To be considered for this random giveaway, leave a comment below through the end of Thursday, May 6, 2010.*

After writing about Sam's Club's installation of 17 Skystream turbines in California, we were approached by the company with an opportunity to give away a 400W wind generator.  We jumped at the chance given this could help out one of our readers.  For informational purposes, the micro turbine is available for purchase online at Sam's Club, but at the end of this giveaway, one random commenter will be chosen to receive one for free. 

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Today, in Palmdale, California, Walmart (NYSE:WMT) flipped the switch on 17 small wind turbines in the parking lot of bulk retailer, Sam’s Club.  Based upon estimates, Walmart and Sam’s Club believe the turbines will generate about 76,000 kWh of energy annually, which is enough to power more than six average homes over the same period of time. 

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Seems like the old incandescent business is on its last legs these days.  I’m reading news from GE to mean that they’ve come up with an expensive silver bullet for screw-in home lighting.  Due to hit shelves this fall or early 2011, the GE Energy Smart LED replaces 40-watt general service incandescent bulbs with nine watts of consumption, 450 lumens of light, and 25,000 hours of rated life.

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Sustainable design start-up SMIT has been working on solar and wind powered facade technology for a while under the GROW moniker.  Now, the company is about to blow the lid off the solar-powered GROW with commercial availability.  SMIT is using a new name and website, Solar Ivy, for the biomimicry-inspired innovation made with recyclable polyethylene leaves, Konarka Power Plastic organic photovoltaics, and a structural stainless steel mesh system.

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Most of the energy monitoring tools on the market right now gather aggregate information about the overall electricity use of a home.  But the new eMonitor from PowerHouse Dynamics could change all this with circuit level monitoring.  The eMonitor solution combines hardware, software, and service elements to provide home electricity use, electricity cost, and carbon footprint information by the minute.  Past and present information is then available online and on the iPhone (starting in about Q2 2010). 

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