Google Data Center cooled with ocean waters

Very interesting article on Google's new data center in Finland, cooled as you can, from ocean waters...no refrigeration, no compressors.  Here's the link:  http://www.ecogeek.org/geothermal-power/3510.

And some of the article: 

"Google has opened a new data center in Finland where all of the cooling is done with sea water rather than compressors and refrigerants. The building, which was originally built as a paper mill, is located on the Gulf of Finland and using cool sea water is a way to save money while keeping the building cooled with a readily available resource.

Cooling is one of the biggest expenses for data centers. Servers, especially when many of them are stacked close together, generate a great amount of heat, and that heat must be dissipated to keep the equipment running. The Google data center brings in sea water through granite tunnels and into heat exchangers where the water absorbs the heat to keep the equipment cool.

The heated water is further tempered with cool sea water in a separate building before it is returned to the ocean to minimize the impact the heated water might have on the natural environment."

This last paragraph is most critical as, I'm sure, everyone's first thought is, what is the environmental impact of heated water dumping back into the ocean?  We know military ships cycle water back into the ocean, but that is on a much smaller scale.  There is clearly benefit to the environment in not using energy to run cooling systems, but it would be great to see the final economic benefit and ecological benefit or lost.

Does anyone have experience on a project like this?  We will reach out to Google on a future show to get their comments on this installation.  You have to believe their energy savings are fanstastic.

Thank you to Cardis/GM recycles parts of Gulf Oil spill into Volt

Renewable Now, thanks to our sponsor, Cardi's Furniture, was featured on a regional morning show yesterday, the Rhode Show.  You will be seeing a lot more of Renewable Now on TV, print and listening to us on radio.

Some positive news from EcoGeek this morning on the cradle-to-crave tail end of the tragedy in the Gulf.  GM is taking 227 miles of oil-soaked plastic booms, used to clean up the spill, and building Volts with them.  Here's the link:  http://www.ecogeek.org/automobiles/3514.

Article: " A majority of the miles upon miles of plastic oil booms deployed to soak up the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill have ended up either in landfills or are destined to be burned for fuel.  GM has come up with a way to keep a large chunk of those booms from that same fate by recycling the material into parts for the Chevy Volt.

GM will turn a total of 227 miles worth of oil booms into material for the Volt's air-deflecting baffles that surround the radiator.  A centrifuge spins the used booms to release the oil and the plastic material is then processed and remolded to be used in the air deflectors.  The program will divert 212,500 pounds of boom waste from landfills.

The air deflectors are made of all recycled materials, including the booms, recycled tires from a GM test facility, recycled packaging plastic from a GM plant and post-consumer recycled plastic."

So, on the business side of green, we turn a liability, a huge liability, into a partial asset.  That is great management of resources, great innovation, a testimony to what a creative team, in this case at GM, can do to innovate their processes.  As importantly, the last paragraph describes Volt's assumption of all recycled material, including old tires, into their booms.

Wonderful job, GM, of reducing material costs and helping to clean the earth and rid ourselves of part of our ugly failures.  Can we do more of this?  Please let us know if your company has a similar story to share.

Coming up soon on Renewable Now is a show, with Al Cerrone, profiling the innovative Volt, and the major changes instituted at GM post-bankruptcy.  Al does a great job, with a great sense of humor, of covering the story.  We look forward to having you there.

Today's Live Stream of our newest show

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Stay Another Day: The Green Revolution in Laos

Fantastic article--as we continue to look globally for the "business side of green"--in the International Business Times profiling the green revolution and sustainable tourism engulfing Laos.  Here's the first paragraph:  "There's something terribly right going on in Laos.  Engulfed in a green revolution, sustainable tourism is racing through the recently paved roads from the provincial cities to the remote edges of this pristine country.  From organic farm cooperatives to ethnic fashion shows, the idea is pulsing and putting money back where it belongs - with the people"

How sweet the last sentence:  "From organic farm cooperatives to ethnic fashion shows, the idea is pulsing and putting money back where it belongs - with the people"

Here's the link:  http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/154031/20110529/sustainable-tourism-voluntourism-volunteer-abroad-green-travel-and-tourism-eco-tourism-travel-greene.htm.

Here is a little more of the article: 

"Sustainable tourism is an incredible boon for a country like Laos as it has little in the way of industry.  Yet, how the idea took root in this country is a miracle.  The concept remains foreign in tourist-heavy Thailand whose Western music, entertainment and culture continues to float over the Mekong, much to the Lao government's dismay.

In Laos, sustainable tourism takes on many faces.
The folks at Green Discovery lay their claim as Laos' pioneer in adventure travel and ecotourism.  Opening their doors in 2000, they were indeed one of the first in this recent movement and today, they are committed to ensuring that the local people "not only benefit financially from tourism, but also are true business partners by helping to develop programs and activities."  Each trip includes a graph explaining where your money goes, making the entire process refreshingly transparent"

What lessons can we learn from the green revolution in Laos?  If anyone is expert on sustainable tourism, we'd like to hear from you and do a show on this.

Weekend Edition

Found this on the PR Wire: 

First Fuel Cell to Power Residential Building in New York,

Here's the link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-fuel-cell-to-power-residential-building-in-new-york-122723448.html

Part of the story:
ROOSEVELT ISLAND, N.Y., May 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- "Yesterday, The Octagon, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design® (LEED) Silver 500-unit apartment community on Roosevelt Island, made green history by becoming the first residential building in the State of New York to be powered and heated by a 400 kilowatt (kW) fuel cell from UTC Power. This installation marks a paradigm shift in the State's use of clean energy technologies, made possible through New York's progressive stance on energy policy.  The project was supported by $1.2 million in financial incentives from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The fuel cell arrived on Roosevelt Island this winter and is now operating at full capacity.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110527/NE10381 )
"Roosevelt Island is a place where progressive green initiatives are at the forefront of our smart growth plans. We are proud of our island partners, including Becker + Becker, who are contributing to a greener Island and a cleaner City," said Leslie Torres, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, the New York State Public Benefit Corporation responsible for the development and operation of Roosevelt Island.
The fuel cell, a PureCell® System Model 400, is a combined heat and power (CHP) system that represents a game-changing technology. It converts natural gas to electricity and heat through a combustion-free, electrochemical process to provide power and heat to meet the majority of the apartment building's energy demand.  The energy efficiency achieved by the fuel cell is significantly higher than the energy received from the grid and emissions are negligible.  Additionally, the fuel cell's process heat is captured to satisfy the building's space heating and domestic water requirements.

"We are so proud that the Multi-Employer Property Trust (MEPT) and Becker + Becker have selected UTC Power's PureCell System to provide reliable on-site power to this innovative and historic project," said Neal Montany, Director of UTC Power's stationary fuel cell business. "It is truly rewarding to know that the benefits of our efficient and clean fuel cell technology will touch the daily lives of the residents of The Octagon..."

Fuel cells could be a huge part of our energy landscape moving forward.  At Arpin, we are looking at joining forces with other tenants in this industrial park to share a fuel cell fed my natural gas. 60 Minutes did a great story on Bloom fuel cells, and there is a major producer on the East Coast in CT.  Very worth looking at.

New ‘solar customer benefit’ will spur solar energy, jobs across Vermont

Great news in VT:   The Governor yesterday signed a new bill spurring solar energy, and related jobs, through out the state.  We own a facility in Brattleboro, VT, and will most likely move ahead with renewable energy on that site.

Here's the link:  http://vermontbiz.com/news/may/new-‘solar-customer-benefit’-will-spur-solar-energy-jobs-across-vermont.

Here's part of the article: 

"Governor Shumlin signed the Vermont Energy Act of 2011 (H56) Wednesday in South Burlington. The law includes a new, statewide solar customer benefit that will help deliver net metered solar energy and jobs throughout Vermont.  

“There is a fiscal and environmental urgency for Vermont to move off fossil fuels and toward sustainable sources of power,” the Governor said at the bill signing ceremony, which was held at the Farm at South Village. The Village is a “new urbanist” sustainable community with a 150 KW net metered solar array to power an organic farming operation, wholesale production and refrigerated storage and distribution. 

Also participating in the bill signing were representatives for Encore Redevelopment, which developed the Village project, Renewable Energy Vermont, Gardener’s Supply, Alteris Renewables and others. In addition, the secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce, as well as the Commissioner of Public Service, attended the event. 

First initiated with Green Mountain Power’s (GMP) SolarGMP program, the 6 cents per kilowatt hour solar benefit helped provide the incentive to over 400 new solar installations.  The utility initiated the incentive as a way to reduce peak power and transmission costs and encourage the development of local solar energy..."

Read the rest when you can.  This is great news.

This is a absolutely the business side of green:  Legislation that can spur, across a state, economic development while reducing use of fossil fuel and emissions.  A big win-win.

We will be covering this story on a future edition of Renewable Now.

Also, the audio from our shows is now available in a radio show format on WARL, 1320 AM (either over the air or on their stream).  The first shows are now running:  with Julian Dash, RIEDC, and Al Dahlberg,  Project Get Ready.  More radio stations to follow soon.

Trucking Info Magazine

Some great stuff in Trucking Info this week, including articles on a split-cycle engine coming from a W. Springfield company, Navistar's investment in a Danish  company inventing a better aftertreatment process and profiling a company a Northeast company that just covered half its 570,000 warehouse with solar panels.  Take a look:

http://www.truckinginfo.com/clean-green/index.asp

Here's a sample:  "Amidst endless chatter about electric power and even fuel cells, the good old internal combustion engine clearly isn't going away any time soon. I refer you to the flurry of new engine designs we've seen lately. In my archly humble opinion, one of the most interesting is a split-cycle motor coming out of the Scuderi Group in West Springfield, Mass. The company is a seemingly well-funded development outfit that's intent on re-engineering the conventional four-stroke engine. Its global patent portfolio contains more than 476 patent applications filed and 154 issued in 50 countries.

And its SSC motor, the Scuderi Split Cycle, is even more intriguing now that it's achieved a 35 percent fuel-consumption decrease in a Nissan Sentra in an elaborate computer simulation. That testing was done by an independent third party, Scuderi Group boss Sal Scuderi tells me, using proper, accepted protocols.

His sights aren't set only on little cars, I hasten to add, and the engine design can just as easily have heavy-duty applications running diesel and other fuels. The company hasn't done those simulations yet, but they're coming. Scuderi's plan is not to manufacture engines, by the way, rather to license his technology. So far, interest has come mainly from the four-wheel world. Only one truck maker -- unnamed, but not North American -- has sniffed around. .... "

To find out a lot more about altenative fuels that will be powering our future fleets, go to arpin.tv.com and watch our show with Ocean State Clean Cities.