New weekly feature - the best of green

Each week, we'll feature the best green news story from the previous week. Join us to stay on top of what hot in the world of "going green" each Friday.

This week's story comes from Canadian journalist and blogger Tyler Hamilton. According to Hamilton,

A British Columbia-based company called Free Energy International has signed a deal with an undisclosed oil and gas exploration and production company in Alberta, in an area known as Swan Hills. Free Energy will build two 1-megawatt geothermal plants that take hot water — a co-product of oil and natural gas during the pumping process — and extract the heat from it to generate electricity. The $7 million project will tap wells that are around 9,000 feet deep, and temperatures of the fluids can easily reach 170 degrees F in high volumes. After the heat is extracted from the water using heat exchangers, it is used to run an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plant. The water is later pumped back into the ground. Free Energy will build, own and operate this binary cycle plant and the oil company has agreed to buy all the electricity produced for the same rate it was paying to a previous supplier.

Read the rest of the story on his green energy blog, Clean Break.

Green governement should lead the way

There's a lot of talk about going green, green incentives, green initiatives, etc. But so much of it seems to be lip service. I propose that our government - federal, state and local -- should be leading the way and setting the example of exactly how we can cut the cord of oil dependence.

My manifesto?

1) All government agencies should be paperless. Forms, applications, documents, registrations? All electronic. 100% by year end. No hard copies stored.

2) The switchover to green energy should start immediately in all government buildings. What a great use for stimulus money! Allow companies that sell solar power and wind power equipment to bid on green retrofitting of all government buildings by year's end. No lengthy process. Just choose a company and go.

3) All school lunches should immediately be switched to vegetarian ingredients. Crops use far less resources than animals, and school lunches account for a large and controllable segment of meat purchases and consumption. Healthier for the kids, too, which will reduce medical care needs. Follow this with all vegetarian in government agency and legistlative dining rooms. Oh, and don't forget the White House and all Governors' Mansions.

4) Telecommuting immediately available for all jobs that do not require face-to-face interaction or the use of machinery or equipment not available at home. That would free up a lot of space in government buildings, which could be converted in green research labs, homeless or transitional housing, or sold off to pay down debts and reduce ongoing facility costs.

5) Convert or replace all government vehicles with hybrids, hydrogen cell, solar or other clean (or cleaner) fuel sources. Again, great use for Stimulus $$$. Think of all the jobs created for this switch over! Making cars, building fueling stations, etc.

Five steps. Just five. Oh, but what a revolution those five would be!

Wind turbine timing saves bats

The popular wisdom tells us that bats can "see" anything in the dark, thanks to their remarkable sonar. Well, apparently, that doesn't apply to wind turbines.

The mix between clean energy generating wind mills (or wind turbines) and these tiny winged mammals has been deadly. A study performed by the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (yes, that is for real...trust me, I could not make that up) found that as wind power has increased in popularity, so have bat fatalities. Turning the wind turbines off at night if the wind is low (bats' favorite time to be out and about) resulted in a nearly 79% drop in the number of bat deaths.

(Okay, forgive me here, folks. I like bats. I really do. I had a big barn in Pennsylvania that was partially leased to a neighbor, and when I found out he was planning to put moth balls in the lofts to get rid of the bats, I threatened to remove all of his stuff and revoke the lease! I used to watch the bats come out at dusk...so I really do like them. But somehow, with this story, I keep getting images of old Batman episodes and Batman and Robin coming out of the Batcave and hitting into a giant windmill placed there by the Joker or Penguin or some other arch enemy...doesn't help that the sources I'm using also talk about bird deaths, and that brings to mind Robin...Anyhow, forgive me if I stray, because I know this is an important topic but I needed to warn you in case my subconscious gets the better of me and inserts a pun or two...)

Bats are critical to the environment, as a primary control on the insect population. No bats, lots more bugs. And clean energy is critical to our environment, too. Wind turbines are an excellent and affordable choice for energy. We need to get beyond oil. So the deadly clash between the two is a major concern for both environmentalists and clean energy producers.

Scientists are studying the reason for the problem, as they aren't sure whether the bats can't see the spinning blades, which can reach speeds of up to 180 miles per hour, or if they are attracted to the shiny metal in the blade itself. There is also some concern that the movement of air around the blades may be interfering with the bats' sonar or even affecting their lungs because of the significant changes in air pressure around a turbine (think divers and the bends.)

Experiments are being conducted to create sonar barriers or physical barriers around the blades to protect the bats. For now, turning the turbines off on low wind night seems to be the best choice, and one that most clean energy producers are willing to try.