Ken Novak: Future energy

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:15:08 GMT

Bruce Sterling update: Now calling his concept "cybergreens": "They're all about creating irresistible consumer demand for cool objects that will yield a global atmosphere upgrade. It's the Net vs. the 20th-century fossil order in a fight that the cybergreens are winning. Why? Because they're not about spiritual potential, human decency, small is beautiful, peace, justice or anything else unattainable. The cybergreens are about stuff people want, such as health, sex, glamour, hot products, awesome bandwidth, tech innovation and tons of money.

We're gonna glam, spend and consume our way into planetary survival. My own favorite sci-fi planetary-saving scheme for naming, numbering and linking to the Internet every piece of junk we create so that it can be corralled and briskly recycled, creating a cradle-to-cradle postindustrial order and averting planetary doom, may sound pretty shocking and alien. But I wrote that book while in residency at a famous design school. I received an honorary doctorate there and the book was published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It gets great reviews, designers love it. It's not even science fiction -- it's a cybergreen manifesto.

In 1998, I had it figured that the dot-com boom would become a dot-green boom. It took a while for others to get it. Some still don't. They think I'm joking. They are still used to thinking of greenness as being "counter" and "alternative" -- they don't understand that 21st-century green is and must be about everything -- the works. Sustainability is comprehensive. That which is not sustainable doesn't go on. Glamorous green."

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:58:26 GMT

RPS outside the US: "- China will increase its use of renewables as part of a national plan to combat climate change, says the country’s environment minister Xie Zhenhua. .. he says the Chinese government will announce a national plan with concrete targets to improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2010 and to increase the proportion of renewables to 10%.

- Taiwan Power will spend NT$3.6 billion to install solar panels .. Taiwan imports 98% of its energy and the government wants renewables to generate 12% by 2025. .. The government owns 97% of Taipower, which generates three-quarters of the island’s electricity.

- The World Wind Energy Agency has welcomed the decision by the European Union to increase the continent’s share of renewables to 20% by 2020."

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:56:15 GMT

Texas Bid Could be First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm: "Jerry Patterson, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, announced that the state has signed an agreement to allow an offshore wind-energy project in the United States to be built off Galveston Island. .. [Work begins immediately on] towers [to] gather data to determine exactly where the 150 MW wind energy development will be built on an 11,355-acre lease about seven miles off the coast of Galveston Island. ..

there is only one entity in Texas for an offshore wind developer to deal with -- the Texas General Land Office, according to the developers. Also, development within the 10.36 miles offers proximity to the state's electrical grid to carry wind-generated power to customers. Coastal winds also tend to rise during the day when the state's electrical generating capacity faces peak demand, therefore generating power when it's most needed. Plus, the gentle slope of the Texas Gulf Coast makes the development of an offshore wind farm easy. ..

Once the research is complete, the second phase of the lease -- the construction phase -- will begin. Construction is expected to cost as much as $300 million and could take as long as five years. W.E.S.T. plans to build a field of about 50 wind turbines to produce an expected 150 MW. The hub of each turbine will rise 260 feet above sea level. The turbine blades will be up to 55 yards long .. " Production is expected to last 30 years.

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 15:41:23 GMT

South Africa: Cape green power plans: "Eskom, local authorities and the private sector are set to launch renewable energy projects that will add at least 350 megawatts of electricity to the national energy grid. The Western Cape uses around 4 000MW of electricity daily, while the entire country uses around 34 000MW, which can go up to 40 000MW at peak demand [somewhat less than California]. In the recent past there have been regular power outages as Eskom battles to meet the growing demand for electricity.

The planned renewable energy projects include two 100MW wind farms on the West Coast, a 100MW solar thermal plant in the Northern Cape and a 50MW solar thermal plant on the West Coast. .. The department is keen to launch projects that will ensure that 15 percent of the region's electricity needs will be met by clean and renewable sources by 2015."

Meanwhile the giant projects being coming online today are not so green; coal dwarfs them all: "The two Western Cape liquid-fuel open-cycle gas turbine stations would collectively add another 1050 megaWatts of power to the national grid. Ingula Power Station .. will be a pump-storage hydro-electric scheme, with a generating capacity of 1330 mW. .. The 4200 mW coal-fired power station in Lephalele would be named Medupi, meaning "the name that soaks parched land"."

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:57:54 GMT

SolarMission Solar Tower Video: "SolarMission Technologies and its Australian subsidiary, EnviroMission Limited produced this 5 minute video about its early pilot plant in Spain. It is an older video (2000) but gives a basic understanding of the solar tower concept." Very effective story.

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:41:18 GMT

About Parabolic Trough Solar: Solid review of the field, from Sept 2005.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 06:25:46 GMT

General Motors battery development: Details with simple slides about GM's PHEV battery efforts.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 06:16:13 GMT

Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley: Yet more coverage of the boomlet that started in 2001. "Out of the ashes of the Internet bust, many technology veterans have regrouped and found a new mission in alternative energy: developing wind power, solar panels, ethanol plants and hydrogen-powered cars. It is no secret that venture capitalists have begun pouring billions into energy-related start-ups with names like SunPower, Nanosolar and Lilliputian Systems. But that interest is now spilling over to many others in Silicon Valley — lawyers, accountants, recruiters and publicists, all developing energy-oriented practices to cater to the cause. ..

the Valley has always run in cycles. It is a kind of renewable gold rush, a wealth- and technology-creating principle that is always looking for something around which to organize."

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:27:12 GMT

Transmission Access For Renewable Energy: Important regulatory innovations go national. " The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted a new regulation on February 15th that aims to allow greater access to transmission lines for power generators of all types, including renewable energy projects. The new rule exempts intermittent power generators, such as wind power plants, from excessive "imbalance" charges when the amount of energy they deliver is different than the amount of energy they are scheduled to deliver. To help accommodate less-predictable forms of renewable power generation, the rule creates a "conditional firm" service to deliver power from a generator to a customer, allowing the power supplier to provide firm service for most, but not all, hours in the requested time period. A key aspect of the new rule is that it eliminates the broad discretion that transmission providers currently possess in calculating the unused, available capacity on their transmission lines. ..

The California ISO has also asked FERC to approve an innovative financing vehicle for new transmission lines, allowing utilities to invest in a transmission line and then having renewable generators pay for the line as they use it."

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:23:15 GMT

Fats Into Jet Fuel: "New biofuels technology developed by North Carolina State University engineers has the potential to turn virtually any fat source – vegetable oils, oils from animal fat and even oils from algae – into fuel to power jet airplanes. .. [It] can also be used to make additives for cold-weather biodiesel fuels and holds the potential to fuel automobiles that currently run on gasoline. ..

“We can take virtually any lipid-based feedstock, or raw material with a fat source – including what is perceived as low-quality feedstock like cooking grease – and turn it into virtually any fuel,” [professor] Roberts says. “Using low-quality feedstock is typically 30 percent less costly than using corn or canola oils to make fuel. And we’re not competing directly with the food supply, like ethanol-based fuels that are made from corn.” .. Converting feedstock into fuel produces a low-value commodity – glycerol – as a by-product. Rather than discarding glycerol as waste like most biodiesel plants do, the NC State engineers’ process burns glycerol cleanly and efficiently to provide some of the process’ requisite high temperatures. ..

The physical and chemical properties of traditional biodiesel fuels – their combustion characteristics and viscosity, for example – don’t match the stringent requirements of jet fuel....

First, the engineers use high temperatures and high water pressure to strip off the so-called free fatty acids from the accumulated feedstock of oils and fats, or triglycerides. Next, the engineers place the free fatty acids in a reactor to perform the decarboxylation step; that is, carbon dioxide is taken off the free fatty acids. Depending on the feedstock used, the scientists are left with alkanes, or straight-chain hydrocarbons of either 15 or 17 carbon atoms. “After these first two steps, which are always the same no matter which fuel you want, we can make any fuel we want to make,” Roberts says. “In the last two steps, we can change the recipe based on the fuel output desired.”

In the last two steps, the engineers break up the straight chains into molecules with branches, making them more compact and changing their chemical and physical characteristics. Jet fuel and biodiesel fuel require a mixture of molecules with between 10 and 14 carbon atoms, while gasoline requires only eight carbon atoms, so the engineers can control the process to elicit exactly the type of fuel they desire.

“We produce one-and-a-half billion gallons of animal fats annually, which is about half of the amount of vegetable oil produced yearly,” Roberts said. “Animal fats are harder to work with, but cheaper. Last year, for the first time ever, fuel costs in the aviation industry exceeded labor costs. We think the aviation industry is keen on finding alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuel.”"

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:08:44 GMT

Self-Assembling Batteries: "Researchers at MIT have designed a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that assembles itself out of microscopic materials. This could lead to ultrasmall power sources for sensors and micromachines the size of the head of a pin. It could also make it possible to pack battery materials in unused space inside electronic devices." Earlier related story: Batteries That Assemble Themselves: "Biology may be the key to producing light-weight, inexpensive, and high-performance batteries that could transform military uniforms into power sources and, eventually, improve electric and hybrid vehicles. Angela Belcher, an MIT professor of biological engineering and materials science, and two colleagues, materials science professor Yet-Ming Chiang and chemical engineering professor Paula Hammond, have engineered viruses to assemble battery components that can store three times as much energy as traditional materials by packing highly ordered materials into a very small space."

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:03:52 GMT

Researchers convert heat to electricity using organic molecules: "Arun Majumdar, UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering was principal investigator of the study.. [His team] successfully generated electricity from heat by trapping organic molecules between metal nanoparticles, an achievement that could pave the way toward the development of a new source for energy." While it's a long way from marketable form, it would have implications for energy, nanomaterials, and sensors (which need small amounts of energy to function).

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:52:46 GMT

Global Clean Energy Market Report: From Clean Edge and Nth Power. "Global clean-energy markets are poised to quadruple in the next decade, growing from $55.4 billion in revenues in 2006 to more than $226.5 billion by 2016." Charts and summary report online, with numerous references. Highlights:

"the global biofuels market was slightly larger than both solar and wind, reaching $20.5 billion in 2006 and projected to grow to more than $80 billion by 2016. Clean Edge projects solar photovoltaics (modules, system components, and installations) will grow from a $15.6 billion market in 2006 to $69.3 billion by 2016; wind power installations will expand from $17.9 billion in 2006 to $60.8 billion in 2016; and the markets for fuel cells and distributed hydrogen will grow from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $15.6 billion over the next decade."
"VC investments in energy-tech start- ups rose 262 percent to $2.4 billion in 2006. These investments, primarily in transportation and fuels, distributed energy, energy intelligence, and power reliability, eclipsed the previous high- water mark set in 2000 for energy-tech investing by more than $1 billion. The figures represent 9.4 percent of total US venture capital investments in 2006. "
5 trends are highlighted:

Carbon Finally Has a Price…and a Market
Biorefineries Begin to Close the Loop
Advanced Battery Makers Take Charge
Wal-Mart Becomes a Clean-Energy Market Maker
Utilities Get Enlightened

Energy intelligence -- using IT for efficiency -- is a category that Nth Power has targeted for some time. They report increases in investments from $192m in 2004 to $272m in 2005 to $476 in 2006 (of which $178m was for broadband over power investments).

Sat, 10 Mar 2007 08:03:14 GMT

Altairnano power play: I wonder if this battery is for real. "Altairnano - a relatively small public company [claims to produce] a battery that could power an electric vehicle hundreds of miles, charge in 10 minutes, and have a service life of 20 years or more.. The secret, according to Gotcher, is nanotechnology, and Altairnano's selection of nano-structured lithium titanate as a framework for its battery, branded NanoSafe™. Because the storage compartments are so small, the battery can store a lot of lithium ions. And the titanate material used in the nanostructures enhances battery cycle life, and gives it an extraordinary service life, he said., [claiming] more than 20,000 cycles with little performance degradation, .. Altairnano says its batteries have been tested under extreme conditions, including an operating temperature range of -50 to plus 71 degrees Celsius. ..

The battery pack can be charged at low voltage over long times, or charged at higher voltages quicker, Gotcher said. In a 10 minute or less charge, at least 480 volts at several hundred amps will be required, transferring 210 kW/h of energy to the battery pack. .. How would service stations of the future store the mammoth amounts of electricity required by electric vehicles? Altairnano's Gotcher says the company "hasn't really said a lot about that yet, but you'll see us come forward with information in the second quarter."

Related news: Power company AES made a $3 million "strategic investment" buying 1.5% of Altairnano's stock. ZAP is building a Tesla-like roadster with its batteries. So is Phoenix Motorcars, which has contracted to deliver 200 utility trucks with these batteries to PG&E in June 2007: "Phoenix’s SUT can travel at freeway-speeds while carrying five passengers and a full payload, the company claimed. The SUT has a driving range of over 100 miles, can be recharged in less than 10 minutes and has a battery pack with a lifespan of more than 12 years."

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:29:32 GMT

Adam Smith turns green: Nice short statement that many friends of mine could make. "We investors and entrepreneurs in the cleantech world have a guilty conscience. People often ask us, “Are you motivated by the money or by the mission?” It’s become unfashionable and a little shameful to say you’re driven by anything but profit, but I’m not afraid to say I’m a clean energy investor because of my values. ..

I looked at the energy marketplace and what was happening with new technologies .. It felt like the revolutionary zeal that I and other entrepreneurs had for the internet in the early days. And when we were asked, “are you in this to make money or change the world?” Of course we wanted to change the world! Making money was just validation that it worked. Virtually every early internet entrepreneur I knew recognized the opportunity to change the world for the better by growing the Net. It wasn’t until many years later that the hordes of profit-only entrepreneurs came to the scene. Indeed, if you want a sign of over-investment in cleantech, look for an invasion of founders and CEOs who are in it only for the money."

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:30:26 GMT

Oil Innovations Pump New Life Into Old Wells: Update on technologies for recovering the 2/3 of oil that conventional drilling leaves in the ground. A theme covered in depth in the January 2001 Atlantic. Bottom lines for me is that I don't believe we're close to peak oil as long as oil prices rise to pay for technology; and that $50 per barrel can fund a lot of secondary recovery technology to keep oil flowing. Oil use should be cut for environmental and security reasons; economics and resource availability reasons will not help.

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:48:36 GMT

Australia wants (incandescent) lights out by 2010: "Australia looks set to become the first country to phase out incandescent light bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, as part of its drive to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The Australian federal environment minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said Tuesday that he would work with the states to get rid of incandescent bulbs by 2009 or 2010. .. "Electric lighting is a vital part of our lives; globally it generates emissions equal to 70 percent of those from all the world's passenger vehicles." ..

Australia already has minimum energy performance standards that apply to electrical appliances, and a similar system will be applied to light bulbs. The standards would ultimately make it impossible to sell incandescent bulbs. Turnbull said the government would consider some exceptions to the restrictions for special applications like medical lighting and oven lights. Australia has used similar means to phase out water-thirsty lavatory cisterns and high-pressure shower heads.

Australia would be the first country to implement such a plan. The initiative appears likely to move ahead with little political conflict. Environmental groups are also pleased, particularly as the center-right government of John Howard was, until recently, unwilling to accept climate change as a reality."

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:49:16 GMT

EPEAT: "EPEAT is a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products.. On January 24, President Bush signed Executive Order 13423 that mandates federal agencies to buy EPEAT registered products."

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 16:43:42 GMT

Energy Subsidy list: "There are thousands of government policies in place around the world that act counter to stated objectives with regard to energy security, diversification, and environmental protection. This ten distortionary energy subsidies discussed below represent policies that, if corrected, would materially realign price signals to more effectively achieve energy market end goals. "

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 08:45:32 GMT

Battery investor roundup: "A123 Systems Inc., a Watertown, Mass.-based battery maker today raised $40 million in Series D funding [making] it the sector’s best-capitalized company, having raised a total of around $102 million since being founded in 2001. General Electric Commercial Finance led the round, with other return backers ... The only new investor was Duracell maker Procter & Gamble...

A123 Systems makes lithium-ion batteries.. A123 products are non-combustible and “do not release oxygen if exposed to high temperature or in the event of battery failure or mechanical abuse.” .. Its initial contract was for a line of Black & Decker power tools, but more recently signed a deal to help develop battery packs for General Motors’ upcoming line of plug-in hybrid vehicles (most current hybrids use nickel-metal hydride)... [US] Army venture arm OnPoint is [an investor] so that soldiers can carry lighter battery packs that won’t catch fire if pierced by shrapnel.

A quick search of the Thomson VentureXpert database shows that ten lithium-ion battery companies have raised VC funding in the past two years. The second-largest raiser after A123 is Golden, Colo.–based Infinite Power Corp., which scored around $35 million in Series A funding from firms like Applied Ventures, Core Capital Partners, D.E. Shaw, Polaris Venture Partners, In-Q-Tel and Springworks. Next up was Boston-Power, which raised nearly $25 million (at a $60m post-money valuation) from firms like Gabriel Venture Partners, Granite Global Ventures and Venrock Associates."

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 08:25:50 GMT

LEED certified mass-produced home: Nice photos and videos of Living Homes' modern, sustainable, factory built design.

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 07:59:01 GMT

Wireless Telemetry Growing to $25.3bn by 2009, as Enterprise Wakes up to Real-Time Efficiency Savings: "wireless telemetry (or AMR – Automated Meter Reading) will [grow] - according to industry analysts Juniper Research - with revenues rising from $11.6bn in 2006 to $25.3bn by 2009. According to Juniper, the substantial rise in revenues - expected to quadruple by 2011 to $40.8bn - will contrast with limited growth in telematics from $6.4bn to $11bn in the same period – owing to current widespread usage in many commercial vehicles due to legislation. Other outlets including security and surveillance, highway and public transport signs, and health care will show encouraging signs rising from a cumulative low of $2bn in 2006 to over $9bn by 2009."

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:51:58 GMT

Ford launches plug-in hybrid with hydrogen fuel cell: Jan 2007: "Ford launched a hydrogen-fuelled, battery-powered plug-in powertrain concept in the new Airstream concept vehicle this week at the North American International Auto Show. The system, trademarked HySeries Drive, is powered by a 336-volt lithium-ion battery pack at all times and has a range of 25 miles on a full electric power. Once the battery pack is depleted by about 40%, the hydrogen-powered fuel cell begins generating electricity to recharge the batteries, increasing range by another 280 miles, for a total driving range of more than 300 miles. ..The HySeries powertrain reduces the size, weight, cost and complexity of a conventional fuel cell system by more than 50%, and also promises to more than double the lifetime of the fuel-cell stack...

"You could take out the fuel cell and replace it with a hydrogen or diesel internal combustion engine," [the chief engineer] explained. "And instead of a six- or eight-cylinder engine, I could use a considerably smaller three- or two-cylinder engine as an auxiliary power unit to recharge the battery pack.""

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:21:27 GMT

GM's Volt: GM introduces a concept car with hybrid drive and a 40-mile battery. Plans to introduce by 2010.

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 07:58:00 GMT

Wal-Mart promotes CFLs: More info about WalMart and compact fluorescent lightbulbs. An example of how irrational consumer choice is, by seeing how easily it's manipulated by merchandising; and how both environmental and economic results are far from optimal in a "free" market. "Wal-Mart sold only 40 million [CF bulbs] in 2005, compared with about 350 million incandescent bulbs..

At the same time that it pressured suppliers, Wal-Mart began testing ways to better market the bulbs. In the past, Wal-Mart had sold them on the bottom shelf of the lighting aisle, so that shoppers had to bend down. In tests that started in February, it gave the lights prime real estate at eye level. Sales soared.

To show customers how versatile the bulbs could be, Wal-Mart began displaying them inside the lamps and hanging fans for sale in its stores. Sales nudged up further.

To explain the benefits of the energy-efficient bulbs, the retailer placed an education display case at the end of the aisle, where it occupied four feet of valuable selling space — an extravagance at Wal-Mart. Sales climbed even higher.

In August 2006, the chain sold 3.94 million, nearly twice the 1.65 million it sold in August 2005.." They need to double again to hit 100m in a year.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:13:34 GMT

Wal-Mart Pledges to Sell 100 Million Compact Fluorescents in '07: "Nov. 30, 2006 - Wal-Mart has announced an ambitious campaign to sell 100 million compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) at its Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations by the end of 2007. .. [WalMart's] Ruben added. "Over the life of those bulbs, $3 billion can be saved in electrical costs and 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gases can be prevented from entering our atmosphere. This change is comparable to taking 700,000 cars off the road, or powering 450,000 single-family homes"

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:07:01 GMT

Joel Makower commercializes greenbiz.com: The green info market matures. "I've just launched a for-profit media company, Greener World Media, which has taken over publishing of GreenBiz.com, et al, from their nonprofit home, the esteemed National Environmental Education & Training Foundation, where the sites had lived happily for the past five years.

Why a for-profit? In 1998-99, when the idea for GreenBiz.com was germinating, there was no business model for giving away information on the Internet. That clearly didn't stop a lot of people, but it stopped me. So, I created "the resource center on business, the environment, and the bottom line," as we dubbed ourselves, as a not-for-profit resource, relying on grants, sponsorships, and the kindness of strangers.

That model worked for a while, but it wasn't sustainable. (There's precious little philanthropic money available, at least in the green world, for a nonprofit organization whose prime mission is to serve the needs of business.) And things have changed: There is a business model now for online information services, based on advertising, sponsorship, and other revenue sources. And the world of green and sustainable business has exploded, with plenty of new products, services, and company initiatives to be promoted." This is good news. In my 2001-2 Stanford Digital Vision fellowship, I concluded that information sources for sustainable energy were needed, and were on their way thanks to tech advances in blogging and the natural growth of the community. In the last 2 years, I've trimmed my own blogging in the topic area as others have other voices and services have grown. Now it seems to be completely mainstream.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:41:31 GMT

Wal-Mart's Solar Energy Vision: Joel Mackower reports on Wal-Mart's "recently issued RFP, or request for proposal, to install solar energy systems on its stores in five states -- the largest procurement of solar ever proposed. Bids are due on January 5 .. Wal-Mart intends to notify the winner of the contract on February 28. ..

The confidential RFP document is part of the company's stated commitment "to reduce our overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent over the next eight years" and to "design a store that will use 30% less energy and produce 30% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than our 2005 design within the next 3 years," according to the RFP. ..

Wal-Mart says it will begin installing solar on its stores in five U.S. states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, and New Jersey. The company anticipates that "that only a portion of the stores in each state will be physically and economically suitable for solar installations," according to the RFP. It calls for bids for projects to be carried out during 2007, but is asking bidders for "expansion or build-out plans, including projected prices and costs, over the next five years." ..

What's the impact of all this? Wal-Mart doesn't mention a specific purchase size, but my sources tell me that the company could put solar on as many as 340 stores in the next few years. Assuming that each store utilized about 300 kilowatts of solar panels (it could be as much as 500 kilowatts), we're talking roughly 100 megawatts of solar. To put that into perspective, the solar system currently being installed at Google headquarters in California -- the largest single corporate solar installation in history -- is 1.6 MW, about 1/60th the size. Of course, it's unclear whether Wal-Mart will install solar in all of those locations. The company could look at the bidders' numbers and decide to install solar at only a handful of stores -- or none at all.

Assuming it moves forward with even a portion of its plans, Wal-Mart's move is significant, and historic. While a growing number of companies are staking their claim at being "carbon neutral" by purchasing power from developers of far-off wind farms or other large-scale installations, or have installed (often with much fanfare) solar panels on a single showcase facility, no one has yet made a long-term commitment to "alternative sources of energy at competitive prices and in a form that is replicable among multiple sites and multiple building formats," as Wal-Mart puts it."

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:37:55 GMT

SoCal Edison to build massive wind farm: US wind projects scale up. "Southern California Edison on Thursday announced a deal with an Australian firm to build the largest wind energy facility ever built by a U.S. utility. "This is triple anything that's ever been done. It's enormous," said Stuart Hemphill, director of renewable and alternative power for the Rosemead-based utility that supplies power to much of the Coachella Valley. The 20-year contract, to purchase power from a 50-square-mile wind farm slated for the Tehachapi area about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, is with Allco Infrastructure of Sydney. .. The deal with Allco, Hemphill said, allows SoCal Edison to begin to take advantage of the Tehachapi area's 4,500 megawatt wind energy potential." Nearby areas (e.g., Palm Springs) have additional GW of capacity.

More details: "All of California's wind farms together produce 2,300 megawatts of power; the Edison deal by itself would boost that number by 65%. The 1,500 megawatts in the new contract are enough to power nearly 1 million typical homes in Edison's 50,000-square-mile service territory. The Edison project would produce more than twice the electricity of the biggest U.S. wind farm, near Abilene, Texas. ..

In California, all utilities are pushing to meet a goal of generating 20% of the state's power needs from renewable sources by 2010. The looming deadline has triggered a flurry of new contracts by the energy companies lining up so-called green power. Although the deal announced Thursday would double Edison's wind energy production, the utility said it would still struggle to meet the 2010 target.

Company executives said the first batch of power from the project was expected to come online in 2010, but additional supply would have to be phased in over several years. The timeline — and the fate of the entire project — depends on whether and when the utilities can build a transmission line to carry the new wind power from the turbines to the state's power grid .. Edison and other utilities are working with state regulators on plans to construct the necessary transmission line. But the price tag is $1.8 billion, and the approval process for such projects can be contentious and lengthy." I wonder what the rollout of big wind would look like with national government backing, like the Tennessee Valley Authority or Bonneville Power Administration had in past years. This area has 4500 MW capacity, and it's news to grow to half that.

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:29:11 GMT

Low temp geothermal: "PureCycle® geothermal power plant at Chena Hot Springs Resort in Alaska was selected as Project of the Year in the renewable/sustainable energy category by Power Engineering magazine. .. The Chena Hot Springs Resort in Alaska has the first geothermal power plant in the state. It also is the site of the lowest temperature geothermal resource (165°F) ever used for commercial power generation in the world. The resort’s UTC Power PureCycle® geothermal system was commissioned in August and provides power for the resort’s on-site electrical needs. All 44 buildings at the resort – including a greenhouse, hotel, cabins and ice museum – are linked by a geothermal district heating system." More info: "Although output from the installation is considered small for a base load power plant, the Chena plant represents a huge leap forward for moderate geothermal development and greatly expands the number of geothermal resources that can be economically developed. Prior to the operation of the power plant at Chena, the lowest temperature geothermal resource ever developed for commercial power generation was 208 F."

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 04:24:05 GMT

Carbon Neutral: Raising the Ante on Eco-Tourism: Another case where an initially obscure policy-wonk idea has rapidly gone mainstream. And the baggage tag is a nice touch... "Buzzword of the Year: carbon neutral. .. The term will be added to the New Oxford American Dictionary in 2007 ..

Several carbon-offset Web sites, like www.carbonoffsets.org or www.terrapass.com use an online “carbon calculator” to determine the approximate amount of carbon dioxide produced when they travel. Carbon offsets, usually anywhere from $5 to $30, depending on the length of the trip and the form of transportation, can be purchased through a growing number of travel companies. Expedia and Travelocity both rolled out new programs this year that let travelers buy carbon offsets. Travelers who buy offsets through Expedia and its partner TerraPass, a Web-based for-profit company in Menlo Park, Calif., for a medium or long-haul flight get a “Carbon Balanced Flyer” luggage tag. The charge is $5.99 to offset about 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide — the amount emitted, per passenger, on a round-trip flight of up to 2,200 miles; $16.99 for a cross-country flight of up to 6,500 miles; and $29.99 for an international flight of up to 13,000 miles."

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:41:29 GMT

L.A. Auto Show: CEO promises GM will make plug-in Saturn hybrid: No specific timetable. Still, it's encouraging how pluggable hybrids went from a fringe idea as recently as 2003 to GM-scale conventional wisdom in 2006.

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:01:21 GMT

Biofuels via cellphone: "More people would be likely to refuel with biodiesel if they knew where to find a filling station .. NearBio delivers a database of more than 1,000 biodiesel sellers to mobile phones via WAP (wireless access protocol) or text messaging. The free applet and service from WHDC of Nevada City, CA, provides driving directions, the phone number and the blends available at the five closest locations.

Since most of the diesel engines in the U.S. are inside of trucks, truck drivers who can factor biodiesel stations into their routes are the most likely beneficiaries of this service. The number of biodiesel stations is increasing rapidly and NearBio says it will add new locations within a day. "

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:21:11 GMT

Taking the Measure: IT and Energy: I've heard these numbers verbally before, but not online; I've asked the author for the reseach citation. "According to researchers at MIT, less than 1 percent of all commercial and industrial companies use advanced technology to measure and manage energy spend. On the other hand, nearly 100 percent of companies use advanced technology to measure and manage telecommunications spend. Now consider that, according to the MIT researchers, the U.S. spend in electricity is about $270 billion per year while the U.S. spend in telecommunications is about $125 billion per year.

Does your company know down to the fraction of a minute how your telecommunications bill is derived? Probably, and you can probably produce pages of reports showing spending by person, department and project. .. Can you also break out by building, department, project and individual worker how your electrical bill is derived? Or your heating bill? Or your air-conditioning bill? I doubt it, but that is where your next round of cost savings resides."

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:43:53 GMT

Site Controls: Another network-based energy management company, this one based in Texas. "Site Controls provides on-demand energy and asset management solutions that increase profitability and improve the environment through energy efficiency. The company’s flagship platform, Site-Command™, was specifically designed to address the unique needs of Retail, Restaurant, and Convenience Store operators who seek to profitably deliver a consistent and compelling customer experience. By providing persistent real-time access, visibility and control over thousands of assets and sites nationwide, Site Controls helps customers create that compelling customer experience while simultaneously reducing emissions, saving money, and improving business efficiency.

Site-Command remotely monitors, logs, and controls HVAC, lighting, outdoor signage, refrigeration, and other major in-store energy consumers, online and in real-time. And, Site-Command features an intuitive, user-friendly, interface, accessible from any web-browser, or web-enabled PDA, minimizing IT overhead and ongoing support. Site-Command will deliver cash on cash payback within 18 to 24 months of install. ROI is further accelerated by utility rebates, which Site Controls manages on your behalf."

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:22:06 GMT

CBC News: The Denial Machine: Nov 2006 Canadian TV documentary: "The Denial Machine investigates the roots of the campaign to negate the science and the threat of global warming. It tracks the activities of a group of scientists, some of whom previously consulted for for Big Tobacco, and who are now receiving donations from major coal and oil companies. The documentary shows how fossil fuel corporations have kept the global warming debate alive long after most scientists believed that global warming was real and had potentially catastrophic consequences. It shows that companies such as Exxon Mobil are working with top public relations firms and using many of the same tactics and personnel as those employed by Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds to dispute the cigarette-cancer link in the 1990s. "

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 07:11:42 GMT

WorldChanging book and book tour: I've been a fan of the blog for years, and now it's a book, complete with big city book tour. Bravo!

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:27:46 GMT

E3 BioFuels: "E3 BioFuels Genesis plant "will begin production in December 2006 at Mead, Nebraska, as the first-ever closed-loop system for distilling commercial quantities of ethanol using methane gas recaptured from cow manure, instead of fossil fuels. This virtually eliminates the need for fossil fuels in the production of ethanol. [The plant] combines a 25-million-gallon ethanol refinery, beef cattle feedlot, and anaerobic digesters to maximize energy efficiencies unavailable to each component on a stand-alone basis. This system eliminates the potential for manure to pollute watersheds, and it enables the wet distillers grain from ethanol production to be fed on-site to cattle without energy-intensive drying and transportation costs. [CEO] Langley said. "This plant will make ethanol more than twice as energy-efficient as any other method of producing ethanol or gasoline."" Seems a promising combination of biogas with liquid biofuel production. A major failing of today's ethanol production is the reliance on natural gas for process heat, so that ethanol produces only 20% less greenhouse gas than gasoline. By feeding the distillers grain byproducts of ethanol production to cows, and converting the cow dung to gas for process heat, the GHG savings are much higher. The company plans to build ethanol plants at existing feedlots. It helps that these commercial feedlots are under pressure to clean up their cow dung processing; that corn is already transported in volume to the feedlot; and that the distillers grain byproducts of ethanol production can be used onsite without transportation. (See also Verasun's plans to use distillers grain to produce biodiesel, may also improve the GHG balance for ethanol.)

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 06:25:11 GMT

For PG&E customers, it pays to virtualize: A major California utility creates an incentive for saving energy through server consolodation with virtualization. "They said the company had recently approved a three-year, $950 million plan whereby PG&E will reimburse 50% of the costs of a server consolidation project, including software, hardware and consulting, up to a maximum of $4 million per customer.

"We will calculate the energy consumed by existing servers and subtract the difference in the energy consumed by the new servers," said Randall Cole, senior project manager for PG&E's Customer Energy Efficiency program. "Then we'll pay 8 cents for every kWh saved over the first year of the server virtualization implementation." Electricity rates for PG&E's non-residential customers currently stand at 12 cents to 15 cents per kWh. ..

What's in this incentive plan for PG&E? The motives are fairly obvious: "We don't want to build any more power plants," said Bramfitt. At the same time, "regulators have told us loud and clear that we need to meet certain energy efficiency goals," he said. "We want customers to save energy, and we will pay them to do so." ..

"Virtualization isn't mainstream yet, and once it ramps up, I'm not going to incent it anymore," Bramfitt said. "But, in the meantime, I'm going to do whatever I can to light a fire under peoples' butts."" Nice to see a coincidence between my interests in energy efficiency and my main work in computers. And I wish I knew more about how the electric utilities are regulated in California, so they make money with this program, compared to other states where they do not.

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 07:11:15 GMT

Carbonfund.org has a national marketing partner: Good to see that they are reaching larger audiences through partnerships. In this case, Working Assets is not only advertising to their membership, but offering a matching grant of approximately 25%.

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:52:22 GMT

Carbon Emissions Offset Directory: Useful comparison chart of carbon offset vendors. Cost ranges from $5/ton from US sellers to $30/ton top price in Europe. Sources of carbon offsets (Chicago Climate Exchange, green-e, European projects, reforestry, etc.) are listed.

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:37:26 GMT

California Geothermal Resources 2006: A report on the potentials and issues surrounding a very large and predictable renewable power supply. There are many potential geothermal sites in California, but few are being actively explored and only one significantly exploited. For example, the Salton Sea area alone is estimated to capable of to 820,000 MW-Years of electricity. Even without exploration, estimates of today's economic capacity stand at around 10 GW of electric supply, with potentials estimated upwards of 40 GW. But "we have a built-in feedback loop that effectively stalemates geothermal development: without leases, industry will not spend the millions of dollars needed to do basic exploration to understand and help characterize the resource better. And, without better resource characterization, the agencies had little incentive to propose or process new leases, which would cost large sums of money and have very uncertain returns. ..

The Nevada approach is something California may wish to consider: establishing a government-industry collaborative effort to define resources sites and accelerate development, setting goals for geothermal development tied to the state’s RPS goals, and recognizing the need to accelerate research and development efforts. .. [There is a precedent:] less than a year after being initiated by Governor Schwarzenegger, the state’s Biomass Collaborative spearheaded a multi-agency effort to produce a statewide biomass development plan."

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:18:41 GMT

Algae to convert CO2 to biofuel: Two companies pursue commercialization of algal processing of CO2 emissions. "Fed a generous helping of CO2-laden emissions [from a] power plant's exhaust stack, the algae grow quickly even in the wan rays of a New England sun. The cleansed exhaust bubbles skyward, but with 40 percent less CO2 (a larger cut than the Kyoto treaty mandates) and another bonus: 86 percent less nitrous oxide. [The] algae is harvested daily. From that harvest, a combustible vegetable oil is squeezed out: biodiesel for automobiles. [The] dried remnant can be further reprocessed to create ethanol, also used for transportation. ..

GreenFuel Technologies, in Cambridge, Mass.has garnered $11 million in venture capital funding and is conducting a field trial at a 1,000 megawatt power plant owned by a major southwestern power company. Next year, GreenFuel expects two to seven more such demo projects scaling up to a full production system by 2009. ..

One key is selecting an algae with a high oil density - about 50 percent of its weight. Because this kind of algae also grows so fast, it can produce 15,000 gallons of biodiesel per acre. Just 60 gallons are produced from soybeans, which along with corn are the major biodiesel crops today.

[In Dec 2005] Greenshift Corporation, a Mount Arlington, N.J., technology incubator company, licensed CO2-gobbling algae technology that uses a screen-like algal filter. It was developed by David Bayless, a researcher at Ohio University. A prototype is capable of handling 140 cubic meters of flue gas per minute, an amount equal to the exhaust from 50 cars or a 3-megawatt power plant, Greenshift said in a statement"

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:35:35 GMT

GE Delivers Prototype Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) to US DOE: "GE today announced it has successfully developed and delivered a 6 kW prototype of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) system to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).. .. The prototype achieved an efficiency of 49%, which is well above the minimum requirement of 35% set forth in the program. The development of this prototype is part of a 10-year, three-phase program with DOE/NETL .. This system has the potential to achieve dramatically reduced emissions and close to 50% efficiency from coal. This would far surpass the 35% efficiency that can be achieved in a typical conventional pulverized coal-fired power plant today.

Because SOFCs provide a continuous flow of power, operate at high temperatures and have multi-fuel capabilities, they can greatly enhance energy efficiency in power generation. And since fuel cells are a virtually combustion- and NOx-free power source, they also can vastly improve environmental performance." Many SOFC's can process a mix of coal and biomass. They may also produce a purified CO2 stream that is much cheaper to sequester than that produced by combustion. SRI has a similar approach with its direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) technology (with MP3 radio interview).

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 08:26:07 GMT

Foresight for UK venture capital investment funding for sustainability: "Foresight Sustainable Development [fund] is aimed at very High Net Worth investors and their advisers looking to invest in excess of £100,000 in unquoted growth situations in sustainable markets. This will be structured as a Limited Partnership to avoid the constraints of a VCT. It will exploit opportunities in renewable energy, energy efficiency, the recycling of materials and energy security. It will invest across project finance, new technologies and service businesses.

Matt Taylor, partner at Foresight, explains: “In the clean fuels arena, many investors seem to be driving up the valuations of “blue sky” technologies. Our approach is different: we are concentrating on infrastructure projects and the exploitation of proven technologies. Sustainable development is an investment cycle for the long-term and we will invest only when the balance of risk and reward is right. This is going to be a small, tightly-focussed fund which should be fully invested over 12-18 months.” It launches in early October 06.

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 08:18:35 GMT

Floating Wind Turbines the Wave of the Future?
"Among three designs for floating giant wind turbines in the deep ocean, MIT research is focusing on the tension leg platform (center), a system that oil companies use for deep-water rigs. .. According to their analyses, the floater-mounted turbines could work in water depths ranging from 30 to 200 meters. In the Northeast, for example, they could be 50 to 150 kilometers from shore. And the turbine atop each platform could be big -- an economic advantage in the wind-farm business. The MIT-NREL design assumes a 5-megawatt (MW) experimental turbine now being developed by industry. (Onshore units are 1.5 MW, conventional offshore units, 3.6 MW.) ..

Sclavounos estimates that building and installing his floating support system should cost a third as much as constructing the type of truss tower now planned for deep-water installations. Because of the strong offshore winds, the floating turbines should produce up to twice as much electricity per year (per installed megawatt) as wind turbines now in operation. And since the wind turbines are not permanently attached to the ocean floor, they are a movable asset."

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 07:44:05 GMT

Lithium buckyballs to store hydrogen?: Roland Piquepaille provides a perfect example of how nanoscale technology differs develops, going from a realworld problem through computer models to reality. "The clusters they've designed -- by using computer modeling -- are composed of 12 lithium atoms and 60 carbon atoms, are very stable and can store up to 120 hydrogen atoms in molecular form. .. But why did the researchers choose to study this particular kind of material to store hydrogen?

There are two classes of materials: one where large amounts of hydrogen can be stored, but it is difficult for hydrogen to desorb (e.g., CH4), and the other where hydrogen can desorb easily, but not much of it can be stored (e.g., carbon nanotubes). An ideal storage system would be one where hydrogen binds molecularly but with a binding energy that is intermediate between the physisorbed and chemisorbed state. We show that coating of C60 fullerenes with suitable metal atoms may lead to the synthesis of novel hydrogen storage materials. In particular, we show that the unusual ability of Li12C60 to bind 60 hydrogen molecules stems from the unique chemistry at the nanoscale."

It's still a long way from this technology to the pollution-free fuel cell in your car; but model-driven nanotech gives us tools to systematically aproach our targets for technological development.

Sat, 16 Sep 2006 07:21:18 GMT

Wind Blade Technology: I started looking into sustainable energy in 2001, and found an active community that was open to sharing its findings and that was starting to use the internet to communicate. As I learned about RSS and weblogs, I thought that this area, like many in the IT world, would see weblogs grow, and with them a spontaneous division of labor to speed the spread of new developments would emerge. Blogs from universities, corporations, development institutions, non-profits, and from motivated independents would identify and highlight findings that mattered in specialized areas, and others who would otherwise search original sources would save time and effort by reading their blogs.

In the last 12 months, that dynamic has taken hold in sustainable energy. Starting in 2001, I kept a blog collecting important results I discovered in emerging energy technologies and developing country energy options, but now I find others are keeping close track and I can just follow their investigations. They include venture capitalists, investment companies, and independent engineers.

The Wind Blade blog (above) from six employees of Owens-Corning is an advanced example. They work in different countries, but all concentrate on the materials from which the blades of wind turbines are built. They write: "We accept the value of renewable wind energy as a given and we are committed to helping it become more cost competitive and widely used." They work in a specialized but critical technology. Why? Well, the output of a wind turbine is proportional to the area swept by its blades, which is the square of the length, so even small increases in blade length matter. Longer blades need materials that are strong, light, and rigid enough to turn in moderate winds while flexible enough to bend rather than break in strong winds. New materials for blades continue to make wind power more economically compelling every year.

It will be interesting to see if these bloggers find an audience among other engineers, and if they retain their corporate backing.

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:36:27 GMT

RenewableEnergyStocks.com: Massive collection of news stories, blog links, and articles on renewables and clean tech. Includes some unique content, like an analysis of the implications of today's solar silicon shortage, which "will likely end at some time from 2008 to 2010" when production levels are expected to at least double. "it is reasonable to suppose that the solar silicon shortage will continue in 2007, but will be greatly reduced in 2008 and will come to an end by 2010," which has some implications for thin-film producers. "In industrialized nations with solar incentives, such as the USA, Germany, and Japan, the trend is towards a need for smaller and higher efficiency solar panels, which means that silicon is best suited for this market. In the developing world the need is for cheaper solar panels that may take up more space, so that low cost thin films are best suited for that market."

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:23:18 GMT

Toyota pursuing plug-in hybrids and flex-fuel: "Toyota Motor North America plans to pursue a plug-in hybrid vehicle, touting the long-term potential of gas-electric hybrids on America's highways. "Make no mistake about it, hybrids are the technology of the future, and they will play a starring role in the automotive industry in the 21st century," said Jim Press, who recently became the first non-Japanese president of Toyota Motor Corp.'s U.S. subsidiary, in a speech Tuesday at the National Press Club." "First, Toyota is strongly considering introducing a flex-fuel vehicle program in the United States in the near term. We're already developing vehicles that can operate in ethanol-rich Brazil and we're optimistic that we can offer similar vehicles to American consumers. And, second, we are pursuing a "plug-in" hybrid vehicle that can travel greater distances without using its gas engine, conserving more oil and slicing smog and greenhouse gases to nearly imperceptible levels."

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:01:08 GMT

BP to invest 8 bln usd in renewable energy business
: "BP PLC is to spend up to 8 bln usd over the next 10 years to develop alternative and renewable energies, said chief executive Lord Browne. The planned investment, which is double its existing spending on the business, seeks to create a new low-carbon power unit that could potentially generate around 6 bln usd in annual revenues within the next decade, he added. The first phase of the programme will involve 1.8 bln usd spread over the next three years on solar, wind, hydrogen and combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power generation projects. ..

'We are focusing our investment in alternatives and renewables on power generation because it accounts for over 40 pct of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, the biggest single source,' Browne stressed. 'As the pricing of carbon develops through trading schemes and other initiatives, the market will grow rapidly as low-emission technologies displace less clean forms of power generation,' he said.

BP has identified sites in the US to accommodate wind turbines with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts. It is also finalising plans to invest 400 mln usd at one of its CCGT plants in the US. "

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:34:27 GMT

Some Convenient Truths: Short piece by Gregg Easterbrook that explains the optimism I feel on the technology of global warming. "Most progress against air pollution has been cheaper than expected. Smog controls on automobiles, for example, were predicted to cost thousands of dollars for each vehicle. Today’s new cars emit less than 2 percent as much smog-forming pollution as the cars of 1970, and the cars are still as affordable today as they were then. Acid-rain control has cost about 10 percent of what was predicted in 1990, when Congress enacted new rules. At that time, opponents said the regulations would cause a “clean-air recession”; instead, the economy boomed. ..
Emissions of CFCs have been nearly eliminated, and studies suggest that ozone-layer replenishment is beginning. ..

[Why the pessimism on cutting GHG?] the success of previous antipollution efforts remains something of a secret. Polls show that Americans think the air is getting dirtier, not cleaner .. Democrats have found they can bash Republicans by falsely accusing them of destroying the environment. .. to acknowledge that air pollution has declined would require Republicans to say the words, “The regulations worked.” ..

Americans love challenges, and preventing artificial climate change is just the sort of technological and economic challenge at which this nation excels. It only remains for the right politician to recast the challenge in practical, optimistic tones... Cheap and fast improvement is not a pipe dream; it is the pattern of previous efforts against air pollution. The only reason runaway global warming seems unstoppable is that we have not yet tried to stop it."

I recognize that unlike previous air pollution, CO2 is the key product of combustion, rather than an irrelevant byproduct as most pollution is, so it will be harder to reduce. On the other hand, CO2 is directly related to fuel costs, which provide more economic push for reduction; America's efficiency is far behind comparable countries, and there is a large body of off-the-shelf efficiency technologies available; and are many non-fossil fuel alternatives already on the market, which drop in price with every year. Combining these factors, an 80% reduction in GHG from US levels seems to me feasible, especially over a 20-year period or longer. If I get the time, I'll write up the details behind these numbers in a future blog entry.

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 04:03:05 GMT

The Threat to the Planet: James Hansen in the NY Review of Books. "The US has heavy legal and moral responsibilities for what is now happening. Of all the CO2 emissions produced from fossil fuels so far, we are responsible for almost 30 percent, an amount much larger than that of the next-closest countries, China and Russia, each less than 8 percent. Yet our responsibility and liability may run higher than those numbers suggest. The US cannot validly claim to be ignorant of the consequences. When nations must abandon large parts of their land because of rising seas, what will our liability be? And will our children, as adults in the world, carry a burden of guilt, as Germans carried after World War II, however unfair inherited blame may be? ..

It is not too late. The US hesitated to enter other conflicts in which the future was at stake. But enter we did, earning gratitude in the end, not condemnation. Such an outcome is still feasible in the case of global warming, but just barely. As explained above, we have at most ten years -- not ten years to decide upon action, but ten years to alter fundamentally the trajectory of global greenhouse emissions. .. If instead we follow an energy-intensive path of squeezing liquid fuels from tar sands, shale oil, and heavy oil, and do so without capturing and sequestering CO2 emissions, climate disasters will become unavoidable."

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:51:45 GMT

Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative: Surprising to me, and hopeful. " [A] television spot links images of drought, starvation and Hurricane Katrina to global warming. In it, the Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., says: "As Christians, our faith in Jesus Christ compels us to love our neighbors and to be stewards of God's creation. The good news is that with God's help, we can stop global warming, for our kids, our world and for the Lord." The advertisements are to be shown in Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.

The Evangelical Climate Initiative, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars, is being supported by individuals and foundations, including the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Hewlett Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation."

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 23:41:19 GMT

United States Ranks 28th on Environment: Among other measures, the GHG per GDP was interesting: "The study shows that annual carbon dioxide emissions, measured as metric tons per $1 million of gross domestic product, average about 363 tons. North Korea, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Mongolia rank at the bottom of the scale, with amounts ranging from Mongolia's 1,992 tons to North Korea's 4,859 tons.

Carbon dioxide emissions from nations with rapid economic expansion, like China and India, are more than double the world average (731 tons and 621 tons, respectively). The United States, at 171 tons per $1 million of gross domestic product, ranks well behind some other nations in the Group of 8, the major industrial powers - France (56), Japan (57), Germany (80) and Britain (118) - but close to Canada (168), ahead of Australia (209) and far ahead of Russia (914)." At today's $10-30 per metric ton, the global average "GDP tax" for GHG offsets would be under 1%, and the US under .5%.

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 16:28:15 GMT

Algae to produce hydrogen: Links to research in progress. References and images of computer simulations of hydrogen and oxygen generation at very small scale.

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 17:50:14 GMT

Solar and wind in a Chinese skyscraper: A leading US architecture firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) "has designed a 69-story building for China that will produce more energy than it consumes. [SOM] is among three finalists in an international design competition for a building in Guangzhou, a port city of 6.6 million people located 182 km from Hong Kong. ..

The design directs and manages prevailing winds to become ‘invisible braces’ which help to support the tower. The sculpted facade directs wind to a pair of openings on the mechanical floors, which then drive turbines to generate electricity for the building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. “The openings also relieve wind pressure on the face of the building,” explains project architect Gordon Gill of SOM. “Potentially-damaging negative pressure on the opposite side of the building is alleviated as well. The result is a more stable, more comfortable building.”

Energy consumption is reduced by maximizing natural day-lighting, reducing solar gain in air conditioned spaces, retaining rainwater for gray-water usage and using solar thermal collectors to heat the water supply. Stack venting, radiant slab cooling and caisson heat sinks work to chill the building, and building-integrated solar panels on the facade generate AC power... The winner of the design competition is expected to be announced in February."

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 08:25:15 GMT

Ethanol, oil and GHG: Good summary of the issues, based on a UC Berkeley paper. Bottom lines: All forms of US-produced ethanol displace a lot of oil (typically 95% less petroleum used). Greenhouse gases (GHG) are cut slightly (13%), due to the use of natural gas and even coal to heat the production of the ethanol from corn. How the corn is grown makes a big difference (e.g., low tillage). Future cellosic ethanol is projected to cut GHG dramatically (80%). No data is provided for Brazilian cane production, which uses corn stalk bagasse for heat instead of natural gas or coal, which I have read elsewhere results in high GHG displacement.

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 06:27:15 GMT

Cows make fuel for biogas train, buses, taxis: "The world's first biogas-powered passenger train is taking its first passengers between the Swedish cities of Linkoping and Vastervik. And the biogas comes from the entrails of dead cows. .. the organs and the fat and the guts [are] enough, from one cow, to get you about 4km (2.5 miles) on the train." Processing of the cow waste takes a month from abbatoir to vehicles. "the train between Linkoping and Vastervik will cost 20% more to run on methane than on the usual diesel. But the oil price is going up and up.. Nor is it just trains. In Linkoping, the 65-strong bus fleet is powered by biogas. .. The taxis, the rubbish trucks and a number of private cars also fill up at the biogas pump..

And if methane doesn't light your fire, you can choose to have your car run on a high-grade biofuel mix. This year, Saab started selling a biopowered version of their 95 model. Its engine will take a fuel cocktail which is up to 85% bioethanol, made, principally, from Brazilian sugar cane. The bio-powered version of the Saab 95 costs around $1,000 (£500) more than the normal model. But with pump prices for the E85 mix a third cheaper than normal petrol, company car tax breaks, and exemptions for parking and congestion charges, Saab reckons you get that $1,000 back within the first year. ..

Across Europe, transport is not pulling its weight when it comes to meeting the Kyoto targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Industry is. So, to a lesser extent, are households and agriculture. But now the European Commission .. has set binding targets for the amount of fuel use it wants taken up by bio-products by the end of this year, and by 2010. "

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:27:22 GMT

Architects Call for 50% Cut in Fossil Fuel use in Buildings by 2010: With such a short time frame, there must be a lot of "low-hanging fruit" in new construction. "The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has adopted position statements to promote sustainable design and resource conservation to achieve a minimum reduction of fifty percent of the current consumption level of fossil fuels used to construct and operate buildings by the year 2010. .. “Buildings account for forty-eight percent of U.S. energy consumption and generate far more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector,” said R.K. Stewart, FAIA, facilitator of the AIA Sustainability Summit Task Force. .. Fundamental to helping ensure actual results, the AIA also supports the development and use of rating systems and standards that promote the design and construction of communities and buildings that contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future. According to the AIA, an undertaking of this magnitude will require a sustained effort over the next ten to fifteen years, especially in educating clients about their role in the success of this effort."

Tue, 17 Jan 2006 16:23:40 GMT

US GHG emissions in 2004: Reference numbers. "Petroleum is the leading source of GHG emissions from energy and industry sources, according to the Department of Energy. Oil emitted 2,592 Mt [metric tonnes] in 2004, compared with 2,180 Mt in 1990. Combustion of coal for energy applications emitted 2,090 Mt in 2004, compared with 1,784 Mt in 1990, while natural gas emitted 1,203 Mt of CO2 in 2004 compared with 1,027 Mt in 1990, notes the DOE report, "Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2004."
For all energy and industry sources, national GHG emissions in 2004 were 5,900 Mt, of which the residential sector emitted 1,212 Mt, the commercial sector 1,024 Mt, the industrial sector 1,730 Mt and the transportation sector was 1,934 Mt. "

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:41:55 GMT

The California Solar Initiative: "On January 12, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the California Solar Initiative by a 3-1 margin. With the previously approved 2006 budget, that a total of $3.2 billion in incentives over 11 years, enough for 3,000 megawatts of solar across the state. .. This is the biggest solar program in the country and, after Germany, the second largest in the world."

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 19:33:41 GMT

Getting in early as China cleans up: "Stories on environmental disasters come out of China and other Asian developing countries regularly. A review of impacts and the resulting investments: "Environmental damage from pollution is costing China the equivalent of 7.7 percent of gross domestic product annually .. Other sobering statistics in the report, called "Connecting Asia," include estimates of 6.4 million work years lost annually in China to air pollution, 178,000 premature deaths in major cities every year caused by the use of high-sulfur coal and the fact that 52 urban river stretches have been so contaminated that they are no longer suitable for irrigation. ..

[Investment manager] Sorenson said that in terms of environmental standards, "China is now where the U.S. was in the late 1960s" [when disasters and new laws] changed the way U.S. companies conducted business. A similar process was seen in Japan, spurred by the Tokyo Olympic Games of 1964, and in South Korea, when Seoul was host of the Olympics in 1988. There is much hope that the 2008 Games in Beijing will prove as seminal in China's environmental development. .. In November, [China's] State Environmental Protection Administration estimated that the government would spend around $156 billion in environmental protection from 2006 to 2010. ..

Sorenson's FE Clean Energy Group is currently putting together an Asia fund, which Sorenson expects to total around $75 million. .. [Another is] the China Environment Fund, set up in 2001 by Tsinghua Venture Capital Management, a fund management company affiliated with Tsinghua University in Beijing. Catherine Cao, executive director of the firm, said that its third fund should be ready by the end of 2006 and aims to raise $50 million. Two previous funds [were] $13 million and $30 million..

The easiest means of entry for small investors still remains the mutual fund. The Impax Environmental Markets fund of £45 million, or $79 million, rose by around 32 percent in 2005. Among its biggest holdings are Casella Waste, a U.S. waste disposal company, Kurita Water of Japan and Horiba, a Japanese environmental testing company." Other options: big utilities, especially European, operating in Asia; Shenzhen Dongjiang Environmental, listed in Hong Kong; canada's Zenon Environmental; Nordex of Germany; solar companies Kyocera and Sharp. [via Salon]

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 23:44:06 GMT

States Taking Action on Global Warming: With the federal governement inactive, states taking many actions.

Cap-and-trade: New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware -- plus Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the Eastern Canadian Provinces as observers -- have agreed to create a nine state cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), starting with the electric power sector.
Renewable power: "Seventeen states have legislated that part of their electricity be generated by non-emitting renewable energy." 8 are small amounts, but 6 are over 15%.
Vehicles: Following California's lead, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have adopted or are considering adoption of California's vehicle emissions standards. In November 2004, Canadian NGOs, provincial governments and parliament announced their intention to adopt the California standard by 2006. If California, Oregon, Washington, the Northeast states and Canada were to adopt the California standards, around 40% of the US-Canada new car market would be subject to these standards.

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 16:52:41 GMT

Solar Power 2.0: US consultancy on solar power, operating a portal with a news section and annotated lists of relevant sites.

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:00:27 GMT

South African disposable solar cells: I've been interested for some time in renewable power sources that are less expensive up front, even if more expensive over the long run. The lower up-front commitment cuts risk, allows more experimentation, and more room for incremental technological improvements. It also supports a wider range of business models based on recurring revenues.

"SCIENTISTS at the University of Cape Town are exploiting the nano-scale properties of silicon to develop a super-thin disposable solar panel poster which they hope could offer rural dwellers a cheap, alternative source of power. .. The scientists have developed technology for printing specialised inks containing tiny nanoparticles of silicon and other semiconductors onto paper. The solar panels are printed in much the same way as conventional colour images.. They print the metal contacts, then the semiconductor structure, then more contacts.

The voltage and power output of the solar cell is determined by the size of the poster. An A2-sized poster [15.9 x 22.3 ins or 40.38 x 56.64 cms] will deliver up to 100W of power, enough to charge a cellphone, power a radio or provide five hours of lighting, said Prof David Britton, a physicist specialising in nanotechnology.

“Many families cannot afford R1000 for a solar panel designed to last 30 years, but they can afford R10 (US$1.50) every three to six months for a ‘disposable’ panel,” he said. Shops could stock rolls of solar panel posters, and cut it to meet a customer’s needs. The poster could be mounted behind a window or attached to a cabinet. Britton’s team has built a successful prototype and is seeking to commercialise the project"

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:26:18 GMT

Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures: New from the IEA with info from 100 countries. Coverage: "There are 34 countries listed with targets for renewables, ranging from Austria which wants 78.1% of its electricity to come from renewables by 2010, to the target of 3.6% in Hungary for the same period. Mali wants 15% of its total primary energy supply to come from renewables by 2020 and Singapore will install 50,000 m2 of solar thermal systems by 2012."

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 18:20:15 GMT

Palo Alto group cuts greenhouse gases: "An odd-bedfellows coalition of Silicon Valley government agencies, businesses and organizations -- from major corporations to the local Sierra Club chapter -- has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 744 million pounds in the past year, according to a new report to be released Wednesday. The energy saved in the process is enough to heat 233,500 homes, according to an early summary of the "Sustainable Silicon Valley," a 19-partner effort with offices in San Jose at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group headquarters. The effort -- launched in partial response to a perceived vacuum of leadership at the state and federal level in "greenhouse gas" emissions -- is the first-ever combined local effort to respond directly to global-warming concerns. The CO2 reduction initiative aims to cut emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels within the next five years.

In addition to the City of Palo Alto, organizations based in or near Palo Alto include the environmental group Acterra, ALZA Corporation, Roche Palo Alto, Hewlett-Packard Company, Agilent Technologies and the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club. NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View also is part of the coalition, along with several regional and countywide agencies and PG&E, Lockheed Martin and Oracle"

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 07:34:43 GMT

Biodiesel Keeps Home Fire Burning: Home heating fuel is another market for biodiesel. " the National Biodiesel Board's website now lists 19 companies that supply biodiesel-blended heating oil, known as BioHeat, to residential customers, and the list is growing. Most companies provide BioHeat blends that contain 5 percent, 10 percent or 20 percent of biodiesel." At today's oil prices, and today's biodiesel volume, it's more expensive than conventional home heating oil.

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:23:11 GMT

Canada, carmakers sign tough emissions pact: Explicit cooperation between blue states and other countries on enviro issues. "Faced with the threat that Canada would adopt tough, California-style rules on auto emissions, major automakers agreed Tuesday [April 2005] to voluntarily reduce the global-warming emissions of cars and light trucks sold north of the border. Auto industry watchdogs said the deal, signed Tuesday in Windsor, Ontario, by officials of the Canadian government and the nation's automobile industry, could force automakers to adopt similar stringent emissions rules for vehicles sold throughout the United States.

The agreement follows the lead of regulations adopted last November in California, which U.S. automakers -- the same multinational giants that dominate Canada's auto industry -- are seeking to overturn in court. Tuesday's pact commits the manufacturers to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions of their vehicles sold in Canada by 5.3 million metric tons -- about 25 percent -- by the end of 2010. In comparison, rules adopted in California oblige automakers to reduce their global-warming emissions by 30 percent, starting in 2009 and culminating in 2016.

Supporters of California's rules praised Tuesday's deal but said it showed the automakers were being two-faced, voluntarily adopting standards in Canada that they oppose south of the border. .. "But it shows that the steps on global warming that car manufacturers say would wreak havoc in California are eminently doable," said [Tom Dresslar, spokesman for the Calif. attorney general]. "If you look at the history of this industry, whenever there are regulations proposed about safety, consumers and the environment, Detroit comes out with the Chicken Little routine, and that has never turned out to be an accurate prediction of the future." ..

the new standards will force an unprecedented increase in gas mileage for more than one-third of the vehicles sold in North America. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine have adopted California's strict emissions targets. With this mass of auto buyers now joined by millions of Canadians, the auto industry is under increasing pressure to adopt the new levels for all its fleets, rather than offering different models for the two different markets.

Canada's voluntary deal may have been set in motion by unprecedented cooperation between California officials and their Canadian counterparts, who have met in recent months to discuss the possibility of Canada's adopting California's air quality rules. .. "California's pressure and the cross-border visits were very instrumental in helping the Canadian government to move forward and get the deal," said John Bennett, senior policy adviser for energy for the Sierra Club of Canada. "

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 07:35:36 GMT

Energy Innovations raises $16.5m: Lead investor: Mohr Davidow Ventures, June 2005. "Energy Innovations is developing a new low-cost rooftop solar system, called the Sunflower. Each Sunflower module is composed of an array of mirrors that track the sun throughout the day and year, concentrating its light onto a small panel of PV cells that generate electricity. By replacing large amounts of very expensive, silicon-based PV cells with inexpensive mirrors, Energy Innovations expects to drive down the cost of solar electricity by half or more.

The company is currently testing the Sunflower on its own roof in Pasadena and will soon be rolling out additional test units to sites in different climate zones. Following Underwriters Laboratory certification later this year, EI Solutions will begin installing Sunflower systems on customer rooftops in the fourth quarter. The system is designed to meet the electrical needs of grid-tied, flat-roofed commercial, government and other institutional buildings, the fastest-growing segment of the solar market. "

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 16:53:01 GMT

Sri Lanka government focus on renewables: "The National Council for Economic Development (NCED) has put together the top energy experts in the country to find ways of harnessing Sri Lanka' s energy resources by forming a "Renewable Energy Cluster" under the NCED Secretariat. .. Director of NCED Rohantha Athukorala said 'To insulate the country from devastating price surges in international oil markets, Sri Lanka must increase self reliance in energy and improve energy diversity. In 2004, the nation relied on imported diesel based thermal power to meet 56% of its requirements. .. The team's objective is to develop a national strategy to exploit indigenous renewable energy resources - namely hydro, dendro, wind and solar - for both grid-connected and off-grid generation. " While the emphasis is on indigenous renewables, cheap imported coal is also mentioned as an alternative. I recall a recent UNEP study mapping large wind resources in Sri Lanka.

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 16:46:43 GMT

Geothermal use statistics: "There is 8,932 MW of installed power capacity in 24 countries, generating 56,951 GWh per year of green power.. For direct use geothermal (including earth energy heat pumps), the global total from 72 countries is 28,268 MW, providing 75,943 GWh a year of thermal energy."

The top producers of geothermal electric power include many developing countries. For power, the top 10 include the Philippines (1,931 MW for 9,419 GWh), Mexico (953 / 6,282), Indonesia (797 / 6,085), Costa Rica (163 / 1,145) and Kenya (129 MW / 1,088 GWh/year). For direct heat without heat pumps, they include China, Turkey, Hungary, Brazil and Russia. For direct heat with heat pumps, only China is in the top 10.

"Over the past five years, 1,000 MW of geothermal electric capacity has been commissioned, as well as 13,000 MW of thermal capacity in direct use geothermal, most of which has been in earth energy heat pumps, according to the report. Growth in the power industry has increased 2.9% a year while direct use has increased 13.2% annually in capacity and 7.5% in energy produced." With rising prices for natural gas, the growth rate is expected to increase.

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 07:45:08 GMT

China's Little Green Book: "Green China will be much more challenging than Red China.. The China Daily reported that China's 11th five-year plan, which starts soon, includes a program to sharply reduce China's energy usage per unit of G.D.P. by 2010. "To hit the target, a huge business potential will be open to investors," [said] Zhou Dadi, director of China's top energy research institute.. "China is growing three times as fast as we are," Mr. Watson said, "[so] a lot of innovation is going to happen here, and once it is introduced [on the low-cost China platform] it is going to spread a lot faster. ... The Japanese and Europeans are here in a big way, and they are giving their stuff away. ... We deserve to lose. We are clutching our past with these tremulous hands, and everyone else is vigorously grasping the future."

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:47:25 GMT

Craig Venter update: Nice summary of Venter's latest work by Steve Jurvetson. "Craig Venter set sail around the world to shotgun sequence the millions of viruses and bacteria in every spoonful of sea water. From the first five ocean samples, this team grew the number of known genes on the planet by 10x and the number of genes involved in solar energy conversion by 100x. The ocean microorganisms have evolved over a longer period of time and have pathways that are more efficient than photosynthesis.

Another discovery: every 200 miles across the open ocean, the microbial genes are up to 85% different. The oceans are not homogenous masses. They consist of myriad uncharted regions of ecological diversity… and the world’s largest digital database.

From the collection of digital genomes, we are learning to decode and reprogram the information systems of biology. Like computer hackers, we can leverage a prior library of evolved code, assemblers and subsystems. Many of the radical applications lie outside of medicine.

At the Venter Institute, Craig Venter and Hamilton Smith are leading the Minimal Genome Project. They take the Mycoplasma genitalium from the human urogenital tract, and strip out 200 unnecessary genes, thereby creating the simplest synthetic organism that can self-replicate (at about 300 genes). They plan to layer new functionality on to this artificial genome – to make a solar cell or to generate hydrogen from water using the sun’s energy for photonic hydrolysis – by splicing cassettes of novel genes discovered in the oceans for energy conversion from sunlight. ..

The limiting factor is our understanding of these complex systems, but our pace of learning has been compounding exponentially. We will learn more about genetics and the origins of disease in the next 10 years than we have in all of human history. " Also see Venter's latest company, Synthetic Genomics.

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:40:03 GMT

PV production doubling every 2 years: A chart of global PV production by country 1988-2003. The 2004 figure, of 1195 MW, has been released by the same group in RE-focus magazine. From very low levels up to 1996, production grew in successive 2 years periods by 74% to 1998, 85% to 2000, 95% to 2002, and 112% to 2004. Half of all production in 2004 went to grid-tied residential and commercial sites in Germany (250 MW) and Japan (240 MW). Japan produced about half of all PVs. Numerous plants are opening in 2005-2006 to continue growth.

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:27:48 GMT

HSBC is carbon-free: "The Carbon Management Plan implemented by HSBC commits to buy renewable electricity where possible, and the bank implemented a system of measuring and reporting direct emissions from its consumption of electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and business travel. ..

Carbon emissions for the last three months of this year will be 170,000 tonnes and the bank will purchase that level of offsets through a competitive tender process from 100 projects from dozens of countries. It will spend US$750,000 to buy the offsets from a windfarm in New Zealand, an organic waste composting facility in Australia, an agricultural methane capture scheme in Germany, and a biomass co-generation plant in India. The value of the offset works out to US$4.43 per tonne of CO2."

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 23:17:32 GMT

Nanocrystal Solar Cells: October 2005 news from the lab of Paul Alivisatos at UCB. "In this paper, the researchers describe a technique whereby rod-shaped nanometer-sized crystals of two semiconductors, cadmium-selenide (CdSe) and cadmium-telluride (CdTe), were synthesized separately and then dissolved in solution and spin-cast onto a conductive glass substrate. The resulting films, which were about 1,000 times thinner than a human hair, displayed efficiencies for converting sunlight to electricity of about 3 percent. This is comparable to the conversion efficiencies of the best organic solar cells, but still substantially lower than conventional silicon solar cell thin films. .. [They] offer the added advantage of being stable in air because they contain no organic materials"

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:44:49 GMT

A Sunshine Deal: Sep 2005: Southern California Edison (SCE), with 13 million customers, has just announced a deal with Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems that could result in a huge solar farm. .. SCE has agreed to purchase upwards of 500 megawatts of electricity from Stirling Energy Systems -- enough to provide all the energy needs to 278,000 homes -- or more than all other U.S. solar projects combined. While neither company has disclosed the financial details, SCE said the system will not require state subsidies.

The effort will begin with a pilot project: a proof-of-concept facility with 40 solar dishes producing one megawatt of energy. The test will take place over the next 18 months, and, if successful, Stirling Energy Systems will construct a 20,000-dish array over four years, covering 4,500 acres -- more than four times the size of the National Mall in DC -- in the desert northwest of Los Angeles. "From our perspective, Stirling has established the viability of this at a laboratory level," says SCE spokesperson Gil Alexander. "This could be a turnaround point for solar."

Stirling's dish technology, which was first developed by McDonnell-Douglas in the mid-1980s, makes use of a heat-driven engine, rather than photovoltaic panels. The company's deal with SCE marks its first utility-scaled energy application. In the Stirling solar system, each dish is a round, mirrored surface measuring 37 feet in diameter that reflects and focuses light into the receiving end of a Stirling engine. .. "Our systems have peak efficiency of 29.4 percent -- that's the record for converting solar to grid-quality energy," says Stirling CEO Bruce Osborn. "

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 18:36:13 GMT

Extensive energy plan for California: "The new plan is projected to save 1,500 megawatts of electricity statewide by 2008 -- the same amount that three new power plants would produce. In terms of global warming emissions, the California Public Utilities Commission estimates the reductions are equivalent to removing 650,000 cars a year from California highways.

[It will] offer significantly more rebates every year to customers who purchase energy-efficient appliances such as air conditioners, furnaces and clothes washers. It also would pay for utilities to conduct voluntary energy audits at tens of thousands of businesses, schools, hospitals, homes and other buildings. Under the plan, the PUC would require the state's major investor-owned utilities, such as Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, to spend $2 billion between 2006 and 2008 to expand their energy efficiency programs. Those investments are expected to produce $5.4 billion in energy savings for ratepayers. ..

By 2008, the state's four major utilities would spend $777 million a year on energy efficiency programs -- a 62 percent increase from the $479 million they will spend in 2005. Under rules the state adopted in 1982, PG&E and other regulated utilities do not earn more profits when customers use more energy. They are guaranteed a set profit each year, and given incentives when consumers reduce energy. As a result of that program and others like it, California's per capita energy use already is the lowest in the United States -- 40 percent less than the U.S. average. ..

The funding for the new PUC program will come from three sources. First is a 1 percent increase in electricity and natural gas bills by 2008, which amounts to an increase of $1.61 a month for the average PG&E household bill of $122.23. Second is the ``public goods charge,'' an existing fee for energy conservation programs of 1 percent that has been on California utility bills for about a decade. Finally, the bulk of the funding -- nearly two-thirds -- will come from money the utilities would have spent buying electricity and natural gas." Passage confirmed at Red Herring.

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 17:47:53 GMT

US Battery Research: Too Little, Too Late?: "The power gap between current needs and what batteries can deliver for electronics today reflects a decision made years ago to all but abandon basic battery research in favor of more flashy fuel-cell technology, says Donald Sadoway, a battery expert and professor of materials engineering at MIT .. "Fuel cells grabbed the money," but basic battery research was ignored for years before that as well, says Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group in San Jose. As a result, today's batteries remain relatively inefficient...

Interview with Sadoway: "I think that lithium ion can be pushed a little bit harder with electrode materials -- for the cathode in particular. There may be untapped capacity in certain materials that could dramatically improve the amount of energy storage in the battery by improving the cathode. I have cells operating at about 300 watts per kilogram, which is double what lithium ion is doing today. I think there's plenty of room at the top here ..

[The next big leap?] Solid-state batteries. We think the next improvement will come from eliminating any liquid from the battery. We think that there are opportunities for looking at multilayer thin-film laminate with no liquid, a polymer as the electrolyte separator. You're looking at something that's similar to a potato chip bag, a polymer web coated with a different layer of chemistry. We can make that by the square mile -- it's not difficult to do. We're talking about a doubling or tripling of the capacity of today's batteries, as opposed to a 20% or 30% improvement. [And it's safer.] A lot of the problems in advanced lithium ion batteries derive from the fact that you have an organic liquid. Lithium ion is not water-based. It's an organic liquid like an alcohol. It's flammable. If it gets hot, the pressure increases, and you'll break the case. It could catch fire. If we go with a polymer electrolyte, you don't have any liquid; it's inert when it comes to heat, plus you can shape it."

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 19:05:26 GMT

Toshiba announces better battery for 2006: March 2005: "Toshiba Corporation today announced a breakthrough in lithium-ion batteries that .. can recharge 80% of a battery's energy capacity in only one minute, approximately 60 times faster than the typical lithium-ion batteries in wide use today, and combines this fast recharge time with improvements in energy density. .. the negative electrode uses new nano-particles to prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode. ..

The battery has a long life cycle, losing only 1% of capacity after 1,000 cycles of discharging and recharging, and can operate at very low temperatures. At minus 40 degrees centigrade, the battery can discharge 80% of its capacity, against 100% in an ambient temperature of 25 degree centigrade).

Toshiba will bring the new rechargeable battery to commercial products in 2006. Initial applications will be in the automotive and industrial sectors .. tTe battery's advantages in size, weight and safety highly suit it for a role as an alternative power source for hybrid electric vehicles." This is faster than expected; nano particles to accelerate charge and discharge and improve density have been reported in universities, while this is an announced product.

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 18:47:36 GMT

Use Of Nanomaterials in Organic Photovoltaic Devices: Introductory list of approaches to nanoengineered organic PVs.

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:52:18 GMT

Ford plans to boost hybrid engine production : "Gas-electric hybrid engines will be available in half the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lineup by 2010, Ford Motor Co. Chairman and CEO Bill Ford said Wednesday. He said the automaker will be able to produce 250,000 hybrids in the next five years. It currently has two sport utility vehicles on the market. ..

the company will be releasing four vehicles that can run on fuel-efficient ethanol in 2006: the F-150 truck and Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car sedans. Ford said the automaker plans to produce 280,000 ethanol-capable vehicles in 2006."

This is a rapid rate of change for an auto company. It has become more feasible with computerized product life cycle software, which has been reported to have cut design time for new car models from 4 years to 1.5 - 2 years. This includes design of the robot-driven assembly plants and simulation of the supply chain. (Sorry, no citation here; I think I read it in a recent Economist.)

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 06:32:02 GMT

Paper Says Edible Meat Can be Grown in a Lab on Industrial Scale: "In a paper in the June 29 [2005] issue of Tissue Engineering, a team of scientists, including University of Maryland doctoral student Jason Matheny, propose two new techniques of tissue engineering that may one day lead to affordable production of in vitro - lab grown -- meat for human consumption. It is the first peer-reviewed discussion of the prospects for industrial production of cultured meat.

"There would be a lot of benefits from cultured meat," says Matheny, who studies agricultural economics and public health. "For one thing, you could control the nutrients. For example, most meats are high in the fatty acid Omega 6, which can cause high cholesterol and other health problems. With in vitro meat, you could replace that with Omega 3, which is a healthy fat. "Cultured meat could also reduce the pollution that results from raising livestock, and you wouldn't need the drugs that are used on animals raised for meat." ..

"cultured meat could appeal to people concerned about food safety, the environment, and animal welfare, and people who want to tailor food to their individual tastes," says Matheny. The paper even suggests that meat makers may one day sit next to bread makers on the kitchen counter. "The benefits could be enormous," Matheny says. "The demand for meat is increasing world wide -- China 's meat demand is doubling every ten years. Poultry consumption in India has doubled in the last five years. ..

Matheny saw so many advantages in the idea that he joined several other scientists in starting a nonprofit, New Harvest, to advance the technology. One of these scientists, Henk Haagsman, Professor of Meat Science at Utrecht University, received a grant from the Dutch government to produce cultured meat, as part of a national initiative to reduce the environmental impact of food production."

Added implication: "Writing in this month’s Physics World, British physicist Alan Calvert calculated that the animals eaten by people produce 21 percent of the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to human activity."

Fri, 09 Sep 2005 00:30:16 GMT

PHEVs cut greenhouse gases more: PHEVs substitute grid electric power for gasoline. Most grid power comes from burning fossil fuels. Still, it's more efficient to make the power and deliver it via battery than to burn it in the car, resulting in fewer CO2 emissions. Joe Romm, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the US DoE under Clinton does the numbers. His calculations start with 12,000 miles per year, resulting in 11,000 pounds CO2 from an average new car, 6,000 pounds from a Prius, and 3,900 pounds from a Prius running on grid power alone. "So running your E-hybrid on the U.S. grid is 35% better than running a Prius on gasoline and 65% better than an average car. .. In California, with its cleaner grid, you'd have under 2,000 pounds emissions from a plug-in Prius. And, of course, people can choose to purchase 100% renewable power. The nice thing about plug ins is that it gives people a fuel choice, and everyone will choose electricity since even in California, the per-mile cost of electricity is under one half that of gasoline." More references are on the Calcars FAQ #3, including a presentation from EPRI. (The suggestion is made that off-hours electric use is even better: "An Argonne researcher reached consensus with [others in] July 2002 that plug-in HEVs using nighttime power reduce greenhouse gases by 46% to 61%."

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 19:56:10 GMT

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles in Austin: "Under the direction of the Austin City Council, Austin Energy is developing a forward-thinking PHEV strategy. " The reasons and next steps are online.

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 19:42:30 GMT

How the Wall Street Journal and Rep. Barton celebrated a global-warming skeptic: How the mainstream media is easily corrupted by ideology and well-funded lobbyists.

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 06:51:39 GMT

Calcars inspires EDrive for PHEVs: In May 2005, EnergyCS and Clean-Tech unveiled EDrive, LLC, their new company for Prius retrofits. They aim for sales of aftermarket conversion kits for Prius with higher capacity lithium batteries with up to 35 miles of drive time, for early 2006. This article gives the history of how Calcars helped inspire their formation, and what may happen next. Useful articles:

How to Support Plug-In/Gas-Optional Hybrids & CalCars (Aug 05)
They may soon move on to the Ford Escape Hybrid. Other possibilities are the Lexus RX 400h and Toyota Highlander.
Lots of recent media coverage and April NYT article
Calcars is looking to enlist entrepreneurs and/or make an alliance with a Qualified Vehicle Modifier (QVM) for mass-market aftermarket kits
Some members are testing mature NiMH batteries as an alternative to lithium

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 06:24:22 GMT

More attention to flexible-fuel PHEV: Even George P. Shultz and R. James Woolsey are on the bandwagon. (June 2005): "We propose in this paper that the government vigorously encourage and support at least six technologies: two types of alternative fuels that are beginning to come into the market (cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel derived from a wide range of waste streams), two types of fuel efficient vehicles that are now being sold to the public in some volume (hybrid gasoline-electric and modern clean diesels), and one vehicle construction technique, the use of manufactured carbon-carbon composites, that is now being used for aircraft and racing cars and is quite promising as a way of reducing vehicle weight and fuel requirements while improving safety.

The sixth technology, battery improvement to permit "plug-in" hybrid vehicles, will require some development — although nothing like the years that will be required for hydrogen fuel cells. It holds, however, remarkable promise. Improving batteries to permit them to be given an added charge when a hybrid is garaged, ordinarily at night, can substantially improve mileage, because it can permit hybrids to use battery power alone for the first 10-30 miles. Since a great many trips fall within this range this can improve the mileage of a hybrid vehicle from, say, 50 mpg to over 100 mpg (of oil products). Also, since the average residential electricity cost is 8.5 cents/kwh (and in many areas, off-peak nighttime cost is 2-4 cents/kwh) this means that much of a plug-in hybrid's travel would be on the equivalent of 50 cent/gallon gasoline (or, off-peak, on the equivalent of 12-25 cent/gallon gasoline).

A plug-in hybrid averaging 125 mpg, if its fuel tank contains 85 per cent cellulosic ethanol, would be obtaining about 500 mpg. If it were constructed from carbon composites the mileage could double, and, if it were a diesel and powered by biodiesel derived from waste, it would be using no oil products at all. .. What are we waiting for?"

Sat, 03 Sep 2005 04:14:41 GMT

In the search for new energy, China rides the wind: "China has made big investments in petroleum production in countries as far-flung as Sudan and Venezuela. But at home, where petroleum is growing scarce and overdependence on coal chokes the air of major cities - and killed 6,009 miners last year - the Chinese government is moving just as aggressively to develop alternative energy supplies..

By 2020, starting from a minuscule base that it has established only recently, China expects to supply 10 percent of its needs from so-called renewable energy sources, including wind, solar energy and small hydroelectric dams. .. So far, wind power is making the most impressive strides ..

"We have huge goals for wind power development," said Wang Zhongying, director of China's Center for Renewable Energy Development. "By 2010, we plan to reach 4,000 megawatts, and by 2020 we expect to reach 20,000 megawatts, or 20 gigawatts." If anything, Wang said, these targets are too conservative, and may be easily surpassed. The biggest limitations, he said, were not in China's wind-power potential, or in its generating technology, but rather in the country's antiquated power grid ..

The outcome has been a real boom among suppliers of wind power equipment. "We're expecting the sector to grow 50 to 75 percent a year between now and 2020," said Jens Olsen, the chief representative of Vestas, a Danish turbine manufacturer that is the leading equipment supplier in China."

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 16:45:30 GMT

Current Alternative Fuel Vehicle Models: DoE guide to hybrid, CNG, and ethanol vehicles, including information on prior year models and links to used car sales. Many flexible fuel vehicles taking any mix of gas an ethanol up to 85% ("FFV E85"), at no extra cost: 22 sedans, wagons, coupes, and and light trucks from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Mercedes and Nissan. Industrial vehicles, including buses, garbage trucks, and construction vehicles also listed. Biodiesel covered separately: "Fleets looking to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) must use fuel blends that contain at least 20% biodiesel. .. Using biodiesel blends requires little or no engine modification .. In older vehicles, high-percentage blends of biodiesel (greater than 20%) can affect fuel hoses and pump seals made from certain elastomers. The effect is lessened with lower percentage blends. Elastomers (found in hoses and gaskets) that are biodiesel-compatible are required for use with B100 and high-percentage biodiesel blends. "

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:17:47 GMT

Major advance producing carbon nanotube sheets: "University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) nanotechnologists and an Australian colleague have produced transparent carbon nanotube sheets that are stronger than the same-weight steel sheets and have demonstrated applicability for organic light-emitting displays, low-noise electronic sensors, artificial muscles, conducting appliqués and broad-band polarized light sources that can be switched in one ten-thousandths of a second.

Carbon nanotubes are like minute bits of string, and untold trillions of these invisible strings must be assembled to make useful macroscopic articles that can exploit the phenomenal mechanical and electronic properties of the individual nanotubes. In the Aug. 19 05 issue of the prestigious journal Science, scientists from the NanoTech Institute at UTD and a collaborator, Dr. Ken Atkinson from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a national laboratory in Australia, report such assembly of nanotubes into sheets at commercially useable rates.

Starting from chemically grown, self-assembled structures in which nanotubes are aligned like trees in a forest, the sheets are produced at up to 7 meters per minute by the coordinated rotation of a trillion nanotubes per minute for every centimeter of sheet width. By comparison, the production rate for commercial wool spinning is 20 meters per minute. Unlike previous sheet fabrication methods using dispersions of nanotubes in liquids, which are quite slow, the dry-state process developed by the UTD-CSIRO team can use the ultra-long nanotubes needed for optimization of properties. " More about applications, to solar cells, batteries, fuel cells, medicine, and engineering at WorldChanging.

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:10:01 GMT

Carbon Nanotube Structures For More Efficient Solar Power: "Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) scientists have demonstrated an ability to precisely grow "towers" composed of carbon nanotubes atop silicon wafers. The work could be the basis for more efficient solar power .. Because their cells will be more efficient, Ready believes they can use older and more mature p/n-type material technologies and less costly silicon wafers to hold down costs and rapidly advance the project into products that can be used in the field. .. Challenges ahead include materials compatibility and long-term durability issues. Ultimately, the carbon nanotubes – which are themselves semiconducting at times – could be integrated to replace one or more of the p/n-type layers. " Military and space applications are expected first.

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:04:01 GMT

How Portland does Kyoto: "Portland announced that it had succeeded in cutting greenhouse gas emissions levels to within 1% of 1990 levels, on the way to a targeted 10% reduction below 1990 levels by 2010. .. As Portland officials count it, overall greenhouse gas emissions have dropped to 0.7% above 1990 levels. Transportation-related emissions essentially have been flat, combined emissions in homes, offices and industry have decreased slightly, and waste gases--largely extrapolated from methane gas escaping from rotting landfill waste--have decreased significantly...

Eric Sten, a Portland commissioner, insists that the reductions came not because Portland converted all of its citizens into global warming believers but because the city made investments that had tangible environmental and quality of life benefits, in addition to reducing greenhouse gasses. "We made progress on this issue by doing things that make Portland a good place to live," Sten says, "Not because of things that are specific to global warming."

"I knew there were efforts going on but to have that kind of significant reduction was remarkable," says Dennis Wilde, a Portland-based developer. "What's really remarkable is there's been no pain." .. " Key factors are compact developent, mass transit support ("75% of Trimet's 290,000 daily trips are by "choice" riders who leave a car at home"), building codes ("building code upgrades dropped energy bills an average of 40% in new homes"), and utility efficiency programs.

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:43:29 GMT

Clean energy incubators: "The Austin Clean Energy Incubator, which is part of the Austin Technology Incubator at the University of Texas, is a fairly typical incubator. The small, professional staff works with about six companies at a time on issues ranging from business plan development to assistance with acquiring customers or strategic partners, to global expansion. CEI's current portfolio companies include Austin Biofuels, an early stage biofuels distributor; E60 Vision, a company that makes remediation software; and Allied Energy Systems, which manufacturers efficient HVAC systems. Amato and staff are helping Austin Biofuels expand to a regional distributor, E60 to "productize" their service, and Allied Energy to grow to a regional manufacturer. ..

Albany Nanotech [is] located at the University of Albany-SUNY. Two billion dollars in private, state and federal funding financed this state-of-the-art nanotechnology infrastructure. The Albany Nanotech complex includes the new College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, which provides portfolio companies access to an entire research and teaching organization focused on the field. This advanced facility attracts companies like IBM and GE and other companies from around the world, which make use of the equipment to explore new initiatives and test technologies. ..
The same capital-intensive facilities and equipment are available to startup businesses. They can use the infrastructure there to test their products and get them to the stage where investors are interested. .. E2TAC also offers more typical incubator services such as matchmaking, networking, and joint promotions for partner companies. "

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:40:16 GMT

Energy startups raising cash: Many funding events in June 05. "Solar company Energy Innovations, based in Pasadena, California, said it had raised $16.5 million in a second round of venture capital funding, bringing its two-round total to $29 million. In the meantime, Austin, Texas-based solar startup HelioVolt said it closed its first round with an $8-million investment from New Enterprise Associates (NEA) of Menlo Park, California. .. Nanosolar, a nano-based solar outfit, netted $20 million in a round led by MDV (see Nanosolar Raises Funding). And Miasolé, a thin-film solar firm, raised $16 million in a round led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (see Clean Energy Firms Get Funds). ..

HelioVolt said it will use the $8 million to build out and test its manufacturing method. .. HelioVolt uses semiconductor-manufacturing methods to apply the copper-indium-selenide coatings to traditional construction materials, such as steel, glass, and roofing. The coated materials would allow new buildings to power themselves, without the installation of separate solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.

Meanwhile, Sunflower uses a series of mirrors with motors to track the sun throughout the day. The mirrors reflect light onto a silicon-based receiver placed about six feet above the mirrors, said Energy Innovations’ President Andrew Beebe. His system uses much less silicon, saving money, Mr. Beebe said. .. The system is expected to last 15 years, compared with the 20- to 25-year life span of most solar panels... We think this round will take us to market,” he said. For now, Energy Innovations is limiting its target market to commercial and institutional customers within the United States, Mr. Beebe said. "

Also, in August, SunPower Files $115M IPO: "SunPower plans to raise $115 million in an initial public offering to help make and market its solar panels, the solar power company said in a filing Friday, as it looks to stay ahead of other venture-backed startups that are gaining ground in the field." Cypress Semiconductor put $26M into the firm in the last four years.

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 19:50:32 GMT

West Coast Cable: Dec 2004: "Sea Breeze Pacific.. has filed an interconnection application with Pacific Gas & Electric Company of San Francisco, California for the first submarine transmission line that would allow for the direct transmission of electricity from Canada to California. Sea Breeze Pacific's initial application is for a 1,600 megawatt High Voltage Direct Current ("HVDC") undersea cable (expandable to 3,200 MW). The route will run 3-12 miles offshore along portions of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California for approximately 1,200 miles. .. The west coast submarine transmission corridor was conceived as an answer to the challenge of unlocking the many thousands of "stranded" megawatts of clean, renewable energy that remain unutilized along the rugged and windy west coast of Canada. An independent study by Fortis Bank, the World Energy Council and the Petroleum Economist have rated this region as having the number one wind resource in the world. Other significant benefits of the West Coast Cable would be to help stabilize the western continental power grid by making load flows more predictable.."

Sea Breeze already has a project in progress for a 550 MW cable system between Victoria BC and Washington State. Additional financing is sought for this project, with "construction for the Straight of Juan de Fuca Transmission Cable [scheduled] from the end of 2006 to the end of 2007."

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 06:43:41 GMT

9 States in Plan to Cut Emissions by Power Plants: "The regional initiative would set up a market-driven system to control emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, from more than 600 electric generators in the nine states. Environmentalists who support a federal law to control greenhouse gases believe that the model established by the Northeastern states will be followed by other states, resulting in pressure that could eventually lead to the enactment of a national law.

California, Washington and Oregon are in the early stages of exploring a regional agreement similar to the Northeastern plan. The nine states in the Northeastern agreement are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. They were brought together in 2003 by a Republican governor, George E. Pataki of New York, who broke sharply and openly with the Bush administration over the handling of greenhouse gases and Washington's refusal to join more than 150 countries in signing the Kyoto Protocols, the agreement to reduce emissions that went into effect earlier this year."

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:44:25 GMT

Jatropha Biodiesel Energy Crops - D1 Oils: Company pursing Jatropha bean production in many developing countries, for biodiesel production. Listed in late 2004 on the London Stock Exchange, raising about $20m. "D1 Oils will produce biodiesel and supply crude vegetable oil used in the production of biodiesel. .. The Group’s strategy is to control and manage its operations on a regional basis by securing plantation rights and establishing refinery operations using its own refinery technology. .. The Jatropha tree has been selected as the Group’s primary energy crop due to the main benefits of its high productivity, durability and longevity. To date, the Group has established operations and strategic and commercial relationships in four regions: Europe (Teesside and London, UK), Africa (Johannesburg, South Africa), Asia Pacific (Manila, The Philippines) and India (New Delhi). " Joint ventures or operations underway in China, Saudi Arabia, and (with Rolls Royce) in South Africa.

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 23:25:55 GMT

New Energy Capital gets $30m: June 2005. "California Controller Steven Westly announced today that the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) - the nation’s third largest public pension fund - and VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the nation’s largest and most active venture capital firms had co-invested $30 million in New Energy Capital Corp., a leading clean energy company. Westly sits on the Board of Directors of CalSTRS and has been instrumental in its efforts to increase the pension fund’s investments in clean technology.

New Energy Capital will deploy the capital to acquire, build, and operate renewable energy and distributed generation projects in North America. .. New Energy Capital is pursuing investments in onsite cogeneration, renewable power, and ethanol and biodiesel production projects, creating a diversified portfolio in the clean energy sector."

Fri, 15 Jul 2005 17:16:48 GMT

Natural mineral locks up carbon dioxide: "The metamorphic mineral serpentine -- or magnesium silicate hydroxide -- is composed of magnesium, silicon and oxygen and is plentiful. He researchers used material from the Cedar Hills quarry on the Pennsylvania/ Maryland border for this study, but the mineral is available in large quantities in many places. The U.S. deposits of the minerals that can be used for this process – serpentine and ovivine – can sequester all the carbon dioxide emissions produced from fossil fuels.

"Previous researchers investigating serpentine for use in sequestering carbon dioxide have crushed serpentine very finely, to sizes smaller than beach sand, but, even at these small sizes, it takes high temperatures to speed up the reaction, "says Maroto-Valer. "With our method, we do not need to crush it that fine and we do not need high temperatures. In fact, the reaction gives off heat. Our method is much less energy expensive...

When serpentine dissolves in sulfuric acid, the silicon in the mineral becomes silicon dioxide, or sand, and falls to the bottom, while the magnesium becomes magnesium sulfate. Treating some of this magnesium sulfate with sodium hydroxide also creates some magnesium hydroxide. The researchers were able to convert large amounts of the serpentine's magnesium to these chemicals providing large surface areas for reactions to occur in solution at room temperature.

Carbon dioxide passed through the solution of magnesium sulfate and magnesium hydroxide converts both to magnesium carbonate or magnesite, which becomes a solid and falls to the bottom. This solid can be used to manufacture construction blocks and there is also a small market for hydrated magnesium carbonate in the cosmetics industry. The silicon dioxide can be used to remove sulfur dioxide from the flue gases, which can subsequently be converted to sulfuric acid to use in the first part of the process. .. [The researchers] would like to regenerate the sulfuric acid to minimize costs.

Because carbon dioxide will be the last gas in the emission stream treated, there are two options for commercial implementation. Fossil fuel burning plants could simply place a serpentine reactor as the last component of their emissions clean up and sequester carbon on site. Or, if the area is heavy with fossil fuel burning plants, each plant could pipe their carbon dioxide to a central treatment plant. "

Also found: a review of sequestration options, and the chemical formulas.

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 22:52:53 GMT

Utility Solar Water Heating Initiative (USH20): Solar water heating continues to be refined as a distributed renewable resource. However, by default, it is not included in RPS or renewable credits, even when sponsored or financed by utilities. Utilities claim that they produce energy service equivalent to $2/watt including installation. Potential markets are very large.

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 22:47:26 GMT

SWERA summary: Good overview of the UNEP/USAID/NREL "Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment" project to map renewable energy resources in many developing countries. www.swera.net has much information, including interactive maps, such as this demo for Sri Lanka. Project manager listed as Tom Hamlin.

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 22:37:40 GMT

Zoning in Klickitat yields big power projects: A county in Washington State zones an area to encourage wind development. It includes a "programmatic environmental impact statement" (EIS) that cuts costs and uncertainty for developers. The zone covers two-thirds of the 1800-square-mile county. "Developing a clean energy overlay zone was a way to show developers that the county wants wind projects, and to map out areas that residents think are appropriate sites for wind farms. .. Permitting processes add uncertainty and considerable costs, typically about 3 percent to 10 percent of a project. .. Affected communities would often make three criticisms: that the public wasn't consulted, that an environmental impact statement paid for by a developer made people suspicious, and that such statements didn't look at cumulative impact. Klickitat County's new zone addresses those three issues, [Dana Peck, county director of economic development] said. .. Klickitat County spent about $500,000 doing wind mapping, bird studies and community outreach.

Left out of the zone were other areas where residents were opposed, or where the turbines might impact bird populations. New designs and new siting processes have reduced concerns about wind turbines killing birds, though, and the Audubon Society generally supports wind energy as long as turbines are located away from major flyways. Klickitat County will require developers and operators to monitor wind farms' impact on birds and wildlife.

Seven weeks after the county put in place the nation's first energy overlay zone with an ordinance that expedites wind farm permits, two big wind energy developers have laid plans for projects that will generate more than 300 megawatts worth of power. .. Their expansive new wind farm, combined with four other proposed projects, could eventually provide enough generating capacity to power 80 percent of the households in Seattle.. The impact of these deals, and others expected to follow, could be huge for Klickitat -- a lightly populated area dominated by resource industries such as agriculture, timber and mining. .. Wind turbines are expected to boost the county's property tax base considerably. .. "As far as our county's economic development strategy, anything we can do to keep ranchland ranchland is a good thing," Peck said. "This is our best single play to do that." [This story was also covered in the print edition of Re-Focus.]

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 05:16:24 GMT

Green Tinge Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures: NYT update on venture capital investments in alternative energy. "Clean tech represented a 1.2 percent share of the total dollar amount of venture capital invested in 2000. In 2004, the $520 million that venture capitalists invested accounted for a 2.6 percent share of the overall venture pie. ..

This month two of the area's top firms, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers and Mohr Davidow Ventures, made large investments in solar energy companies. One, Miasolé, based in San Jose, raised $16 million in a fund-raising round led by Kleiner Perkins. The other, Nanosolar of Palo Alto, raised $20 million from investors led by Mohr Davidow. On Tuesday, Energy Innovations, a company building advanced solar panels that use mirrors to track the sun and capture energy on storage cells, announced that it raised $16.5 million in venture capital in a round also led by Mohr Davidow. .."

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 07:59:07 GMT

Microbes produce hydrogen from waste: Researchers: Hong Liu, postdoctoral researcher in environmental engineering; Stephen Grot, president and founder of Ion Power, Inc.; and Bruce Logan, Penn State professor of environmental engineering. "Using a new electrically-assisted microbial fuel cell (MFC) that does not require oxygen, .. bacteria [produce] four times as much hydrogen directly out of biomass than can be generated typically by fermentation alone. ..

Bruce Logan says, "This MFC process is not limited to using only carbohydrate-based biomass for hydrogen production like conventional fermentation processes. We can theoretically use our MFC to obtain high yields of hydrogen from any biodegradable, dissolved, organic matter -- human, agricultural or industrial wastewater, for example -- and simultaneously clean the wastewater. While there is likely insufficient waste biomass to sustain a global hydrogen economy, this form of renewable energy production may help offset the substantial costs of wastewater treatment as well as provide a contribution to nations able to harness hydrogen as an energy source." ..

hydrogen production by bacterial fermentation is currently limited by the "fermentation barrier" -- the fact that bacteria, without a power boost, can only convert carbohydrates to a limited amount of hydrogen and a mixture of "dead end" fermentation end products such as acetic and butyric acids. However, giving the bacteria a small assist with a tiny amount of electricity -- about 0.25 volts or a small fraction of the voltage needed to run a typical 6 volt cell phone -- they can leap over the fermentation barrier and convert a "dead end" fermentation product, acetic acid, into carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Logan notes, "Basically, we use the same microbial fuel cell we developed to clean wastewater and produce electricity. However, to produce hydrogen, we keep oxygen out of the MFC and add a small amount of power into the system." ..

The researchers call their hydrogen-producing MFC a BioElectrochemically-Assisted Microbial Reactor or BEAMR. The BEAMR not only produces hydrogen but simultaneously cleans the wastewater used as its feedstock. It uses about one-tenth of the voltage needed for electrolysis, the process that uses electricity to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen. " If this would work at a scale suitable for rural power cooperatives, it might prove useful to allow rural communities to become self-sufficient in fuel. They have agricultural waste; their equipment and vehicles are relatively easy to convert even today to burn hydrogen; and the rural power systems often have small amounts of excess but hard to market electric power (eg, from wind or small hydro).

Thu, 26 May 2005 11:39:14 GMT

R&T Efficiency Comparisons: Interesting chart on this page compares today's cars, hybrids, and fuel cell cars, in terms of "well to tank" and "tank to wheel" efficiencies. Combined into "well to wheel" figures, today's cars get 11% of well energy to the wheel, versus 15% for today's diesel, and 26% for diesel hybrids. Fuel cells are predited to run 30% (which depends of course on the source of the hydrogen).

Thu, 26 May 2005 11:20:38 GMT

World Solar Industry Growth Jumped 70 Pct In 2004: " Last year, world solar cell production reached 1,256 megawatts (MW) .. That was a 67 percent increase over the 750 MW produced in 2003, according to PHOTON International, a German magazine. "In Japan they're making solar cells because of high electricity prices," said Colin Murchie, director of legislative affairs at Solar Energy Industries Association. "Germany is boosting output because they want to meet Kyoto Protocol goals" .. In 2002 the world solar market increased 40 percent. "

Thu, 26 May 2005 11:16:19 GMT

Nanotechnology for Clean Energy and Resources: Good short summary of the ways nanotech makes more efficient use of resources.

Thu, 26 May 2005 10:50:44 GMT

Impacts of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy on Natural Gas Markets: Studies in 2003 and 2005 show how investments in electric efficiency cut natural gas demand and reduce natural gas prices, leading to major additional savings. In the longer term, development of renewable energy sources lead to additional natural gas cost savings.

From April 2005 full report: "Our December 2003 report showed that, if policy initiatives to increase investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy were implemented, gas prices would fall by about 20% within five years, saving over $100 billion. Our findings were in-line with the recommendations of the National Petroleum Council’s major report on the future of natural gas in the United States and the Secretary of Energy’s call for increased focus on energy efficiency. However, no significant policy action has been taken to date.

Compared with our 2003 study, this updated analysis reflects a further tightening in natural gas markets. As a result, the price response to changes in natural gas demand from energy efficiency and renewable energy investments is greater than in the previous analysis ..

The energy efficiency measures proposed in this analysis are cost-effective based on reduced consumption alone, without the added benefits of reduced prices. It is important to note that while the direct benefits of energy efficiency investment flow to participating customers, the benefits of falling prices accrue to all customers. The national energy efficiency scenario will cost consumers $11 billion annually in 2010 and result in over $32 billion in consumer savings.. In the initial five years, energy efficiency produces most of the benefits. However, as we move into the second five years, the importance of renewable energy increases, with renewables becoming the dominant incremental effect in the final [five] years of the study..."

From a January 2005 summary:

Natural gas prices have risen by 42% since 1999.
Cutting electric use by 4.7% and gas by 4.1% results in a 25% reduction in natural gas prices.
There are price benefits nationwide even if efficiency is only pursued in one state or region.
Total investments of $22B in the first five years yield $142B in those years, and more later. Most of the investment is in electric efficiency, most of the benefit comes through reduced gas prices. The electric savings alone pay for the investments, with the gas price cuts additional.
Specific policy changes are itemized.

Thu, 26 May 2005 09:54:09 GMT

Residential & Commercial Rooftops Make a Large U.S. Market for Solar Power: "A new study released by the Energy Foundation, and undertaken by Navigant Consulting, Inc. describes the vast market potential for rooftop solar photovoltaic systems (PV) in the United States. The study, "PV Grid Connected Market Potential in 2010 Under a Cost Breakthrough Scenario," provides an estimate of the market .. The state-by-state analysis [is] the first of its kind..

At a "breakthrough" price of $2.00-$2.50 per installed watt .. the annual market potential for grid-connected residential and commercial building PV applications is estimated at 2,900 MW, representing an annual market of about $6.6 billion (equipment and installations). .. California alone has the potential for about 40% of the total building rooftop market potential--through a combination of favorable sunlight levels and high retail energy prices. .. [The top 10 states account for 74%]

Rooftop space is not a constraining factor for solar development. Residential and commercial rooftop space in the U.S. could accommodate up to 710,000 MW of solar electric power (if all rooftops were fully utilized, taking into account proper orientation of buildings, shading from trees, HVAC equipment, and other solar access factors). For comparison, total electricity-generating capacity in the U.S. today is about 950,000 MW. .. Other distributed forms of PV electric generation, including ground-mounted PV, car ports, curtain walls (a type of commercial building window), and awnings could further add to the potential." Assumptions made in the study:

Today's installed costs are about $6/w residential and $4.60/w utility scale. Business-as-usual would result in drops of 3% per year; their breakthrough scenario is an additional 50% drop to $2.50 or $2 per installed watt.
Business-as-usual in 2010 offers average payback periods of 13-19 years. Breakthrough prices offer 9-12 years. If prices fell to $1.25 per installed watt, payback would be 7 years (some states under 5).
Alternate models of technology adoption were averaged to estimate gradual market growth.
No new renewable portfolio standards, incentives, or time-of-day pricing was assumed. No ongoing increase in natural gas prices was assumed. Any of these would accelerate adoption.
High upfront PV costs with long service life is assumed. (Some new technologies may have shorter life with much lower upfront costs.)

Thu, 26 May 2005 08:14:10 GMT

Nanotechnologists' new plastic can see in the dark (Jan 10/05): U of Toronto Professor Ted Sargent and his team used quantum dots trapped in lead and sulfur. "“We made particles from semiconductor crystals which were exactly two, three or four nanometres in size. The nanoparticles were so small they remained dispersed in everyday solvents just like the particles in paint,” explains Sargent. Then, they tuned the tiny nanocrystals to catch light at very long wavelengths. The result – a sprayable infrared detector. ..

The discovery may also help in the quest for renewable energy sources. Flexible, roller-processed solar cells have the potential to harness the sun’s power, but efficiency, flexibility and cost are going to determine how that potential becomes practice, says Josh Wolfe [of Lux Capital]. “These flexible photovoltaics could harness half of the sun’s spectrum not previously accessed.” .. Professor Peter Peumans of Stanford University, reviewed the U of T team’s research.. “Our calculations show that, with further improvements in efficiency, combining infrared and visible photovoltaics could allow up to 30 per cent of the sun’s radiant energy to be harnessed, compared to six per cent in today’s best plastic solar cells.”

U of T graduate student Steve MacDonald carried out many of the experiments .. “The key was finding the right molecules to wrap around our nanoparticles,” he explains. “Too long and the particles couldn’t deliver their electrical energy to our circuit; too short, and they clumped up, losing their nanoscale properties. It turned out that one nanometer – eight carbon atoms strung together in a chain – was ‘just right’.”

Mon, 23 May 2005 20:08:49 GMT

SEFI: UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative: "SEFI is the UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative - a platform providing financiers with the tools, support, and global network needed to conceive and manage investments in the complex and rapidly changing marketplace for clean energy technologies. SEFI's goal is to foster investment in sustainable energy projects by providing up-to-date investor information, facilitating deal origination, developing partnerships, and creating the momentum needed to shift sustainable energy from the margins of energy supply to the mainstream. " Includes a Sustainable Energy Finance Directory of over 200 organizations.

Related: BASE: Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy: "BASE helps to build strategic partnerships between entrepreneurs and financiers to mobilize capital for sustainable energy in both developing and industrialized countries. BASE is a non-profit foundation and UNEP Collaborating Centre." Offers links to related financing efforts.

Wed, 04 May 2005 07:26:18 GMT

Nanosolar - Products: New pictures of their modules; solid black, light weight, large size. "Nanosolar's flagship product, Nanosolar SolarPly, is a 14 feet x 10 feet solar electricity module..." Also spec'd in 4-inch strips for OEM use in roofing products. Availability end-2005 or 2006. No details on price or performance so far. They're adding more execs in production and operations to ramp up.

Coincidentally, on an airplane today, I met an exec who left Cypress Semi to join their PV subsidiary SunPower. They are building plants for silicon PV in SouthEast Asia, for sales of units to Japan and Europe, where sales are booming. (Spain has recently accelerated solar PV adoption, joining Germany as a large growth market.) This exec said he's confident they'll compete with grid power with silicon PVs within 5 years.

Sat, 30 Apr 2005 07:19:35 GMT

Comparison of 2005 hybrid cars, and a list of more hybrids scheduled for 2006-7.

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 18:47:09 GMT

Breakthrough Technology Accelerates Solid-State Lighting: "Scientists at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a method to get significantly more light from white LEDs (light-emitting diodes) without requiring more energy. ..

Commercially available white LEDs combine a light-emitting semiconductor with a phosphor, a rare earth compound, to produce visible white light. However, more than half of the light, or photons, produced by the phosphor is diverted back toward the LED where much of it is lost due to absorption. .. A research group, led by Dr. Narendran, developed a method to extract the backscattered photons by moving the phosphor away from the semiconductor and shaping the LED lens geometry. When combined, these changes allow the photons that would typically be absorbed inside the LED to escape as visible light. ..

Compared to commercial white LEDs, prototypes of the new "scattered photon extraction" (SPE) LED technology produced 30-60 percent more light output and luminous efficacy-light output (lumens) per watt of electricity. This means more visible light is produced without increasing energy consumption. Further research into the SPE technology could result in even higher levels of light output and greater luminous efficacy, according to Narendran.

The industry has set a target for white LEDs to reach 150 lumens per watt (lm/W) by the year 2012. The new SPE LEDs, under certain operating conditions, are able to achieve more than 80 lm/W, compared to today's typical compact fluorescent lamp at 60 lm/W and a typical incandescent lamp at 14 lm/W. " This is reportedly the first LED that is more efficient than a compact flourescent.

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 06:01:07 GMT

China's Oil Thirst Could Push It Toward Fuel Efficiency; Eye On Solar And Wind: "Bryant Tong, managing director of privately held Nth Power, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that invests in energy and tech firms, says China's hunger for oil and other fuels is making its officials aware they need better ways to use and monitor energy. Tong doubles as chairman and president of the nonprofit China/U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance, a board that advises Chinese officials on how to use energy more efficiently. ..

IBD: What types of technology is China considering to make its energy consumption more efficient?

Tong: The simple answer is products such as energy-efficient commercial lighting, commercial and residential air conditioning, industrial motors and other systems.

IBD: Can China's energy problems be solved just by using such products?

Tong: No. You need to set up an infrastructure that's backed by the right policies and programs. That's where the China/U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance comes in. We work with other groups, like the National Resources Defense Council, a U.S. think tank, to help Chinese officials pinpoint the best practices and energy-efficient products that have worked in the U.S. ..

IBD: What types of digital and online technology is China eyeing to make energy use more efficient?

Tong: A lot of (it) will be energy monitoring technology. The Internet is a huge enabler to track energy use by factories and citizens. There are new types of sensors to help the Chinese monitor and control energy use.

IBD: What about using solar and wind energy?

Tong: China is looking at different projects in solar and wind. There was a report that GE is selling wind turbines to China. Right now, China's main focus is on more efficient hydro-energy projects. It's mainly dam-type stuff. ..

IBD: What concrete steps has China already taken to curb energy use?

Tong: They've implemented fuel efficiency standards that are tougher on SUVs than in the U.S. China is also on the verge of enacting a fuel oil tax to curb consumption.

IBD: Doesn't China have access to oil reserves in Central Asia and the South China Sea region that can supply more oil and lessen its need to conserve fuel?

Tong: China is a huge net importer of oil. Regardless of what reserves they have, they are importing tremendous amounts of oil, and their projections of what they'll be needing are enormous as well. .. The Chinese people know they are at the beginning of a new era. Growth prospects are enormous, with China leapfrogging Japan last year as the second-largest oil-importing country. They know they have to be fuel efficient."

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 05:56:24 GMT

China's Boom Brings Fear of an Electricity Breakdown: "According to Zhang Jun, a prominent Chinese economist who has made a comparative study of China and India, China consumes 3 times the energy and 15 times the amount of steel as its neighbor, even though the Chinese economy is only roughly twice as large, and is growing only about 10 percent faster than India's. Part of this picture comes from an intensive focus on manufacturing and exports, which many economists say has led to overindustrialization and empty growth. A lot of the responsibility for wastefulness can be laid to duplication, with each province - and indeed many city governments - simultaneously pushing for the same kind of growth..

"China will definitely be facing a huge, huge challenge in a decade or so if the growth patterns don't change," said Dr. Zhang, who is the director of the China Center for Economic Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. "Ours is an extreme case of the East Asian model, and we are coming quickly toward the limitations in terms of the way we use energy, in terms of the environment, and even in terms of labor." ..

The toll on China's environment from this growth-at-any-cost strategy has been truly alarming. China's official development goal is to build what the government calls a well-off society by the year 2020, yet today the very growth that makes such dreams permissible has left China with 16 of the world's 20 most polluted cities, according to the World Bank. Using standards that are relatively lax when compared with those of the United Nations, the Chinese government itself reckons that fewer than half of the country's cities have acceptably breathable air. The government also says that 90 percent of urban residents face serious water pollution problems. By another estimate, 700 million Chinese must make do with contaminated drinking water. Even the country's seas are increasingly under siege from industrial pollution and are regularly choked by red tide infestations.

If the country's galloping energy needs have caught people's attention throughout China, mobilizing resources to protect the environment has been far more difficult."

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 05:52:32 GMT

China enacts first auto fuel-efficiency standards: Oct 2004: "China has introduced its first fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars, moving to control soaring oil consumption and ensure foreign automakers share their latest technology, the government said Friday. .. Initially some foreign carmakers opposed the plans, fearing the added costs of compliance. Foreign manufacturers have also urged China to force suppliers to clean up the substandard diesel and gasoline fuel now sold throughout the country, complaining that bad fuel ruins high-tech engines. ..

Though not particularly stringent, the new requirements are stricter than U.S. standards, which haven't been updated for more than 20 years, [Energy Foundation official] Yang noted. American fuel efficiency standards are calculated using the average fuel use of the entire fleet sold by an automaker. In China, similar to Japan, the standards require that each model sold meet the criteria, Yang said. The first phase of the standards will be implemented from July 2005, with a stricter second phase from 2008 for new models introduced to China, the research center said. "

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 05:47:04 GMT

China - US Energy Efficiency Alliance: "As a coalition between governments, businesses and NGOs, the China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance will be helping China to fuel its economic growth by tapping the highly cost-effective option of energy efficiency. In partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Alliance has been invited by governments in China, such as Shanghai and Jiangsu, to provide regulatory consultation and training assistance. The assistance will help these governments transfer and adopt effective programs to quickly realize the benefits of energy efficiency. " Interesting public-private effort. Supported by Environmental Entrepreneurs (e2.org) and NRDC.

A related effort, also based in San Francisco: EF China: "In March 1999, after a series of meetings and consultations with scientists, policy-makers, business leaders, and analysts in China and the United States, the staff and boards of The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and The Energy Foundation launched the China Sustainable Energy Program. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation joined as a funding partner in 2002. The program's mission is: To assist in China's transition to a sustainable energy future by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy. "

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:38:42 GMT

New CalCEF $30 Million Fund for California's Clean Energy Industry: "CalCEF's investment strategy will focus exclusively on clean energy, including renewables, energy efficiency, energy storage, and enabling technologies and services. Under the terms of the agreements, the venture capital firms will make equity investments in clean energy companies on behalf of CalCEF. .. CalCEF has allocated $8.5 million to each of the three funds for a total of $25.5 million. Nth Power and Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) will each directly manage an investment portfolio totaling $8.5 million, with Draper Fisher Jurvetson's allocation to be managed through DFJ AltaTerra, a DFJ affiliate fund launched to make investments in the clean technology sector. These managers will also match each dollar invested on behalf of CalCEF with its own investments in order to maximize market impact. CalCEF will also participate as a limited partner in VantagePoint Venture Partners. The remaining $4.5 million has been reserved by the CalCEF Board for future program development.

Nth Power estimates that venture capitalists invested approximately $500 million in US-based energy-tech companies in 2004, representing well over 2% of all VC investing. "

More from SF Chronicle: "Although PG&E provided the clean energy fund's seed money, it no longer has any control over the fund, Bicker said. The $30 million, which will be distributed over five years, is drawn from the utility's shareholder money and not from utility bills, she said. PG&E did, however, pick three of the fund's board members, while the California Public Utilities Commission picked another three. That initial group of six then chose the board's last three members. The resulting board mixes financiers with academics and government regulators. Michael Peevey, the PUC president, serves as the board chairman."

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 20:45:30 GMT

frontline: high stakes in cyberspace: Paul Saffo in 1995 on PBS: Fun to read the old stuff. Paul Saffo is remarkably on-target, 10 years later. This article mentions "macro-myopia: A pattern where our hopes and our expectations or our fears about the threatened impact of some new technology causes us to overestimate its short term impacts and reality always fails to meet those inflated expectations. And as a result our disappointment then leads us to turn around and underestimate the long term implications and I can guarantee you this time will be no different. The short term impact of this stuff will be less than the hype would suggest but the long term implications will be vastly larger than we can possibly imagine today." I've since encoutered Gartner's Hype Cycle, which they say they started to use also in 1995, with a graphic version of this insight.

I found this when looking for a reference to an aphorism that I think comes from Saffo. The aphorism: Over two years, things change much less than we think they will; but over ten years, they change more than we imagine.

It makes me wonder about the timeframe in between, say 5 to 7 years in the future, when major impacts will be felt from things we know are changing now, despite hype (digital sensors and surveillance) and disillusion (wind and solar power).

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 06:13:18 GMT

Hundreds of Miles Per Gallon: Fareed Zacharia joins in and gets the vision: "the car of the future, a plug-in hybrid with a flexible-fuel tank". The engine has to be flexible with fuel, accepting ethanol, methanol, and gasoline, and the hybrid has to be "pluggable" so that it can use low-cost nighttime electricity. With much less fuel required, a high proportion can be non-petroleum derived (ie, ethanol, biodiesel, methanol, etc) so that hundreds of miles per gallon of petroleum products becomes possible -- all with today's technology. Naturally, FZ wants this mostly for national security reasons, but greenhouse gases would be reduced as well.

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:43:34 GMT

Nano for better batteries, fuel cells: SRI scientist "Narang and other researchers have found ways to combine high energy density with high power using nanotechnology. In SRI’s case, the approach involves using high aspect ratio nanomaterials, or nanofibers. The nanofibers are minutely small in one dimension (about 20 nanometers) so energy flows rapidly across them. But because they are, relatively speaking, long in the other dimension (50 to 200 nanometers) they can store much more energy than nanoparticles with small dimensions all around. The result, Narang maintains, is a battery that can deliver about eight times the power of a traditional battery while providing comparable energy. Plus, there’s a bonus: The nanoscale dimensions that let energy move rapidly also allow the battery to recharge faster when the energy flow is reversed, a feature that’s important for hybrid cars designed to harvest energy from braking and use it to recharge the batteries.

Other organizations are working on the same problem. Ener1, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is researching enhancements for electrolytes and cathodes, using nano-structured powders for electrolytes and nano-structured, iron-disulfide for cathodes. The company says that by combining its nano-structured, iron-disulfide cathode with its polymer electrolyte it can provide high energy and a long cycle life. ..

Batteries, however, are not the only nano-enhanced technology poised to augment alternative energy efforts. .. California-based Proton Power proposes using solid acid fuel cells to supplement diesel engines inside long-haul trucks. Currently, truckers idle their engines when resting to power heating, air conditioning and other amenities. Proton Power would provide a supplemental fuel cell that truckers could use when not driving. .. “The thinner the electrolyte layer,” [Proton's founder Calum] Chisolm said, “the more power.” Currently funded by friends and family, the California Institute of Technology spinout is looking at longer-term financing opportunities and broad markets. ..

SRI is working on a form of solid oxide fuel cell that would use military-grade diesel fuel. The design takes advantage of nanostructures for catalysts and uses 200-nanometer powders for a thin electrolyte, upping the power in the same manner as Chisolm’s solid acid cell."

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:24:35 GMT

Nanotech Startups Eye Solar Energy Spotlight: A short article from Investor's Business Daily in November 2004 spotlighted a few companies with comments from analysts: "At least three startups -- Nanosolar, Nanosys and Konarka Technologies -- are using nanotech to try to make solar energy more viable. In time, such work could become "world changing," said Josh Wolfe, a managing partner of nanotech-focused investment firm Lux Capital in New York. Lux has invested in Nanosys. "All three of these firms have a different approach, but all of them are trying to create solar energy anywhere, any time," Wolfe said.

Nanotech solar cells could come down to fossil-fuel prices within a few years, says Steven Milunovich, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. Electricity now costs 7 cents per kilowatt-hour in the U.S. and 19 cents in Japan. Solar cells run about 43 cents. "There could be significant adoption" if nanotech solar drops below 7 cents, said Milunovich in a recent research note. Nanotech could have "a significant impact" on the $3 billion-plus solar power market. "Cheaper manufacturing plants and processes could make solar competitive with fossil fuels," he wrote.

Nanosolar, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is building nanotech panels that are 100 times thinner than current solar panels. This approach could let the firm mass-produce cheaper solar cells by printing them out like rolls of newspaper. .. Nanosolar plans to make test products next year and go to full production the following year. ..

Nanosys, also based in Palo Alto, has partnered with Japanese corporate giant Matsushita (NYSE:MC - News) to make nano materials into special shapes known as tetrapods. This material is laid onto plastic substrates that are produced like photo film to make nanopanels that are more flexible and smaller than current rooftop solar panels. By encasing such solar panels between windowpanes, skyscrapers might someday double as self-contained power plants..

Konarka of Lowell, Mass., is developing plastic sheets that are embedded with titanium oxide nanocrystals. The crystals are coated with light-absorbing dyes."

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:18:29 GMT

Nanotechnology for Clean Energy and Resources: Abstract of a paper presented in Oct 2004 by Stephen L. Gillett of Georgia Tech, and Ralph Merkle of Foresight Institute. Key applications are efficiency, renewables, energy management, and new materials.

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:02:54 GMT

CalCars Aims to Green-Tune Popular Hybrid to Build PRIUS+: CalCars is popularizing the pluggable hybrid car (PHEV). Their site links to several groups that already modify Prius and other hybrids.

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 16:24:01 GMT

Nanosponge for hydrogen: "The materials made by Xuebo Zhao and colleagues are composed of long carbon chains linked by metal atoms. When they are crystallized, these molecules frame cavities less than a nanometer across, connected by windows that are even smaller than a hydrogen molecule. While the cavities are being filled, hydrogen can wriggle through these windows because the carbon chains are flexible.

But once the cavities fill, the chains lose their room to flex, forcing the windows closed. As a result, the material can be loaded with hydrogen gas at high pressure, but does not release the gas when pressures drop to normal, essentially forming a molecule-sized pressure seal. "

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:46:48 GMT

Q-Cells AG: New European solar cell producer, based in East Germany, rumored to IPO in 2005. "Q-Cells AG, (Thalheim near Wolfen), the largest producer of solar cells in Europe, is presenting its latest construction project .. The company is expanding its production capacity from hitherto 170 MWp (megawatt peak) to in total 320 MWp."

Tue, 01 Mar 2005 00:43:30 GMT

Stationary Fuel Cells growing in California: "FuelCell Energy and Alliance Power have formed a joint venture, Alliance Star Energy, and entered into an energy agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. The agreement provides the framework for fuel cell power plant projects for Starwood's hotels .. Initial focus will be in California, but the arrangement is open to all of Starwood's hotels and resort properties. The first project is to provide 1 MW of fuel cell power to the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina, the fourth hotel employing FuelCell Energy's Direct FuelCell (DFC) technology. Four 250 kW DFC power plants will supply base load electricity for the 1,044-room hotel, and the heat byproduct will be used for the hotel's Lagoon Pool. ..

The San Diego Regional Energy Office, administrator for The California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) Self-Generation Incentive Program for the San Diego area, issued a reservation letter that will provide incentive funding of up to $2.5 million of eligible project costs. The CPUC Self-Generation Incentive Program was created to encourage customers of electrical corporations to install distributed generation that operates on renewable fuel and/or contributes to system reliability. Existing law defines 'ultra-clean and low-emission distributed generation' as an electric generation technology that produces zero emissions during operation or that produces emissions that are equal to or less than limits established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The program currently runs through 2007 and provides up to $67 million per year in incentive funding for clean and renewable generators, including fuel cells. "

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 20:43:31 GMT

How E2 works: July 2002: "Automakers said the new limits on emissions that state lawmakers were considering would hurt the economy and prevent consumers from buying sport-utility vehicles. Environmentalists said they would help curb global warming. Into the fray stepped Environmental Entrepreneurs, insisting that business and environmental interests are not at odds.

Last week's passage of the Assembly bill limiting greenhouse-gas emissions -- the first of its kind in the country -- was just what Nicole Lederer and Bob Epstein envisioned for Environmental Entrepreneurs, a 2-year-old group of business leaders who support environmental causes.

E2, as the group is known, presented undecided Assembly members with business leaders -- mostly Silicon Valley financiers and tech executives -- who supported the bill. That gave politicians a defense against the charge that they were anti-business. ``They were essential to the passage of the bill,'' said Anne Baker, a staff member for Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Woodland Hills, who created the bill. ``They wrote Op-Eds, they wrote to legislators, they came here and met with members of the state Assembly on a regular basis. They were relentless.'' ..

Rick deGolia, chief executive of Fonelet Technology, a San Francisco start-up, appreciates the approach E2 takes, particularly how it makes presentations, called "ecosalons,'' to members about environmental issues. "They're professional, sophisticated, mature,'' said deGolia, who hosted one on the oceans last year at his home. "They're helpful to me to gain expert knowledge from people who are really dedicating their lives to environmental issues and presenting them in a way that's very valuable to business leaders.''

A call to action from E2 often means clicking ``Yes'' in response to an e-mail asking for permission to use the member's name and professional status in literature supporting a legislative goal. To rally behind Pavley's emissions bill in March, E2 gathered 86 names over e-mail and submitted them to legislators as evidence that the business community was in favor of tougher environmental policy.

E2 is a select group. It requires a minimum contribution of $1,000 to the NRDC to join; so far E2 has raised $1.8 million. Epstein also has started a pet project called E2 Venture Endowment -- a fund to support start-ups working on technology that helps the environment or makes another technology cleaner."

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:56:50 GMT

Thomas L. Friedman: No Mullah Left Behind: Excellent NYT column, reprinted widely in the US and overseas (India, Pakistan, Europe). "The [WSJ] added, the conservative mullahs are feeling even more emboldened to argue that with high oil prices, Iran doesn't need Western investment capital and should feel "free to pursue its nuclear power program without interference." This is a perfect example of the Bush energy policy at work, and the Bush energy policy is: "No Mullah Left Behind."

By adamantly refusing to do anything to improve energy conservation in America, or to phase in a $1-a-gallon gasoline tax on American drivers, or to demand increased mileage from Detroit's automakers, or to develop a crash program for renewable sources of energy, the Bush team is - as others have noted - financing both sides of the war on terrorism. We are financing the U.S. armed forces with our tax dollars, and, through our profligate use of energy, we are generating huge windfall profits for Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan, where the cash is used to insulate the regimes from any pressure to open up their economies, liberate their women or modernize their schools, and where it ends up instead financing madrassas, mosques and militants fundamentally opposed to the progressive, pluralistic agenda America is trying to promote. Now how smart is that? ..

[We need] a "geo-green" strategy. As a geo-green, I believe that combining environmentalism and geopolitics is the most moral and realistic strategy the U.S. could pursue today. Imagine if President Bush used his bully pulpit and political capital to focus the nation on sharply lowering energy consumption and embracing a gasoline tax.

What would that buy? It would buy reform in some of the worst regimes in the world, from Tehran to Moscow. It would reduce the chances that the U.S. and China are going to have a global struggle over oil - which is where we are heading. It would help us to strengthen the dollar and reduce the current account deficit by importing less crude. It would reduce climate change more than anything in Kyoto. It would significantly improve America's standing in the world by making us good global citizens. It would shrink the budget deficit. It would reduce our dependence on the Saudis so we could tell them the truth. (Addicts never tell the truth to their pushers.) And it would pull China away from its drift into supporting some of the worst governments in the world, like Sudan's, because it needs their oil. Most important, making energy independence our generation's moon shot could help inspire more young people to go into science and engineering, which we desperately need.

Sadly, the Bush team won't even consider this. .. President Bush has a better project: borrowing another trillion dollars, which will make us that much more dependent on countries like China and Saudi Arabia that hold our debt - so that you might, if you do everything right and live long enough, get a few more bucks out of your Social Security account.

The president's priorities are totally nuts."

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:01:08 GMT

Nanotubes crank out hydrogen: "Several research efforts are using materials engineered at the molecular scale to tap the sun as an energy source to extract hydrogen from water. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have constructed a material made from titanium dioxide nanotubes that is 97 percent efficient at harvesting the ultraviolet portion of the sun's light and 6.8 percent efficient at extracting hydrogen from water.

The material is easy to make, inexpensive, and photochemically stable, according to the researchers. The 97 percent efficiency is the highest reported, according to the researchers. There is one catch -- only five percent of the sun's energy is ultraviolet light. The researchers are working to find a way to shift the response of the nanotube arrays into the visible spectrum. The key to making titanium dioxide nanotubes that efficiently harvest the energy from light is controlling the thickness of the nanotube walls, according to the researchers. Nanotubes 224 nanometers long with 34-nanometer-thick walls are three times more efficient than those that are 120 nanometers long with 9-nanometer-thick walls.

The researchers made the titanium dioxide nanotube material by mixing titanium with acid and electrifying the mixture, which caused the tiny tubes to grow, then heating them to cause the material to crystallize." [via WorldChanging]

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 17:06:56 GMT

Cheap earthquake-proof walls: "An innovative house design just passed the most rigorous possible test for standing up in earthquakes. The 2-story test unit, built using inexpensive, off-the-shelf materials, has no frame and uses no wood. On a “shake table” in a Cincinnati lab on Wednesday, the structure stayed intact through the strongest earthquake-like shaking in three dimensions. ..

“Wednesday’s test showed that a home built from these materials would have survived the most severe earthquake ever recorded,” said Rachel Jagoda, the FAS Housing Technology Project Manager, who supervised it. “This test demonstrates that homes can meet the most rigorous seismic standards without increasing cost. In fact the structure is less expensive to build than standard 2’x4’ framed construction and much more energy efficient.”

The construction system uses panels for the walls, floor and ceiling. Each panel is in effect a sandwich of expanded polystyrene material similar to Styrofoam in coffee cups. It is cladded on both sides with cement board, a product now used in rooms where moisture may be a problem. No wood is required to make these structures rigid.

FAS will use the technology to build an elegant home in Houston this summer, demonstrating that it is compatible with the highest standards of U.S. architecture. The system could have wide application as low-cost housing that is safe in areas prone to severe earthquakes such as Afghanistan and Turkey. “"

Update: WorldChanging carries a more complete and well-linked summary.

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 19:01:37 GMT

Biofuel and ethanol summary: Short look at non-ethanol fuels, and longer consideration of the economics and technology of ethanol. Links to future technologies (cellulose enzymes, biorefineries).

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 17:18:09 GMT

The efficiency of cars, with or without hybrid technology: An important UCS study from January 2003. Compared to today's 23 mpg US fleet average:

A fleet of passenger cars and trucks using conventional technology has the potential to reach a fleet average of 40 mpg. The average vehicle in this fleet will cost about $1,700 more in the showroom, but will save consumers $3,800 at the gas pump over the vehicle’s 15-year life for a net savings of $2,100.
A fleet of mild hybrids can reach nearly 50 mpg, with a retail price increase of about $2,900 by using advanced technologies available to automakers within this decade. Lifetime gasoline savings will amount to $4,700, producing a net savings of $1,500 for the average driver when the cost of battery replacement is included.
Full hybrids using advanced technology are the key to a passenger car and truck fleet that approaches an average of 60 mpg. The average price increase for such vehicles is about $4,000 and the owners will save nearly $5,500 on gasoline over the life of the vehicle. Including battery replacement, consumers would see an average net savings of $900. Plug-in hybrids would realize even greater energy security and environmental gains, but with higher costs and lower net consumer savings.

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 07:06:53 GMT

Winners and sinners on global warming: Good story on how the Kyoto Protocol was improved under US pressure, and how it has finally come into force.

Fri, 04 Feb 2005 18:04:13 GMT

GE Expands Financing to Clean Energy Technologies: "Not only is GE one of the largest players in the U.S. clean energy market, but they also boast a hefty commercial finance arm. The company is now putting their expertise and skills in those two areas together through a new venture. GE Commercial Finance is launching an initiative to provide financial solutions to the growing number of companies focused on clean energy and related technologies. The initiative is a joint effort of GE Commercial Finance's Technology Lending and Energy Financial Services businesses. "

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:55:44 GMT

Michael Crichton and Global Warming: "How do people learn about global warming? That, more than the merits of any scientific argument, is the most interesting question posed by Michael Crichton's State of Fear." Excellent review of the popular argument on warming, from Brookings' David Sandalow.

Fri, 28 Jan 2005 06:33:11 GMT

Jumpstart Ford: Neat story of how environmental consumers gave Ford bad PR for a decision to destroy its 1990s electric pickup trucks. Protesters set up a website, sent emails, published statistics on Ford's awful fuel performance record, and started a sit-in -- and Ford decided to reverse itself. "As a Sacramento "car-sit" enters day seven, Ford Motor Company has committed to reverse its unpopular decision to repossess and destroy its last zero emission Ranger EVs. Ford's abrupt u-turn follows a statewide public outcry that forced it to recant misleading misstatements about the legality, popularity and viability of EV technology. In a conversation late this afternoon with Jumpstart Ford coalition partners Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network, Niel Golightly, Ford's director of sustainable business strategies, agreed that the auto giant would keep its original promise to sell the pollution-free pickup trucks to loyal lessees."

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 02:00:33 GMT

Soaring global warming 'can't be ruled out': Results from the world's largest climate modeling experiment, reported in Nature. "The Earth may be much more sensitive to global warming than previously thought, according to the first results from a massive distributed-computing project. The project tested thousands of climate models and found that some produced a world that warmed by a huge 11.5°C when atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations reached the levels expected to be seen later this century. This extreme result is surprising because it lies far outside the 1.4°C to 4.5°C range predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the same CO2-level increase..

"We have anecdotal evidence that people tend to tune their models to be similar to other people's," says David Stainforth, from the University of Oxford, UK. "Nobody wants to have a model that's terribly different, particularly when there are only 8 or 10 in the world," he explains. Stainforth and his colleagues set up www.climateprediction.net to see what happened when models were not tuned in this way. "

About the calculations: "From Uruguay to Uzbekistan and Sierra Leone to Singapore, 95,000 people from 150 countries are taking part in the climateprediction.net experiment to explore the possible impact of global warming. By downloading free software from www.climateprediction.net on their personal computers, participants run their own unique version of Britain's Met Office climate model. While their computer is idle, the program runs a climate simulation over days or weeks and automatically reports the results to Oxford University and other collaborating institutions around the world. Together, the volunteers have simulated more than 4 million model years, donated 8,000 years of computer time and exceeded the processing power of the world's largest supercomputers. The first results of the continuing experiment are reported in the latest edition of the science journal Nature." My computers have been running these models since the project started. Amazing how well-behaved the software has been, running imperceptibly in the background.

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 18:33:09 GMT

Tidal Flow To Power New York City: "In the third stage of a project which started in January 2003, Verdant Power, a small energy company, will install six electricity turbines into New York's East River. These turbines will only deliver 200 kilowatts of power. This will be the world's first farm of tide-powered turbines, according to Nature. And the company already plans to populate the tidal basin with several other hundred turbine units in the years to come, with a goal of 5 to 10 installed megawatts within three years. The next step will be to install other farms in the US and in developing countries. The company plans to be present in ten sites by 2007. However, it will still be a very small company in the energy business, with a projected revenue of $37 million in 2007." More details: Instream Energy Generation Technology, which covers rivers, canals, and other predictable currents; the East River NYC project.

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 06:35:05 GMT

New Nanomaterial for Future Magnetic Fridges: "Magnetic refrigerators offer significant advantages when compared with current vapor-compression ones, such as gains in energy efficiency, lower cost of operation or elimination of environmentally damaging coolants. Unfortunately, all the materials which have been tested in the last fifty years suffer from hysteresis losses, lowering the energy available for cooling. But now, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers have found a solution, reported in "Nanomaterial Yields Cool Results." By adding a small amount of iron to a gadolinium-germanium-silicon alloy, they enhanced the cooling capacity by 30 percent. This very significant step may help move the promising technology of magnetically generated refrigeration closer to market."

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 06:17:19 GMT

Nanotechnologists' new plastic can see in the dark: "Imagine a home with "smart" walls responsive to the environment in the room, a digital camera sensitive enough to work in the dark, or clothing with the capacity to turn the sun's power into electrical energy. Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented an infrared-sensitive material that could shortly turn these possibilities into realities. ..

The discovery may also help in the quest for renewable energy sources. Flexible, roller-processed solar cells have the potential to harness the sun's power, but efficiency, flexibility and cost are going to determine how that potential becomes practice, says Josh Wolfe, managing partner and nanotechnology venture capital investor at Lux Capital in Manhattan. Wolfe, who was not part of the research team, says the findings in the paper are significant: "These flexible photovoltaics could harness half of the sun's spectrum not previously accessed."

Professor Peter Peumans of Stanford University, who has reviewed the U of T team's research, also acknowledges the groundbreaking nature of the work. "Our calculations show that, with further improvements in efficiency, combining infrared and visible photovoltaics could allow up to 30 per cent of the sun's radiant energy to be harnessed, compared to six per cent in today's best plastic solar cells." (Thanks to Roland Piquepaille)

Sat, 15 Jan 2005 08:21:52 GMT

Adam Werbach on the death of environmentalism: Provocative speech advocating the conversion of environmentalists into progressives. "For 30 years American liberals have defined themselves according to a set of problem categories that divide us, whether they be racial, gender, economic or environmental. We have spent far less time defining ourselves according to the values that unite us, such as shared prosperity, progress, interdependence, fairness, ecological restoration and equality. We can no longer afford the laundry list of “-isms” to define and divide our world and ourselves. ..

My thesis tonight is this: the ability of environmentalism, as a language, an ideology, a set of practices, and network of institutions, can not deal with the most pressing ecological challenges facing the planet because it is so tightly bound to a rationality that reduces our worlds into these dyads [like humans/nature, men/women, healthy/sick, reason/emotion]. The moment we free ourselves from this modern way of thinking by creating a new language, a new set of strategic initiatives, a new set of institutions, and a new metric for evaluating our success, we cease to be “environmentalists” in any meaningful sense of the term and open ourselves up to the possibility of becoming progressive Americans. ..

We are moving toward becoming progressives. We are bringing along our love of nature. We are bringing along our knowledge of interdependence." The 'New Apollo' project idea is presented as a narrative that integrates progressive and environmental ideas, including jobs, less reliance on mideast oil, the government as instrument of public values.

Sun, 09 Jan 2005 18:51:32 GMT

Miasolé: Another California solar cell innovator. "Miasolé technology revolutionizes solar cell manufacturing. Leveraging our deep expertise in the manufacturing of computer hard drives, our proprietary process allows us to create thin-film solar cells at lower cost, higher quality, greater efficiency, and using far more environmentally friendly processes. The result: cheaper, greener, more effective and more efficient cells."

Mon, 03 Jan 2005 01:27:12 GMT

Chilean Pigs Cut Emissions, Helps Japan, Canada: "In this case, a Chilean pork producer is eliminating methane fumes from animal waste and selling the resulting "credits" to Japanese and Canadian utilities, requiring that much less of them as they reduce carbon dioxide emissions at their coal- and oil-burning power plants. ..

Industrial pork operations usually collect excrement in pits where it decomposes naturally, emitting methane into the open air. But Chilean food producer AgroSuper, spotting the Kyoto opportunity, installed $30 million in technology to handle the waste of 100,000 pigs, covering pits with vast plastic sheets and drawing off the methane, some to flare, some to use in generators to power farm operations.

Though less prevalent than carbon dioxide, methane is a more potent greenhouse gas. Each ton of contained methane earns AgroSuper some 20 "CERs" - certified emission reductions equivalent to 20 tons of carbon dioxide. The Chilean agribusiness will divide 400,000 CERs per year for nine years between the Japanese and Canadian companies. Wharton estimated this would meet 10 percent of TransAlta's needs for reductions. A credit currently sells on the new European carbon market for about $10...

A firm called CO2e ("carbon dioxide equivalent"), a subsidiary of the New York financial house Cantor Fitzgerald, brokered the AgroSuper deal and is developing another involving Brazilian power plants using sugar cane, a renewable fuel less carbon-heavy than coal or oil. China, meanwhile, is working to qualify more than 500 projects for salable credits.

Environmentalists worry that a flood of questionable projects may win U.N. certification as Kyoto comes into force in 2005... Santiago lawyer Sergio Vives, who helped negotiate the AgroSuper deal, defends it as a real reduction. "It's quite clear they probably wouldn't have gone ahead with this technology" - and methane would still rise into the atmosphere - "without an incentive like the CDM," he said. ..

A Florida-based firm, AgCert, is installing methane-capture technology at 30 pig farms in Brazil. In one Brazilian state alone, Minas Gerais, 3.4 million pigs produce 7 million tons of waste per year - a lot to work with to keep lights burning in the credits-hungry north"

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 18:14:29 GMT

Sunlight into Hydrogen: "Hydrogen Solar of Guilford, England, and Altair Nanotechnologies are building a hydrogen-generation system that captures sunlight and uses the energy to break water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. .. Hydrogen Solar CEO David Auty said his company's Tandem Cell technology uses two solar cells that together capture sunlight from every part of the ultraviolet spectrum. The interaction of photons with a semiconductor material causes a photoelectrochemical reaction that excites electrons and causes water molecules to break up into hydrogen and oxygen, according to Auty. Auty said Tandem Cells are coated with a layer containing metal oxide particles that are less than 30 nanometers thick and can convert sunlight energy into hydrogen with 8 percent efficiency. .. In October, the Department of Energy awarded (.pdf) $10 million in research grants to four groups also working on producing hydrogen from sunlight -- GE Global Research, the University of California at Santa Barbara, MVSystems and Midwest Optoelectronics. "

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 06:29:59 GMT

What a difference a battery makes: A "radical eight-wheeled, 600kW rocket from Japan is proof that electric cars can be fast and fun. Called Eliica, short for Electric Lithium-Ion battery Car, it boasts a neck-snapping 0-100kmh time of just four seconds and a 0-160kmh time of seven seconds, which means the Eliica accelerates faster than a Porsche 911 Turbo." Top speed is over 200 mph. The key is the Li+ battery; expensive now in this quantity, but dropping in price as each generation of consumer electronics is built.

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 16:32:33 GMT

Wind power can affect climate: Impact is far less than CO2, but not zero: "A group of Canadian and U.S. scientists reported Tuesday that computer simulations show that a large-scale use of wind farms to generate electrical power could create a significant temperature change over Earth's land masses. .. Specifically, if wind generation were expanded to the point where it produced one-10th of today's energy, the models say cooling in the Arctic and a warming across the southern parts of North America should happen. The exact mechanism for this is unclear, but the scientists believe it may have to do with the disruption of the flow of heat from the equator to the poles. Depending on how much energy is ultimately generated by wind power, the study's simulations say these changes could range from one-third of a degree to 2 degrees Celsius. One unexpected finding to the study is that the hotter temperate zone/cooler Arctic effect exists in the simulations if the wind farms are concentrated in a few spots or scattered across the world.

Prof. Keith and others involved in the study strongly caution, however, against an anti-wind-power reading of their work. “This is really a ‘but, yes' article,” says Stephen Pacala, a professor of ecology at Princeton University, who is a co-author of the paper. The “but” is the fact that wind farms would alter the climate, the “yes” is the paper's preliminary estimation that if wind power produced one-10th of today's energy, its climate-altering effects would be only one-fifth that of the carbon dioxide it would replace."

Sun, 07 Nov 2004 20:04:10 GMT

Suggest an X PRIZE: "The concept of the [World Technology Network] WTN X PRIZES is to utilize the concepts, procedures, technologies and publicity developed X PRIZE Foundation's Ansari X PRIZE competition for space and .. launch a series of technology prizes seeking to meet the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century." I think I'll suggest a few in sustainable energy, starting with catalysis of cellulose to liquid fuel, efficient electricity storage systems, small-scale low-grade heat to electricity conversion. Desalination and other water purification would be another high-impact sustainability technology.

Sun, 07 Nov 2004 19:57:19 GMT

Distributed generation for development: Nature article endorses the idea. "The desire to mitigate climate change, and opportunities to empower consumers in the developed and developing worlds, all point towards a need for less-centralized energy generation. .. But for the 2 billion people without electricity, micropower could let them leapfrog the grid. Just as countries that had never seen an expensive copper telephone network jumped straight to mobile phones, so decentralized generation technologies offer the chance for them to leapfrog the grid and prosper. That was the take-home message from a meeting of energy companies, researchers and policy makers in Paris" in Feb 2004. World Energy Technologies Summit Presentations are online.

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 18:47:09 GMT

Cringely gets it about BPL: The recent Fcc approval of "broadband over power lines (BPL) is going to totally shake up the Internet industry. .. One thing to remember about electric utilities is that they are very slow and deliberate. They move like glaciers, so it will take awhile for these services to be available at your house. But like glaciers, they are also impossible to stop.

The appeal here to an electric company isn't that $20-30 per month they'll charge for becoming your ISP. What matters to them and what makes this whole thing so important is that it will lead to your electric meter being monitored 24/7. That means utilities can start to offer true dynamic pricing, with electric costs dropping in low demand time periods and dramatically rising with high demand. While that sounds bad, the end result is actually good, since for the most part, profits from electricity sales will be regulated. The real end result is that demand will be better controlled by dynamic pricing, and the utility may just be able to forego building that $2 billion power plant they've been planning and saving for over the past 20 years. Dropping $2 billion to the bottom line has to appeal to any board of directors and, in a tightly regulated environment, will probably lead to overall power rates going DOWN, not up.

So this BPL stuff is mainly about getting smart electric meters and only partly about offering Internet service. But having made the effort to build the network, offer it they will, generally through unregulated subsidiaries." This is particularly interesting for developing and newly industrializing countries that are still building their grids and can design BPL in at the start.

Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:13:19 GMT

Solar power design for UK new homes: UK Deputy Prime Minister "John Prescott has demanded that all new homes built in Britain be designed so that they can receive solar power. Draft building regulations from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, due to come into effect in January 2006, stipulate the change. The move is significant since the government is on the cusp of a major housebuilding drive. It will infuriate housebuilders, adding millions to the cost of constructing homes. But it will delight environmentalists as concerns mount over the effects of climate change." The idea is to build new homes to be ready to adopt PV when prices drop.

Wed, 20 Oct 2004 16:20:16 GMT

Redefining Progress: Blue Green: Redefining Progress, an Oakland think tank, coordinated a nationwide study of renewable energy, jobs, and the environment. It has been endorsed by the Union of Concerned Scientists and several labor and environmental groups. It includes state-by-state plans of action. Press release: "The "Smarter, Cleaner, Stronger" report provides a comprehensive new policy package that will stimulate the creation of new jobs - approximately 1.4 million more new jobs by 2025 - while lowering energy bills that will save U.S. consumers an astounding $170 billion per year. America would reduce her dependence on foreign oil by slashing its imported oil by 1.7 billion barrels per year. Annual GDP would increase by $123 billion in 2025. And, if the policies outlined in this package were adopted, the U.S. would cut in half the amount of greenhouse gases that would be emitted into the atmosphere under a "business as usual" approach. "

Wed, 20 Oct 2004 03:50:51 GMT

NSF Awards on Information Technology Research for National Priorities: A large batch of projects with "total estimated funding of more than $130 million over five years. Projects cover a wide range of topics, including interactive ocean observatories and deep-sea exploration; stress corrosion cracking in materials; protection of critical infrastructures; improvements to healthcare processes; and secure access to confidential social science data. .. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University received a $2.2 million award to develop new approaches to modeling and controlling the electric power grid. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, are leading a $3.4 million effort to monitor and protect the Internet's Domain Name System, key to maintaining the reliability and stable evolution of the Internet. And in a $2.3 million project at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, researchers are working to develop new collaboration technologies for disaster relief and recovery in urban settings... " Health care, business processes, and large databases also get attention. (Thanks to Roland Piquepaille, who provides more coverage on the undersea Internet instrumentation project.)

Wed, 20 Oct 2004 03:40:06 GMT

Jet Engine on a Chip: MIT's Alan Epstein has micro turbines in his lab that should generate up to 20 watts. Like fuel cells, they can replace batteries, or provide emergency or off-grid power when scaled up or connected in clusters. Micro turbines would be smaller and lighter than fuel cells, and more tolerant of impurities in the fuel.

Sat, 16 Oct 2004 04:27:57 GMT

The Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology - Conference on solar energy and nanotechnology: Being held now [Oct 2004] at Rice University. List of presenters and their powerpoints worth checking out.

Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:42:23 GMT

A vision for silicon solar cells: Projections based on current technology and experience curves. Projects decline from about $3 today, to $1.44/w cell price in 2013, and $0.65 in 2023. (Corresponds to my rough projections.) The author also costs out a government program that would offer buyers grid-competitive prices from now forward until costs declined. That subsidy would be 50% of costs today, declining to zero by 2012. The total cost of this subsidy program in the US would be $23B from 2003-2012.

Tue, 05 Oct 2004 01:30:15 GMT

PV Concentrator systems: Survey of technical issues and current players. Conclusions (and an interesting point on policy): "Concentrators have great potential to become the lowest-cost photovoltaic option, producing power in the 7-15 cents/kWh range, depending on system size and location. Concentrator companies should not try to imitate today's flat-plate applications. The most natural markets are for medium-sized systems for grid-support, green power, and portfolio standards, or remove PV±diesel hybrid applications. .. Clearly, any economical application must be either remote, non-grid-connected or dispersed and located near retail grid customers.

One promising application is utility end-of-line grid support in remote regions that are experiencing rapid growth. PV is particularly valuable in this application when the region load is driven by air conditioning so that the demand and resource are well matched. This application requires the participation of utility companies as well as Federal support. Another potential application is remote power systems that are now being served by larger diesel generators. Typical installations are island power systems, large water pumping stations, remote military bases, resorts, and the like. By adding PV to these installations, diesel fuel is saved and engine operating time is reduced. Concentrator PV should be cost- effective in these applications within the very near future. ..

Projected electricity costs from concentrator power plants are about three times the current cost of energy from natural gas power plants. Early concentrator plants will be twice as expensive again. There is nothing that can be done about this without government involvement, period. We need to decide as a society if environmental issues such as acid rain, global warming, and reduced health are important enough to subsidize this difference for a while. Factors of three can't be that big a deal in the broader picture. After all, the price of electricity varies by over a factor of three at various locals in the US. The high costs in the more expensive locals is often a legacy of stranded nuclear power plants, another government program that wasn't entirely successful. The low-cost locals benefit from low-cost hydropower, a government program that was successful."

Tue, 05 Oct 2004 00:58:08 GMT

Compact refrigeration technology: "Twinbird Corporation are in the final stage of the development work on the Free Piston Stirling Cooler "FPSC-TB40" and expects to have market ready products in Fiscal Year 2003. The TB40 has significant differences to the conventional Rankine compressor or Peltier (thermoelectric) module type refrigeration systems. It is a new type of refrigeration system that uses neither ozone depleting nor global warming gas and no lubrication oil. The cooling technique is based on the Stirling cycle for maximum efficiency. Aside from being environmentally friendly, the unit is also compact, light weight and may be operated on many different power sources such as AC or DC electricity and photovoltaics." Could prove very useful in developing country or off-grid conditions with variable DC power (e.g., solar cells).

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 16:35:36 GMT

OECD Report Calls for Policy Changes to Promote Biomass: "Plants and animal waste could become viable alternatives to fossil fuels in providing energy and materials if governments changed strategies, according to a new OECD report out today. Instead of offering financial incentives or subsidies to stimulate the use of such organic material, known as “biomass”, governments should encourage technical innovation as a way of narrowing the price gap with oil and gas products. ..

According to the report, long-term strategies should be developed that recognise the potential of local resources and encourage the establishment of bio-refineries to recycle a range of farm by-products in addition to using grains, oilseeds and sugar. Such complexes would be capable of producing both energy and materials derived not only from annual crops but also grass, short rotation trees, cereal straws and other by-products. ..

The report also reveals that:

The prices of some niche market bioproducts such as plastics derived from arable crops are already competitive with certain petroleum-based plastics. The car industry, for example, is making increasing use of bioplastics.
Around 7% of heat generation and 1% of total electricity in OECD countries is provided by agricultural bioenergy. In developing countries an estimated 25% of total energy demand is met by biomass, principally in the form of firewood and animal dung.
Because bioethanol, produced from sugar and grains, can be used in existing engines with little modification, it is easier to exploit than other alternative transportation fuels such as hydrogen."

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 05:35:46 GMT

Sunlight Used To Produce Hydrogen From Water: "Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation (SHEC Labs) reported on July 6th that they have demonstrated the production of Hydrogen from water using their proprietary Solar Thermal Chemical Process. The Hydrogen production was accomplished at the APS (Arizona Public Service) Solar Test and Research Facility in Tempe, Arizona on June 8th and again June 28th, 2004. Utilizing the hot Arizona sun and a new Solar Concentrator developed by the Lab, the research team was able to extract Hydrogen from water at a temperature of 850 degrees Celsius (1562° Fahrenheit). ..

Independent engineering companies have verified that SHEC labs' process can produce hydrogen from water at temperatures significantly lower than 1000 degrees Celsius. Direct thermal water splitting in comparison normally requires temperatures of 2000 degrees Celsius to begin the reaction and 5000 degrees Celsius to optimize the reaction.

"The United States, Japan, Canada, and France have investigated thermal water splitting, a radically different approach to creating hydrogen. This process uses heat of up to 5,430°F (3,000°C) to split water molecules"1. The SHEC labs catalytic process, on the other hand, has operated as low as 400 degrees Celsius. Their process dramatically reduces radiant energy losses and the material problems associated with higher temperatures are minimized. Their 18 inch diameter solar concentrator has been able to achieve temperatures in excess of 750 degrees Celsius. SHEC Labs has also developed advanced "high ratio" solar concentrators capable of concentrating the power of the sun by 5,000 times. "

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 20:54:00 GMT

NY State 25% RPS: "The New York State Public Service Commission today voted to adopt a renewable energy policy designed to increase to at least 25 percent by 2013 the proportion of electricity sold to consumers in New York State that is generated from renewable resources. .. To meet the 25 percent target, it is estimated that New York State will need to add approximately 3,700 megawatts (MWs) of renewable resource generation capacity. By 2013, the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program is forecast to reduce statewide air emissions of nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 6.8 percent, sulfur dioxide (SO2) by 5.9 percent, and carbon dioxide (CO2) by 7.7 percent, with a greater proportion of emission reductions expected in New York City and Long Island. .. Customer bill impacts for the RPS are expected to be modest. In fact, wholesale energy prices will likely decline as a result of adding substantial amounts of renewable resources, thereby offsetting some of the Program costs and associated bill impacts. For residential customers, over the life of the Program, cumulative bill impacts are forecast to range from a reduction of 0.9 percent to an increase of 1.68 percent; for commercial customers, estimated bill impacts range from a 0.78 percent reduction to a 1.79 percent increase; and for industrial consumers, bill impacts could range from a reduction of 1.54 percent to an increase of 2.2 percent. The cumulative cost of premium payments, projected to range between $582 million and $762 million for renewable projects, is expected to be offset by approximately $362 million in wholesale energy cost reductions as New York reduces its reliance upon fossil fuels. " The program impacts start January 1, 2006, with program review in 2009.

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 20:48:53 GMT

What's Wrong With the Modular Pebble Bed Reactor?: Concise summary of the safety and waste issues. Also summarized here.

Sun, 03 Oct 2004 19:40:47 GMT

Winning the Oil Endgame: RMI's latest book on energy futures. "Winning the Oil Endgame offers a coherent strategy for ending oil dependence, starting with the United States but applicable worldwide. There are many analyses of the oil problem. This synthesis is the first roadmap of the oil solution -- one led by business for profit, not dictated by government for reasons of ideology. This roadmap is independent, peer-reviewed, written for business and military leaders, and co-funded by the Pentagon"

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:54:55 GMT

Editors on the Future of Energy: A couple useful facts: "By 2007, there should be 22 hybrid car options in the U.S., and some of these will have the strong hybrid qualities", ie, "able to run around town at speeds of say 35 to 40 mph on electricity and not go to fuel unless it had to run at higher speeds for a long distance trip."

"In the U.S. now, three units of energy come from [natural] gas for every five from oil."

Tue, 21 Sep 2004 17:57:51 GMT

BBC NEWS on distributed micropower: Nice review of various small-scale technologies. Interesting figure: "ground source heat pumps extract stored solar energy from the ground to run a home's central heating, and can cost as little as an oil-fired boiler to install. Widely used in the rural US, they produce three or four units of heat for every unit of electricity they use, and can be reversed to provide cooling." I wonder if new materials for the underground piping can make the energy transfer more efficient, reducing the installation costs of these heat pumps.

Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:38:57 GMT

Nanotechnology improves superconductors: "University of California scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory with a researcher from the University of Cambridge have demonstrated a simple and industrially scaleable method for improving the current densities of superconducting coated conductors in magnetic field environments. The discovery has the potential to increase the already impressive carrying capacity of superconducting wires and tapes by as much as 200 to 500 percent in certain uses, like motors and generators ..

Superconducting wires and tapes carry hundreds of times more electrical current than conventional copper wires with little or no electrical resistance. Superconducting technology is poised to bring substantial energy efficiencies to electrical power transmission systems in the United States. Much of the excitement caused by this discovery is due to the fact that the process can be easily and economically incorporated into commercial processing of the superconductors. ..

Dean Peterson, leader of the STC, said, "This is a significant technical advancement because it means we are now beginning to understand how to control defects in these superconducting materials and use them to our advantage. This was the first time we have been able to control the structural defects and in doing so, better engineer the material's structure to optimize performance." .. Scientists discovered that small, nanoscale defects are required to maintain high current densities in superconductors, particularly in the presence of high magnetic fields. "

Wed, 15 Sep 2004 08:20:22 GMT

Self-sustaining robot powered by flies in a fuel cell: "To survive without human help, a robot needs to be able to generate its own energy. So Chris Melhuish and his team of robotics experts at the University of the West of England in Bristol are developing a robot that catches flies and digests them in a special reactor cell that generates electricity. Called EcoBot II, the robot is part of a drive to make "release and forget" robots that can be sent into dangerous or inhospitable areas to carry out remote industrial or military monitoring of, say, temperature or toxic gas concentrations. Sensors on the robot feed a data logger that periodically radios the results back to a base station.

The robot's energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly's exoskeleton. EcoBot II digests the flies in an array of eight microbial fuel cells (MFCs), which use bacteria from sewage to break down the sugars, releasing electrons that drive an electric current. In its present form, EcoBot II still has to be manually fed fistfuls of dead bluebottles, but the ultimate aim of the UWE robotics team is to make the droid predatory, using sewage as a bait to catch the flies.

.. With a top speed of 10 centimetres per hour, EcoBot II's roving prowess is still modest to say the least. "Every 12 minutes it gets enough energy to take a step forwards two centimetres and send a transmission back," says Melhuish. But it does not need to catch too many flies to do so, says team member Ioannis Ieropoulos. In tests, EcoBot II travelled for five days on just eight fat flies - one in each MFC.

So how do flies get turned into electricity? Each MFC comprises an anaerobic chamber filled with raw sewage slurry - donated by UWE's local utility, Wessex Water. The flies become food for the bacteria that thrive in the slurry. Enzymes produced by the bacteria break down the chitin to release sugar molecules. These are then absorbed and metabolised by the bacteria. In the process, the bacteria release electrons that are harnessed to create an electric current."

Sun, 12 Sep 2004 00:12:23 GMT

Renewing America's Economy: The Union on Concerned Scientists modelled the results of a national renewable electricity standard (RES) with a gradually increase in US renewable energy from about 2.5 percent today to 20 percent by 2020, with net benefits of $49B in that period.

Sun, 12 Sep 2004 00:09:14 GMT

Energetech: Another wave energy company, based in Australia with one plant there and another planned in Rhode Island.

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:28:43 GMT

Technology already exists to stabilize global warming: Article published in Science identifies portfolio of options to cut emissions now. They refer to a stabilization triangle composed of emission reduction wedges: "Keeping emissions flat for 50 years will require trimming projected carbon output by roughly 7 billion tons per year by 2054, keeping a total of ~175 billion tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere [graphed as a triangle]. We refer to this carbon savings as the "stabilization triangle."

To keep pace with global energy needs at the same time, the world must find energy technologies that emit little to no carbon, plus develop the capacity for carbon storage. Many strategies available today can be scaled up to reduce emissions by at least 1 billion tons of carbon per year by 2054. We call this reduction a "wedge" of the triangle. By embarking on several of these wedge strategies now, the world can take a big bite out of the carbon problem instead of passing the whole job on to future generations. "

Tue, 31 Aug 2004 00:15:19 GMT

Geothermal cooling for Toronto: "One of the world’s largest green heat systems has been commissioned in Canada’s largest city. Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling system can provide cooling for 130 office towers in the downtown core. The system pumps water of 4°C temperature from a depth of 83 m below Lake Ontario, which is used to chill Enwave's cooling plant before it is distributed to customers for air conditioning.

The earth energy system is used in cooling mode only, after which it is distributed for potable water consumption throughout the city. The project produces enough air conditioning for 20 million square feet of office space, and initial customers include the Air Canada Centre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Royal Bank Plaza, TD Centre and Steam Whistle Brewing. .. Compared with traditional space cooling, the system reduces electricity use by 75% and will eliminate 40,000 tonnes of CO2, equal to taking 8,000 cars off of the streets. It also frees 59 MW from the Ontario electrical grid."

Sat, 28 Aug 2004 06:04:27 GMT

GM Hybrid buses for Yosemite Park: "Yosemite National Park [is] investing in transit buses powered by GM's hybrid technology, which offers up to 60% greater fuel economy and 90% cleaner emissions. The General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded a contract for 18 new 40-foot diesel-electric hybrid buses, which are scheduled to go in service in May 2005. Gillig Corp., of Hayward, Calif., manufactures the buses.

GM-hybrid-equipped buses are currently in revenue service in Philadelphia and Seattle, which will have more than 230 hybrid buses in service by the end of 2004, representing the largest hybrid bus order in history. In addition, the hybrid buses are in "preview programs" in over a dozen major North American cities, including Minneapolis, Portland and Houston. ..

"Several types of alternative fuel buses were seriously considered," commented Yosemite National Park Superintendent Mike Tollefson. "The decision to pursue diesel electric hybrids was based on a significant improvement in fuel economy, dramatically reduced emissions, and noticeably quieter operations. .."

"General Motors' hybrid strategy focuses on applying fuel-saving hybrid technology where it makes the most sense, on vehicles like transit buses, full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles," said Tom Stephens, group vice president of GM Powertrain. "For example, replacing the 13,000 buses operating in the nine largest transit markets in the United States with our hybrid technology would result in annual savings of almost 40 million gallons of fuel, equivalent to nearly half a million small hybrid passenger vehicles." "

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 15:59:29 GMT

Futuristic factories make mesh: "Industrial motors (not including facility heating and ventilating) consumed 679 billion kilowatt hours in the United States in 2003. That's 63 percent of all electricity used in industry and 23 percent of all electricity sold in the United States last year, according to the Energy Department. .. DOE figures a wireless sensor network could increase a motor's efficiency by 10 to 20 percent, which corresponds to a total U.S. energy savings of 120 trillion BTUs (35.1 billion kW-hr) per year..

Sensicast has devised a suite of control programs that have frequency "agility" — that is, they seek out the clear frequencies and attempt to evenly spread out the simultaneous communications going on among the nodes on the mesh. ..

Each wireless sensor will operate for years on a single battery charge, but for the future, GE is working on new technology that could harvest the vibrational energy of the motor itself to power the transceivers. Rensselaer, for its part, will be developing a physics-based model that will enable turnkey analysis and lifetime predictions from the sensor outputs of a motor. "

Thu, 19 Aug 2004 05:54:26 GMT

Fortune Magazine Backs Renewable Energy: "The cost of the plan is modest, about $7 billion to $9 billion per year, much of which can be offset by eliminating current subsidies and giveaways. "Will it be enough to kick our longtime oil addiction?," asks [editor] Varchaver. "Of course not. Even a far more radical plan is not going to solve this problem in ten years. Progress will be incremental and will take decades. But with the hole we have to climb out of getting deeper every day we wait, this plan at least promises what we need right now--a good start."

Fortune's plan consists of four approaches:

1. Improving fuel economy. Hybrids... [and] drop the exemption that allows SUVs to be considered light trucks instead of passenger vehicles.

2. More spending on alternative fuels. Fortune estimates that a $3.5-billion-a-year investment in two key areas.. [hydrogen fuel cells, and] biomass fuel called cellulosic ethanol, which can be blended into gasoline with minimal modifications to current engines and gas stations.

3. Redoubled commitment to efficiency. ..

4. Getting serious about solar and wind. ..

For Fortune's plan to work, the government will have to do its part; when it comes to transformation on this scale, Washington needs to jump-start the process. Still, In Fortune's plan, government intervention would be modest.. "That 20 percent [cut] might sound like a modest figure," concludes Varchaver. "But that percentage turns out to be more than the portion of our imports that come from the Persian Gulf. If we do nothing, you can be sure Americans will pay more than just the price at the pump."

Sun, 15 Aug 2004 07:44:59 GMT

Tidal Flow To Power New York City: Excellent summary of tidal flow power from Roland Piquepaille. The lead story is about a NY installation: "Verdant Power, an energy company based in Arlington, Virginia, plans to plunge six electricity turbines into the East River. If the $4.5-million project is successful, the generators will form the first farm of tide-powered turbines in the world. The plan is to attach the machines, which look like small wind turbines, to concrete piles hammered into the bedrock nine metres below the river's surface. As the tide surges in and out, the heads pivot to face the current and the blades spin."

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 19:17:27 GMT

Selsam Wind Energy: A New Type of Wind Turbine: Interesting multi-rotor design from a California inventor, using advanced carbon materials to utilize lower-speed wind resources. Meanwhile, the State of California is offerering funds for development of lower-speed wind: "Though California is recognized as the industry leader for total installed wind capacity at over 1,800 MW, the state ranks only 17th in terms of available high wind resource areas -- of class 5 and above .. Upon reviewing the most recent high-resolution resource maps for the state, it is evident that there are significantly more low wind speed resource areas (Class 3 to 4 at 10 m) than high wind resource areas."

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:34:10 GMT

Identifying Environmentally Preferable uses for Biomass Resources: A study of North American biomass resources and their comparative effects on greenhouse emissions. Recommendations:

If biomass is specifically grown to produce energy, avoid using low-yielding energy crops. Wheat, canola, or corn should not be used as energy crops, as they require considerable energy inputs in the form of fertilizer etc., take up prime farmland, and deliver small yields per hectare. Switchgrass or wood from short-rotation forestry (e.g., poplar or willow) should be used to produce energy.
Use biomass waste and energy crops where they displace fuels with high carbon
content. Combined heat and power, or the production of either biofuels or hydrogen are preferred over electricity-only options, since electricity production will usually replace relatively efficient natural gas burning.
Landfilling and incineration are the best options to minimize GHG emissions from municipal solid waste. While landfilling with efficient gas collection is slightly preferred over incineration. Composting is not recommended due to the considerable methane emissions from pockets of anaerobic activity.
Do not produce biodiesel from virgin vegetable oils. Available land can be used more efficiently by growing other crops for energy purposes. However, waste oil and fat should be used to make either biodiesel, or a diesel additive.
If the ultimate goal is to displace a maximum quantity of fossil fuels, combined heat and power systems are the preferable biomass use option.

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 07:57:21 GMT

Scientists formulate intelligent glass that blocks heat not light: "Reporting in the Journal of Materials Chemistry, researchers reveal they have developed an intelligent window coating that ..reflects the sun's heat ..

While conventional tints block both heat and light the coating, which is made from a derivative of vanadium dioxide, allows visible wavelengths of light through at all times but reflects infrared light when temperature rise over 29 degrees Celsius. Wavelengths of light in this region of the spectrum cause heating so blocking infrared reduces unwanted rays from the sun. The coating's ability to switch between absorbing and reflecting light means occupants benefit from the sun's heat in cooler conditions but when temperatures soar room heating is reduced by up to 50 per cent. ..

"Another consideration, is the colour of the coating. At present it's yellow/green, which really isn't attractive for windows. So we're now looking into colour suppression as a way round this." "

Besides space heating and cooling, I wonder if it would help for photovoltaic concentrating solar collectors, which use Fresnel lenses, mirror systems, or mirror troughs, to reduce the heat stress on the PV components.

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 07:02:26 GMT

GreenFuel Technologies Corporation: 2004 spinoff from a space technology company, attempting conversion of emissions to usable biomass (i.e. algae) in novel bioreactors: "Depending on customer specifications, GreenFuel will reduce up to 90% of NOx and 40% of CO2, generating biomass, emissions reduction credits, and public goodwill, for far less than the price of current Selective Catalytic Reduction systems or CO2 sequestration methods, and with no toxic byproducts." Innovations are outlined. Field test is underway on MIT's cogen power plant.

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 06:47:40 GMT

Intelligent Energy Demonstrates Fuel Cell for Rural Electrification in Latin America: "Intelligent Energy Inc. says it has completed trials of its ethanol-based fuel cell technology system, showing that sufficient electricity can be generated for a rural home from equipment little larger than a shoebox, using fuel derived from sugar cane. ..

Intelligent Energy is engaged in a partner program in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico which is focused on providing rural and urban electricity solutions. Dr. Eduardo Torres Serra of CEPEL, Brazil's premier energy research laboratory, which is currently engaged in research aimed at rural and peri-urban electrification, witnessed the operation of Intelligent Energy's fully integrated ethanol-in to electricity-out system. He commented: "The Intelligent Energy system is at the cutting edge of technology, it is very compact and extremely impressive."

Making the announcement today, Intelligent Energy's Chairman, former Chairman of Shell, Sir John Jennings, said: "This successful demonstration is an important part of our expanding strategy to accelerate market acceptance of fuel cell technology as an alternative power source. " The company has interesting people from the conventional energy business, and materials that emphasize developing countries. They appear to proceed by acquisition of companies with promising technology, from fuel source to power output.

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 06:22:20 GMT

CO2 bioreactors: Mix power plant CO2 with water and feed it to algae. "As the carbon dioxide exhaust moves toward the smokestacks, it would pass through tubes of running water, creating bicarbonates that would bubble in the water like soda pop. The water then flows through a bioreactor that contains a series of screens on which algae grow. "The algae basically drink the bicarbonates," says David Bayless, who also serves as associate director of the [Ohio U]'s Ohio Coal Research Center. "They get carbon through this system much quicker than trying to get it out of the air." .. He estimates that an average-size plant using this technology could process 20 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and produce 200,000 tons or more of algae per year for a secondary market." News story online. Most info dates from 2001, including a technical paper.

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 05:54:27 GMT

Jatropha plant yields biodiesel: "DaimlerChrysler is launching a new public-private joint enterprise in India for the production of environment-friendly biodiesel that can be used to power Mercedes vehicles. .. The project is setting out to test the production of biodiesel from Jatropha plants on eroded ground and its preparation for subsequent use in internal combustion engines.

With the establishment of this plantation, wind erosion will be alleviated and the roots of the plants will help reduce water erosion. The biscuits created as a byproduct of the oil extraction make an excellent organic fertilizer that helps improve the quality of the soil. It is envisaged that the plantations will later be operated by the municipal authorities.

Jatropha biodiesel is characterized by particularly favorable ignition performance. It also contains no sulfur and is thus a clean, low-emission fuel. .. Jatropha grows wild in many areas of India and even thrives on infertile soil. A good crop can be obtained with little effort. "

The Austrian Biofuels Institute provided a note on a field test of the fuel in 2004, with some into on its development since 1996.

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 04:34:23 GMT

New Transmission Line for CA Wind: "A new transmission project designed to carry wind energy from California's Tehachapi and Antelope Valley area to customers throughout California met with swift approval from the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors. The new line is needed to carry power from an expansion of wind turbine generators planned for the area. The Tehachapi range already is home to more than 600 MW of wind generation, making it California's largest concentration of wind turbines. As much as 1,100 MW worth of new wind projects are planned for the region.. California utilities [must] meet the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires 20 percent of the energy the Investor-Owned Utilities deliver to their customers to come from renewable resources by the year 2017. .. The 25-mile Antelope-Pardee line will cost about $94 million to build. It could be energized as early as December 2006. "

Sat, 12 Jun 2004 16:43:18 GMT

Kitchen & Housewares: Kill A Watt: "Find out which appliances are truly sucking energy and money right out of your pocket. Simply plug your appliance into the Kill A Watt and a large LCD display counts consumption by the Kilowatt-hour just like your utility company. You can figure out your electrical expenses by the hour, day, week, month, even an entire year. Monitor the quality of your power by displaying Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor. " $38.

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 08:38:13 GMT

Why Gas Prices Are Too Low: Nice plan. "Verleger favors what he calls a "prospective gasoline tax," which would allow the country four years to get ready to do the right thing. Congress would enact a stiff tax of $2 per gallon, to take effect in January 2009, with further increases of another dollar in each of the following three years. To cushion the blow, the Treasury would borrow against the expected tax revenue to buy back the public's gas guzzlers (defined as vehicles getting fewer than 25 miles a gallon) at their 2004 value.

Verleger estimates that this program could reduce U.S. oil consumption by almost 2 million barrels per day in the program's first year and as much as 10 million barrels per day by 2020. At a stroke, that would reduce the power of the OPEC cartel and America's vulnerability to turmoil in the Middle East. As a bonus, it would also reduce emissions that contribute to global warming and increase employment in the auto industry as all those gas guzzlers are replaced.

There's one big problem with Verleger's idea. It's too sane. America likes roaring down Thunder Road, playing chicken with the oil cartel. "

Fri, 28 May 2004 22:52:37 GMT

What is an AGM battery: Background on absorbed glass mat battery products. In this battery design, acid is completely absorbed into microfiber glass mat separators which are sandwiched between lead plates and typically wound in coils. Advantages:

totally sealed and maintenance free design
more heat and vibration resistant
slower self discharge rate (longer shelf life). A wet battery discharges 15% a month, some AGM batteries discharge only 2-3% a month, so 6 months idle is no problem

Many vendors are online.

Fri, 28 May 2004 06:51:06 GMT

Venture Capital Clean Tech Growth: Broad review of investments in clean technology. "Sandy Selman, founder and managing director of Asia West, a small Westport, Conn.-based fund that specializes in Asian environmental investments, [says] he's been trying to convince institutional investors to do private equity investing in this space for years, but has not met with any success. But now venture capitalists are confident that the news from California [Calpers investment] will sway other limited partners. "I think you will see tens if not hundreds of large pension funds coming into this sector," says NGEN's Grubstein."

Sun, 16 May 2004 19:00:15 GMT

Science.gov: "Science.gov is a gateway to authoritative selected science information provided by U.S. Government agencies, including research and development results"

Sun, 16 May 2004 16:42:18 GMT

Solar Roofing System: Marley Roofing is a major UK manufacturer of many kinds of roofing products. They have introduced a solar tile system. "The Marley SolarTile™ was designed to integrate with the Marley Modern interlocking tile and is easily installed by fixing to standard batterns. .. Each tile has a PV laminate comprising of 10 BP Solar Saturn cells generating an output of 23Wp. Over the year a suitably orientated installation of 100 Marley Solar Tiles will generate enough electricity for a typical 3 bedroom household (excluding central heating and water heating).

Marley SolarTiles™ are easy to install, use standard battening and are completely modular to meet the requirements of any roofing application. The Solar Tile has just two parts, a Top and a Base. The tile top fits onto the base and contains the photovoltaic elements which generate electricity. The tile base fits onto the roof and provides the electrical connectors to the house wiring." This would allow the substitution of new PV cells as they are developed.

Thu, 13 May 2004 22:00:40 GMT

MTI MicroFuel powers RFID tags with tiny fuel cell: Production to begin under contract this summer. "MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. will supply the power source for a new product to be manufactured by Intermec Technologies Corp. and used in an inventory tracking system."

Fri, 07 May 2004 16:50:35 GMT

Krugman on oil supplies: "the end [the energy crisis of the 1970's] has been widely misunderstood: prices went down not because the world found new sources of oil, but because it found ways to make do with less. During the 1980's, oil consumption dropped around the world as the delayed effects of the energy crisis led to the use of more fuel-efficient cars, better insulation in homes and so on. Although economic growth led to a gradual recovery, as late as 1993 world oil consumption was only slightly higher than it had been in 1979. In the United States, oil consumption didn't regain its 1979 level until 1997.

Since then, however, world demand has grown rapidly: the daily world consumption of oil is 12 million barrels higher than it was a decade ago, roughly equal to the combined production of Saudi Arabia and Iran. It turns out that America's love affair with gas guzzlers, shortsighted as it is, is not the main culprit: the big increases in demand have come from booming developing countries. China, in particular, still consumes only 8 percent of the world's oil — but it accounted for 37 percent of the growth in world oil consumption over the last four years.

The collision between rapidly growing world demand and a limited world supply is the reason why the oil market is so vulnerable to jitters. .. In a way it's ironic. Lately we've been hearing a lot about competition from Chinese manufacturing and Indian call centers. But a different kind of competition — the scramble for oil and other resources — poses a much bigger threat to our prosperity.

So what should we be doing? Here's a hint: We can neither drill nor conquer our way out of the problem. Whatever we do, oil prices are going up. What we have to do is adapt."

Wed, 05 May 2004 22:46:27 GMT

VentureBlog: Tapping The Trillion Dollar Market: "Hard-headed venture investors have suddenly become environmentalists; there's money to be made in saving the world. .. Investing in the area has been growing more than 8% a year. After several false starts in the late 80's and mid 90's, is now the time to invest in alternative energy?" The author notes that "The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) launched a new investment program that will invest up to $200 million in the burgeoning environmental technology sector during the next few years [that] will target investments in environmental technology solutions .. such as recycling; minimizing the use of natural resources; and reducing emissions, refuse, and contamination to air, water, and land." It is part of a larger "plan to invest $1.5 billion of the state's pension funds in environmental technologies. State Treasurer Phil Angelides said the "Green Wave" initiative is aimed at helping the state improve financial returns, generate jobs and clean up the environment. "I want to see California in the best position to reap the benefits of this growing sector of the global economy," Angelides said in an interview. The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the nation's largest pension fund, voted in March to invest $200 million in clean technology startups, and agreed this month to pump $500 million into environmentally responsible stocks and mutual funds."

Mon, 03 May 2004 09:14:56 GMT

Solar Thermal Hydrogen: Solarec trials 10m x 10m dishes to concentrate solar heat to split CO2, add water, and yield hydrogen. Additional byproducts are commercially usable hydrogen and high grade heat for direct electricity production. A supply of CO2 is split and rejoins repeatedly.

Thu, 29 Apr 2004 17:38:17 GMT

New production of solar thermal dishes: Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems Inc. and Schuff Steel Co. unveiled a prototype generator that could bring the cost of solar electricity down to 5 cents to 6 cents a kilowatt. .. Arizona Public Service Co., which is under an Arizona Corporation Commission mandate to generate 1.1 percent of its electricity through renewable resources by 2007, has agreed to buy 10 of the units next year. Southern Nevada Water Authority wants 40. " Sandia has ordered a number of them this year. They are 38-foot dishes with a Stirling engine, each generating 25 Kw.

"the Stirling units use no water, in contrast to so-called solar trough generators that use the sun's energy to produce steam to turn turbine generators. " Prototype units cost $300,000 each. "Stirling believes it can bring the cost down to about $25,000 per unit if they are mass-produced. That would make them competitive with conventional power plants, Liden said. "

Sat, 24 Apr 2004 17:13:15 GMT

Material grabs more sun: "Most photovoltaic materials absorb a relatively narrow range of light energy [from one band gap].. Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California, and MIT have engineered a single material that contains three bandgaps and is capable of capturing more than 50 percent of the sun's energy. The researchers made the material by forcing oxygen into a zinc-manganese-tellurium crystal. The oxygen split the crystal's band gap and formed a third one of its own. ..

It will take to three years to assess the technical feasibility of the multiband solar cell, according to the researchers. The work appeared in the December 12, 2003 issue of Physical Review Letters". See also here.

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 20:47:37 GMT

AquaEnergy Group Ltd.: Washington state company with wave power buoys. Phots and animation.

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 20:27:07 GMT

MODEL U CONCEPT CAR: "the Model T of the 21st century... Powered by the world's first supercharged hydrogen internal combustion engine, equipped with a hybrid electric transmission and pioneering green materials and processes, Model U is a vision for the future. It is Ford's model for change - exploring the benefits a vehicle provides to its users, the way it is manufactured and how it impacts the world." Contributions from many sources, including William McDonough, Sun Micro, MIT MediaLab.

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 01:16:47 GMT

The Heavyweight Sea Snail: Tidal power plans off Scotland. The unique feature is positioning underwater without expensive attachment to the sea bed. "The Snail is a 15x12 meter (roughly 49x39 feet) anchoring device that uses hydrofoils -- what scientists describe as wings that "fly" in water -- to generate more than 200 tons of downward force to the seabed." The press release says "At present the potential to use tidal energy is limited by installation methods for turbines, which require firm attachment to the seabed. This is very expensive and, at present, requires turbines to be placed in water depths greater than 25 m and less than 50 m. The full size SNAIL is a prefabricated tidal device that can be cheaply installed in shallow and deep water. This will significantly increase the number of suitable sites for turbines and reduce installation costs." First installation is 5 MW in 2007.

Fri, 23 Apr 2004 00:29:10 GMT

Greener Freezers: Progress on thermoacoustic coolers: "Ben & Jerry's teamed with Penn State University to build 'green'-technology freezers which will replace existing ones inside its stores. These new greener chillers use sound waves for cooling."

Thu, 08 Apr 2004 08:10:26 GMT

New Scientist Interview with William McDonough: He "wants to reinvent everything from tennis shoes to cars so we can consume as much as we wish without harming the planet. He explains why he takes nature as a perfect model for human design, and why effective is better than efficient"

Mon, 22 Mar 2004 06:00:04 GMT

Wind and solar experience curves: " with each doubling of world wind-generating capacity, costs fall by 15 percent. The recent growth rate of 31 percent a year means costs are dropping by 15 percent about every 30 months. While natural-gas prices are highly volatile, the cost of wind power is declining. .. [Solar PV] industry experts estimate that with each doubling of cumulative production, the price drops roughly 20 percent. Over the last seven years, solar-cell sales expanded an average of 31 percent annually, doubling every 2.6 years."

Mon, 22 Mar 2004 05:03:24 GMT

Protonex Receives VC Financing for Portable Fuel Cell Technology: "Protonex Technology Corporation, today announced they received early stage financing to further develop their portable fuel cell technology for commercial applications. ..
Protonex’s portable fuel cell systems are compact, lightweight and durable, providing customers with a preferred alternative to heavier, short-term power sources such as batteries and generators. .. Protonex has been working with the military since 2000 to develop a portable, long duration power solution for portable applications. A soldier on a 3 day mission, for example, would need to carry over 20 pounds of batteries to equal the power of one Protonex portable fuel cell system. Weighing less than 5 pounds with fuel, Protonex’s products offers key advantages over conventional batteries such as increased operating times and fast refueling in the field. Targeting the 10 to 1000 Watt range, Protonex’s portable fuel cell systems are now being adapted for a wide range of mobile electronic equipment with commercial, industrial and government applications. " They offer hydrogen and methanol versions, and claim ongoing development for other fuels.

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:21:28 GMT

Profile of Nanosys: "Nanosys is like industrial design company IDEO, which doesn't make products but improves them. .. Similarly, firms knock on Nanosys' door with a need or an idea, and Nanosys figures out how nanotechnology might help.

For some of its partners, Nanosys is working on what it calls nanostructured surface coatings. By messing with atoms, Nanosys can create a coating that can do things never before possible. For instance, one coating is super-hydrophobic — which means, as Empedocles tells me, it can make an item "so water resistant that water literally bounces off it." This might someday make windshields that never need windshield wipers. Or clothes that could be worn underwater and remain dry. ..

Another Nanosys project, with Japan's Matsushita Electric, is making a photovoltaic liquid that can be poured onto a surface, turning the surface into a solar energy panel. Within a couple of years, Matsushita hopes to market roofing tiles with Nanosys' coating. Instead of paying thousands of dollars for unsightly conventional glass solar panels, you could just turn your roof into a solar energy collector for maybe one-tenth the cost...

Nanosys is essentially developing liquid electronics. Pour it onto a surface, and when it solidifies, its nanowires can turn that surface into a display. The process would be cheap, and could be done on thin sheets of plastic at low temperatures."

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:07:28 GMT

Wind Turbines, Photovoltaics Winners in Distributed Generation Market: " In the distributed generation (DG) industry, most of the fuel cell and microturbine companies reported disappointing results for 2003, as they failed to ship expected unit quantities of their products. Wind turbine and photovoltaic companies, however, experienced extraordinary sales, and are expected to translate these sales into solid market share gains on the competition, finds ABI Research. "

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 20:09:42 GMT

Ocean Power Delivery Limited: "Ocean Power Delivery Ltd has developed a novel offshore wave energy converter called Pelamis. Building on technology developed for the offshore industry, the Pelamis has a similar output to a modern wind turbine... It is anticipated that future `wave farm' projects would consist of an arrangement of interlinked multi-machines connected to shore by a single subsea cable. A typical 30MW installation would occupy a square kilometre of ocean .. " The final full-scale prototype machine is built and being prepared for initial sea trials which will begin at the beginning of March.

Animation available. News story summarizes operation: "The 750 kW Pelamis machine measures 120m long by 3.5m wide (about the size of four train carriages) .. [It] is a semi-submerged, articulated structure composed of cylindrical sections linked by hinged joints. The wave-induced motion of these joints is resisted by hydraulic rams, which pump high-pressure oil through hydraulic motors via smoothing accumulators. The hydraulic motors drive electrical generators to produce electricity. Power from all the joints is fed down a single umbilical cable to a junction on the sea bed. Several devices can be connected together and linked to shore through a single seabed cable. A novel joint configuration is used to induce a tuneable, cross-coupled resonant response, which greatly increases power capture in small seas..

The machine is held in position by a mooring system, for which a patent has been applied for, comprising of a combination of floats and weights which prevent the mooring cables becoming taut .. Ideally the Pelamis would be moored in waters approximately 50-60m in depth (often 5-10km from the shore). This would allow access to the great potential of the larger swell waves but it would avoid the costs involved in a longer submarine cable .. the prototype design [meets] (DNV) offshore codes and standards."

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 18:42:59 GMT

Sorcerer II sails the world finding new species and new energy genes: "Using precise mathematical algorithms previously used to assemble sequence results from single species, the researchers were able to assemble whole genomes and major sections of genomes from the diverse microbial community found in the ocean. The paper describes a minimum of 1,800 new species identified in the Sargasso Sea. As well, there were 1,214,207 new genes identified by the researchers, which is a significant increase over the number currently in public databases. ..

One of the most important single discoveries from the Sargasso Sea environmental shotgun sequencing study is the 782 new rhodopsin-like photoreceptor genes. Only a few dozen photoreceptors have been characterized in microorganisms to date and less than 200 photoreceptors have been discovered from all species, including human where they are responsible for our vision. Therefore, this discovery represents a substantial increase in the total number of this family of proteins. One interpretation of this finding is that at least 50% of the new species discovered use some type of photobiology and could explain the diversity of species in such a low nutrient environment. Better understanding of these photoreceptor genes could be very important to IBEA researchers as they explore the mechanisms of photosynthesis as a means to efficiently and economically produce hydrogen as a fuel source. ..

Dr. Venter also announced the official launch of the Sorcerer II Expedition, a scientific expedition of discovery that will circumnavigate the globe under sail, surveying marine and terrestrial microbial populations. The Expedition has the potential to uncover tens of thousands of new microbial species and tens of millions of new genes. The voyage and sample collection are being funded by the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation and by the Discovery Channel Quest Program. The Sorcerer II Expedition is the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary film slated to air in 2005. In addition to the DOE Office of Science grant previously announced, the Expedition has received an important new grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for $4.25 million which will be used to sequence the DNA collected along the coast of North America." The site has pictures and flash presentations.

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 17:41:05 GMT

Researchers Report Bubble Fusion Results Replicated: "The research team used a standing ultrasonic wave to help form and then implode the cavitation bubbles of deuterated acetone vapor. The oscillating sound waves caused the bubbles to expand and then violently collapse, creating strong compression shock waves around and inside the bubbles. Moving at about the speed of sound, the internal shock waves impacted at the center of the bubbles causing very high compression and accompanying temperatures of about 100 million Kelvin.

These new data were taken with an upgraded instrumentation system .. . According to the new data, the observed neutron emission was several orders of magnitude greater than background and had extremely high statistical accuracy. Tritium, which also is produced during the fusion reactions, was measured and the amount produced was found to be consistent with the observed neutron production rate. Earlier test data, which were reported in Science (Vol. 295, March 2002), indicated that nuclear fusion had occurred, but these data were questioned because they were taken with less precise instrumentation. .. [Unlike laser or plasma fusion,] spherical compression of the plasma was achieved due to the inertia of the liquid surrounding the imploding bubbles. ..

[Rensselaer professor Richard] Lahey explained that, unlike fission reactors, fusion does not produce a significant amount of radioactive waste products or decay heat. Tritium gas, a radioactive by-product of deuterium-deuterium bubble fusion, is actually a part of the fuel, which can be consumed in deuterium-tritium fusion reactions."

Several theoretical results are presented consistent with the observed data. Not everyone agrees. PhysicsWeb reports: "Michael Saltmarsh of Oak Ridge says he is "intrigued but sceptical" about the new work. "Unlike their Science paper, most of the background notes and supporting information seem to be correct but there are still some puzzling inconsistencies. In particular, the estimated neutron detection efficiency is still an order of magnitude too low. While better than the Science article, the difference would produce a mismatch between the reported neutron and tritium yields."

"Thermonuclear sono-fusion may not be impossible," says Willy Moss of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, "but more tests need to done." .. Aaron Galonsky of Michigan State University [says] "Taleyarkhan and co-workers have not done .. enough for me to be able to say whether they have seen nuclear fusion in a bottle of acetone. With two million 14 MeV neutrons per second injected into the room where the experiment was performed, there are opportunities for error in detecting the much rarer, lower-energy sonoluminescent neutrons.""

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 01:31:10 GMT

Electric fuel cell aviation: "Backed by the non-profit Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology and education (FASTec) supports the exploration and application of emerging technologies, especially alternate energy technology such as fuel cells, for all types of transportation vehicles. FASTec along with NASA, is currently funding the development of the world's first fuel-cell-powered electric airplane.

The Electric Airplane, or Eplane, will be developed around an all-carbon French-built DynAero Lafayette III, which will be powered by an advanced electric motor supplied by UQM Corp. There will be three flight development stages. First, the plane will be equipped with advanced high-energy, lithium-ion batteries and flown. It will have about a 100-mile range. Then, it will be equipped with a combination of the batteries and a 10-15kW fuel cell, and will have a 250-mile range. In its final form, it will fly solely on the power of a fuel cell and have a 500-mile range, with emergency assist from reserve Li Ion batteries. "

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 17:13:39 GMT

Konarka gets DARPA contract: "DARPA contract in excess of $6 million for basic research in developing new materials for hybrid photovoltaic cells. Konarka will lead a consortium of academic and national laboratories to develop new materials for hybrid photovoltaics. Konarka will manage the contract and will share the award over five years with research and development partners including: Arizona State University; National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); University of Delaware; University of Massachusetts, Lowell; and U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, MA.

Hybrid cells are at the intersection of dye-sensitized cells developed by Dr. Michael Graetzel, and polymer cells developed by Dr. Alan Heeger. .. The hybrid cells will incorporate unique forms of polymers and semiconductors in the cells’ active layers."

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 17:09:03 GMT

More details on the ethanol-hydrogen converter: Ethanol feedstocks like corn "would yield three times as much power if its energy were channeled into hydrogen fuel cells rather than burned along with gasoline.. [This] is due in large part to the need to remove all the water from ethanol before it can be put in an automobile gas tank-and the last drops of water are the hardest to remove. But the new process doesn't require pure ethanol; in fact, it strips hydrogen from both ethanol and water, yielding a hydrogen bonus.

The invention rests on two innovations: a catalyst based on the metals rhodium and ceria, and an automotive fuel injector that vaporizes and mixes the ethanol-water fuel. The vaporized fuel mixture is injected into a tube that contains a porous plug made from rhodium and ceria. The fuel mixture passes through the plug and emerges as a mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide and minor products. The reaction takes only 50 milliseconds and eliminates the flames and soot that commonly accompany ethanol combustion.

In a typical ethanol-water fuel mixture, one could ideally get five molecules of hydrogen for each molecule of ethanol. Reacting ethanol alone would yield three hydrogen molecules. So far, the Schmidt team has harvested four hydrogen molecules per ethanol molecule. "

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 17:01:44 GMT

Seeing how plants split water: "Reporting online in the journal Science today Imperial researchers reveal the fine detail of the protein complex that drives photosynthesis..

Photosynthesis occurs in plants, some bacteria and algae and involves two protein complexes, photosystem I, and photosystem II - which contains the water-splitting center. While previous models of PSII function have sketched out a picture of how the water splitting center might be organized, the Imperial team were able to reveal the structure of the centre at a resolution of 3.5 angstroms (or one hundred millionth of a centimetre) in the cyanobacterium, Thermosynechococcus elongatus by combining the expertise of Professor So Iwata in solving protein structures and Professor Jim Barber in the photosynthetic process.

"Results by other groups, including those obtained using lower resolution X-ray crystallography at 3.7 angstroms have shown that the splitting of water occurs at a catalytic center that consists of four manganese atoms (Mn)," explains Professor So Iwata of Imperial's Department of Biological Sciences. "We've taken this further by showing that three of the manganese atoms, a calcium atom and four oxygen atoms form a cube like structure, which brings stability to the catalytic center. The forth and most reactive manganese atom is attached to one of the oxygen atoms of the cube. Together this arrangement gives strong hints about the water-splitting chemistry.

"Our structure also reveals the position of key amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, which provide a details of how cofactors are recruited into the reaction centre," Barber said. "PSII is truly the 'engine of life' and it has been a major challenge of modern science to understand how it works. Manufacturing hydrogen from water using the photosynthetic method would be far more efficient than using electrolysis"

Tue, 17 Feb 2004 21:09:52 GMT

Powerful machines are coming in small packages: "A new class of micro-gadgets – some no larger than a pencil eraser – are poised to make military and other equipment easier to power and carry. "

Example: a portable cooling suit that weighs just several pounds. "The final product would consist of an absorption heat pump, which would fit in a small backpack, connected to a vest threaded with water-filled microchannels. The water would be cooled in the pump then recirculated through the channels to keep the person wearing the vest from overheating. ..

These devices send large amounts of liquid or gas through thousands of microchannels that stand roughly as tall as a human hair. In each channel, heat transfer or chemical reactions happen more efficiently than they do in larger spaces, permitting better process control, shorter channel lengths and overall system miniaturization. .. [Applications] include micromachined gas-liquid contactor membranes for portable heat pumps, high-temperature microchannel arrays for increasing the efficiency of fuel reforming, and microfluidic integration for improving the shelf-life of tissue-based sensors.

"We're trying to take large amounts of fluids down through microchannels and then back out to affect the macroscale environment," [Oregon State's Brian] Paul said. "These technologies are expected to revolutionize the way we process mass and energy." [PNL's Ward] TeGrotenhuis, Paul, and their colleagues call their field "MECS," for "Microtechnology-based Energy and Chemical Systems." ..

[Another microsystem,] carbon-based arrays of MEMS microbatteries made by Marc Madou of UC Irvine, and his colleagues have thousands of anodes and cathodes very close together. Thus, the ions don't have to travel as far as they do in standard batteries. "It's like a traditional battery concept but multiplexed," said Madou, who calls each battery element a "baxel" (a riff on "pixels," also arranged in a matrix). "

Tue, 17 Feb 2004 06:20:59 GMT

Study: Wind power lowers Colorado electricity costs: "Requiring wind power in Colorado’s energy supply would probably lower electricity costs over the next 20 years, according to a report released Thursday by a utility expert.

Ron Binz, former Consumer Counsel for the State of Colorado for 11 years, studied the effects of proposed renewable-energy-standard legislation on the price of electricity. His study, which he calls a “straight from the shoulder analysis,” examined standards imposed by House Bill 1273, which would require the state’s investor-owned utilities to acquire or generate renewable energy by certain deadlines, and it compared the renewable energy costs to fossil-fuels costs.

He found consumers would likely save money, a total of 20 cents per monthly bill on average by 2023. His worst-case assumptions, which Binz said are not likely, would raise consumer electric rates by 8 cents per month over a 20-year period. “A slightly more favorable scenario for rates, which is still in my view a likely scenario ... would have a benefit of about 31 cents per month over the 20-year period,” Binz said.

Binz said introducing renewable energy would guard against spikes in natural-gas prices in the future. He predicted wind energy could result in consumer savings of 52 to 75 cents per monthly bill in years when prices for fossil fuels spike like they did in 2000 and 2003. "

Tue, 17 Feb 2004 06:02:12 GMT

Solar energy's 50-year anniversary: ""Basically every three years, the overall industry volume doubles, and for every doubling of volume you reduce costs 18 percent, '' said Tim Woodward, a venture capitalist at Nth Power, a San Francisco firm that invests in energy technologies. "Right now, this is a real industry that's growing 30 percent a year,'' said Woodward, whose firm has a stake in Evergreen Solar Inc., a Massachusetts company that is developing a new solar cell manufacturing technology..

Cypress Semiconductor bought 57 percent of SunPower in 2002 and is buying the rest and making it a wholly owned subsidiary. With Cypress' backing, SunPower is building a solar cell assembly plant in Manila. The ribbon- cutting will be held in March, and the factory is supposed to start shipping arrays by the end of the year. "By the time we get everything done, we will have bet $100 million,'' said [Cypress CEO] Rodgers.."

Mon, 16 Feb 2004 05:54:36 GMT

Researchers create ethanol-to-hydrogen reactor: "Lanny Schmidt, University of Minnesota professor of chemical engineering and colleagues make hydrogen from ethanol .. An automotive fuel injector clicks away as ethanol is pushed through and mixed with air.

"So now we have a gas," Schmidt says, "And the catalyst is right there which I don't want to touch because it's glowing." The catalyst is glowing because it's very hot from the chemical reaction. The catalyst is a gizmo the U researches have created using the metals rhodium and ceria. It's a white, porous plug about the thickness of a thumb. When the ethanol oxygen vapor is forced through the catalyst it strips off the hydrogen atoms." The unit is compact, about 2 feet long and a few inches thin. It could be used soon in stationary off-grid or automotive applications.

Tue, 20 Jan 2004 19:52:06 GMT

Sunslates solar electric roofing tile, output 1 kW per 100 sq feet: "Sunslates® allow the roof of your home to serve as both a roof and a power plant simultaneously. A typical installation of 216 Sunslates® (about 300 square feet / 28 square meters) will cover from 60 to 80% of your power needs. The roof is installed by your local roofer and the electrical work is done by your local electrician. "

Sat, 17 Jan 2004 07:12:44 GMT

Breakthrough Poised for Organic Solar Energy: "Through research with organic photodetectors, Siemens researchers revealed they were recently able to increase the efficiency of printed organic solar photovoltaic (PV) cells from three to over five percent. .. [The] photoactive layer of the cell has a thickness of approximately 100 nanometers, which corresponds to about 1/200th of the thickness of a hair. Since the polymers are printed on foil these solar modules are light-weight. Moreover, they are flexible and can be adapted to almost any shape. .. [They] achieve today a service life of several thousand sun hours, said Siemens. To start with, organic solar cells will first be applied in portable solar modules charging mobile telephones, satellite phones or navigation systems without requiring any connection to a main electrical supply. The first such products are expected to be sold in 2005, said the company. Siemens said that in some time it will be possible to achieve an efficiency of ten percent and a service life of 10,000 sun hours which corresponds to an operating life of approximately ten years. It is therefore conceivable to use organic PV in all main applications of conventional solar systems, said the company. "

Fri, 16 Jan 2004 05:20:50 GMT

Renewable Energy Annual 2002: "Photovoltaic (PV) cell and module shipments by manufacturers rose 15 percent in 2002 to 112.1 peak megawatts in 2002. Shipments have grown every year since 1993. Domestic shipments grew faster than exports in 2002, in contrast to growth during the 1998-2000 period, which was fueled primarily by exports. Germany maintained its position as the predominant importer of U.S. PV cells and modules, importing 50 percent of shipments. Exports to Hong Kong rose 129 percent in 2002, becoming the second-largest U.S. export market with a 16 percent share.

The average unit price of PV cells decreased in 2002 by 14 percent to $2.12 per peak watt. Average module prices, however, increased 9 percent to $3.74 per watt in 2002. The total value of cell and module shipments increased from $305 million in 2001 to $342 million in 2002." Many tables. including:

Thu, 15 Jan 2004 06:19:34 GMT

Chemists Grow Nano Menagerie: "Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories have found a simple way to make tiny, complicated shapes from zinc oxide, including arrays of vertically-aligned rods, flat disks, and columns that resemble stacks of coins. The researchers grew the structures, which are similar to those found in biomaterials, by seeding a solution with zinc oxide nanoparticles. They were able to produce different shapes by changing the amount of citrate in the solution at different points during particle growth.

Zinc oxide is a widely-used, inexpensive ceramic material that has useful optical and semiconductor properties and can also be used as a catalyst. The material is already used in solar cells, microsensors and decontamination systems...

Zinc oxide nanostructures could be used as catalysts within the next two years, for chemical and biological sensing into five years, and for more efficient photovoltaics in something more than five years, according to the researchers. The work appeared in the November 23, 2003 issue of Nature Materials." Zinc oxide has been shown to catalyze the conversion of methane to carbon nanotubes and hydrogen.

Sun, 11 Jan 2004 16:17:04 GMT

Top Five Social Investing News Stories of 2003: Includes a note on climate change reporting: "the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) is a coalition of ten state and city treasurers and comptrollers and labor pension funds that collectively manage over $1 trillion in assets. INCR issued a ten-point “Call for Action” that commenced with a recommendation to support the Rose Foundation’s rulemaking petition for the SEC to enforce and enhance its environmental liability disclosure rules. “The corporate and financial communities are reaching consensus that it is indeed a fiduciary duty to at least assess and report on the risks associated with climate change and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mr. Falk."

Fri, 09 Jan 2004 07:29:03 GMT

Let There Be L.E.D.s: "The research into solid-state lighting is motivated by light bulb makers who want to create new and profitable products. But saving energy is a consideration, too. About 20 percent of all electricity in the United States is used for lighting. A shift from bulbs to L.E.D.'s and other more efficient kinds of lighting could cut that percentage in half.." Some models and design concepts are reviewed.

Sun, 21 Dec 2003 19:14:18 GMT

High Performance Zion Visitor Center - Photovoltaic Panels: Cool 360 degree views of Zion center, highlighting energy savings and generation, in a beautiful setting.

Fri, 19 Dec 2003 23:37:56 GMT

Facts of US energy use from correspondence: The average US household spent $1338 on energy in 1997, consuming 101 million BTU of energy. This does not account for energy costs associated with generation and transmission of electrical energy consumed in the home. Accounting for these charges, the figure for domestic energy use is increased by about 70%. Within household energy consumption, 40% is for appliances and lighting, 30% space heating, and 30% water heating and air conditioning.

How could we reduce domestic energy consumption without compromise to function? Options could involve smart control systems to ensure that power is not consumed when associated functions are not in demand. Energy use in buildings (residences and offices) accounts for 27% of total end-use energy consumption in the US, comparable to use by industry (26%) and only slightly less than that consumed by transportation (38%).

Tue, 16 Dec 2003 23:32:22 GMT

Profile of Berkeley work on plastic semiconductors for both lighting and solar cells: “Practically, once the efficiency of the plastic solar cell reaches 10% or higher, it has a chance to compete with the silicon solar cell,” Yang says.

Fri, 12 Dec 2003 20:56:57 GMT

Thin chrystalline solar cells: "In the laboratory of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, thin crystalline solar cells have been produced with a thickness of 37 micrometres (µm) and an efficiency value of 20.2 %. In comparison, current industrial cells are comparatively thick - 300 µm (= 0.3 mm) - and significantly less efficient, with a value of 16 %. A decisive step leading towards the successful result is a process which has been developed and patented by Fraunhofer ISE for back-surface contacting of the solar cell [with] LFC technology (laser fired contacts) ..

The existing slow and expensive photolithographic processing steps for the back contact are no longer needed. In conventional, laboratory processes for highly efficient cells, considerable effort is needed to open small holes in the insulating layer, and then deposit the back-surface electrode of aluminium. "In LFC processing, we evaporate the aluminium layer directly onto the passivation layer and then fire through the metal with a laser to create the local contacts", explained Stefan Glunz, the co-ordinator of work at the Institute on monocrystalline silicon solar cells. This process is inexpensive, requires only one second per solar cell, does not impose significant stress on the material, and functions for all wafer thicknesses and doping levels, making it ideal for industrial mass production."

Thu, 11 Dec 2003 08:04:05 GMT

How to cut emissions, etc: "U.S. Climate Change Technology Program November 2003 inventory of technologies to fight climate change.

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 07:49:22 GMT

Austin going solar in a big way: " In a near-complete turnaround from its public position just a week ago, Austin Energy has announced plans to adopt specific, highly ambitious, and undeniably expensive goals for adding solar energy to the Austin electric and economic mix. At a town hall meeting held Tuesday night to discuss the AE plan -- also the subject of a public hearing at City Council today (Thursday) -- AE's Roger Duncan announced the utility's commitment to develop 15 megawatts of solar generating capacity by 2007, escalating to 100 megawatts by 2020. The AE plan also calls for a study of the "comprehensive value" of solar power -- putting a dollar amount on the economic and environmental benefits ..

Brewster McCracken -- the emcee of the town hall meeting -- and Mayor Will Wynn were both in attendance to reiterate their support for making Austin the "home of the international clean-energy industry" (in McCracken's words) -- a goal toward which, advocates feel, AE's solar commitment is a giant first step. ..

"We will try to meet 100 percent of new load growth" -- that is, customer demand -- "with conservation and renewables if at all possible," said Duncan. "We're trying to get off natural gas entirely." "

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 14:53:31 GMT

Clean Edge solar report: "What will it take to transform solar energy from a niche resource into a competitive, mainstream technology - and beyond, to serve society with solar's full promise? This Solar Opportunities Assessment Report, or SOAR, attempts to answer that simple but complex question and offer some possible pathways forward. It focuses on three pathways for solar's future over the next quarter-century: Current Growth, Accelerated Growth, and Hypergrowth, and describes the challenges and opportunities within each. .. We propose one potential vision, which we've dubbed the SHINE -- Solar High-Impact National Energy -- Project. The SHINE Project calls for 290 gigawatts of cumulative installed PV in the U.S. by 2025, providing 10% of total U.S. electricity consumption."

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 14:39:38 GMT

E7 Renewables reports: "The e7, an organization of nine leading electricity companies, has released two new reports that share the companies knowledge in understanding and helping to remove barriers to the diffusion of renewable energy technologies and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The first report, Renewable Energy Technology Diffusion, .. presents guidelines to help individual stakeholders execute the focused, committed actions necessary to address microbarriers, and recommendations to guide the broad, coordinated initiatives that are appropriate to address macrobarriers.

The second publication is The e7 Guide to Implementing Projects Under the Clean Development Mechanism. .. Since its formation in 1992, the e7 has assembled a wealth of experience related to electricity sector projects in developing countries. This experience underlies the new e7 CDM Guide. "

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 14:35:24 GMT

Imagine Islands Entirely Powered by Renewable Energy: "Software company Artificial Life has unveiled its first educational online game called Eco Champ which specifically aims to educate and entertain with renewable energy as the focus. .. The company said they are targeting young Asian students aged between 12 and 18 years and secondary schools in Greater China and Asia. .. A player has to maintain the power level of a virtual island by installing renewable energy sources of six different kinds: wind, solar, wave and tidal, hydro, geothermal and biogas in the appropriate locations by taking into account the most relevant factors for the efficient use of these resources in the corresponding locations such as wind, temperature patterns and elevation level. "EcoChamp Home Page, Screen-Shots

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 00:32:50 GMT

WaveCrest: Technology: Adaptive Motor A company that makes smart motors: with microprocessor, DSP, single brushless moving part, and internally redundant design, it claims to deliver optimium power at every speed, regenerative breaking, and with only one moving part. Applications planned in smaller devices (electric bikes for the military and police, wheelchairs, industrial generators and motors), building towards cars and mass transit. "In addition to acceleration, the motor can provide system functions such as braking and steering, thus eliminating many heavy and complex mechanical components. Because of the motor's tremendous low-speed torque and high response time, it can be used to replace costly advanced vehicle systems such as anti-lock braking, traction control and vehicle stability systems. Merging all these functions can lead to a smaller, lighter and less expensive vehicle." Wesley Clark is on the board of directors.

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 07:32:05 GMT

Sun Power wins contract for Oroville solar power project: "San Rafael-based Sun Power & Geothermal Energy Inc. said Monday it won an $8.4 million contract to design and build a one-megawatt solar photovoltaic system for the Butte County Center [administration building and 2 jails] in Oroville. .. Four solar arrays made of more than 9,000 185-watt modules will generate all power for the buildings. Funding for the system will be matched 50 percent by a renewable energy rebate from Pacific Gas & Electric Co." Projected operation: June 2004 (8 months install). $8.40/watt total system cost. By my calcuations, that's a simple payback period of 30-40 years. Total system installed cost would have to drop by 4x to compete without subsidy with the PGE grid.

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 02:29:59 GMT

Scientists Speed Up Tree Growth in N.C.: "Scientists say they have found a way to boost tree growth but so far there they haven't found a practical use for the fast-growing plants. A tree species at N.C. State's Upper Piedmont Research Station in Reidsville grew up to 20 feet in a single year, about double its usual rate. A typical tree in the area grows about 18 inches in a good year. The experiment uses paulownias, a naturally rapid-growing tree from China whose thin stalks are covered in purple blossoms during the spring.

Researchers bred seven varieties of the trees, the quickest of which can grow about 18 to 20 feet in a year, said Ben Bergmann, who was in charge of the project. Bergmann now is the head of the Tropical Research Studies Department at Duke University. The unusual growth was discovered during experiments to lessen animal waste in groundwater and soil, he said. Because of the trees' rapid growth, their roots absorb nutrients and prevent ground and surface water contamination. The trees produce a light weight wood that can be used for furniture and musical instruments, Bergmann said." I wonder how fast they absorb CO2.

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 02:16:24 GMT

Ready to make a great leap forward: Nice review of Boston-area innovators in energy, sensors, RFID, 3d displays, RNAi, and implanted medical devices.

Thu, 27 Nov 2003 17:57:23 GMT

Energy Efficient System for Desalination of Sea-water: "Clean water is becoming scarce and until now the cost of desalination has been a barrier to exploiting seawater. However, a Danish company, HOH Water Supply (HOH), specialising in water technology, has overcome this barrier and invented a new method, which halves the energy consumption of desalination plants. The method, based on existing membrane technology, makes it possible to recycle 95% of the pressure used for pumping sea water through the membrane system. Thus the energy consumption at the desalination plant's pumps and operations are cut from about 7 kWh/m3 of water to 3-4 kWh/m3 of desalinated water. The new Energy Recovery System (ERS) has been developed by an independent engineer in co-operation with HOH. "

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 05:03:16 GMT

Global Warming Gas Increasing Dramatically: "Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide are expected to increase by 3.5 billion tonnes, or 50 percent, annually by the year 2020, an executive for ExxonMobil Corp said on Wednesday. .. Experts say the United States, which has the world's largest economy and 4 percent of its population, is responsible for about 25 percent of so-called "greenhouse" gases now produced, but Broiles said most future growth in output will come from developing countries. "Eighty percent of that number, 80 percent of 3.5 billion tonnes, is going to be driven by those developing countries, those economies that are growing at the 4 to 5 percent range, so that's where it's coming from," he said.

A huge increase in the number of cars will cause part of the pollution growth. Broiles said there are now 15 cars for every 1,000 people in the world, but ExxonMobil expects that number to rise to 50 cars per 1,000 by 2020. He said ExxonMobil foresees a 40 percent increase in energy demand even though humans are boosting their energy efficiency by about 1 percent a year. Despite advances in technology most energy will still come from fossil fuels, and in particular oil and gas, of which there remain very large reserves, he said. "

Sat, 22 Nov 2003 04:49:34 GMT

Power Tube, Inc.: "The [Power Tube] unit is inserted in the Earth (i.e. downhole) and requires only 220 degrees Fahrenheit of heat to generate electricity. This is accomplished without depleting natural resources or causing pollution. With a virtually inexhaustible source of energy (i.e. the heat of the Earth) to power it, Power Tube has no energy costs customarily associated with traditional electrical power generation methods. The land needed for a Power Tube unit is not permanently scarred and pollution of underground aquifers does not occur. The 10 MW version is 185 feet long, and 42 inches in diameter. It will be inserted into a 46" shaft (which is only at the top 185 feet), which can be drilled with a standard drilling technology. .. The Power Tube is a self contained unit using an iso-pentane/iso-butane mixture to heat into a gas. In this sealed system, the gas is accelerated into a turbine, then cooled back down into a liquid, where the process continues."

Wed, 19 Nov 2003 04:24:52 GMT

Solaicx: New Los Gatos company with several experienced execs. "A new photovoltaic materials manufacturer, Solaicx, announces that it has a new manufacturing technology that will supply its customer, the photovoltaic cell and module manufacturers, the material to create solar cells with high conversion-efficiency at very low cost and on a grand-scale. ..With eight U.S. patents in-process, Solaicx is attacking the cost structure of the expensive wafer, the heart of 86 percent of solar cells made today. Wafers typically account for 50 percent of a photovoltaic module's cost. The Solaicx solution:
    -- Reduces the amount of silicon used;
    -- Provides higher quality material that enables 21 percent solar cell
        conversion efficiency;
    -- Creates the equipment and processes necessary for handling high
        volumes of material.

"Most photovoltaic manufacturing companies use semiconductor capital equipment
to make solar cells. The photovoltaic industry is growing so rapidly that it
has become a materials handling business -- requiring square kilometers of
material each year. Solaicx is designing and building the equipment and
process specifically to produce square kilometers of photovoltaic material.
This is the key to making solar electricity more affordable."
    "Our target customers are excited that our material is crystalline
silicon, the material used in the vast majority of solar cells sold today. It
is the ideal material for long-lasting, high efficiency solar cells. What's
more, Solaicx will provide these photovoltaic cell and module manufacturers
with an immense cost advantage."

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 08:28:13 GMT

Power Engineering magazine: " Private finance and asset management firm New Energy Capital, LLC (NEC) and energy consulting firm KEMA Inc. announced Tuesday that they have entered into an agreement designed to promote investments in renewable energy and distributed generation.

NEC is raising capital to make equity investments in renewable energy, distributed generation and energy productivity projects, assets and developers. KEMA will provide a broad range of technical and financial due diligence services to support NEC's decision-making process. .. Dan W. Reicher, a founder and Managing Director at NEC, stated, "KEMA's support will greatly enhance our capabilities and complement our other strategic alliance partners." In addition to his role at NEC, he is also Executive Vice President of Northern Power Systems, Inc."

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 04:38:00 GMT

As Earth Warms, the Hottest Issue Is Energy: Review of basic global warming/energy/technology issues. Some facts and figures:

An automobile generates perhaps 50 to 100 tons of carbon dioxide in its lifetime.
Each American, on average, generates about 45,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. That is about twice as much as the average person living in Japan or Europe and many times more than someone living in a developing country like Zimbabwe, China or Panama.
Currently, the world's energy use per second is about 12 trillion watts — which would light up 120 billion 100-watt bulbs — and 85 percent of that comes from fossil fuels.
In March, Dr. Hoffert and two colleagues reported in Science that to limit the temperature increase to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, non-carbon-dioxide-emitting sources would have to generate 7 trillion to 25 trillion watts by midcentury, 4 to 14 times as much as current levels. That is roughly equivalent to adding a large emissions-free power plant every day for the next 50 years. And by the end of the century, they wrote, at least three-quarters and maybe all of the world's energy would have to be emission-free.

Fri, 31 Oct 2003 18:20:40 GMT

Catch the Fire!: "Evolution of a Solar Dish," how Energy Innovations continues to refine its designs for small solar concentrators. They're now working on using high-concentration PV cells instead of sterling engines. Turns out they use genetic algorithms to refine their designs. The revamped Energy Innovations web site has many photos of alternative designs arranged on a 3-year timeline.

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:30:04 GMT

Texaco Ovonic Hydrogen Systems scalable modular solid metal hydride hydrogen storage: "TOHS' solution is its proprietary hydride storage system, which can be used both at the refueling site and onboard the vehicle. It uses a powdered metal alloy within a storage tank to absorb and store hydrogen in a significantly lower 1,500 psi pressure environment, a reversal of the current trend toward 10,000 psi gaseous storage. This system works by absorbing hydrogen into a solid metal alloy while removing any heat released by this reaction. The result is hydrogen that is now stored safely in a solid, inert state, only to be released on demand when heated. This process would ideally make use of the waste heat from either an internal combustion or fuel cell powerplant. Showcasing this breakthrough is a hybrid sedan (a 2002 Toyota Prius) that TOHS has modified to run on its new low-pressure, solid hydrogen storage system." Pictures included.

Thu, 23 Oct 2003 17:13:35 GMT

Carbon Finance at the World Bank: July 2003 presentation at a workshop on "Carbon Credits from Flare Reduction Activities" sponsored by the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR). Notable:

greenhouse gas credits already purchased or under negotiation total approximately US$250 million
shift into renewables and not just efficiency in last 2 years (breakdowns by region, type, and purchaser of carbon credits)
carbon prices currently running $3-$4/tonne CO2e
carbon finance helps solid waste management which saves on more powerful greenhouse gases

Author: Chandra Shekhar Sinha, Portfolio Manager, Carbon Finance Group The World Bank.

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 20:08:32 GMT

Water sparks new power source: "A new way to generate electricity from water which could be used to power small electronic devices in the future has been developed by Canadian scientists. .. The research by Professor Kostiuk and colleague Professor Daniel Kwok is published by an Institute of Physics journal. It is said to be the first new method of generating electricity in over 150 years. The work is all to do with charge separation, and what happens to ions in liquids when they come into contact with a non-conducting solid." Bottom line: pressurized water can generate power when passed through a device with hundreds of thousands of microchannels in a block of glass .

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:48:36 GMT

Smart InFlow Power: "In commercial and industrial pipes where gases, liquids, or solids exert enough extra pressure to turn a small turbine, renewable electric power can be generated allowing utility companies, manufacturers, even owners of high-rise buildings to produce their own electricity or sell the power and create an additional source of revenue. These new smart turbine devices called Flow-to-Wire(sm) are a compact and more efficient version of much larger hydropower equipment used successfully around the world. The surplus power created by Flow-to-Wire(sm) can be a byproduct of a chemical reaction, occur during the release of stored compressed gas, or result from gravity pulling material from an elevated physical position to a lower one...

The power will qualify for renewable status in most states. To maximize efficiencies and safeguard water supplies against homeland security threats, Rentricity has built integrated sensors into the devices to provide data that will enable water utilities to track flow, pressure, and vault intrusion. Individually, a Flow-to-Wire(sm) system will produce on average 30 kilowatts (KW) to 50 KW -- enough to meet the usual demand of up to 50 homes or a portion of an industrial facility. Rentricity expects to install its devices in thousands of locations worldwide.. Rentricity is part of the Rensselaer Incubator Program"

Sun, 19 Oct 2003 18:35:15 GMT

High-Performance Photovoltaic Project: Entech 440x concentrator: "Project Objective: Develop a new 440X, 27%-efficient photovoltaic concentrator module which is a "plug-and-play" replacement for ENTECH's existing, field-proven 21X, 13%-efficient module. The new module will use advanced multi-junction cell technology to be provided by lower-tier subcontractor Spectrolab, to replace the silicon cell technology used in the existing module. New color-mixing Fresnel lenses will be required to provide the primary 21X concentration and the secondary 21X concentration, together yielding a 440X overall concentration. The new module will fit into existing field-proven sun-tracking arrays, including the SunLine 2-module array for small power applications and the SolarRow 72-module array for large power applications. Due to the anticipated doubling of module and array efficiency, the delivered energy economics for the new systems are expected to be much better than for the existing systems." Longer paper available.