GLOBAL CHALLENGES

5 Green Energy Technologies Slated to Blossom in 2010

R. Colin Johnson | Date: 12-31-09 | Comments

Of the thousands of green energy efforts worldwide, these five technologies are passing make-or-break milestones in 2010.

How to Build a Green Data Center

In 2009, Syracuse University, in cooperation with IBM, opened the Green Data Center (GDC) as a testbed for efficient energy technologies. For instance, the GDC is completely off the grid, generating its own electricity from natural-gas fired turbines, the waste from which is used to heat and cool the facility. In 2010, IBM and Syracuse University will establish the GDC Analysis and Design Center to offer research and analysis services to other data centers wishing to build new energy efficient facilities.

How to Green an Existing Data Center

For existing data centers, in 2009 Sentilla (Redwood City, Calif.) began beta-testing its Sentilla Energy Manager software that can retrofit existing data centers to reap up to 40 percent savings in energy. The suite of IT management routines track and rectify errant energy usage with a web-based dashboard that shows exactly where energy is being wasted. In 2010, Sentilla predicts its customer base will grow by 10-fold, helping some of the biggest data centers in both the U.S. and Europe reduce their energy footprint.

Stirling Engine Powers SunCatcher

In 2009, a spin-off of the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories--Stirling Energy Systems--proved the concept behind concentrating the suns' rays into the combustion chamber of a Stirling engine driving an electricity generator. In 2010, the first 1,600-megawatt SunCatcher facility will go online for the San Diego California Gas and Electric Utility. DoE estimates that an 11-square-mile farm of Stirling solar dishes could generate as much electricity as the Hoover Dam.

Osmosis Harnesses Ocean Power

In 2009, the world's first osmotic power plant went online at Statkraft (Oslo, Norway) enabled by Energy Recovery (San Leandro, Calif.) which re-engineered its desalination pressure exchangers to run in reverse. If the pilot plant proves itself in 2010, Statkraft will begin replicating its plants worldwide, potentially generating enough energy to satisfy up to 50 percent of Europe's needs.

Tree Power Harnessing Nature's Battery

In 2009, MIT proved the concept behind "tree power"--namely that trees act like living batteries by maintaining a pH difference between their inner trunk and the ground that can be harvested to power electronics. In 2010, the MIT spin-off company Voltree Power (Canton, Mass.) will begin installing tree-powered wireless sensor networks that supply information about the forest floor to U.S. Forest Service weather stations. The Forest Service operates 28,000 weather stations in the United States.