Advancing Green Technology Around the World

Three Promising Advances in Green Technology

Wind Power

Harnessing the power if the wind is not a particularly new discovery, for centuries agriculturalists captured its energy by way of wind mills to process grains and shipbuilders designed designed sails perfect for capturing forward-propelling winds. Wind is an amazing renewable resource available year-round in plentiful amounts, the trick is how to best harness it.

While wind turbines have been around now for decades, recent advances in the technology are being implemented in order to create more efficient and prevalent models. An example of this is the company Leviathan Energy. Instead of increasing the height of turbines, which has been a bit of a sore subject for residents who live near wind farms, Leviathan Energy has creating an innovation called the “Wind Energizer”.

The Wind Energize can increase energy wind turbine output by as much as 30% by instead of building higher, building a sloping doughnut-like structure around the wind turbine. Wind hits the lowest part of the structure and is forced upwards straight into the turbine’s blades, making it so the turbine catches the highest velocity power.

Solar Power or Solar Energy

Solar power has become one of the most important green technologies, with towns like Germany’s Wildpoldsried capitalizing on its power so much so that it currently producing 321% surplus energy. This excess energy is being sold to nearby towns and cities for excess of $5.7 million in profits. This money has been reinvented into the community by way of improving infrastructure and creating even more renewable technologies.

Of course, Wildspolsried has been on a green energy movement since as early as 1997, and other towns, like those in rural and isolated areas of Africa, can’t afford to invest in similar big-scale infrastructure. A MIT-based nonprofit, STG International, has created a solar-based technology to adapt to the needs of more isolated villages, focusing on needs of far-flung African clinics and schools.

Their technology substitutes solar electric panels for what is called an Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) engine, which acts as a sort of reverse generator powered by captured heat. The system can be built from materials available in Africa and provides heat, electricity and hot water without the use of any diesel.

Waste to Fuel

Disposing of garbage and waste has been a problem plaguing citizens for centuries. Most of human history has been preoccupied with simply finding places for all the seemingly useless rubbish. However, while not exactly a new technology, Sweden has perfected a way of eliminating landfills and creating much needed green energy.

In a waste-to-energy incineration program, Sweden produces 20% of its heat supply, 810,000 homes, and provides electricity to an additional 250,000 homes. The program has been so successful that Sweden has actually run out of waste to burn and is looking to import waste from Norway and other nearby countries.

Norway will be paying Sweden for this waste elimination service, making the waste-to-incineration program not only an effective green technology, but also a very profitable one. Sweden’s mass conversion of a resource that many want to simply rid themselves of into a resource that can heat and power homes and commercial entities is a valuable lesson for every country. This is a workable solution on two fronts, and while the method is not particularly new, the harnessing of it is huge advance on what we think of as green technology.

      Edwin Porter

About the Guest Author:

Edwin Porter is an environmental engineer and guest author at Master of Engineering, where you can find reviews, ratings and rankings of top online master of engineering degrees.