Well, I have been making posts for a week and this system seems to be working pretty well.

With this in mind, I feel it is time to share some information on systems I have begun placing in our district. In an effort to conserve water, there are several systems I am currently investigating in regard to irrigation. We have a lot of land area and this is no small endeavor.

On another front, we also have a lot of urinals. This product displayed above is about the size of a golf ball and is a direct replacement for thousands of gallons of water in a urinal.

The installation is quick and affordable. We have converted urinals at several sites to waterless using this technology and are very happy with the results. We are installing the cube at our sites systematically as our budget will not allow a district wide installation.

If you would like to know more, please contact me. If you decide to go for it, please let them know you discovered it here.

Call them direct: 520-407-6788
They are based in Arizona.

Well, a region known for windmills has moved ahead and installed the first full scale floating commercial grade wind turbine. In my perpetual search for practical every day options that I can implement here at the district, I often discover the cutting edge happenings on the subject of renewable energy.

I thought some of you might enjoy the article. After all, this is a piece of history in the making. If this works, off shore wind farms may become common place.

enjoy.

PS - I added the football field as a visual reference on the photo.

I don't know about you, but I am excited for the day that LED lights get to a reasonable price and a warmer more natural light. The benefits include higher efficiency than a CFL, longer life than a CFL and they are dimable.

The problem that I have right now is that the price is still high and the light produced has a cold and unnatural effect. After reading an article about a new LED light from Sharp, I feel like there is hope in the near future that I might start transitioning some of my lights to LED.

The product is being introduced in Japan for about $40 to $80 US dollars. The higher end lights will have a remote control for dimming and even adjusting the light color. There is talk of being able to group them so that you can control them as a set with one remote.

I love the idea, but I want to see them in action first. I also want a guarantee of 10 years or more to make me confident about spending $80 on a light bulb with remote control.

As human beings, we like to know that even big organizations can make mistakes. As it turns out, the Department of Energy didn't pass their own energy test. There was room for considerable improvement.

I am sure they will start working on these items immediately. However, the report is interesting. Beware that the report is a PDF file and you will have to download it. Click the Related Link if you want it.

The key point is that as an organization made up of people, there is room for improvement. There are monitors set with absurd time settings for auto power off. Some monitors not set to power down from inactivity at all.

As much fun as it is to recognize that even our government agencies are not perfect, this is really a good opportunity to realize we need to check our own settings, and our habits. It is very easy to slide back into old routines. Saving energy should not be a burden, it should be a matter of habit.

Now, take a minute to check your computer power save settings. Make sure they are reasonable. On many systems, you can right click an open space on the desktop area and choose settings. After you are in settings, look for power saving or energy star.

Don't forget to turn off the lights when you leave the room, even if it's your office at work.

While Google is not set on one particular type of renewable energy, there has been some degree of focus on solar thermal.

In a solar thermal system, the heat of the sun is focused on a common point. The point of focus will contain salts, water or oil depending on the technology. The heat carrier, salt, water or oil, will be directed through an insulated pipeline to boil water. The steam from the boiling water is used to drive turbines that make electricity.

This type system has been in full operation for more than a few years in countries like Italy. The heat in the carrier can be high enough to continue running the power production for a couple of hours past sunset. This makes solar thermal a perfect candidate as a peak time energy producer.

The system works very well in locations that have a lot of sun, like deserts. Limitations include delivery of the energy and average yearly weather at the installation site. A secondary issue that is common in many renewable energy systems is that a backup energy source still needs to be available for bad weather or night production. I believe that as renewable energy sources grow and mature, that we will begin reducing our dependence on fossil fuel as a backup as well. Diversification of our energy needs is a necessity as we move away from fossil fuels.

It is great to see a large corporation making a direct effort to support and research renewable energy. It will be even better when they follow through!

I hope that investments in renewables by large corporations help to drive down the costs for the rest of us.