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It seems that an experiment with solar panels on residential homes in a community in Japan is working out well.  Not only do all of the homes’ appliances run off of the solar electricity, but they are also able to sell unused electricity back to the utility.

It seems that Japan will be bringing back subsidies for consumers to install solar panels on their homes next year.  I can see that having this technology on a home will siginificantly increase the value of the home.  I can’t wait to see the cost of setting up these systems drop.  Or, perhaps, we should be embracing a new model where consumers don’t own the solar equipment, but rather lease out their rooftops to the utility.  I can also see another model where consumers lease their rooftops to a company that specializes in installing and maintaining these solar generation systems.  The future is oh so bright!

Geothermal energy is an abundant resource that has not been fully tapped.  Magma is usually located 25-40 miles beneath the Earth’s surface.  However, in some areas, it is only 4 miles beneath the surface.  Once the magma is reached (through drilling) a liquid, like water, is heated and turned into steam. The steam is then transported to a turbine above ground and released.  The steam rises and rotates turbines which generate electricity.  It is a pretty simple process, but it takes a lot of work to set up the plant to process the steam.  One key advantage of geothermal energy is that it runs 24 hours a day regardless of the weather conditions.

In fact, there is so much geothermal energy available that Google has committed itself to exploring the use geothermal energy in some capacity.  It only makes sense for Google to do so since it is such a large consumer of electricity.  (One of Google’s data centers alone consumes more than 100 megawatts of electricity. This is enough electricity to power a city the size of Tacoma, Washington or 82,000 homes.)  In fact, the CEO of Google recently spoke about his interest to exploit geothermal energy at a recent Commonwealth Club event.  The video of his talk about renewable energy is available after the jump.  (Warning: The video is about 45 minutes long. So, make sure that you have some time available to watch it.)

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A company called Covanta is generating electricity and disposing of people’s waste in an environmentally friendly way. I think this is a great example of a company that is tackling two problems and solving each of them well. Covanta takes trash from communities and burns the trash in incinerators which create steam that turns turbines that generate electricity. The electricity created is renewable and the garbage after it is burned is more easily disposed.

You might think that air pollution is created when the garbage is burned, but that is not the case. Covanta manages all of its emissions and ensures that their environmental output is minimal. Their emissions are so clean that they even have a plant in Honolulu, Hawaii where people really care about protecting the environment. If you are interested in finding out more about Covanta, you can watch a CNNMoney video about it.

Covanta is a publicly traded company and they have a solid valuation. They are listed on the NYSE under the ticker CVA.

We are all excited about ethanol, fuel cell, solar and wind technology, but here is an example of a technology that is making an impact today. This brings new meaning to the phrase, “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure”!

Disclosure: At the time of the writing of this post, I have no financial relationships with any of the organizations mentioned.
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About the Author

Jonathan Chang is interested in new technologies which help individuals and organizations make a positive impact on society and the environment. He is also a proponent of long term thinking, supports the creation of renewable resources, and is an ardent advocate of social entrepreneurship. He is involved with and a member of Net Impact and the Commonwealth Club. (Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to make a positive impact on society by growing and strengthening a community of new leaders who use business to improve the world. The Commonwealth Club is the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum which organizes events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy.) Jon received his MBA from Babson College and his BA from Columbia University.