Results tagged “wind power” from Green Mesh

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.

Wind industry jobs jumped to 85,000 in 2008, a 70% increase year over (American Wind Energy Association).

In contrast, the coal industry employs about 81,000 workers. (2007 U.S. Department of Energy report)

Coal employment has remained steady in recent years though it's down by nearly 50% since 1986.) Wind industry employment includes 13,000 manufacturing jobs concentrated in regions of the country hard hit by the de-industrialization of the past two decades.
cnnmoney.com/greenwombat

I am fascinated by machines that blend methods of locomotion we are familiar with and executes them in different combinations. Larry Weirich recently flew his home built hovercraft off of the Goldsboro Marina into the Susquehanna River.

Instead of cutting though the water like a standard boat, a hovercraft floats on a cushion of air and is propelled by pushing air.

Weirich says that if a standard boat and a hovercraft have the same horsepower, the hovercraft will go faster because it doesn't have to deal with the friction of cutting through water.

Some other vehicles and their frictional properties...