Creative Energies Blog

Well the winter has been fairly mild at the Lander office of Creative Energies, and several of us are already hitting the roads on the bicycle for the coming season.  Here’s a post from Jake MacArthur from last Fall:

As you can see in the photo, Creative Energies employee, Phil Schneider, crushed the LOTOJA bicycle race.  Other Creative Energies employees, Jake MacArthur, Curtis Tronolone, and Joel Helleso, joined Phil in this pursuit as they traveled from Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wy.  The LOTOJA race is the longest single day race in the United States and covers 206 miles in total.  The course also gains over 6,000 feet in elevation over its duration.  Phil has now vowed to ride his bike to all work trips within a 150 mile radius – too bad he won’t have anytime to do any work.

by Scott Kane

These days there seems to be a great and unfilled appetite for an understanding of renewable energy technologies. It is difficult to turn on the radio or TV without hearing a reference to solar, wind power or geothermal but rarely do those mentions include much substance. Poor public understanding of renewable energy technology is commonly cited as one of the biggest barriers to its use.

Public education on renewable energy is part of our mission. All of our staff are encouraged to offer educational opportunities on company time. In the busy summer it is hard to find the time but lately it seems that a week rarely goes by without a class or conference somewhere around our region. Here is a list of recent engagements by CE staff:

Roping the Wind and WY Ag Expo. Small scale renewable energy technology hands-on workshops. Casper, WY
Curtis and Scott

Wind River Elementary School. Presentation on careers in solar at job fair. Ethete, WY
Phil

Central Wyoming College. Introduction to Renewable Energy evening classes.
Scott

Sun Valley Green building conference. Sun Valley, ID.
Jake and Andy

University of Wyoming lecture series “Climate Change in Carbon Central”. Casper College.
Scott

“Renewable Energy for Architects”. CE sponsored and taught two classes. One in Jackson, WY and one in Driggs, ID
Jake and Andy

Wyoming AIA (American Institute of Architects) conference. CE hosted booth. Jackson, WY
Andy

Jackson Home Show. Booth and presentation on solar. Jackson, WY
Andy

Fremont County Board of Realtors. Presentation on the impact of renewable energy on house values. Riverton, WY
Scott

University of Wyoming Earth Day lecture. Laramie, WY.
Scott

Focus the Nation, live teleconferenced panel discussion on community responses to climate change.
Scott

Lander Valley High School. Solar technology class for 10th grade science class.
Phil

Upcoming engagements:
December 8th. Wyoming Stock Grower’s Association and Wool Grower’s Association Profitability conference. ”Solar and wind power for residential and ranching applications”
Scott

Popo Agie Conservation District Backyards and Barnyards class series at Central Wyoming College in Lander. March 09.

If you have an interested audience please contact us. No promises, but if we can find the time, we’ll try to accommodate.

It’s been a while since the last post - a testament to the business of the main install season for us here in Wyoming.  Scott Kane recently attended a meeting of the Renewable Energy Coalition of Wyoming, here’s his report.

On August 20th the wind pressed across the sage brush flats and swirled around the small office trailer of the wind farm in Medicine Bow, WY. It was hard to talk and hat wearing was out of the question. The board and members of the Renewable Energy Coalition of Wyoming had been offered a tour of Clipper Windpower’s impressive 2.5 megawatt Liberty Class wind turbine. One of the biggest land-based wind turbines in existence, it dwarfs the older Vestas turbines nearby, turbines that just ten years ago were themselves the biggest yet made.

Clipper Windpower (www.clipperwind.com), the Iowa and California based manufacturer of the turbine was generous to offer the tour. This turbine was installed three years ago as a prototype of its new class of turbines. If it can make it in Medicine Bow, WY, it will hold up anywhere. The thing is big. Its rotor diameter is 89 meters. At full outpt it can produce enough power to  run 100,000 CF lightbulbs at one time.

Before donning hardhats and harnesses to ride the lift up to the top of the tower we were given a view of the control and monitoring system. All of the operation and production data could be displayed on a single computer monitor. As the site manager finished his introduction he clicked a single control on the computer. Outside the wind-rattled window we watched as the massive blades slowed in their sweep and came to a stop. A single little number on the computer screen declined from 2.2 down to 0. It was talking about megawatts.

It then struck me for the first time how terribly expensive our tour was. Turn that thing back on! I thought to myself. Our little group of 20 guests was depriving the grid of 2.2 MW of renewably generated power. Our green-minded group quickly ran the math and it was bad. If our tour caused this machine to remain off-line for two hours we would be wasting 4,400 kilowatt hours. (2,200,000 watts x 2 hours = 4,400kWH) that is 220 kWh for each participant in the tour. 220kWh is what my house uses in a full month!

Though we sped through our tour a lot of air made it past our turbine with all of its energy still in it. Happily that Clipper Liberty turbine is once again whirling happily in the winds of Medicine Bow. I for one, will try not to get in its way again. Thanks again to Clipper for the chance to marvel at a great technical achievement.

Creative Energies is putting on this half-day seminar to help architects and builders include renewable energy technologies early on in their design process.  There will be a morning session in Jackson, WY, and an afternoon session in Driggs, ID.  Please RSVP to Jake MacArthur by email or 208.354.3001.

Download a flyer.

Last week was the official unveiling of the NOLS Rocky Mountain grid-tie solar electric project. This project was funded in part through a Blue Sky Grant from Rocky Mountain Power. Representatives from Rocky Mountain Power were on hand for the event, as well as NOLS staff and Lander community members.

The system includes web-based monitoring and an interpretive display in the hallway of NOLS Rocky Mountain (see picture below). Here is a short video produced by NOLS from the installation of the system in November 2007, where NOLS staff were able to participate with the work:

The entire Creative Energies crew assembled in Lander last Friday and Saturday for an all-staff meeting, cookout, and some adventure in the mountains. The Lander and Idaho teams rarely get together all in one place for work and play. On Friday we had the opportunity to discuss the current and future status of Creative Energies.

(left to right) Andy Tyson with Kali, Cheryl Robins, Joel Helesco, Toby Schmidt, Phil Schneider, Josh Wells, Magdalena Kane, Tracy Tollett, Curtis Tronolone, Rosie O’Gara, Scott Kane, Jake MacArthur.

With a little snow still on the ground in the high country, the whole group with families and dogs made their way to the Granite Buttress in Sinks Canyon outside of Lander for an afternoon of climbing and enjoying the sunshine. Pics by Scott Kane.