Green Energy News | October 7, 2001

October 7, 2001 – Vol.6 No.28

ENERGIES... week of October 7, 2001

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD EV. Here’s a short list of uses for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV) a.k.a. Low -Speed Electric Vehicles: security, maintenance and personnel shuttle for airports, college campuses, corporate campuses, industrial parks, hotels, military bases and shopping malls as well as urban package delivery, parking meter reading and enforcement (ticketing), a second vehicle for residents of gated communities.

Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), a division of DaimlerChrysler, is exploring two more opportunities for their NEV’s. In a year long program GEM has partnered with the Anaheim (California) Transportation Network (ATN) to use NEV’s as a way to entice commuters leave their cars at home. Ten NEV’s are being placed with large local businesses for employees to use during working hours. The NEV’s are to be available only to those who car pool, van pool or use bus or rail to get to work. The idea is that if people have personal transportation AT work, they won’t have to bring their own TO work.

GEM is also working with the Playa Vista Development to find ways to incorporate NEV’s into the planned community. The 1087-acre site now under development and construction in Southern California will eventually have 13,000 residential units, 40 parks and 6 million square feet of office, commercial and retail space. GEM and Playa Vista will consider ways to use NEV’s on the internal road network and use them to connect with mass transit .

GEM manufactures two and four seat electric vehicles with available truck utility beds that have a top speed limited to 25 miles per hour. Visit GEM at http://www.gemcar.com/ , ATN at http://www.atnetwork.org/ and Playa Vista at http://www.playavista.com/ .

GREEN POWER FOR SAIL. Sailboats are the ultimate green vehicle. When the wind is up, only yards of fabric and the skill of the crew are needed to move boat, passengers or cargo from one place to the next. The source of energy is free. When the wind is down, a motor is usually switched on to continue or begin the journey. That motor doesn’t have to be a belching diesel motor. It can also be an electric one - and a regenerating motor at that.

Having completed at least 11 conversions to electric power, Solomon Technologies is about to add three more combustion-engine-to-electric conversions to its list.

Under power, Solomon’s Electric Wheel (tm) is used as a quiet, exhaust-free replacement for a conventional auxiliary motor. Under sail, boat moving, flowing water turns the boat’s auxiliary motor propeller and the Electric Wheel becomes a generator recharging its battery pack. Because the fully enclosed motor design delivers constant torque throughout its operating range, a smaller-than-expected Electric Wheel can replace a gas or diesel engine of larger power output - 10 horsepower can replace 32 horsepower.

The design of the Electric Wheel has been proven elsewhere in our solar system. The Mars Pathfinder rover used a small solar-powered drive motor of the same design. Visit Solomon at http://www.solomontechnologies.com/ .

METHANE-TO-WORK. Any wastewater treatment plant that isn’t capturing and utilizing its methane gas probably should - if possible. Using technology that could be adapted at many locations, the City of Fort Worth, Texas and the Texas Water Development Board will use captured waste methane gas at the city’s Village Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant to supply power and heat to the facility.

Two 5.2 megawatt gas turbine generators, operated by TXU Energy Services, will supply at least half the electrical energy for the treatment plant. The twin turbines replace 40 year old methane fueled internal combustion engines at the site. Heat recovery systems in the turbine’s exhaust stream will supply heat to the plant’s administration building in winter.

The $10 million Village Creek project will save Fort Worth $1 million per year for 20 years. Visit TXU at http://www.txu.com/ .

WORLD WIND WATCH. Danish wind turbine manufacturer Bonus Energy A/S has secured an order with Energi E2 to supply 72 turbines to be installed at a 150 megawatt offshore wind farm. Expected to be complete by 2003, the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm at Roedsand in southeast Denmark is the second of five offshore facilities currently planned for the country.

Nysted will have eight rows of turbines, each with nine turbines, planted in water depths ranging from 20 -30 feet. The facility will be more than 5 miles from shore. Turbines will be painted grey to visually blend in with the color of the water’s surface.

When complete all five projects combined will generate 750 megawatts, or 7.5 percent of current Danish electricity demand. Vestas Wind Systems turbines will be used in the first wind facility that will have a 160 megawatt capacity. The country also has future wind projects in mind to generate 4000 megawatts by 2030. Visit Bonus at http://www.bonus.dk/ , Energi E2 at http://www.e2.dk/ , Vestas at http://www.vestas.com/ .

Swedish energy company Renewable Energy in Sweden AB is planning to build five wind projects in cooperation with Swiss company World Wind Industries Ltd. One installation will be offshore near Skabbrevet with twenty turbines. Four onshore wind parks will be in Scania with a total of 21 turbines. All projects are expected to be completed during 2002-2003. Visit Renewable Energy in Sweden at http://www.renewable.se/ .