m., so perhaps the state wasn’t buzzing with electrical needs.)
Most of the electricity comes from West Texas, which is home of Roscoe Wind Farm and Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, as well as the television drama Friday Night Lights. (Why was wind energy never a plot on the show?)
There’s a divide in the Lone Star State in terms of energy needs and energy generation, though: West Texas has the wind, but it doesn’t actually have a large enough population to use the power it generates. At the same time, places like Houston and Corpus Christi generate far less electricity than they need.
To solve the problem, Texas passed the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones Initiative. Now transmission lines zigzag across the state, successfully carrying wind power from north to south and west to east that was previously lost on its way to the electrical grid.
Other states and their power generators are trying to be more like Texas. The Southwest Power Pool, which serves Oklahoma, Kansas, and parts of Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Arkansas, is attempting to build a network of transmission lines that will hook into the one in Texas, funneling wind energy across state lines.
Currently Texas has 12 gigawatts of installed capacity in the state, and 8 more gigawatts are planned or under construction.
The lesson here is clear: Don’t mess with Texas, especially when it comes to transforming wind energy into electrical power.

How One State Is Making It Easier and Cheaper to Use Wind Power

Wind power is one of the cleanest sources of renewable energy on the planet, and now it’s more affordable than ever. An Oklahoma utility company is offering its customers a chance to buy Oklahoma-produced wind power for a lot less money. The Public Service Co. of Oklahoma (PSO) has cut the price of its WindChoice program by 40 percent, allowing its half-million customers the choice of buying wind power for part or all of their energy needs, the company announced in a news release. All told, a customer can allot half of their energy needs to wind for an extra $5 a month.
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“By providing a lower price and greater flexibility, we’re making it easier than ever for our customers to take advantage of and promote the tremendous energy resource that is our Oklahoma wind,” said Bobby Mouser, PSO’s director of customer services and marketing.
Although wind energy can be costlier in the short term, it’s has actually caused the overall price of electricity to drop in several high-wind states. According to a report from the American Wind Energy Association, in the past five years, Texas, Wyoming, Oregon, Oklahoma, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa saw their price of electricity fell 0.37 percent. Every other state, in contrast, saw their electricity go up by 7.79 percent. That should be energizing news to proponents of wind power.

The Surprising Way the Military Is Saving Tax Dollars

The U.S. military is going green to save some green. According to a report from Pew Charitable Trusts, the Defense Department is looking for ways to save money on its energy bill, which costs taxpayers a hefty $4 billion annually. But our armed forces aren’t just looking to cut costs, they’re looking for greener solutions. As GreenBiz reports, “the agency expects to source at least 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources.”
According to Pew, energy-saving and efficiency projects at the Pentagon more than doubled from 630 to 1,339 between fiscal years 2010 and 2012. Renewable-energy projects at military installations run by the Defense Department also rose from 454 to 700. Not only is going green better for the planet and for the budget, it also means decreased reliance on foreign oil and lower transportation costs.
The military has been using the private sector and third-party financing to help deploy its projects. “These improvements are possible even as the Pentagon’s budget is shrinking because the armed services are harnessing private-sector expertise and resources,” Phyllis Cuttino, who directs Pew’s project on national security, energy and climate, said in a statement. “This is a win-win-win proposition: The military gets better energy infrastructure, taxpayer dollars are saved, and the clean energy industry is finding new market opportunities.”
MORE: The Military Is Devoted to Something That Will Totally Shock You

This Solar Farm Stands for a Lot More Than Clean Energy

Farming is a tradition in Reginald Parker’s family. His mother and her family grew up picking cotton as sharecroppers, and his dad picked tobacco. But Parker is continuing that legacy in a new vein — farming solar energy. He plans to open a six-acre, 1.4 megawatt solar farm in North Carolina on Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a form of remembrance for his family, but also as a triumph for African American entrepreneurship in the South. “This land was originally used for cotton farming, so with our groundbreaking we are announcing the change from cotton farming to solar farming in North Carolina, and cotton farming is something I truly will not miss,” Parker told Grist. “It was something like servitude to be a sharecropper, but now we’re owners, and that’s a source of pride in my family.”
An MIT graduate, Parker learned about solar energy after he wrote a paper for the African Technology Forum where he proposed the use of solar energy in Zimbabwe. “People beat up on solar because of the initial start-up costs to install solar energy, but it’s still significantly less than the costs for coal,” Parker told Grist. “Coal is trying to stay in there, but coal and natural gas have two things working against them: Both are in limited supply.” Here’s to many years of bountiful sunshine in North Carolina.
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America’s Hydroelectric Renaissance Starts in Wisconsin

Wisconsin-based Bill Harris knows all about upcycling. His company, Renewable World Energies, is renovating aging, 100-year old hydroelectric plants and boosting their energy production by as much as 50 percent with modern turbine technology. Talk about an upgrade! Just like every other power source, hydro creates some environmental concerns, including emissions and potential damage to wildlife at dammed reservoirs. But there’s no arguing it has a clean, renewable role to play in our country’s energy future.
Source: Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
 

Robot Bacteria Are Coming for Your Sewage

Unbelievable as it sounds, mutant robot bacteria is coming to eat up our cities’ waste water. This emerging technology, piloted by Pilus Energy, is designed to make electricity, clean water and other fuels.  If it works out, it could reduce municipal waste, recover water and make clean energy. There’s a home model in the works too.
We always knew home robots were going to be a reality eventually, but who knew they’d be no bigger than bacteria?