Gathering Summary: Alternative Energy, June 23, 2010

Summary by Catherine Haug

Alternative & Renewable Energy, by Jeff Arcel

(Photo of roof-top solar panels, from Mothers’ Power)

The following is a short outline of the event. For the complete gathering summary, see our pdf files:

You can also view Jeff’s slideshow as a pdf file (2.1 MB so takes a while to download): Slideshow: Renewable Energy Solutions. Some of his slides are blurry or impossible to read (slides 6, 7, 10, 43, & 65); if you want a copy of these slides at higher resolution (4 MB file) please contact Catherine: cat(at)essentialstuff.org.

Presentation Outline

(Photo of Local Wind Installation, from Mothers’ Power)

  • What is Alternative/Renewable Energy?
  • Harnessing the Sun’s Energy
  • Solar Power: Photovoltaics (PV)
  • Thermal Solar: Hot Water
  • Harnessing Wind Energy
  • Hydro Power, including Small Hydro Power
  • Geothermal
  • Emerging Trends & Technologies (Fuel Cells, Nanosolar, Thin Film, etc.)
  • Community Power
  • Financial Incentives
  • Future of Transportation

References, and For More Information

  1. US Department of Energy documents: History of Solar
  2. Alternative Energy Sources, History of Solar
  3. Telosnet.com: Illustrated History of Wind Power Development
  4. US Department of Energy: The History of wind energy; Wind & Water Power Program: Wind Energy Technologies & History; Geothermal Heat Pumps; and Geothermal Heat Pump Systems
  5. Wikipedia: on ‘Joule‘: on ‘Insolation
  6. Apricus Solar Hot Water, on ‘Insolation
  7. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); PV Solar Radiation Maps
  8. Solar Pathfinder: How it Works and  Video
  9. Wholesale Solar: Off-Grid Solar Diagramsl; Grid-Tie diagram
  10. Solar Panels Plus: Solar hot water Closed Loop; and Diagram
  11. Build Solar Hot Water System
  12. Riverstar In-Stream Hydro System
  13. Geothermal Energy Office (GEO)
  14. CBS 60-Minutes Feature on The Bloom Box
  15. Celsias on Geothermal Power
  16. Renewable Energy World on Geo-Electricity
  17. The EssentiaList: Rail Transit in the Flathead
  18. Who Killed the Electric Car?: Trailer (YouTube)Summary (Wikipedia)
  19. Alternative Energy News: NanosolarThin-Film PV

Comments are closed.