penny for a thought | Patrick on every & anything

Gizmodo reports that EEStor is planning to ship super-capacitors by the end of this year. I blogged last week about EEStor and its planned alliance with Zenn Motors to create a fully electric vehicle that’s said to get upwards of 500 miles on a single $9 charge. Now, a week after writing about the revolutionary EEStor, I find that their “battery-like” technology will become available this fall. It might be time for me to buy a car sooner-than-later. However, with EEStor, the fun doesn’t stop with cars as the technology promises to, overtime, be an alternative to all traditional batteries.

We’re all probably familiar with the enormous wind turbines scattered about the country. You know, the bird exterminators spinning 3 propellers the size of tractor trailers. Anyhow, there’s soon to be a new device to transfer wind into energy hitting the market by 2010. The blimp like wind floating wind generator one-ups conventional turbines in a number of ways, including: portability, float-ability and functionality.

The M.A.R.S power air rotor system by Magenn Power Inc. makes it easy, or rather, easier to harvest wind from anywhere. Why build a tower turbine when you can inflate a M.A.R.S? That’s right, this particular wind turbine floats upwards of a 1,000 feet above earth, thanks to its on board helium storage system. We can only speculate how this contraption will actually perform, as a tangible model has yet to developed. That said, Magenn Inc. expects production models to become available by 2010. I’d start saving if I were you, because all know how good one of these will look in the back yard.

Hybrid car owners aren’t the only consumers who can reak the tax benefits associated with energy efficiency, homeowners can too, except many just don’t know it. Contrary to popular belief you don’t have to strap solar panels to your roof or install a wind turbine in your back yard to save on energy costs and get a tax incentive at the end of the year. When done right, home improvemnets such as new windows, appliances, roofs, furnaces, hot water heaters, insulation, and rain gutters can provide a hefty energy tax credit at the end of the year.

It differs from state-to-state and the amount of energy tax credit you recieve is dependent on the type of product upgrade; the maximum total energy credit allowed is currently locked at $500. With that being said, if your old fridge or hot water heater is on its last leg, you might consider upgrading to a less primitive device. Though you might initially spend a few buck more, the money you save in energy bills and what you get back from “The Man” will more than likely recoup itself. Not to mention the piece of mind you’ll have by living more efficiently.

To many of you, this is nothing new. However, there’s a plethora of people purchasing energy efficient appliance and adding environmentally friendly upgrades to their homes, but don’t have a clue that a tax benefit exists.

Hi There,

Welcome to pennyforathought.org, your one-stop for information on living simpler, cleaner, and greener. Don’t fret, you won’t be patronized or ridiculed for your behaviors. I won’t tell you driving to work and using electricity is bad or taking three showers a day is proposterous, instead, I’m going to share news and information on how you can live efficiently, witout deviating from preffered way of life.

How will I do this? It’s simple, I scour the web for the latest news and information and aggregate my findings into thought provoking blog entries. Visiting and reading my blog doesn’t cost a thing, however, I do encourage readers do donate penny’s they find or will otherwise end up on the ground, in an ash tray, or the “give a penny take a penny jar”. Every penny collected will be donated to a research program, later chosen in coordination with my readers.

I hope you find value in my blog and please be sure to provide any feedback necessary to make it better. Now let’s go and create change by collecting it.

-Patrick