Hawaii green building professionals can differentiate themselves with a certification from the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB). Their Certified Green Professional (CGP) Designation is available in a course over on Oahu.

For more information on these classes, please visit: biahawaii.org

Or contact Lea Kanaya at (808) 847-4666 ext. 211
Email LKK@biahawaii.org

Construction Training Center of the Pacific
1727 Dillingham Boulevard • Honolulu • Hawaii • 96819
Phone: 808.847.4666 • Fax: 808.440.1198 • Website: www.biahawaii.org

We love a good discussion of “what’s possible” in energy production. Some of you scoff at the very concept of “Renewable Energy” while others are already using energy alternatives off the grid. The beauty is that everyone is right during the brainstorming process.

Late adopters will always be rewarded with more affordable systems. But who wants to wait? GreenTechMedia has the Ten Wackiest Green Tech Ideas to inspire and confuse the most sustainable brains among us.

Also be sure and read yesterday’s post on MIT’s Solar breakthrough. Look for more big changes within the next five years.

Our classes in sustainable living will help guide your though the plethora of options. The next series of classes will start in November. Sign up to get on the subscriber email list.

Daniel Nocera, a chemistry professor at MIT, and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Mr. Nocera’s lab, have developed a catalyst made from cobalt and phosphate that can split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas. When used in conjunction with a photovoltaic solar panel, their system can use water to store the sun’s energy.

This new method developed by MIT of splitting water molecules mimics the way photosynthesis works in plants.

“You’ve made your house into a fuel station,” Daniel Nocera, a chemistry professor at MIT said. “I’ve gotten rid of all the goddamn grids.”

My guess is that we’ll figure out the scalability issues of these imaginative efforts sooner than most can possibly conceive.

Look for cooler heads to prevail as breakthroughs like this continue to cheapen today’s best alternative energy sources.

Is there really a need to rush to “large-scale investments” in current, inefficient technologies?

Now that we’re focused on the solutions and working the problem can we be safe knowing that our efforts will bear fruit sooner than expected? If we ‘re able to get to the Moon in the sixties could we have breakthroughs of this magnitude in the next five years?

Will every windmill we build need to be taken down? This problem is obvious at South Point. The old wind farm remains long after the new wind farm goes into production.

Every single battery we use to store energy will also need to be recycled. Locally, there are two times a year when battery recycling is offered. Throwing your batteries in the landfill is illegal.

“Within two years, you’ll start seeing module designs,” Nocera said. “A lot of my MIT colleagues are raring to go and work on this and they are all engineers and they’re pretty damn good.”

 

 MIT Solar Photsynthesis Breakthrough: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Additional Reading

MIT researchers attain solar ‘nirvana’

Cheap Catalyst Could Turn Sunlight, Water Into Fuel

Photo at top by defrost.ca