Looking for all the B. F. Skinner wannabe's.

March 22, 2008 8:38 AM

What are the most exciting developments that are actually functioning in ecology, sustainability and alternative technologies? The more specific the better!

I'm interested in alternative technology, new technology and sustainability projects currently functioning (i.e. not theoretical, but actually working), anywhere in the US. I'm interested both in people who are going back to older ways of doing things (i.e. using draft animals to farm) and new technologies (maybe an algae field next to a power plant that will be used to make alternative fuels). I'm interested in both small, personal projects (some dudes wicked cool garden or masonry stove) and large or gigantic (power plants, large scale solar and wind projects, waves, etc)

This is research for a project I'm working on.

Any and all suggestions would be awesome.

posted by sully75 to technology (5 comments total)

Methane energy (specifically, power from poop) is off to a promising start in Washington state. The King County sewage treatment plant is using methane from waste to generate power in a first-of-its-kind project, and the Tulalip Tribes are partnering with farmers to get power from cow dung.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion has also functioned twice in the U.S., at the Natural Energy Lab in Hawaii. It doesn't meet the "current" part of your criteria, because these were pilot programs that ended, but they worked. OTEC has tons of potential and just needs more investment, I think.
posted by jeffmshaw at 9:32 AM on March 22, 2008

My local electrical co-op is also making a decent go at methane and has been online since 2005. I also occasionally read Small Farmer's Journal which is just a nice old-timey magazine about sustainable frming though many people say it should just be called Draft Hourse Journal because there's a lot of horse-centric info there (warning, site makes farming noises).
posted by jessamyn at 9:43 AM on March 22, 2008

It's just outside the US, but Toronto has Deep Lake Water Cooling for its downtown buildings.

Wind power is now so prevalent that we (mercifully) don't have to think of it as an alternative. You might also want to research Feed In Tariffs, the mechanism by which renewables are most efficiently supported.
posted by scruss at 11:22 AM on March 22, 2008

developments that are actually functioning in ecology ... going back to older ways of doing things

Smart farmers are depending more on crop rotation and cover crops than on artificial fertilizers and herbicides.
posted by pracowity at 11:47 AM on March 22, 2008

New article out on paint-on solar power might fill the bill ...
posted by jeffmshaw at 10:22 AM on March 26, 2008