I was having a discussion with a friend the other day about the future of energy production. I think most people agree that fossil fuel based energy, weather from oil, coal or whatever, needs to be reduced and eventually eliminated. The reasons for this vary: limited supply, climate change, national security, etc. Whichever reason or reasons you believe, lets agree we need to find a better source for our energy needs. So what’s the alternative?

The discussion led me to write this blog. As I started thinking about it, I realized this topic is probably too big to handle in a single blog, so I’m planning to to write a series of entries on this topic, each one touching on a different aspect or potential energy source. Total worldwide energy consumption in 2004 was about 15 TW, that’s 15,000,000,000,000 Watts (source). The energy production breakdown looks something like this:

The basic breakdown is as follows:

• Fossil Fuel (Oil, Coal, Gas): 75%
• Renewables (Biomass, Hydro, Solar, Wind, etc.): 19%
• Nuclear: 6%

So, assuming fossil fuels are on their way out, I’ll focus on the others. I’ll also try to include some other potential sources such as hydrogen fuel cells. Next time I’ll start with Nuclear.

Energy Scavenging is a phrase I had never heard of until I started working with wireless sensor networks. The idea is to collect ambient energy and use it to power something, usually in the form of electricity. I thought the concept was still pretty obscure until I ran across it on the SciFi Tech blog, Green Week: 6 energy scavengers that get you power for free. Apparently this blog entry was part of NBC Universal’s Green is Universal promotion. Apparently last week was NBC’s Green Week where many of their shows had green themes. I guess I missed it, but ad least I ran across this interesting blog.

The article highlights 6 energy scavenging technologies:

1. Tate ambient power module: a module patented by Joseph Tate of California which converts radio-wave energy into electricity. It has the added potential bonus of being able to detect earthquakes.
2. Crowd farms: two MIT architecture grad students try to harvest the energy of many people walking and running, for example in a subway station.
3. Rooftop wind turbines: modular wind turbine array for installation on urban buildings designed by Aerovironment. I guess solar arrays would count too.
4. Waste heat capture: High Merit Thermoelectrics has a plan to harvest all that energy thrown off by truck exhaust systems and catalytic converters.
5. Capturing methane: Oregon-based natural gas provider NW Natural is capturing methane from cow manure, fighting global warming one cowpie at a time!
6. Power skin: IntAct Lab, in Cambridge, MA, has a motion-sensitive power skin concept that captures wasted motion.

In addition to those listed by SciFi, here are a few projects I am aware of:

1. GreenPeak Technologies: Ultra-low power wireless control networks with energy harvesting interfaces for battery free nodes.
2. EnOcean: Self-powered wireless sensors - Green. Smart. Wireless.
3. Perpetuum: Vibration energy harvesting technology enabling wireless and battery-free sensing.
4. East Japan Railway Company: As read on TreeHugger’s Japan: Producing Electricity from Train Station Ticket Gates using piezo elements to collect energy as commuters walk through.

These days my work commute consists of riding a train and a walk to/from the office. I found I didn’t have a very good solution for carrying my laptop and other supplies on my commute. I have a soft-sided briefcase with a slot for my laptop and all the other gear I need, but the shoulder strap is not very comfortable for walking any sort of distance. I have a hiking type backpack, which I was using, but it’s just one big compartment and has no padding. So I started looking for a new backpack that would handle my laptop better and have various compartments for other gear. I was also looking for something more environmentally friendly, then I ran across the Osprey ReSource Series packs.

The ReSource Series of packs and courier bags are some of the greenest packs on the market. They are made from 70% recycled materials by total content:

• 100% recycled PET fabric
• 100% Recycled mesh pockets
• 60% recycled content spacer mesh
• 55% recycled stretch woven pockets
• 100% recycled binding tape
• 100% recycled webbing
• Recycled buckles – reground from buckle scrap
• 100% recycled fabric zipper pulls
• (Non recycled foams, threads, zippers, piping and hypalon)

The ReSource Series bags are part of Osprey’s “Active Everyday” collection. The series includes 4 packs: Revo (22 Liters), Cypher (26 L), React (28 L) and Circuit (32 L). There are also two courier bags: Astro (18 L) and Elroy (25 L).

I ended up buying a green Circuit backpack from Amazon for about $99. The pack has a large main compartment with a padded section for up to a 17″ laptop. This compartment has a few inside pockets and has tons of room for my power, various gadgets and a jacket. There’s a second zipper at the back providing easier access to the laptop. An outer pocket has a couple slots for pens with another zippered inside pocket. There’s a small top pocket for sungrasses, keys, etc. There are two zippered side pockets which can also hold 1 Liter bottles and a stretch woven front pocket which clips at the top. There’s even a mesh pocket on the shoulder strap for cell phones, but there’s not enough room for my Treo.

The recycled material feels a little different from the standard nylon ripstop I’m used to from backpacking packs. It’s softer to the touch, but still feels quite strong. The shoulder and back padding are comfortable, but the waist belt, as on most packs of this type, if fairly useless. The bag weighs just over 1 kg. It comes in four different colors: Redwood (red), Panda (Black), Glacier (blue) and Rainforest (green).

I’m quite happy with the pack so far. My only real complaints are the lack of compression straps and that the laptop padding is not as thick as some regular laptop packs. However, the level of recycled material utilized combined with good comfort and utility make this one of the best purchases I’ve made lately. If you’re in the market for a new pack or courier bag, make sure you check out the Osprey ReSource Series. Hopefully this will be a new trend in the backpack industry.

I just read on EcoGeek about the new Everex TC2502 gPC (pictured on right) for sale at Wal-Mart for $199. What’s even cooler is that it’s running something called gOS, which appears to be a consumerized version of Ubuntu Linux (see picture below). The computer has a 1.5 GHz processor from Via, an 80 GB hard drive and 512 MB of RAM. This doesn’t seem like much, but it’s plenty for running Linux! It comes with a variety of applications like Open Office, Skype and a bunch of Google applications all available right on the desktop. It looks like gOS is really trying to focus on the least common denominator.

Not forgetting the topic of this blog, this should be one of the greener PCs on the market. While Windows Vista is pushing faster processors with lots of memory, this machine will be keeping the power down by sticking to a more reasonable speed. Not only is the Via C7-D processor RoHS compliant, but it is also the “world’s first Carbon Free computer component.” That is, Via will offset every kilogram of carbon produced by using this processor over the lifetime of the computer (assumed to be about 3 years). Offsets are made through reforestation, alternative energy and energy efficiency projects.

How’s that for a green stocking stuffer that everyone can use?