Archive for September, 2009
Study: Geothermal showing a strong growtha
Posted on September 30, 2009, under Sekalaista.
A new report by the Geothermal Energy Association shows strong growth in new geothermal power projects continuing through 2009.
Lähde: Topix
China orders crackdown on industrial overcapacity
Posted on September 30, 2009, under Sekalaista.
China announced sweeping curbs on surging investment in steelmaking, cement and other industries, warning that chaotic overexpansion was raising the danger of job losses and trouble for banks.
Lähde: Topix
Germany & Europe - Sept 30
Posted on September 30, 2009, under Sekalaista, Uutiset.
-Merkel gets her ‘dream coalition’ as Social Democrat vote collapses
-Europe’s Socialists Suffering Even in Downturn
-Angela Merkel win ends Turkey’s EU hopes
-Nuclear power? Yes, maybe
Lähde: Energy Bulletin
Splitting Water to Store Solar Energy
Posted on September 30, 2009, under Sekalaista.
MIT professor Daniel Nocera earlier worked on a catalysts that can divide water molecules which can be utilized to store energy. Daniel Nocera has established a company named as Sun Catalytix to give his dreams a concrete shape. His company is backed by venture capital firm Polaris Ventures. Nocera is known as a “huge [...]
Posted in: Inventions, PhotoVoltaics, Solar Power
Lähde: Alternative Energy
Enhanced Geothermal May Have To Wait
Posted on September 30, 2009, under Polttoaineet, Sekalaista, Sähkö, Uutiset.
About a year ago we mentioned that Google was investing in an enhanced geothermal energy company called AltaRock Energy. In fact, both Google and the U.S. Department of Energy made significant investments in AltaRock’s plan to drill deep into dry but hot caverns in Northern California in a bid to, “…create an EGS reservoir that will drill below the permeable zone, stimulate in the contained zone with infrastructure in place, and increase power production.” In short, they wanted to drill several thousand feet deep, fill the hole with water then use the resulting steam to power a turbine that would create electricity. And while the beginning of the project was announced with great fanfare the end didn’t get nearly as much attention from Google or the DOE.
On September 2nd of this year the New York Times published a story titled, Energy Company Calls Halt to Drilling Project. The main reason the project was halted was due to the fact that AltaRock was unable to drill a sufficient hole, only going down about 800 feet from their starting point of 3,200 feet. In order to move forward the NY Times story states that the drilling needed to reach 12,000 feet. Concerns about the project were already inflated at the time of the shutdown due to the fact that a similar effort in Switzerland had been blamed for an earthquake.
At the time of the original announcement we had our doubts about the viability of the project.
EGS may be indeed be a viable clean energy generation technology. It is also a very a risky and expensive technology that yields its share of negative environmental impacts.
Unfortunately it appears that our instincts were correct. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in power generation. If you want to extract power from the earth the earth makes you pay a heavy price. In this case the price seems to have been too high for AltaRock, their investors and the State of California. AltaRock Energy indicated in their official press release that they continue to seek out other enhanced geothermal projects.
We are continuing with the development of our EGS technology and are currently evaluating a number of alternative well locations, at the Geysers and elsewhere for demonstrating this technology.
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Lähde: Clean Energy Digest
Where we really stand with respect to oil and natural gas supplies
Posted on September 29, 2009, under Uutiset, Öljyhuippu.
A few days ago, I gave a presentation in Poland that talks about how much difficulty the world is having maintaining its oil production. The presentation was not set up to be a response to Jad Mouawad’s recent New York Times article, Oil Industry Sets a Brisk Pace of New Discoveries, but in many ways it is one. Our recent discoveries really have not been enough to make up for our many production problems elsewhere. We are having problems not only with oil, but with natural gas. The solution the financially distressed world is increasingly considering is…well, read the story to see.
Lähde: Energy Bulletin
Keeping Hybrid & Electric Cars Cool
Posted on September 28, 2009, under Sekalaista.
When scientists unveiled the mystery of boiling of fluids in the form of tiny “microchannels” they cracked various formulas and models to keep the high-power electronic gadgets cool. These high power electronics generally are electric and hybrid cars, aircrafts, computers and other devices. Suresh Garimella – the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor [...]
Posted in: Electric Cars, Hybrid Cars, Transportation
Lähde: Alternative Energy
The Season of the Witch
Posted on September 28, 2009, under Sekalaista, Uutiset.
In my father’s house are many mansions. Surely one of them has a room with no elephants in it….
Not to crunch too many metaphors right here at the top, but a consensus seems to be firming up in the animate jello of the Internet that we have entered the Season of the Witch. An odor of ripeness fills the virtual air — something between dead carp and apples baking. Whatever else appears to be going on in the upper stories and verdigris-tinged turrets of capital finance…the most perplexing part is that there hardly seems any safe place to preserve one’s savings.
Lähde: Energy Bulletin
Interview with Sadad al Husseini—“The Facts Are There”
Posted on September 28, 2009, under Uutiset, Öljyhuippu.
Question: Assume for the moment that declines in demand have flattened and that we resume modest growth in demand in a year or so. Are there adequate new oil projects in the pipeline to meet rising demand for a few more years?
Sadad: I’ve been tracking the number of projects, globally, for a long time both in the Middle East and elsewhere—Russia, Brazil, west coast of Africa, and others. A lot of this information is in the public domain, so there is no mystery there. The International Energy Agency recently reported on the same numbers. The bottom line is that there are not enough projects…
Lähde: Energy Bulletin
China official warns on "too fast" nuclear plans
Posted on September 27, 2009, under Sekalaista.
China may have to put the brakes on the construction of nuclear power plants to ensure the plants are safe, the country’s top energy planning official told reporters on Sunday.
Lähde: Topix
