alternative energy

I was lucky to be in DC to attend the Solar Decathlon, where for three weeks in October, 20 teams of college and university students competed to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house (hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy).

I was not able to go into all houses, but here are some of the trends I observed:

Conserving Space

Movable furniture--A table that slides off the top of the kitchen counter to make space for when it is dinner time. I also saw appliances that were embedded in the walls (like the TVs) to make the room appear larger.

An external kitchen--the detail on the left is a faucet for whenever you are hosting Bar BQs.

Performance Analytics

Touch screen technology that allows the home owner to see and control the temperature of the home, the lights, etc. As well as a syncronization option with the iPhone to check out how much energy you have saved, or even "over produced".

Active Landscapes

This youth inventor came up with a way of solving a social issue in his village (electric blackouts) by using readily available materials.

The invention team says that "To provide a solution, we came up with an idea of using tractor batteries as an energy source to light 9-12W [lamps]. At night, the tractors are not used and they can be used to light [the lamps].

One-twelfth of the battery is consumed to use 1 [lamp] for 4 hours. The tractor’s battery then gets recharged during day time when it runs on the fields or is used for other agricultural purposes. Thus, the net is that we are not consuming any additional power to light up the [lamps] on the days that the tractor is used."

For information about Tractor-Factor and more Youth Venture Invent teams, check out GenV.

Oxnard, Calif. based onion producer Gills Onions has turned to fuel cells to solve both its waste and energy needs.