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As the world’s population continues to skyrocket and cities strain under the increased demand for resources, skyscraper farms offer an inspired approach towards creating sustainable vertical density. One of three finalists in this year’s Evolo Skyscraper Competition Eric Vergne’s Dystopian Farm project envisions a future New York City interspersed with elegantly spiraling biomorphic structures that will harness cutting-edge technology to provide the city with its own self-sustaining food source.

When considering the future needs of our cities, few urban designs address the world’s burgeoning population better than vertical farms. By 2050 nearly 80% of the world’s population will reside in urban centers, and 109 hectares of arable land will be needed to feed them.

Designed for the Hudson Yard area of Manhattan, Eric Vergne’s Dystopian Farm aims to provide New York with a sustainable food source while creating a dynamic social space that integrates producers with consumers. Based upon the “material logic of plant mechanics”, the biomorphic skyscraper is modeled after the plant cells of ferns and provides space for farms, residential areas, and markets. These organic structures will harness systems such as airoponic watering, nutrient technology and controlled lighting and CO2 levels to meet the food demands of future populations.

In addition to infusing dense urban areas with CO2-consuming green spaces, Vergne envisions the structures as dynamically altering the fabric of city life: “Through food production and consumption, this skyscraper sets up a fluctuation of varying densities and collections of people, bringing together different social and cultural groups, creating new and unforseen urban experiences that form and dissipate within the flux of city life.”

This year’s Evolo Skyscraper Competition resulted in an incredible crop of 416 projects from designers, architects, and engineers in 64 different countries. Their website currently lists the finalists, boiled down to three winners and 15 special mentions.

Here are the most frequently unknown or misunderstood facts about industrial wind power.

How big are the towers?

Industrial wind turbines are not the benign little structures you might see in a schoolyard or behind someone’s house.

The widespread GE 1.5-megawatt model, for example, consists of 116-ft blades atop a 212-ft tower for a total height of 328 feet. The blades sweep an area just under an acre. The 1.8-megawatt Vestas V90 from Denmark is also common. Its 148-ft blades (sweeping more than 1.5 acres) are on a 262-ft tower, totaling 410 feet. Also gaining use in the U.S. is the 2-megawatt Gamesa G87 from Spain, which sports 143-ft blades (just under 1.5 acres) on a 256-ft tower, totaling 399 feet.

Many existing models and new ones now coming out reach well over 400 feet high, with higher towers and extra-long blades designed to turn the generator in less-than-ideal sites.

The base of the steel tower is anchored in a platform of more than a thousand tons of cement and steel rebar, 30 to 50 feet across and anywhere from 6 to 30 feet deep. Pylons may be driven down farther to help anchor the platform.

The gearbox — which transforms the slow turning of the blades to a faster rotor speed — and the generator are massive pieces of machinery housed in a bus-sized container, called the nacelle, at the top of the tower. The blades are attached to the rotor hub at one end of the nacelle. Some nacelles include a helicopter landing pad.

On the GE 1.5-megawatt model, the nacelle alone weighs more than 56 tons, the blade assembly weighs more than 36 tons, and the tower itself weighs about 71 tons, for a total weight of 164 tons. The corresponding weights for the Vestas V90 are 75, 40, and 152, total 267 tons, and for the Gamesa G87 72, 42, and 220, total 334 tons.

Besides the noise and vibrations such huge moving machines unavoidably generate, they must be topped with flashing lights day and night to increase their visibility.

These issues and benefits are based on the use of large industrial Turbines, as the ones we see on the hilltops in the picture. When we build home made wind power for our own home use, most of the downsides are gone, as they are quiet and quite unobtrusive. Or we can purchase ready made and fun to look at.

The Canadian Press

Toronto — New industrial wind turbines in Ontario will have to be at least 550 metres away from the nearest homes under new regulations announced today.

The restrictions apply to projects with only five wind turbines or less, and the residential setbacks will increase with the number and sound level of additional turbines.

The regulations for the province’s Green Energy Act will also prohibit large-scale solar panel projects from prime agricultural lands.

Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the feed-in-tariff — the amount paid to producers of renewable energy — will range from 10.3 cents per kilowatt hour to 80.2 cents.

The feed-in-tariff is designed to encourage large and small scale energy production, with the highest rate reserved for residential solar rooftop projects of 10 kilowatts or less.

There will also be what the government calls a “price adder” to encourage aboriginal communities to develop alternative energy supplies and sell any excess power back to the grid.

This recently published video is an amazing photo shoot in time lapse photography to show what is happening with global warming and the effect it is having on our systems as well as the extreme importance that we focus on more renewable energy conservation.

By Sam Hopkins

Indonesia can’t afford to stop paddling to new shores.

It’s not all smooth going when it comes to the international renewable energy transition, but commitment is a must. Indonesia is one example of an important country in transition where we’re looking at all the positive and negative signals to find different angles.

One of the better choices they may have is to make their own energy products, just like you can do here and this will save them lots of money in the meantime to continue to flourish.

Made up of over 17,000 islands in the Indian Ocean, this archipelago nation owes its modern existence to integration and access.
But local observers are worried that Indonesia’s progress toward its own presidential renewable energy goals is moving too slow.

Only 64% of Indonesian households have access to electricity, and with Asia-Pacific nations all around it ramping up RE development, Indonesia’s economy could end up between islands without an oar.
Indonesia has been Southeast Asia’s leading oil producer, but like many of its petroleum peers, production is in steady decline.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s international supply statistics show Indonesia with only 1 million barrels per day of output in 2008, compared to 1.6 million bpd in 1992.
Indonesia’s oil consumption, though, rocketed from about 700,000 bpd to 1.16 million bpd over the same sixteen years!
That put it in the awkward position of being an OPEC member that actually dipped into net importer status in 2008. Indonesia withdrew its membership that same year, but it likely would have been forced out if it hadn’t.

Indonesia has no time to lick its wounds after having to exit the world’s most exclusive price club. Estimated average GDP growth of about 4.6% over the next five years means there’s no rest for the weary when it comes to finding new energy resources.

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Johns Manville’s  E3 Company and Energy Conversion Devices to Deliver Photovoltaic

Systems for Commercial Roofs

DENVER, Colo. and ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., July 28, 2009 – Johns Manville (JM), a leading global manufacturer of an

extensive line of energy-efficient building products, and Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (ECD) (NASDAQ:ENER), a

manufacturer of proprietary, thin-film amorphous silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) laminates announced that they have

reached a multi-year agreement for ECD to supply its UNI-SOLAR® laminates to Johns Manville. To support its entry into

the field of solar energy, JM has created and will market its unique capability through a new business entity, the JM E3

Company, more informally known as E3Co.

According to Fred Stephan, vice president and general manager of the Roofing Systems business for Johns Manville, “This

further strengthens our leadership in sustainable roofing. We are excited to partner with ECD to incorporate their

lightweight, flexible and durable UNI-SOLAR laminates into our single ply, built-up and modified bitumen roofing membrane

systems. Supported by JM’s 150 years of commercial roofing experience and ECD’s expertise in building-integrated

photovoltaics, this agreement is our first step in offering a range of new solar-energy producing roofing products to our

customer base.”

Mark Morelli, ECD’s president and CEO, said, “Johns Manville is well known for being a leading provider of high-quality

commercial roofing products. We look forward to working with them to advance the adoption of clean, renewable power in

the form of rooftop solar technology.”

At less than one pound per square foot, UNI-SOLAR laminates are lightweight, non-intrusive and require no rooftop

penetrations or mounting systems, eliminating the negative impact on roof life and performance that is associated with

penetrating PV systems. Additionally, these thin-film PV laminates provide a solid return on investment through a low

installed cost and low cost-per-kilowatt-hour of energy produced when compared to traditional rigid glass panel PV

alternatives.

About Johns Manville

Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B), is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-

quality products for building insulation, mechanical insulation, commercial roofing, and roof insulation, as well as fibers and

nonwovens for commercial, industrial, and residential applications. JM serves markets that include aerospace, automotive

and transportation, air handling, appliance, HVAC, pipe and equipment, filtration, waterproofing, building, flooring, interiors,

and wind energy. In business since 1858, the Denver-based company holds leadership positions in all of the key markets

that it serves. JM employs approximately 7,000 people and operates 40 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe

and China. Additional information can be found at www.jm.com.

About Energy Conversion Devices

Energy Conversion Devices is the leader in building integrated and commercial rooftop photovoltaics, one of the fastest

growing segments of the solar power industry. The company manufactures and sells thin-film solar laminates that convert

sunlight to energy using proprietary technology. ECD’s UNI-SOLAR® brand products are unique because of their flexibility,

light weight, ease of installation, durability, and real-world efficiency. ECD also pioneers other alternative technologies,

including a new type of nonvolatile digital memory technology that is significantly faster, less expensive, and ideal for use in

a variety of applications including cell phones, digital cameras and personal computers. For more information, please visit

www.ovonic.com.