The following energy news items were drawn from multiple sources.
Wind Generator Design Classes
The University of Massachusetts offered
a course in wind system design this summer and the response was
tremendous. An Energy Alternatives generator is currently being used by
the U of M to test advanced windplant propeller designs. Many other
universities and schools of engineering in the U.S. and Canada also have
instituted such courses and research work.
Mass Produced Solar Components
Mass produced solar collector
components are now available from both Olin Brass and Revere Copper
& Brass· See your nearest supplier of Olin and Revere industrial
products for specifications and prices.
Heat Pump Benefits
It’s easy to cut electric heating bills by one-third: Just install a heat pump. Heat pumps (which can either collect warmth at Point A and move it to Point B or vice versa) are–thanks to the energy crunch–suddenly coming into their own. Engineers say that, “Compared to other forms of electrical heaters, these units are 200 to 250% efficient.” If you’re interested in learning more about them, see your local heating contractor. General Electric, Westinghouse, Lennox, and other major furnace/air conditioning manufacturers already have begun a major marketing push of the pumps.
Oil Platform Alternative Energy
Wind power and solar energy have already been harnessed by the oil industry. Shell, Atlantic Richfield, Tenneco, and other large petroleum companies are currently using small solar-powered equipment (foghorns, warning lights, etc,) on drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The firms are also conducting serious tests on windplants with 3-to-7-foot-diameter propellers (and outputs ranging from 16 to 150 watts). Business Week reports that oilmen now figure on using Gulf breezes to supply electricity to half of the 2,800 offshore drilling platforms located in that body of water.
Alternative Energy Conference
Don’t expect much from the World Energy Conference, scheduled for September 23-27 in Detroit, Michigan. Lavish advance promotion brands the gathering as a big-government-big-business-as-usual waste of time. When the newly formed American Wind Energy Association applied for admittance to the conference, it was turned down. (“You’re too late!’ AWEA representatives were told.) Result: Undaunted AWEAers decided to hold their own alternative energy conference in Detroit on September 20-2l … with maybe just a little of their meeting being extended to overlap the WEC clambake. AWEAer Al O’Shay–of Detroit’s Environmental Energies, Inc,–expects to have his solar, wind, and methane powered store open by then and has offered its use as unofficial headquarters for the AWEA meet.
Energy Alternatives Inc.
Energy Alternatives Inc., is the new firm set up in Leverett, Massachusetts by Klaus Kroner “for the purpose of promoting wind, sun, tidal and thermal gradient power.” The company plans to spread the good word about alternative energy sources of all kinds and is already a distributor for the Winco (of Iowa) and Dunlite (of Australia) wind-driven generators.
Audubon Society Wind Power
And here’s some of those good words from Klaus Kroner now: The Massachusetts Audubon Society is thinking about operating one of their office buildings in Lincoln on wind-generated electricity. The organization has a large tower (from an old military installation) next to its headquarters and society officials are looking for a windplant with which to top the structure.
