A Post-Fossil Fuel World?
New Scientists reviews Robert Laughlin’s new book about the future of energy…
Starting with the premise that we’ll eventually stop using fossil fuels, Robert Laughlin imagines the energy sources of tomorrow
Robert Laughlin, a Nobel laureate for his work in quantum physics, starts his study of our energy futures with an absurd proposition — that it doesn’t matter much whether we burn all our coal and oil or leave it underground.
It’s a cop-out, of course. If we burn all the coal, we would probably burn too. But for the purposes of Powering the Future, it means “we don’t have to analyze contemporary energy struggles”. Instead, he moves swiftly on to imagine what a world that does not burn carbon might look like.
He likes nuclear best, and fast breeder reactors in particular, because they will extend the lifetime of available nuclear fuel to “about 20,000 years”. But he also has a soft spot for…
First Nations Oppose Tar Sands Pipeline
Native Activists have been on the front lines opposing the Alberta Tar Sands for years. Native Canadians have frequently borne the brunt of industrial pollution, particularly in Northern Canada. How will the new proposed Keystone XL pipeline affect Native communities both in the US and Canada? Colorlines explains:
In hopes that action would discourage President Barack Obama from permitting an extension to the Canadian Keystone pipeline — also known as the “Keystone XL” — a group of First Nations and American Indian activists protested in front of the White House on Friday.
Before being arrested, the protesters insisted that the extension — which will run from Alberta Canada to Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas — will harm ancestral homelands.
“Our Lakota people oppose this pipeline because of the potential contamination of the surface water and of the Oglala aquifer,” said Deb White Plume, a Lakota activist. “We have thousands of ancient and historical cultural resources that…
Niger Delta Villagers Vs. Oil Giant Shell’s Destruction of Their Land
Once again, unregulated Big Business makes everything better. John Vidal writes in the Guardian:
Goi is now a dead village. The two fish ponds, bakery and chicken farm that used to be the pride and joy of its chief deacon, Barrisa Tete Dooh, lie abandoned, covered in a thick black layer. The village’s fishing creek is contaminated; the school has been looted; the mangrove forests are coated in bitumen and everyone has left, refugees from a place blighted by the exploitation of the region’s most valuable asset: crude oil.
A long-awaited and comprehensive UN study exposed the full horror of the pollution that the production of oil has brought to Ogoniland over the last 50 years.
The UN report showed that oil companies and the Nigerian government had not just failed to meet their own standards, but that the process of investigation, reporting and clean-up was deeply flawed in favour of the firms…
Cell Phones Could Soon Be Powered By Walking
Photo: csaila (CC)
Katia Moskvitch reports for BBC:
Taking a stroll may soon be enough to re-charge your mobile phone, after US researchers developed a way to generate electricity from human motion.
Placed in a shoe, the device captures the energy of moving micro droplets and converts it into electrical current.
Kinetic charging is already used in some low power devices such as watches and sensors.
The University of Wisconsin team published its study in the journal Nature Communications.
“Humans, generally speaking, are very powerful energy-producing machines,” said Professor Tom Krupenkin from the university’s mechanical engineering department.
“While sprinting, a person can produce as much as a kilowatt of power.”
That, according to the scientists, is more than enough to power a standard mobile phone.
[Continues at BBC News]
Is The Internet Polluting The Planet?
Is your constant craving for coneing clips hastening the destruction of the world? People tend to think of internet usage as “virtual” or “magic” but, it isn’t so.
YouTube viewing alone pumps thousands of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day. Computer servers add to worldwide carbon emissions at the same rate as the aviation industry, and Facebook and Apple are powered largely by coal. In fact, I better stop typing right now. Via Hungry Beast:
Media Roots Radio: News Censorship, Nuclear Energy, War & Revolution, 9/11 Truth, Be Your Own Leader
Via Media Roots Radio::
This episode covers sensationalism in the corporate media about meaningless issues, media censorship about nuclear energy and the terrifying reality of Fukushima, issues surrounding war and US imperialism, the current global democratic revolution and the need for more artists to get involved in politics, Charlie Veitch’s 180 regarding 9/11 and the importance for us to be our own leaders in our quest for truth.
A Gallon Of Gas Should Cost $15
We know the approximate price of gas for consumers, but what is the price for society? The external costs borne may be as high as $1.7 trillion per year for the United States alone — that’s from health problems caused by pollution and toxic fumes, damage to crops and plant life, et cetera. The Center for Investigative Reporting calculates $15 per gallon as a reasonable pump price reflecting the true cost of gasoline.
My only complaint: it should be significantly higher still, as they forgot to factor in the huge sums of tax dollars spent on foreign aid and military operations for the benefit of the oil industry:
Confessions Of A Nuclear Power Safety Expert
An expert on the safety of nuclear power plants comes to the conclusion that there is simply no such thing as an 100 percent safe nuclear reactor. Via Miller-McCune:
I soon came to the conclusion that neither international cooperation nor technological advancements would guarantee human societies to build and safely run nuclear reactors in all possible conditions on Earth (earthquakes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, wars, terrorism, climate change, tsunamis, pandemics, etc.). I am sadly reminded of this turning point in my life as I listen to the news about the earthquake, tsunami and extremely worrying nuclear crisis in Japan.
When Italy decided in the mid-’70s to add nuclear power to its power portfolio, young mechanical and nuclear engineer Cesare Silvi was among those attracted to the opportunities it presented. His work centered on nuclear safety issues — in particular, what might happen if something unexpected struck a power plant.
Corners he saw cut there…
Less than 50 Years of Oil Left, HSBC Warns
Recently John Collins Rudolf reported in the New York Times:
The world may have no more than half a century of oil left at current rates of consumption, while surging demand from the developing world threatens to create “very significant price rises” before substitutes like biofuels can serve as viable alternatives, the British bank HSBC warns in a new report.
“We’re confident that there are around 50 years of oil left,” Karen Ward, the bank’s senior global economist, said in an interview on CNBC.
The bank, the world’s second largest in assets, further cautioned that growth trends in developing countries like China could put as many as one billion more cars on the road by midcentury. “That’s tremendous pressure on oil to power all those resources,” Ms. Ward said.
Substitutes, such as biofuels and synthetic oil from coal, could fill the gap if conventional supplies fall short, but only if average oil prices exceed…
If It’s Not Scottish It’s Crap: Scotland Toasts New Whisky-Powered Bioenergy Plant
Nuff said. More power to alternative energy efforts. Kirsty Scott reports in the Guardian:
It is the spirit that powers the Scottish economy, and now whisky is to be used to create electricity for homes in a new bioenergy venture involving some of Scotland’s best-known distilleries.
Contracts have recently been awarded for the construction of a biomass combined heat and power plant at Rothes in Speyside that by 2013 will use the by-products of the whisky-making process for energy production.
Orlando Uses Sewage To Produce Electricity
Photo: wfmillar (CC)
Can poop be turned into power? The city of Orlando has been working with private-industry partners on turning sewage into electricity in an attempt to answer the age-old question: ‘What if you could take sewage and get rid of it cleanly and quickly, without dumping it in rivers or landfills — and generate pollution-free electricity at the same time?’ Orlando Sentinel reports:
Orlando officials think they’ve perfected a technology that has flummoxed scientists for decades — one they hope will be used worldwide to turn sewage into electricity and earn the city tens of millions of dollars in royalties.
If city officials and their private-industry partners are right, it could be the biggest thing in sewage treatment since the flush toilet.
“We call it poop to power in five minutes,” said project consultant Roy Pelletier.
While the five-year, $8.5 million project has drawn little attention locally, a small, experimental test plant off busy…
Could Human Photosynthesis Power The Future?
Chlorophyll. Photo: Wilfredo R. Rodriguez H. (CC)
By Hank Mills for Pure Energy System News:
Dr. Arturo Solis Herrera has developed a technology that utilizes the properties of melanin – the animal analogue to chlorophyll. His melanin based (polihydroxyindol) photo-cell absorbs a broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, and converts it into electricity. He has also developed a pharmaceutical claimed to enhance human “photosynthesis” for increased health.
Plants utilize the green pigment chlorophyll to absorb energy from sunlight to breakdown carbon dioxide into sugars. This is well known, and taught in probably every elementary school across the world. What is not as well known, is that the dark colored pigment called melanin found in the skin of humans and other mammals can absorb various types of electromagnetic radiation. In fact, melanin appears capable of absorbing a much broader spectrum of such radiation than chlorophyll. This was proven when scientists noticed various fungi growing in…
Internet Uses More Electricity In U.S. Than Auto Industry
The Internet: not so green after all. Steve Hargreaves reports for CNN Money:
The Internet uses more electricity in America than the auto industry uses to make cars and trucks.
Yet despite all the talk about the nation’s aging power grid, utility experts say they can easily handle the additional demand.
In a way, for energy producers, the huge increase in usage by companies like Google and Facebook is a godsend. Electricity demand from many industrial clients has dropped by up to 20% over the last few years, largely due to the recession and greater efficiency.
Tech sector growth “has helped make that decrease not so bad,” said Steve Rosenstock, an engineer at the Edison Electric Institute, the utility trade association.
The electricity needed to power and cool the millions of servers that make the Internet hum has grown by more than 10% a year for the last decade, Rosenstock said. It now accounts for…
Low Energy Nuclear Reactions: 2.5 Million Watt-Hours From A Nickel?
Thomas Blakeslee writing at renewableenergyworld.com:
All existing nuclear plants, and the planned $13 billion ITER hot fusion project, are based on the “atoms for peace” idea of adapting military bomb technology to civilian use. The tens of billions in research dollars that have been spent have clouded the judgment of leaders in the nuclear science community causing irrational denial of the work being done at low energy levels.
The ITER platform in Cadarache, where construction began in 2010 on buildings and facilities. Photo: Altivue.
The disasters in Japan prove that these grandiose attempts to generate power from bomb technology are misguided.
The scientists that perform peer reviews and make up government advisory panels are all recipients of government largess. As a result, promising low energy nuclear work has been driven underground and forced to create its own journals and finance its own research.
Now, from Italy, comes the stunning news that Low Energy Nuclear Reactors (LENR) are,…
OPEC Could Reap $1 Trillion This Year
OPEC Member Countries
Olga Belogolova writes in the National Journal:
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to make a record-breaking $1 trillion in export revenues this year if crude oil prices remain above $100 a barrel, an the International Energy Agency official told the Financial Times.
“It would be the first time in the history of OPEC that oil revenues have reached a trillion dollars,” Chief IAEA Economist Fatih Birol told the Financial Times. “It’s mainly because of higher prices and higher production.”
The possibility of a record-breaking year comes as continued unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, engagement in Libya, and signs of an economic recovery renew debate among policymakers over how to deal with rising global oil prices and their ties to national security.
President Obama will weigh in on the issue [on 30 March] when he speaks about his new four-part “Plan for America’s Energy Security” at…
Tesla Sues BBC Over Rigging Electric Car Test
The makers of a popular electric car sued the British Broadcasting Corporation for libel, alleging that they rigged the results in a recent test.
Tesla Motors says the broadcaster faked the car’s running out of power, with the show’s host then announcing “it’s just a shame that in the real world it doesn’t seem to work.”
Tesla also charges “malicious falsehood” for the reporter’s claim that somehow “while it was being charged its brakes had broken,” and for implying that after it overheated it became immobile. In addition, the BBC also reported the car traveled only 55 miles on a single charge instead of 200 (thus implying that Tesla lied about its mileage).
The text of their lawsuit is available as a PDF, while the BBC has issued a statement that they “stand by the programme and will be vigorously defending this claim.”
Nuclear Accidents and All, Coal Is By Far the Deadliest Energy Source
Ben Jervey writes on GOOD:
Last week, Nicola wrote about an interactive chart that compared the number of deaths per terawatt-hour that could be attributed to a few major sources of energy. Yesterday, Seth Godin did the world a service by simplifying that rather complicated chart.
This is a “non-exaggerated but simple version” of the original deaths/TWh statistics. Perhaps the most stunning, simple takeaway:
For every person killed by nuclear power generation, 4,000 die due to coal, adjusted for the same amount of power produced.
Godin also mentions this incredibly important point, which cannot be driven home hard enough:
Not included in this chart are deaths due to global political instability involving oil fields, deaths from coastal flooding and deaths due to environmental impacts yet unmeasured, all of which skew it even more if you think about it.
So, actually, it’s even worse. As everyone debates the costs and benefits, the pros and cons, and the feasibility of…
China Leads The World In Clean Energy
Photo: Richard Chambers (CC)
One of the most polluted countries has become number one in clean energy. The US ranks number three. The Guardian reports:
China has overtaken the US for the first time in a league table of investments in low-carbon energy among the G-20, according to a new report by not for profit group the Pew Charitable Trusts published this week.
The report found that despite an overall 6.6 per cent global decline in clean energy investments last year, China invested almost twice as much as the United States in clean energy during 2009.
But the US still leads in energy capacity. It’s interesting for the UK too:
• third in overall clean energy investments
• fourth in five-year clean energy investment growth rate
• fifth in the percentage of total power it receives from clean energy sources ahead of France, China and the US
Pee Power Offers Green Energy Alternative
Photo: Evert Meijs (CC)
Joanna Zelman writes on the Huffington Post:
Pee Power. It’s not a game created by first grade boys. Rather, it’s a new green technology.
The Guardian reports that Ohio University’s Gerardine Botte has invented a way to create hydrogen fuel from urine. Ammonia and urea, two compounds found in urine, are also a source for hydrogen. Placing an electrode in the wastewater and applying a current creates hydrogen gas.
The company that has commercialized “pee power” is called E3 Clean Technologies. Their “ammonia electrolysis” process is referred to as GreenBox technology. The GreenBox is expected to be ready by the end of next year. The technology will be targeted towards areas with large groups of people, such as city buildings, offices, and stadiums. Botte reports that an office building of about 300 people can generate two kilowatts of power… it’s unclear how much power could be generated if office managers…
