Daily News - August 7, 2008

[AlternativeEnergy.com Daily Post]

1. Raising Energy Efficiency in a New Materials Economy

The modern economy that thrives on ‘throwaway’ components wastes both material and energy. It results in the production of climate-disrupting carbon dioxide emissions. Such a one-way linear flow cannot survive in nature nor can it survive in the expanding economy. Such an economy is an aberration. The petrochemical industry accounts for about a third of the global industrial energy consumption. Increasing the practice of recycling can reduce the consumption of fossil fuel, the feedstock in the plastic manufacturing industry. Using the most efficient manufacturing methods available today can reduce energy consumption in the petrochemical industry by about 32%.

Peak Oil News

2. Well, So Much for a Future of $200 Oil

Investors are beginning to rethink the idea that the price of crude oil is heading towards $200 as oil prices slid below the $120 mark, touching levels last seen in May. Decreasing US demand and increasing worldwide supplies brought down the shares of several energy giants. It is a vindication for analysts who have been saying that oil prices were unjustifiably high and were in a bubble territory created by a mix of financial conjectures, worries about an increasing Asian demand, and chances of a military attack on Iran. Oil prices are still unsteady and there are possibilities of a further decline.

Forbes msnbc

3. Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail

Continuing the episode on tire pressure, Barack Obama taunted John McCain for first ridiculing his advice to keep tires correctly inflated for greater fuel efficiency, and then acknowledging that the advice was sound. On another campaign platform, McCain called upon the Congress to return from its summer break and immediately address the nation’s energy crisis. However, critics were quick to point out that McCain had missed a number of energy-related votes last year. In a poll, a majority of people said that they were tired of hearing about Obama, while just a quarter of those polled said the same about McCain.

Yahoo! News

4. Home Energy Prices Are Expected to Soar

The recent drop in prices of oil and natural gas was greeted with optimism but the prices are still quite high. Natural gas price is 11% higher than it was last year, while the price of heating oil price is up by 36% from last year. Electricity costs are also higher. The price protection plans and locked rates that fuel dealers usually offer customers are becoming rare as energy markets become more unpredictable. Heating oil dealers are facing the repercussions of the nation’s credit crisis. Banks are reluctant to extend any new credit lines making it difficult for retailers to build an inventory as they normally would.

The New York Times

5. Learning to Speak Climate

Renowned author and journalist Thomas L. Friedman writes from Greenland that the island is one of the best places to see the effects of climate change. The island has no industry, thus any change in its climate is because of the influence of atmospheric and ocean currents that touch the island. The native people live very close to nature and each person is like a barometer measuring the changes in climate. Greenlanders can no longer say with confidence ‘well usually…’ when you ask them about the climate but they are saying more of ‘I’ve never seen that before’!

The New York Times

6. An Energy Diet for Power-Hungry Household PCs

Microsoft Corporation, Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and Verdiem are teaming up to draw attention to the energy-saving opportunity in PCs. They are distributing a free software tool to help consumers save energy. Research firm Gartner estimates that 40% of all carbon dioxide emissions in the information technology industry is from PCs. Data center computers, printers, and telecommunication equipment emit a smaller amount. Taking into account the one billion PCs in use globally, the potential savings in both dollars and pollution is huge. Edison, the free software, is the consumer version of the software sold by Verdiem to its corporate customers.

The New York Times

7. Tapping the Power of Sun, Wind and Water

A large number of families across Alaska are hooking up to renewable energy systems, such as wind turbines, solar panels, and hydropower. Although there is no official data about the users, companies that design, sell, and install such systems report that there are hundreds of such users. For homes in remote areas, hooking up to power lines is extremely expensive and in such areas, it is as common to see solar panels, as it is to see swing sets in the backyard! For Harvey Bowers however, it was a run-in with the local power line company that compelled him to make the switch.

Anchorage Daily News

8. BP and Verenium Team Up to Produce Biofuels

Europe’s second largest oil producer, BP PLC, will be partnering with American biofuels producer, Verenium Corp., to develop and begin commercial production of next generation biofuels. BP will be making its investments over the next 18 months to secure joint rights to current and future technology developed within the partnership. The partnership is expected to hasten the development of cellulosic ethanol through facilities in the US. This is a biofuel produced from nonfood biomass sources, a truly next generation fuel. Set up by Verenium, a cellulosic ethanol plant on a demonstration scale has been operating in Louisiana from early this year.

International Herald Tribune

9. GWS Technologies, Inc. Announces Additions to Microgeneration Product Line

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, GreenWindSolar (GWS) Technologies is an alternative energy company that develops and markets wind and solar powered renewable energy products. Its products range from wind turbines for point-of-use alternative energy generation to handheld devices that can recharge an iPod. The company recently announced the addition of several new products to its microgeneration line such as portable solar chargers such as Voltaic Systems' Solar Backpacks, IceTech's Solar i9005, and the Powermonkey-eXplorer. With widespread acceptance of operating personal electronics using solar power, the company expects its new line of products to fare well in the market.

MarketWatch

10. Investing in Solar & Wind: Green ETFs

In The Safe Money Report, Sean Broderick writes that while there are no ‘silver bullet’ solutions to the global energy crisis, there are some solutions, such as solar and wind power, that do work. He reviews the two and writes why they work. He agrees that setting up wind farms is expensive, but the costs should be lower in large-scale operations. Besides, with prices of coal and natural gas rising, wind power is becoming competitive. Solar units are expensive too but they pay for themselves in the long run. Broderick lists two ETFs that focus on the wind and solar space.

BloggingStocks

[Jay]

MAKING COMPUTERS AND THE WHOLE NETWORK BASED ON HUGH FLASH MEMORY MIGHT BE POSSIBLE. IF YOU LOOK AT OVONIC MEMORY (GOOGLE SEARCH OVONIC) THIS IS SUSPOSED TO BE THE MEMORY OF THE FUTURE. CAN YOU SEE IT NO MOVING PARTS SCRAP THE COOLING FANS,HARD DRIVES,DATA SERVERS ECT. GO ALL DIGITAL NO MOVING PARTS ALL BILLION TERRA BIT STORAGE OPEN SOURCE OPERATING SYSTEM AND RUNS YOUR LIGHTER WEIGHT LAP TOP
FOREVER AND A DAY OF THE SAME OLD BATTERY TECHNOLOGY AND PROBABLY FOR HALF THE CURRENT COST. IF THEY CAN MAKE A FUNCTIONAL $100 LAPTOP FOR POOR KIDS WORLD WIDE THEY OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO START FROM SCRATCH AND MAKE ON THE SPECFICALLY RUNS ONLY OFF OF FLASH MEMORY. MAKE IT THE SIZE OF A CELL PHONE AND HAVE ALL THE FEATURES WE NEED AND THE ONES WE DON'T WE CAN STILL NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THOSE AND IT WORKS. WALA ASKING TOO MUCH. ADD A PLAN NOT THE PHONE COMPANIES PLAN TO SKIN YOU BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ FIFTEEN PAGE CONTRACTS
BUT MY PLAN TO PUT IN YOUR HAND WHAT YOU WANT A FUNCTIONAL DEVICE THAT COMMUNICATES WHEN YOU WANT IT TOO AND IS QUITE THE REST OF THE TIME NOT TO ANNOYING WHEN IT HAS TO DO ITS BUSINESS AND IS SUPER FAST AT GETTING THINGS DONE WELL CALLED ON. ITS THE COMPUTER THAT RUNS SILENTLY NO ANNOYING HUM,BELCHES NO FUMES WHAT SO EVER DOES NOT RECYCLE AIR AND PET DANDER. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK POSSIBLE. IT IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE. ENERGY HUNGRY ELECTRONICS ARE ALWAYS GOING TO BE REPLACED WITH SMALLER LIGHTER VERSIONS THAT DO MORE IN HALF THE TIME. WHEN OVONIC MEMORY GETS TO WHERE IT'S THE NORM AND ALL FLAT PANELS ARE SUPER CHEAP WE CAN RUN OUR COMPUTERS OFF SOLAR POWER ON THE DISTRIBUTED WIRELESS WEB THAT REALLY IS EVERYWHERE AND COULD BE AFFORDABLE OR As close to free as possible. who ever thinks $100
month is nothing for all these services has not seen the price drop since. i see versions of wi-fi and visions of flat panels and visions of computers with no moving parts. what do you see.

[Jay]

NEW MATERIAL ECONOMY THAT MINERALS AND THE ONES THAT WILL BE FEATURED IN THE NEWS FROM NOW ON ARE ALLOYS MORE SPECFICALLY ALLOYS OF REE'S IF YOU HAVE NOT HEAR OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IT DOES NOT SUSPRISE ME. YOU ARE USING THEM RIGHT NOW AND JUST DON'T REALIZE IT. YOUR COMPUTER MONITOR (CRT) THE COLORS RED,BLUE,GREEN
ARE CREATED USING PHOSPHORS OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS. THE BATTERY ON YOUR CELL PHONE DEPENDING ON WHAT TYPE OF BATTERY IT USES ARE RARE EARTHS IF IT'S NICKEL METAL HYDRIDE IT TANTALUM A RARE EARE METAL OXIDE. IF IT'S LITHIUM ION BATTERY IT'S COBALT WHILE COBALT IS NOT CONSIDERED A RARE EARTH ELEMENT IT IS A METALLIC ALLOY.
MY GENERAL POINT IS AS WE DEVELOP TECHNOLOGY THAT SAVES ENERGY AND CREATES ENERGY IN NEW WAYS OR DOES IT'S JOB MORE EFFECIENTLY WE WILL BECOME FAMILAR WITH THESE ELEMENTS WE WILL BE ALLOYING TOGETHER IN DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS TO PRODUCE EVER STRONGER MAGNETS TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY,TO UTILIZE ELECTRICITY STORED IN EVER STRONGER AND LIGHTER BATTERIES AND SIGNALS AND INFORMATION PROCESSED THROUGH SEMICONDUCTORS AND ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS MADE WITH RARE EARTH ELEMENTS
MRI CAT SCAN EQUIPMENT USE NEODYNIUM AS DO YOUR HARD DRIVE,AND IF YOU EVER WONDERED HOW THOSE CORDLESS DEVICES EVER GOT SO MUCH TORQUE YOU GUESSED IT IT IS THE ALLOYS OF RARE EARTHS. WE ARE HEARING ABOUT THE NEW REALIZATION THAT AN ELECTRIC CAR THAT HAS A THREE HUNDRED MILE RANGE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO MARKET
I CAN BET IT USES RARE EARTHS IN THE ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTORS,IN THE DEVICE THAT SETS OFF THE SIX OR EIGHT AIR BAGS THAT MIGHT ONE DAY SAVE YOU LIFE. tHE USES IN ALLOYS OF ALUMINUM TO MAKE IT LIGHTER,STRONGER,AND IN COMBINATIONS YOU WOULD OF NEVER THOUGHT OF IN CERAMICS TO MAKE THEM HEAT RESISTANT TO ADD THE COLOR TO CERAMIC TILE
IN THE ENAMEL ON YOUR COOKWARE AND THE LINING INSIDE YOUR STOVE. THE REFRACTORY KILNS WHERE METALS ARE MELTED ARE LINED WITH SPECIAL CERAMICS BLENDED WITH RARE EARTH ELEMENT ZIRCONIUM AND IT HAS DESTRUCTIVE POWERS AS WELL. THE CLUSTER BOMBS
THAT CAN DESTROY AN AREA THE SIZE OF TWO FOOTBALL FEILDS. THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG AND WE ARE FALLING BEHIND IN OUR RESEARCH IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THESE ELEMENTS AND THEIR POTENTIAL USES. IN THE CATALYST THAT CREATES HYDROGEN FROM SUNLIGHT,IN THE LAYERS OF ELEMENTS WITHIN SOME SOLAR CELLS AND IN THE BATTERY AND FUEL STORAGE TANKS OF SOME CARS BEING DESIGNED TODAY. WHILE ARE VERY FUTURE MAY DEPEND ON KNOWING OF THIS WE LACK THE SPIRIT TO INOVATE AND WE ARE GIVING IN TO THE
TEMPTATION OF JUST LETTING SOMEONE ELSE TAKE CARE OF IT. I SEE THAT MEN AND WOMEN ARE STIRRED INTO ACTION BY THIS SITE AND I CAN TELL YOU MY OPINION AND IT IS THAT WE MUST LEARN ALL WE CAN OF THESE ELEMENTS AND THEIR ALLOYS BECAUSE THEY ARE MAKING NEW ONES THAT NEVER EXISTED IN NATURE. THEN IN THE DANGER LIES. HOW DO YOU THEN DISPOSE OF THESE CREATIONS. IF YOU COULD MAKE A CATALYST THAT CREATES HYDROGEN FROM WATER AND NEVER BREAKS DOWN WOULD IT SAVE THE PLANET.