Clipper Wind is taking the plunge into a leadership position for offshore wind development. The Britannia project, announced last fall as a path toward testing super-sized offshore wind turbine system, will be announcing the first sale of a 7.5 megawatt wind turbine for deployment and testing in UK waters. These turbines are a touch bigger than Enercon’s E-126 turbines. Enercon’s turbines max out at about 7 megawatts. Clipper’s turbines will take advantage of the high and steady winds of the UK’s oceans to pull another 500 kilowatts.

Showing the power of targets for creating opportunities, the UK’s aggressive 2020 targets for renewable power and the vision of wind power’s central role in meeting these targets has drawn Clipper and other companies into the United Kingdom to help meet the demand signal. To provide scale, the projected power from just one 7.5 Clipper Wind turbine will equal, over one year, one million barrels of oil.

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Original post by A Siegel

I get emails pretty regularly from people asking which car, from my perspective, is the greenest. If you’re one of the thousands of people wandering around the Internet, convinced that there’s got to be a greener option for you than your current car, then I’ve got some good and bad news for you.

The good news is that, no matter what kind of car you’re looking for, there’s a green version out there. The bad news is, it might not be 100% available just now…in fact, you’re almost certainly going to have to wait.

There is simply no new technology that, in my opinion, is worth investing in. Even if you don’t have a hybrid, you will save so much more gas with the next generation plug-ins and full-electrics that it really isn’t worth upgrading now. So, hold onto that junker this Earth Day. Take her in, get her a tune up, and bide your time. Two years from now, it’ll be easy pickens from the green car tree. Here’s a taste of what’s on the horizon.

ZENN, a little Canadian electric vehicle company, is planning on selling its first highway capable car in 2009…with plans to scale up production in 2010. The car will have a range of 250 miles and a top speed of 80 mph.

We’ll also have EVs from mainstream companies. Mitsubishi’s iMiev is already on sale in Japan, but they’ve promised to bring the two-seater all-electric vehicle to Europe and the U.S. by 2010.

Nissan has also promised to be selling a full EV in the U.S. and Europe by 2010. Though, we haven’t seen a final design, it’s likely to be based on the sporty two-seater Mixim concept.

The 2010 Prius: Finally upgrading from nickel to lithium, the Prius’s battery will soon be both greener, and much more powerful. Add to that a plug-in option and the Prius could be in the 80 mpg range. Unfortunately, this might have you waiting till 2011…as they’re not sure if it’ll be a production level car until after a year of testing. We’re still waiting for specifics on the third generation Prius, but it’s right on the horizons, and there have even been mumblings of triple digit fuel economy.

And if you really want an alternative vehicle, MDI’s compressed air powered car is scheduled to go on sale (with a top speed of 95 mph, and emissions of pure air) sometime in 2010. Just imagine being the first person on your block with one of those babies!

GM will also be ready with the a plug-in hybrid version of it’s Saturn Vue SUV. For the EcoGeek who needs space for the kids, this will be the first truly green SUV on the road.

And, of course, the holy grain of near-term green cars should be hitting dealerships at the end of 2010. The Chevy Volt will be the world’s first large-scale production run of a range-extended electric vehicle. The car will go 40 miles without ever burning a drop of fuel, but you won’t sacrifice any of the space, performance, or range that we’ve come to expect from gasoline vehicles.

So, I hope you’ll take the chance this Earth day to treat your old car like she’s new. Give it her the love she deserves…just don’t tell her that you’re biding your time, and saving your dollars till 2010, when real green alternatives will be in dealer lots.

Original post by Hank Green

Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? President Bush delivered a 2,500-word speech on the administration’s climate change strategy earlier today, a Rose Garden address that included some rather optimistic goals on capping greenhouse gas emissions, along with a lot of familiar rhetoric.

We’ll get to the analysis of Bush’s remarks in a subsequent post, but right now let’s go over the all-important results from the Bush Drinking Game: Climate Change Edition. There were a few surprises, as well as a few key words and phrases that we somehow forgot to include — “energy”, “greenhouse gases” and “market” are three of the most glaring omissions.

Overall though, the EnviroWonk team did a pretty good job of predicting the key buzzwords. Check out the statistics after the jump.

Number of mentions for each word or phrase is in bold:

Level 1: One sip of beer for each time the word or phrase is mentioned.night.

Original post by Dave Loos

I’ve only met Jason Kottke once. A few years ago at SXSW, I said hi, we chatted for a few seconds, and that was that. Although I’m occasionally in his sidebar and he links to Mike Industries every so often, I can’t say I’m a “friend”. In fact, while I’m on the subject, am I the only one who hates when people on the web say “our friends at ____” or “my good friend ____” when they’ve never even spoken to the person(s)? Annnnyways…

Original post by art and design feed aggregator

There are constant conversations about the state of design, where it’s going, and what promise the future holds. Social change, environmental change, political campaigns-take your pick. Evidently design is quite busy these days. Next up, the literary world.

Original post by Dave Loos