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- wcbzero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/top-5-weirdest-ways-to-power-your-home/
1. POO POWER
Yes, we’re serious. Poop produces methane, which is not only a greenhouse gas, but can be harnessed and used for viable renewable energy. While the technology and processes are still being refined, it’s not unlikely that cow manure will be the new solar panel in the coming years. Dogs and even human waste might eventually join the poo parade as well.
turning sound into electricity, university of utah, sound power, heat to sound to electricity, heat to electricity, Orest Symko, physics, Bonnie McLaughlin, Nick Webb, Brenna Gillman, Ivan Rodriguez, Myra Flitcroft, protorype, energy, alternative power
2. SOUND ENERGY
While there isn’t a residential prototype for this technology built yet, the idea that soundwaves could be transformed into usable energy is not only promising, but mind-blowing. University of Utah Physicist Orest Symko and his students have developed a way to turn excess heat into sound and finally into electricity, and we can’t wait to see this technology applied to home energy.
Sustainable Dance Club in Rotterdam, Döll, The Critical Mass
3. HUMAN MOTION
We’ve seen this technology used in the Sustainable Dance Club as well as in Hong Kong’s human-powered gyms, and the principle could easily be applied to residences as well. When we humans walk, dance, work out, run, move, we create energy. Through new technology, this energy can be harnessed into usable energy to cycle back into our buildings, dance clubs, gyms, and homes. Its only a matter of time before the Sustainable Dance Club concept comes makes inroads into the home.
Wind Shaped Pavillion Main
4. WIND-KINETICS
Going way beyond a simple wind turbine, Michael Jantzen’s Wind Shaped Pavilion turns architecture into renewable energy source. The kinetic wind house is a large fabric structure that rotates in segments around a central support frame, generating enough electricity as it moves to light the pavilion at night. This concept takes wind power to a whole new level.
spinach, spinach-power, spinach power, electricity, solar panels, soy based, residence, house, mit, cradle to cradle, Matthew Coates, Tim Meldrum, winner
5. SPINACH (i.e photosynthesis)
Not just full of nutrients for your body, spinach also has the potential to nourish your house. The winning entry from the Cradle to Cradle House competition proposed an amazing solar energy harvesting system based on photosynthesis, using a solar cell system whose main component for generating electricity is a protein called Photosystem I, which is derived from spinach. - BESTenemy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5 The problem is that there's no equivalent substitute for oil. There are many fractional substitutes, the sum of which is insufficient to meet the same kind of exponentially growing thirst for energy.
Oil coal and gas are easy. Trying to get the alternatives going is difficult. It's like trading in one full-time job for 10 part-time jobs for half the total pay.
The good thing, however, is that once we develop multiple ways of extracting energy, we won't have to rely on any specific one. We'll be better prepared for fluctuations.
Once again, it takes a hell of a lot of effort to match the production capacities of existing power plants, assuming fossil fuels are gone. Take a fraction of that to reduce the needs and become better energy users. The only issue is psychological - we don't want to adapt.
We're people, and we're used to curbing the environment to fit our needs. Not other way around. We've been getting an easy right in the last 100 years, but we might have to step back and re-evaluate our appetites.
Matching the demand only means promoting its growth. We won't start using less for as long as there's more. We won't stop eating until there's not enough to eat. We won't stop reproducing, until there's barely enough land to sustain the numbers. That is what we do, just like any other species on this planet. We are dumb animals, when it comes to being efficient. We talk a lot, but we do very little. - Caruthers, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Poo power with an advertisement for a bidet on the page...
- JaWright, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4You could start by powering your web site
- Ramble, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5There won't be any electrolysis method that can create enough hydrogen to offset the power used to make it.
- Snoopy7176, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6I want to use Al Gore's hot air to push a turbine. Of course, it wouldn't be clean or cheap!!
- leth4l, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Wasn't there a guest on "Dirty Jobs" that was using the methane from his cow maneure to heat his home? While I think that is a great idea, the smell would really tip the scale in the other direction.
- Exekutor, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4*****, enjoy my block.
- robo523, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2methane when burned creates carbon dioxide furthering the green house gas problem, so it really isnt a great solution, sorry to poo poo on the poo power
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_Fast_Reactor
It can use its own waste, current stockpiles of nuclear waste and even decommissioned nuclear weapons as fuel. - atom14x7, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Mirror: http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:tpWX9UfM58EJ:www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/top-5-weirdest-ways-to-power-your-home/+http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/top-5-weirdest-ways-to-power-your-home/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Al Gore is a fat piece of ***** and we should burn him for fuel
- GenesisVLight, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Nuclear power would be great if we could somehow figure out that whole toxic waste problem. Yeah I suppose toxic waste is somewhat of a nasty side affect.
- TehSwat, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Hehe Al-Gore
"I swear to god, Manbear pig is real!" - DryLand, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Seems like thermal transfer (aka Sterling engine) from Attic to open pool should to work fairly well.
My attic during during the day most of the year here in Florida is well over 115 F. - parasitewasp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Does anyone remember a shuttle project where a rope, with wire embedded into it, was dragged along the upper atmosphere to generate power. Just intresting for now.
- wpi97, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"When we humans walk, dance, work out, run, move, we create energy."
Go figure! And all this time I thought that there was a conservation law that said that energy can neither be created nor destroyed... - inurb, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1biodiesel is the answer.
- wpi97, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"just burn hydrogen... no combining required."
you've got to be kidding! - parasitewasp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I don't know why this post was dugg-down...it's a great idea. If every single family home could mount solar panels on the roof and use the heat differences in the attic and say basement or pool (sterling engine) and work harder to cut down on energy usage, that would create a lot of energy. Maybe if you had a good sized yard a windmill....think about it.
- eclectro, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Not dugg as none of them is stuff you can buy off the shelf (with the exception of methane). They all seem to be future concepts and not proven for cost/efficiency.
- parasitewasp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Bio-diesel made from algae
- Azuroth, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2A quick look at the chemical reaction should explain why you will never get enough energy from burning hydrogen to cover electrolysis.
Electrolysis: 2(H20) + energy -> 2(H2) + O2
Combustion of hydrogen: 2(H2) + O2 -> 2(H20) + energy
If the above process produced a net gain of energy, you would be creating energy, and have perpetual motion. - BESTenemy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1There are 2 reasons why we're not ejecting nuclear waste into space.
The true reason is that it's expensive to launch rockets, especially if they have to carry a well-shielded load of radioactive material. It's a mission "after the fact" the waste had been produced. Energy producers are like any other businessmen. If they can do it cheaper, they will. Keeping the junk here, buried costs less, that's why it is here.
Now the excuse that is actually being used to justify the inner motives is that no rocket is perfect. An explosion during liftoff has the potential of creating an immense environmental disaster. A rocket with a chamber capable of withstanding an explosion and crash is possible to construct, but once again, that goes back to the previous paragraph - it's expensive, and people are in the business to make money, not waste it, worrying about the environment.
They don't care. Nobody cares. In the world where money rules, the only reason we have nuclear power plants is that same people couldn't build a coal power plant at the very same spot. If it was possible - they would, but got stuck with enriched uranium instead.
Money's the first and the last word in every decision made. Whenever good comes out of something, it's by coincidence. Every problem has a reason and an excuse. With nuclear waste disposal, money's the reason environment is the excuse. - stklaw, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1algae FTW
- NikoKun, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Why would you be recombining hydrogen and oxygen to make water again? that would waste energy... just burn hydrogen... no combining required. O_o
- tsmithkc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The carbon dioxide released from burning cow manure methane was originally in the grass the cows ate, rather than being fossilized in the ground. When burning it, you're just putting CO2 back into the atmosphere that originally came from there.
- exoendo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Number 6) Burning Dead Bodies
O_O - razrielle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1How many pageveiws?
- theMurdocVolta, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Should we all be proud of you for doing that?
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Wrong. CO is what's causing the global warming problem. Not CO2. Besides, plants and trees breathe in CO2 and convert it to O2 for humans to breathe. Burning the methane is Carbon Neutral.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Build another space elevator. One for outgoing only, and just purge it all out into space.
- ninlar, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Living in Arizona, I would like to see the heat to sound idea take off. We have plenty of that.
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Build another space elevator. One for outgoing only, and just purge it all out into space.
- KibibyteBrain, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3Gore in giant hamster wheet is my preference.
- DryLand, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0And what does methane turn into when it's not burned?
Methane breakdown is a globally important process because "it keeps massive quantities of methane--a potent greenhouse gas--from reaching the overlying atmosphere. - surrealappeal, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0I'd love to digg this..if only the page would load; they must have run out of poo.
- mudimba, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0The hazardous parts of nuclear waste mostly have a very short lifespan. The technology to transmutate the really long-lived hazardous waste has existed for quite some time. This is an example of the research that has gone into it:
http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/pa/science21/ATW.html - KibibyteBrain, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Yeah, well, Jesus dies in the end of the only storybook any kid should be allowed to read in our great "Christian Nation".
But seriously, its of note that Harry Potter spoiler spreaders actually have probably sided the whole world against them. Harry Potter fans of course, and those people who don't like Harry Potter for bringing him up. Talk about picking your battles. - Markpdotcom, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Wheet? Wheat? Oh Wheel... riiiiight! Cos the L and T are SOOOOOO close to each other on the keyboard! ;)
- mikenolpdx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0http://inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/sustainableclub2.jpg
I think I was at that party. - LaurenStu, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0this is great! now you all should go to earthlab.com where you find out your personal daily impact (carbon footprint in scientific terms) and its gives you a lot of ways to make your life more green-friendly. also, have you guys heard of ecorazzi.com? I'm obsessed with celeb blogs, and this site is the "latest in green gossip". Hilarious!
- oana77, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Poop power is very interesting
Oana,
http://benvarim.blogspot.com/ - Aereo, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2Every night when I come home from work, I simply flex my right arm near the circuit breaker.
- blackknight2010, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Gache: http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:tpWX9UfM58EJ:www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/top-5-weirdest-ways-to-power-your-home/+http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/16/top-5-weirdest-ways-to-power-your-home/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a
- NCSUspoon, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1What ever happened to Buzz Lightyear's "Crstalic fusion"?
- hasslinthehoff, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Just don't kiss your bicep near the circuit breaker... that would probably burn out all the wiring in your house...
- jenp, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0catching on like peekamo isnt it???
- NikoKun, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1Why not? I think hydrogen gives off enough energy when burned to be use for electrolysis... I prefer Stanley Meyers technique for splitting water.
http://waterpoweredcar.com/stanmeyer.html - roseman5285, on 10/11/2007, -3/+170 diggs and its down? :'(
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