The Rocky Mountain Institute is hoping to transform car culture with their Hypercar, a light-weight streamlined vehicle with an expected minimum fuel efficiency of 100-200 mpg that could be so efficient, drivers could potentially sell the excess energy their car generates.
Report: Safety and Security Risks Undercut Nuclear Power's Role in Minimizing Global Warming
A report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists says that, although nuclear power could potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it also poses large risks to public health and national security making it a less-than-desired energy source for the future.
$1 Dollar a Watt Solar
San Jose, California based company, Nanosolar, believes it can market its new solar panels profitably at just 99 cents per watt which would make solar power cheaper than coal.
Energy Tower: Power for 15 Earths?
Researchers at Israel’s Technicion have developed an energy tower they say could produce 15 to 20 times the total electricity the world uses today, be used as a desalination device and even reverse some of the adverse effects of global warming.
New Solar Technology Sets World Record
US based solar technology firm, Plextronics, Inc., has set the world record for solar light to power efficiency with a result of 5.4 percent using their single layer organic solar cells less than two years in the making.
Carbon Electrodes Could Slash Cost of Solar Panels
Researchers in Germany have found how to use transparent electrodes made from atom-thick carbon sheets in the manufacture of solar panels and LCDs, a breakthrough that will ease the depletion of natural resources currently used.
Response to Daniel Ziskin's Essay on Carbon Capture & Sequestration
No single solution or technology will solve climate change. The problem looms so large that we should think not twice, but three or four times, before we take any solutions off the table. Yet this is exactly what Daniel Ziskin seems to advocate in his essay, Carbon Capture & Sequestration: How Hopeful Should We Be?
Carbon Capture & Sequestration: How Hopeful Should We Be?
The burning of fossil fuels provides about 85% of the energy consumed in the United States. One societal cost of this source of energy is the release of carbon dioxide; a potent greenhouse gas. The dream of capturing carbon before it is released into the atmosphere is capturing the imagination of policy makers. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes $1.8B for “clean coal” of which carbon capture & sequestration is a component. Yet the questions remain: Can it work? Is it cost effective? Are there more effective alternatives?
Russia Delivers First Nuclear Fuel to Iran
The first batch of Russian uranium 235 nuclear fuel was delivered to the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr on Decemeber 16. Russia, who built the Bushehr plant under contract, delayed the first delivery of nuclear fuel due to international pressure concerning Iran’s nuclear ambitions. With delivery expected to be completed in the next two months the plant could be … Read More
The Pitfalls of Energy Efficiency
Physicist Rick Marshall employs the three laws of thermodynamics to debunk a popular way of combatting climate change, showing that energy efficiency might not actually reduce energy demand.