When the waves are high, from my backyard I can hear the lake, which is just a few hundred feet away. It sounds like a great, strong wind, or a freight train in the distance – or a tornado. The strange thing is, the sound of the waves does not always coincide with the […]
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Germany has been so effective in tranisitioning from unsustianble (econmically and environemntally) energy sources to renewable ones that it is uncompetitive to burn fossil fuels for power! “Due to the continuing boom in solar energy, many power stations throughout the sector and across Europe are no longer profitable to operate,” RWE said in a statement. “During the first half of 2013, the conventional power generation division’s operating result fell by almost two-thirds. The massive reduction in power station margins is a major factor in this development.” On Tuesday, E.On said it had shut down or left idle 6,500 (Read more…) The sustainable energy market consistently needs to prove its worth despite the obvious benefits, whats worse is that the industry as a whole is up against the subsidized fossil fuel industry. Despite the artificially lowered fossil fuel prices sustainable energy solutions continue to prove their economic worth. Global solar and wind energy capacities continued to grow even though new investments in these energy sources declined during 2012. Global investment in solar energy in 2012 was $140.4 billion, an 11 percent decline from 2011, and wind investment was down 10 percent, to $80.3 billion.But due to lower costs (Read more…) Mongolia is entering the sustainable energy market and the country aims to export renewable energy to its neighbours. It’s great to see countries that are not as well-off as others build the needed infrastructure for a sustainable future. Mongolia is so windy and has such harsh winters, in fact, that the turbines at Salkhit were built specifically to be “Mongolia-proof” so they could survive the strong winds and winter freeze. Each blade is ~120 feet and the tower and blade combined are 384 ft. However, because Mongolia’s roads are still so bad, the turbines had to be transported directly over (Read more…) Filed under: art Tagged: Cat, pen and ink app, spirit, Tenuous, wind, wire 2012 was a very successful year for the young wind-power energy industry in the United States. Throughout last year over 6,700 were installed around the country with the industry benefiting overall from new investments into the sector. Let’s hope this is a sign of the future of what;s to come in sustainable energy in the world’s largest economy! Overall, America ended the year with 45,100 turbines, producing enough electricity to power around 15.2 million households. Wind power added 42% of all new capacity to the grid last year, beating other sources of energy generation. Rob Gramlich, AWEA’s Interim CEO . . . → Read More: Things Are Good: 2012 Was a Record Breaking Year for US Wind Industry Former US Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s recent resignation — his farewell letter is here — is no doubt celebrated in the fuel cell quarters as passionately (or more so) than it is mourned in the rest of cleantech. Early in his term, Chu infamously argued (infamously, at least, to fuel cell enthusiasts) that fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV’s) needed four miracles for commercial success, namely: most hydrogen comes from natural gas (so why not just use that as a fuel?) improvements in hydrogen storage were needed fuel cells needed to improve there was no distribution system in . . . → Read More: Eclectic Lip: Steven Chu’s “Time to Fix the Wiring” at four years 
 Algae, America, ARPA-E, australia, automotive fuel cell, cellulosic biomass, energy, environment, FCEV, fracking, fuel cell, fuel cell miracles, geothermal, Germany, global warming, hydrogen, intermittent, mckinsey, photovoltaics, politics, Renewables, renewables cost competitive cleantech clean energy, solar, solar cost, solar cost competitive, solar photovoltaics, solar PV, steven chu, technology, Technology Review, The Economy, time to fix the wiring, transistor, what matters, Wind, Wind energy Filed under: art, digital Tagged: Cat, cold, rain, weather, wind A recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in the USA has shown that in the country wind farms generate not just energy but 1,00 jobs at a ‘typical’ site. Other countries have found that incorporating renewable energy into their electricity grid can help generate power efficiently while helping to revitalize areas that have not found economic success in the modern world. A new 250-megawatt wind farm will create 1,079 jobs throughout the many steps of building that wind farm, according to the NRDC report “American Wind Farms: Breaking Down the Benefits from Planning to Production.” These . . . → Read More: Things Are Good: Typical Wind Farm Supports Nearly 1,100 Jobs shutterstock_87374705.jpg One of the environmental movement’s biggest accomplishments over the past decade has been convincing states to adopt so-called renewable portfolio standards (RPS). RPS require a state’s energy supply to diversify, gradually shifting away from fossil fuels and towards renewable sources like geothermal, wind and solar. At least 30 states now have these measures which set deadlines to ensure that a certain amount — sometimes as much as 40 percent — of energy consumed in the state comes from renewable sources. As climate change, air pollution and the broad-based political attacks on renewable sources of energy grow worse . . . → Read More: DeSmogBlog: Heartland Institute, ALEC and More Gearing Up to Undermine Renewable Energy With water wars becoming a concern for nations around the world a small French company has come up with a way to get water out of thin air. Well, humid air, and it’s for more than just providing peace it’s a way for many communities to get off the grid and become when more self-sufficient. “This technology could enable rural areas to become self-sufficient in terms of water supply,” says Thibault Janin, director of marketing at Eole Water. “As the design and capabilities develop, the next step will be to create turbines that can provide water for small cities or The Shetland Islands will be getting what is expected to be the most productive wind farm on the planet. Wind blows across the islands almost all the time thus producing a space friendly to wind turbine efficiency. The joint venture between energy giant SSE and Viking Energy Ltd, owned by the trust, will have 370MW capacity and is expected to generate enough energy for 175,000 homes – sixteen times the number of homes on Shetland. One small turbine on a hill north of Lerwick, called Betsy, already holds a world record for its efficiency, reaching 59% of its potential output, . . . → Read More: Things Are Good: New Windfarm for Shetland Islands to Power 175,000 Homes A simple addition to the standard wind turbine setup called a wind lens can double, or even triple, the power output. Professor Prof. Yuji Ohya of the Kyushu University research institute for applied mechanics (RIAM) has been working with a team to improve the efficiency of wind turbines. Combining an inlet shroud, a diffuser, and a brim into a wind lens, power output has been improved by a factor of 2 to 5 times in several experiments. Turbine noise is also decreased. Here’s more on the matter. Thanks Greg! Better pictures. Better white balance, though there’s just a bit too much colour in some of the white areas. But, I paint in the basement, and these are the first time I’ve seen them outside in proper light. If you’ve seen the landscape collages, the major forms are recycled from cropped clips used in some of those compositions. Filed under: art, painting Tagged: acrylic, art, landscapes, masonite, painting, panels, white, wind . . . → Read More: cartoon life: 8 Panels again I’ve been engaged in a protracted push, pull, following, yielding, gouging, scraping, sanding, layering since the last post and now these 8 panels are done. All are 24 by 38 inches acrylic on masonite. Filed under: cartoonist, painting Tagged: acrylic, art, landscape, masonite, painting, seascape, water, white, wind . . . → Read More: cartoon life: 8 white paintings Wind Concerns Ontario has successfully launched the latest province-wide organizing effort of 2011, this time with a strong election focus. Over the next forty or so days, Wind Concerns Ontario members in sixty seven ridings will be mobilized to actively work to defeat Liberal incumbents, and candidates in their respective ridings. I look forward to [...] . . . → Read More: John Laforet – President – Wind Concerns Ontario: “Wind Concerns Ontario’s Winds of Change Tour Launched in Owen Sound” In Brazil a recent energy auction has shown that wind power is cheaper than natural gas in the country, and also a better investment opportunity. The competitiveness of sustainable energy sources continues to impress everyone (even with the subsidized resource-extraction industries), it’s only a matter of time until other sustainable energy options get this cheap. They [...] . . . → Read More: Things Are Good: Brazil: Wind Power Now Cheaper Than Natural Gas I think these are as done as I can make them. Filed under: art, painting Tagged: acrylic, art, canvas, cloud, orange, painting, red, white, wind, yellow <br>I think the bottom two and the top left are done. Certainly better, more accurate colour, better detailed photos will be up when the things are done. Filed under: art, painting Tagged: art, cloud, collage, orange, painting, red, white, wind, yellow Filed under: art, painting Tagged: art, cloud, orange, rain, wind, yellow . . . → Read More: cartoon life: There. Fixed. A few more Wind in Clouds paintings up at my Etsy shop today. Filed under: art Tagged: clouds, paintings, wind Filed under: art Tagged: acrylic, canvas, clouds, collage, painting, wind . . . → Read More: cartoon life: Wind in clouds again |
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cartoon life: Six sixteen by twenty
The six paintings are done, except for the tedious last glaze layer and painting the edges. Filed under: art, comment, painting Tagged: acrylic, canvas, cloud, landscapes, orange, red, white, wind, yellow . . . → Read More: cartoon life: Six sixteen by twenty