Barrages or lagoons for the River Severn?

I'm not a fan of the proposed Severn Barrage. It's typical government grandiose thinking which will take longer to come online, cost more and be less useful than the alternatives. The main alternative is a series of artificial lagoons on the river, which won't interfere with shipping, have little or no effect on wildlife and provide power for a wider span of the day.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse

The Solar Fridge

An English student has designed a solar fridge for use in Africa and elsewhere where power supplies are unreliable or nonexistent. It uses evaporation to keep its inner chamber at around 6 celsius and can be fashioned from scavenged materials.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse

Getting extra energy from natural gas

A company called 2OC is planning to install mini turbines in natural gas pipelines to generate electricity. The gas is at too high a pressure when it comes out of the ground for safe distribution so sites known as letdown stations are used to release the pressure. The turbines would be installed in these stations and could generate as much as one coal or nuclear power station.

2OC admits that this is an expensive way to generate electrity. But it is making use of energy that would otherwise be wasted. The letdown process also has a cooling effect- as the gas expands its temperature drops drastically- and the company are looking at ways to use this such as cooling data centres.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse

Turning off the lights

The phased withdrawal of incandescent bulbs continues, with 100 Watt and 75 Watt ones no longer being restocked by shops. The complaining classes, as usual, manage to find fault with something that will make them better off.

Technorati tag: EcoHouse