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"Funding the rope for the hanging of ourselves"
That is a quote from the New York Times article written by Thomas Friedman about the relationship between our dependence on oil and the growth of anti-American, fundamentalist, radical Islam. When you look at the countries who are producing the majority of the world's oil, they are not the most democratic countries in the world.
The article is much too lengthy to reproduce here, but it is well worth reading. view link
The article is much too lengthy to reproduce here, but it is well worth reading. view link
Show me state shows us all!
Wind turbines in King City, MO (Credit: Steve Morse)Rock Port, MO is the first all wind powered community in the US. This small town of approximately 1300 residents has four wind turbines that are expected to generate about 16 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year and the town itself only uses about 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity, so the surplus will be purchased by the Missouri Joint Municipal Utilities to be used elsewhere in the state. For all the naysayers who say it can't be done anytime soon, Missouri has shown us that, indeed, it can be done by those who decide to step up and do it. Here is one of many articles written about this terrific town: view link
GREEN PLANET DAY
Join us and tens of thousands of Americans of all backgrounds for an unprecedented National Day of Action calling for Green Jobs Now: Build the New Economy.
On Saturday, September 27th, the We Campaign, 1Sky, and Green for All will hold events across the country to send the message that it is time to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years and lift people out of poverty.
September 27th is only one week away, so sign up to host or attend an event today! It's easy and it'll be fun.
The solutions to our climate crisis are simple. Make the switch to clean, renewable energy, end our dependence on fossil fuels, and revitalize our economy. With energy costs and utility bills increasing unchecked, and millions of green collar jobs at stake, there is no time to waste.
We'll be there on September 27th to say it's time to Repower America with Green Jobs Now. Sign up today and join us!
Thanks,
Matt, Lauren, Melissa and the rest of the online team
www.wecansolveit.org
On Saturday, September 27th, the We Campaign, 1Sky, and Green for All will hold events across the country to send the message that it is time to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years and lift people out of poverty.
September 27th is only one week away, so sign up to host or attend an event today! It's easy and it'll be fun.
The solutions to our climate crisis are simple. Make the switch to clean, renewable energy, end our dependence on fossil fuels, and revitalize our economy. With energy costs and utility bills increasing unchecked, and millions of green collar jobs at stake, there is no time to waste.
We'll be there on September 27th to say it's time to Repower America with Green Jobs Now. Sign up today and join us!
Thanks,
Matt, Lauren, Melissa and the rest of the online team
www.wecansolveit.org
New technology from kids
12-year-old Revolutionizes the Solar Cell
By Chris Radcliff September 18, 2008 | 7:30:00 AMCategories: Environment, Science, Science Experiments
William Yuan, a seventh-grader from Portland, OR, developed a three-dimensional solar cell that absorbs UV as well as visible light. The combination of the two might greatly improve cell efficiency. William's project earned him a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Library of Congress to accept the award, which is usually given out for research at the graduate level.
“Current solar cells are flat and can only absorb visible light,” he said. “I came up with an innovative solar cell that absorbs both visible and UV light. My project focused on finding the optimum solar cell to further increase the light absorption and efficiency and design a nanotube for light-electricity conversion efficiency.”
By Chris Radcliff September 18, 2008 | 7:30:00 AMCategories: Environment, Science, Science Experiments
William Yuan, a seventh-grader from Portland, OR, developed a three-dimensional solar cell that absorbs UV as well as visible light. The combination of the two might greatly improve cell efficiency. William's project earned him a $25,000 scholarship and a trip to the Library of Congress to accept the award, which is usually given out for research at the graduate level.
“Current solar cells are flat and can only absorb visible light,” he said. “I came up with an innovative solar cell that absorbs both visible and UV light. My project focused on finding the optimum solar cell to further increase the light absorption and efficiency and design a nanotube for light-electricity conversion efficiency.”
New group home page
Some time in the near future, the appearance of group home pages on eons will change. You can preview those changes now by clicking on the link near the top of the page that says "beta" and that will show you the new look.
In this new format, there is a banner at the top of the page and the managers, moderators and the description of the group will be found on the about page. The messages are all truncated and the format has changed from three columns to two columns. You can click on an individual message to open it and read it or you can click the "show" button next to the label "messages" at the top of the message section.
We will now have a calendar on the group page and I invite all of you who know of energy related events in your part of the country to enter them into the calendar where other members can find them.
Since the beta mode is just that, there are some aspects of the group home page that are not functioning perfectly yet. As we find bugs, we tell the design team and they address them. If you want to comment on the new home page and its features, join the Whaddy think? group view link and find the thread that addresses the issue you are interested in and post your comments.
In this new format, there is a banner at the top of the page and the managers, moderators and the description of the group will be found on the about page. The messages are all truncated and the format has changed from three columns to two columns. You can click on an individual message to open it and read it or you can click the "show" button next to the label "messages" at the top of the message section.
We will now have a calendar on the group page and I invite all of you who know of energy related events in your part of the country to enter them into the calendar where other members can find them.
Since the beta mode is just that, there are some aspects of the group home page that are not functioning perfectly yet. As we find bugs, we tell the design team and they address them. If you want to comment on the new home page and its features, join the Whaddy think? group view link and find the thread that addresses the issue you are interested in and post your comments.
Time to think about the elections
By the end of this week all the hoopla will be over the presidential campaign will start in earnest. I know everyone in this group wants to make an informed vote and puts energy high on their criteria for deciding whom to vote for.
Here are some resources to help:
American Solar Energy Society: has a good article on questions to ask the candidates view link as well as a summary of their positions and past votes view link
League of Conservations Votes: is known for their scorecard of every member of Congress view link
Anyone else have good resources they have come across?
Here are some resources to help:
American Solar Energy Society: has a good article on questions to ask the candidates view link as well as a summary of their positions and past votes view link
League of Conservations Votes: is known for their scorecard of every member of Congress view link
Anyone else have good resources they have come across?
"SOLAR ENERGY RESOURCE IS ENORMOUS"
"Solar Energy Can Meet All The World's Energy Demands: Expert"
by Staff Writers
Madrid (AFP) Sept 5, 2008
The world must speed up the deployment of solar power as it has the potential to meet all the world's energy needs, the chairman of an industry gathering which wrapped up Friday in Spain said.
"The solar energy resource is enormous, and distributed all over the world, in all countries and also oceans," said Daniel Lincot, the chairman of the five-day European Photovoltaic Solar Energy conference held in Valencia.
"There is thus an enormous resource available from photovoltaics, which can be used everywhere, and can in principle cover all the world energy demand from a renewable, safe and clean source," he added.
Lincot, the research director of the Paris-based Institute for Research and Development of Photovoltaic Energy, said solar energy was growing rapidly but still made only a "negligible" contribution to total energy supply.
Last year the world production of photovoltaic models represented a surface of 40 square kilometres (16 square miles) while meeting the electrical consumption of countries like France or Germany would require 5,000 square kilometres, he said.
Under current scenarios, photovoltaic models will represent about 1,000 square kilometres by 2020 accounting for about only 3.0 percent of energy needs in the 27-member European Union, he added.
Over 200 scientists and solar power experts have signed a declaration calling on the accelerated deployment of photovoltaic power which was launched at the conference.
More than 3,500 experts and 715 sector firms took part in the gathering, billed as the largest conference ever organised in the field of photovoltaic conversion of solar energy.
Germany and Spain are the world leaders in solar energy power. Germany has 4,000 megawatts of installed capacity while Spain has 600 megawatts.
Solar energy is the best and most abundant energy resource available to all the residents of the planet. It is truly amazing to me that a country that used to be the leader of innovation on the planet is so far behind on this issue.
Arguments are made that full roll out of solar energy is too expensive, too inefficient and is just not going to be able to meet energy needs. While there are elements of truth to these claims, they do not tell the whole story. Solar energy development is in its infancy. As time and research continue, improvements will be made in both cost and efficiency of solar energy technology. Even though we know that, for instance, the computer we could buy next year will be an improvement over what we can buy today, that does not stop us from spending thousands of dollars on computers and their accessories today. We benefit from spending that money now.
If we spend money now on deploying as much solar technology as we can afford, we will reduce our use of other energy sources. Payback times are calculated using current costs of electricity or fossil fuels, but it does not take a genius to see that those costs will continue to rise, and if recent history is an indicator, pretty rapidly. Payback times will decrease as the costs of other energy sources increase. We should let our local authorities know that we want zoning that is favorable to the installation of small solar and small wind technology and we should push our elected officials to promote legislation that will give beneficial tax treatment to alternative energy initiatives, both commercial and residential. Germany has made a robust national commitment to nationwide deployment of solar energy and they are exceeding the goals they set for themselves. One thing they have done is to pay farmers who install solar photovoltaic panels on their farms the equivalent of 50 cents per generated kilowatt hour; the cost for a farmer to purchase electricity is much less. This looks like lunacy on the surface, but what is happening is that farmers are being subsidized and are able to continue to farm and the PV cells that have been installed are reducing Germany's dependence on energy imported from Russia and the middle east. As other sources of energy get more expensive, this program will keep electric rates lower for Germans.
The US has been slow to adopt new technologies but this can change. It will only happen if enough of us tell our elected representatives that this is important to us.
by Staff Writers
Madrid (AFP) Sept 5, 2008
The world must speed up the deployment of solar power as it has the potential to meet all the world's energy needs, the chairman of an industry gathering which wrapped up Friday in Spain said.
"The solar energy resource is enormous, and distributed all over the world, in all countries and also oceans," said Daniel Lincot, the chairman of the five-day European Photovoltaic Solar Energy conference held in Valencia.
"There is thus an enormous resource available from photovoltaics, which can be used everywhere, and can in principle cover all the world energy demand from a renewable, safe and clean source," he added.
Lincot, the research director of the Paris-based Institute for Research and Development of Photovoltaic Energy, said solar energy was growing rapidly but still made only a "negligible" contribution to total energy supply.
Last year the world production of photovoltaic models represented a surface of 40 square kilometres (16 square miles) while meeting the electrical consumption of countries like France or Germany would require 5,000 square kilometres, he said.
Under current scenarios, photovoltaic models will represent about 1,000 square kilometres by 2020 accounting for about only 3.0 percent of energy needs in the 27-member European Union, he added.
Over 200 scientists and solar power experts have signed a declaration calling on the accelerated deployment of photovoltaic power which was launched at the conference.
More than 3,500 experts and 715 sector firms took part in the gathering, billed as the largest conference ever organised in the field of photovoltaic conversion of solar energy.
Germany and Spain are the world leaders in solar energy power. Germany has 4,000 megawatts of installed capacity while Spain has 600 megawatts.
Solar energy is the best and most abundant energy resource available to all the residents of the planet. It is truly amazing to me that a country that used to be the leader of innovation on the planet is so far behind on this issue.
Arguments are made that full roll out of solar energy is too expensive, too inefficient and is just not going to be able to meet energy needs. While there are elements of truth to these claims, they do not tell the whole story. Solar energy development is in its infancy. As time and research continue, improvements will be made in both cost and efficiency of solar energy technology. Even though we know that, for instance, the computer we could buy next year will be an improvement over what we can buy today, that does not stop us from spending thousands of dollars on computers and their accessories today. We benefit from spending that money now.
If we spend money now on deploying as much solar technology as we can afford, we will reduce our use of other energy sources. Payback times are calculated using current costs of electricity or fossil fuels, but it does not take a genius to see that those costs will continue to rise, and if recent history is an indicator, pretty rapidly. Payback times will decrease as the costs of other energy sources increase. We should let our local authorities know that we want zoning that is favorable to the installation of small solar and small wind technology and we should push our elected officials to promote legislation that will give beneficial tax treatment to alternative energy initiatives, both commercial and residential. Germany has made a robust national commitment to nationwide deployment of solar energy and they are exceeding the goals they set for themselves. One thing they have done is to pay farmers who install solar photovoltaic panels on their farms the equivalent of 50 cents per generated kilowatt hour; the cost for a farmer to purchase electricity is much less. This looks like lunacy on the surface, but what is happening is that farmers are being subsidized and are able to continue to farm and the PV cells that have been installed are reducing Germany's dependence on energy imported from Russia and the middle east. As other sources of energy get more expensive, this program will keep electric rates lower for Germans.
The US has been slow to adopt new technologies but this can change. It will only happen if enough of us tell our elected representatives that this is important to us.
More on Biofuel from Algae
Member Georgia Bearwell posted on this a little while ago view link
I just read a really interesting article in Solar Today; unfortunately it is not online so let me summarize it here.
The National Renewalble Energy Lab did a major research project from 1978 - 1996, screening over 3000 algae strains and identified 300 with promise. (If you really get into this, download dthe 328 page report here view link )
Algae are prodigious consumers of CO2. The most promising strains are up to 60% oil by weight and may be able to produce up to 5000 gallons of oil per acre peryear, vs 50 gallons for soy beans.
They can be grown on land that is unsuitable for agriculture. In fact, one of the areas that NREL studies was if you could pipe the CO2 from a power plant into a "pond" full of algae and harvest the energy. The study also identified ways to increase the oil production through either manipulating the environment in which the algae grow or genetic engineering.
It works in the lab and the challenge now is to figure out the best approach to scaling this up to the billions of gallons of oil we need. The article identifies 3 approaches:
open ponds -- as the name suggests, you dig a big pond and let the algae grow (companies in this space include LiveFuels view link Aurora BioFuels view link and view link
Closed bioreactors -- you build some sort of mechanism where you can control the environment the algae grow in. Companies include Solix Biofuels view link GreenFuels Technology view link and Valcent view link and check their video here view link
Genetic modification: tinker with the genees to increase yield. Solazyme view link which has received certification for their diesel fuel and Sapphire Energy which is producing gasoline view link
This really looks promising!
I just read a really interesting article in Solar Today; unfortunately it is not online so let me summarize it here.
The National Renewalble Energy Lab did a major research project from 1978 - 1996, screening over 3000 algae strains and identified 300 with promise. (If you really get into this, download dthe 328 page report here view link )
Algae are prodigious consumers of CO2. The most promising strains are up to 60% oil by weight and may be able to produce up to 5000 gallons of oil per acre peryear, vs 50 gallons for soy beans.
They can be grown on land that is unsuitable for agriculture. In fact, one of the areas that NREL studies was if you could pipe the CO2 from a power plant into a "pond" full of algae and harvest the energy. The study also identified ways to increase the oil production through either manipulating the environment in which the algae grow or genetic engineering.
It works in the lab and the challenge now is to figure out the best approach to scaling this up to the billions of gallons of oil we need. The article identifies 3 approaches:
open ponds -- as the name suggests, you dig a big pond and let the algae grow (companies in this space include LiveFuels view link Aurora BioFuels view link and view link
Closed bioreactors -- you build some sort of mechanism where you can control the environment the algae grow in. Companies include Solix Biofuels view link GreenFuels Technology view link and Valcent view link and check their video here view link
Genetic modification: tinker with the genees to increase yield. Solazyme view link which has received certification for their diesel fuel and Sapphire Energy which is producing gasoline view link
This really looks promising!
Oil from Algae?
I belong to an online group with some of my high school classmates, and it's remarkable how we all manage to get along and have spirited discussions, even though we represent the full range of political and social thought. Some reject the notion of climate change, some favor further oil exploration and nukes, some are certified carbon neutral accolytes, etc. You get the picture.
One of them posted this message today about getting oil from algae. Have any of you heard of this? I have no idea what the source is beyond my high school classmate's "duck hunting buddy."
See first reply for text.
One of them posted this message today about getting oil from algae. Have any of you heard of this? I have no idea what the source is beyond my high school classmate's "duck hunting buddy."
See first reply for text.
