Yep, it’s that time again… here are this week’s green tech finds.

• Fighting the downturn with rooftop windfarms: Co-op and condo building owners are exploring wind and solar energy options as a way to cut building costs during the down economy.
  
  
• Deep water floating wind turbines go online: Norwegian company Statoil has flipped the switch on the world’s first floating wind turbine. (via EcoGeek)
  
  

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Techies rejoice! Here’s your weekly run-down of some of the cooler green tech stories out there…

• Free energy? There’s a ton of it out there — 7 quadrillion BTUs — in the form of wasted heat. The Department of Energy has announced funding opportunities for R&D on how to tap this massive source of energy. (via Cleantechnica)
  
  
• NYC — the wind energy capital? It seems counterintuitive, but the Carnegie Institution and California State University have found that high-altitude winds, which are concentrated over the Big Apple (among other places), “contain enough energy to meet world demand 100 times over.” (via Green Living Ideas)
  
  

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What would happen if a major hurricane made a direct hit on Houston and NASA’s Johnson Space Center? Researchers at the center for Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters, SSPEED, at Rice University in Houston have received a grant of $1.25 million to find out.

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Dreaming of a green home? Already got a picture in your head of your carbon neutral, low impact house? Even if it’s just an upgraded version of your current home, that picture almost certainly includes solar panels on the roof, and/or a wind turbine situated on your land.

It’s an inspiring image. In reality, it may also be one that’s going to produce more headaches (financial and otherwise) than clean energy… unless you do your homework.

Learn more on what you need to do if you want to use solar or wind energy on your property…

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image credit: the russians are here
used under a creative commons license
Anyone who knows Utah knows the power of wind, water and sun. You can see that power in Utah’s sculpted arches of stone, in our majestic mountains capped with snow, and in the cracked earth of our deserts.

Nature’s power is so obvious that you have to wonder why we’ve mostly ignored it as a source of energy to run our homes and businesses, and to propel our cars and trucks.

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