This weeks issue of The Economist has a 20 page special report on the future of energy. It looks at wind, solar, Nuclear, CCS, electrical networks and all the usual suspects. The editorial leader also has energy as a focus.
“As these alternatives start to roll out in earnest, their rise, optimists hope, will become inexorable. [...]
There is some very interesting research at the moment looking into replacing batteries with Fuel Cells. Being able to replace Lithium-Ion batteries in consumer electronics with a Fuel Cell powered by a Hydrogen or Methanol canister has many advantages including longer power reserves and much faster recharging times. But one of the main sticking [...]
The linked story is about a neat little system that recovers waste heat from a data center and uses it to warm a nearby swimming pool. Data centers pump out a lot of heat so being able to tap into that much energy and use it is a nice example of lateral thinking. Even my [...]
Production of photovoltaics (PV) jumped to 3,800 megawatts worldwide in 2007, up an estimated 50 percent over 2006. At the end of the year, according to preliminary data, cumulative global production stood at 12,400 megawatts, enough to power 2.4 million U.S. homes. Growing by an impressive average of 48 percent each year since [...]
Got an email from a friend of mine in the legal sector. It contains an examination of the Rudd govts environmental plans. Makes for interesting reading:
http://www.freehills.com/publications/publications_7084.asp
Renewable energy
Labor can also be expected to implement its announced policies on renewable energy: Labor’s 20 Per Cent Target For a Renewable Energy Future. Labor has promised to ensure that [...]
George Monbiot is so alarmed by recent scientific findings that he has released an update to his book Heat.
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The last time we had two degrees of warming in the Pliocene 55 millionyears ago, the ice sheets at the poles did not melt – as the IPCC proposes -over a millennia, but within the course [...]
Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodity (exacerbated currently by a global silicon shortage). What’s more, says Peter Harrop, chairman of electronics consulting firm IDTechEx, “it has to be put on glass, so it’s heavy, dangerous, expensive to ship and expensive [...]
This afternoon the price for a barrel of Oil reached $100 on the Tapis Index (exchange that sets Australian petrol prices).
http://www.upstreamonline.com/market_data/?id=markets_crude
Currently it is at 100.36
The Oil Drum has some interesting charts showing the rise: http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/3209
A few of us were fortunate enough to join John at the Lincoln after class tonight for a few drinks. The talk got around to how the notion of Sustainability seems to oppose with the overwhelming economic paradigm of Growth.
This reminded me of something I had read recently that seemed to tie in with what [...]
A heads up for anyone thinking of heading in to Uni in the next few days. Apparently the asbestos dust is circulating in building 11 which is on Latrobe Street so hopefully will not affect us too much.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22574041-661,00.html
Trying to get back on topic here is an interesting Website about Energy Storage Systems. It covers Dams, [...]
Australian Renewable Energy News