Recently in Water Power Category

I once heard an electrical utility use the marketing phrase, "Electric heat is 100% efficient"

The logic is that 100% of the energy available at a heating element becomes heat. The amount of energy lost to get that heat out of the heating element from the energy source is hard to quantify.

Electrical energy begins as a fuel source or renewable, transformed into heat, then motion or converted (solar cells) and is pushed though wires. The efficiency rapidly deteriorates.

I was looking at the specs of a 1997 all electric Chevy S-10. The system efficiency is 73%.

Electrical energy is converted to chemical storage in batteries and then converted back to the motor. Some electric vehicle motors are liquid cooled. This is because the heat generated in the motor must be carried away and that is energy not going to the wheels.

I came across a conventional thermal electricity production efficiency table for European power plants from 1990-2004 (ims.eionet.europa.eu) The average efficiency was 38%.

Think of your home heating system that is converting heat from fuel (running at 60%-95% efficiency), only you have to heat that water to high temperature steam and push a turbine with it loosing efficiency along the way.

Transmission and distribution losses of electricity in the USA were estimated at 7.2% in 1995 (climatetechnology.gov)

My fat cat is more efficient at gathering sunlight than a thin cat. She is 100% efficient at annoying me to get out on the deck for energy capture.

None of this is really scientific, but if you started with 38% efficiency from the power plant then subtract 7.2% from transmission and distribution, then plug it into a vehicle that is 73% efficient, there isn't much of the original energy of the raw fuel to move the vehicle.

To be fair, the efficiency of a gasoline powered vehicle is about 12%, Much of the energy of gasoline is lost in heat and friction, plus we can't forget the energy exerted to refine the fuel.

The value of an electric vehicle is more determined by the energy source.

If you live in Quebec, where over 90% of your energy is produced by hydro or if you are fueled by a solar grid, inefficiency is irrelevant.

Sunshine and flowing water will release their energy regardless of whether we capture it, waste is irrelevant unless you are trying to catch more.

The efficiency (and value) of electric cars should be graded by how well we use renewable resources before electrical energy ever reaches the vehicle, otherwise we are just wasting fossil fuel by converting, transmitting and storing it's energy.

Gov. Ed Rendell visited Voith Hydro today to say that hydropower has the potential for generating clean energy and creating jobs for Pennsylvania and the nation.

According to the study released today by the National Hydropower Association, the U.S. hydropower industry could install between 23,000 megawatts and 60,000 megawatts of additional capacity by 2025, or enough to generate electricity for 31 million additional homes. The study also estimates that the installation of this amount of capacity could create between 230,000 and 700,000 new jobs.

There are 80,000 dams in the United States and only 3% are used to produce hydropower.

Canada is one of the top producers of hydro power in world with some provinces extracting over 90% of their electrical needs from falling water. A market perfect for electric cars!

Not all these dams are suited to produce power, but if the dam is already built the environmental impact is already in existence. York companies like Voith and American Hydro use technology to produce highly efficient runners that can extract efficiencies into the high 90% and are more fish friendly than equipment made in the past.

You have to wonder, if there were an increase in the mandate for renewable energy or if new technologies were invented to harness even 25% of the of the 97% of the non- generating dams, how much renewable energy we could produce from falling water.

The Hanover made Fitz Waterwheel at the Wallace-Cross Mill historic site in East Hopewell Township brought new efficiency to 19th century water power.

According to tour guide Wayne Spyker, the buckets of the wheel allowed the weight of the trapped water to carry the wheel a full 180 degrees.

The Fitz wheel could more efficiently trap energy from falling water and turn it into usable energy. In this way, a 19th century mill could do more work with less water.

The Fitz wheel also had the advantage of less splash than a traditional wooden wheel that resulted in less ice buildup locking the wheel in winter.

There is some irony that the wheel, installed in 1922, is now demonstrated with with an electric pump powered by a regional electrical monopoly that pushes electric power many miles through wires probably generated by a combination of coal, nuclear, and perhaps a little bit of water

It would be very difficult with the current population load and the resulting need for government control of waterways to just harness the power of a stream in your backyard.

Jay McGinnis' inconspicuous house near New Park, Pa. is an experiment of alternative energy.

The windmills produce compressed air and electricity. The innovative air compressing wind mill stores the air throughout the farm using underground lines that act as a reservoir taking on air when the wind blows.

The solar panels on the garage heat water. The solar panels on the workshop generate electricity that is sold back to Adams Electric Cooperative Inc. Instead of using expensive batteries, McGinnis sells the solar electricity back to Adams Electric during times of peak sun (and demand in Summer) and supplements the farms' electricity when the sun isn't shining.

The hopper at right holds corn burned in the outdoor furnace that pipes hot water back to the living spaces. The wood that also feeds his boiler is grown on his property.

The 3-cylinder 2005 Honda Insight has consumed an average of 55 mpg over it's service life. The vehicles hybrid system recovers energy from braking and supplements it's tiny gasoline engine with an electric motor and batteries. The shape of the car, fender skirts and other design features of the quirky 1999-2005 Insight was capable of squeezing out 124 mpg by one hypermiling competition.

McGinnis believes that our fossil fueled world is in big trouble and we all need to do anything to use less.

McGinnis' business, The Woolen Mill Fan Company, creates reproductions of water motor fans. The parts cast in Central Pennsylvania by an Amish foundry bears the unusual mark of something produced in the United States.

2009 Baltimore Boat Show's Green Boating Zone
Wednesday, January 21 through Sunday, January 25, 2009.

Green Boating tips from the National Marine Manufacturers Association

1. Choose Green Products: Use the cleanest maintenance products that do the job. Look for the EPA-certified "Design for the Environment" DfE label, which assures you that the product has minimal environmental impact and is safer for the person using it.

Benefit: Safer products. Reduce water pollution.

2. Use The Right Prop: Use a prop with the right pitch so your engine reaches its designed wide-open-throttle RPM. An adjustable-pitch ProPulse propeller allows you to dial in the optimum pitch angle in single degrees. Modular props, like the Quicksilver Flo-Torq II series, let you swap props while keeping the same hub. Product: ProPulse propeller (A West Marine Exclusive).

Benefit: Reduce fuel consumption, improve performance.

3. Don't Push Water: Install and use trim tabs or hydrofoils such as those offered by Bennett, Nauticus and StingRay. Most planing powerboats can improve hole-shot acceleration or reduce fuel consumption with properly adjusted trim tabs and hydrofoils. Keeping on a plane at lower engine RPMs can extend your range and reduce your time on passages.

Benefit: Improve boat performance & save gas.

Baltimore Boat Show at the Baltimore Convention Center
Wednesday, January 21 through Sunday, January 25, 2009.

The Green Boating Zone will feature eco-friendly boats and accessories, including hybrid boats and products that reduce water and air pollutants.

Featured manufactuer Torqeedo, was awarded start-up company of the year, producing ultra-lightweight, foldable, strong electric outboard motors.

Torqeedo produces lithium-manganese battery systems which allow increased energy density over heavy lead batteries and improved cold operating performance. The batteries also aren't subject to memory effect and according to the manufacturer are more resistant to a reduction of charge capacity over time.

Read on for Baltimore Boat Show schedule.

Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, voted with his fellow Republicans against the (energy) bill, calling it an example of "what is wrong with Washington."

Instead of addressing the interest of all Americans, Platts said the bill would continue to prohibit drilling in the locations where most of the oil and natural gas can be found. inyork.com/ydr 08/18/08

And in about 7+ years when this oil and gas hits the global market (a free and open oil market) where the value is controlled by those who have most of the oil (OPEC), the price effect will be nothing. The thirst by developing nations will continue to pressure that market and will only be more severe in following decades.

Oil is a dead end. The cry for drilling will continue until the day we run out and then there will be panic for a solution.

What is wrong with Washington is that it has allowed it's vision to be powered by whatever the monopoly is of the time.

What is wrong with Washington is that we should have been building a national resource of renewable energy decades ago so we wouldn't be so controlled by this mess now.

What is wrong with Washington is that it lacks innovative heroes who can dig through the think of the crowd, the flow of money, and look beyond the rhetoric of the day to the survival of future generations.

Congress' earlier attempts this year to renew wind, and solar tax credits, with a measure proposing higher taxes on the oil and gas industry to pay for it have been shot down.

"It's pretty remarkable. ... Wind turbines are used in political ads, yet we stand on the verge of not extending the credit which supports the growth of the largest-growing sector of the utility and energy area in the country," - Hunter Armistead, head of renewable energy for Babcock & Brown, the private-equity firm with 20 U.S. wind farms generating 1,600 megawatts wsj.com

House approves offshore drilling with alternatives, drillers revolt - greenmesh 9/08

Sen. Barack Obama recently visited Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation in West Manchester Township. Bob Silknitter, of Red Lion, raised his hand and wondered why Sen. Obama never mentions hydroelectric power during his campaign speeches exhorting clean energy alternatives.

Solar and wind can be micro installations. Small businesses, and individuals are capable of exploiting this technology now and adding renewable energy to the electric grid.

You can't dam up your backyard and build a hydro station. It would be very difficult, if impossible, for Met-Ed to dam up a portion of the Susquehanna River and build a new hydro station.

New technology will make this cheaper and more available. If people are inspired and demand their government to provide incentives to empower all of us to be energy independent.

Hydro installations are huge capital expenditures taken on by government or huge power companies. Waterways in the United States are highly regulated and highly developed with people. In short, it is really difficult to build new hydro installations.

At the turn of the century about half of US power was generated by hydro, now that amount is down to 10%. Hydro takes a huge amount of land and water and most of those ideal situations have been used in the U.S.

U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey has some great charts and graphs about hydro power in the U.S.

Most of the work done by Voith and American Hydro here in York is turbine replacement and to increase efficiency of the turbines at existing installations so utilities can squeeze more power out of falling water. The craftsmanship and innovation at these plants constantly evolves the planet's oldest form of producing power.

It really isn't realistic to promote hydro in the way one would promote solar and wind.

Commercial hydroelectric generation in the U.S. has been around since the 1880's Companies like Voith and American should be commended for constantly making technology this old even better.

The solar cell was invented about the same time (1883) but the evolution and application as part of our energy plan are quite different.

I was riding my bike through Harpers Ferry, West Virginia today with a friend and stopped at the site of an old textile plant.

Everyone is familiar with 19th century water wheels powering small grain mills, but what was interesting about this pre-1850 installation was that they used four efficient turbines (see picture below) to drive an entire factory through mechanical transfer.

Water was gradually constricted by narrowing water tunnels, condensing the volume of water creating more power. Think of your finger squeezing over an open garden hose.

It was said that the factory could make fabric cheaper than mills in Baltimore.

Free power harnessed by American innovation 150 years ago ran an entire factory.

No worries about a 30% increase in the cost of natural gas. No hostile foreign governments to feed with our dollars. No commodity speculators to profit by escalation of price brought on by an energy monopoly strangling the economy. No competing for oil with India and China.

Free domestic power by harnessing the flow of nature.

Tunnels that brought water to the mill.

My 55 gallon plastic barrels are recycled from Anderson's Car Wash. They cost $8 a piece and originally held bio-degradable detergent. The rain collection unit is placed under my deck with a spigot coming out of the lattice, so it is not visible from the yard.

Rain comes off the roof from a 3" ABS plastic pipe (1) and drops into the diverter 'T' (2). Air purges from vents (5) at the top of the barrels and allows the tanks to take on water until diverter is full. Water then passes beyond the diverter and out an overflow. The plenum (3) is pressurized by the tank volume and comes out a spigot (4) A pipe extending the plentum (6) allows debris to fall past the spigot outlet during filling. A plug is for seasonal clean out and tank expansion.

The diverter serves a couple functions...

One of my hobbies is building hot water heating systems. I love to tune up an old steam radiator system. I am at home with pipes so my only reference for this project is my brain and maybe some inherited subconscious from my grandfather's HVAC business, Kuehnel Sheet Metal.

My friends at P.H. Plumbing Distributors, in York, once told me the qualifications for being a plumber are to know what time it is for dinner and than sh__ flows downhill. Well, it's not quite that simple in an age of building codes, but common sense and plumbing goes a long way.

Rain falls from the sky and runs to the lowest point on your property. Your house and gutter are a rainwater collector. If your house sits on the high part of your property, as it does in my case, then your system can use gravity to guide the natural flow of water.

My installation is on a row house, so I can "steal" part of my neighbor's water too. Chuck doesn't care because he is too busy riding his new scooter.

I didn't want to use electricity. There is a surprising amount of pressure from the bottom of a tank holding 100 gallons of water. My gravity fed spigot can fed from a 1/2 inch pipe and water 90% of my property with a hose. The outlet fill a container as quickly as my home's 55 psi city water spigot. I wanted to leave enough room beneath the spigot to fill a 5 gallon container.

NEXT: Parts and free pieces, we get dirty under the deck.

A couple weeks ago I sat in my yard pondering the sky during a storm. Freedom comes from the sky (6/30)

The idea is that the sun and rain that falls above my yard cannot be taxed, resold to me or monopolized upon.

I have designed and built a rain collection system out of inexpensive parts that has been working quite well for the past few weeks. The engineering of each system will depend on the slope of your property and the roof area available for rain collection.

Some considerations when designing a rain collection system

• mosquitoes


• self pressurization based on location on property


• tank storage vs. rainfall


• clean out and winter tear down

A rain collection system will reduce city water costs or lower the use of your well and electricity. If you live in a municipality where sewer is taxed based on water usage it's double savings.

A tank under your deck is like a natural pond in that it slows the rapid run-off from storms and returns it slowly to the eco-system, slowing down erosion and preventing runoff into streams.

NEXT: Considerations and building your rain collection system.

I was stretched out on my deck tonight gazing at the sky while a storm rolled in.
I came to the conclusion that only the sun and the rain, as long as they fall above my property, are free. What comes from the sky above my head cannot be taxed nor can it be repackaged, marketed and sold back to me at compounded profit and then taxed.

Harnessing these things in my backyard, I could take control of my increasingly squeezed and controlled by corporate entity - life.

The secret is in the invention, not buying the product.

I am going to build a rain collection system to water my garden. I can tell you right now that it will probably take 40 years to pay for the parts since water is pretty cheap, but it will be an exercise in securing freedom and independence. A working sculpture of hope for my future.

The internal combustion engine driving your car is a pretty inefficient method of converting energy into motion. Friction from air resistance and motion along with heat dissipated from burning fuel all take your money in exchange for nothing. That car heater sure feels great in January, but most of the time that engine heat is lost to the atmosphere while we all do our part heating the outdoors.

Loughborough University and the University of Sussex, both in the UK, has concluded that using waste heat from light-duty vehicle engines in a steam power cycle could deliver fuel economy advantages of between 6.3% and 31.7% greencarcongress.com

The idea of pushing energy into water and creating steam is nothing new. Railroads built this nation with the steam engine, however paying a premium for energy has reawakened this old trick.

Clean Power Technologies claims to have successfully achieved a 40% reduction in vehicle fuel consumption.

Other uses for exhaust energy recovery is truck refrigeration. Traditionally, a small combustion engine uses fuel to cool the trailer during transport. A steam hybrid system would take wasted heat from exhaust gas and created steam that would power refrigeration.

Abdul Mitha, CEO, and Mike Burns, CTO, of CPT demonstrated a steam engine running on the free energy recovered from the exhaust of a Caterpillar truck engine and explained the 80% fuel savings achievable in refrigerated trailer applications. tradingmarkets.com

Irving Oil Ltd., the energy arm of the Irving family's East Coast conglomerate, is looking at producing electricity from the powerful tides in the Bay of Fundy as a way to diversify into renewable energy. Company spokeswoman Jennifer Parker said the studies could cost a total of $600,000.

Experts say tidal power offers huge potential because it is more predictable than solar or wind power, and because the density of water spins turbines with greater force than wind. And the Bay of Fundy is especially attractive because it has the highest tides in the world, and is close to an electricity transmission grid, meaning the power should be able to be brought economically to market.

A 2007 report by the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., identified seven sites in North America that might be suitable for tidal power, estimating that in total they could probably support 551 turbines, each producing one megawatt of power. Of that total, 250 would be in the Minas Pass in Nova Scotia and 66 at Head Harbour in New Brunswick (one of the sites the Irving team will now assess). globeandmail.com

I don't think the general public would be as pissed off at oil companies if they thought that their financial sacrifices at the pump were a means to an end. It's rare to find a story where an oil company is trying to diversify itself in a non-petroleum way to meet the new energy challenge.

When oil giants met with Senate last week, (Senators vs. Oil Executives vs. OPEC vs.... greenmesh 5/21) they talked of wanting to drill more in protected areas and the need to hoard their profit for a rainy day. I don't recall anyone at the table saying that they wanted to use the huge profits to diversify into renewable resources.

Using windfall oil profit to diversify, build a future business model for themselves and harmony with their customers and government is preferably (at least to me) to hoarding, calling themselves victims and trying to grab new land for drilling.

BUSKIRK, N.Y. (AP) — A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings.

That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear.

Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove.

These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves. (AP)

I can't say that I would choose to live on the edge of peril. I find too much hope and enjoyment in life to risk that for even one day by adopting a doomsday view of the future.

However, how cool would it be if everyone cut their driving in half, came up with a random alternative to heat their home that the commodities market wouldn't harness for profit. Gather the tax free, corporate free, sun, wind and water on their own properties and use their own soil to provide themselves food and fuel. The price oil, natural gas and electricity would plunge from the lack of demand and the individual would gain a degree of independence.

Doomsday averted.

Martin Library will host an environmental panel discussion on February 21 featuring:

Bob Astor – Shipley Fuels Marketing
Benjamin Caire – United Biofuels
Eugene DePasquale – PA Representative
Michael Helfrich – Lower Susquehanna River Keeper
Elizabeth Kepley – Gifford Pinchot State Park
Mark Platts – Lancaster – York Heritage Region
Liz Winand – Shank’s Mare.

I was interviewed, via keybord of course, since I will be one of the moderators. Below is the text of the interview:

5. In your opinion, how does the level of environmental awareness in York County compare to that of other similar-sized communities?

York is a land of plenty. We have enjoyed low population congestion and are blessed with resources. California is tuned into air pollution because congestion and climate patterns demanded action. The desert southwest is tuned into water supply because of the lack of it. Other than the Codorus Creek, a stray landfill and an occasional bad ozone day, York County generally has not been confronted in the face with major environmental issues. High oil prices, wars and global cries that we need to act have brought these concerns home to York.

6. What do you believe the typical Yorker can do to improve the environment?

Use less to do more. Nothing will lower pollution, lower oil prices, and stretch resources more than choosing to use less through product choice and lifestyle. This concept runs contrary to our financial model that, up until now, has promoted and thrived on people using more energy.

7. As editor of Greenmesh.com, what do you see as the most promising alternative to oil-based energy?

Experimenting with many alternatives is the best was to transition away from an oil based economy. It takes time to understand the repercussions of any form of energy production. Solar collection is the lowest impacting source of alternative energy, but in places like Pennsylvania, solar isn’t practical most of the time. We have already experienced the implications of diving head first into corn-based ethanol by higher food and feed prices.

All methods of energy production have environmental implications and placing all our eggs in one basket gives power to a new monopoly and will accentuate any negative effects of pushing a single solution of energy production....

The energy bill fell flat in the Senate Friday after the house passed it. The White House issued a statement saying,

"“Their proposal would raise taxes and increase energy prices for Americans. That is a misguided approach and if it made it to the president’s desk, he would veto it.” nyt.com

The bill is more of a panic reaction by a few well intentioned to a dire situation than a solution.

Well true, the bill would have increased the price of energy for Americans because a majority of the taxes were on oil companies that would have passed the cost along to consumers; before the money taken away from consumers could catch up by creating competition with alternative energy. Also people affected by feed prices like cattleman lined up not liking it because the huge ethanol mandate would push the price of feed up squeezing them against consumers.

The love for corn based ethanol is mind boggling requiring production of ethanol and other bio fuels, from about 5 billion gallons a year of bad science and impact of the food supply today to 36 billion gallons of the same and yet to be discovered methods of production by 2022.

Old school oil wants to clutch it's money as long as possible and government is here to empower status quo economic highways. Meanwhile, no one with power is enough of a hero to see the big picture and force change. The planet continues to die.

Nothing is going to get done here until consumers start using some things, stop using others and conserving what we must use but don't want. The great part about capitalism is that there has to be a market for something to gain power. Ultimately, an educated consumer holds all the power.

Until hurricane Agnus wiped out the Biesecker Mill water works in 1972, the mill was powered by free water power.

Over 230 years of renewable, tax free, profit and pollution free energy captured and harnessed in York County by a machine made out of wood, stone and iron.

Mills often used a retention system that stored water at night that was then used to power the water wheel the following day. These ancient water batteries captured the stream's continuous slow energy and conserved it for high demand.

I am always marveled by these early accomplishments of self-sufficiency that harnessed renewable energy. It reminds me that historically, "renewable energy" wasn't a future, high-tech technology that seems untouchable by consumers today, but once was fueled by the freedom to harness creativity in an immature economic/political environment.

The almost intact mill's machinery will disappear into history this Monday during a silent auction. The building's shell will house condominiums.

Mill's history grinds to an end (11/23/07) ydr.com

$159 a barrel by 2030 with 270 million cars in China

As gasoline prices quietly scrolled past $3 a gallon locally this week and a barrel of crude nears $100 there wasn't much to say here at greenmesh, though it's an oozing fissure in the dome of the volcanic energy crisis.

Those in the energy industry who can profit this quarter are not saying much as those who just "need" a 7-liter pickup truck to commute to work from their well heated, over-sized house. Life, aside from accelerating dollars in and out of a pockets, goes on.

The International Energy Agency in it's annual World Energy Outlook has taken a more pessimistic view over previous projections that in the past said pumping trillions of dollars into sucking oil out of the earth could meet global energy needs.

$100,000,000,000 in today's dollars could shift us to Hydrogen according to Peter Schwartz, a former futurist for Shell Oil, who is an investor in two companies developing hydrogen power technologies and Doug Randall, Global Business Network.

With that investment, the nation could shift the balance of power from foreign oil producers to US energy consumers within a decade. By 2013, a third of all new cars sold could be hydrogen-powered, 15 percent of the nation's gas stations could pump hydrogen, and the US could get more than half its energy from domestic sources, putting independence within reach.

All that's missing is a national commitment to make it happen. wired.com

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Iraq War Cost

I welcome $3 a gallon for gasoline. These small warning signs dotting the landscape are a wake-up call of what is to come. There is a price at the pump where an informed democracy will force a solution with it's tax dollars; perhaps that number is $4, $5 or $10.

Here are some projections by the IEA:
The staggering pace of Chinese and Indian economic growth in the past few years, outstripping that of all other major countries, has pushed up sharply their energy needs, a growing share of which has to be imported. Free trade means increased standard of living for developing countries. The world’s energy needs would be well over 50% higher in 2030 than today.

Oil demand for transport almost quadruples in China between 2005 and 2030, contributing more than two-thirds of the overall increase in Chinese oil demand. The vehicle fleet expands seven-fold, reaching almost 270 million. New vehicle sales in China exceed those of the United States by around 2015.

Verdant Power’s Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project is being operated in New York City’s East River, along the eastern shore of Roosevelt Island. The RITE Project incorporates a Kinetic Hydropower System comprised of 5 meter, 35 kW Free-flow turbines, which generate electricity from the ebb and flow tides of the East River. In three phases, the project is planned to progress from a demonstration array of six turbines to 100-300 turbines. At full capacity the project could provide up to 10 MW of power locally, enough to provide energy to nearly 8,000 New York homes. verdantpower.com

In a win for the eco-system, the largest dam removal in the Pacific Northwest in 40 years began on Tuesday with blasts of 4,000 pounds of explosives by Portland General Electric.

see a video of the dam blowing up

Marmot Dam a 58-foot-high structure, originally built in 1909, will be removed and the site restored as part of the decommissioning of the entire Bull Run project.

Removing the two dams, in coordination with 23 environmental, governmental and civic organizations, will allow the Sandy to flow freely from Mt. Hood to the Columbia River. Winter steelhead, spring Chinook and coho salmon, all listed on the federal Endangered Species Act, need free flowing rivers to survive.
marmotdam.com

The Hawaii Gateway Energy Center in Kailua-Kona, designed by Ferraro Choi and Associates, Ltd., receives its power from the sun and is ventilated with cool temperatures from deep seawater.

The American Institute of Architects has announced its "Top Ten Green Projects," celebrating the best examples of sustainable architecture and environmental design.

"What few people realize is that buildings have the greatest impact on climate change — more than transportation and industry — because they consume so much electricity and natural gas, and they're all powered by power plants that themselves produce carbon emissions," said AIA spokesman Scott Frank. msnbc.com

Judy Grove beams while leading a tour though the historic Wallace-Cross Grist Mill in East Hopewell Township on a mild fall Sunday.

"We’re very proud of this jewel we have in the middle of York County," said Grove.

The Friends of Cross Mill host the open house with the York County Department of Parks and Recreation at the historic grain mill several times a year. Grove said the mill began operation in the 1840s and was operated until 1987. Mostly powered by a water wheel, the mill was sometimes powered by a steam engine or gasoline tractor when water flow wasn’t available.