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One team will be named the “winner” at the Solar Decathlon.  The first two times, the University of Colorado team has claimed the honors.  At the moment, this favorite is far behind and the odds aren’t looking so hot that they will get a hat trip.  Yet … yet … this helps highlight how every single one of the 20 teams has winning concepts, winning innovations, and winning technologies in their entries.

The Colorado entry is named CORE, as the house designed is built around modular core elements (with heating, cooling, water, electrical systems) around which the rest of the house can be built.  And, the Colorado team has done a magnificent job of incorporating the elements into the design, with radiant tubing providing a partial screening of the kitchen in a functional decorative element. 

But, onto making ice from the sun.  This is somewhat of a misnomer  …. somewhat. 

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Over at EuroTribune, Starvid has a discussion of Jim Buckbee, the retired CEO’s recent OPED re energy issues. 

Some key points:

Oil Sands: 

The oil sands are flavour of the month and their story is certainly beguiling. But I think the reality is that developing the oil sands is going to be difficult. For example, the thermal processes [the heating of the bitumen to allow it to be pumped to the surface] that work in the laboratory don’t always work in real life. There are going to be cost and execution difficulties in the oil sands. The oil sands are not just a big sand box with uniform oil-reserve quality throughout.

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Well, the Decathlon is underway, with 20 innovative teams fighting for victory as the best solar home to grace the Mall in Washington, DC.  Today, the first event was judged.  The Germans (Darmstadt) are leading the pack, with 209.206 points.  Far, far behind them, in second place, the University of Maryland with 208.872 points.  (e.g., 0.334 points separation out of a 1000 point contest).  The Secretary of Energy visited a number of homes today, including that leading Darmstadt house.

So far, I’ve had the chance to visit eight of the houses and speak with team members from four others.

Okay, let’s make this clear, this is EcoGeek heaven.  Extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic, innovative people from universities around the world seeking to lay a path for a more sustainable future. 

And, well, from new gadgets to applications of well known concepts, every house has something to excite EcoGeek readers. 

And, well, we plan to share a few of those that got our attention with our fellow EcoGeeks.

First out of the gate, the University of Maryland’s Leaf House, in that distant second place (got it, that is a joke).  First off, let me tell you that this is a magnificent home — wherever they end up in the actual competition, tip of the hat to a place that I would love to call my own.  Beautiful, elegant, well-conceived, and highly energy efficient.  But, well, one of the most striking elements of the house is now a decorative element that could become a mass market item in the years to come: 

The Liquid Desiccant Waterfall.

The Washington, DC, area is extremely humid in summer. Combined with the heat, Washingtonians often live from air conditioned space to air conditioned space for weeks at a time.  And, dehumidification of this space eats up much of the electrical cooling load — roughly about 30 percent. And, well, air conditioners are not necessarily the most efficient dehumidifiers.

The LEAFHouse team is using a Desiccant System, which has been applied to large structures but is not a player in the home market.  The basic approach:  use a desiccant (LEAFHouse: road salt, calcium chloride) to absorb water from the air and, when it is saturated, heat the water (with solar tubes) outside the building to evaporate out liquid to concentrate the desiccant again.  Layman’s explanation:  the desiccant is like a sponge, absorbing water, when it has too much water, it is shunted out of the building to be squeezed, to go back in and absorb some more water.

Inside the house, this looks like a waterfall in plexiglass.  Thus, not only would it save on energy use, it also would calm residents. (Think of all those ‘waterfalls’ on sale at your local housing goods store.)

And, well, there are next steps. In winter, the process could be reversed to humify the air.  And, in summer, the Liquid Desiccant Waterfall could contribute to cooling (the water absorbing some heat) and in winter heating (evaporating from solar warmed water).

Now, to make it in the mass market, after they’ve worked through all the kinks, they will need a better name than Liquid Desiccant Waterfall to capture market share. But, for that, they might prefer someone from Madison Avenue over an EcoGeek.

In a gala session at the National Building Museum, Virginia Tech and partners announced the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Greater Washington.  

The goal is to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 to 50% from existing buildings”, using financing for energy efficiency and have the energy efficiency savings provide more than enough money to pay back the loan.
Sound familiar to anyone?  (Reminder:  Energize America’s Energy Smart Communities Act.)

This is a great initiative.  The type of project that can be replicated across the country and pushed aggressively to significantly cut existing buildings’ energy use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

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The world we inhabit is a beautiful place.  And, there are tremendous things that are improving with, virtually every minute such as, well, our ability to communicate via tubes.  

Yet …

We live in a troubled world.  From wars, to disease, to economic inequalities, to … There are many areas where, if we act right, tomorrow could be better than today.

Yet, humanity’s very future, the ability to make that choice is at risk, our very own actions and pursuit of economic strength are imperiling the ability to make those choices.

Global Warming … Peak Oil … These fundamental issues intertwine to threaten the opportunity to pursue and achieve a progressive vision for tomorrow.  Facing these must, MUST be core to progressive politics or, well, every other progressive cause is doomed to failure.

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Last week, Washington Post subscribers awoke to an Outlook section dominated by a disingenuous article by Bjorn Lomborg.  This morning, the front-page of this influential opinion section is graced with a truthiness piece on urban heat islands:  Hot World? Blame Cities.

The article, basically, asserts that suburbia is getting unfairly singled out re Global Warming as, due to the Urban Heat Island effect, one can open one’s windows in suburbia for cooling more easily than in a city.  And, that our focus should be on making sprawl more environmentally friendly, not on reducing sprawl.

How many errors and omissions can we count in this article?  The list is, well, perhaps endless.

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• Last week, Washington Post subscribers awoke to an Outlook section dominated by a disingenuous article by Bjorn Lomborg.  This morning, the front-page of this influential opinion section is graced with a truthiness piece on urban heat islands:  Hot World? Blame Cities.

The article, basically, asserts that suburbia is getting unfairly singled out re Global Warming as, due to the Urban Heat Island effect, one can open one’s windows in suburbia for cooling more easily than in a city.  And, that our focus should be on making sprawl more environmentally friendly, not on reducing sprawl. 

How many errors and omissions can we count in this article?  The list is, well, perhaps endless. [Read more →]

Well, just by the picture, I thought it was a stylish way to cool myself at the old ball game. Instead, Hymini is a way to power up my Blackberry when riding my bike or otherwise off-grid.

The Hymini is micro-wind universal charger/adapter for recharging ‘digital gadgets’. The Hymini stores the power collected, which can also be from a wall plug or solar power.

And, well, you can make it work when skiing, biking, sailing, running, or simply sitting enjoying an evening breeze.

Cool, truly Energy Cool.

Hat tip to .

The multi-million dollar hydrogen concept cars getting, well, a little boring to me. Wonderful EcoGeek material but, well, not something I expect to be a common part of the driving scene within my lifetime (and I don’t plan on dying tomorrow).

The Ford Airstream, however, goes beyond hydrogen to some interesting features:

Hat to DSnodgrass at Celsias and to Hydrogen Cars.

• HySeries Drive plug-in hybrid.  Electricity only for 25 miles (with a 336-volt lithium-ion battery pack).
• Serial hybrid, with the fuel cell (or think biofuel system) recharging the battery pack, not directly driving the wheels.
• A ‘floating’ instrument panel, with touch-sensitive driving controls;  
• Innovative interior design, with swivel front seats, a ‘lounge’-like back seat (with a 360-degree entertainment screen which even has lava lamp settings), and a passenger screen (for watching DVDs or blogging); and,
• Asymmetrical doors for hatchback.

While not ready to buy into hydrogen, a serial plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) would have me in line at the dealer (ready to take out, for the first time ever, a loan to buy a car).  And, well, the innovative interior and door design features definitely catch my eye, even if the 360-degree screen seems, well, a little overboard for that back seat.  It would, however, give an entirely new definition to automobiles and theater, no longer drive-in theater, but surround sound/surround vision driving theater.

Wow.

The news is in.

What an absolutely deserved and merited Nobel Peace Prize.

And, that Peace Prize is part of something, a discussion that has not stopped, that has not “succeeded”, but must maintain and continue momentum to help affect change to move us on a path toward a Prosperous, Climate Friendly Society.

Part of that path, part of that discussion is via
The Climate Project.

You want to see An Inconvenient Truth briefing in person?  Well, the opportunity is just a few computer clicks away. The Climate Project website has a registration path for scheduling a briefing.

I — and 1000+ of my fellow TCP trainees — are waiting at the other end.

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