The Midcoast Green Collaborative is a Maine-based public nonprofit with the wide mission of socially responsible economic growth for their region. There's also an associated good blog with a high percentage of building-based posts — lots of nice, accessible, generally bite-sized, hands-on observational science.
In last week's column I examined a fairly unusual local power source: the Northfield Mountain pumped hydropower system, which is used for "storing" electricity--by pumping water uphill. This week we'll take a look at a very different power-generation system that's even closer to home: the landfill gas power plant at the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) facility on Ferry Road.
whir... whir... whir.. whir... CLUNK! It finally worked... after decades of catching nothing but birds and bats, while making a small amount of electricity as a byproduct, the international effort to catch a UFO netted its first victim. A wind turbine in England lost one of its rotors last week in a nighttime incident with no clear cause, on the same night that locals observed unusual lights. Too bad we misunderestimated the aliens... there is no sign of a downed spacecraft, and they apparently made off with the broken rotor, which can't be found.
Last weekend, looking for someplace new to explore, my wife and I drove down to Northfield, Massachusetts, to check out the cross-country ski center. The skiing was great, and it occurred to me that readers of this column might be interested in learning about the pumped-hydro power plant on the mountain--the ski center was created as a recreational amenity for this power project.
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CREE LR6 6" recessed downlight
Light-emitting diodes, better known as LEDs, are all around us--those little red or green indicator lights that blink at us from our stereo equipment, most new traffic signals, and virtually all new exit signs in commercial buildings. And if you've been to Times Square recently, you've seen way too many LEDs being used for advertising! We've all seen colored LEDs; what's new is the use of white LEDs for indoor lighting.
7/1/09 Update: If you're looking to keep up to date on LEED 2009, I recommend checking out our own LEEDuser.com, which was recently launched
HID lighting at Fenway Park in Boston.
Three recent columns provided a brief history of lighting, an overview of fluorescent technology, and a look at the challenges of improving streetlights. Following a side trip into the issue of "passive survivability," I'm returning this week to illumination with an overview of high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting.
From the Father of Green Chemistry to that guy from This Old House, a couple dozen videos of speakers and presentations from Greenbuild '08 have been posted at
Some homes in New Orleans were without power for months as a result of hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Twice each month, BuildingGreen publishes an email news bulletin with current news and product information briefs. Sign up here — it's free. We will never share or sell your email address, and you may unsubscribe at any time.
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Mercury vapor light. Mercury vapor is the oldest type of high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting.
Last week we took a look at fluorescent lighting, which is dramatically reducing our energy use for illuminating indoor spaces. This week we'll cover mercury vapor lighting, which is the most common outdoor lighting in many of our towns.
Fluorescent lamps have electrodes at both ends of a phosphor-coated, sealed glass tube that is filled with a small amount of mercury vapor in an inert gas, usually argon.
I'm not usually all that comfortable in front of a camera, but I had fun walking the Greenbuild 2008 Expo floor with a video crew from CNNMoney.com and Fortune magazine.
