Crave

Sail power is back.

The MV Beluga SkySails, a cargo ship rigged up with a billowing 160-meter sail from SkySails, used approximately 20 percent less fuel than it would have without the sail during a two-month voyage. Put another way, that's 2.5 tons of fuel, or $1,000 a day, in operating costs. Beluga Shipping ultimately hopes to save $2,000 a day with the technology.

The ship left Bremen, Germany, on the 22nd of January, sailed to Venezuela, and then headed toward the Norwegian port of Mo-I-Rana, docking on March 13. In all, the ship sailed 11,952 nautical miles. The sail was up, depending on the winds, from between 5 minutes and 8 hours a day.

Yo ho ho. Wind power at work.

(Credit: SkySails)

In the picture, look in the sky past the end of the ship. That's the sail up there. The sail is attached to a tether that runs 100 to 300 meters long. This is an actual shot from the ship--until now, the company has had to use artists' renderings.

The company says that the sail, by their calculation, could cut fuel consumption by 10 to 35 percent on ocean voyages, depending on the conditions, the size of the ship, and other factors. More testing will be conducted this year. SkySails will double the size of the sails and attach them to larger, heavier ships. A big question will be how well the economics--buying a sail versus using diesel--work.

Other companies working on reducing emissions and fuel consumptions on ships include Solar Sailor, which has created sails with integrated solar panels. A ferry with the sails already prowls Sydney Harbor. San Francisco may get one in 2009.

An artist's rendering of the company's wave system

(Credit: Orecon)

Right now, wave power is in the early experimental stages, but venture capitalists are lining up to be on the ground floor.

Orecon has lined up $24 million in funding from Advent Ventures, Venrock, Wellington Partners and Northzone Ventures to build a full scale prototype of its wave power machine and, if the results are positive, move toward commercial deployment.

The U.K.-based Orecon has devised a large-scale buoy for harvesting power from waves. In a nutshell, waves striking the device create pressure in a chamber, which is used to turn a turbine and create electricity. A single device will be capable of producing up to 1.5 megawatts of power. Orecon's system in part is based around the engineering devised to build offshore oil rigs. The system will produce power for a minimum of 25 years, the company says.

That's similar to the buoy being built by Ireland's WaveBob. WaveBob has a 1/4 scale prototype in the waters off Galway now and hopes to insert a full-scale device, which will produce over one megawatt of power, in the water in the next few years.

Most wave systems produce far less power--maybe 250 kilowatts. Although smaller devices are cheaper to make, larger devices have certain advantages. For one thing, because they are large, they can survive rugged seas better. Each device also produces more power, which means fewer devices and potentially less maintenance.

Both the UK and Ireland want to build local wave industries and harvest energy from the sea. Both countries bear the brunt of strong waves that cross the Atlantic. WaveBob CEO Andrew Parish also pointed out in a recent interview that this section of the Atlantic is awash in maritime engineering know-how.

Still, wave energy, like tidal energy, remains mostly in the potential stage because of the environmental challenges and the costs. Over the next two to three years, expect to see larger prototypes and more testing. Commercially produced wave power may begin to start crossing the grid sometime between 2010 and 2015.

It is interesting to see Venrock in the deal. The firm mostly concentrates on more exotic technologies that could go commercial. Recently, it has put money into fusion and clean diesel.

Making champagne is by no means carbon neutral, as tree-hugging teetotalers might like to note. Carbon dioxide causes the bubbles, after all.

To be exact, champagne makers have determined that making each bottle of bubbly causes the release of 200 grams of carbon dioxide.

Cheers to carbon dioxide. More is involved in every bottle of bubbly than in other wines.

(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET)

Some champagne makers want to shrink emissions by 25 percent within 12 years and up to 75 percent by 2050. They announced the goals Tuesday at the Bordeaux Carbon Initiative, one of many recent events by vintners seeking to green their craft.

The figures do not include all sparkling wine, such as Spanish cava, made outside the Champagne region of France. The methode champenoise was born in Champagne, and only its sparkling wine can claim on the label to be true champagne.

The largest portion of that local industry's carbon emissions--39 percent--comes from bottling and packaging, with another 24 percent released in the process of making the wine, according to the champagne industry. And transportation of wine and workers makes up 13 percent, use of equipment comprise 11 percent, and products used in cellars and vines contribute another 8 percent of emissions.

The Champagne region of France releases 197,000 tons of CO2 each year--about the same as an average British city, according to Decanter Magazine.

Winemakers in Bordeaux, France, meanwhile are trying to tally the greenhouse gas emissions of grape growing, cultivating, packing, and shipping every type of wine. One Bordeaux winemaking family is harvesting sunflowers to make biofuel to power its tractors, according to the AFP.

In sunny California, winemakers are also pushing to reduce their carbon emissions. Last year Shafer Vineyards became the first to switch fully to solar power in Napa and Sonoma counties, where organic and biodynamic wine cultivation have been popular for decades. However, many oenephiles might point out that viticulture and viniculture around the world have been clean, green, and organic for centuries, if not millennia.

Sadly, my colleagues in Barcelona for the GSMA Mobile World Congress last week didn't learn more on the subject by catching the International Climate Change and Wine conference, where Al Gore keynoted.

Winemakers received access to their first tailor-made carbon footprint calculator in December.

Next-generation Web technologies are also enabling wine lovers to assemble virtual cellars and establish new communities. Web 2.0 tools for wine consumers include Snooth, Vinfolio, Bottletalk and Cork'd.

There is a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead, which was created by the Hoover Dam and the Colorado River, will go dry by 2021 because of escalating human demand and climate change, according to a study by Tim Barnett and David Pierce of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California at San Diego.

Lake Mead straddles the Arizona-Nevada border, and Lake Powell is on the Arizona-Utah border. Aqueducts carry water from the system to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the Southwest.

The old high water line is at the top of the white band. This was taken two weeks ago.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)

By 2017, there is a 50 percent chance that the reservoir could drop so low that Hoover Dam could no longer produce hydroelectric power. Water conservation and mitigation technologies and policies thus need to be implemented now, the study stated.

The disappearance of the manmade lake would create a tidal wave of ill effects for the southwestern U.S. The lake provides water for large cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as for several agricultural interests. The power also keeps on the lights in that region of the country. Imagine Los Angeles on a summer day with sporadic air conditioning and only a trickle of water coming out of the faucet. Then imagine that goes for a week.

"We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us," Barnett said in a statement. "Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest."

"Today, we are at or beyond the sustainable limit of the Colorado system," he added.

The level of the lake has been dropping for years. In the photo below, the white band marks the difference between the old high water level and the current one. It was taken two weeks ago. Barnett and Pierce estimated that there is a 10 percent chance that the lake could go dry as early as 2014. The full report will be published in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

Barnett and Pierce examined annual river flow averages for the past 100 years, evaporation rates, climate predictions, water allocation schedules, past water demand, and future projections, among other factors. Water allocation from the dam has been a political flash point for California, Nevada, and Arizona for years.

And the estimate is conservative, the scientists state. The study goes on the assumption that human-induced climate change factors only began in 2007.

Currently, the Colorado River system, which includes Lake Mead and nearby Lake Powell, is running a deficit of 1 million acre feet of water per year. An acre foot of water is the amount of water that it would take to cover an acre of land with a foot of water. It is enough water for 8 million people.

Other studies have forecast reductions of between 10 percent and 30 percent over the next 30 to 50 years in the Colorado River system. Such a decline could affect the water supply of between 12 million and 36 million people.

Venture capitalists, scientists, and others have said water will likely be one of the first manifestations of problems associated with climate change. China and Australia have already experienced droughts and agricultural problems. Several companies specializing in water management, purification, and desalination have received venture capital investments in recent years. Some companies to keep your eye on include NanoH20 (a desalination company), Vidler Water (a water rights broker) and Altela (artificial rain. No kidding.)

In some places, conservation strategies have been implemented. In Singapore, a small percentage of the country's water comes from the NEWater program, which takes human sewage water and makes it drinkable again. In Las Vegas, the water district offers residents money to remove lawns and replace them with desert landscaping. Still, implementing these technologies has moved slow in most places in the world.

Even if mitigation factors are put in place, the study warned that may not be enough to insulate the Southwest from problems associated with droughts.

Incandescent bulbs are getting it from all sides these days.

Taiwan may soon join the list of national and state governments to impose regulations that lead to the demise of traditional incandescent bulbs. Neal Hunter, CEO of LED Lighting Fixtures (LLF), says there are rumors in the lighting world that Taiwan will pass legislation that would phase out incandescents by 2011 or 2012. Sporadic reports in Taiwanese papers have come out saying that the Ministry of Economic Affairs wants to get rid of incandescents too.

Taiwan will also promote LEDs as the light source of choice for the future, he added during a presentation at the ThinkEquity ThinkGreen conference.

While Hunter said he hasn't been able to confirm the status of any bills, it makes sense. Incandescents consume quite a bit of energy. Close to 95 percent of the power gets converted into heat, rather than light. Taiwan, like other Asian nations, is struggling with ways to get consumers to cut down on electrical consumption. LEDs and compact fluorescent bulbs use considerably less energy and last longer, although they cost more.

Taiwan also plays a key role in the LED market. LEDs are chips, after all, and Taiwan remains one of the chief centers of semiconductor design and manufacturing. Supporting LEDs would be another of the country's job and export creation measures.

LLF, by the way, is a company worth keeping an eye on. It makes light fixtures based around LEDs. It has installed LED lights at McDonald's, Denny's, Starbucks, Marriott, Best Western, and Microsoft.

At $75, LED light fixtures cost more than standard light figures, but they use a lot less power. LLF just came out with a fixture that puts out the same amount of light a 65 incandescent bulb would, but it only uses 5.8 watts.

"Last year the best we could do was 11 watts," he said.

The quality of light is getting better, as well. "The current perception is a bunch of little lights shining through a fixture," he said. "The only way to make it (commercially) is so that people don't know the difference."

To take the sting out of the cost of the fixtures, utilities have begun to issue rebates to customers to encourage them to buy LED lamps. One is offering commercial building owners a little over $22 for each LED lamp they install. LLF also has LED lamps for the residential market, but the market will take a little longer to take off.

The company is also staffed and run by LED veterans. Hunter himself used to be the CEO of Cree, a large LED manufacturer.

The average person has probably never heard of Miles electric cars. The fledgling Miles Automotive Group, originally based in Malibu and now located in a renovated building at the Santa Monica airport in Southern California, currently makes small, low-speed electric vehicles used primarily by universities, government and the military.

Miles ZX40 low-speed car

(Credit: Miles Automotive Group)

But as it gears up to launch its first freeway-speed consumer car, Miles is hoping to raise its profile by urging college students to create and upload their own videos about how electric cars can help clean up the environment. Miles will post the videos on YouTube and will award each of the five students with the most traffic a $1,000 scholarship and a Miles electric car for their school. (Click here to see more photos of Miles' electric cars.)

The contest Web site, No Gas Required, attempts to educate students about global warming and includes links to green blogs, a glossary of terms, and information on how to contact government representatives.

Miles claims that "based on typical fleet driving," a university can eliminate about 12,000 pounds of carbon emissions a year for each gas-powered vehicle it replaces with an all-electric car or truck. Of course, the true environmental impact of driving an electric car shouldn't be measured solely by the absence of a tailpipe. How the electricity is generated also helps to determine just how eco-friendly we're being. How and where the cars are made, along with the battery material and life, are other considerations.

Miles plans on launching its midsize sedan, the Miles XS500, sometime in 2008.

Perpetual Water started with a ban on watering lawns.

In Australia, which is suffering through years of drought, a local government agency passed a law to make it illegal to water your lawn in the city of Canberra, said Ralph Petroff, a director for the company's U.S. operations. People began to just take their old bathwater out and dump it on their lawn.

Pass water through here

(Credit: Perpetual Water)

In response, Perpetual Water essentially created devices that automated the process and cleaned the water at the same time. The water goes in, gets stripped of biologically active agents and solids, and then gets sent to the sprinkler system.

The system is now coming to the U.S. The GardenAngel, which costs $950, takes water from the washing machine and puts it on the lawn. The more expensive Perpetual Water Home ($4,500) takes water from the showers, sinks and other devices too. It can process up to 660 liters a day. That's a picture of the Perpetual Water Home at right.

The company is currently setting up a trial with the Water District of Southern California. Gray water is unprocessed water that comes from showers and relatively clean devices. It does not include water from toilets or kitchen sinks. Gray water, if processed properly, is pretty safe. A lot of the golf courses in Arizona and Dubai rely on it.

On other water fronts, WaterSaver Technologies is marketing the Aqus. It takes sink water and puts it directly into the toilet. You don't need drinking water to refill your toilet after all. The system can save 10 to 20 gallons a day, according to the company.

Fresh water is going to be one of the first casualties of global warming, according to many experts. Many countries have begun to invest more heavily in desalination sites, purification technologies, and devices that can help use water more efficiently.

Finavera Renewables, the Canadian company that wants to harness wind and wave power, has successfully deployed a prototype of its AquaBuoy 2.0 two and a half miles off the coast of Oregon.

Waves push the AquaBuoy up and down in the water. The motion puts pressure on a hydraulic fluid. The pressurized fluid then turns a turbine, which creates electricity. Wave and tidal power are primarily in the prototype and experimental stage, but several companies are ramping up prototypes and test vehicles. Marine Current Turbines hopes to put in a tidal turbine in the water off Northern Ireland later this year.

An artist's rendering of AquaBuoys

(Credit: Finavera Renewables)

The hydraulic fluid inside the AquaBuoy is seawater, says Finavera CEO Jason Bak, so if one breaks, nasty oils don't escape into the environment. (Finavera is also building wind farms in Ireland.)

The company will study the performance of the half-size prototype and use the field data to design a larger version for commercial deployment. That larger version--which should be capable of generating 250 kilowatts, enough electricity for nearly 100 homes--should come out in 2008. Finavera hopes to be running wave power farms and generating electricity, probably off the northern Pacific coast, in 2010.

The Oregon prototype does not generate power. You would have to hook it by a cable to the grid to generate power. The company mostly wants to study how much pressure can be generated and captured.

The potential for wave power is enormous, say proponents. Water is 800 times denser than air at sea level. Thus, waves and tides can generate more power in less space than wind turbines. Buoys bobbing far offshore are also less visible than solar power farms or turbines.

Skeptics, though, note that installing infrastructure in the sea is fraught with difficulty and is expensive. Neptune's fury is not to be messed with.

Next week, Greenest Host in San Diego is going to start offering carbon-free Web services to consumers.

The company plans to start selling Web hosting services for about $14.95 a month. The trick is that its servers and other systems are powered by solar panels or batteries charged by solar panels. In rare instances, a propane-based generator will kick in, but for the most part the services will not contribute greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Solar panels at your service

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)

The solar-powered server center is the creation of Affordable Internet Services Online (AISO), which has been offering environmentally friendly Web hosting for a few years. AISO mostly serves medium and larger businesses. AISO's basic services cost a little less. Greenest Host gets capacity from AISO, adds a user-friendly interface and other services, and targets different customers.

AISO's building has also been designed to reduce the cooling load in the data center. Cooling can consume half the power in a data center, Fred Stack, vice president of marketing for Emerson, said earlier this year. Emerson makes cooling systems.

Solar power is more expensive than regular grid electricity, concedes Mike Corrales, who founded Greenest Host. "It is definitely more expensive," he said.

To reduce the additional cost, the company, along with AISO, has tried to make the server room and services as energy efficient as possible. The data center relies heavily on virtualization software from VMWare, which allows AISO to get more work per watt for each server. The 600-odd servers run on Opteron chips.

Thus, Greenest Host's services should cost only $1 or $2 more a month, he estimated.

Running a single server on solar power (rather than conventional grid electricity) cuts roughly the same amount of greenhouse gases you would save if you didn't burn 107 gallons of fuel.

Google put in a 1.6MW solar system in its headquarters. It covers about 30 percent of the company's electrical needs at that location. Applied Materials, which makes equipment for the solar industry, is putting up a larger 1.9MW solar system in its Silicon Valley headquarters. (Both of these systems, however, are dwarfed by the 5.2 megawatt solar system Sharp, the largest maker of solar panels, erected at its Kameyama factory in Japan.)