Re-inventing nature for cheaper solar power

physorg

‘The Threat to the Planet’: An Exchange

I want to compliment Dr. Jim Hansen for another lucid presentation of the science documenting the human-induced global warming problem. In fact, Dr. Hansen’s article [“The Threat to the Planet,” NYR, July 13] covers a critical topic that Al Gore’s movie omits, namely it gives the reader a good sense of how soon cuts in […]

Turkey offers $130bn in energy investments

Turkey will offer $130bn in energy projects, including nuclear, for the private sector over coming years, to reduce the EU-applicant country gulf-times

Massive venture funding for ethanol

The alternative energy start-up Cilion has snared an additional $160 million in funding, one of the biggest venture capital investments ever in the “clean tech” field. With the latest investment, the company has now raised $200 million toward its goal of building eight ethanol plants by 2008, the first three slated for California. The company […]

California Energy Commission Begins Testing of Flywheel System

The California Energy Commission, in partnership with the US Department of Energy and the California Independent System Operator (ISO), has begun the formal field trial testing of a flywheel-based frequency regulation system from Beacon Power Corporation. Conventional approaches to frequency regulation greencarcongress

Another fuel shortage looms

Cape Town – Unless weaknesses in the country’s fuel supply are addressed urgently, another supply crisis could emerge later this year, warns the report of a probe into the shortages of liquid fuel that hit the country in December. The report blames a “convergence of events” for the crisis, but adds: “Shortages will become a […]

Exxon field lifts Russian August oil output to record

MOSCOW, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Russian crude oil production edged up 0.9 percent to a new all-time high of 9.759 million barrels per day in August, largely thanks to the Exxon-led (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Sakhalin-1 field coming on stream. Sakhalin-1 aims to be pumping 250,000 bpd by the end of the year, so the […]

Iran warns of oil price hike if sanctions imposed

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran has warned major oil-consuming nations that the imposition of UN sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment would lead to a rise in oil prices. “Sanctions on Iran and a sudden rise in global oil prices would hurt the economies of the large oil consuming nations,” Deputy Foreign Minister Ali […]

World’s biggest solar electric plant opens in Germany

A solar electric power plant, billed by its operators as the world’s biggest, went into service in the southern German state of Bavaria on Friday. More than 1,400 movable solar modules will collect the sun’s rays and harness them into energy for around 3,500 households, according to operators Solon AG.Monsters and Critics

Sharp Sees Solar Power Costs Halving By 2010

Japan’s Sharp Corp., the world’s biggest maker of solar cells, expects the cost of generating solar power to halve by 2010 and to be comparable with that of nuclear power by 2030, Sharp’s president said. Asked how the costs were likely to compare with those for producing electricity from fossil fuels such as coal, Machida […]

Saudi Aramco Buys First-Ever Fuel Oil Cargoes

Saudi Aramco, a major fuel oil exporter to East Asia, has imported its first-ever cargoes of the residual fuel, taking a total of around 160,000 tonnes for August and September deliveries, to meet peak summer utility demand amid a depressed global market, traders said yesterday. “This is the first time ever that Aramco has actually […]

Turkey offers $130bn in energy investments

Turkey will offer $130bn in energy projects, including nuclear, for the private sector over coming years, to reduce the EU-applicant country’s reliance on imports, Energy Minster Hilmi Guler said yesterday. The ruling AK Party’s plans to turn Turkey into a regional energy hub by building several multi-billion-dollar transit pipelines to pump oil and gas to […]

China looks at India to ease energy crunch

In a move to address the growing energy crunch, China has decided to emulate countries like India by altering its current industrial structure and increasing the size of its service sector. China will improve energy conservation by increasing the proportion of the service sector in the economy, the Chinese cabinet decided.Financial Express

Vietnam plans to run vehicles on biofuel by 2020

Vietnam is drafting a scheme to step up bio-fuel production and application in the transport industry to ensure energy security and protect the environment. Under the scheme, drafted by the Science and Technology Department and valid through 2020, Vietnam will until 2010 raise public awareness of bio-fuel, access advance foreign technologies, build infrastructure needed to […]

China eyes coalmine killer gas for new energy source

As China speeds up exploitation of coal mines to satisfy increasingly thirsty demand for energy, the country’s gas emissions keep growing. In 2004, China’s coal mines pumped out 14 billion cubic meters of gas and experts say that will increase to 17 billion by 2020. Coal-bed methane, more commonly known as “coalmine gas”, can be […]

When we finally take the off ramp

Good crop yields can be achieved without fossil fuel, but much more care is required. Every farm, every field, every acre requires individual attention, with careful consideration given to just the right crop for the land, and the best cultural practices for the crop. Operations must be carefully timed to control weeds and pests, and […]

A nuclear answer for energy Worldwide, two billion people lack electricity

Now a revolutionary nuclear-energy technology is being designed and built in South Africa, with suppliers and partners in many nations, including the United States. The 165-megawatt Pebble Bed Modular Reactors (PBMR) are small and inexpensive enough to provide electrical power for emerging economies, individual cities or large industrial complexes. Multiple units can be connected and […]

US$1 billion to cut Chinese greenhouse gas emissions

The biggest agreement so far to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a developing country was finalised this week (29 August). Under the deal, Asian and European companies will pay two Chinese chemical companies more than US$1 billion to reduce their emissions of one of the most potent gases involved in global warming. The World Bank’s […]

Solar: 3 Reasons to Believe

Sure, industry watchers are quick to point to positives. redherring

Should we scrap NASA to save the world?

I just finished a book called The Coming Economic Collapse, which makes the case that a barrel of oil will likely cost $200 by decade’s end. Regardless if that’s overly bullish on the price of oil, there are many scholars who agree that we’re headed toward an energy crunch. The point made in the book […]

Global Warming Shows Up in Fly Genes

Climate warming over the last quarter century is writ large in tiny fruit flies, according to a genetic analysis. In a species of fruit fly, the frequencies of so-called inversions, in which a piece of chromosome is flipped around, were observed decades ago to correspond to the latitude at which the flies were found. In […]

BG Group Makes Substantial North Sea Discovery

BG Group reports the discovery of a gas condensate field in the Central North Sea. The discovery straddles blocks P011 and P0032 30/7a. BG Group holds a 30.5 percent interest in the discovery along with operator ConocoPhillips (36.5 percent) and ENI UK Limited (33.0 percent). Following the initial exploration well, which was drilled earlier this […]

Colorado State Cuts Forecast, Sees 5 Hurricanes

Declaring their month-earlier report “a bust,” widely watched forecasters at Colorado State University on Friday said they expect the overall 2006 Atlantic hurricane season to be “slightly below” average, instead of more active than normal. Projections were upended by unexpected high concentrations of dry West African dust which sapped moisture from the atmosphere, eliminating a […]

Transforming Cellulose to a Gel for Ethanol Production

One of the barriers to the production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass is the toughness of the cellulosic structure, and its resistance to chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis and insolubility in most solvents. Accordingly, pre-treatment greencarcongress

New Cathode Improves Performance of Li-Ion Batteries with Ionic Fluid Electrolyt

Nikkei. Researchers at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) in Japan have devised a new type of cathode that improves the performance of lithium-ion batteries that use an ionic liquid as the electrolyte. greencarcongress

Mercury ain’t the only problem from coal

…The uranium released by a single 1,000 Mwe coal plant in a year includes about 74 pounds of uranium-235, which is enough to make at least two atomic bombs states physicist Alex Gabbard of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, engin

Driven By Oil, BBC

BBC Radio – When Will The Tap Run Dry Monday 4 September 2006 9:00-9:30 (Radio 4 FM) Repeated: Monday 4 September 2006 21:30-22:00 (Radio 4 FM) Oil has meant mastery throughout the 20th Century. It is the world’s biggest and most pervasive business, and ‘the’ strategic commodity on the world stage. Tom Mangold explores the […]

Honey, We Killed the Planet

The Nation – God and/or the cosmos may be infinite, but nothing else is. Hence it is a lead-pipe certainty that human beings are going to run out of oil. The only question is when. There is no agreement on this, but forty years from now is often cited as the moment when the world’s […]

Peak Oil Passnotes: Lull What Lull?

Resource Investor – For the last two years we have seen prices hit their highs for the year around now. Of course there are a variety of reasons. Last year being a special one caused by the double hurricane hit, with Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans having been commemorated this week. It was Katrina that […]

Jobs per joule: how much employment does each energy sector generate?

We have often hinted at the job-creation potential of the nascent biofuels industry in the developing world. The production of bioenergy is labor-intensive and holds promise for social development in some of the world’s poorest regions. But how many jobs are we talking about exactly? And how does the production of bioenergy compare to other […]

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