World’s largest solar project planned in Sahara

If just 0.3% of the Saharan Desert was used for a concentrating solar plant, it would produce enough power to provide all of Europe with clean renewable energy. That is why 20 blue chip German companies are gathering in July 2009 to discuss plans and investments to create such a massive project. Both the meeting and project are being promoted by the Desertec Foundation, which is proposing to erect 100 GW of concentrating solar power plants throughout Northern Africa.

The red squares in the map to the right represent the land area necessary to meet the energy demand of the world, the EU and MENA in 2005. The last square represents the land necessary for the proposed project to generate 100 GW of concentrating solar power. The project being proposed by Desertec would not all be situated in one location, but scattered throughout politically stable countries. Taken as a whole, the project qualifies as the world’s largest solar installation – 80 times larger than the PG&E and BrightSource project planned for the Mojave Desert. The power generated would be transported over high-voltage DC lines across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, where it would supply 15% of the energy demand. The project is still 10-15 years from going online, but that’s why major players are getting started now.

Read more

Wine industry embraces sustainable development

Clean vineyards, ‘green’ wines and lighter bottles? Many in the global wine and spirits business believe their only chance of long-term survival lies with sustainable development.

“Within five years, there will be a global standard of sustainability and a level below which you cannot be,” said Robert Joseph, a London-based writer and wine producer. Joseph and his partners at Hugh, Kevin & Robert Wines, have launched a new line called ‘Greener Planet Sustainable’, which is a low carbon footprint wine. One of these, retailing at roughly $10 and packaged in a lighter plastic PET bottle, has been snapped up by importers for Norway and Holland.

Sustainable development, independent of organic or biodynamic production, was very prominent at the recent Bordeaux Vinexpo, the largest wine trade show in the world. Val d’Orieu, a wine cooperative whose members’ vineyards stretch over 9 000 hectares along the French Mediterranean, even rethought its stand at Vinexpo. The cooperative ordered an ecologically designed exhibit stand, including re-useable glass and wood panels, rented furniture, and eco-friendly paint. According to the stand creator, it was the first such order they had ever received.
Read more

Hydrogen car to be ‘open-source’

The manufacturer of a hydrogen car unveiled in London recently will make its designs available online so the cars can be built and improved locally.

The Riversimple car can go 80km/h and travel 322km per re-fuelling, with an efficiency equivalent to 127 kilometers per litre. The company hopes to have the vehicles in production by 2013. Next year, it aims to release 10 prototypes in a UK city which has yet to be confirmed. Riversimple has partnered with gas supply company BOC to install hydrogen stations for the cars in the city where the prototypes are launched.

The car is an amalgam of high-efficiency approaches in automotive design. Its four motors are powered by a fuel cell rated at just six kilowatts, in contrast to current designs that are all in excess of 85 kilowatts – required because the acceleration from a standing start requires a great deal of power.
Read more

Waste material becomes very efficient insulation

Your next refrigerator might be sheathed in renewable rice, if a team of students from the University of Michigan have anything to do with it. With just 12.5mm of rice husk ash they reckon they can achieve the equivalent of over 100mm of conventional petroleum-based insulation.

With claims that the 11 million fridges sold annually in the US could be made 50% more efficient, the judges of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Clean Energy Prize obviously saw the potential in such technology. Such that they awarded the students first prize, which came with a cheque for $200,000. That will now no doubt help them as they launch a start-up company, Husk Insulation, to commercialise their product.

Read more

Real-Life ‘Wall-E’ Recycling Robot Takes to the Streets of Italy

It may not be as tiny or nimble as Wall-E, but this real-life DustCart robot traversing the streets of Peccioli, Italy is just as cute. The robot, part of the $3.9 million DustBot research program, collects trash and measures atmospheric pollutants like sulphur oxide, benzene, ozone, and nitrogen oxide with its on-board sensors. The robot can even be summoned with a cell phone and can go door to door, identify residents with a personal ID number, and sort their trash into organic, recyclable, or waste!

Nimble enough to navigate where conventional gas-guzzling garbage trucks cannot, the electric DustCart robot aims to clean up a dirty industry. Once garbage has been classified, the DustCart whisks it away into its belly and takes it to a waste management site. The DustCart avoids obstacles during its travels with pre-loaded maps and sensors.
The pear-shaped robot is still in the prototype stages since its response time is still too slow for it to work on crowded streets and robots aren’t legally allowed to roam around without human guidance in Peccioli. But who knows — someday soon you may see a friendly green robot zipping down your street to save the day.

Original article: Ariel Schwartz. July 9, 2009. Inhabitat. Read more…

Design inspired by nature – Biomimicry talks

Janine Benyus, the world renowned author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and the Chair of the Biomimicry Institute, will be giving public lectures in Cape Town and Johannesburg on 27 August and 9 September respectively. Cindy Gilbert the Director of Education at Biomimicry Institute will also give a lecture in Stellenbosch on 27 August.

	CAPE TOWN LECTURE	STELLENBOSCH LECTURE	JOHANNESBURG LECTURE
DATE:	27 August 2009, 17:30	27 August 2009, 17:30	9 September 2009, 17:30
VENUE:	Townhouse Hotel, 60 Corporation Street	Con de Villiers Hall (room A201), JC Smuts Building, Merriman Avenue	Hyatt Regency Hotel, 191 Oxford Road, Rosebank
COST:*	R228	Free	R228

* Student fee = R50

To book for any of these events please contact Magda de Kok on 021 469 4765 or magda.dekok@cpsl.cam.ac.uk

Biomimicry is the process of learning from and then emulating Nature’s genius to create more sustainable designs. It’s studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell or an electric eel to make a better battery.

“Biomimicry introduces an era based not on what we can extract from the natural world, but what we can learn from it.” – Janine Benyus

Why emulate nature?
Because organisms and ecosystems face the same challenges that we humans do, but they meet those challenges sustainably. More than 30 million species, represent a deep reservoir of wisdom – blueprints, recipes and strategies for how to live gracefuly in place, in ways that create conditions conducive to life.

Here is a video of a talk Janine gave at the 2005 TED conference