http://www.opportunisticpower.com Collecting the energy that surrounds us. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:01:09 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en From the Article here:  A Publication in the current issue of Geophysical Research Letters by a team of scientists from NASA's JPL uses satellite data to measure the surface stresses over the oceans. Recent technological advances have made floating wind farms possible, but the key is putting them in the right ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/07/using-satellites-to-identify-offshore-locations-for-wind-farms/ From the Article here The state of Hawaii has become the first in North America to require solar water heaters in new homes. The bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Linda Lingle this week, prohibits issuing building permits for single-family homes that do not have solar water heaters. So what do ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/07/hawaii-now-requires-solar-water-heaters/ The design of the home, at nearly 7,000 square feet, is built with two-thirds less waste than traditional models and operate 80% more efficiently than similar sized home. It’s high-end luxury, but hey, if you can afford to build a home like this, there’s no reason to skimp on doing ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/07/7000-sq-ft-home-with-zero-carbon-footprint/ From the Article Reusing the waste heat from a data center may not make the server room itself more efficient, but depending on how heat is reused, it can save a company a significant sum of money. In its report to Congress last year on data center energy consumption, the federal ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/capturing-waste-heat-from-datacenters/ From the NYT Article: Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years. The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/us-freezes-applications-for-solar-energy-developments/ From the article here : As fuel prices soar, Alaskan officials announced the exploration of the state's volcanoes, saying they could be exploited to provide energy for thousands of homes. Geothermal energy has long been harnessed in Icleand.  Is it finaly time that it starts to meet the US energy needs?  ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/volcanoes-could-supply-up-to-25-per-cent-of-us-power-needs/ In this article the author states: In less than 7 years, Mercedes-Benz plans to ditch petroleum-powered vehicles from its lineup. Focusing on electric, fuel cell, and biofuels, the company is revving up research in alternative fuel sources and efficiency. Wow, just wow.  Can they do it?  Are cars going the be of ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/low-cost-gas-engine-innovation-doubles-fuel-economy-2/ Revetec, a little known company from the Gold Coast region of Australia, may be on to something huge: they’ve created an engine that is 50% smaller, 50% lighter, has 50% lower emissions and is cheaper to manufacture than a conventional internal combustion engine of the same horsepower. Oh yeah, did ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/low-cost-gas-engine-innovation-doubles-fuel-economy/ From the article here: Most of us know that tornadoes are unpredictable, uncontrollable, and dangerous. But a Canadian engineer thinks they could be the future of electricity generation. He wants to make electricity from artificial tornadoes. So what do you think?  Could this work?   http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/artificial-tornado-plan-to-generate-electricity/ This sobering report by the Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office suggests that for the cost of 4 Months in Iraq 20% of the energy needs of our counrty. Direct bennefits sighted: Support of roughly 500,000 jobs in the U.S., with an average of more than 150,000 workers directly ... http://www.opportunisticpower.com/2008/06/20-of-us-demand-from-wind-power/