Green Energy News | July 16, 2000

July 16, 2000 – Vol.5 No.16

ENERGIES... week of July 16, 2000

MEGA WIND POWER. By this time next year customers of TXU Electric and Gas will be able to buy renewable energy from a new wind farm in West Texas. TXU has selected FPL Energy to build, own and operate the 160-megawatt project - one of the largest wind power contracts in U.S. history. The farm will provide enough electricity to meet the demands of 29,000 homes.

The farm will consist of 242 turbines each standing 166 feet tall. This project follows FPL Energy’s recent announcements to purchase up to 800 turbines from Vestas Wind Systems, its commitment to add 500 to 1000 megawatts of wind power by the end of 2001, and the purchase of the 104 megawatt Lake Benton II wind farm from Enron Wind Corporation.

TXU is also providing power generated from the Big Spring Wind Power Project. Visit TXU at http://www.txu.com/ , FPL at http://www.fplenergy.com

TABLE SCRAP FUEL CELL. We’ve seen fuel cells powered by hydrogen, methanol, gasoline, zinc and aluminum, now there’s a proof-of-concept fuel cell that can be powered by food. Yes, beef, broccoli, and left-over pasta. Oh, and yard clippings too.

New Scientist magazine reports that Stuart Wilkinson of the University of South Florida in Tampa has built a microbial fuel cell (MFC) which powers a small robot - a gastrobot - named Chew Chew. The MFC is the gastrobot stomach which can be fed all kinds of food, but prefers meat for its high energy density. Within the MFC lives a population of bacteria which speed the breakdown of its food-fuel. As food is broken down electrons are released. Electrons become flowing current which charges a battery. When the battery is full Chew Chew moves.

While one vision from the inventor is for lawn mowing gastrobots which feed themselves on clippings, another application might be for low power, continuously operating MFC’s that run on household garbage and yard waste - like a high-tech compost heap. Electric current could keep a battery pack charged for later use. Visit New Scientist at http://www.newscientist.com/ .

CLEAN VEHICLE PROJECTS. Two Weststart-CALSTART demonstration projects have received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

Through Weststart, ISE Research-ThunderVolt, Capstone Turbine, Peterbuilt and Sparkletts Water Company will build a Turbine-Driven Hybrid-Electric Truck (THT). The Class 8 Peterbuilt will be powered by Capstone’s new 60 kilowatt microturbine and used in service by Sparkletts to deliver water from its bottling plant to distributors. A typical daily route for the truck will be 180 miles at near gross weight of 80,000 pounds.

The other demonstration project is for a low-cost, multi-port rapid charger for non-road electric vehicles such as forklifts. To be built by PowerDesigners, with partner Southern California Edison, the universal fast charger will be able to service a number of different types of electric vehicles with varying power requirements and battery chemistries - all at the same time. The technology could later be adapted for road-worthy electric vehicles. Visit Weststart-CALSTART at http://www.calstart.org/ , ISE at http://www.iseresearch.com/ , Capstone at http://www.capstoneturbine.com/ , PowerDesigners at http://www.powerdesigners.com/ .