Clipmarks | deb2012's 'energy' clips

Our Electric Future - (by Andy Grove)

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:56:34 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Energy independence is the wrong goal. Here is a plan Americans can stick to.

In fact, we may be at a critical juncture, the kind that can creep up, in a gradual and insidious way, on companies and industries, and even on societies. Invariably, the actions that are needed to change course at such times are painful. Leaders rarely appreciate the gravity of their situation, and even when they do, they are loath to take appropriate action.

Let’s put this situation in perspective. Google’s share of the U.S search market is more than half. This allows the firm to wield tremendous influence over the very nature of the American advertising market. Google may even have the power to transform and redefine how advertising is carried out. OPEC has a similarly dominant share of the worldwide oil market, and it may have a correspondingly large influence on its customers.

We can do that by increasing our reliance on electricity.

Electricity: Energy That Sticks

Tags: andy grove, electricity, oil, energy, independence

10 reasons to avoid nuclear energy

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:58:46 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: This issue is also related to water shortage and drought-read the article on this relationship.

Already, wind energy can produce electricity for less than five cents per kWh, and concentrated solar power can produce energy for 11-12 cents per kWh—even at night—and these costs are decreasing. Alternatives do not produce nuclear waste, and they do not face the same extensive safety, regulatory, and construction costs and delays that nuclear does.

Clip Source: www.americanprogress.org

capital costs

4. Unresolved problems regarding the availability and security of waste storage.

5. Nuclear faces concerns about uranium supplies and importation issues.

6. Nuclear reactors require water use amid shortages.

Large areas of the United States already face water shortages, and the effects of global warming are expected to exacerbate this problem. “Elec tricity generation accounts for nearly half of all water withdrawals in the nation,” and nuclear power stations require more water than fossil fuel use does. The only alternative to the water usage associated with nuclear energy is less efficient (and more expensive) dry cooling systems.

7. Safety concerns

mature technology—it will not get cheaper

9. Other clean energy technologies are cheaper, cleaner, and faster to build

10. Nuclear subsidies take money away from more effective alternative energy subsidies.

Read more

The Self-Limiting Future of Nuclear Power

Tags: nuclear, energy

Understanding the full cost of a nuclear power plan

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:46:56 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: History has taught us that civilian nuclear programs can -- and do -- lead to the production of nuclear weapons as happened in India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. The presence of nuclear power plants has provoked acts of aggression, even war. Israel bombed nuclear facilities in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. went to war in Iraq at least on the pretext that the country was developing nuclear weapons. The concerns surrounding Iran's nuclear intentions are indicative of the blurred line between civilian and military nuclear activities.

Iran's uranium enrichment program has inspired 14 other Middle Eastern countries to express an interest in acquiring nuclear power programs, a poorly-disguised cover story for nuclear weapons posturing.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

Nuclear is too slow but, more importantly, far too expensive. The industry's own estimates now put the price tag for a single new reactor at more than $12 billion.

Moody's Investors Services Special Report issued in May 2008 projects that a power company announcing new reactor construction will see its credit rating downgraded by more than 25 percent because of the increasing financial risks that splitting the atom brings to a business profile.

This leaves the American taxpayer to foot the bill, continuing the federal subsidies pattern of decades. Experts at the Rocky Mountain Institute have calculated that the nuclear power industry has been supported by more than half a trillion dollars in federal subsidies since its inception. Renewable energy, by contrast, is a footnote, receiving just a 10 percent share of all energy spending over the past 60 years.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

If cumbersome construction timelines and obscene costs are not enough to deter nuclear proponents, then the security risks should be

Tags: nuclear, energy

A new 'window' on solar energy: Cost effective devices expected on market soon

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:42:53 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Such unexpected innovations can make a solar energy economy feasible within just a few years.

Clip Source: www.hlrhodes.com

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Imagine windows that not only provide a clear view and illuminate rooms, but also use sunlight to efficiently help power the building they are part of.

MIT engineers report a new approach to harnessing the sun's energy that could allow just that.

The work, to be reported in the July 11 issue of Science, involves the creation of a novel "solar concentrator.

Light is collected over a large area [like a window] and gathered, or concentrated, at the edges

As a result, rather than covering a roof with expensive solar cells (the semiconductor devices that transform sunlight into electricity), the cells only need to be around the edges of a flat glass panel

In addition, the focused light increases the electrical power obtained from each solar cell "by a factor of over 40

Because the system is simple to manufacture, the team believes that it could be implemented within three years—even added onto existing solar-panel systems to increase their efficiency by 50 percent for minimal additional cost.

Tags: energy, solar energy

River use banned after French uranium leak

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:32:34 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: If you allow your political leaders to move forward on nuclear, you'll see a lot more headlines like this in the future......

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Residents in the Vaucluse, a popular southern French tourist destination, were banned yesterday from drinking well-water or swimming or fishing in two rivers after a uranium leak from one of France's nuclear power plants.

Nicolas Sarkozy has prioritised exporting nuclear expertise worldwide,

The nuclear safety authority said radioactive levels detected in rivers and lakes in the region were decreasing.

Germany's Social Democrat environment minister, Michael Müller, whose party is opposed to nuclear energy, said yesterday that the incident should not be taken lightly. "It's no trifle when active uranium penetrates the soil," he told Agence France Presse.

Tags: nuclear, environment, energy

France the the beneficiary of nuclear growth...

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:30:30 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: even though their construction projects aren't going so well. That great sucking sound you hear is proposed or in-the-works nuclear plants blowing their budgets everywhere. French company Areva's first EPR project, in Finland, is two years behind schedule and at least $1.5-billion over budget. Its second, in France's Normandy region, is headed in the same direction, after construction stalled for several weeks recently.

It's not just the skyrocketing price of basic materials, such as concrete and steel, that's driving costs upward. So-called third generation reactors - such Areva's EPR and Atomic Energy's ACR-1000 - are still works in progress. And the two decades during which nuclear power faced desert-like prospects has left the industry grappling with a severe shortage of skilled workers.

Clip Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

Well before any of the planned nuclear plants get built - but possibly long enough after it will be too late to stop them from going up - the economics and logistics of wind energy, solar power and carbon capture will have evolved favourably enough to have changed the game.

"Within three to seven years, unsubsidized solar power could cost no more to end customers in many markets, such as California and Italy, than electricity generated by fossil fuels or by renewable alternatives to solar,"

So why bet on a horse

- nuclear power

- that

leaves behind the most deadly waste known to man - waste for which there is still no permanent disposal solution?

France

has staked its energy present

on splitting the atom

built an entire industrial policy on the idea

State-owned Areva is the world leader in nuclear energy

Mr. Sarkozy will stop at nothing to promote nuclear power globally, sometimes in the most questionable of places, such as Libya and Algeria.

escalating cost of nuclear

led

Buffet to reconsider

Tags: nuclear, energy

nuclear tidbits from the G-8 summit

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:52:38 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Germany and USA agree to disagree

Clip Source: www.iht.com

"A country that has the capability to responsibly use nuclear energy in my view has a responsibility to do so, if we want to get serious about not just cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but also improving public health through reduced air pollution," said James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Asked if that was a dig at Germany, since Merkel is sticking to her predecessor's plan to phase out Germany's 17 nuclear power plants in the coming years, Connaughton did not respond directly.

Merkel countered: "I don't think that climate protection is decided by the question of nuclear energy alone."

"The decision that many countries count on nuclear power is OK," Merkel said. "But to say that the future for climate change and careful use of energy can be solved by that alone — I don't see it that way."

Tags: nuclear, energy

U.S. Nuclear Report

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:48:38 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: nuclear plants popping up 'round the world

Clip Source: www.thaindian.com

A US State Department report, prepared two months earlier, has warned that as new countries have begun nuclear energy generation, the US must ensure that these nations adopt adequate safeguards against the risk of nuclear proliferation involved therein.

The report said 435 nuclear reactors are operating around the world, 28 more are under construction and an additional 222 are planned. Its a pretty depressing prospect, said Robinson, an arms control negotiator in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, who is the primary author of the report.

Nations considering nuclear power include the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan , Muslim giants Indonesia , Egypt and Turkey , Poland and the three Baltic states . According to the State Department list, 15 other nations including Algeria , Ghana , Libya , Malaysia , Syria , Venezuela and Yemen have “longer term plans or studies under way.

Tags: energy, nuclear

nuclear Eurobarometer

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:35:39 GMT

clipped by: deb2012

Clip Source: www.maltamedia.com

Italy registered an increase to 43% of Italians in favour of nuclear energy since the previous 30% registered in winter 2005. Around 46% are “quite or definitely against” nuclear energy.

The most fervid nuclear energy supporters are the Czech Republic and Lithuania with 64% followed by Hungary and Bulgaria with 63%. Sweden and Finland follow closely with 62% and 61% respectively.

Malta registered one of the lowest percentages of interest with regards support of nuclear energy according to a Eurobarometer survey with just 15%. Other low percentages were registered in Cyprus (only 7% in favour), Austria (14%) and Greece (18%).

Tags: nuclear, energy

Giant rubber snake could be the future of wave power

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:05:21 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

[Video]

A giant rubber snake could be the future of renewable energy. The rippling "Anaconda" produces electricity as it is squeezed by passing waves. Its developers say it would produce more energy than existing wave-energy devices and be cheaper to maintain.

Retired physicist Francis Farley and Rod Rainey of Atkins Global dreamed up a flexible tube filled with seawater and sealed at both ends like a giant sausage. The structure streams out in the waves like a windsock pushed by the wind.

The passage of each wave squeezes the rubber and produces a bulging pressure wave that travels down its length. When the bulge reaches the end it sets turbines spinning to generate electricity.

Eventually, full-scale versions should be 7 metres across, 200 m long and be anchored at one end in water between 40 m and 100 m deep.

Tags: energy, green

A Giant Solar Tower Could Power the Future

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:10:31 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: On a sunny day, the air at the top of the tower would be 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), whereas the air in the greenhouse could reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius). As this hot air escapes up the tower at 34 mph (15 meters per second), it spins 32 turbines that generate up to 200 megawatts of electricity.

Even with all this power, the solar tower is less than one tenth as efficient as solar cells in converting the sun's energy into electricity.

The advantage for a solar tower is that its materials are much less expensive.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

A new energy concept called a solar tower could generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes.

Looking like a giant smokestack, it would release no noxious fumes — just sun-heated air.

Demonstrated more than 20 years ago, the basic design calls for solar collectors to warm the air near Earth's surface and then channel it up the tall central tower. Turbines placed at the bottom make electricity from the updraft.

EnviroMission has designed a kilometer-high solar tower (0.62 miles) and is now looking at possible sites in the southwestern United States.

The solar tower is an updated version of a solar chimney — a centuries-old technique for providing ventilation to a home by creating a natural updraft from sun-heated air.

The optimum configuration is an 800- to 1,000-meter tower (twice the height of the Empire State Building) surrounded by a greenhouse canopy 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) in radius on the ground.

Tags: energy, solar energy, renewable energy

495 million for Yucca Mountain

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:23:43 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: Will completion of Yucca mean trains and trucks all over the U.S transporting radioactive nuclear waste there? (coming to a town near you?)

Clip Source: blog.heritage.org

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Energy and Water approved an increase in Energy Department spending to continue work on Yucca Mountain. The $494.7 million budget request was approved for the fiscal year 2009 despite much talk that Yucca Mountain will never be opened.

there is virtually no more important issue than managing the growth of nuclear power around the world as more nations look to nuclear energy to help solve their energy problems

Tags: nuclear, yucca mountain, energy

U.S. importing nuclear waste

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:48:42 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: for storage

Clip Source: www.kcpw.org

Today is the last day for public comment on Energy Solution's proposal to import 20,000 tons of Italian low-level nuclear waste. A record number of people have filed a complaint with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission against the plan, says John Urgo, of the environmental advocacy group Heal Utah.

"More than 2,500 people - a record number - have submitted comments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission opposing Energy Solution's plan," Urgo says. "Today, HEAL Utah is submitting an additional 1,300 comments that we've collected over the past several weeks from Utahns who oppose Energy Solutions efforts to turn our state into the world's dumping grounds."

who is responsible for radioactive waste policy

We know there are going to be more nuclear plants built in this country. There will be disposal needs in the very near future

Shouldn't we take care of those disposal needs before we invite the disposal from other foreign countries to use our limited space

Tags: nuclear

International Energy Agency Urges Energy Revolution

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:24:36 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: The image at the bottom shows lines in China for gas. Gas stations in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou were busy after rumors that fuel price were going to be increased.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The International Energy Agency, a group that advises industrialized countries, said Friday in a report that investments of at least $45 trillion might be needed over the next half-century to prevent energy shortages

Countries will have to overcome objections to building nuclear power plants and to storing large amounts of carbon dioxide underground or beneath the ocean floor.

current policies are unsustainable with carbon dioxide emissions expected to rise 130 percent and demand for oil expected to rise 70 percent by 2050. Tanaka warned that oil demand could be five times the current production of Saudi Arabia by that time

rising cost of oil and gas is prompting a switch to coal

contributing to the accelerating growth in emissions of carbon dioxide

need for 32 new nuclear plants each year

wind turbines

increase by 17,500 a year

solar electricity

few technologies

exist to limit those emissions

Tags: energy, oil, coal, nuclear, solar, wind

How Parking Lots Can Beat the Heat & Gain Energy

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:04:01 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: On hot, sunny days when air conditioners threaten to overload the power grid, solar power generation makes a lot of sense.

Parking lots in asphalt-rich cities have great solar potential because the panels can be oriented to optimize power production during summer afternoons when electricity is most valuable.

Google, for example, has installed solar canopies on its parking lots to satisfy 30 percent of its headquarters' power demand.

Because the parking lots for most commercial buildings are bigger than the buildings themselves, economies of scale for large installations can further reduce the cost of the solar panels.

We shouldn't wait until the next heat wave to think about getting solar power from our parking lots.

Clip Source: www.metaefficient.com

A start-up company called Envision Solar has begun installing solar canopies in the parking lots of shopping centers.

These lots, usually barren, heat-producing landscapes, can now provide shade for customers, while generating up to a half-megawatt of electricity.

Envision’s “Solar Groves” incorporate lights that turn on automatically at night, while blocking skyward light pollution.

Clip Source: www.envisionsolar.com

Envision Solar believes that energy should be clean and accessible to everyone. Solar energy is one of the leading sustainable solutions to the world’s dependence on carbon fuels. We intend to provide durable and attractive integrated photovoltaic systems to help lead the worldwide transition to renewable energy use.

Tags: parking, solar, zoning, energy, power, cars, smart idea, good use of space