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South Africa’s state owned electricity provider Eskom leads by example in this cool advertising campaign.

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Team BioVolt from MIT has created a prototype device that generates cheap electricity from grass clippings. They won first place in the MIT and Dow Materials Engineering Contest (MADMEC) 2007:

The device the team invented for the competition generates electricity from cellulosic biomass. The device is intended to generate enough electricity to charge a cell phone in developing countries. Team members say that the current power output of the device would take about six months to recharge your cell phone.

However, BioVolt is quick to point out that the materials in the device only cost about $2 to obtain and the biomass "fuel" can be found everywhere in nature as leaves and grass clippings. The team members say that multiple units could be connected together to increase power output and that refinements in the design of the device could yield a 100 times increase in efficiency.

VIA

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California residents and businesses turned off lights, air conditioners and machinery Thursday to help the state weather an electricity shortage caused by soaring temperatures and high demand.

The state's largest energy consumers had been notified that they might have to go dark to help prevent blackouts, but the mandatory interruptions at industrial, commercial and retail businesses were not needed.

It appeared earlier in the day that energy demand might approach the state's all-time record, but the state's power usage peaked at 47,843 megawatts, well below the predicted peak of 49,105 megawatts.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokeswoman Jennifer Ramp said the utility asked 2,200 large customers with which it has standing conservation agreements to reduce energy use voluntarily. Those reductions saved 600 megawatts, she said.

Despite the reprieve, triple-digit temperatures and high energy demand caused localized failures.

An overburdened distribution station in the San Fernando Valley triggered a rolling outage that affected about 2,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers. Residents were told they'd be without power for 1 1/2 hours, then have power switched back on for about 45 minutes before they would lose it again.

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