Selling power back to your utility company can be easy. Essentially you use a solar or wind powered source for energy during the day and it supplies energy back to a grid, causing your utility meter to run backwards.

Then, when it is dark outside or windy, the meter starts to roll forward again. This helps to save hundreds or thousands of dollars each year in electrical bills.

Before you can start to use this type of system, you must contact your local utility company and file an interconnection agreement with them. This gives you the rights and regulations you have to abide by in order to use your solar or wind powered source for energy.

Currently over 40 states have laws in affect stating utility companies must allow some kind of interconnection agreement with its users. Most utilities companies will not mail you a check if you produce more energy than they do.

But, they may agree to roll over the dollar amount you saved towards the next month or a future month when you experience more usage. The government has recently started giving tax breaks to those using solar or wind power as electricity, giving them another great chance to save money.

The problem many people are encountering is solar powering is not stable. With a grid, solar power is transferred into energy. In most cases, only 10 to 15 percent of solar power has the ability to be transferred into use-able energy for sustaining a household.

Source: Solar

Fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil are a finite resource. As it becomes more difficult to detect and extract from the earth, the costs to the consumer are sure to rise. This trend will continue if more resources continue to be used. And this is not the only cost of using fossil fuels. Many people feel that they have caused many of the environmental problems that we are beginning to witness today and ultimately will be paid for by future generations. So what are the alternatives to these traditional sources of energy. This article will cover a few of the alternative energy sources that are being touted as practical solutions both commercially and for the individual homeowner.

The first alternative energy source to be covered is solar energy. It has been with us for a good number of years now and many people are familiar with the odd solar panel in the neighborhood. To this extent, mankind has always known about the Sun’s energy and used it is one way or another since the first civilizations where established, however it is only fairly recently that it has advanced to the stage that we are at now.

At this point in time, the Sun’s heat and light energy is utilized to make energy for consumption.

Heat energy provided by the sun is used for many things like heating water, heating a room or cooking food. The heat from the Sun can be felt on the skin so it was not such a leap of imagination to apply it’s power to other applications. In reality, the Sun was used by many of these civilizations not only as an energy resource but also as a god, indicating the importance that they gave it.

Getting energy out of sunlight is still a fairly new development by comparison. The innovation that makes this occur is the photovoltaic (PV) cell. It was first used in the 19th century but only started being produced commercially in the 1970′s.

The principle behind it is that photons in sunlight hit the PV cell causing an electron to be displaced from the atom. Many cells and more sunlight cause more electrons to flow. This is how direct current (DC) electricity works. Direct current can be stored in a battery or used to power appliances that run on DC.

Wind power is another source of renewable energy that is becoming popular. I think this is because it is fairly well understood by most people as a concept. It may also be because plenty of wind turbines are popping up all over the countryside.

A wind turbine is a modern day windmill, it uses the power of the wind to turn blades. The kinetic energy turns a generator that, in turn, creates electricity. Countries such as Germany, Denmark and the United States are increasing the number of wind turbines every year. They represent a clean and cheap way to create energy.

Wind turbines or windmills can even be built in residential homes at a reasonable cost. It is quite simple to build a windmill or turbine from scratch or a pre-built variety can be purchased. Before you even think about this however, you need to establish if there is enough wind to make it viable and locate a good spot in your yard for it to go. You may also want to notify your neighbors that you are erecting a turbine as it could be an issue with some people.

Other renewable energy systems utilize the kinetic energy of water to create electricity. This is hydro-power and a dam is an obvious example of this process in action. Geothermal energy can also be used to some extent. The idea behind this is to use the heat found in the earth core to heat water, much like a hot spring or spa, to use as it is or as an input to a generator.

Source: solar energy

Mega search engine Google.com, today announced an investment of $10.25 million in advancing the development of green technologies. Google is supporting a technology called, Enhanced Geothermal Systems, to help meet its goal of providing enough green energy to power a city the size of San Francisco. Through Google’s philanthropic entity Google.org, an initiative dubbed “Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal” has been laid out to make this goal a reality.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems generates energy by pumping cool water 2-3 miles into a reservoir lying on top of dry, hot basement rock. The water is then pumped back to the surface at which point in condenses and creates powerful steam that is used to propel turbines. After the steam cools, it is re-injected back into the reservoir to begin the process again. This process allows energy extraction in areas that do not have natural steam pockets and hot flowing water.

The investments pledged by Google will go to help fund 2 companies and a university working on the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems. $6.25 million will go to AltaRock Energy, Inc, which will work to reduce the cost and efficiency of EGS technology. Potter Drilling, Inc. has been given $4 million to design drilling tools capable of penetrating deeper and stronger rock. Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab has been awarded a $489,521 grant to update geothermal maps and study geothermal resources in North America.

Google has recently been involved in many steps to reduce its environmental footprint and promote green technology. Data centers housing Google servers, are being designed to cut the energy needed for cooling to 50% of similar installations. The idea is not only to save money, but to create a self sufficient business model that promotes clean energy. This initiative is evident in the production of a 1.6 megawatt solar energy plant in Mountain View, California. Other projects include the Climate Savers Computing Initiative to create more efficient computers and servers, and the RechargeIT initiative aimed at developing electric vehicles and infrastructure.

Though $10.25 million may seem like a small amount to a power house company like Google, it shows considerable attention is being provided to changing the way we look at natural resources and energy generation. Google has the resources and intelligence to begin to leave a legacy that varies far from just creating one of the most popular websites of all time. Funding and support by Google leaders will help to attract more corporations with the potential for a green technology revolution. Though energy change falls on the hands of every citizen, major projects can not be completed without the funding and backing of large groups such as Google.

For Google Earth lovers, a map overlay has been provided by Google to show current distribution of geothermal resources. (Must have Google Earth)

Google has also provided an EGS policy brief to outline what the U.S. Government can do to help encourage the production and continued innovation of this technology.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems on YouTube

Solar Wall in Beijing Olympic Village

Solar power company, Conserval Engineering, has designed its SolarWall technology into the Olympic Village construction of Beijing. The SolarWall PV/T (photovoltaic + solar thermal) incorporates the thermal cells and electrical cells into the same system, allowing complete access to heating and power needs. This process is more efficient than traditional methods as less surface area is used to meet both needs. This solar solution also uses a system of removing the heat from the back surface of each module and funnelling it into the heating system of the building. SolarWall is designed to reduce and reuse the heat from the PV panels that previously caused lowered efficiency. PV cooling is documented by Conserval to increase the efficiency to 50% from a standard 10 – 15% for most modules.

Other projects are also being built to green standards. Simone Giostra & Partners Architects have built and installed the GreenPix – Zero Energy Media Wall. This giant media wall is completely powered by solar power. Greenpix will store solar energy throughout the day and power the color LED screen during the night.

“The Media Wall will provide the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art, while
offering the most radical example of photovoltaic technology applied to an entire building’s envelope
to date”, said Simone Giostra.

Though recent reports have focused on poor environment in China, Beijing is using this opportunity to change it’s image and promote a healthier lifestyle. Green architecture is being promoted and utilized to create healthier environments in China. Though damage will take a long time to reverse, this is definitely a defining moment for China and the world in displaying green technologies.

Solar LED display in Beijing, China

First, lets not give the current administration more credit than they are due. Whatever your opinions are on our current foreign policy and actions, they are not the reason for the state of our environment. We are in this situation, because ALL of us consume massive amounts of energy and resources every day we drive to work, head to the grocery store, and buy our favorite electronics. We created our problems, and all of us need to fix them. This is not something that can just be fixed by creating laws and hoping that industry and businesses follow what has been laid out.  We need to have industry that benefits from helping keep the earth clean.   Many people make the decisions in this country, and we all have a voice. We can’t expect our leaders to listen when all they hear is the lobbyists for big industry yelling their “opinions” that global warming is not real.  We need to make our voice heard.

Why would certain industries try to suppress the research of the EPA and other environmental groups? Well, the simple answer is greed. How can companies continue to post huge profits during a recession when they now are being penalized for greenhouse emissions? Regulating emissions will be extremely costly and will take a commitment from every single person in this country. If the U.S. government acknowledges that our current practices are contributing to the rapid increase in global warming, they will be forced to spend countless dollars remedying the situation and passing regulations for greenhouse emissions. This is clearly not something the richest country in the world can take lightly. This is extremely sensitive and a new territory for companies that will be effected the most by these “green” policies. So what is the solution?

Corporate diversity in the energy sector is one answer. Companies need not be afraid they will lose money, instead they have a major opportunity to make MORE money by bringing their past innovations to solve our current environmental problems. The sooner they realize this is something that is going to happen, the better off the pocket books will be. Americans love this country because of the opportunities to do almost anything they can dream up. We now have the biggest chance of all to make a difference AND fix our economy.

T. Boone Pickens is one person trying to do just that. This self proclaimed “Oil Man” is working towards reducing our dependence on foreign oil and building a system of renewable energy to save Americans money and rebuild our environment. I highly recommend checking out the Pickens’ Plan website. This network of people is determined to press our Congress into actually working towards the ideas and innovations of the public. At the time of this article, over 35,000 people have signed up to learn more information about this plan.  Though, Pickens clearly has money at stake, environmentalism is another area that will benefit from the American economics.  If anything at all you will leave the Pickens’ Plan site with more green knowledge than you had 5 minutes ago. This is how we begin at home.  Spend a few minutes each day reading about alternative energy, living a green lifestyle, or learning why nature is so important to preserve.