I spend a good portion of my work day monitoring Twitter for trends and conversations and virtually shaking hands with companies from all over the world — it’s a great way to share ideas and learn new things. Well recently, I’ve noticed a new green trend: broadcasting energy consumption on Twitter.

The University of Mississippi is about to jump on this bandwagon with Facebook and Twitter updates detailing several of its main buildings’ energy use. The purpose? To alter behaviour to reduce electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Included in the details will be consumption from lighting, temperature controls, and appliances. All this will be done with the help of a smart grid company called SmartSynch. Neat! Good for them to be so open and public (and accountable) for that kind of information.

I’d love to see this become a very popular trend.

Speaking of Twitter, are you following me? I don’t know why you wouldn’t. It’s the cool thing to do, of course. And for those of you who’d like a feed of the site, follow the site’s feed here!

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Apparently in certain eco crowds there’s an ongoing debate as to whether or not diesel engines save you more gas for less money than hybrid systems do. I’ve been learning about this this morning, but I’m not sure that I know enough yet to formulate a proper opinion. So I’m trying to stay unbiased for now.

European car companies seem to argue that this is true — that diesel engines save more money. While poking around the internet for some info, I happened to find out that Peugeot – a European car company known for its diesel cars – is coming out with a hybrid in 2011.

The car will have the front wheels powered by the diesel engine while the back wheels will be powered by the electric system. The car will be able to travel up to 30 mph on electricity alone. Peugeot is currently calling this hybrid system the ‘HYBrid4′.

Being a diesel/electric hybrid, it’ll certainly be a pricey SUV, but at it’s boasted 50 MPG, it might be worth it!

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While learning to be more eco-friendly, I run into things daily that I don’t quite understand. Some of it, honestly, takes me by surprise. Solar power is a perfect example. I’d love to say that I completely understand solar power, but I really don’t. Sure, I know it’s energy from the sun… I’ve seen solar panels, certainly. But do they… collect the suns rays? How do they turn the sunlight into energy?

Here’s a 7 minute video made by PG&E, a giant utility company in California, that exlains solar power and how it’s converted into electricity.

There’s also a video on PG&E’s website that’s definitely more detailed and informative. And if you’ve got the time — 1h47m, that is — I highly recommend it!

“We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies solve one technical problem — how to run a sunbeam through a meter.” — anonymous

A hydrogen car uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. Wikipedia tells me that the power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to torque (or mechanical energy) in one of two methods: combustion, or electrochemical conversion in a fuel-cell:

• In hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles, the hydrogen is combusted in engines in fundamentally the same method as traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.
• In fuel-cell conversion, the hydrogen is reacted with oxygen to produce water and electricity, the latter being used to power an electric traction motor.

It goes on to say that hydrogen is one of two natural elements that combine to make water — oh hey, something I knew! Thank you, bio-chem! What you may not know, however, is that hydrogen is not an energy source itself, but an energy carrier because it takes a great deal of energy to extract it from water.

After reading about Jesse James looking to beat the landspeed record with a hydrogen-burning car, I wanted to look into what dangers may be lurking with such a feat.

Here’s what I came up with (with some help, of course):

The show spots on tv aren’t really saying much about the car that Jesse will be using and there’s not much info about it online, so it’s hard to know how it will compare to what’s already been done.

The current land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle is 286.476 mph (461.038 km/h) set by Ohio State University’s Buckeye Bullet 2, which achieved a “flying-mile” speed of 280.007 mph (450.628 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August 2008. For production-style vehicles, the current record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle is 333.38 km/h (207.2 mph) set by a prototype Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 Fuel Cell Race Car at Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah in August 2007. It was accompanied by a large compressed oxygen tank to increase power. Jesse James is going to have to beat 333.38 km/h!

But what we really want to know, of course, is how dangerous is this stunt? I mean, they bill all of his stunts as being super dangerous and death-defying. Well, I’m no rocket scientist — err at least not a hydrogen-powered rocket scientist — so I searched and came up with a great site for you, my readers. Here’s all you’d ever need to learn about hydrogen!

H2 and You

Read, learn, and enjoy! It took me a few times through, but I think I’ve got the general idea.

No more will I let my brain make the connection between the hydrogen and the Hindenburg (whose shell was basically covered with solid rocket fuel, incidentally). More on that? Right here.

Hydrogen has the ability to help us improve the environment, reduce fuel imports and create green jobs. Why do you think so many companies are pursuing it? Because they already understand the great things it can do.