In yet another example of a company using “green marketing” to differentiate its products, Anderson Valley Brewing Co. in California is using a 125 kilowatt-hour solar PV system to produce about 40 per cent of the electricity needed to operate its beer-making operation. It might have cost nearly $900,000 to install, but every dollar spent may be worth the eco-friendly bragging rights that come with it — not to mention the year’s worth of energy savings. “We’ve got solar-powered beer going on here,” said one employee of the brewery. “You can drink it and feel good that you’re helping preserve the environment.”

For the record, I’ll point out this article in Wired.com, about how researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have come up with a way of using algae to produce hydrogen through photosynthesis. You’ll recall that companies such as GreenFuel Technologies Corp. are also experimenting with algae, on the scale of large farms, as a way to sequester carbon dioxide (and other nasty emissions) and eventually harvest the green stuff for use in biodiesel, ethanol and plastics production.

Boy, there’s never been a better time to be mutant scum.

Well, well, well… I have to say I’m surprised with the latest poll results. Not that they don’t make sense — they do. It’s just that I figured more of you would be like me, in that I tend to be more fascinated with the neat technologies than the boring stuff, like… well, better insulation.

We got 40 votes this week, and 23 of you (58 per cent!) indicated the government, if it’s going to set ”green” mandates, should focus first on establishing aggressive efficiency standards for new homes and buildings.

Second place went to solar heating with 8 votes (20 per cent) and geothermal systems with 7 votes (18 per cent). Only 2 of you felt mandates were the wrong approach, while a big fat ZERO went to solar PV systems. Who knew everyone would be so pragmatic?

Just two weeks ago I had a post asking why utilities and municipal governments are failing to find creative ways to encourage the use of low-temperature geothermal systems. One option I highlighted was to provide low-interest loans to homeowners wishing to install such systems so they can spread the cost over several years and pay the premium with whatever energy savings they get.

I then came across an interesting joint venture between Waterloo North Hydro and NextEnergy Inc. called Lifetime Energy. According to the JV’s Web site, “We provide renewable and efficient geothermal heating and cooling with no upfront fees and immediate energy cost savings.”

So what’s the deal? Basically the company will go to a person’s home for an assessment and help the customer decide whether they could benefit from a geothermal system. The company will then find a dealer to do the job and oversee the installation. The whole thing is financed through the joint venture, and a bi-monthly payment for the equipment and ground loop system will be included along with the customer’s regular Waterloo North Hydro bill. The customer benefits from stable pricing over the lifetime of the contract, since the geothermal energy used for heating and cooling is renewable and isn’t subject to the volatility of fossil fuel prices. Energy savings are applied over time to the cost of the installation, so the customer doesn’t feel any upfront pain.

Now, as I’ve said before, this approach won’t work for everybody, but it can work for many — businesses and households alike. It’s great that these two companies have stepped up to the plate with an interesting program, and I can only hope that other muncipalities — Toronto included — steal from their page and offer geothermal to those who can benefit most without forcing people to break the bank.

As a side note, I plan on visiting NextEnergy within the next month or so to get a better sense of the opportunities from geothermal. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Seems as North America presses on with plans to build more nuclear power plants, the folks in charging of figuring out what to do with all that nuclear waste are still scratching their heads. Not a good sign.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told attendees at a U.S. nuclear conference last week that plans to open a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas are way behind schedule, over budget, and in dire need for more funding. He added that there’s no saying for sure how long the project is going to take.

According to a New York Times story, “A lawyer in the audience asked how the industry could build new plants without assurances of a plan for the waste.”

A brilliant question, and one that Bodman had no answer for. Certainly it’s a question that needs to be posed to the Canadian government as well, but I wouldn’t expect any satisfactory answers.