Archives for September 2013

Any thing to help stop illegal logging is extremely important. There is now technology for smartphones combined with solar power to help watch over the rainforest and catch the bad guys. It’s always a challenge to watch over big amounts of land for banned logging activity. So, any kind of advancement towards combating these problems is a breath of fresh air. There is going to be a combined network of solar smartphones listening in to the noises of the rainforest and distinguishing the sound of chainsaws. They will be placed around the rainforest sporadically and work continuously. The phones can hear chainsaw motors in an area over .5km radius and this real time data will be sure to catch illegal logging.

It takes no time at all for some illegal logging to take a huge toll on protected ecosystems. Current methods can take time because its just using satellites to look for swaths of cleared land. This is slow and only useful after the damage is done. By the time someone can attempt to stop the chainsaws the loggers are well on their way. Having the real time network set up of smartphones all equipped to listen to audio frequencies gives conservation agents a fighting chance. These smart phones will then send out alerts when the audio of chainsaws gets picked up. A non-profit called the Rainforest Connection will be utilizing this first in Western Sumatra. They will be the ones in charge of an internet- based central database but alerts get sent to agents in charge of individual sections of forest.

Rainforest Connection will start out with 15 Android phones but hopes to create a stream of reuse by accepting outdated smartphones for this project. That is such a great way to not only save the rainforest but keep electronic waste out of the landfill. The main goal is to not only save the forest but to allow expansion of new technologies by allowing crowd sourced projects. The more systems set up the better! If you send your contact information along with the phone donation, Rain Forest Connection will be able to tell you exactly where your phone is being put to use.

To donate your old phone send it to:

Rainforest Connection

799 Clayton Street

San Francisco, CA, 94117, USA

article review by Julie Glenn

This is the link to give you more information about this clever innovation.

http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/smartphones-used-monitor-rainforest-illegal-logging.html

Stop!!! Before you throw away your old smart phone mail it in to save the rainforest!!!

Outside patio with a view of the Saint Louis Arch in the background!! The Gate way to the West!!!

A cute little establishment in Saint Louis is making that big leap to going solar and they are going about it in a unique way with the help of Ameren UE, which is a power company! They are building solar canopy carports in their parking lot adjacent to the Ameren property in Saint Louis. Vin de Set is a French restaurant in a historic building that dates to 1876 and owned by Paul and Wendy Hamilton.  The building is known as the Centennial Malt House and originally it housed the Schnaider Brewing Company.  There are other things currently housed in this building such as Moulin event spaces and a PW Pizza as well. Vin de Set is the place to be for that view of downtown Saint Louis, view of the Arch, good food, fancy drinks and now a chance to see a Solar Panel array.  Solar technology on this historic premise is to be deep in progress by the end of September. The photovoltaic system is expected to be 25- kilowatts and the carport canopy will cover a long row of vehicles. This canopy backs up to the east side of the lot and Ameren UE will buy any extra power from the restaurant. The cost of the project will be $98,000 but there are a lot of things in place currently to help lower the cost. Some federal help will be through the Solar Investment Tax Credit and Ameren offers a $2 per watt of installed solar capacity. Ameren will offer this amount up to $50,000 via project installment.  If you are ever in Saint Louis be sure to stop by this fun restaurant called Vin de Set and treat mom or your significant other to good eats. Of course the ultimate treat in my books would be to check out the Solar Carport Canopy and sip on some wine!!

Check out the Ameren UE website and get in contact with them before you do your own solar project! There very well could be rebate programs connected with this awesome utility company. They even have a get started page to really help your home or business along.

http://ameren.com/Solar/Pages/Home.aspx

Restaurant website: www.vindeset.com

By Julie Glenn

Almost applied all the way with second coat!!

On our Chameleon house we have use of an awesome material called BASF© EnerShield©. It is a system that creates a pretty good air and water- resistive barrier on most wall assemblies. Enershield goes on in a liquid manner by just being painted on. Quick application with a paint roller is quiet luxurious. For such an easy application this sustainable material accomplishes a lot. Utilizing the EnerShield is a step to reduce use of extra insulation like products. Some bragging rights we will have with this product is that the air barriers really do reduce building energy consumption by up to 40%. We are very proud of the fact that its water based and when being applied was not undergoing any scary exothermic reactions and not flammable in liquid form. The usage of this helps to reduce emissions that much more. The Enershield has VOC levels that are below maximum levels allowed by USGBC LEED program.  This has been painted all around the exterior of our house in a couple of layers and does have a fairly nice consistency.  Here are some pictures of before and after shots.  To see all the methods and watch some “how to videos” please check out the company website. The site even goes into detail with how to treat joints when using Enershield. http://www.wallsystems.basf.com/en/enershield/Pages/default.aspx

Blog by Julie Glenn

Side in the shade has been painted.

Close up Shot!!!

    Part of the wing©

Solar Power in the AIR!!!

Something exciting flew into the Midwest and it has to do with what we love most: Solar Power!!! An airplane named Solar Impulse made a stop in Saint Louis.  This is a solar powered airplane that made a grand tour of America in an attempt to circle the globe. It made a pit stop in Saint Louis and the plane was in lay over for a few days in early June to allow people to view it. It’s the first solar plane to fly day and night. For the U.S trip it flew more than 3500 miles. This is a Swiss made plane and with a 208 feet wingspan, it appears to look like a big glider. There are about 12,000 solar cells on this thing to power four electric motors. These motors will in turn drive the propellers. The engines will collectively create 40 horsepower and the plane requires 2,000 feet of runway to take off with. It will lift off the ground at 22mph.  With all of the lithium batteries included and the carbon fiber materials too, the plane weighs only 3,500 pounds.  Unfortunately, it mostly maintains a 40 mph speed but I say because of the fact this thing can fly at night, clean technology truly is reliable! That’s ok about speed because with the way technology makes leaps and bounds hopefully one day that Boeing 747 © you board for flight will have no need for fuel expect the clean energy from the sun. Sustainable technologies need to be encouraged so be sure to check this plane out on their website and continue to push for innovation!

www.solarimpulse.com

Blog by Julie Glenn

    Solar Impulse on the ground©

Pretty photo of Solar Impulse in flight!!! ©

The solar village residents made an item for the silent auction in an attempt to make more money for the current Solar House project. They all agreed to make different dishes utilizing ingredients from the green house and prepare a fabulous meal. Christina Adams from the Environmental Research Center won that dinner bid. The dinner turned out to be a high class blast with enough food for her family and the village tenants. Along with her humor Christiana even added to the dinner meat from her grass fed cows!  Fried Zucchini and a couple of vegetable dishes can be seen in this picture below.

Fried Zucchini is fairly easy to make. All it takes is breading it and letting it fry a little in corn oil. Put enough corn oil in pan to cover bottom and put on high heat. When frying make sure to always have something in the pan sizzling. Bread the zucchini by mixing a couple of eggs, flour and water. You can use milk instead of water if you would like a little different consistency to the breading. After dipping the sliced zucchini, fry it golden brown and add salt. This all takes literally like fifteen minutes to do and is tasty!

One of the vegetable dishes was a salad dressing mixture of vinegar and olive oil. It involved the combination of onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs. By Julie Glenn

Thanks to Ten K Solar our Chameleon house looks extremely spiffy! They helped to hook us up with the tenK RAIS PV system that is their trade mark. It’s a system that combines PV modules, reflectors and the racking all put together. When this was mounted to our flat roof a beautiful wave like pattern appeared. This system provides more kWh per square foot because of its high density energy production. What makes this system truly unique is the way if any part of this module is disrupted, say from shade for example, the rest of the system can still act normally. You only lose a few percentage points of output. To get technical the actual cool aspect of their solar module is the way connections go both directions on the actual panel in a mesh grid. This is verses the alternative which is wiring in a series. Compared to other panels that could be affected majorly in the energy production department if a weather incident occurs, this tenK RAIS PV system will just keep chugging along. If it ever does encounter weather damage the module can be replaced and the new module will freely be mixed with the other modules.

Maximum power point tracking wired parallel can accept reflections. You can see in our Chameleon House roof picture that the multi colored window like apparatus reflects light and increases light energy consumption by a lot. It reflects because its coated by 3m film that will only allow rays that can be used to be reflected. The rest gets passed through the glass to prevent heat build up. Efficiency jumps to 160 percent of the rated output with this panel and coated glass combo.

Safety is kept in mind with this system also. The tenK RAIS PV system only works when attached to a complete circuit. An advantage is it does not work during installation and firefighters can get this thing powered down with a kill switch so to say.

This company has headquarters in Minnesota and they have had great customer service with a passion for making solar project dreams come true with as low as cost as possible. Don’t be afraid of their unbelievable deals they have. It’s just this company has the passion behind them to make as much solar panel systems as possible and to help businesses and customers latch into the Solar Movement! Please check out their website and get inspired on top of the inspiration you may experience following our Chameleon House Journey!

http://tenksolar.com

Blog by Julie Glenn

The windows we are using for our Chameleon House are pretty clear and tough as nails. (The last comment is because I have bonked them a couple of times with nails when trying to do border work.) We utilized the made to order windows because of course the reason of energy efficiency is kept in mind. We wanted to promote that environmental effect of greater efficiency by using inert gas* filled insulated glass. This is heavier and denser than air and it is just being energy smart by utilizing this. Thus, the reason for having an energy star rating. These windows feature the actual Solarban 70XL glass from PPG ideascapes. This Solar Control Low-E Glass provides a clear picture and a type of performance that’s astounding. The glass is a transparent coated deal that includes solar control characteristic and low-emissivity. Block solar energy but let in as much visible light as possible and folks let me tell you that’s innovation right there. It can provide lots of savings in upfront cooling and even annual energy savings of up to 13 percent when being compared to the subpar dual-pane tinted glass. This factor of saving cooling costs equates to big time carbon foot print reductions and in fact when used for industrial buildings it can reduce thousands of tons of carbon emissions over its lifetime. If you are working on replacing those old windows in your home consider using the ones from Crystal Window and Door Systems.

By Julie Glenn

Information pulled from Website: http://www.crystalwindows.com*argon, argon/krypton blend

Check these windows out with a heavenly glow from the sun!!