Here’s some college students who instead of “taking you money” will be “saving you money” by retrofitting your windows etc:

As we throw billions of dollars of public money at energy and finance problems with our fingers crossed, law-makers should think about incentivizing at least some of the solution-seekers. The X-prize has proven that cash rewards are a huge motivator for inventors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and financiers to attempt to solve seemingly impossible problems.

American energy use has increased 200% since 1990, and 40% of that energy consumption occurs in the the home. Statistics like these have mobilized a coalition of public and private institutions to offer prizes to those intrepid souls who can build the next generation of “energy-free” buildings.

The Energy-Free Home Challenge defines an “energy-free home” as a modern building that produces as much energy as it consumes. It must be scalable and within the cost of an average consumer. The prize purse that will go to the team that can make this dream a reality is $20,000,000.

Interesting note in the category of “that’s how the world works”: I tried to Google the “Energy Free Home Challenge” and the top result was their lobbying statistics on Open Secrets ($65,000 in 2008).

There will probably be not be one cure-all solution to reliance on foreign energy and carbon emissions. Luckily, there are numerous people thinking creatively to harness energy from unlikely sources. Syngas is a process in which heat is used to convert a solid material such as coal or municipal waste into a gas. “Gasification” of biomass can reduce waste and carbon emissions since the source material is renewable and organic.

The Boston Globe did a story about one company, Ze-Gen, that heats scrap metal and captures the gases for combustion. Like many of the “new” energy propositions being developed these days, this idea is not new at all. A similar process was used to extract gasses from coal in order to light street lamps in the pre-electric days. (Via Nigel)

This week, we are back with Justin from Episode 9. Justin has worked in the area of sustainable development and the environment in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Peru and the states. Ever since I’ve known him, he’s always had a book in hand, taking advantage of any chance to read throughout his day. He gives us a run-down of some of his favorite green books which include: Eco Pioneers by Steve Lerner, Plan B 3.0 by Lester Brown, The Natural Step for Communities by Sarah James & Torbjorn Lahti, Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman, Permaculture a Designer’s Manual by Bill Mollison, and Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken. All of these books are available at your local library and Plan B 3.0 can be downloaded for free from the Earth Policy Institute.