TAMPA, Fla. , Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — PennWell Corporation is proud to present its eighth Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America taking place March 8 – 10, 2011 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. The event has added several influential industry leaders to its lineup of speaker participants in ten comprehensive and informative conference tracks. Executive Directors from North America‘s leading renewable energy industry associations–including solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal–will discuss federal and state policy and finance issues during a special plenary session on Thursday, March 10, 2011 as part of Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America at the Tampa Convention Center.

Confirmed participants in the plenary session–one of the first to involve leaders from all forms of renewable energy since the new Congress began work in early January–will include Denise Bode of the American Wind Energy Association, Rhone Resch of the Solar Energy Industries Association, Elizabeth McDonald of the Canadian Solar Energy Industries Association, Bob Gibson of the Solar Electric Power Association, Karl Gawell of the Geothermal Energy Association, Linda Church-Ciocci of the National Hydropower Association and Robert Cleaves of the Biomass Power Association. Allan Marks, partner in the Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy law firm and Barry Worthington, Executive Director of the U.S. Energy Association, also will take part. David Wagman, Chief Editor of Renewable Energy World North America magazine, will moderate the session. The session is open to all registered delegates at this year’s Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America.

“The timing of this year’s Renewable Energy World conference and expo couldn’t be better with the extension of the tax credits in December and the arrival of the new Congress in January,” said Dick Rauner, Group Publisher with PennWell Corp., which owns and produces the show. Rauner said “the industry leaders who are joining our plenary session will help attendees understand what the next two years might look like at the federal level and how renewable energy companies can continue to gain momentum across North America.”

After the opening keynote session on Tuesday, March 8 at three o’clock, Renewable Energy World North America will open its exhibit floor of more than 175 leading renewable technology and services companies. Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America provides more learning opportunities, more networking opportunities and more business opportunities than any other all-renewable event making it the premier, can’t–miss, all-renewable power generation event in North America.

For more information on Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America and to register, please visit www.RenewableEnergyWorld-Events.com. Advance registration is available online until March 3, 2011. Registration will also be available on-site at the Tampa Convention Center.

Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America is owned and produced by PennWell Corporation. PennWell Corporation is a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: Oil and gas, electric power, renewable energy, water, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiberoptics, enterprise storage, fire, emergency services and dental. Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes 75 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, web sites, research and database services. In addition to PennWell’s headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire; Houston, Texas; London, England; Fairlawn, New Jersey; Moscow, Russia; and Hong Kong, China. For additional information about PennWell, visit www.pennwell.com.

SOURCE PennWell Corporation

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[From Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America Announces Key Industry Participants -- TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --]

Originally posted 2011-02-13 08:24:16.

A recent but highly effective creation which has recently been introduced onto the Home DIY Energy market are Solar Air Heaters.

In the same way that homemade Solar Panels and Wind Turbines have revolutionized the home energy market, Solar Heaters are now becoming an increasingly popular method for heating homes all over the world.

So how do solar air heaters work?

Even I was amazed at the very simple and very basic looking details of how a Solar Air Heater actually works.

There really is nothing complicated by these and even the build instructions which are also available, are easy to understand too!

As previously stated, Solar Air Heaters work by incredibly simplistic methods and simply utilize the heat from the sun by capturing the sun’s rays and converting that energy into heat.

As sunlight enters through the unit, the sun’s rays are trapped and give off heat. In fact, the heat generated in a solar air heater can reach temperatures of up to 220 degrees so it’s fair to say they certainly generate plenty of warmth!

As cool air enters into the system, it is in turn, heated by the unit. This warm air can then be directed into your home. A solar panel is not required to run this system although they can be used if required to help power a blower fan or thermostat.

They are a genius piece of equipment and if made correctly, they can help heat your home, workplace or garage for many years to come.

A well built Solar Air Heater will provide a stable and reliable source of heat for many years and one of the greatest and most rewarding benefits will be realizing the significant cost saving to your heating and utility bill.

About the Author

So, are you ready to learn more about Solar Air Heaters?

I have more information on these revolutionary home heating systems including build guides and video tutorials which you can access by Clicking Right Here…..

Check it out today and discover for yourself how rewarding building your very own unit can be!

(ArticlesBase SC #3431048)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Solar Air Heaters – How Do They Work?

Originally posted 2010-10-10 10:07:28.

With fuel prices touching nearly $150 per barrel, it is about time we heard some breakthrough !

India’s largest automaker Tata Motors is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008.  Â

The Air Car, called the MiniCAT could cost around Rs. 3,50,000 ($ 8177) in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels.

The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 ($ 2). Tata motors also plans to launch the world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano priced famously at One lakh rupees by October.

The MiniCAT which is a simple, light urban car, with a tubular chassis that is glued not welded and a body of fiberglass powered by compressed air. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc.

There are no keys – just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 105 kmph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 100 rupees, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers.

As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours. Due to the absence of combustion and, consequently, of residues, changing the oil (1 litre of vegetable oil) is necessary only every 50,000Km.] The temperature of the clean air expelled by the exhaust pipe is between 0-15 degrees below zero, which makes it suitable for use by the internal air conditioning system with no need for gases or loss of power.

Originally posted 2010-07-19 14:07:52.

If you flip across the news channels or nature based programs, you are bound to hear the many grave concerns that are being expressed by a host of persons ranging from politicians, to environmentalists and down to lay folk about the concerns that the environment is currently facing the world over.

What exactly is the environment?

Why are we all so concerned about it? In a very generic sense the environment refers to the milieu or context of and the surroundings in which a particular item exists. For instance, we may say that the political environment in Iraq is not conducive for democracy and peace. However, when we refer to the environment as it impacts Planet Earth, we are referring to the state of the natural world or of the ecosystem.

The natural ecosystem means the sum total of the organisms that exist on the earth and the interconnectedness of these organisms (including humans) with the earth and its resources. Hence, the ecosystem refers to the connection between the living (biotic) and the non living (abiotic) constituents of the environment.

The Environment Today

In general, we differentiate between the built and the natural environment. The natural environment essentially consists of aspects of nature which exist and have their being without human intervention like air, the soil, water, the atmosphere, animals, birds, plants and humans themselves. On the other hand, the built environment consists of human creations like towns, cities, industries, vehicles and a host of other man-made structures.

The problem in the environment today

The problem in the environment today is on account of the excessive and repressive interventions of humans on the natural environment in the post industrial era. The industrial era commenced in the 19th century and we saw rapid advances over the last century and a half. It witnessed huge advances and strides made by humans in the sphere of harnessing natural resources and advancement in areas of science and technology. Naturally, this was also accompanied by exploitation of natural resources including land, water, minerals and even space.

The growth of human intervention in the natural environment has been necessitated also by the rapid growth of human population over the last two centuries. The global population exceeds more than 6 billion currently and this has far reaching ramifications for the impact on the environment. It is not quite possible to sustain such a huge population on the planet with limited natural resources. Hence, environmental pressures and ecosystem breakdowns have occurred where human beings have over exceeded the capacity of the earth to meet human requirements which have expanded unsustainably.

The environment consists of quite fragile ecosystems, many of which are now extinct or severely threatened. The earth has enough to meet human needs but certainly not to meet human greed! It is quite true that we have not inherited this earth from our parents, but merely borrowed it from our children. Till date, the earth is the only known planet in this vast galaxy that has an environment conducive for life. The environment is all that we have to sustain us and our progeny. It’s high time that we paid less attention to our greedy desires and listened more closely to what the environment needs to sustain itself for the long term.

The world is challenged with so many environmental problems nowadays and waste management is just one of the major dilemmas of every nation particularly those in the third world countries. In the Philippines for example, they have been using landfill system for many years and this has brought greater problems on their environment. Many of the country’s flora and fauna species have been threatened with extinction due to pollution and widespread logging. Philippines is known to be one of the ten most biologically mega-diverse countries where about 1,100 land vertebrate species can be found including over 100 mammal species and 170 bird species not thought to exist elsewhere. It is just saddening that many of its endangered species are now going extinct due to human activities particularly inefficient waste management.

In addition, inefficient waste management not only causes environmental adversities but various health problems due to pollution. Some known diseases caused by polluted and infected water include gastro-enteritis, diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, and more recently, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In the Philippines about 6000 Filipinos die prematurely each year from waterborne or water-related diseases such as diarrhea, which is the second leading cause of morbidity in the Philippines.

Biosphere Technology for Waste Management Solution

With today’s technology, problems like waste management can be easily solved. The Biosphere Process System or Biosphere Technology is just one of the solutions available to efficiently eradicate solid wastes.

Biosphere Technology is an invention of Dr. Chris Mc Cormack, the author of numerous contributions in scientific literature and also the Chairman and CEO of GEECF. The technology is a form of gasification process wherein it destroys wastes in environmental and cost effective manner then coverts these into green energy which can be used for economic development. With this technology, dependence on oil can also substantially decrease thus it can be very valuable to our environment as well. We all know that fossil fuels such as oil are the highest emitters of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. But with biosphere technology solid wastes are converted into green energy using thermal decomposition wherein it effectively limits atmospheric emissions.

To learn more about this technology visit www.spectrumbluesteel.com

About the Author

She is a member of Spectrum Blue Steel Coporation (SBSC) – Be a part in building a better world.

SBSC has an exclusive license to market, sell, or lease, install, and operate the Biosphere Process in the Philippines. The Biosphere Process or Biosphere Technology is a form of gasification wherein it destroys traditional and non-traditional waste materials to generate electricity.

(ArticlesBase SC #3446652)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Biosphere Technology: The Waste Management Solution

Originally posted 2010-10-11 10:39:59.

1. Each morning upon rising, and each evening before sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for all life, for the good things the Creator has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day. Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit others (everyone).
2. Respect. Respect means “To feel or show honor or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy”. Showing respect is a basic law of life.
   • Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times.
   • Special respect should be given to Elders, Parents, Teachers, and Community Leaders.
   • No person should be made to feel “put down” by you; avoid hurting other hearts as you would avoid a deadly poison.
   • Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.
   • Respect the privacy of every person, never intrude on a person’s quiet moment or personal space.
   • Never walk between people that are conversing.
   • Never interrupt people who are conversing.
   • Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of Elders, strangers or others to whom special respect is due.
   • Do not speak unless invited to do so at gatherings where Elders are present (except to ask what is expected of you, should you be in doubt).
   • Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not.
   • Treat the earth and all of her aspects as your mother. Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world. Do nothing to pollute our Mother, rise up with wisdom to defend her.
   • Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.
   • Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your heart.
   • Respect the wisdom of the people in council. Once you give an idea to a council meeting it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the people. Respect demands that you listen intently to the ideas of others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevail. Indeed you should freely support the ideas of others if they are true and good, even if those ideas are quite different from the ones you have contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth.
3. Once a council has decided something in unity, respect demands that no one speak secretly against what has been decided. If the council has made an error, that error will become apparent to everyone in its own time.
4. Be truthful at all times, and under all conditions.
5. Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give of your best ood, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and your best service to your guests.
6. The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honor of one is the honor of all.
7. Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members of the human family. All the races and tribes in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected.
8. To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation, and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created. Do not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget your most important talks. True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others.
9. Observe moderation and balance in all things.
10. Know well, those things that lead to your well-being, and equally well, those things that lead to your destruction.
11. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms; in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.

Why Bother With QR Codes Now?

The growing use of smartphones is driving the increased use of QR codes. While smartphone penetration is only about 30 percent of the U.S. market, this number is on the rise. What’s more, since only 22 percent of Fortune 50 use QR codes, according to research from Burson Marsteller, the adoption of QR codes is just beginning. This opens the opportunity for your business to capitalize on this growing trend and impress your clients.

As a content marketer, why should you be interested in QR codes? Here are seven justifications you can provide to your management team.

Engage users

Not only can you use QR codes to attract new prospects, but they can also encourage users to spend more time with your content. Whether you’re representing a museum, a transit map or a company-run scavenger hunt, QR codes can provide additional information despite space limitations.

Connect offline and online content easily

With QR codes, readers don’t need to type in a complex URL. They can just snap a photo and are taken to the appropriate page. For example, QR codes are great in printed magazines where you want to direct a user to a specific page or a video without requiring users to enter a long URL.

Make mass media responsive

Attract prospects in locations that you might not consider marketing your products and services. You can place QR codes on a broad range of materials such as business cards, conference materials, store signage and windows, product packages and flyers. Consumers who snap their smartphones over the QR code may become your new customers for your business.

Provide additional product information

This is particularly useful to supplement an ad, or give additional usage information via product packaging. Bear in mind that it can be difficult to use a QR code through plastic wrapping.

Convert shoppers

Give prospects more relevant information when and where they want it. Research shows consumers prefer to get product and sales information via their smartphone when they’re in retail establishments rather than consult store personnel. Retailers can benefit by placing QR codes on products, shelving, circulars and signs to provide information that helps close the sale.

Drive customer action

Get prospects to raise their hands for coupons and other forms of marketing materials via a QR code. To this end, incorporate a call-to-action in your advertising or offline content or surface.

Make media trackable

As with any marketing program, it’s important to track your QR code metrics. Since QR codes are still a relatively new technology requiring a smartphone and a QR code reader, results may be low. Compare QR code usage to the usage of URLs added to content marketing.

If you are new to using QR codes, here are some tips to get started:

• QR codes should link to a URL that is optimized for mobile viewing
• QR codes should be at least one inch square and placed in areas that have connectivity
• Depending on who you are targeting, you may want to provide instructions on how to use QR codes since they are relatively new
• An incentive may be needed to motivate prospects to scan since they may need to install a QR code reader.

Are you using QR codes? If so, how are you using them, where are you using them and what results are you achieving?

Lakeland, FL (PRWEB) February 7, 2011

The 2MW array will be completed next month and is comprised of 8600 modules erected on 9 acres off U.S. 441. Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) will purchase the electricity produced for twenty years at a fixed rate of 0.26 per kWh under the terms of their feed in tariff program (FIT).

Gainesville accounts for 39 percent of all solar PV installations in Florida, according to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), and Sybac’s solar farm is the largest to be built under GRU’s program.

While many investors have reserved the allocation rights to participate in GRU’s FIT program, which has a cap of 4MW a year, investment deals are taking longer to finance which has made it difficult for many to move on to the construction stage. Sybac Solar stepped in and purchased the land and allocation rights from Entrust Holdings, a real estate investment company, and funded the project themselves, introducing their German investment model to the U.S. market.

Artur Madej, Sybac’s president, tills this field of dreams when it comes to building MW scale power plants. Build it and investors will come. The Lakeland office follows the same business model that Germany follows. They provide full service EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) including installation and maintenance for individual investors and they also build their own portfolio of solar farms for resale to investors. “A feed in tariff provides a solid bankable security that provides confidence for investors with a guaranteed return for 20+ years,” said Madej. “There are many in the investment community looking for turn-key solar farms with FIT contracts who are not interested in the project development phase. We just purchased the allocation rights for an additional 500kW system in Gainesville which will be built in the next 4 months and we are working on two 10 MW development deals in Ontario, Canada which has a province wide feed in tariff program,” said Madej.

The total cost to build the solar farm is estimated at approximately $7 million, or $3.50 per watt, a price that is significantly less than the regional average price of $5.50/watt calculated by NREL. Buying power is the reason why Sybac is able to install systems below the prevailing price charged by other solar integrators in Gainesville. The Lakeland office leverages the buying power from its German parent that installs over 300 MW a year in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic. The company is currently installing a 26MW solar plant outside Berlin.

Sybac Solar’s investment in Gainesville has paid dividends in local job creation as well. The company has hired fourteen local subcontractors to work directly on the build. “The Gainesville Chamber of Commerce was a tremendous help,” said Rick Falz, Sybac Solar’s Director of Technology. “They put us in touch with the best local companies that included a fencing company, land clearing, surveyors, engineers and attorneys.” Working with a local workforce is part of Sybac’s corporate philosophy. “We are giving back to the environment with every solar module that we install. We choose to work with a local workforce whenever possible to help the community grow,” said Markus Falz, Sybac’s Project Manager. Sybac’s investment in Gainesville has created over 33 jobs in the construction and installation related services helping to foster economic growth in the area.

The solar power plant will produce over 3,106 mWh of electricity a year, enough to power 300 homes and save 64,780 lbs. CO2 over the life of the system, equivalent to approximately 130,000 auto miles.

[From Sybac Solar Builds Largest Privately Held Solar Farm in Southeast]

Algenol describes itself as a “science-driven company using biotechnology to produce biofuels and green chemicals from carbon dioxide emissions.”

Who could possibly object to something so green and clean? Anyone with a basic understanding of life. It is impossible to make energy from CO2 emissions, without adding a lot of other ingredients. Algae require water, sunlight and (drumroll…) nutrients – like all other living organisms.

A “lifecycle assessment” of algae fuels recently published in Environmental Science and Technology in January 2010 reports that switchgrass, canola and even corn farming have lower environmental impacts than algae in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and water use. Fertilizer requirements are high on the list of problems, because manufacturing fertilizers is so energy intensive. As phosphorus supplies dwindle, many argue it’s unwise to squander what remains on biofuels rather than food.

Using excess nutrients from local contaminated waterways might help, but entails other risks: many algae fuel companies are depending on genetically modified strains of algae, or even varieties developed using synthetic biology. Algae play a key role in global cycles and are responsible for much of the oxygen. Given these algae are being designed to be hardy, and to spit out ethanol, (toxic and corrosive), we should ask ourselves: can we ensure there will be no “mistakes” resulting in releases into the environment?

Experimentation with algae fuels has been underway for a long time – and yet no commercial scale production yet exists! How much money, and how many years of ongoing investment are needed? Florida is being asked to help foot the bill for developing biofuel industries (on top of whopping great subsides already coming from the feds – Algenol, for example, is recipient of a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy). Floridians should ask themselves: are there better options for our tax dollars? The long term prospects for biofuels are questionable. Report after report has revealed the lack greenhouse gas savings, and the conflicting demands for food, water, land, fertilizer…all of which are slated to intensify in coming years.

American Biofuels Now, among others, argues biofuels will help provide “energy security,” but this is laughable. With a military that, by conservative estimate consumes more than 320,000 barrels of oil each and every day, we will need several planets worth of algae farms to supply even a fraction of that demand, (and end up fighting wars over fertilizer and water access). Perhaps a longer view would favor reducing demand for transportation fuels as a better investment? Public transportation, fuel efficiency, reorganizing our communities to enable work-from-home and offering incentives to ride-share and cut back on commuting distances are a few possibilities with guaranteed – and honest – benefits that can be banked on, for certain, in every home. Pouring money into claims of “making energy from CO2 emissions and sunshine” doesn’t inspire confidence.

— Rachel Smolker works with Biofuelwatch/Energy Justice Network.

[From Guest opinion: Florida has much better ways to use tax dollars than biofuel subsidies | The News-Press | news-press.com]

The 2011 Florida Renewable Energy Tour is set to kick off Thursday in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

The tour will highlight job creation and local economic growth through renewable energy development and will visit 10 cities this month, leading up to the March legislative session, according to the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy.

Stops on Thursday’s tour include Waste Management in Pompano Beach; Roofing Concepts Unlimited in Coral Springs; a Boca Raton residential solar array installed by Graboski Roofing; a commercial solar array installed by VB Engineering and a new engineering building at Florida Atlantic University.

A town hall meeting featuring local elected and economic development officials is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at Palm Beach State College, Boca Raton campus.

The tour is free and open to the public and is supported by more than 100 companies and organizations in Florida. To learn more and register online, visit the Florida Alliance for Renewable Energy at www.farenergy.org.

[From Florida Renewable Energy Tour is set for Thursday]