WorldWater calls its line of solar generators Mobile Max, and this week the Clinton Global Initiative recognized ACS and WorldWater for the contribution of Mobile MaxPure units to the Punjab and Khyber regions of Pakistan. The commitment of four years is intended to provide long term infrastructure improvements through solar energy, as well to assist in recovery efforts. The MaxPure can process seawater as well as fresh or brackish water, with a maximum capacity of 30,000 gallons daily. As for portability, the units are designed to pack into seven-foot cubes that can be airlifted where needed, in addition to being hauled over land or water.
The U.S. Navy foresees an increasing demand for its disaster relief services, directly as a result of climate change and potentially as a result of conflicts related to climate change. It has been field-testing a high efficiency portable desalination unit that runs on conventional fuel, but could be adapted for solar energy. Not to be outdone, the U.S. Air Force has commissioned a mobile solar energy generator that fits into a standard shipping container, the Marines are using suitcase-sized portable solar arrays, and the Army has developed flexible solar panels in a backpack, which can be used to charge batteries in the field. These devices were developed for military use but also have potential for supplying emission-free energy to remote areas in disaster relief, providing the twin benefits of cheap, renewable energy while freeing transportation resources from the burden of conventional fuel supply.
Image (altered): Flood in Pakistan by DVIDSHUB on flickrcom.
"A new $2.4 million biogas and energy efficiency project at a sewage treatment plant in Washington State will capture methane gas from the treatment process and recycle it as fuel to run equipment at the plant, saving the sewage agency more than $228,000 yearly in utility costs. That's a pretty decent payback, especially since $1.7 million of the total was chipped in by Puget Sound Energy, the local utility company. Along with the efficiency upgrade, the biogas project will greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the treatment plant and save about 2.8 million kilowatt hours yearly (enough to power about 210 homes), relieving pressure on the local grid and helping to obviate the need for new fossil fuel burning power plants in the region.
The Toronto Zoo, the largest zoo in Canada and third-largest in the world, put out a request for proposals yesterday to build a large anaerobic digestion facility that will convert manure from elephants, giraffes and hundreds of other animals under its care into biogas. The plan is to burn the biogas to generate electricity — up to 5 megawatts — and use the waste heat from both the digester and the generation plant to heat zoo exhibits (offsetting more than $1 million of natural gas used by the zoo). This is just the latest biogas project to emerge in Toronto, which also plans to take methane from a large landfill, a major wastewater treatment plant, and two organic waste processing facilities to generate electricity, or alternatively, to fuel city transportation fleets. In all, biogas projects recently approved by the Ontario Power Authority under the province's feed-in-tariff program, as well as projects in the pipeline, total well over 100 megawatts.
Source: Toronto Star
We have huge amounts of animal sewage in third world countries. It is either thrown away, or used as a burning fuel (for cooking and heating).
The potential for creating energy from these sustainable sources is huge, let's hope the business model is good enough for entrepreneurs to push it through quickly.
And why not. The North African desert kingdom gets over 3,000 yearly hours of solid reliable sun power – every year. Nine centuries of sun have beaten down on the Kingdom of Morocco since this gate was built. Morocco will invest $9 billion upfront to build 2 Gigawatts of solar power, distributed between 5 solar power plants, by 2020. The 2 GW (2,000 Megawatts) is enough to supply 40% of the nation's electricity to 32 million souls, who apparently have fairly modest energy needs.
