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Flywheels will be stabilising the power grid starting in 2011 in New York City

energy storage in compressed air inside a shipping container!

A group of students at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur have developed a bio cell (battery) that can be used to treat sewage water and generate electric energy, being a perfect solution to combat the water and energy crisis.

The bio-cell (LOCUS) can be set up in the form of a plant, through which the sewage water of a housing complex would be flowed in. The patent-pending invention carries a cell that will automatically grow millions of anaerobic bacteria that multiply through respiration. This bacterium cleans up the sewage water and in the process generates free electrons, which can be harnessed to produce electricity.
"We worked on this concept for nearly a year before we readied the cell and applied to the ministry to enter its annual business plan competition that focuses on bio technology products for sustainable development," said Manoj Mandelia, a fourth year student of biotech engineering.

According to the team, the cell at this stage can clean up the amount generated by 100 residential units in a day, that's about 50,000 liters of sewage water. "The purified water has been tested and has been certified to be clean and fit for household use. It is, however, not fit for drinking," Mandelia explained.



Read more: greenoptimistic.com/2009/11/20/indian-students-develop-bio-cell-to-clean-se... [greenoptimistic.com/2009/11/20/indian-students-develop-bio-cell-to-clean-se...]

An inventor has come up with a new green fuel - logs made from leaves.

With one million tonnes of leaves falling from British trees every year, Peter Morrison decided to harness the waste and turn it into energy.

By collecting and compacting the dead matter, his company has turned them into environmentally-friendly `logs' to burn in open fires and wood stoves.

The logs, said to be 70 per cent carbon neutral, are also being considered by bosses of a major power station to cut their carbon emissions.

Each log, weighing 2lb 10oz, is made from about a binliner-full of leaves.

It generates more heat than wood and burns for longer.

The company has started supplying the 11in-long logs, which burn for about three hours, to shops such as B&Q.

Mr Morrison says that as well as being cleaner and greener than burning wood or coal, the leaf logs are very efficient, creating 28,000 kilojoules of energy compared to 29,000 produced by the finest grade coal.

Typically, each deciduous British tree sheds up to 50,000 leaves each autumn which are dumped in landfill with a small percentage redirected for composting.

Leaves left to decompose release methane into the atmosphere but when burnt they only give off the carbon absorbed during the summer on the tree - they add nothing extra to the environment making them carbon neutral.

Leaf Logs are also easy to use, `You can simply place a Leaf Log in the grate, light the bag and settle down in front of a cosy fire in a matter of seconds. No firelighters, kindling or hassle involved.'

Leaf Log is wrapped and sold in boxes of 10 for �35 with free delivery direct from the company.

Gen. Wesley Clark calls for exit from Afghanistan

By John Byrne
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 -- 8:51 am
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Wesley%20Clark Gen. Wesley Clark calls for exit from AfghanistanRetired Gen. Wesley Clark -- the onetime Democratic candidate for president -- told Congress Tuesday in little-reported remarks that the United States should begin planning for an exit from Afghanistan, breaking ranks with Obama's current Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

The former Supreme Allied Commander of US forces Europe reminded Congress of the "legacy of Vietnam" in considering the US strategy in Afghanistan. Obama's commanders have called for an increase of as many as 60,000 troops in the war-torn country.

You've got to �oefigure out where you�re going," Clark told the House Armed Services subcommittee on oversight and investigations. "How do we get out of here? Because our presence long term there is not a good thing. We�re playing into the hands of people who don�t like foreigners in a country that�s not tolerant of diversity. And that�s not going to change.”

Clark pressed Congress to begin devising an exit strategy from the country. He said that the US should strengthen its relationship with Pakistan and work with the Pakistani government to target al Qaeda, while diminishing its presence in neighboring Afghanistan. He also argued that economic development in Afghanistan was important.

If the US were to increase its forces in Afghanistan, Clark said, a exit strategy should be in place first.

attractive house with nice passive solar glass, and a roof suitable for solar energy collection

happy winter weekend, time to play with the harvest of fall foliage and create colorful imagery on the computer!

From the page: "SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE
11/11/2009 04:17 PM
Reluctant Partners
Global Crisis Makes US More Dependent on China than Ever

By Gabor Steingart and Wieland Wagner

When US President Barack Obama visits China this weekend, he will encounter a rival that sees the financial crisis as more of an opportunity than a threat. America, on the other hand, has been fundamentally weakened by the global crunch -- and is more dependent on the goodwill of the rising superpower than ever.

The scientists at the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, China, had plenty to celebrate: They had developed a supercomputer that could perform more than a quadrillion calculations per second.

The announcement, released just in time for US President Barack Obama's visit to China this weekend, had symbolic value: With their new computer, dubbed "Tianhe" ("Milky Way"), the Chinese claim they will be the first country to become a direct rival to the superpower.

China is bursting with self-confidence. The new world power sees itself as a winner in the financial crisis, with its economy growing by an impressive 9 percent in the third quarter, while the economies of the West struggle to recover from a deep recession. And while the Americans are focused on their own problems, China is expanding its influence, both in Asia and among resource-rich African countries.

China's leaders are challenging the Americans more and more aggressively, not least to demonstrate to their own population of 1.3 billion how far the country has progressed under their leadership.

In an article in the party organ of the People's Liberation Army, Air Force General Xu Qiliang announced China's plans to expense its defense capabilities deep into space in the future. By the mid-21st century, the general predicted, the People's Republic will have become a world power, and its air force will be required to defend the country against many kinds of threats.

Shifting Balance

Thirty years after the two major powers established diplomatic relations, the bilateral balance is now shifting in China's favor. When Obama arrives in Beijing this weekend as part of his first Asian tour since taking office, the Chinese will expect him to behave far more modestly than his predecessor. The president is unlikely to disappoint his hosts.

Judging by what his advisors have indicated in recent weeks, Obama will not inundate the Chinese with demands. The vision of a nuclear weapons-free world will have to wait. The calls for binding climate protection goals will only be mentioned quietly, if they are mentioned at all. The American will continue to press Beijing to revalue its currency, the yuan, but only at the expert level. Rarely has the superpower been this mild-mannered.

Obama describes his foreign policy as a new age of cooperation. He is seeking to develop a relationship with a Chinese leadership that he needs more than it needs him. About two-thirds of China's foreign currency reserves are denominated in dollars. Any abrupt shift on the part of Beijing would threaten the stability of the US currency. Cheap imported Chinese goods help push up the American standard of living and minimize the risks of inflation.

Washington has been particularly enthusiastic about China's economic stimulus programs: the Chinese launched the world's biggest investment program after the start of the financial crisis. Without their spirited course of action, the world economy could very well have imploded. Beijing's stimulus program amounted to about 13 percent of Chinese gross domestic product, making it almost twice as large as the US program and close to five times the size of its German equivalent. Obama's economic team has been deeply impressed by the success of China's stimulus policy.

The discussion that has begun in China over curbing government spending and tightening liquidity is happening too early for Obama's taste. When he visits Beijing, he will try to encourage the Chinese to continue playing their role as the principal driver of the world economy.

Meanwhile, the Americans see Europe moving from the passenger's seat to the back seat in terms of the US's international partners. It was former President George W. Bush who upgraded the Chinese by launching a G-20 summit process to combat the financial crisis, rather than leaving it up to the G-8 member states, as the German Chancellery would have liked him to do.

'Peace, Progress and Prosperity'

Obama is continuing this course of realignment. If, from the American perspective, there is anything resembling a tentative world government, it does not consist of either the United Nations in New York or the G-8. In Obama's opinion, the G-20 is the key forum.

Next to the United States, China is the most important G-20 member, and the Americans are treating it with appropriate deference. When she became US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton's first foreign trip was to As