Archive for July, 2009
King Corn and Big Oil
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Over the weekend, I watched the documentary King Corn. It was released in October 2007, but I just now got around to watching it online at Netflix. The premise is that a pair of college friends from the East Coast wanted to learn more about where our food comes from. When [...]
Engineering Rules
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Average Starting Salaries for This Year’s Graduates
From a CNN story this week, that graphic represents a landslide. To the person who asked in the recent Q&A (OK, the “A” is still pending) what they should study in school, might I suggest you put a lot of effort into your math [...]
How Can Obama Pay for Healthcare Reform? How about Linking it to a ‘Manhattan Project for Energy Efficiency’?
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
It’s clear that the White House hasn’t closed the deal with the American public on how it’s going to be able to pay for healthcare reform without significantly raising people’s taxes and/or the national debt.
Here’s one out-of-the-box idea: link healthcare and energy.
Specifically, show how the spectacular financial benefits of energy efficiency – both [...]
The Gold in the Oceans
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
There was an announcement this past week that Solix Biofuels has started oil production at a facility in Colorado:
Solix Biofuels begins production of oil made from algae
Solix Biofuels Inc. said Thursday it has started the production of oil made from algae at its Coyote Gulch Demonstration Facility, with full-scale commercial operation [...]
Looking for Help After a Difficult Week
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I am coming to the end of the most difficult week of my career, which is why I haven’t written much for the past few days. I had to sit across the table from some very good people and tell them they no longer had jobs. It wasn’t the first time [...]
China Tightens Grip on Africa’s Energy Resources with Stake in Offshore Field
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Today a topical post the latest from Money Morning, which as I previously explained will be featured here whenever they have relevant material to offer. As always, normal caveats apply: I am not an investment advisor. I don’t endorse any specific stocks mentioned in the following story nor the ad at [...]
Behind the Costs of CNG Conversions
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
In my recent post - How Much Natural Gas to Replace Gasoline? - I mentioned that it is quite expensive to convert a gasoline-powered vehicle to natural gas. If you drive a tremendous number of miles each year - as many fleets do - the conversion will pay for itself relatively [...]
Overview of Electricity Storage Technology and India’s Renewable Energy Goals
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
There is a good overview in today’s Guardian regarding the status of affairs with respect to electricity storage technologies:
The challenge for green energy: how to store excess electricity
So with grid parity now looming, finding ways to store millions of watts of excess electricity for times when the wind doesn’t blow and [...]
An Extended Conversation with POET
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Today (July 17th) I spent some time on the phone with POET’s VP of Science and Technology Dr. Mark Stowers. (I was invited up for a visit, but I couldn’t swing that just now). Dr. Stowers is in charge of company R&D, which includes corn and cellulose to ethanol, as well [...]
The Dominant Fuel in 2030
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I just spent a fruitful week in Canada, learning about some of the biomass resources in Alberta. There are some interesting opportunities there for the right technology, and I expect that I will be making future trips up there.
One of the questions I was asked this week by one of my [...]
The Dominant Fuel in 2030
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I just spent a fruitful week in Canada, learning about some of the biomass resources in Alberta. There are some interesting opportunities there for the right technology, and I expect that I will be making future trips up there.
One of the questions I was asked this week by one of my [...]
The Dominant Fuel in 2030
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I just spent a fruitful week in Canada, learning about some of the biomass resources in Alberta. There are some interesting opportunities there for the right technology, and I expect that I will be making future trips up there.
One of the questions I was asked this week by one of my [...]
Desertec Solar Project Shows That Green Investors Can’t Afford to be Too Green If They Want to Make $$
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Too many green investors – and the U.S.-based fund managers that cater to them – are about to miss out on green energy’s long term trillion-dollar payoff because they insist on investing in companies that generate 50% or more of revenue directly from sales of green products like wind turbines and solar panels.
Nobody [...]
Prediction: Exelon’s NRG Takeover Bid Will Fail; Both Firms Will Then See Their Stock Prices Rise
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Although Bloomberg News is reporting that traders think there is a better than 50% chance that Exelon Corp.’s (Symbol EXC) takeover bid for NRG Energy Inc. (Symbol NRG) will succeed, EnergyTechStocks.com predicts that it will fail – and that both firms’ share prices will actually go higher as a result of the failed [...]
Off to Canada, but the Floor is Open for Questions
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I am flying to Alberta in the morning and will be there through the middle of the week, trying to learn more about the renewable energy opportunities there. I doubt I will put up anything new until I return. So I thought this might be a good time to solicit questions [...]
Classic Rock Vidoes
Submitted by Collecting Vinyl Records Blog
The Cars - Just What I Needed
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Technical Feasibility is the Easy Part
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
A couple of people have now written to ask for comments on the story from Green Car Congress about the Polish CO2 to methanol scheme. Here is the story:
Report: Polish Power Plant and University to Cooperate on CO2 to Methanol Trial
Here is the bit I immediately focused on:
Nazimek says his “artificial [...]
Cello: A Lesson in Due Diligence
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
People sometimes ask me how - if they don’t have any particular technical expertise - one determines whether companies are making fraudulent claims. I tell them that the simple test of “If it looks too good to be true…” will work in the vast majority of cases. In the case of [...]
“Your Passion is Energy”
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Saying Goodbye Again
Today is Independence Day in the U.S., but I am spending it in the Netherlands without my family. This has become an all-too-familiar situation for me. I have spent far too many birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays in remote locations away from my family. The time has come to rectify [...]
Thermodynamics Wins Again
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Back in 2006, the Irish company Steorn announced that they had discovered a “a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.” A magnetism-based perpetual motion machine is what it amounted to, which would clearly violate various physical laws, such as the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Steorn put an [...]
If Obama Wants Green Jobs, Why is Konarka’s Solar Technology Being Commercialized in Japan??!!
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Imagine a world in which ordinary things that people buy every day – including clothing, household furnishings and office equipment – were coated with a super-thin film that turned everything into a mini solar power plant that could collect even the light from an overhead light bulb and convert it into usable electricity.
Think [...]
Thermodynamics Wins Again
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Back in 2006, the Irish company Steorn announced that they had discovered a “a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.” A magnetism-based perpetual motion machine is what it amounted to, which would clearly violate various physical laws, such as the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Steorn put an [...]
What If I’m Wrong?
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Risk Assessments
I spend a lot of time playing “What if?” We all do this. I do this when I am driving - “What if that car at the next intersection pulls out in front of me?” - when I am working - “What if that high pressure line ruptures?” - and at home [...]
