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Archive for November, 2009

Waste Heat Could Double Battery Life on Laptops, Cell Phones

Posted on November 30, 2009, under Sekalaista.

When we utilize any gadget or means of comfort we know that these devices consume energy. But the energy is not utilized by devices. Some of the energy is lost in the form of friction or heat. For example when we are exploiting the power of computer processor chips, car engines or electric power [...]
Posted in: Batteries, Inventions, Waste Energy

Lähde: Alternative Energy

It’s Time For Clean Energy Companies To Deliver

Posted on November 29, 2009, under Polttoaineet, Sekalaista, Sähkö, Uutiset.

During his Presidential campaign President Barack Obama pledged, “…to transform our entire economy – from our cars and our fuels to our factories and our buildings.” In the last few months President Obama’s administration has made good on that pledge by unlocking billions of dollars in government coffers to benefit companies developing clean energy technologies in a wide variety of industries via stimulus grants and Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantees. In fact, the DOE has looked more like the Treasury Department in recent months. Since the beginning of October the DOE has awarded well over $5 billion.

The dollars are flowing to companies large and small. Automotive start ups like Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive, companies with little track record and no profits to speak of, have scored nearly $1 billion combined in guaranteed loans. Meanwhile established car companies like Ford and Nissan have been granted $5.9 billion and $1.6 billion respectively to further development of electric vehicles. That’s in addition to the government’s purchase of General Motors at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.

Outside the auto industry we’ve seen companies such as Solyndra, a solar power start up based in Silicon Valley that qualified earlier this year for a $535 million DOE loan guarantee. Prior to the loan guarantee Solyndra had been funded to the tune of $800 million in private venture capital financing. At the beginning of September the DOE also announced over $500 million in grants given mostly to large wind power developers. Since then many large utilities across the country have benefited from over $3 billion in smart grid stimulus awards. More recently the DOE has announced more than $600 million for energy storage projects.

If you look at the entire list of what has been funded so far you’ll see that no technology has been left behind. Electric vehicles, solar, wind, smart grid, geothermal, energy efficiency, energy storage and carbon capture have all received funding. Thus one of the biggest obstacles to the development of new clean energy technologies has been removed. The collapse of the credit markets and oil prices dried up the investment pot. But the U.S. government has stepped in to fill the vacuum. So companies now have access to the capital they need to develop better batteries, construct manufacturing plants, research future technologies and much more.

With the financing obstacle removed for many companies, the only thing that’s left for companies to do now is to deliver on their promises. Electric car manufacturers have promised affordable vehicles that eliminate (or greatly reduce) the need for gasoline use in day-to-day transportation. Solar producers have promised gigawatts of solar facilities across the deserts of the southwest and rooftops across America. Wind power developers have promised clean, reliable, emission free electricity with very low impact to the environment. Smart grid companies have promised a new age of energy information technologies that will virtually eliminate blackouts and give consumers unprecedented control over their energy use and costs. Geothermal developers have promised a vast supply of emission free, uninterrupted baseload power from deep below the surface of the earth. On top of all the promises we’ve heard many times over the past decades there is also the promise of millions of “green jobs” as a result of a new clean energy economy.

The billions of dollars in play right now may only represent a down payment on future possibilities for clean energy development in the United States. Results are important though. If you have an investor who throws in a million dollars most of the time they want to see some progress before they commit more money. In this case the investors are the American people who’ve heard promises about the benefits of affordable electric vehicles and solar technology for decades. If public support for new energy investment erodes in 2010, politicians, especially ones up for re-election, will get the message and adjust their influence accordingly. That’s why it’s so important that clean energy companies show that they can produce the technologies they have promised, with the benefits that they have promised, at a cost that the majority of the public can afford.

© Clean Energy Digest - visit Clean Energy Digest for more great content.

Lähde: Clean Energy Digest

India declines to set emission targets

Posted on November 29, 2009, under Sekalaista.

India’s chief climate change negotiator has flatly rejected taking on emission reduction targets a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country would commit to cuts conditionally.

Lähde: Topix

Comment period ending for Maine ocean wind sites

Posted on November 29, 2009, under Sekalaista.

UGUSTA, Maine - The public comment period is coming to an end on the state’s search for potential sites for offshore wind power demonstration projects along the Maine coast.

Lähde: Topix

Peak Ego and the Ego Descent Plan

Posted on November 29, 2009, under Sekalaista, Uutiset.

It is logical to speak of peak ego, since cheap oil gave rise to affluence which in turn gave rise to more separation, separation in the meaning that affluence has offered us NOT to need each other the way tribal communities in the past did. Instead we have a lifestyle that separates us from the inherent wisdom of interdependence. When we have reached the ultimate separation perhaps we have reached peak ego. How much more ego can we have before the level of ‘happiness’ runs out?

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Lähde: Energy Bulletin

DOE bids out Geothermal Energy Contracts

Posted on November 29, 2009, under Polttoaineet, Sekalaista, Uutiset.

Last Thursday the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) was packed by interested bidders for the round of Geothermal Energy Contracts that they were giving out. The department received about 24 bids from 13 companies for only 10 contracts being offered out. The department is expected to announce next week those who have qualified for those contracts.

DOE assistant secretary Mario Marasigan and in charge of the Renewable Energy Management Bureau said that the intense interest was due to the passage of the renewable energy law (RA 9513) that gives incentives to investors in clean & renewable energy projects.

Included in the list of bidding companies are: Constellation Energy Philippines, Pan Pacific Power Corp., Aragorn Power Energy Corp., Baca Valley Energy Inc., Filtech Energy, Envent Holdings Philippines, Energy Development Corp. (EDC), PNOC-Renewables Corp., Clean Rock Renewable Energy Resources Corp., Primary Energy Corp., SKI Construction Group Inc. and Magma Energy Corp.

Constellation Energy is looking at the Montelago area in Oriental Mindoro. Pan Pacific is for Daklan in Benguey and Natid in Bataan. Aragorn Power is looking at Labo in Camarines Norte and Baca Valley Energy is gunning for Mainit in Surigao del Norte and Maibarra, which covers Batangas and Laguna.

Some of the geothermal energy areas being offered for bid by the DOE are Cagua/Baua in Cagayan (69,748 hectares), Daklan in Benguet (23,639 has), Acupan-Itogon in Benguet (18,407.64 has), Natib in Bataan (11.928.72 has) and Montelago in Oriental Mindoro (4,032.97 has), Labo in Camarines Norte (9,324.30), Isarog in Camarines Sur (16,279.1), Sta. Lourdes-Tagburos in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan (1,599.80 has), Mainit in Surigao del Norte (37,690.93) and Maibarara which (1,599.80 has).

In the Philippine today, the Lopez Group’s Energy Development Corp (EDC) is the leader in geothermal energy production. The Philippines is second only in the world today as the country having the most number of geothermal energy based power plants.

source

Lähde: Alternat1ve.com - One Alternative Energy Blog

Germans predict solar energy market expansion

Posted on November 28, 2009, under Polttoaineet, Sekalaista, Uutiset.

Carsten Körnig, BSW-Solar’s managing director

The German solar industry interest group BSW-Solar predicts that “demand for solar power systems will grow this year in Germany and in several important foreign markets, despite the financial and economic crisis”. The organization’s latest business climate index noticed a recovery in business in the second semester after a weak first half of the year and it anticipates a further rise in demand in 2010, when the photovoltaics industry will return to its growth curve worldwide.

German photovoltaics manufacturers increased their production by approximately 65 percent over the last year. Their turnover grew from six to ten billion euros, with half of this amount coming from business abroad. 150,000 new solar power systems were installed in Germany, with a peak capacity of 1.5 gigawatts. While the crisis did affect some larger projects in 2009, the domestic market remained unaffected, as homeowners and farmers continued keen to invest, thanks to a 20% price drop.

The index also notices that most foreign solar markets are growing. BSW-Solar is expecting a sales growth of 20-30 percent in Italy, and at least 40 percent in the USA. In France and China, the local solar associations are predicting that the market for photovoltaics will at least double in the course of a year. It is only in Spain that the market is likely to shrink significantly, as a result of a reduction in local support programs.

“Due to the market decline in Spain and the financial crisis, international business remained below expectations in the last few months and darkened many a company report. Despite the economic slowdown, we are nevertheless expecting growing demand in Germany in 2009. There are currently many new sales markets developing worldwide. By 2010 at the latest, our sector will therefore return to its worldwide growth path. In particular, we are expecting an all-out solar boom in the USA and China. The expansion of solar energy continues and Germany’s solar industry will benefit from this”, says Carsten Körnig, BSW-Solar’s managing director.

Lähde: EnergyRefuge.com Blog

Ordinary fears/extraordinary times: 55 (real) things to worry about (if you must…)

Posted on November 28, 2009, under Sekalaista, Uutiset.

Peak Oil, Climate change and the Greater Depression will pose many challenges to our way of life but let’s get real, for a moment: Golden Hordes aren’t one of them. At least not now. Economic depression brings with it a host of serious problems, and I think you can say quite confidently, without being a chicken little, that most of the world is in a Greater Depression.

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Lähde: Energy Bulletin

Bottleneck by William Catton - A Review

Posted on November 26, 2009, under Sekalaista, Uutiset.

First I should confess to a strong bias toward the content of this book. As readers of my blog, Question Everything, will realize, I have been moving inexorably toward the same conclusion as the author, so you will perhaps forgive me if you think I may be suffering from a lack of sufficient critical thinking. Put bluntly, I think this is a book every thinking human being should read, and then consider for themselves.

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