Clipmarks | pokkets's 'energy' clips

Debate on radioactive dump flares again

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 07:45:09 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: There's the NIMBY idea. Not in my back yard. Everywhere is someone's backyard.
They keep on saying that we need the dump for 'low level waste' centralized so it's not forgotten. it sounds like smoke to me. More toxic waste needs to be put somewhere, and it's easy to say 'since we already have a dump why not just stretch the limits.-and there'll be a fortune earned by the instigators, while they say how 'great things' can be done with the money, then there'll be no flow down. Is it is a good idea to drink poison as a public service to prevent it being drunk by someone else?
If humanity is around in 10,000 years, they'll still be cursing their ancestors.
What is really criminal is the number of viable alternative energy sources that have been choked for the sake of money.
There's energy everywhere. We just couldn't be bothered looking. I'm sure Nuclear energy is championed to justify the use of uranium in Nuclear weapons.and depleted uranium munitions. Why not dump it on your enemy?

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

News analysis A centralised national dump is needed for Australia's growing stockpiles of radioactive waste, say radiation safety experts, but some critics say that's not the safest option.

The head of waste management at the Lucas Height's reactor, Lubi Dimitrovski, in the hanger where ANSTO stores all its low-level radioactive waste

The debate flares as the Australian government awaits a report regarding proposals for a dump in the Northern Territory.

Professor Peter Johnston of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and radiation safety consultant Dr Gerald Laurence argued the case for a national dump at a media briefing this week organised by the Australian Science Media Centre in Adelaide.

"We need a radioactive waste management facility in Australia," says Johnston.

"The only alternative is to leave the material in hundreds of locations where it's ultimately going to be abandoned and cause problems."

Giant Solar Tsunami Viewed from NASA's STEREO Spacecraft

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:27:47 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Just as earthquakes can set off huge tsunami waves on the surface of our oceans, a coronal mass ejection or flare can cause a tsunami on the Sun's surface—and it did on May 19, 2007. The waves generated by the explosions can travel at over a million kilometers per hour. The event was captured by NASA's twin Stereo spacecraft and was observed by a team at Trinity College, Dublin.

The event lasted for about 35 minutes and ultimately covered almost the full disk of the Sun. “The energy released in these explosions is phenomenal, about two billion times the annual world energy consumption in just a fraction of a second,” stated Long.

“We were able to show for the first time that this wave actually propagates almost all the way from the surface of the Sun to high up in the Sun's atmosphere,” said Dr. Gallagher, a colleague of Long.

Tags: nasa, sun

Scientists mimic Earth's spinning core

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:23:15 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: They say that the strength of the Earth's magnetic field has decreased by 10% in the last 150 years. Perhaps with the scale of electricity we produce, we are draining it like a battery. Maybe gradually slowing the movement of the metal. according to the law of conservation of energy. The production of energy is not spontaneous. It is a conversion, from one form to another. The fossil fuels drive a generator, but the electricity is produced due to the magnets in a dynamo interacting with the Earth's magnetic field. The magnetic energy converted to electrical energy.
26 ton Sphere full of boiling Sodium?
They've disconnected the sprinklers, and the fire hoses.
Humans and a 26 ton sphere full of wet sodium are better off in two different states. Sodium cracks water into caustic soda, and hydrogen with an attitude. Makes an oil fire look like a cigarette lighter. At least it's over in a flash.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Monday, 16 June 2008 Eric Bland
Discovery News

A team of scientists in the United States are hoping to create a miniature version of the earth's core and in the process discover why its effect is waning.

Professor Dan Lathrop and his team from the non-linear dynamics laboratory at the University of Maryland have constructed a 26-ton steel sphere that will be filled with boiling metal and spun.

In the process he hopes to create the world's first artificial, spherical and self-sustaining magnetic field, or dynamo, which could predict fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field.

"If you can predict a hurricane coming, you can manage the damage," says Lathrop.

"We could have a predictive science for what happens inside the earth's magnetic field."

That shield is generated by superheated iron moving about a quarter of a centimetre each second deep in the planet's core.

It sounds simplistic, but the movement generates a changing magnetic climate the same way the planet's rotation creates weather.

New hydrogen engine no quick fix

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:13:18 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Monday, 16 June 2008 Anna Salleh
ABC

Plans for a super-efficient hydrogen internal combustion engine will be unveiled this week, but one expert cautions that it alone won't ensure we switch from petrol.

Mechanical engineer Dr Michael Brear from the University of Melbourne will present plans for the engine at the World Hydrogen Energy Conference in Brisbane this week.

The storage of enough hydrogen on-board to allow cars to travel long distance is a major technical hurdle for hydrogen vehicles. But Brear says the more efficient an engine the less hydrogen will need to be used and stored.

David Lamb, Low Emissions Transport Leader at CSIRO's Energy Transformed Flagship in Newcastle, says roads full of hydrogen-powered cars are still decades off.

While hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, Lamb says capturing it, distributing it and storing it is complex and costly.

"Hydrogen was 40 years away 40 years ago. It's still 40 years away," Lamb says.

Fusion 2.0 - soon at a powerplant nearby

Mon, 19 May 2008 09:50:25 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

Fusion could one day generate limitless cheap energy from little more than water, while emitting no greenhouse gases. We look at its promise as the ultimate power panacea for a warming world.

A total of €10 billion (about A$16.7 billion) has been earmarked for the construction and initial operation of ITER, a giant fusion reactor. It will generate a cloud of super-hot plasma in which isotopes of hydrogen will fuse to form helium, releasing vast amounts of energy.

If successful, the project will realise a dream that has preoccupied physicists for many decades: the harnessing of the power that drives the Sun. The potential is, to say the least, immense.

Fusion plants could one day generate billions of watts of power, entirely replacing 19th century coal and 20th century gas, oil and nuclear fission, and all without producing any carbon dioxide or long-lived radioactive waste.

It’s the ultimate power panacea for a warming world.

Tags: energy, fusion, iter

Climbing as easy as walking for some.

Fri, 16 May 2008 07:39:36 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Nature Abhors a vacuum. When the treetops offered a niche, Some of the smaller primates made it their home and no doubt evolved specifically to it. The fact that larger primates and other predators had difficulty getting to the tree tops, would have made it much easier for a squirrel monkey, or a lemur to get away, they would have had difficulty defending them selves against anything, and they can't run very fast. A lot of squirrel monkeys who got too close to the ground, wouldn't have had any descendants. If everything could climb trees, there probably wouldn't have been any squirrel monkeys now.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Small primates do not expend more energy climbing vertically than they do walking, according to surprise findings from US researchers.

But they say for larger primates it is more energy efficient to walk in a straight line, explaining why we humans ended up on our feet all the time.

Researchers at two US universities report in today's issue the journal Science that, at least for smaller primates like squirrel monkeys and lemurs, climbing is no more difficult and energy-consuming than walking.

And they say this could explain how some 65 million years ago the tiniest ancestors of humans, apes and monkeys managed to thrive in the rich ecological niche of treetops.

Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina and the University of South Alabama in Mobile wanted to find out if climbing with hands and arms was more energy-intensive than walking for several small primate species

"We thought climbing would always be more expensive" for the animals

the findings suggest this is not always the case

Modern lifestyle compounds global warming

Fri, 16 May 2008 07:17:40 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: We have to start changing the way that we live. This isn't a problem that is specific to any country in particular, but seems to be a 'side effect' of an 'improvement in living standards' across the world. Another case of where while it may be easy to point out a problem, but how this problem can be solved is completely beyond us. Where the intervention of the authorities is pointless, because it involves a change in lifestyle as a personal decision. There is also a general failure to recognize that the problems such as overconsumption of power, energy, and fuel, with obesity, and overeating, and over cultivating, so we will have trouble providing for ourselves, have a character that can be compared to many addictions. Beside the denial that there is a problem. The allusion that it is something beyond our control, yet somehow it will all work out in the end.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Michael Kahn

Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and a literally swelling global population will make this source of greenhouse emissions worse, say UK researchers.

Dr Phil Edwards and Dr Ian Roberts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine argue their point in this week's issue of The Lancet.

"We are all becoming heavier and it is a global responsibility," Edwards says. "Obesity is a key part of the big picture."

At least 400 million adults worldwide are obese. The World Health Organization (WHO) projects 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese by 2015.

Because thinner people eat less and are more likely to walk than rely on cars, a slimmer population would lower demand for fuel for transportation and for agriculture,

This would take the pressure off food and energy supplies and reduce greenhouse gases from agriculture and transport, he says

Found ! Missing matter in finger of gas

Thu, 08 May 2008 09:08:11 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

An orbital x-ray telescope has found a chunk of matter in the universe whose existence had long been theorised but evidence for which had been lacking, researchers say.

The two clusters of galaxies Abell 222 and Abell 223 are connected by a filament of so-called warm-hot intergalactic medium, gas that could be part of the universe's missing baryonic matter

The discovery made by European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope is part of so-called baryonic matter, which makes up less than 5% of the cosmos

The Dutch and German research is published by the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters

Most of the universe consists of matter and energy of an unknown nature, which astrophysicists call 'dark' and that's believed to be distributed in a web-like structure

Dark energy

accounts for some 72% the total, and dark matter, heavy particles still waiting to be discovered, accounts for around 23%

That leaves just 5% to comprise normal, or baryonic, matter

the category for

protons

neutrons

and electrons

First zero-carbon city to rise out of the desert

Tue, 06 May 2008 17:19:38 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: environment.newscientist.com

One of the world's largest oil producers has begun construction on the first zero-carbon city, powered entirely by renewable energy.

Officials from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, touted plans for a $22 billion development known as the Masdar Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, US, in on 5 May.

"This is going to create huge business and research opportunities to get beyond where we are today," says Khaled Awad, of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.

UAE is the third-largest oil exporting country in the world and sits on 10% of the planet's known oil reserves. Awad, however, sees the city, which will house an alternative energy research institute, as an investment in alternative energies that will eventually replace oil.

"For Abu Dhabi to maintain its market share in energy, it must develop other forms of energy," he says.

Tags: environment, middle east

Nuclear may lose it's green tag if costs rise

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:36:42 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The cost of reprocessing low grade Uranium ore.
An industry spokesman said that there should be enough high quality ore for at least 85 years.
85 years when the waste lasts for an age?
Sounds brilliant.
Consider the amount of nuclear waste that will exist as a result of wasting energy.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Stephen Pincock

News analysis Environmental costs of nuclear power are likely to increase as high-grade uranium becomes harder to find, according to new research that has been challenged by the uranium industry.

The findings form part of the debate over what part nuclear power will play in supplying future energy needs.

Australian researchers writing in the journal Environmental Science and Technology say that the average grade of the uranium extracted from mines around the world has gradually declined over the past 50 years.

That trend is likely to continue, says lead author Dr Gavin Mudd from Melbourne's Monash University.

mining companies will have to use more energy and more water to extract the ore and process it for use in power stations

"Ore grade is one of the most sensitive predictors of carbon and water cost,

It's pretty clear that in the long term, the ore grade will decline."

In sustainability terms, we believe we are mining a finite resource but there's no real data around on it

Do you support nuclear energy?

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:55:59 GMT

clipped by: deb2012
clipper's remarks: from 'The Nation': "This much seems clear: a handful of firms might soak up huge federal
subsidies and build one or two overpriced plants. While a new
administration might tighten regulations, public safety will continue
to be menaced by problems at new as well as older plants. But there
will be no massive nuclear renaissance. Talk of such a renaissance,
however, helps keep people distracted, their minds off the real
project of developing wind, solar, geothermal and tidal kinetics to
build a green power grid."

Clip Source: blog.360.yahoo.com

In an effort to jump-start a "nuclear renaissance," the Bush
Administration has pushed one package of subsidies after another. For
the past two years a program of federal loan guarantees has sat
waiting for utilities to build nukes. Last year's appropriations bill
set the total amount on offer at $18.5 billion. And now the Lieberman-
Warner climate change bill is gaining momentum and will likely accrue
amendments that will offer yet more money.

Who is holding up the show? In a
nutshell, blame Warren Buffett and the banks--they won't put up the
cash.

The massive federal subsidies on offer will cover up to 80
percent of construction costs of several nuclear power plants in
addition to generous production tax credits, as well as risk
insurance. But consider this: the average two-reactor nuclear power
plant is estimated to cost $10 billion to $18 billion to build.
That's before cost overruns, and no US nuclear power plant has ever
been delivered on time or on budget.

Tags: nuclear energy

UN climate panel 'downplayed' tech need

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:14:36 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The United Nations panel for climate chance, included into it's calculations the idea that energy efficiency would increase over time. It was not specific as to how this was going to happen. Some people see scientists as Magicians with magic wands, when they are blind men with sticks. Very often when a scientist discovers something, they are at least as surprised as anyone else. Assuming there will be technological advance, is like promising money before it has been earned.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

The UN climate change panel has drastically underestimated the need to invest in the innovation of new energy efficient technologies that are required to stabilise greenhouse emissions, say US researchers.

Energy efficiency has declined in fast-developing countries like China say researchers and nothing less than a technology revolution is required to keep greenhouse emissions under control

The researchers say Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predictions on global warming issued last year assume that energy efficiency technology will automatically improve over time.

But they say this automatic technology improvement has not occurred in recent years.

"There are more than 2 billion people worldwide with no access to electricity,

And as they demand, rightly, access to energy, their carbon emissions have nowhere to go but up."

Pielke says the IPPC's assumption about technology is like assuming that any one individual will automatically get a raise in pay every year.

Convert your car to burn water+gasoline

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:03:19 GMT

clipped by: supercibor
clipper's remarks: High Conversion, Few Refunds, Due To Huge Demand: Soaring Gas Prices Compel People To Save Gas!!! Popular D.i.y Watercar: Run Your Car Partially On Water, Reduce Emissions/Global Warming! Practical Free Energy Based On 1000s Of Real Cars Worldwide!!!

Clip Source: www.hectorprofits.com

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Got a roof? Be a power plant!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:53:13 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: This is so freakin' cool. The way of the future. This type of innovation is truly world-changing.

Clip Source: greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

Southern California Edison plans to install 250 megawatts’ worth of solar panels on commercial rooftops, generating enough electricity to power 162,000 homes.

“This project will turn two square miles of unused commercial rooftops into advanced solar generating stations,” said John Bryson, CEO of the utility’s parent company, Edison International (EIX), in a statement Wednesday night.

Tags: solar energy, alternative energy, utilities, electricity

Biofuel flight gets turbulent response

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:46:10 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: He says algae will be the most likely source for renewable energy in the future. Algae? The way energy use is skyrocketing, in time anything available will be used, corn, rice, wood, cotton. Over above any waste material any fossil fuels and nuclear energy. The problem is the escalation of energy use is beyond the capacity to produce it. Has it ever occurred to anyone that the biggest waste by product of energy use the way things are designed today, is HEAT. There should make more productive means of energy transformation developed. So much of the 'energy' that is produced as fuel burns to power an engine amongst other things, goes straight out the exhaust pipe, without performing any useful function. Like the way they use nuclear energy to boil water to make steam. after the medium is expanded through heating/combustion, it stays that way. Why? because we're too busy thinking about the next 5 minutes. The children, and grandchildren can worry about the future. If there is one.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Nigel Hunt

Nuts picked from Amazon rainforests have helped fuel the world's first commercial airline flight partly powered by renewable energy.

The Boeing 747, operated by Virgin Atlantic, has flown without passengers from London to Amsterdam with one of its four fuel tanks filled with plant-based fuel.

The biofuel blend included babassu and coconut oils, both products used in cosmetics such as lip balm and shaving cream.

Environmentalists say the use of biofuels is a distraction in the fight against climate change.

However, Virgin Atlantic chief Richard Branson says the demonstration flight is a breakthrough for the airline industry and proof there are viable alternatives to traditional jet fuel.

The billionaire businessman says it is unlikely the nut of the wild-growing babassu palm will play a key role in biofuel development.

algae produced in places like sewage treatment farms are the most likely future source of renewable fuel for the airline industry, he says