here is where i am staying...casa behla, run completely off of solar power (until the battery runs dead, then it's a generator)
12.20.2007
international energy efficiency
it's not a website, conference, or email....it's an experience i just had in my travels to the coba ruins near cancun, mexico. after climbing the tallest mayan temple and hiking our way past vendors, bicyclists and locals we took in the local crafts. much like you can see anywhere in mexico, hand crafted wooden masks, dolls, plaques, etc...but what caught my surprise what the lighting. EVERY BULB IN THE PLACE WAS A LOW ENERGY "SQUIGGLY" BULB! i cant even say that about my own house in atlanta. i am ashamed. to make me feel even more guilty, all the bulbs were run off of solar power. okay okay, what if there are a string of cloudy days? well, then they pull energy from their wind generating field of propellers. WHA?!? or more so WTF-AID?!?!?! (what the fruitloop am i doing?) i completely rely on "the atlanta grid" and not on what is freely given to me.... enough said, change needs to happen and oh yeah, i am trying to buy myself a little mexican villa (300k, leverage the atlanta davis estate for capital...HA)
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2 comments:
Well, i think it could be partly also because, particularly in the US, energy generation is done on such a mass scale for so many people that it would take some time and funding to switch it over to an alternative energy system. Developing countries such as Mexico have the option of implementing it in particular areas as they develop parts of their country.
Also the average american consumer is pretty cautious and since CFL's do contain mercury, however slight it may be, this might put some people off.
Lastly, solar power is not really a viable solution everywhere, although, since atlanta seems to get more sun than i'm used to from chicago, it would be nice if we started to switch over.
Sorry just my two cents. On a project i worked on in my undergrad, my team and i developed a solar-powered system for powering electrical fences for remote ranches for a small rural community in Panama. I think it got put in last summer. It mostly ran off deep-drawing car batteries that would be charged at a central location in the main part of the town and then the batteries would be transported to the ranches by horse and switched out there for the old battery.
what i'm really waiting for is the further development of LED lighting and Maglev Wind turbines.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/26/maglev-wind-turbines-1000x-more-effiencient-than-normal-windmill/
I'm not sure if most of you've seen this article or variants of it. While i take this article with a grain of salt, the concept is intriguing and could be the next generation of windmills.
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