Courtesy Stock.XCHNG

The newly formed National Institute for Renewable Energy, led by Texas Tech University, plans to research the use of wind energy and develop the renewable energy industry.

The Texas Tech University System, the Innovate Texas Foundation and The Wind Alliance recently announced the formation of the National Institute for Renewable Energy, an independent public-private collaboration that will work to solve key scientific and technology challenges facing the wind-energy industry. The announcement came during the American Wind Energy Association’s Windpower 2010 conference in Dallas.

NIRE will operate a for-profit business component that will design, construct and operate research wind farms, selling the generated energy in the commercial marketplace to fund a nonprofit research center. NIRE also will provide services to wind-energy industry partners and offer a wind-energy industry consortium, to be managed by The Wind Alliance.

“Texas Tech is nationally recognized as a leader in wind-energy research,” says Texas Tech University System chancellor Kent Hance. “We are grateful to be associated with this collaboration to address the future energy needs of our state and nation. As our country moves toward energy independence, Texas Tech will continue to develop innovative solutions and make advancements in all areas of the power-generation sector.”

Initial plans for the Texas Tech-led coalition and national institute include:
 

• Facilitating technology development to further decrease the cost of wind energy and other renewable energy sources and to develop and optimize energy-storage technologies
• Hiring additional renewable-energy scientists at Texas Tech to direct energy research
• Purchasing mobile equipment to map wind flows and help design more efficient commercial wind farms

According to Texas Tech, wind energy will fuel more than just high-paying jobs by providing incremental power production and expanding rural-community and school-district tax receipts. When combined with other forms of energy, wind power expands energy independence and extends Texas’ global energy leadership.

Start-up funding for NIRE has been derived from many of the economic development organizations in West Texas.

Organizational planning and support for the wind-energy initiative was provided by Innovate Texas Foundation, a nonprofit institution that serves as a catalyst for collaboration and transactions among universities, industry, investors and government, enabling them to engage with the global economy more efficiently and effectively.

National organizations indicating support for NIRE include the AWEA, The Wind Alliance and The Wind Coalition. They will be joined by as many as 30 private-sector firms with large investments in renewable-energy projects.

“This initiative will go a long way toward furthering public academic research in wind energy,” says Carsten Hein Westergaard, director of global technology for Vestas. “Vestas is also supporting Texas Tech in the field of wind-energy research and we look forward to a meaningful collaborative relationship.”

Philippe Cochet, senior vice president of Alstom Power’s Wind and Hydro business divisions says he also looks forward to the collaboration, as it indicates their commitment to developing the wind industry in North America.

The National Wind Resource Center (NWRC), established by Texas Tech University, will serve as the research center for the initiative with support from many of the nation’s leading research universities, each utilizing its unique areas of expertise within the renewable-energy sector. The consortium also includes several nationally recognized workforce-development leaders.

Photo by Rick Gush

I found a swarm of my neighbor’s bees in my backyard.

The excitement in our neighborhood this week was a big swarm of bees. I was walking back from the garden and noticed a lot of bees in the air. I looked around and saw a small mass of bees gathering on a little olive tree in my neighbor’s yard. I rushed up to the office to grab my camera and went back down to take some photos. Although I’ve never kept bees myself, I’m pretty sure bees aren’t particularly dangerous even when they’re massing, so I got pretty close with the camera.

Lots of people keep bees here in Rapallo, Italy. One sees most of the brightly painted hives along the edges of the city, but a few people with the larger gardens in the city center also have bee hives. Several of the small farmers who sell produce at the daily vegetable market also sell honey, beeswax candles and propolis. I often buy propolis myself to use as a general protectant and a wound sanitizer.

Although we do see a lot of Honey bees in our garden, I think the larger portion of the bees we see are solitary bees. In addition to Mason bees, there are a half dozen species of big solitary bees that come around when the tomatoes and squashes are flowering. Some of those are particularly good looking bees. I think the fact that all the populated zones in Liguria are surrounded by brush and woodlands helps keep the number of wild bees quite high. 

Photo by Rick Gush

My neighbor patiently scooped up the bees and returned them home.

The Honey bee situation here in Italy is, like the States, troubled by the Varroa mites, and beekeepers report a serious decline in hive population numbers. But there are so many people who do keep bees that even with the decline, there are a whole lot of Honey bees still flying around.

I get a kick out of the fact that the two of the most common vehicles here in Italy are called Vespas and Api, or Wasps and Bees. Vespas are scooters and Api are the common little three-wheeled vehicles, which actually are just a tiny truck body mounted on a scooter.  It cracks me up to see that inside the cab, instead of a steering wheel, there is a set of scooter handlebars.

So, while I was photographing the bee swarm, one of the neighbors who keeps bees came along with his gear to collect the bees, which were, in fact, his. He says the crazy wet and cold spring disturbs the bees, and they more frequently leave their hives to travel around.

Once he put on his hood and gloves, he gently scooped the center of the swarm (and the quee) into the transportation box and waited patiently while the swarm re-formed in the box. Then he carried the bees back home. The nonchalance of the whole situation was charming, as if he was just retrieving a lost goat. I walked by the spot about a half hour later, and where there had been thousands of bees previously, there wasn’t a bee in sight.

Read more of Rick’s Favorite Crops »

Courtesy Purdue Extension/ Bethany Ratts

In 2009, late blight affected tomato and potato crop across the Northeast and Midwest, but the threat of the disease returning in 2010 is unlikely.

After late blight was such a burden in 2009, tomato growers in the Northeast and Midwest wonder if the potentially fatal disease will hit crops again this year. Experts at Purdue University say a repeat of last year’s outbreak is unlikely. 

Although late blight, which thrives in cool, damp conditions, should not return as aggressively as it did in 2009, tomato growers still should be aware of symptoms, says Daniel Egel, a plant pathologist at the Purdue cooperative extension.

“Late blight causes large brown lesions on tomato leaves and stems that under moist conditions are often ringed with the white fungus,” Egel says. “Symptoms caused by late blight may look like other common tomato diseases and, thus, may be easily missed if not sent for accurate diagnosis.”

Late blight, which is caused by a fungus called Phytophthora infestans, is spread by spores carried by wind, rain, or through seeds or transplants. It does not live in soil or dead plants. The late blight outbreak in 2009 is believed to have been caused by infected tomato transplants sold to homeowners at retail stores and spread to other plants before it could be stopped.

“These plants were grown in the South, where late blight is more likely to overwinter, and shipped north,” Egel says. “From homeowners, the disease jumped to commercial growers as well.”

Tomato growers, including those who grow in containers, who suspect the disease is affecting their plants can contact a county educator and send a sample to a plant and pest diagnostic laboratory. Call your local cooperative extension to see if it offers this service.

Send the infected part of the plant to be tested, says Egel. Late blight symptoms can show up on the leaves, stems or fruit.

“Roots of tomato plants won’t show symptoms, but potato tubers might,” he says.

In the case of confirmed late blight, pesticides containing the fungicide chlorothalonil can be used to help stop the spread of the disease to uninfected plants. Organic growers may find that copper products will slow the spread of late blight.

If you notice your tomatoes showing symptoms of late blight, take these steps to extinguish the late blight fungus, and keep you and your 2010 crop safe:

1. Do not eat the fruit. Plants infected with late blight can cause illness.
2. Do not compost plants infected with late blight.
3. Destroy this year’s volunteer tomatoes if your crop was affected by late blight in 2009.
4. Do not use 2009 potato seeds when planting the 2010 crop.
5. Avoid tomatoes or potatoes that overwintered in greenhouses. These plants potentially could have harbored the late blight fungus.
6. Inspect tomato transplants before buying. Avoid buying those that show symptoms of disease.