Environmental Innovations to Give You Hope

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Other innovations give consumers information about how much power they’re using at any given time. Instead of staring down those cryptic spinning wheels on electric meters, users see a clear digital readout of how much energy is being consumed, as well as its cost. In one pilot program, according to California (Jan.-Feb. 2008), people who had this information at their fingertips cut their energy use by a whopping 40 percent.

Most important of all, concludes Mother Jones (May-June 2008), is the notion of decentralized power generation. Unlike coal and nuclear power, next-generation energy sources don’t require any massive central investment. You can have your own power plant in a solar panel or flat-profile wind turbine on your roof. Linking millions of these power sources into regional networks will make our energy cleaner, safer, and steadier.

Sun City redefined

In the United Arab Emirates, a mere 90 miles down the Persian Gulf coast from Dubai, poster child for conspicuous consumption, planning is under way for a wholly different urban paradise tucked away in the capital of Abu Dhabi. Already known as Masdar City, it will outfit 80 percent of its roof space with photovoltaic panels to harvest the desert sun and power the homes of some 50,000 residents, says Green Futures (April 2008). Being promoted as the world’s first car-free, zero-carbon, no-waste city, Masdar is the result of a partnership between the World Wildlife Fund’s One Planet Living program and the capital’s Masdar Initiative, which launched in 2006 with the aim of making Abu Dhabi a leader in sustainable technology. The first phase ought to be habitable by 2009, with project completion scheduled for 2016.

When It Rains, It Powers

Scientists at the Atomic Energy Commission in France are developing technology that captures the energy of falling raindrops and turns it into electric power, reports Plenty (June-July 2008). To date, they’re studying a process that would energize wireless storm sensors, which require a small, reliable power source. And the technology appears to have wider applications.

Piezoelectricity, as the process is called, was officially designated in the 1880s, and if you’ve punched the button on a gas grill, you’ve seen it in action. When certain substances (including bone molecules) are squeezed, they let out a tiny burst of electricity that can be used to spark propane or charge a battery or maybe, someday, light up a skyscraper. As a result of the French experiments, it’s thought that the pressure of just 5,000 large raindrops could produce enough power to fire up a 60-watt lightbulb.

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