Energy visualization

 How much wind, solar, gas, or nuclear energy does your visit to this website require? Click and see.

Environmental costs

In a small state like New Jersey, $1 billion of environmental damages sounds like a lot.

Are solar farms better than farms?

Barry Chalofsky writes in the Times of Trenton about the dilemma of solar farms.

Making Spring Break useful

Make your Spring Break count by spending a day learning about energy and weatherizing a building through the PIRG Energy Service Corps.

Cape May pits environment against aesthetics

Some Cape May residents are finding the Historic Preservation Commission's strict opposition to environmental improvements - solar panels that can be seen from the street and any windmills - that they are referring to them as the "gingerbread police".

AC Solar Roof

Atlantic City is about to celebrate the completion of the "largest single-roof solar-panel array" in the US. AC has built this large solar array on the roof of their convention center and it is getting national attention. I would even anticipate a few AC/DC jokes in the local media later this week.

Renewable energy on contaminated lands

Here is a great Google Earth Mash-up of renewable energy on contaminated lands.
h/t Caroline

Windmills for The City

Mayor Bloomberg's plans for windmill power aren't being received quite as poorly as his hopes for a change in the term limits.

Energy film

RESISTANCE: GLOBALIZATION AND ITS OTHERGLOBAL INITIATIVES FILM SERIES 2007-2008
FILM: ENERGY WAR

Tuesday, March 25th 8PM
Rutgers Student Center, Multipurpose Room, CAC
Discussion with Professor Mazen Labban, University of Miami
His current research focuses on the geopolitical economy of petroleum.

FILM DESCRIPTION:
In a world in which the U.S. and Europe are addicted to oil and gas, and those increasingly scarce resources are controlled by authoritarian regimes
in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia, the geopolitical ramifications have upset the traditional balance of power between nations.
ENERGY WAR reveals precisely how the economic importance of fossil fuels affects international politics and becomes a powerful tool of foreign policy.

For more information go to http://sasip.rutgers.edu/
or contact Janet Lorenzen at jlorenzen@sociology.rutgers.edu

Cosponsored by the Center for African Studies and the College Avenue Campus Dean. This series is made possible by generous support from the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Office of the Vice President for Undergraduate Education and the Office of International Programs, SAS.

What a load of trash

When I took this photo over the Meadowlands, I saw a landfill. But now, years later, I see a powerplant.

A team of scientists here at the New Jersey Agriculture Experiment Station worked on a NJ Board of Public Utilities project to study the potential for biomass as an energy source across the state. Since garbage and landfill gas are both part of the equation, NJ has some pretty rich resources to tap. At the end of this initial study we found that NJ's total biomass resources could light about a million homes. As quoted in the papers:

"For the first time, we have an extremely detailed understanding of our bioenergy capabilities," said Margaret Brennan, who directed the biomass study for the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. "This gives us something to strive for. Before, we didn't know what the potential was."

The project has an NJAES page now and is a pretty good place to start. It has the bioenergy calculator and basic project info.

The final report is big and grand. But the highlights are Caroline's maps. At least I think so.

Pretty soon our landfills will start looking like model landscapes...