Climate 411

Energy Innovators Just Wanna Have Fun

One of our most striking discoveries while working on Earth: The Sequel was just how much fun energy innovators are having. (First came the book, and the Discovery TV show airs tonight at 10pm ET.)

Bernie Karl spent $20,000 building an ice hotel in the Alaskan interior, and another $700 a day on diesel refrigeration, and then the whole thing melted in the midnight sun. Forbes called it “the dumbest business idea of the year.” Well, that was pure catnip to Bernie.

So he built the whole thing again, only this time he hired a dog-mushing engineer named Gwen to figure out how to use the energy in his hot springs to keep it cold. All the experts said it would fail because his water wasn’t warm enough, but Bernie made it work (and suggested that Forbes can “kiss my a-“). He went on to collaborate with United Technologies on a geothermal power plant capable of using the lowest temperature heat resource ever used anywhere in the world. That opens up more possibilities than you can imagine: to turn low-temperature industrial waste heat, or the waste hot water that comes up with oil from Texas wells, into electricity.

Jack Newman is one of three young founders of a remarkable biofuels company called Amyris , which genetically engineers yeast to ferment sugar — not into ethanol, but directly into diesel, jet fuel and gasoline chemically identical to fuels made from petroleum. They’ve assembled an incredibly multi-disciplinary team to achieve their mission, Jack says. “They just sort of ride that wave of energy of people wanting to do something interesting that’s going to make a difference, and then it just becomes a great day at work.”

For some, the fun is in realizing an opportunity to grow and make money even in these difficult times. Conrad Burke, CEO of a cutting edge solar thin-film company called Innovalight , says “I’m not an environmentalist; I’m a capitalist.” In January, Innovalight installed the world’s first solar production line using silicon ink, which is printed onto the substrate, making for high-throughput, low-cost manufacture. Amryis is also charging ahead: last year it opened its first pilot diesel plant in California, and formed a joint venture with one of Brazil’s largest ethanol distributors to quickly scale-up production. SantelisaVale, the second-largest ethanol and sugar producer in Brazil, committed two million tons of sugar cane crushing capacity for the initial production of their “no-compromise” diesel. And this month, Raser Technologies began delivering geothermal power made in Utah using the technology Bernie helped develop to Anaheim California.

You can meet all these innovators and many more on the Discovery TV special, tonight at 10 p.m. ET, or in the book, which just came out in paperback with a new afterword and illustrations.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Shatz.

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Low-Carbon Energy: Your Questions Answered

Miriam HornThis post is by Miriam Horn, a writer at Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Earth: The Sequel.

We received quite a few questions in email about the new technologies I described in our video series, Unleash the Future. I responded to questions on specific technologies in comments to the relevant blog post (solar, biofuels, geothermal, and wave). But there was one important question that applies to all the different technologies:

I’m a firm believer in alternative technology to reduce world wide dependence on fossil fuels, but with our present knowledge of the negative impacts of past innovations due to lack of foresight, what precautions are being taken to make sure that 50 years down the road our grandchildren will not be mopping up yet another mess or suffering from health problems due to compromised ethics?

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Electric Waves: Power from the Ocean

Miriam HornThis post is by Miriam Horn, a writer at Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Earth: The Sequel. It’s part of a video series on new energy technologies, Unleash the Future.


1. Introduction (YouTube)
2. Solar
3. Biofuels
4. Geothermal
5. Wave


Almost every renewable energy resource begins with the Sun. Wave power is a third conversion of solar energy. The Sun creates the temperature differential that produces wind, and wind, in turn, produces ocean waves. Inventor Alla Weinstein found a way to convert the up-and-down motion of waves into electricity.

Take a look at my short video on wave power to learn more.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/74IVv3ocUGY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

If you have any questions or comments on wave energy, please post them here. I’ll do my best to answer.

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Arctic Heat: Power from the Earth

Miriam HornThis post is by Miriam Horn, a writer at Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Earth: The Sequel. It’s part of a video series on new energy technologies, Unleash the Future.


1. Introduction (YouTube)
2. Solar
3. Biofuels
4. Geothermal
5. Wave


While solar, wind and wave energy all originate with the Sun, the heat locked up in the Earth itself offers another huge potential energy resource. Historically, that “geothermal” power could be converted into electricity only in those rare locations where natural fissures allowed water to flow into deep hot rock and come to the surface at temperatures high enough to generate steam. Now an innovator in Alaska has developed the first low-temperature geothermal power plant, which United Technologies is commercializing for worldwide sale.

Take a look at my short video on geothermal power to learn more.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/R02sy5TI4bs" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

If you have any questions or comments on geothermal energy, please post them here. I’ll do my best to answer.

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Brewing Gasoline with Yeast

Miriam HornThis post is by Miriam Horn, a writer at Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Earth: The Sequel. It’s part of a video series on new energy technologies, Unleash the Future.


1. Introduction (YouTube)
2. Solar
3. Biofuels
4. Geothermal
5. Wave


“Anything you can get out of a barrel of oil, you can get out of a pound of sugar with the right microbe.” So says Jack Newman of Amyris Biotechnologies, who is using genetically-modified yeast to brew gasoline.

Take a look at my short video on biofuels to learn more.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ySnUAAihUjg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

If you have any questions or comments on biofuels, please post them here. I’ll do my best to answer.

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Solar Ink on Roofing Material

Miriam HornThis post is by Miriam Horn, a writer at Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Earth: The Sequel. It’s part of a video series on new energy technologies, Unleash the Future.


1. Introduction (YouTube)
2. Solar
3. Biofuels
4. Geothermal
5. Wave


Harnessing solar energy can be pricey, but that soon may change. One company aims to cut the price by a factor of 10 by printing cheap solar ink onto flexible film that could serve as your roofing material.

Take a look at my short video on new solar technologies to learn more.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/nDnPoYSj0LY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

If you have any questions or comments on solar power, please post them here. I’ll do my best to answer.

Posted in Energy / Read 6 Responses