Wind Harvest International Eyes Potential for Small Turbines

Wind Harvest International Eyes Potential for Small Turbines

There has been an acceleration in the adoption of renewable energy, especially wind power. As wind energy has demonstrated a solid return on large projects, there is the opportunity for novel applications to be applied to unique situations. Like all technologies, innovation in Wind Power is increasing its versatility and potential applications. Kevin Wolf, co-founder of Wind Harvest International, is using his novel wind turbines to take advantage of new opportunities.

Currently, Wind Harvest is working to better capture wind energy.  Wind power has been having a renaissance in the US.  But there is the underutilized wind that Kevin Wolf thinks their turbines can capture.  The wind closest to the ground. Typical turbines can’t use this resource because the wind near the ground is too turbulent, but Wind Harvest has developed a solution that looks like it could work.  By using H-type turbines with two connections per vertically aligned blade rows of these can be installed under the tall turbines.  There they can leverage economies of scale and existing land, roads, and infrastructure with large project developments.  In the process, this gives the wind farm owner and the rancher who lease their land to increase income from their windy properties.

Wind Harvest’s technology makes use of the coupled vortex effect; when arranged in close proximity to one another, a pair of H-type wind turbines create a synergistic effect. They anticipate this will increase wind speeds through the rotors. They anticipate their compact turbines having the ability to produce electricity at night because in most wind farms in places like California, the wind blows all night long many nights of the year.  When installed in existing wind farms, especially with batteries, Wind Harvester turbines aim to increase energy capacity to meet demand that would be provided by gas peaker plants and fossil fuels.  They can be built and maintained a lot easier. This means they can create jobs in the local community, both in their manufacturing and maintenance. 

If you want to learn more or get involved, check them out and see their fundraiser on WeFunder.

Wind Harvest International will also be presenting at our Spotlight Investor Night on November 12th.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Osato Evbuomwan is a CSU Sacramento Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student who is the newest associate at CleanStart. Growing up in Nigeria with smog from backup diesel/ gasoline generators inspired Osato to work towards building a sustainable future for the world. 

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, EY, Stoel Rives, Revrnt, Hacker Lab

BlueTech Valley, Buchalter, Moss Adams, PowerSoft.biz

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State

Sacramento Moves up ACEEE Rankings

Sacramento Moves up ACEEE Rankings

At CleanStart, we like to watch city rankings on green and sustainability to see where our region sits.  ACEEE’s City Scorecard is a notable one. This year, Sacramento improved, moving from 20th to 17th out of the 100 Largest Cities in the US. Every year the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy puts out its City Clean Energy Scorecard. The Scorecard compares efforts by US cities to make buildings and transportation more energy efficient and increase the utilization of renewable energy.

While we have a leading utility in SMUD, and the City of Sacramento has continually supported sustainability, we must take continual actions to fight climate change and support sustainability. Sacramento improved its score in Transit, Community Activity, and Utility/Energy. This corresponds to the activity you might see just living around Sacramento, from more bike lanes to shared mobility, fast charges, and SMUDs Sustainable Communities initiative.  

While scoring better than most, Sacramento lost points on building standards, specifically enforcement. It is essential to address this because emissions from buildings are a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions.  Also, building emissions impact underserved communities who live in and around older buildings more. There is a push to electrify buildings and replace and update older buildings to make them more efficient. For example, SMUD and Sacramento Metro Air Quality Management District support consumer and commercial replacement of old dirty equipment (like stoves and lawnmowers). 

If you want to see the rankings, you can check them out here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center

CEO Crash Course Alumni announced as CalSEED Winners

CEO Crash Course Alumni announced as CalSEED Winners

Four Companies who completed CleanStarts CEO Crash Course applied for and won California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development (CalSEED) Grants. These grants of $150,000 were awarded to 28 companies.  212 companies applied and were put through a rigorous review process.

Four Companies who completed CleanStarts CEO Crash Course won.

Descriptions from CalSEED here.

EV Life, LLC is building the first online platform that gives drivers everything they need to switch from gas to an electric car. They will create an EV climate loan and lending platform that saves most drivers over $200 per month on an electric car loan by incorporating thousands of dollars in EV rebates and incentives into the upfront financing of each car. The platform will have algorithms that analyze applicants’ creditworthiness and their eligibility for EV incentives in order to offer them the most affordable EV auto loan on the market.

Hago Energetics, Inc. aims to help farms become more profitable by converting farm waste to high-value products, such as hydrogen and valuable carbons. They break down organic matter, such as food scraps and animal waste, in conditions with no oxygen to produce a biogas that is later decomposed to hydrogen and carbon; this hydrogen is expected to sell at a lower cost and lower carbon footprint than the current methods.

Tolo Inc. aims to create a new artificial intelligence tool using high-resolution imagery for remote inspection of utility assets. It will allow inspectors to identify risks to electrical infrastructure, including foliage clearance violations and equipment degradations that inspectors could ordinarily miss in the field, reducing the risk of utility-caused wildfires.

Waterhound Futures, Inc. will demonstrate a cloud-based predictive modeling and analytics software that enables companies and municipalities to optimize performance and cost efficiencies of water and wastewater treatment, ultimately reducing the use of energy and freshwater in conventional treatment processes.

Congratulations to them, and we hope more companies see CalSEED and similar grant opportunities as a viable path forward.  If you want help finding grants and partners, check out Empower Innovation and OpenGrants. Make sure to sign up for CleanStarts Newsletter for more opportunities. 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas is the Executive Director of CleanStart. Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. He has a BS in Finance and a BA in Economics from California State University, Chico. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, Moss Adams, River City Bank, GreenbergTraurig

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt, Synbyo, Califronia Mobility Center

Ride Share Bikes Continue

Ride Share Bikes Continue

Earlier this year, Bike and Scooter share services in Sacramento appeared to be enjoying great success. Back in February, Jump had over 2000 scooters and an estimated 1000 bikes out on the streets of Sacramento. Additional companies Lime and Spin were also competing in our market. In April, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, they pulled nearly all of their bikes off the streets and in May, Jump’s parent company Uber sold Jump to Lime. There is much speculation about what is happening and whether the rideshare model will work going forward. What has the impact of vandalism of countless bikes, like throwing them in the river, been? What will the bigger impact of the global pandemic that forced Jump to suspend its bikes and scooter share programs be? 

In May of 2018, Sacramento became the fourth to bring Jump bikes into their city. Since then the bikes have faced a lot of problems. As early as August of the same year, many of the bikes were vandalized and this problem escalated as time went on. Authorities fished countless bikes out from the American River. In total, about 15% of the bikes placed in Sacramento were vandalized.

Once COVID-19 hit, Jump faced additional problems. Although Jump doesn’t share detailed rider data, it was obvious that ridership dropped significantly when businesses shut down due to Shetler-in-Place orders. The primary reason given for removing the bikes was health and safety concerns due to Covid-19, but Bike and Scooter shared success relies on active city centers where people make many small trips, which makes the prolonged economic shutdown a serious threat. With the city license fees required to keep their bikes on the street, Jump incurs a big cost with little or no revenue if people are not using the bikes.

In May of this year, Uber lead an investment into Lime totaling $170M, as part of the deal Jump was sold to Lime. Uber says they sold this part of the company so that they could focus on the automobile part of the company. Another factor in this investment could be Lime and Uber’s competition over market share–customers having to choose between using identical products can only differentiate on price. The merger is a good sign for the companies who still appear to be losing money trying to gain market share. Lime is committed to the bike and scooter share, now with Ubers investment. 

Eight months after the beginning of the Pandemic, you can now see Jump Bikes and Lime Scooters coming back to Sacramento, and Lime and Uber are partnering on joint services. Additionally, SPIN bikes are available in the Sacramento market, so some competition remains. While the bikes are beginning to be put back out for people to use, both companies are still losing money and Covid-19 remains a major issue in Sacramento County, leaving them at risk.

Thomas Hall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saraia Jackson is a second-year computer science major at CSU Sacramento. Her long-term goal is to become a cybersecurity analyst. She wants to show young African American women that they can do whatever they put their minds to no matter where they come from. She also really wants to devote her life to helping children and making a difference. 

CleanStart Sponsors

Weintraub | Tobin, EY, Moss Adams, Momentum

BlueTech Valley, PowerSoft.biz, Revrnt

College of Engineering & Computer Science at Sacramento State