If you're new here at Alternative Energy HQ, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed for all the latest updates on energy news. Thanks for visiting!

We all feel guilty at times buying books and paper products when we don't need them to be physical products or if we really want to save some dough and buy used textbooks for classes and cannot find them.

Well leave it to the internet and some innovation. iChapters is a an online book store that sells used textbooks, ebooks, and iChapters in an effort to solve those issues.

Plus now they are doing their part to help in a conservation effort. Everytime one of their customers buys a digital eBook or eChapter they plant a tree.

“Today’s youth are aware of the global environmental crisis and want to act. This partnership provides an exciting way for students to participate in the solution,” stated Dr. Sarah Otterstrom, Founder and Executive Director of PasoPacífico.org. “Trees are central to healthy life on earth. A single tree can provide a home to a multitude of species, filter water and provide fuel, shelter, and comfort for local people. Simply put, trees benefit people.”

You can see the tree planting effort in the slide show below.

Look up in the top right corner and you can see that I helped plant a tree. Yeah. Do it yourself today!

energy Tags: hybrid+cars" rel="tag">hybrid cars, wind+power" rel="tag">wind power

We've bringing exciting news - in the most recent cases, from the Tokyo Motor Show preview series - about major automakers that are bringing out all-electric concepts. Last week, for example, we learned about the very practical Subaru …

More: continued here

ZENN Motor Company of Toronto CA is showing off their electric car at the Going Green 2007 conference in Davis California. CEO Ian Clifford spent a few minutes telling us about their electric cars as well as their alliance with battery storage company EEStor of Texas.

EEStor is on the verge of releasing some revolutionary new battery technology that could reshape the market forever. Ian gives us his take on their technology as well as the current state of the electric car market.

Ian Clifford ZENN Motor Company

energy Tags: energy resources, alternative

EEStor Announces Two Key Production Milestones: Automated Production Line Proven and Third Party Verification of All Key Production Chemicals Completed

CEDAR PARK, TEXAS– The first EEStor, Inc. automated production line has been proven to meet the requirements for precise chemical delivery, purity control, parameter control and stability.

In addition, EEStor, Inc. has completed the initial milestone of certifying purification, concentration, and stability of all of its key production chemicals notably the attainment of 99.9994% purity of its barium nitrate powder.

The independent 3rd party chemical analysis was completed by Southwest Research Institute, Inc. located in San Antonio, Texas under contract with EEStor, Inc.

With these milestones completed, EEStor, Inc. is now in the process of producing on its automated production line, composition-modified barium titanate powders and is moving toward completing its next major milestone of powder certification.

It is anticipated that the relative permittivity of the current powder will-either meet and/or exceed 18,500, the previous level achieved when EEStor, Inc. produced prototype components using it engineering level processing equipment.

Richard Weir, CEO and President of EEStor, Inc. added: "We are very proud of the key advancements we have made over the past year. In addition to the milestones identified, the Company has also been awarded a critical patent related to our technology and has 12 additional patents pending. We have built a state-of-the-art facility and have exceptional personnel onboard."

The first commercial application of the EESU is intended to be used in electric vehicles under a technology agreement with ZENN Motors Company. EEStor, Inc. remains on track to begin shipping production 15 kilowatt-hour Electrical energy Storage Units (EESU) to ZENN Motor Company in 2007 for use in their electric vehicles. The production EESU for ZENN Motor Company will function to specification in operating environments as sever as negative 20 to plus 65 degrees Celsius, will weigh less than 100 pounds, and will have ability to be recharged in a matter of minutes.

ABOUT EEStor, Inc.

Headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, EEStor, Inc. is dedicated to the design, development, and manufacturing of high-density energy storage devices. Utilizing revolutionary ultra capacitor architecture and environmentally friendly materials the EEStor, Inc. EESU will compete against all existing battery technologies. The EEStor, Inc. EESU IS capable of microsecond recharging and millions of 100% charge/discharge cycles. The technology is affordable and designed for versatile "racked and stacked" configurations. = marketwire

Energy Tags: energy, solar+energy" rel="tag">solar energy

Michelex Signs LOI to Acquire Ag Pro, Ltd and Enters the Bio-Diesel Market

MASSENA, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) — Michelex Corp. (Pink Sheets:MLXO) "Michelex" (or the "Company") a plastic manufacturing company and an audio record production group announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Ag Pro, Ltd, (www.agprosoy.com). Ag Pro, Ltd. owns and operates a soybean and oilseed crushing plant in Massena, New York. The plant processes soybeans into soy meal and crude soy oil. Its current crushing capacity is 150 tons of soybeans per day, which will be increased to 250 tons. The refinery has a capacity of 50 tons of oil per day. Ag Pro's state-of-the-art oil refinery is a physical refinery, rather than a chemical refinery like most others. It produces soy oil with zero trans-fats. Soy oil is also used to produce bio-diesel. Michelex plans to utilize the majority of the soy oil production for making bio-diesel. What is unique about Ag Pro, Ltd. is that its oil can be used as a high quality edible oil, or as a feed stock for bio-diesel depending upon market conditions. St. Lawrence County is well suited for the production of soy beans with its ample farm land. In full production, the crushing plant would need 100,000 acres in soy.

The estimated replacement cost of all Ag Pro, Ltd. assets is upwards of 12 million dollars. It is the intention of Michelex to construct a bio-diesel etherification plant next to Ag Pro, Ltd. in the Massena Industrial Park. The capacity will be a minimum of 10 million gallons per year. The newly proposed facility will process bio-diesel from a variety of oil feed stock. This versatility will not limit the production only to the crushing plant's soy oil output. The bio-diesel plant will be financed by the sale of Industrial Development Bonds. The St. Lawrence County IDA has written a letter of support for this project.

The acquisition is based on cash and stock considerations.

Thomas Gramuglia, President and CEO of Michelex stated that he "is very excited about the proposed acquisition of Ag Pro, Ltd. as my family has been in the crushing and refining business for edible oil in Italy since 1919. The Italian company has an outlet for sale of its olive oil here in the U.S. at www.oliverioil.com."

Michelex would also like to update its shareholders that the 10Qs for March, June and September 2006 are expect to be filed before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Safe Harbor: This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation reform Act of 1995. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance development and results of the Company's business include but are not limited to fluctuations in financial results, availability and customer acceptance of our products and services, the impact of competitive products, services and pricing, general market trends and conditions, and other risks detailed in the Company's SEC reports.