The Energy Roadmap

Researchers Create Model for Synthetic Hydrogen Catalyst Using Low Cost Materials

Garry Golden — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:49:00 -0400

Researchers at the University of Illinois have created a synthetic catalyst model of the active hydrogen producing site of a naturally occuring enzyme based on 'cheap and plentiful building blocks – iron, nickel and sulfur.'

The results could achieve the catalytic performance seen in rare and expensive metals such as platinum, and further humankind's ability to use nanostructured systems to elegantly manipulate the interactions of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, electrons, photons and metals to enable new forms of energy production, storage and conversion.

“Nature relies on a very elaborate architecture to support its own ‘hydrogen economy,’ ” said Chemistry Professor Thomas Rauchfuss, a professor of and corresponding author of the paper. “We cracked that design by generating mock-ups of the catalytic site to include the substrate hydrogen atom.”

Manipulating Natural Molecular Building Blocks
Enzymes are proteins that facilitate chemical reactions via catalysis. Today, human beings know very little about the molecular magic of hydrogen producing enzymes (known as 'hydrogenase') and the complex reactions that occur inside the core reaction sites.

Developing accurate models of these activation sites is the first step towards developing low cost synthetic catalysts that can break the bonds of oxygen and hydrogen or carbon and hydrogen. The Illinois team is the first to model a nickel-iron structure with the use of a key link or bridge (hydride ligand).

Hydrogen's Hype vs Profitable Role of Chemical Storage & Distributed Power Generation

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, hydrogen

[Video] Oil 101: Geology Professor Reminds Us That Oil Does NOT Come From Dinosaurs

Garry Golden — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:57:13 -0400

The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena should get bonus points for including an Energy 101 presenation at its recent 2009 Summit: Expanding the Vision of Sustainable Mobility. Most energy-environment conferences skip science and go straight for emotion leaving their audiences ready to be opposed to something, but without a firm grounding in the fundamentals of energy science.

Case in point? The popular misbelief that oil comes from dinosaurs. The 'fossil' in 'fossil fuels' refers to a geological period, not the ancient remains of mammals. UC Davis Geology Professor Kenneth Verosub reminds us that oil (a 'hydrocarbon') is the result of bioenergy. Ancient diatoms (shelled algae) used light to bind carbon and hydrogen then died and fell to the ocean floor - where, with help of geological processes became a viable 'fuel' for humanity. [Video]

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, oil, hydrocarbon, coal, carbon, hydrogen, bioenergy

Researchers Design Nanoscale Fuel Cell Catalyst Using Less Platinum

Garry Golden — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:00:00 -0400

The nanoscale design of basic energy components is once again revealing new solutions to the historical problems of high cost alternative energy systems.

Materials scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and Brookhaven National Laboratory have designed a nanostructured bimetallic (platinum and palladium) fuel cell catalyst that is 'efficient, robust and two-to-five times more effective than existing commercial catalysts.'

Fuel cells are important as 21st century 'power plants' that produce electricity on demand without a grid connection. Fuel cells can be designed as small as a AA battery (for portable gadgets), a breadbox (for electric vehicles), a small refrigerator (for home power) or the size of a small room (for utility power generation).

Commercialization of fuel cells depends on our ability to lower the costs of core membranes (MEAs) that convert chemical energy into electricity.

So what is the way forward? Nanostructured design of key membrane components.

Nanoscale Revolution:
Rethinking Surface Area & Shape
Team leader Professor Younan Xia explains the importance of the breakthrough: "There are two ways to make a more effective catalyst," Xia says. "One is to control the size, making it smaller, which gives the catalyst a higher specific surface area on a mass basis. Another is to change the arrangement of atoms on the surface. We did both. You can have a square or hexagonal arrangement for the surface atoms. We chose the hexagonal lattice because people have found that it's twice as good as the square one for the oxygen reduction reaction (which determines the electrical current generated)."

To reduce costs and improve performance the team experimented with new core and branching structures. The catalyst has a core made of palladium which branching arms (‘dendrites’) of platinum that are seven nano-meters long.

According to Xia's team release: ‘At room temperature operation the team’s catalyst was two-and-a-half times more effective per platinum mass for this process than the state of the art commercial platinum catalyst and five times more active than the other popular commercial catalyst. At 60 degrees C (the typical operation temperature of a fuel cell), the performance almost meets the targets set by the U.S. Department of Energy.’

The next step for the team?

Integrating gold as a third metal catalyst to deal with the problem of carbon molecules that reduces performance by binding and blocking valuable surface area.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, catalysts, carbon, electricity, fuelcells, fuel, cell, hydrogen

Cellulosic Biofuel Startup Mascoma Announces Breakthough in Single Step Biomass Conversion

Garry Golden — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:15:23 -0400

Cellulosic biofuels startup Mascoma has announced a breakthrough in a single step consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) method used in converting non-food biomass feedstocks into liqud cellulosic ethanol.

By tapping the power of genetically engineered thermophilie (bacteria that grow at high temperatures) and yeast, the company has demonstrated a way to eliminate the need for multiple step processing using more expensive enzymes and additives typically needed in breaking down biomass material.

Breakthourgh Potential in Bioenergy
“This is a true breakthrough that takes us much, much closer to billions of gallons of low cost cellulosic biofuels,” said Dr. Bruce Dale of Michigan State University’s Biomass Conversation Research Center “Many had thought that CBP was years or even decades away, but the future just arrived. Mascoma has permanently changed the biofuels landscape from here on.”

The ability to reduce the steps needed to convert carbon rich material into more hydrogen-rich fuels is key to lowering costs.

“These advances enable the reduction in operating and capital costs required for cost effective
commercial production of ethanol, bringing Mascoma substantially closer to commercialization,” said Jim Flatt, Executive Vice President of Research, Development and Operations at Mascoma. “Our results go a long way toward establishing the feasibility of the processing concept that we have built our company around - so this is a big day for us.”

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

[Video] NY Times Features Electric Car Startups Fisker Karma and Aptera

Garry Golden — Sun, 10 May 2009 01:59:20 -0400

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells, fuelcells, cars

[Video] Watch This Video of Andy Karsner Speaking at Art Center of Pasadena on the Future of Transportation

Garry Golden — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:20:36 -0400

The Art Center of Pasadena has released video highlights from its recent Summit: Expanding the Vision of Sustainable Mobility held in March 2009. There are a number of energy related videos to share, but we'll start with one that gets the blood pumping!

Former Assistant Secretary in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner, is a fresh voice on long held but widely suppressed ideas that promote a holistic policy strategy towards transportation, energy and urban design.

I'm impressed with Andy's ability to communicate! Of course, Karsner shares a few perspectives that I might challenge. Namely, looking back at the past with a critical lens. The problem was not our failure to build vehicles that get more miles per gallon, it's the entire supply chain and manufacturing footprint of the internal combustion engine. A Detroit version of the Prius would not have helped GM or Chrysler's flawed 'new car' sale business model.

And, I agree with Karsner that our 'big plans' (e.g. FreedomCAR) were destined to fail. What we needed was an event - the Fall of 2008.

The recent collapse of the auto industry was just what the doctor ordered- a well-timed crisis to force the accelerated death of a century old mobility platform. Tweaking the combustion engine around hybrids or flex fuels was never the solution. Sometimes the future needs a crisis, not a plan!

Andy Karsner passionately describes the beginning of this transition from mechanical engines to electric drive trains powered by the integration of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. He is someone who can frame this vision and rally the troops. And I agree it is time to push the acceleration button!
Watch this Video!!

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells, fuelcells, cars

Yale Researchers Build Nano-sized Cantilever that Bends with Light

Garry Golden — Mon, 04 May 2009 21:32:56 -0400

Creating devices that can manipulate and interact with light (photons) is not an easy feat, but the potential pay off is tremendous as we consider the wide-reaching applications of nano-photonics.

Electronics to Photonics
The past fifty years of technological innovation have been shaped largely by our ability to manipulate the flow of electrons inside 'microscale' sized transistor chips based on the science of micro-electronics.

In the next fifty years we will open up new opportunities across a range of industries based on 'nanoscale' design of optical devices that use light instead of electrons!

These nano-optical devices are likely to be applied to a range of energy related applications from low power consumption-high performance chips. new lighting and display systems, and solar cells.

Nano-optical devices are also useful in the study of molecules involved in materials used in batteries and fuel cells as well as the study of biochemical systems around algae-based bioenergy systems.

A Breakthrough in Bending with Photons
In April, Yale University researchers announced that they have built a silicon-based nanocantilever sensor that can detect as little deflection as 0.0001 Angstroms — one ten thousandth of the size of an atom.

The team's work could lead to a wide range of low cost, low energy consuming, nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) built around these tiny 'springboards' that "bend" when molecules "jump" on them and register a change that can be measured and calibrated.

"The system we developed is the most sensitive available that works at room temperature. Previously this level of sensitivity could only be achieved at extreme low temperatures" said Assistant Professor Hong Tang in the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: nanoscale, nanotechnology, nano, energy, light, photons

NPR's Interactive Map of US Electricity Grid and Solar-Wind Potential

Garry Golden — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:31:33 -0400

NPR has released a fantastic interactive map of the US Electrical Grid as part of its Series - Power Hungry: Re-Envisioning Electricity in the US. The tool looks at grid connection points, major sources of power by region, power plant location as well as potential for solar and wind power.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, electricity, solar, wind, smartgrid, smart

[Video] 60 Minutes Clean Coal Program Misses Chance to Introduce Bio-based Carbon Solutions

Garry Golden — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:49:16 -0400

60 Minutes recently aired a program on the future of coal power featuring Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers (an advocate of longer term 'Cathedral Thinking' carbon reduction) and leading climate scientist James Hansen (an advocate of a moratorium on building coal plants).

The CBS report was solidly mainstream in framing coal as central to the conversation on energy, environment and global economic development- but it failed to move the conversation beyond ideas that have existed for several decades.

Time for Big Ideas, not Big Battles
Coal is the world's fastest growing source of energy due largely to growth outside the United States. And despite all the rapid growth rates expected with wind and solar, coal is likely to gain global market share in the years ahead.

So this is not just a conversation about US policy and US-based utilities! And there is no way to just 'wish' coal away. We must develop low cost carbon solutions that can be applied around the world within existing power plants. And everyone agrees - these low cost solutions do not exist today!

CBS Producers missed an opportunity to introduce more advanced non-geoengineering strategies to carbon neutralization and left viewers stuck at ringside watching the same old 'pro' vs 'anti' battle.

Carbon's Molecular Dance between Oxygen and Hydrogen
Carbon is a 'sticky' molecule that interchangeably binds with oxygen and hydrogen based on its journey through biochemical pathways or via human induced energy conversion (e.g. power plants and combustion engine).

Human beings have a choice to approach carbon solutions through geo-engineering (shoving it underground), or as bio-engineers who can bind carbon with hydrogen for use as a hydrocarbon fuel (for transportation or onsite electricity generation) or a bio-feestock for industrial applications. CBS viewers would have been better off understanding the long-term view of carbon rather than watch a debate without a viable solution. (Continue Reading Below).

Seeing Carbon through a Lens of Biology

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, coal, electricity, cleancoal, clean, fuelcell, fuel, cell, hydrogen, carbon

Obama Administration announces $777 million for Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs)

Garry Golden — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:55:20 -0400

The Obama Administration is following through on a major campaign promise: funding basic energy science.

Do you want Hope?
(Or maybe long term optimism!)

Stop looking for 'short term' solutions and quick fixes to global energy challenges. We need disruptive breakthroughs that enable new energy systems and business models.

Start with basic science.

A Good Day for Energy Science
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science announced that it will invest $777 million in Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) over the next five years as we attempt to 'accelerate the scientific breakthroughs needed to build a new 21st-century energy economy'. The 46 new multi-million-dollar EFRCs [PDF list] will be established at universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms across the United States with partnerships extending around the globe.

The EFRCs will focus on a wide range of projects (PDF) 'ranging from solar energy and electricity storage to materials sciences, biofuels, advanced nuclear systems, and carbon capture and sequestration' and will engage 'nearly 700 senior investigators and employ, on a full- or part-time basis, over 1,100 postdoctoral associates, graduate students, undergraduate students, and technical staff.'

Getting Serious about CleanTech Industries
Building a Bridge to Molecules: A Nano-Bio Energy Age
The 'Cleantech' Industry vision promoted by entrepreneurs, activists and political leaders is not likely to be based on technologies and energy systems that exist today. (Translation: We are at the beginning of this new era of energy. And it is not likely to be an extension of the past or present!)

How do you create cleantech industries?

Be the economy that launches the Industrial Age of Nanoscale Molecular Engineering.

Learn how to manipulate carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, light, enzymes and metals at the nanoscale (1 billionth of a meter)- and you have the new 21st century drivers of economic growth.

Nanoscale materials science and Bio energy sciences are growing into giant new industry sectors that will dwarf today's major industry sectors. Science is the foundation for real green collar jobs of the future.

Smart Money - Right Time, Right Ideas, Right Teams
Funding Basic Science not Mystery Science- Nano is no Joke!

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, research, nanoscale, carbon, hydrogen, obama

Northeastern Researchers Use Coated Nanotubes to Improve Splitting of Water Into Hydrogen and Oxygen

Garry Golden — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:46:53 -0400

Researchers from Northeastern University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved the efficiency of clustered nanotubes used in solar cells to produce hydrogen by splitting water molecules.

By layering potassium on the surface of the nanotubes made of titanium dioxide and carbon, the photocatalyst can split hydrogen gas from water using ‘about one-third the electrical energy to produce the same amount of hydrogen as an equivalent array of potassium-free nanotubes.’

Rethinking the Possibilities at the Nanoscale
Energy is about manipulating the interactions of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, metals, biological enzymes and sunlight.

When we design core enabling energy systems (e.g. catalysts, membranes, cathodes/anodes, et al) at the nanoscale (billionth of a meter) we find performance that is fundamentally different from the same systems designed at the 'microscale' (millionth of a meter).

Because smaller is better when it comes to manipulating molecules and light, the research teams used ‘tightly packed arrays of titania nanotubes’ with carbon that ‘helps titania absorb light in the visible spectrum.’ Arranging catalysts in the form of nanoscale-sized tubes increases the surface area of the catalyst which in turn increases the reactive area for splitting oxygen and hydrogen.

Hydrogen - Moving Beyond Hype and Skepticism

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, catalysts, carbon, electricity, solar, thinfilm, hydrogen, nanotubes

Oregon Researchers Use Nano-shells of Algae to Trap Photons and Improve Solar Cell Efficiency

Garry Golden — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:39:31 -0400

The Future of Energy will be based on our ability to elegantly control the interactions of light, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and metals. And for all our engineering prowress of extracting and blowing up ancient bio-energy reserves (coal/oil), there is still so much to learn about basic energy systems from Mother Nature.

Laying Down Algae Shells for Solar Panels
Researchers from Oregon State University and Portland State University have developed a new way to make “dye-sensitized” solar cells using a 'bottom up' biological assembly processes over traditional silicon chemical engineering.

The teams are working with a type of solar cell that generates energy when 'photons bounce around like they were in a pinball machine, striking these dyes and producing electricity.'

Rather than build the solar cells using traditional technqiues, the team is tapping the outer shells of single-celled algae, known as diatoms, to improve the electrical output. (Diatoms are believed to be the ancient bio-source of petroleum.)

The team placed the algae on a transparent conductive glass surface, and then (removed) the living organic material, leaving behind the tiny skeletons of the diatoms to form a template that is integrated with nanoparticles of titanium dioxide to complete the solar cell design.

Biology's Nanostructured Shells & Bouncing Photons?
“Conventional thin-film, photo-synthesizing dyes also take photons from sunlight and transfer it to titanium dioxide, creating electricity,” said Greg Rorrer, an OSU professor of chemical engineering “But in this system the photons bounce around more inside the pores of the diatom shell, making it more efficient.”

The research team is still not clear how the process works, but 'the tiny holes in diatom shells appear to increase the interaction between photons and the dye to promote the conversion of light to electricity... potentially with a triple output of electricity.'

According to the team, this is the 'first reported study of using a living organism to controllably fabricate semiconductor TiO₂ nanostructures by a bottom-up self-assembly process.' So, chalk up another early win for advanced bio-energy manufacturing strategies!

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energ, solar, thinfilm, electricity, nanotechnology, bioenergy, bio, hydrogen, algae

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu Announces $41 Million for Fuel Cells (Stationary, Micro-Power and Transportation)

Garry Golden — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:18:47 -0400

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced $41 million to support the 'immediate deployment of nearly 1,000 fuel cell systems for emergency backup power and material handling applications (e.g., forklifts) that have emerged as key early markets in which fuel cells can compete with conventional power technologies. Additional systems will be used to accelerate the demonstration of stationary fuel cells for combined heat and power in the larger residential and commercial markets.'

The funds will also support micro-power applications being advanced by innovative startups like Jadoo, Plug Power, Nuvera, MTI, PolyFuel, and Delphi Automotive (auxillary power systems for trucks!).

Fuel Cells (Power Stations) vs Batteries (Storage)
Fuel cells convert chemical energy into electricity without having to be 'plugged into' the grid. As 'refuelable' power generators, they offer some key advantages to a pure energy storage offering of batteries (e.g. Batteries depend on 'grid access', while fuel cells need fuel and serve as a portable/stationary power station. You just need to add fuel!)

US Energy Visionaries Sense Global Opportunity
The key to advancing fuel cells is to lower the costs of nanostructured catalysts (that release electric charges) and membranes (allow positive ions to pass) used in all applications (e.g. stationary, portable). It is a materials science strategy based on nanoscale science and engineering.

While the battery supply chain has long been established, there is a unique opportunity for the US to leap frog into more commercially diverse applications based on fuel cell systems used in everything from distributed power, micro-power, transportation and utility scale power generation.

More posts on Fuel cells at The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, fuel, cells, fuelcells, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, methanol

[Video] An Inside Look at the University of Texas-Austin Algae Species Collection

Garry Golden — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:43:11 -0400

The Future of Algae has been a hot topic among energy and cleantech bloggers, but it is still way off the radar of mainstream media. This Wall Street Journal video looks at one of the world's leading catalogs and wholesalers (US$75 per tube) of algae species based at the University of Texas-Austin.

Despite the hype, algae is more history than science fiction. In fact it is already the world's dominate source of energy. Petroleum is just chemical energy stored in the form of hydrogen-carbon bonds that were assembled by ancient sea-living microbes (diatoms). So, oil is in essence the result of ancient algae growth!

So instead of extracting reserves of oil, we can 'grow energy' using efficient biochemical pathways of algae (and bacteria) that eat carbon and, then using the power of light, bind it with hydrogen to produce bio-oil that can be used as a source of energy (via engine or fuel cell) or as a feedstock for biomaterials.

Related Algae and Bioenergy Posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, algae, biofuels, bioenergy, bacteria, fuelcell

Virus Built Batteries? MIT Advances Bio-Industrial Manufacturing Technique to Assemble Electrodes

Garry Golden — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:43:54 -0400

MIT's Biomolecular Materials Group has advanced a technique of using 'genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material.'

This advanced 'bio-industrial' manufacturing process, which uses biological agents to assemble molecules, could help to evolve key energy material components (e.g. cathodes, anodes, membranes) used in batteries, fuel cells, solar cells and organic electronics (e.g. OLEDs).

Professors Angela Belcher and Michael Strano led the breakthrough bio-engineering work which can now use bacteriophage 'to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery.' While the prototype was based on a typical 'coin cell battery', the team believes it can be adapted for 'thin film' organic electronic applications.

Energy = Interactions
Energy and Materials Science is about manipulating the assembly and interaction of molecules like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and metals.

Today we are at the beginning of new eras of nanoscale materials science and bio-industrial processes that are certain to change the cost and efficiency equations within alternative energy and biomaterials. And we have a lot to learn about molecular assembly from Mother Nature's genetically driven virus/bacteria and plants. After all, the energy released from breaking the carbon-hydrogen bonds of coal (ancient ferns) and oil (ancient diatoms) was originally assembled by biology (with some help from geological pressures!). So why not tap this bio-industrial potential for building future energy components?

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, catalysts, carbon, electricity, batteries, nanotech

[Video] GM Segway PUMA Cruising Through Brooklyn & New York City

Garry Golden — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:30:16 -0400

GM & Segway are hoping to commercialize a new category of smart micro-vehicles for urban environments by 2012 (See previous post). I love the application of Segway software, but am skeptical of a 'plug in' battery version.

I'm not sure how many wall sockets are accessible to urban dwellers who don't have garages! So I love the idea, but think the real potential is the 'access' business model. Let's keep the PUMA owned and operated by mobility service companies, not urban dwellers themselves!

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, gm, segway, electric, hydrogen, fuelcells

GM & Segway Unveil Personal Urban Mobility Vehicle, Demonstrate Disruptive Power of Software & Mobility as Service

Garry Golden — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:34:01 -0400

General Motors and Segway unveiled a new type of small electric motor vehicle with advanced software that could shift how we look at mobility as a service.

In an effort to appeal to digitally connected urban audiences, GM describes Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) as a low-cost mobility platform that 'enables design creativity, fashion, fun and social networking.' This protoype model travels up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph), with a range up to 35 miles (56 km) between recharges (though it's not clear how urban residents will access wall sockets!)

'Smart' is the Real Revolution
The greatest opportunities to transform the human mobility experience in the next century are likely to emerge from ‘smarter software’, not cleaner energy systems. It seems clear that the combustion engine will eventually struggle to keep cost and design competitive against the lowering 'manufacturing footprint' of electric motors powered by the integration of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. The real question is: Can human drivers keep up with changes ahead in software of 'smart cars'.

Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication systems that relay alerts and information to drivers to reduce congestion and prevent collisions are already being integrated into luxury vehicles. But within a decade or two we can expect low cost vehicles embedded with sensors and ‘situation awareness’ detection systems that make cars 'smarter' than drivers.

Access and Ownership (and Potential Chaos)
A compelling vision of Personal Urban Vehicles is the emergence of personal 'mobility as service' companies that connect outer hubs with urban destination points (offices, retail, recreation, et al). In addition to owning personal vehicles, we can imagine paying for 'access' to fleets of vehicles that we don't have to park. (Of course, adding fleets of small vehicles could mean chaos in urban areas for pedestrians! Not to mention pushback from the Cabbies in New York!)

More Images and Related Posts on The Future of Auto Industry

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, gm, segway, electric, hydrogen, fuelcells

Energy Efficiency Grants: Coming to Your State Soon

amisampat — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:53:09 -0400

By Ami Sampat

$3.2 million dollars budgeted by the Obama administration as a part of the economic stimulus package is close to hitting your neighborhood.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant will use the money to fund and promote the use of home energy audits, energy efficiency upgrades, replacement for outdated appliances, and so on. The Department of Energy describes main goal of the grant as to "support energy audits and energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements."

The grant will also help transportation services work on efficiently using energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to also work on energy efficient stop lights and street lights, while also adding renewable energy installments to government buildings.

As noted by the Department of Energy, the economic stimulus money will benefit homeowners by $6,500 in home improvements related to energy conservation.

The programs created by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant are different for each state and city. There are a few criterion cities and states must undergo before they can actually receive the funding. Firstly, cities with a population over 35,000 are eligible for funding. Secondly, states and cities must apply. The applications are due on May 26 and June 25, respectively. Lastly, the state and city governments must have a plan on where to use the money within eighteen months of receiving the grant. If after eighteen months, no solid plan is set in place, then the money is lost.

To see how the money will help your state, visit energy.gov/recovery.

Category: Energy
Year: 2009

UK Researchers Advance Room Temperature Superconductivity Using Carbon 'Buckyballs'

Garry Golden — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:50:56 -0400

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and Durham University have developed a new carbon nanotube material that might evolve as a room temperature superconductor used to transmit electricity with no resistance or energy loss.

The use of football-shaped 'Carbon 60' fullerene molecules, or 'Bucky Balls', could change how we look at the quantum flow of electricity over long distance transmission lines as well as within medical equipment and 'molecular electronics'.

The idea of carbon-based electron transmission was widely promoted by carbon fullerene co-founder Rick Smalley (d. 2005) more than a decade ago as the 'quantum armchair wire'. The UK-based research suggests nanostructured carbon materials could evolve as room temperature superconductors.

Shape Matters: Carbon Buckyballs 'Squeezing' Electrons
Liverpool Professor Matt Rosseinsky explains: "Superconductivity is a phenomenon we are still trying to understand and particularly how it functions at high temperatures. Superconductors have a very complex atomic structure and are full of disorder. We made a material in powder form that was a non-conductor at room temperature and had a much simpler atomic structure, to allow us to control how freely electrons moved and test how we could manipulate the material to super-conduct."

Professor Kosmas Prassides, from Durham University, said: "At room pressure the electrons in the material were too far apart to super-conduct and so we 'squeezed' them together using equipment that increases the pressure inside the structure. We found that the change in the material was instantaneous – altering from a non-conductor to a superconductor. This allowed us to see the exact atomic structure at the point at which superconductivity occurred."

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, catalysts, carbon, electricity

Chinese Automaker SAIC, Taps US-based Battery Startup A123 for Coming Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Garry Golden — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:28:22 -0400

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Chinese car maker SAIC is planning to use lithium ion battery technology from promising startup A123 Systems of Watertown, MA.

This is not game-changing news, but certainly worth noting since expectations are that Asian energy storage manufacturers (not US-based) are likely to dominate the first generation battery-power vehicles.

This news arrived close to a NY Times front page article covering China's aspirations to lead the world in electric vehicles by 2011.

It is an obvious win for A123 Systems, which was passed up by General Motors for Korea's LG last Fall, for GM's Volt battery pack. But it is still unclear how the battle over energy storage will play out in the long term.

EVs are Going Global and Batteries are Not the End Game!
We have written for months about the globalization of the electric vehicle age, and the role Asia is likely to play in the decades-long transition to electric vehicles powered by a combination of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors.

Today's lithium ion battery batteries are better thanks to nanostructured components and membranes, but I'm doubtful that they will be the only power system in next generation electric vehicles.

Fuel cells and capacitors will eventually have their day as pieces to the complex engineering puzzle of powering cars. So let's not waste too much money extending 20th century wall socket cords to 21st century vehicles! We should decouple transportation fueling from the grid, not add excess strain to an aging grid with no storage mechanism!

The real opportunity for Asian automakers might be becoming the first company who can crack the 'low end' disruptive potential of electric vehicles and their lower 'manufacturing footprint' in terms of capital costs.

How Should US Automakers Respond?
I am a big fan of A123 Systems, but would rather see their nano-enhanced products used in non-automotive applications. Let's get Li-ion batteries right for laptops before we head into automotive applications!

I've advocated for the US to 'go global' in its push for electric platforms and avoid competing in the battery market, and instead focusing on next generation fuel cells and solid hydrogen storage. Beyond power systems the real money is likely to come from 'smart vehicle' software control systems, and electric wheel based motors.

So congratulations to A123 Systems, but let's not race to the bottom of commoditizing batteries! Focus on the next generation systems!

Related posts on the Future of Electric Vehicles:

Category: Technology
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, china, electric, fuelcells, fuel, cells, cars, hydrogen, batteries

Fuel Cells for Cleaner Coal? Key Milestone Achieved in Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Energy Systems

Garry Golden — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:58:31 -0400

Coal is the world's fastest growing source of energy, and at the center of the debate over advancing our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions even as we attempt to meet the demands of a global doubling of energy consumption in the decades ahead.

'Clean' vs 'Cleaner'
While one side of the debate spectrum ridicules the concept of 'Clean Coal', the other side is pushing forward down the road to 'Cleaner' ways to convert coal energy into electricity that goes far beyond today's 'coal fire' combustion power plants.

Via a process known as 'gasification' we can remove much of the carbon from coal to create a cleaner hydrogen-rich synthetic gas (syngas). Industrial scale fuel cells can then convert this syngas chemical energy into electricity. The challenge is scaling up fuel cells to meet the challenge!

Key Milestone for SOFCs
The U.S. Department of Energy's Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) has high hopes for fuel cell based energy conversion and has just announced a key 5,000 hour operation and performance milestone based on two stacks developed by FuelCell Energy (FCE) in partnership with Versa Power Systems.

The milestone marks a key step towards non-combustion based conversion using 'low-cost Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) technology for coal-based power plants and other power generation applications' using carbon heavy feedstocks such as syngas, natural gas and biofuels.

Integrated gasification fuel cell plants are expected 'to achieve an overall operating efficiency of greater than 50 percent—15 percentage points higher than today’s average U.S.-based coal-fired power plant—while separating at least 90 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions for capture and environmentally secure storage.'

The US Department of Energy hoopes to have a a 250-kilowatt to 1-megawatt fuel cell module demonstration by 2012; a 5-megawatt proof-of-concept fuel cell system to demonstrate system integration, heat recovery turbines, and power electronics by 2015; and then a full-scale demonstration of a 250- to 500-megawatt integrated gasification fuel cell power plant by 2020.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, coal, electricity, cleancoal, clean, fuelcell, fuel, cell, hydrogen, carbon

'Self-Cleaning' Surface Coating Improves Solar Cell Performance

Garry Golden — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:33:44 -0400

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a unique super-'hydrophobic' (water repelling) surface coating that 'boosts the light absorption of silicon photovoltaic cells both by trapping light in three-dimensional structures, and by making the surfaces self-cleaning allowing rain or dew to wash away the dust and dirt that can accumulate on photovoltaic arrays'.

The 'self cleaning' design mimics the water repelling surface of a lotus leaf, 'which uses surface roughness at two different size scales to create high contact angles that encourage water from rain or (desert dew) condensation to bead up and run off. As the water runs off, it carries with it any surface dust or dirt – which also doesn't adhere because of the unique surface properties'.

"The more sunlight that goes into the photovoltaic cells and the less that reflects back, the higher the efficiency can be," said C.P. Wong, Regents' professor in Georgia Tech's School of Materials Science and Engineering. "Our simulations show that we can potentially increase the final efficiency of the cells by as much as two percent with this surface structure."

"A normal silicon surface reflects a lot of the light that comes in, but by doing this texturing, the reflection is reduced to less than five percent," said Dennis Hess, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "As much as 10 percent of the light that hits the cells is scattered because of dust and dirt of the surface. If you can keep the cells clean, in principle you can increase the efficiency. Even if you only improve this by a few percent, that could make a big difference."

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, solar, electricity, photovoltaics, thinfilm

Researchers Develop Rapid Testing Method for Bacteria Metabolism Used in Biofuel Production

Garry Golden — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:37:03 -0400

Reasearchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed an innovative method for assessing the metabolism of biofuel producing bacteria, that could help to speed up future research efforts in this emerging field of bioenergy.

The key to the future of advanced bioenergy solutions based on bacteria and algae is to find the right type of molecular systems within a wide range of metabolic pathways inside microbes.

Typical metabolic studies for newly discovered bacteria can take 'months or even years to complete' using traditional methods. The new method being tested by JBEI researchers is based on in vitro enzyme assays and a unique metabolic flux analysis that could complete metabolic studies in several weeks.

Taking a Lesson from Mother Nature
Learning to Manipuate Chemical Bonds, Not Just Blow Up Our Reserves
Mother Nature does not have batteries to store the energy from the sun, it has chemical bonds. To assemble these bonds nature turns to plants, bacteria and algae that grab photons from the sun, carbon from the air and hydrogen from water to assemble carbon-hydrogen chains that humans eventually blow up for energy.

Every time you eat a piece of food (plant or meat) you are chewing up sunlight stored by Mother Nature. Every time you drive your car, you are blowing up carbon-hydrogen chemical bonds formed by ancient algae (diatoms). And the electricity that powers your lights? That electron energy likely started as a photon captured by an ancient fern that became coal used in your lcoal power plant.

Our economy already runs on (ancient) 'bioenergy', so why not look towards the future for creating new vast reserves by growing energy?

How Biology Can Teach Us Methods of Growing Energy By Binding Carbon with Hydrogen

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae, synthetic, biology

Suncor-Petro Merger Signal of Canada’s Expanding Global Role And Plans For Tar Sands

Garry Golden — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:30:52 -0400

Canada is starting to flex its muscle as a major player in the world of energy around non-conventional hydrocarbon resources.

This week, Suncor, the number two producer of tar sands, will merge with Petro-Canada. The new energy giant Canadian company could become an expert in developing less environmentally damaging methods for utilizing non-conventional resources in North America and around the world.

The combined company will have ‘approximately 7.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of proved (developed and undeveloped) and probable reserves, on top of an estimated contingent resource base of approximately 19 billion boe. It will also have significant refining capacity of 433,000 barrels per day (b/d) and a strong Canadian retail brand in Suncor.'

Preempting the Inevitable Contraction of the Hydrocarbon Sector
Energy analysts expect a wave of mergers as companies find it difficult to grow reserve assets through traditional exploration and development. Cash rich companies might find it easier to expand reserve totals by acquisition.

Future sucess might also be based on an ability to develop non-conventional resources like carbon-heavy 'tar sands' and deep water reserves. So for Canada's leading energy companies it was important to merge before being acquired.

According to Suncor CEO Rick George "The combined portfolio boasts the largest oil sands resource position, a strong Canadian downstream brand, solid conventional exploration and production assets, and low-cost production from Canada's east coast and internationally."

Canada's Vision as a Resource Giant

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, oil, canada, opec, tar, sands, tarsands, hydrogen, carbon, natural, gas

Brown University Researchers Design Nanoparticle Palladium Catalysts For Fuel Cells

Garry Golden — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:55:16 -0400

Metals, like platinum, palladium and nickel, play a key role as catatysts that change the quality of reactions of gases like carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Designing catalysts at the nanoscale (billionth of a meter) will help to improve interactions within fuel cells that convert chemical energy into electricity. But achieving precise control over nano-sized particles has been difficult.

Now Brown University researchers have designed fuel cell catalysts using palladium nanoparticles that have about 40 percent greater active surface area, and ‘remain intact four times longer’.

The innovations?
A New Binding Agent & Surface Area
The researchers have learned how to bind the 4.5 nanometer sized metal pieces to a carbon support platform using weak binding amino ligands that keep the nanoparticles separate. After they are set, the ligand links are ‘washed away’ without negatively changing the catalysts.

“This approach is very novel. It works,” said Vismadeb Mazumder, a graduate researcher who joined chemistry professor Shouheng Sun “It’s two times as active, meaning you need half the energy to catalyze. And it’s four times as stable. It just works better.”

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, catalysts, hydrogen, nanoparticles, fuel, cells, fuelcells, carbon, platinum

[Video] Digital Gaia or 'Big Blue'? IBM Unveils 'Smart' Water Systems, and Breakthrough Membrane

Garry Golden — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:22:29 -0400

Decades ago IBM earned the nickname 'Big Blue' for the color of its corporate logo and mainframes (*), but maybe it was really a sneak peak at its role in digitizing Planet Earth?

There is tremendous growth ahead around 'instrumenting' ecosystems and built environments with sensors, and creating the software systems to make sense of what's actually happening on the planet.

How long before the mainstream world catches onto the idea of a 'Digital Gaia'? How long before companies like IBM, Cisco, Johnson Controls and Honeywell can fully instrument the world and create massive computer simulations that give birth to a mirror world Digital Earth image that suddenly seems alive because we humans can measure it and visualize the changes? I imagine we'll see changes within a decade or two.

IBM Helps to Elevate the Issue of Water
IBM continues to evolve its commercial applications for its widely promoted ' Smart Planet' portfolio of services that includes Smart Electrical Grids, Smart Health Records, Smart Transportation, and other Intelligent Infrastructure.

This week IBM unveiled its new Strategic Water Management Solutions to help governments, water utilities, and companies monitor and manage water more effectively. IBM also released its Global Innovations Outlook devoted to Water [PDF]. Below is a video clip higlighting Big Blue's SmartBay sensor system, which monitors wave conditions, marine life and pollution levels in and around Galway Bay, Ireland

Announcement #2 Novel Water Desalination Membrane [Including Video]

Category: Information
Year: General
Tags: energy, water, desalination, ibm, sensors

[Video] Earth Hour Gaining Momentum March 28th 8:30 pm Local Time, Lights Out!

Garry Golden — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:21:10 -0400

Can you get 1 billion people to turn off their lights at the same time?* Maybe.

It's a powerful idea that seems to be gaining momentum city by city. The World Wildlife Fund is asking individuals, businesses, governments and organizations around the world to turn off their lights for one hour Earth Hour to make a global statement of concern about climate change and to demonstrate commitment to finding solutions.

Last year, an estimated 15 million people in cities around the world voluntarily turned off their lights, and organizers hope for a billion in 2009 to raise awareness about the link between our energy consumption and environmental impact.

What's after Consuming Green?
'Continue reading below' for my take on the need to balance these 'consuming green' efforts with a global strategy centered on industry level change based on new energy science.

More information at Earth Hour US (or Follow on Twitter)

Why we need to stop treating people like 'consumers' and talk to them about science:

Category: Environment
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, climate, carbon, lighting, activism, electricity

Argonne Lab Researchers Take Us Another Step Closer to Greener Chemistry and Materials

Garry Golden — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:18:45 -0400

Rethinking the Problem: Think Small, not Big
Our current 'crisis' around energy and climate change has less to do with our relationship with the Planet, than it does our relationship with molecules.

To change our footprint on the Planet, we have to change our relationship with nature at the molecular level.

We are still living in an Industrial Age where we extract carbon-hydrogen bonds assembled by ancient plants and algae to power our world and to make plastic-based products. To stay within the Planet's carrying capacity, we have to change this relationship with molecules.

This is the next, yet to be written, chapter:
The Nanoscale Era of Materials Engineering.

Industrial Age Part Two: Green Chemistry
Why be hopeful? Scientists continue to move us closer to a new era of Industrial manufacturing based on a vision of 'Green Chemisty' in which we create the basic components used in making materials, energy, food and pharmaceuticals using more sustainable practices, often without the use of petroleum based feedstocks. Now we have another step forward.

Argonne National Lab researchers have developed a clustered platinum catalyst to reduce the amount of energy needed in converting propane (via oxidative dehydrogenation) into a propene feedstocks used in a wide variety of materials. (I know these words seem strange, but they all related to different arrangements of carbon and hydrogen with oxygen to stir things up a bit.)

“Using platinum clusters, we have devised a way to catalyze propane not only in a more environmentally friendly way, but also using far less energy than previous methods,” said Argonne scientist Stefan Vajda.

Researchers believe that this 'new class of catalysts may lead to energy-efficient and environmentally friendly synthesis strategies and the possible replacement of petrochemical feedstocks by abundant small alkanes.'

(Alkane? There's another funny word. But honestly, it's just a different arrangement of carbon and hydrogen! Whether you say 'ethelyne', 'human being' or 'breathing' it is just another funny way of saying carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.)

Related posts on Green Chemistry on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: energy, greenchemistry, green, chemistry, nanoscale, carbon, platinum, hydrogen, materials

[Video] Johnson Controls Pushes 'Efficiency Now', But Street Interviews Reveal Long Road Ahead With Consumers

Garry Golden — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:54:22 -0400

Johnson Controls continues to make itself one of the most relevant 'green' companies of the future. But it might have to spend some serious cash on educating consumers if it expects a 'bottom up' change in the marketplace.

Everyone agrees that efficiency is our 'lowest hanging fruit' for improving the energy sector, and JC is hoping to expand its brand through the message of 'Efficiency Now'. But a recent 'Man on the Street' style video experiment in Chicago revealed a huge gap in energy literacy on core concepts like Sustainability, Carbon Footprint and Efficiency.

Via Greenbiz

Also Watch JC's Video: What is Green? (Embedded below)

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, johnson, controls, efficiency

How Many Hydrogen Or Carbon Atoms Can You Fit On A Football Field? How Many Football Fields Can You Fit In Your Pocket?

Garry Golden — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:13:14 -0400

Human beings have mastered the brute-force era of ‘energy by engineering’ where we’ve pulled stored energy from the Earth locked up as coal, oil and natural gas. But we are just beginning to achieve a more Zen-like ability to manipulate molecules that we harness and store ourselves.

Energy is about the interaction of molecules. And the way human beings can create cleaner energy interactions is by designing materials at the nanoscale to achieve unprecedented performance. Surface area is a key piece to this puzzle.

One Gram = One Football Field = How many molecules?
Now, imagine holding a material in your hand that was made up of tiny nano-sized ‘cages’ that could hold gas molecules like hydrogen and carbon. Now imagine a gram of this material having the surface area of a football field. How many hydrogen or carbon molecules could you fit in that space? We don't yet know what practical storage systems might yield. This is a big question for energy researchers.

A research team led by University of Michigan’s Adam Matzger has created a novel nanoporous material known as UMCM-2 (University of Michigan Crystalline Material-2) that could claim the world record for surface area with more than 5,000 square meters per gram.

"Surface area is an important, intrinsic property that can affect the behavior of materials in processes ranging from the activity of catalysts to water detoxification to purification of hydrocarbons," Matzger said. That means we can design high surface area materials to scrub carbon leaving cleaner hydrogen bonds, or desalinate water using less energy.

Until recently the threshold for surface area was 3,000 square meters per gram. Then in 2004, a U-M team that included Matzger reported development of a material known as MOF-177 (metal-organic frameworks) that has the surface area of a football field.

"Pushing beyond that point has been difficult," Matzger said, but apparently not impossible using a new method of coordination copolymerization. If it's hard to get your head around, just think: Building Legos wth Molecules! That's a Big Idea!

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, mof, mofs, hydrogen, carbon, nanoscale, nanotechnology, nano, electricity, fuel, cells, fuelcells

[Video] Charlie Rose interviews US Energy Secretary Steven Chu 'Green Revolution' is Possible

Garry Golden — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:28:17 -0400

Charlie Rose recently hosted a conversation [35 min.] with United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The conversation covered a wide spectrum of ideas being explored from the 'low hanging fruit' with energy efficiency and new building design tools, to evolution of Smart Grid and anticipatory management of energy flows, new tranmission lines for renewables, emerging carbon pricing markets, cleaner coal systems, regulatory framework for nuclear, and next generation liquid fuels.

And ended with Rose stating 'that the convergence/merger of our scientific know-how and energy' will determine our future. On that note, I wish Chu would have uttered something about 'nanoscale' engineering, and bioenergy (algae/bacteria, and synthetic biology) just to seed these emerging concepts with Rose's audience. But baby steps, I guess!

Energy Revolution Rises from Materials Science and Bio-science, not Geo-Engineering
Chu arrived at the right time! The first half of this Industrial Age was based on us being smart geo-engineers, not necessarily smart energy materials scientists. And that is our future- growing and storing our own energy supplies! I am just very thankful that we have a DOE Secretary who recognizes that the 'green revolution' will arise from science, not shopping! Oh, the places we'll go!

Embedded video from Charlie Rose

Category: Government
Year: General
Tags: energy, politics, carbon, hydrogen, storage, interview

Lux Research Report: Thin Film Batteries Could Grow to $250 million by 2014

Garry Golden — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:25:57 -0400

Next generation energy storage solutions (e.g. batteries, fuel cells, capacitors) continue to gain attention from investors and energy forecasters who see significant growth ahead beyond typical production side investments.

A new report from Lux Research, titled Thin Batteries: Novel Storage Powering Novel Devices, believes that this low cost battery platform could have 'enough juice to grow from a $19 million market in 2008 to a market of over $250 million in 2014.'

The report updates Lux Research's analyses of eight thin battery manufacturers and draws on nine additional interviews with application developers downstream to assemble a comprehensive perspective on thin battery technologies, companies, and markets.

Thin batteries appear to be following a classic 'low end disruption' growth strategy of avoiding direct head to head competition with current 'coin cell' batteries in favor of growing around new applications. Lux describes potential growth across a range of sectors including healthcare (e.g. drug delivery patches), media (e.g. video displays), and information systems (e.g. RFIDs/Sensors)

Lux expects opportunities for investors able to find opportunities in later stage funding rounds but stress the inevitability of shake out in emerging markets. "By 2014, there simply won't be enough space in this market for ten thin battery companies to sustain a healthy business," said Jacob Grose, an Analyst at Lux Research and the report's lead author "Anyone interested in getting a seat at the table will need to identify the winners, and identify them early."

Category: Gadgets
Year: General
Tags: energy, energystorage, storage, batteries, electricity, fuelcells, fuel, cells, hydrogen, mofs, thinfilm, thin, film

Bellona Foundation releases Interactve Tool to Understand Carbon Capture and Storage

Garry Golden — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:23:54 -0400

Environmental and Energy advocacy group Bellona has released an interactive tool for understanding geo-engineering based CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) technology designed to reduce power plant based emissions. The tool describes the engineering solutions for carbon capture, as well as point source carbon emissions based around the world.

Via Bellona

Category: Information
Year: General
Tags: energy, carbon, algae, nanotechnology

India's First Solar City

amisampat — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:02:34 -0500

By Ami Sampat

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently announced that the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra will become the country's first solar city by the year 2012. Nagpur will receive ten percent of its energy consumption through renewable energy sources and will also create a foundation for a future Smart Electrical Grid.

Nagpur is the first of sixty solar cities to be developed over the course of five years.

The Ministry explains its reasons for wanting to create a solar city, "To meet the peak electricity demand of cities, to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and expensive oil and gas for energy and to promote increased use of renewable energy, this scheme has been developed."

The ministry will fund half of the total costs, 190 million rupees ($3.7 million), with the state government paying the rest.

Creating a solar city will result in the major restructuring with the use of multiple solar applications. The street lights, traffic lights, and so on will be based on solar energy system. Solar water heaters will also be installed.

Article Source

Category: Environment
Year: 2012

Reports Highlight Role of Basic Energy Science, Not 'Buying Green', As Key Enabler of Change

Garry Golden — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:29:41 -0500

All over the web, new 'green-themed' eco blogs are sprouting up like mushrooms with low impact solutions for affluent consumers.

So many new sites and products, yet there is no way to 'buy' ourselves into a 'green economy'.

Organic yoga mats, reusable water bottles, 'green weddings', telecommuting, hybrids and EVs, carbon neutral rock concerts, (et al) are all perfectly legitimate steps forward. But they do little to solve long-term problems, and they fall helplessly short of really educating people about the tremendous challenges ahead with energy.

Our strategy should not be to make consumers more 'green', but to make sure people know that we cannot 'buy' our way into sustainability.

The message that should really be pushed on the web, is that the energy systems that could actually change the world do not currently exist today. And that they will only emerge from advances in basic energy sciences that destroy all our current notions of what is technically possible today with regards to how we produce, store, transmit and deliver energy.

So please, no more new 'eco' blogs! Let's focus on people's minds, not wallets.

We need to learn, not buy, our way into a sustainable economy. And the learning starts with asking questions that are beyond our current energy knowledge base. Let's empower scientists, not marketing agencies to ask the right questions about 'going green'.

The good news is that researchers now know, what we don't know!

Basic Energy Science Reports
The Office of US Basic Energy Science has spent the past five years engaging scientist around the world in a conversation about 'what we do not know about energy systems'. What new knowledge about molecules and electrons could enable new solutions?

Rather than seek quick fixes that fail, the program attempted to outline the Grand Challenges of energy systems that are beyond our current notions of what is technically possible.

Their conclusion? What we currently 'have' and 'know' about energy is not enough. [PDF]

"The magnitude of the challenge is so immense that existing energy approaches—even with improvements from advanced engineering and improved technology based on known concepts—will not be enough to secure our energy future. Instead, meeting the challenge will require new technologies for producing, storing and using energy with performance levels far beyond what is now possible."

The Summary findings and Full reports can be found here.

Category: Education
Year: General
Tags: energy, science, research, nanoscale, nanotechnology, hydroge, batteries

India's Tata Unveils Electric Vehicle for European Market, Another Blow to Combustion Engine

Garry Golden — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:34:04 -0500

The future of building cars based on the combustion engine does not look bright!

While auto giants like GM & Toyota continue to stumble their way into the future, companies based in China and India are plotting their low cost electric vehicle path into global markets.

TATA's EV Strategy
This week, India's Tata Motor Company unveiled its European version of its Nano vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show.

But the product that has the most disruptive potential might be its latest version of the Indica Vista EV (Electric Vehicle). (Earlier post)

While it's unlikely that the four seat compact car will move global markets anytime soon, it is India's 3rd and 4th Generation EV platforms that integrate batteries, fuel cells and capacitors that matter most to giants like GM and Toyota. Without a legacy of combustion engine supply chains and factories, Chinese and Indian companies might be able to deliver low cost, high quality EV vehicles to global markets

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Transportation
Year: General

Cisco Partners with NASA on Planetary Skin Project, Previews Massive Web Collaboration Platform

Garry Golden — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:41:13 -0500

Planet Earth is about to get its own version of the Web!

Cisco Systems is partnering with NASA to create a massive online collaborative global monitoring platform called the "Planetary Skin" to capture, collect, analyze and report data on environmental conditions around the world, while also providing researchers social web services for collaboration.

This type of platform is essential for Climate and Ecosystem researchers, but it also might be a sneak peak at the future of the Internet.

'Smart Planet': Age of Sensors & Structured Data
If life in the past few decades has been forever altered by complex microprocessor chips, the next century could see the same social disruption via simple, low cost networked sensors and 'embedded objects' that mirror a digital signal of our analog world. But making this disconnected data relevant is a challenge.

The 'Planetary Skin' platform [video] will stitch together 'petabytes' of unstructured data collected by sensors (land, sea, air, space) reporting on changing environmental conditions. The platform will also allow for 'streamlining of decision making' and 'collaborative swarming' on analysis of relevant data. The project's first layer, “Rainforest Skin,” will be prototyped during 2009.

Good for NASA, Great for Cisco, and Wonderful for 'Mirror World' Metaverse Enthusiasts
The benefits to NASA and Planetary system researchers is clear. Forget about Facebook, these scientists are looking for a functional digital research simulation 'Mirror World' (as envisioned by David Gelertner).

Meanwhile, Cisco is working diligently to make itself the most relevant web company in the next era of Internet architecture where collaboration, video, 3D simulations and structured data change the nature of our interactions. 'Planetary Skin' might be Cisco Systems under the radar, but out in the open effort of essentially building its own Internet of Tomorrow.

Category: Metaverse
Year: General
Tags: energy, environment, simulation, 3d, nasa, cisco, virtual, worlds

Yucca Mountain Nuclear Storage on Ice. Now What?

joelg — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:50:04 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

The Obama administration recently announced their proposed budget with an interesting nuclear wrinkle: they are no longer funding Yucca Mountain, the underground repository for nuclear wastes in Nevada, 90 miles Northwest of Las Vegas. "Unfunding" effectively kills the project. Supporters view Yucca Mountain as a reasonable solution to storing nuclear waste for the long term. Critics call it a boondoggle based upon flawed science.

Nuclear waste is a byproduct of generating electricity in the 104 nuclear reactors currently running in the US. It's highly toxic with some elements remaining dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. It's currently being stored on-site at each reactor, which are running out of room to store the waste. While Yucca Mountain had room for the existing waste from these 104 reactors, it did not have room for the future waste from the reactors that are now planned as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which has kicked off a renaissance of nuclear power in the US after 30 years of dormancy.

Surprised?

"No," says Dr. Mike Kotschenreuther, a senior research scientist at the Institute for Fusion Studies at the University of Texas, "We've known that President Obama said he was going to discontinue Yucca Mountain for some time. We're still going to need a solution to nuclear waste, even if Yucca Mountain is no longer a viable project, so we've been doing our best to come up with a solution."

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: nuclear, energy, fussion, fission, hybrid, reactor

Boston College Researchers Demonstrate Titanium Nanostructure for Electron Hydrogen Production

Garry Golden — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:33:11 -0500

Titanium 'Nanostructures' - Electrons & Hydrogen
Boston College researchers have demonstrated a novel titanium nanostructure with expanded surface area for greater efficiency in the transport of electrons that could be tapped to split water to store solar energy in the form of hydrogen.

The team led by Professor Dunwei Wang will continue to improve overall efficiencies, but there is no doubt that they have advanced the 'relatively new science of water splitting' using semiconductor catalysts to separate and store hydrogen and oxygen.

The 'nanostructure' combined titanium disilicide (TiSi2) to absorb a wider spectrum of solar light, with a coating of titanium dioxide which is known to split water using ultraviolet light.

"The current challenge in splitting water involves how best to capture photons within the semiconductor material and then grab and transport them to produce hydrogen," Wang says. "For practical water splitting, you want to generate oxygen and hydrogen separately. For this, good electrical conductivity is of great importance because it allows you to collect electrons in the oxygen-generation region and transport them to the hydrogen-generation chamber for hydrogen production."

Why Nanoscale Matters: Remembering this is a Transition, not a Crisis
I think it is important to recognize that we have not run out of options in creating and storing clean forms of energy. It's just that the old set of solutions cannot get us to to where we need to go!

We don't need to go to the mall. Trying to appeal to consumers to 'buy green' will not get us there. It is a superficial strategy that falls flat against global realities of expanding demand for energy.

We don't need to go to oil and coal fields. Continuing to extract energy from the Earth won't get us there. We are seeing limits to growth with conventional oil production, leaving only carbon heavy alternatives.

Where we need to go is down to the molecular ('nano') level of energy interactions, and then reimagine new ways to capture and store energy based on a new understanding of what is really happening!

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, electricity, fuelcells, capacitors, batteries, hydrogen, solar, titanium

Welcome to the Age of Energy 'Packets', Viaspace Delivers Methanol Fuel Cell Cartridges to Samsung

Garry Golden — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:53:08 -0500

VIASPACE's fuel cell subsidiary Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation (DMFCC) will deliver disposable methanol fuel cartridges to Samsung for integration into portable electronics like notebook computers, mobile phones and small portable power stations.

The agreement is an early indicator of a new category for the energy sector based on a simple, but disruptive alternative to 'plugging in' - Refillable Packets sold over retail shelves that offer a real cost and performance alternative to the grid.

The Disruptive Power of High Density Storage
Electron Economy via 'Streams vs Packets'
In the years ahead, we could see the emergence of a new form of 'packet' based energy distribution that could undercut the grid's last mile, and the notion of 'plugging in' objects to a wall socket connected to a 'stream' of electricity.

The future of electricity depends on chemical storage. Batteries require us to 'plug in' and recharge. Fuel cells keep the 'fuel' (e.g. hydrogen/methanol) and oxidant separate offering a 'refill' platform. One is a storage device dependent on the wall socket, the other is its own 'power plant' that requires businesses to supply 'fuel' rather than direct access to the grid.

High density refillable packets based on advanced chemical storage (e.g. methanol, solid hydrogen) represent a classic 'low end disruption' strategy popularized by Clayton Christensen.

Instead of massive market populations around the world waiting for the electrical grid to arrive via a wall socket, why not sell them power packs next to bars of soap at the retail level. Imagine disposable batteries on steroids.

It is a simple but disruptive idea to the notion of end point grid access. What if Walmart could sell you a 20-pack of energy cartridges to fuel all of your home appliances and gadgets? Or electric vehicles (via solid hydrogen bricks)?

Why push for energy Packets?
Learn from 'Streams' of Water vs 'Packets' of Bottled Water

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, fuel, cells, fuelcells, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, methanol, mofs

[Video] CNN Reporters Clueless to Biological Origins of Oil, Time For An Energy 101 Literacy Campaign

Garry Golden — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:21:20 -0500

[Ok, this is a snarky post, but I'm leaving it up. It seems reasonable to assume that CNN would have a Producer, Writer or Intern make a stronger connection between 'hydrocarbons' like coal and oil that originated from biomass (plants and diatoms). Instead CNN frames algae like a space alien recipe.]

Gas 2.0 writer Nick Chambers has featured a CNN video clip of baffled reporters who 'have just discovered algae' based energy systems via a look at Origin Oil's helix bioreactor.

The CNN correspondents are clueless to the biological origins of oil and the basics of energy science- namely that everytime we drive our car we are breaking apart hydrogen-carbon bonds formed by ancient algae. So tapping the power of algae to bind molecules for energy feedstocks is not 'science fiction', it is Mother Nature.

[Peaking in snarky tone right there...] The clip shows how disconnected we are from understanding even the basics of energy systems and where energy comes from. (It's scary how many people I meet that still think 'fossil fuels' are ancient dinosaurs.) And it is not a surprise that shallow 'consuming green' strategies dominate public conversations, despite falling flat in terms of offering global solutions.

Could we get science back into the conversaton? How about teaching our children and news reporters the most basic '101' energy science. Oil is not pixie dust, it comes from somewhere.

CNN should educate its reporter on what they fill up in their gas tank. Because it's ancient algae.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen, biomaterials, greenchemistry, green, chemistry, cnn

Japanese Researchers Advance High Surface Area MOFs For Biofuels and Solid Hydrogen Storage

Garry Golden — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:49:08 -0500

Researchers from RIKEN’s Harima Institute have designed a unique version of a high surface area material known as Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs). Their version of these ‘lego-like’ scaffolding have two different size pores useful in manipulating metals to interact with carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules.

The larger pores could be helpful in separating alcohol gases from water in creation of fuels from biomass, while the smaller pores can be used to store hydrogen as a solid.

We have featured a number of stories (below) on MOFs, and believe they are on a solid development path towards commercialization in a wide range of energy applications.

First synthesized in the mid 1990s, MOFs have the highest surface area of any known material. They can be used for 'separating (carbon-hydrogen rich) gases, acting as catalysts to speed up chemical reactions, and for storing gases as solids.'

The future of energy will be based on our mastering of interactions between basic units like light, molecules, and metals. MOFs provide human beings with a platform of unprecedented surface area that increase our ability to manipulate these interactions. They might play a critical role in enabling a new era of energy systems that go beyond 'extraction' of hydrocarbon reserves.

Why Science, Not Consumerism, is Needed to Move beyond the ‘Extraction’ Era of Energy

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, mofs, mof, hydrogen, carbon, biofuels, electricity, chemistry, transportation, gases

General Motors Can Still Reinvent the Auto Industry

Garry Golden — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:36:45 -0500

Vision: Skateboard = 21st Platform for Mobility
Last week, GM announced $30.9 billion loses in 2008, yet it hasn't lost its 'Autonomy' vision of re-engineering how cars are built via modular components and its ability to grow new revenue streams around 'after market' upgrades and mobility services (e.g. OnStar).

The catch?

It needs a decade or two to make it happen!

21st Century Growth Platforms
Growth has nothing to do with moving beyond oil, or finding better ways to sell 'new' cars. In fact, we must get over this notion of a 'new' car industry model. What other industry manufactures a $20,000-60,000 product without a pre-arranged buyer?

Growth has everything to do with:

1) Reducing 'Manufacturing Footprint'
Lowering costs by moving beyond the combustion engine manufacturing platform towards modular electric drive trains powered by the integration of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

2) Software Services & After Market
Shifting revenues towards the software-service side of the driving experience, and physical 'after market' design upgrades. GM should profit 'per mile', not 'per vehicle'. Dealerships need customers that buy some new upgrade every month, not one vehicle every few years.

3) Rebranding as a Mobility Service Company
Why should GM be limited to a brand for personal vehicle ownership? Develop new categories of mobilty products (e.g. personal urban vehicles). Integrate products and services into a broader 'mobility services' sector that blends private and public transit options. (Realize you aren't in the 'new car' business, but in mobility services)

Many of GM's leaders like Sr VP Larry Burns, (Mr. 'Skateboard kills Car') understand this new reality, and I wish they'd be more public about a new vision for mobility and jumpstart this multi-decade long transition. I'm not talking about an 'ad campaign', but a clearly stated vision that inspires the next generation of mobility industry entrepreneurs.

Fixated on Building better 'Buggy Whips' (and Related Posts)

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells, fuelcells, cars

Sony unveils new micro fuel cell products for portable power solutions

Garry Golden — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:55:57 -0500

Sony product managers must be loving the blogosphere buzz around its demonstration of three unique fuel cell products at Japan's 5th Annual Hydrogen and Fuel cell Expo.

Geek.com has a nice snapshot of the three fuel cell models including a hybrid lithium ion battery charger.

Many 'gadget' bloggers love to hate fuel cells because of missed 'hype' expectations. But the appeal of hydrogen's 'clean molecules' is hard to escape. And business leaders with foresight see a nice path to growth around micro-fuel cells and packet-based refueling sales.

Ironically the first commercial applications for micro fuel cells are likely to be 'battery rechargers'! A number of startups have early products already on the market, and analysts expect Toshiba to release its first generation product this year.

Portable Power Systems: Enabling a 21st Century Energy Solution

Category: Technology
Year: General
Tags: energy, fuel, cells, fuelcells, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, methanol

Canadian Researchers Advance Key Enabling 'Green Chemistry' Process, Then Open Source It For the World

Garry Golden — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:47:25 -0500

The vision of 'Green Chemisty' is to create the basic components used in making materials, energy, food and pharmaceuticals using sustainable practices, often without the use of petroleum based feedstocks.

Researchers from McGilll University have announced a breakthrough in a key enabling building block technology for 'green chemistry' that could not previously be explained by 'classical chemistry'.

The team led by Chemistry professor Chao-Jun (C.J.) Li discovered an entirely new way of synthesizing peptides by using simple reagents that will enable a lower cost method for building larger molecules.

Peptides are short polymer chains that Mother Nature uses as a foundation for building proteins and other bio-materials.

Creating a Simple, Low Cost Process
“Currently, to generate peptides you must use a peptide synthesizer, an expensive piece of high-tech equipment,” explained Li, Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry. “You need to purchase every single separate amino acid unit that makes up the peptide, and feed them into the machine one by one, which then assembles them. Every time you need a new peptide, you need to synthesize it individually from scratch.”

The team's process is based on 'a single, simple “skeleton” peptide which can be modified into any other peptide needed with the addition of a simple reagent.'

Open Innovation, Access to All
Not only has the team announced the process breakthrough, but it is taking the high road to advancing global efforts by opening the information to anyone.

“This is really an enabling new technology,” he added, “and since McGill has decided not to patent it, we’re making our method available to everyone. We are paying the journal’s open access fee, so anyone in the world can access the paper.”

Related Green Chemistry Posts:

Category: Biotechnology
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen, biomaterials, greenchemistry, green, chemistry

Algae startup Bionavitas unveils Light Immersion Technology

Garry Golden — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:15:47 -0500

Bioenergy startup Bionavitas [Video] has unveiled a new lighting system, designed for both open pond and closed bioreactors, that the company believes could make algae-based biofuels price competitive with petroleum products.

Why algae?
The premise of Algae bioenergy is elegant and transformational in our effort to close the carbon loop. To understand the future of algae, you have to understand the past.

Oil is just chemical energy stored in the form of hydrogen-carbon bonds that were assembled by ancient sea-living microbes. So, oil is the result of ancient algae growth!

But instead of extracting reserves of oil, we can 'grow energy' using efficient biochemical pathways of algae (and bacteria) that eat carbon and, then using the power of light, bind it with hydrogen to produce bio-oil that can be used as a source of energy or as a feedstock for biomaterials.

But in order to scale algae production, we need to solve a few problems including adequate lighting.

Let there be Light
The Bionavitas Light Immersion Technology addresses one of the main barriers to scaling algae systems- giving the rapidly growing algae enough light to keep eating carbon and producing hydrocarbon chains. As the algae grow, they block the light of the fellow neighbors. Bionavitas hopes to bring 'photons to biomass' through an innovative lighting system.

Within open pond systems, the Light Immersion Technology enables 'the algae growth layer in open ponds to be up to a meter deep... representing a 10 to 12 time increase in yield over previous methods that produced only 3-5 centimeters of growth.'

For closed bioreactors 'the rods evenly distribute more readily absorbed red and blue spectrum light from high efficiency LEDs.'

Related algae posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Dow & Global Solar Continue Push For Distributed Power Generation Around Roof Shingle Solar Cells

Garry Golden — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:08:00 -0500

The future where buildings integrate energy generation systems like 'thin film' solar rooftops might be closer than you think.

Instead of designing expensive, bulky and ugly glass based solar panels, solar start ups are pushing down costs of plastic-substrate based 'thin film' solar cells that resemble today's roof shingles. The field also includes 'Big Chemistry' players like Dow and DuPont who hope to drop the costs of advanced solar materials.

PV Tech is reporting on the continued push by Dow Chemical to expand mainstream construction use power-generating roof shingles by 2011. Dow has already committed more than $3 billion towards polysilicon production that will help lower the global costs of solar cells.

One of Dow's key partnerships is with CIGS solar producer Global Solar (Image). The two companies agreed in 2008 to join the US Department of Energy Solar America Initiative (SAI) project to develop building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) that makes solar energy cost competitive with 'grid' electricity by 2015.

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: energy, solar, electricity, photovoltaics, thinfilm, thin, film

Growing Recognition of Peak Oil Production Could Accelerate Death of Combustion Engine

Garry Golden — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:56:00 -0500

[Note: Sadly, this is a Production chart focused on alternative 'decline rates', and does not include Global Demand forecasts. Only know that there is a gap in any scenario!]

The upside of 'Peak Oil Production' is that it might be a more effective message than Climate Change in spurring dramatic changes to our transportation sector. The worst case 'peak production' scenario is that it might remain marginalized among mainstream audiences and political leaders just long enough to really matter. What if confusion reigns?

People might confuse the idea of 'running out of oil' (not true) with the reality that global production is not keeping up with increasing demand. People might place misguided hope into potential 'solutions' like solar or nuclear that have nothing to do with liquid fuel markets. You cannot put electricity into a gas tank!

Why Data Has Replaced 'Assumptions' & Why 'Peak and Plateau' Matters

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, oil, peakoil, peak, electricity, hydrogen

Northwestern Researchers Develop Novel Membrane for Hydrogen CO2 Separation

Garry Golden — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:29:00 -0500

Researchers from Northwestern University have developed a new class of ‘honeycomb’ gas separation materials to purify hydrogen rich mixtures like methane (natural gas) for generating electricity via fuel cells.

Traditional methods of gas separation use selective membranes that grab molecules by size. But Northwestern's Professor Mercouri G. Kanatzidis and Gerasimos S. Armatas are using a method of polarization. As the gas mixture of (carbon dioxide and hydrogen) travels through the inner walls of the ‘mesopourous’ membrane, the carbon dioxide (CO2) molecules are slowed down and pulled towards the wall as the hydrogen molecules pass through the holes.

One type of membrane consisting of heavy elements germanium, lead and tellurium showed to be approximately four times more selective at separating hydrogen than traditional methods using lighter elements such as silicon, oxygen and carbon. The process is reported to work at “convenient temperature range” -- between zero degrees Celsius and room temperature.

“We are taking advantage of what we call ‘soft’ atoms, which form the membrane’s walls,” said Kanatzidis. “These soft-wall atoms like to interact with other soft molecules passing by, slowing them down as they pass through the membrane. Hydrogen, the smallest element, is a ‘hard’ molecule. It zips right through while softer molecules, like carbon dioxide and methane take more time.”

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, hydrogen, electricity, nanotechnology, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, electrons

England, the Birthplace of Coal Power, Will Build Europe's First Gasification Plant

Garry Golden — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:39:00 -0500

England, the Birthplace of Coal Power and the Industrial Revolution, will now build Europe's first advanced coal power generation plant based on a gasification process that should provide 90 percent overall carbon capture.

Honeywell's UOP has been awarded a contract by UK-based Powerfuel Power Ltd. to construct a 900 MW plant that transforms coal into a much cleaner syngas which is used to generate electricity.

The UOP Selexol(TM) process technology allows the operator to capture carbon (sulfur, et al) during the process of creating the hydrogen-rich syngas.

The Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant will be built adjacent to the Hatfield coal mining operation (picture) and should start operation in 2013.

Finding a way to talk about Coal
Coal is not the future of energy, but it has a future. In recent years it has been the world's fastest growing source of energy, and is likely to gain market share in the years ahead even as renewables grow faster. We cannot just wish it away and there are no easy, short term solutions that satisfy either side of the coal conversation.

If 'Clean Coal' is not possible, then 'Cleaner' coal might be the middle ground. Some engineers are betting on shoving carbon into the ground, and construction of future gasification plants. Other biologists are betting that we can retrofit existing plants with bioreactors of algae/bacteria that 'eat' carbon and produce a usuable hydrocarbon fuel that can be used onsite to generate electricity, or sold as a liquid fuel of biomaterial feedstock.

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: energy, coal, electricity, cleancoal, algae, bacteria

China Expanding Global Energy & Raw Resource Deals- Preparing for 2010 Recovery? or Next Century?

Garry Golden — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:47:00 -0500

While the world stumbles through this economic recession, China is not sleeping, it is spending.

Its future success depends on very old world thinking about power and economic growth.

The world economy does not grow only because of digital bytes. Molecules, metals and minerals still matter!

China understands this reality and is taking full advantage of the economic downturn by paying low prices for access and control to much of the world's raw resources.

In the past month, China has made major moves on the global stage including:

- Potential $10 billion funding of Brazil's deepwater reserves via Petrobras
- Adding pressure to negotiate favorable iron ore prices (for steel production) with Rio Tinto, and potential $2 billion investment in Australia's Fortescue Metals Group
- $25 billion deal with Russia's Rosneft for crude oil access via a East Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline by 2011
- Talks with General Electric on carbon gas reduction technologies to address its growth in coal emissions
- A signed a memorandum between Ukraine's Chernomornaftogaz and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to build a gas pipeline toward the Odessa gas deposit off the Black Sea
- Negotiating Chinese vehicles to be built inside Mexico
- China is also addressing domestic water issues with an effort to decouple water use and GDP as it faces shortages in the years ahead.
- Working with Ecuador to provide funding on a new hydroelectric plant as a diplomatic effort to gain access to other resources in the region.

Category: Economics
Year: General

BP Forms Joint Venture with Verenium to Advance Cellulosic Ethanol

Garry Golden — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:17:00 -0500

BP has announced a 50-50 joint venture with Verenium to develop and commercialize cellulosic ethanol from non-food feedstocks.

The companies have committed $45 million in funding and assets to progress the development of one of the nation's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, located in Highlands County, Florida.

Yes, it will take years to scale up cellulosic (and algae) energy systems, but the pace of breakthroughs and production focused investments remains one of the most compelling stories emerging in the energy sector.

The Real Transition:
Growing Energy by Closing the Carbon Loop
The law of conservation of energy states that energy may neither be created nor destroyed. But the real question for those exploring the futures of energy is: Will our economy continue to be based on energy that is 'borrowed and wasted' or 'created and recycled'?

We shifted from an Agricultural to Industrial society, by tapping 'stored energy' locked up in the chemical carbon-hydrogen bonds of coal, oil and natural gas. And this system is shamefully inefficient at every level from electric power generation to the mechanical engines that power our transportation sector.

If the Industrial Age was based on a high value energy 'input', low value energy 'output' (waste), the 21st century could be shaped by our efforts to close the loop of chemical energy cycles using biology (chemistry, et al) to return to a high value energy product from that waste.

Looking at Biology is an Energy Tool

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Rocky Mountain Institute Report and Interactive Map Highlight Electricity Sector Inefficiencies

Garry Golden — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:32:00 -0500

Efficiency is widely considered the 'low hanging fruit' for improving the energy sector.

And while it is tempting to seek out gains via some mass market consumer push with hybrids and new lightbulbs, the greatest near term returns are to be found within the utility sector (electricity power generation) and among power hungry industrial clients.

Rocky Mountain Institute's consulting arm RMI ERT has identified US opportunities to 'close the electric productivity gap' around tremendous cost and carbon savings.

To suport this vision of a more efficient power generation sector, RMI has released a new report: Assessing the Electric Productivity Gap and the U.S. Efficiency Opportunity [PDF] and an interactive map that ranks every state in the the US.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, electricity, efficiency, smartgrid

Energy Startup to Watch: Carbon Sciences (Biocatalyst to 'grow' fuels)

Garry Golden — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:19:00 -0500

Fortune may favor those who see carbon as a resource for making things, and not the demise of human civilization.

Carbon Sciences (Santa Barbara, CA) is another company focused on 'growing energy' using bio-derived conversion processes. It is betting its future on bioenergy systems patterned from Mother Nature: Harness and 'protect' the 'biocatalysts' (enzymes) that have molecular pathways designed to eat carbon dioxide (CO2), bind it with hydrogen to form liquid hydrocarbons. Just like oil!

The biofuel can be blown up in a combustion engine, converted into electricity via a fuel cell, or used to create bio-plastics. It will take a few years for CS to move from its March '09 demonstration to pilot to full scale production as they confront the challenges shared by all bioenergy startups: lowering costs, improving reliability and scaling. Let's not hype these advanced bio energy companies, but if society is going to invest in an energy system that has true disruptive potential - biology provides a compelling platform. We should be paying attention to startups like Carbon Sciences.

Video clip from MoneyTV with new President, Byron Elton

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

[Video] Google Power Meter translates energy into information flows

Garry Golden — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:34:00 -0500

One of the great efficiency opportunities for the next century is based on the convergence of information and energy flows. The notion of a 'smart grid' is a more reliable and efficient energy web based on the integration of software, sensors and energy storage.

There are dozens of 'smart grid' infrastructure startups that service utility companies, as well as more commercial/industrial efforts being pushed by IBM, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, and Cisco.

And for those homes with 'Smart Meters' or Smart Devices, solutions are coming online quickly. Google has now thrown its hat into the ring around the basic idea: 'if you can measure it, you can improve it'. The Google Power Meter is a software tool integrated into smart meters that helps consumers better understand how they use energy in order to reduce their costs and consumption. Google is a big name, in an expanding space of 'smart energy' startups, like Sentilla and REGEN, who are trying to build demand in the residential market.

Related Smart Grid posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, smartgrid, grid, electricity, obama, ibm, cisco, hydrogen, storage, sensors

Clinton Foundation to fund LED Street Lamps for City of Los Angeles

Garry Golden — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:33:00 -0500

The Clinton Foundation has announced a plan to help the City of Los Angeles retrofit 140,000 street lamps with more efficient white-light LEDs that offer longer lifetime, lower energy use and less 'light polllution' that restricts night sky views.

The Outdoor Lighting Program of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) will be the largest LED street lighting retrofit project ever undertaken by a city to date. The City expects to reduce its electricity use by approximately 40,500 tons a year equal to taking '6,700 passenger vehicles off the road every year.' The Foundation expects the city to save save a total of $48 million over a seven year period, and reduce carbon emissions by 197,000 tons.

A National Model for Saving Electricity & Night Sky Views?

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, electricity, lighting

Researchers design nano-crystals for high efficiency solar cells

Garry Golden — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:27:00 -0500

Researchers at US Los Alamos National Laboratory (LLNL) have confirmed a unique energy phenomena known as 'carrier multiplication' via nanoscale sized semiconductor crystals that could improve the efficiency of solar cells by squeezing more energy out of inbound photons.

Traditional solar cells absorb a photon of light that releases an electron to generate an electrical current. Any excess energy from the photon reaction is wasted as heat or vibration. The notion of 'carrier multiplciation' rests on the idea that we can get multiple electrons released from a single photon by forcing electrons into a more confined space.

Carrier multiplication was observed several years ago, but has been criticized as a phantom phenomena via a process known as 'photoionization'. But now a research team led by Victor Klimov has confirmed that semiconductor crystals designed at the nanoscale (billionth of a meter) can channel this excess photon energy into a group of tightly packed electrons, leading to a more efficient solar cell.

The team did not release statements about commercialization or scalable efficiencies. “Researchers still have a lot of work to do,” Klimov cautioned. “One important challenge is to figure out how to design a material in which the energetic cost to create an extra electron can approach the limit defined by a semiconductor band gap. Such a material could raise the fundamental power conversion limit of a solar cell from 31 percent to above 40 percent.”

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, solar, electricity, photovoltaics, thinfilm

IEA Warns: Oil 'Supply Crunch' Will Return

Garry Golden — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:11:00 -0500

Oil Supply Crunch ahead
The world's leading authority on oil markets is warning that these days of cheap ($40 barrel) oil are just a mirage and that the world is likely to experience 'an oil supply crunch' next year (2010) as markets begin to recover.

Reuters reports on IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka describing a potential short-term reality: "Currently the demand is very low due to the very bad economic situation, but when the economy starts growing, recovery comes again in 2010 and then onward, we may have another serious supply crunch if capital investment is not coming."

The Real Problem with Oil - No Alternative
Oil's biggest problem is 'lack of substiitutability'. There is no other 'reserve' of liquid fuel that can compare to the energy locked up inside the hydrogen-carbon bonds of oil.

If we talk about using oil as gasoline for the transportation sector there is no commercially viable alternative that offers the same volume and performance. Even 'Next Generation' biofuels from algae and cellulose-eating bacteria cannot provide the scale to fill even a tiny gap in global oil production vs demand.

People who push 'solar', 'wind' or 'nuclear' (which produce electricity) as an 'alternative to oil' simply do not understand the combustion engine. You cannot put electricity inside your gas tank. We must either produce massive amounts of liquid fuel substitutes, or take a bolder step to kill the combustion engine.

Is the world ready to confront the real problem? The Combustion Engine

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: energy, oil, hydrocarbon, coal, carbon, hydrogen, bioenergy

Japanese researchers create synthetic plug to link 'bio' system to gold electrode for solar energy capture

Garry Golden — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:00:00 -0500

The most disruptive energy technologies of the 21st century might not exist today. They must be imagined and built.

Researchers are still working to evolve the basic science and applied engineering capacity to deliver low carbon solutions that can meet a doubling of global demand in the next three decades.

Bio-Synthetic Hybrids
One area of cutting edge research deals with the integration of naturally occurring (or patterned) biocomponents into synthetic systems used in devices like solar cells and fuel cells.

The vision is to build hybrids that blend what 'nature has perfected' at the molecular scale, with human engineering designs at an industrial scale.

While modern solar cells struggle for low cost efficiency, plants and microbes have figured out a way to capture sunlight and store it as chemical energy at almost near perfect molecular efficiency where each photon causes the release of one electron. How? Because the parts in the photo-receptor systems fit perfectly. Researchers are now looking to create bio-hybrid systems that could inspire new forms of solar collectors.

Japanese researchers have now developed a new process to capture light energy with nearly equal efficiency by creating a synthetic molecular wire "plug" that transfers electrons from a biological photosynthetic system to a gold electrode. (Details here!) There are no details about efficiency rates or how this system could scale, but it is a promising step forward!

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

10 Future-focused Ideas for Obama's 'Car Czar', Imagining Life After the Combustion Engine

Garry Golden — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:20:00 -0500

President Obama is close to naming the ‘Car Czar’ who will oversee a large portion of the federal auto loans and consult on the looming transformation of the US auto industry. Let's hope this person doesn't try to build a better buggy whip.

Most ideas out on the table are incremental (e.g. ‘better mileage’), or short-sighted (e.g. plug in batteries?) and fail to inspire disruptive changes that reflect a 21st century version of the transportation sector.

Here are Ten Ideas for the US Car Czar:

1) Lower the US Auto Industry I.C.E. 'Manufacturing Footprint'
The problem isn't oil, it's the cost complexities of building mechanical engines. Declare the Internal Combustion Engine ‘Dead’ by 2025 (When more than 50% of new vehicles will be powered by electric motors) Have automakers share combustion engine plants and suppliers during the transition.

2) Accelerate the Electricification of the World's Auto Fleet
At the same time expand the US manufacturing base around the 'next' generation platform for mobility: Electric Drive systems based on high performance motors, drive by wire systems, software and various energy storage devices.

3) Explain ‘Electrification’ clearly to the public
‘Electric’ refers to the motor, not just the battery. Next generation 'electric' vehicles will integrate batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. Fuel cells produce electricity. A hydrogen powered car is an electric car. Let’s stop the confusion and battle between technologies. Cars are not iPods, and will need various systems to function. This is a multi-decade long transition. Don't pick short-term winners.

4) Go Global - Expand our ties to Asian Manufacturers & Markets
Electric cars are not designed to be built as one unit, in one country. They are assembled systems of systems that can be constantly upgraded via a global value chain. The line of 'new' car vs 'old' car blurs when we shift to modular electric platforms. And all the real growth will happen outside of the US! 'Detroit' must participate in this global supply chain and be in a position to sell 21st century vehicle systems to Asian markets. (Hint: The high value auto industrial base will revolve around polymers, software and sensors, not metal frames.)

5) Software Side of Car Experience
The single greatest opportunity for the next century might be the ‘software’ side of the automobile experience. Smarter vehicles embedded with sensors and ‘situation awareness’ systems, customized driving experiences based on ‘drive by wire’, and mobility services (e.g. OnStar). The US can compete in this new growth market and benefit by getting 'more flow' out of our current roadway system as we make drivers and cars smarter. (PS - Mass Transit could use some software to create service transparency)

Read on:
6) Build next generation energy systems; 7) Reinvent the Wheel; 8) Fleet only for Plug-ins; 9) Shift Revenue streams to After Market 10) New 'types' of vehicle & service

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells

'One Pot' cocktail of enzymes produces hydrogen from cellulose

Garry Golden — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:13:00 -0500

Our economy grows because it captures stored energy released from the chemical bonds in fossil fuels formed by ancient plants and microbes that became coal and oil.

Our power plants produce electricity by breaking up carbon-hydrogen chains from coal and natural gas, and our cars blow up ancient microbes that we call 'oil'.

The value of a 'fuel' is based on its hydrogen to carbon ratio. The more hydrogen, the cleaner and better the fuel.

Yes, it's confusing, but also very important for everyone to understand where we 'extract' energy from: chemical bonds.

An Era of Clean Electrons, Clean Molecules
In addition to generating electricity via renewables (et al), a central piece of our 21st century energy strategy is to reduce the amount of carbon and increase the percentage of hydrogen to hydrogen bonds (e.g. 'Cleaner molecules' that store energy) that drive our economy.

One alternative to fossil fuels, is the use of biomass waste materials that contain hydrogen molecules that can be freed (via biological enzymes) to be used in fuel cells to produce electricity.

An Elegant One Pot' Solution
Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Georgia have produced hydrogen gas by mixing 14 enzymes, one coenzyme, cellulosic materials from nonfood sources, and water heated to about 90 degrees (32 C).

The researchers' novel combination of enzymes could equal natural hydrogen fermentation, and a chemical energy output greater than the chemical energy stored in sugars – the highest hydrogen yield reported from cellulosic materials.

Low Temperature: 'Prometheus Stealing Fire" (Continue)

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Forget about algae? Wisconsin researchers turn raw biomass into biofuels via two step chemistry

Garry Golden — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:54:00 -0500

Bioenergy visionaries with algae and bacteria aren't the only players in town trying to corner the market on the 'future of biofuels'. We cannot forget the Chemists.

Biofuels are expanding along two paths- one is based on chemical engineering, the other on biological processes.

Chemistry vs Biology
We can create biofuels by applying chemical engineering processes (e.g. ethanol via fermentation, or biodiesel via transesterfication) with high reliability and scale, but usually at a high cost.

Or we can let Mother Nature do the work. Biology taps the power of algae and bacteria that contain special enzymes that reorganize molecules into a format that can be used to make biofuels, or converted into electricity via a fuel cell.

Biology could offer lower cost and turn carbon emissions into a feedstock, but first we must overcome challenges of scaling up volume production, and the unpredictable nature of biomolecular systems.

Wisconsin Focuses on Path of Chemistry
For now, chemical conversion is the more immediate opportunity and fits within the current paradigm of processing energy and materials feedstocks. And engineers are working to overcome the challenges to reduce the number of steps, and facilitate reactions at a lower temperature with non-toxic, abundant resources.

Now scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a two-step method to convert cellulose into a biofuel called DMF. Professor Ronald Raines and graduate student Joseph Binder highlight the two step process: First, they convert the cellulose of untreated biomass into the "platform" chemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) which is used in 'a variety of valuable commodity chemicals'. Generally HMF is made using processed glucose or fructose rather than raw biomass.

Step Two: Creating a New Biofuel with Gasoline Qualities

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae, chemistry

Sandia Labs - General Motors Study: 75 Billion Gallons of Cellulosic Biofuel is Possible By 2030

Garry Golden — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:29:00 -0500

A joint study by Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors speculates that non-food crop resources (with help from corn) 'could sustainably replace nearly a third of US gasoline use by the year 2030.'

The 90 Billion Gallon Study [PDF], which focused only on starch-based and cellulosic ethanol, found that an increase to 90 billion gallons of ethanol could be sustainably achieved by 2030 within real-world economic and environmental parameters 'assuming technical and scientific progress continues at expected rates.'

The Study assumes 75 billion gallons would be ethanol made from nonfood cellulosic feedstocks and 15 billion gallons from corn-based ethanol.

The set of non-food crop resources explored include: agricultural residue, such as corn stover and wheat straw; forest residue; dedicated energy crops, including switchgrass; and short rotation woody crops, such as willow and poplar trees. Competitive pricing models include costs of producing, harvesting, storing and transporting these sources to newly built biorefineries.

Not forgetting the real problem: The Combustion Engine
Tapping biological pathways to capture carbon and create usable forms of energy is a good idea. But we must not lose site of the real problem: our dependency on the combustion engine and its requirement for liquid fuels. Energy industry pundits are always quick to raise the problem with the oil market's lack of substitutability.

As long as the combustion engine lives we cannot put electrons from solar, wind or nuclear inside the gas tank. It might not be the 'end game', but next generation biofuels are the only viable substitute liquid fuels on our our horizon.

Key Findings include:

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae

Brookings Institute proposes new R&D framework with Energy Discovery-Innovation Institutes

Garry Golden — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:33:00 -0500

The Brookings Institute has released a report: "Energy Discovery-Innovation Institutes:
A Step Towards America's Energy Sustainability"[PDF] that proposes a new structure for innovation around a national network of regionally based energy Discovery-Innovation Institutes (e-DIIs) 'to serve as the hubs of a distributed research network linking the nation’s best scientists, engineers, and facilities.'

Committing Ourselves to Enabling Disruptive Science & Technologies
Given the dynamics of the global energy sector we can expect that nothing is going to change quickly, but when changes do happen - they could be potentially disruptive to how we produce, store and distributed energy.

Incremental solutions are not going to solve US or Global energy and environmental challenges. We must enable disruptive science and technologies that can 'do more with less' in fundamentally new ways. While we cannot pick winners, it is clear that the cross-disciplinary nature of science at the nanoscale will be paramount in all areas of energy from making hydrocarbons cleaner, lowering the costs of renewables, scaling up next generation bioenergy solutions, managing 'smarter grids', and creating storage solutions. Maybe a new framework for research collaboration is what we need to enable the 'new energy economy'!

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, policy, politics, nanoscale

Major step forward in non-platinum, carbon nanotube based catalyst for fuel cells

Garry Golden — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:09:00 -0500

Becoming 'energy efficient' goes far beyond changing light bulbs. Our greatest gains will come from moving beyond today's 'combustion' energy systems that burn fuels in large power plants and under our hoods.

Central to this 'post-combustion era' strategy is the fuel cell- which converts chemical energy of hydrogen or hydrogen rich fuels (e.g. natural gas, methanol) into electrical energy. Fuel cells are modular, have no moving parts, offer higher efficiencies, lower maintenance and are ideal for distributed applications.

One of the major roadblocks has been the high costs of platinum catalysts that are peppered on fuel cell membranes (MEAs). To scale up in the decades ahead, fuel cell researchers need to find non-precious metal catalysts.

Can Carbon outperform Platinum?
Now a research team from the University of Dayton has found a way to create a carbon nanotube based catalyst that might outperform platinum and dramatically drop the costs of fuel cells.

Shape helps speed up reactions
The research team, led by Dr Liming Dai, synthesized carbon nanotubes using an iron base and doped nitrogen particles to change the shape (and properties) of the nanotube cathode, resulting in a faster reaction / higher efficiency.

New Scientist reports Dai's claim that "They are even better than platinum, long regarded as the best catalyst," as they avoid problems with carbon 'poisoning' that leads to lower performance.

We have written extensively on the disruptive role of nanoscale science and engineering in all energy applications (old and new), and the importance of 'shape' in determining molecular system performance in catalysis. We cannot simply extrapolate our assumptions of what is possible or impossible with carbon or hydrogen based on a microscale era of scientific knowledge.

Giving Carbon a New Image
(Nanotubes, Nanoparticles & Graphene Sheets)

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, fuel, cells, fuelcells, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, methanol, carbon, nanoscale, nanotubes

Low temperature combustion could double diesel efficiencies, but manufacturing problems remain

Garry Golden — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:52:00 -0500

I see efforts to improve combustion engines as trying to 'build a better buggy whip' in an era of 'diminishing returns' on mechanical heat engine innovations.

The problem is not their efficiencies, rather it is the manufacturing costs and complexities of building mechanical engine vehicles.

The world economy would be better off to move beyond combustion conversion towards more efficient, non-mechanical, and modular electrochemical conversion devices like fuel cells. (This doesn't require pure hydrogen, since you can still use hydrocarbon fuels.)

But I admit that diesel engines are not going away anytime soon, so efforts to improve efficiency for industrial applications could move us further down the road.

Now scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created the first three-dimensional simulation that fully resolves flame features, such as chemical composition, temperature profile and flow characteristics in diesel engines. Their efforts could lead to new lower temperature engine designs that are more efficent.

3D Models / 120 Terabytes of Data Reveals Combustion Process Unfolding

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells, india, china, combustion, nanoscale

[Video] MIT Professor reminds us of how much there is yet to discover around energy science

Garry Golden — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:24:00 -0500

What we don't know about the fundamental science of energy systems might actually help us! The problem is that most people assume we already know everything, and that we are running out of solution sets. In fact, we are only at the beginning of a new era of understanding nanoscale (molecular) energy systems engineering.

MIT Chemistry Professor Dan Nocera's lecture Whales to Wood, Wood to Coal/Oil to What's Next? describes what we do not understand about solar energy conversion (photosynthesis) and effective energy storage in nature's form of chemical bonds. His focus is to uncover the science of nature's recipe for storing energy: Light + Water = Fuel.

The Real Transition: Era of Extraction

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, electricity, fuelcells, capacitors, batteries, hydrogen

[Video] An Inside Look at Sentilla's Vision of a Smarter Energy Future

Garry Golden — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:24:00 -0500

The Takeaway's Host John Hockenberry interviews the CEO of Sentilla and explores the huge opportunity around the convergence of energy and information. The era of 'smarter energy' systems is likely to be more efficient and profitable because it taps the integration of software, sensors and energy storage.

We have written about Sentilla in the past, along with other smart energy startups including yesterday's post on a 'swarm' organization model developed by REGEN Energy. We have also posted on a number of 'smart grid' infrastructure efforts being pushed by IBM, Johnson Controls and Cisco.

Related posts on The Smart Grid on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, electricity, smartgrid, grid, infrastructure, obama

Waterproofing sand with nano-coatings developed to slow desertification

Garry Golden — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:41:00 -0500

Reducing the amount of water needed to grow crops and prevent massive desertification could dramatically reduce the need for energy used in producing fertilizers, irrigation and desalination.

Hydrophobic Sand
Nanowerk has featured a story written by Derek Baldwin of Xpress News on the development and use of layers of hydrophobic (water resistant) sand that prevents water from evaporating to keep it closer to the root systems.

The nano-coated sand could be used as a sub-layer for farming, urban landscaping, and a wide range of eco-friendly industrial applications like oil spills.

The proprietary coating process was developed by UAE-based DIME Hydrophobic Materials working with German scientist Helmut F. Schulze. The product's performance has been verified by a German materials testing agency (without details on coating's own environmental impact or longevity) and is now in pilot projects in the United Arab Emirates.
Visit: Photo Gallery/Pankaj Sharma

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, desalination

Energy Startup REGEN Building Bee 'Swarm' Model for Smarter Appliances

Garry Golden — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:52:00 -0500

MIT Technology Review has a great post on the use of (bee) 'swarm' inspired algorithms to reduce energy consumption of networked appliances like air conditioners, computers and heating systems. Toronto-based startup REGEN ENERGY is building smart energy platforms using new technology standards like Zigbee and micro-controllers to 'maximize collective efficiency'. Their trick is to enable 'bottom up' self organized smart grids for appliances without having to actively manage their energy consumption with a 'single order'.

Related posts on The Smart Grid

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, efficiency, ibm, sensors, software, zigbee, electricity, smart, smartgrid

Biggest Energy Saving Project in Uncertain Territory

amisampat — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:51:00 -0500

By Ami Sampat

In his last days of office, Bush and his administration proposed a lighting efficiency policy which would help save energy and money. The Obama administration must now look over the proposal and issue the finals standards by the end of June. The proposal outlines the covering of florescent tube lamps and cone-shaped reflector lamps which are abundant in offices and homes. This would be the largest energy saving project in history of the U.S.

If followed through, by the year 2042, the savings would be drastic: 9.6 quadrillion BTUs of energy, $39.7 billion spent on energy, and 509 million metric tons of CO2. While these figures look promising, the proposal would cause more money and energy lost than saved.

High savings would lead to net additional savings of 6.2 quadrillion BTUs in energy, $25.6 billion spent on energy, and 290 million metric tons of CO2. That is a drastic amount of energy and not to mention, consumers' money.

The administration is allowed to add a new rule which will help broaden the outcomes of the proposal. The lighting standard is just one of the twenty five energy related proposals the Obama administration must complete in the next four (or eight) years.

The Obama administration must now look over the proposal and issue the finals standards by the end of June. The administration is allowed to add a new rule which will help broaden the outcomes of the proposal. The lighting standard is just one of the twenty five energy related proposals the Obama administration must complete in the next four (or possibly eight) years.

Despite being given a faulty proposal, Obama has high hopes to reduce the energy use in this country. He is devoted to lowering the electricity use by 15% by the year 2020.

Obama Administration's Vision of a Smarter Grid

Category: Environment
Year: 2009

Is India's electric vehicle maker Reva plotting low end disruptive path to future?

Garry Golden — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:03:00 -0500

Do you want to be the Toyota or GM of the 21st century?

Don't worry about how you 'fuel' the car, rethink how you build cars.

Forget about trying to build an electric propulsion SUV. Start small. Build electric battery scooters and tiny (crappy) cars. Then move up the performance ladder with larger cars that integrate fuel cells and capacitors.

Don't try to make money selling new cars. Focus on software enhanced driving experiences, and mobility services as your real revenue stream.

'Manufacturing Footprint' is Everything
For months, we have argued that the real revolution is 'how you build the car, not how you fuel it'. We have made a strong case that the driving force of change towards electric vehicles (powered by a combination of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors) is the desire for a lower manufacturing platform.

While Detroit and Japan struggle to manage their manufacturing footprint of combustion engine factories, Indian and Chinese companies sense an opportunity to leap frog into a lower cost growth platform of modular components around wheel based electric motors, drive by wire, and next generation energy storage.

India's Auto Industry: Low End Path to the Future
India-based electric vehicle maker Reva might be plotting a classic 'low end disruptive' path to growth by expanding its production quantities of its tiny electric platform. BusinessGreen.com is reporting that Reva plans to invest in a new plant with a capacity of 30,000 G-Wiz electric car units a year.

Yes this is a tiny number compared to total global vehicle production, but how do you put a value on the competitive advantage of building non-combustion engine vehicles. Remember when US manufacturers ridiculed Asia-produced consumer electronics? Who's your E-Daddy today?

Related posts on The Future of the Auto Industry

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells, india, china

3M forms Renewable Energy Divison to evolve cleantech materials for energy generation and management

Garry Golden — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:28:00 -0500

The case for investing in a 'New Energy Economy' was just validated by one of the world's leading material solutions companies.

3M has announced the formal creation of its new Renewable Energy Division that will include two divisions dedicated to Energy Generation & Energy Management.

The Energy Generation Division will develop materials for solar, wind, geothermal and biofuel solutions such as films, tapes, coatings, encapsulants, sealants and adhesives to reduce costs and improve performance.

The Energy Management Division will focus on thermal efficiences (e.g. film efficiencies), membranes for energy storage devices (e.g. fuel cells, batteries) and other applications for the Automotive, Commercial Building and Residential market segments.

New Energy Economy depends on Advanced Nanostructured Materials
This is big news for the cleantech sector. Energy is about interactions between light, molecules, metals, and heat. The only way to build a 'green' economy is to advance materials that make these interactions cleaner and lower cost.

3M has the resources to fundamentally change the performance-price points of cleantech materials. And it is a corporate stamp of approval on the idea that we must begin to move beyond extracting ancient stored energy (coal, oil and natural gas) and shift towards producing and storing energy using renewable resources that make clean electrons and clean molecules.

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology, chemistry, carbon

[Video] The Takeaway looks inside algae bioeenergy startup Bionavitas

Garry Golden — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:33:00 -0500

Algae bioenergy is based on a powerful idea that is still just off the radar of mainstream conversations on the future of energy. We can 'grow energy' by tapping 'carbon eating' algae that create usable forms of hydrocarbons for fuel or biomaterials.

The idea seems strange and futuristic, but it actually describes our past. We already tap the power of bioenergy everyday. Coal is ancient plant life, and oil is (likely) ancient microbes that lived in shallow oceans. Both plants and microbes fuse hydrogen and carbon bonds using the power of sunlight. But algae is a more efficient in that conversion and results in a higher hydrogen to carbon ratio. That means a cleaner burning fuel!

Everytime you turn on the light (via coal power plant) or drive a car you are capturing the energy released from carbon-hydrogen bonds form by ancient biology. Now energy visionaries are looking at how we can tap the same processes today to 'grow energy' without relying on food crops like corn or soy.

This week The Takeaway has been running Power Trip a series of programs on the future of energy. Earlier this week, Host John Hockenberry visited algae biofuels company Bionavitas in Seattle, WA.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Michigan based ECD Ovonics signs another partnership for rooftop thin film solar

Garry Golden — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 14:21:00 -0500

Thin film solar is a low cost alternative to traditional glass based solar panels. 'Thin film' photovoltaic cells can be inkjet printed onto plastic sheets via a 'roll to roll' machine. These long plastic sheets can then be integrated into building materials like commercial and residential rooftops.

Startups are now scaling up production volumes, but the first phase of commercial growth for thin film depends on strategic partnerships with rooftop materials and construction companies.

ECD Ovonics transforming 'Rust Belt' to a 'Green Belt'
Thin-film solar is a new energy technology platform that can be produced at low cost in many regions around the world. American energy visionaries imagine transforming the industrial Midwest 'Rust Belt' into a manufacturing hub for new cleantech materials.

Now Michigan-based ECD Ovonics has signed a contract with Carlisle Construction Materials to provide its Uni-Solar thin film for use in commercial roofing systems. The agreement is good news for Michigan economic developers. ECD is the world's leading producer of thin film solar, and has had previous partnerships with Italian steel and metal materials company Marcegaglia which expects to introduce the low cost, durable thin film solar metal roofing products to the market in 2010.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, solar, thinfilm, electricity, nanotechnology, thermal, hydrogen

Novozymes - Sinopec partnership brings next generation cellulosic biofuels to China

Garry Golden — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:47:00 -0500

Denmark-based bio-solutions firm Novozymes is trying to put an end to the biofuels debate of ‘food versus fuel’ and the politics of corn derived ethanol.

Its recipe for the future of 'next generation biofuels' is: Organic waste plus bio-enzymes = cellulosic ethanol (bioethanol)

China's Step Towards Waste to Energy
Novozymes is now partnering with China's Sinopec and COFCO (China National Cereals, Oil & Foodstuff Corporation) to develop bioethanol from agricultural and food waste.

The partnership could help to scale next generation biofuels production in China as its market continues to evolve as the world's fastest growing market for automobiles and oil.

Novozyme's bioethanol is expected to be able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 90% compared to oil-based fuels.

Steen Riisgaard, CEO at Novozymes, says: "With this partnership Novozymes has once again demonstrated its position as the leader in developing enzymes able to convert waste to fuel. This puts us one step closer to being able to produce commercial quantities of bioethanol from agricultural waste. Second-generation bioethanol production in China holds vast potential for Novozymes as the technology leader, and we expect to be the first company with enzymes ready for large-scale production by 2010."

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae, china

Are micro fuel cells coming out of Hype Cycle? Toshiba's Micro Fuel Cell Battery Recharger

Garry Golden — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:56:00 -0500

Most new technology platforms must walk up the stages of the 'Hype Cycle', and confront our tendency to overestimate short-term change, but underestimate the long term potential.

Fuel cells are this decade's poster child for failing to meet expectations of the Hype Cycle. But there are positive signs of progress.

PC World is reporting that Toshiba plans to release its first commercial version of a Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) battery recharger by the end of the first business quarter.

Micro Fuel cells help you unplug
Micro power applications are widely considered to be the first market application for fuel cells. Dozens of startups and incumbent energy companies are developing micro methanol fuel cells as portable power solutions that help us 'unplug everything'.

Rather than carry around a charger+cord, you could carry a small fuel cell to recharge. Of course the idea of a fuel cell battery recharger is still a strange concept to consumers, and could remain an early adopter niche product.

The inevitable step for micro fuel cells is to replace batteries entirely. To arrive at this future, hardware makers must integrate MFCs into products, and consumers must be able to buy small fuel cartridges (e.g. liquid methanol, solid hydrogen) on every retail shelf. Until that day, the 'recharger' concept is the industry's best option.

Batteries & Fuel cells are like Peanut Butter and Jelly, not Oil and Water

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, fuel, cells, fuelcells, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, methanol

USDA, DOE Announce $25 Million for Advanced Bioenergy Research (i.e. Beyond Corn)

Garry Golden — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 18:49:00 -0500

There is an echo chamber of cynicism around the topic of corn ethanol. Unless you are a corn farmer or part of the ethanol lobby, evergyone agrees that this is not a sustainable path.

So the world is moving forward. The conversation is now focused on next generation bioenergy solutions that avoid the problems of 'crop' based biofuels.

The US government has placed a ceiling on future growth for corn derived fuels, and now the Obama administration has announced up to $25 million in funding for research and development of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bioenergy, and high-value biobased products.

The money will fund projects related to: Feedstocks development; Biofuels and biobased products development; and Biofuels development analysis.

What is happening? 'Biology' is coming of age as a driver of industrial and energy applications.

Why 'Bioenergy' has more to do with Bio-Industrialism than Farming

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

University of Nevada completes algae biofuels project using cold weather, salt tolerant species

Garry Golden — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 22:04:00 -0500

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have completed their first demonstration-scale project using an open pound algae to biofuel system.

Unlike most algae biofuels startups which use closed 'bioreactors', the Nevada-Enegis LLC project (not shown) is designed for open ponds that use a species of algae tolerant to cold-weather and salt basin environments.

The team announced the successful harvest of two 5,000-gallon ponds, and will continue to expand their test selection of algae species and engineering to improve performance.

Open pond systems are generally seen as a lower cost, low maintenance production platform, but have their own set of problems related to optimizing growing conditions.

Related posts on the future of bioenergy on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Environment
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, biofuels, cellulosic, algae, electricity, fuelcells, hydrogen, memebranes, nanotechnology

[Video] Zeobond E Crete promises less carbon emissions from cement

Garry Golden — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:18:00 -0500

Eco-Energy blogs seem to love stories about cleaner ways of making cement - which accounts for at least 5% global carbon dioxide emissions. Last year the viral story was a novel process developed by MIT students, and now Australian-based Zeobond is gaining a lot of attention. The company uses industry waste materials to reduce the environmental impact of cement material compounds.

Category: Environment
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology, chemistry, carbon

The Disruptive Side of Auto Electrification - Software, Storage, Sidewalks & Parking Lots

Garry Golden — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:37:00 -0500

The future you hear about on the news is not what it appears.

Yes, the 'electric car' is coming, but do not be fooled by first generation ideas being fed into the mainstream media.

The short term challenges are probably being understated as the transition will take many years to unfold. But the long term disruptive changes are more profound than anything you might see on a 60 Minutes special featuring battery car owners in California.

Electric vehicles are likely to change our energy grid, roads, cities and suburbs in ways that are hard to imagine today.

Software - Drive by Wire & The Digital Driving Experience
While stodgy Wall Street Journal Op-Ed pieces continue to characterize electric cars as expensive, wimpy cars- there truth is that electric drive systems offer a lower cost manufacturing platform and a flexible software based driving experience.

Establish software and location based services to vehicles, and you create a foundation for revenue streams based on mobility services in a 'wired and connected vehicle'. (Not to mention 'pay per mile' funding streams for transportation infrastructure instead of paying per gallon taxes.)

Companies like Johnson Controls, Microsoft, Intel, Bosch (et al) are developing 'drive-by-wire' software and microcontroller solutions that can make a car sound and feel like a Ferrari, a Mini-van, or Sedan with the push of a button. There is a huge upside in software-service sales that the digitize the driving experience.

Storage: Vehicle to Grid (V2G) & 'Skateboard' Vehicles on Sidewalks

Category: Transportation
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuelcells, capacitors

New Membrane for Ethanol Fuel Cells that Breaks Carbon Bonds at Room Temperature

Garry Golden — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:21:00 -0500

Once again, we are reminded that the future of energy will be shaped by materials scientists, and that nanoscale engineering gives us plenty of room to innovate around disruptive ideas.

Research teams from the U.S. Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Delaware and Yeshiva University have announced the development of a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible.

Rather than use next generation ethanol in a combustion engine, we can imagine a more efficient conversion into electricity via a fuel cell.

Fuel cells create electricity by breaking chemical bonds into hydrogen ions and electrons then completing the reaction with oxygen binding to hydrogen to create water.

Nano-catalysts break carbon bonds
One of the challenges of (hydrogen rich) ethanol as a feedstock for fuel cells is the presence of carbon molecules.

“The ability to split the carbon-carbon bond and generate CO₂ at room temperature is a completely new feature of catalysis,” says Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic “There are no other catalysts that can achieve this at practical potentials.”

The 'nanostructured' catalyst achieves faster oxidation using the combination of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles. Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of the reaction but it is signficantly less than traditional combustion based conversion (and assuming more non-food crop biomass is planted it is 'carbon neutral'.)

“Ethanol is one of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells,” said Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic. “It’s easy to produce, renewable, nontoxic, relatively easy to transport, and it has a high energy density. In addition, with some alterations, we could reuse the infrastructure that’s currently in place to store and distribute gasoline.”

Why catalysis is so important
& Related Posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, biofuels, cellulosic, algae, electricity, fuelcells, hydrogen, memebranes, nanotechnology

Cisco Offers Smart Energy Solutions: "Everything Connected to the Network Can Be Greener"

Garry Golden — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:31:00 -0500

One of the biggest business opportunities of the next few decades will be enabling the convergence of Energy and Information systems to lower costs and improve efficiencies.

Companies such as Johnson Controls and IBM have been very vocal about their vision of a 'smart infrastructure' future. And there are a number of 'Smart Grid' startups offering utility-scale and building/home energy management solutions.

Cisco: 'Smarter' Energy Networks
Cisco Systems is widely associated with the hardware 'backbone' (e.g. routers) of the Internet, but the company is expanding into new web-based services like video collaboration and energy management.

Cisco has a very simple vision of the future of energy efficiency: If it is on the 'network', then we can make it more efficient. Why is this important? Because within a decade or two most everything that produces and consumes power will be integrated into an information (web) network.

The company has announced its new Cisco EnergyWise [PDF] technology platform that will help its customers reduce energy consumption of Internet Protocol (IP) devices such as phones, computers, and digital access points. The next step for Cisco will be offering software solutions to help manage building systems (lighting, air conditioning and heating).

The offering puts Cisco in a strong position to compete in a fully 'embedded' world where all objects and devices are on the web and energy is never wasted.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, smartgrid, grid, electricity, obama, ibm, cisco, hydrogen, storage, sensors

[Video] Why Peak Oil Production might be the paramount energy issue of our time

Garry Golden — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:03:00 -0500

Beyond the occassional post (or two), I have avoided 'Peak Oil' production issues because of its association with those who must always (and only) describe the future in apocalyptic terms.

But based on the IEA World Energy Outlook 2008 report, it has become clear that energy leaders have been using poor data of oil field decline rates (based on a lack of transparency) to support inaccurate forecasts.

Whether peak production has already happened, or will happen in 15 years is irrelevant since we are not prepared for either transition. So it is time to explore implications regarding the world's use of coal, nuclear energy, tar sands, and oil shale. (For those focused on Climate Change, the replacements for oil are not good news for carbon emissions.)

I do not believe that Peak Oil will destroy our civilization, but it certainly has the potential to make us humble, and to serve as 'the' catalyst for evolving our policies from a resource extraction to resource creation paradigm.

The following 40 minute interview is dated (January 2008) but gives a solid overview of peak oil's core issues: field decline rates, discovery rates, production time and costs and lack of real liquid fuel alternatives. [A more current hard edged interview by George Monbiot w/ Dr Fatih Birol: Link to video]

Continue with remaining four (10 minute) videos

Category: Environment
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, peak, peakoil, oil, electricity, coal, hydrogen

New syngas method could lower costs to process Canadian Tar Sands

Garry Golden — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:44:00 -0500

Extracting energy from the tar sands is not a pretty equation.

It isn' cheap. It isn't energy efficient.

And it is becoming increasingly politically charged given its heavy carbon footprint.

But the tar sands remain a massive reserve that has the interest of very large, innovative energy development companies. And the dollars and desire to exploit these non-conventional hydrocarbon resources could grow exponentially in the years ahead as companies try to change the cost equation.

Can Bitumen derived syngas lower costs?
Some of the largest non-conventional energy reserves in the world are found in North America's tar sands and oil shales.

The problem is that we are a bit early. These reserves still need a few more million years of natural bio-geological processes to rearrange the chemical bonds to make extraction easier. But instead of waiting, energy companies are developing ways to lower the costs of processing this carbon heavy resource. One of the reasons for high cost is the demand for outside energy needed to reform the tar sands into a usable form of liquid oil.

The Al Fin Energy blog is reporting on a new technique for substituting high priced natural gas with synthetic gas (syngas) derived from waste bitumen which is currently a byproduct. The process, developed by Nexen Inc. and OPTI Canada at the Long Lake Project, could change the price equation of exploiting the tar sands.

Good, bad or ugly - the tar sands cannot be ignored in a future where issues of climate change, 'energy independence', and peak oil production converge. The conversation about the future of the tar sands is just getting started.

Related The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, oil, hydrocarbon, coal, carbon, hydrogen, bioenergy

Researchers change shape of aluminum nanoparticles to produce hydrogen at room temperature

Garry Golden — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:27:00 -0500

Scientists at Penn State University and Virginia Commonwealth University have discovered a way to produce hydrogen using aluminum nanoparticles (billionth of a meter) that react with water molecules to split oygen and hydrogen bonds.

What does that mean?

The physical arrangment and exposure of the alumninum atoms determines its ability to split certain chemical bonds by binding oxygen and releasing hydrogen.

Three of the tested aluminum clusters produced hydrogen from water at room temperature.

This ground-breaking work is important because it confirms the belief held by catalysis researchers that nanoparticle 'geometries, not just electronic properties', effect the reaction performance of catalytic materials.

Hydrogen Production at Room Temperature (& Confusion of Hype vs Hope)

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology, chemistry, hydrogen, electricity, fuelcells

Newark, Delaware exploring 'Vehicle to Grid' (V2G) Infrastructure (Why I Am Skeptical of Plug Ins!)

Garry Golden — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:53:00 -0500

Political and Industry leaders agree that it is time to re-imagine the Electrical 'Grid' as something 'smarter', more resilient, and open to new forms of energy storage and onsite production.

Utilities are now exploring the idea that electric vehicles (powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors) will someday become the new backbone of the world's electricity grids.

The questions are: 'How' and 'What does the 'Energy Web' of Tomorrow look like?'

Do we 'recharge' objects via cords and wall sockets, or do objects have their own internal power generators that are 'refueled' with high density energy 'packets'?

We are only at the beginning of exploring the future schematics of an 'energy web' infrastructure that integrates electric vehicles. But the test programs are starting to scale up!

The City of Newark has approved a small test project led by the University of Delaware's Center for Carbon-free Power Integration (CCPI) to test 'vehicle to grid' systems using plug-in hybirds integrated into the local utility grid.

Vehicle to Grid (V2G) Energy Storage & Production
(& My Skepticism of Wall Socket Infrastructure)

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuelcells, smartgrid, grid, smart, infrastructure

Saudi Arabia funding Cornell research to advance nanomaterials for energy and carbon

Garry Golden — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:12:00 -0500

The most successful players in the 'New Energy Economy' will be those who advance and profit from materials that enable cleaner interactions between molecules.

Even the 'greenest' consumers and markets will be stuck in a lower part of the value chain to countries and companies who dominate the Nanoscale Era of Science and Engineering. The future will shaped by those who become Masters of Molecules. So we pay close attention to investments by energy incumbents who are pushing forward around science.

Science Parternships with Petro Kingdoms
Saudia Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is funding advanced research at Cornell University to develop nanomaterial applications for water desalination, carbon capture and sequestration, solar energy and the 'greening' of oil and gas production.

'Pom Poms' to the Rescue? Nanoparticle Ionic Materials (NIMS)
The performance qualities of elements such as carbon, iron, platinum (et al) change dramatically at the nanoscale (billionth of a meter). The KAUST-Cornell research will focus on a new material discovered at Cornell called Nanoparticle Ionic Materials (NIMS).

Researchers describe NIMS as: "pom-poms; that is, a squishy core made out of inorganic nanoparticles, and a hairy exterior called a corona that is made out of an organic polymer. This exterior can capture things such as carbon dioxide in a coal power plant, and the core can then be the catalyst to fix the carbon dioxide and convert it into something else, thereby preventing the building of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, research, nanomaterials, nanotechnology, nanoscale

EPRI Study: Efficiency efforts could reduce electricity growth rate by 22% by 2030

Garry Golden — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:20:00 -0500

There is a saying in the energy industry that 'the cheapest power plant is the one you don't have to build'.

The alternative to focusing on the 'supply' side of finding new sources of clean electricity, is to reduce the demand side of energy use.

There are many ways to be more efficient through better products (e.g. light bulbs, refrigeration), services (e.g. Smart Grid managment) and integration of new energy systems (e.g. energy storage, onsite power generation). And there are hundreds of companies that provide energy management solutions to homes and commercial businesses. But until recently we have not had an updated industry level forecast of how much energy could be saved given the right leadership and regulatory framework for utilities.

Looking ahead to 2030
A new study from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) suggests that efficiency gains could reduce the rate of growth for US electricity consumption by 22% between 2008 and 2030. 'The potential energy savings in 2030 would be 236 billion kilowatt hours, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 14 New York Cities.'

The EPRI study uses a growth rate baseline of 1.07% based on projections set by the U.S. Energy Information Administration's 2008 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO 2008).

EPRI believes that with strong political leadership and regulatory changes electricity consumption in the U.S. residential, commercial, and industrial sectors could be reduced to an annual rate of 0.83% between 2008 through 2030. Under the most 'ideal' conditions that rate could be lowered to 0.68% per year.

Read more: Assessment of Achievable Savings Potential From Energy Efficiency and Demand Response in the U.S (Executive Summary)

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, electricity, sensors, smartgrid, grid, utilities

European research agency hopeful for breakthrough in novel water desalination method

Garry Golden — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:32:00 -0500

When imagining how much energy we'll need in the future we usually calculate the demand for homes, offices, and factories. But most forecasts ignore a highly probable, energy intensive process that will be in high demand during the 21st century - Desalination.

In the next century we will likely desalinate and transport massive amounts of water away from oceans to reach megacities and irrigate farms that will have to support 3 billion more people added to our planet in the next 40 years.

The Nanoscale Side of H20
How do we do this? Develop 'nanostructured' materials that lower the cost of desalination by facilitating reactions that use less energy to separate molecules leaving clean H20.

Earlier we covered a 'forward osmosis' patent claim by QuantumSphere that reportedly drops the cost of desalination by 70%. But other companies such as CDT and Proingesa are involved in advancing materials used in equally disruptive novel methods for desalination.

Now, Europe's research reporting service AlphaGalileo believes that advances in electrochemical capacitors could enable a new way of cleaning water. Capacitive deionization applies an electrical charge to water that makes 'the ions dissolved in the water migrate towards the electrode of an opposite charge, where they are adsorbed. In the regeneration cycle, the electrical load of the electrodes is switched off, therefore adsorbed ions are released.' The electrode materials used in this process are advancing around nanoscale designs that increase the reactive surface area. The result is less energy need to force the reaction.

Category: Environment
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, desalination, water

Fiat-Chrysler deal confirms problem is not carbon footprint, but manufacturing footprint

Garry Golden — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:06:00 -0500

We might be closer to reframing the public conversation about the future of the auto industry.

The real problem for the auto industry is its manufacturing footprint, not its carbon footprint.

Of course we must build more efficient vehicles.

But the industry's problems have nothing to with small cars vs big cars, or fuel efficiency.

The real problem is the manufacturing intensity of building mechanical engines, and their inability to produce multiple chassis on one factory floor. The other problem is that they build new cars then have them sit on dealership lots until someone buys it.

Yes, we must reduce the eco-impact of vehicles, but to get there we must recognize that the real revolution is changing how we build cars, not how we fuel them. Need more evidence?

Fiat exchanges Access for Equity
Fiat is negotiating a 35% stake in Chrysler in exchange for access to its small vehicle manufacturing capacity and revival of its European brands in the US.

But we should not be confused. The future is not 'small cars', but leaner manufacturing.

Does Chrysler need small vehicles to meet current market demand? Probably.

But the real takeaway is Chrysler's inabilty to build different types of vehicles (small or large) without major retooling investments.

So the company exchanges access to manufacturing for equity.

The future is modular manufacturing

The future is a factory floor that can build multiple chassis using modular electric motors and energy storage devices (batteries, fuel cells and capacitors).

What does the auto industry need to do?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells

Supercomputer shows how enzymes might 'dance' and rip apart cellulose used for biofuels

Garry Golden — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:42:23 -0500

Corn is not the future of biofuels. It is a political distraction, and researchers are moving beyond crops for fuel.

We are moving quickly into an era of next generation biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol derived from waste materials, and algae fuels derived from carbon emission feedstocks.

Cellulosic ethanol is a particular challenge given the slow rate of speed associated with the breaking down sugar-rich materials (e.g. agricultural waste like corn cobs). To develop faster, lower cost systems we must first understand how these proteins (enzymes called cellulases) do their magic of breaking down complex cellulose bonds into simple pieces of sugar.

Supercomputers open up new knowledge
Researchers at the San Diego Supercomputing Center (SDSC) are creating virtual molecules that might mimic how enyzmes 'dance' above a cellulose chain before it rips up a single sugar molecule feeding it into its 'molecular conveyor belt' to 'unzip' the bonds into basic sugars that can be fermented into a liquid fuel.

Why supercomputers? Few things in the world are as complicated as understanding the shape and movement (folding) of proteins, or the breaking down of strong cellulose walls. Supercomputer simulations help us decode the secrets of molecular movement!

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Austin based Graphene Energy raises $500K for Ultracapacitors

Garry Golden — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:11:01 -0500

Austin, Texas based Graphene Energy has raised $500,000 to expand its vision of bringing graphene-based ultracapacitors to market. Capacitors are a class of energy storage devices that hold physical charges of electricity.

The company hopes that their use of nanoscale designed carbon graphene sheets will improve ultracapacitor performance to support the shift towards electrive drive vehicles powered by the integration of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. Together these three energy storage devices provide all the demands of electric vehicles - regenerative energy capture, scaling up, and bursts.

The Strongest Material in the Universe
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Graphene has unique electro-, structural and mechanical properties, and is arguably the strongest known material in the universe given the combination of all known elements. For energy researchers, graphene is a new platorm for creating lower cost and more efficient components including: high surface area electrodes for energy storage devices, and backbone foundations for solar cells.

Carbon Graphene is closely related carbon nanotubes that are used to increase surface area of materials used in batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells. But graphene sheets have their own unique performance properties and have emerged as a very 'hot' area of research across a range of disciplines including advanced electronics (transistors & memory) and biotechnology.

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, carbon, carbonnanotubes, graphene

Toyota could commercialize fuel cell electric vehicles by 2015, as automakers look beyond batteries

Garry Golden — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:00:38 -0500

Bloomberg is reporting that Toyota plans to sell a 'limited' line of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to consumers by 2015 or maybe sooner.

Toyota's fuel cell integration strategy (along with Honda, Kia and GM) suggests that the auto industry is looking ahead towards next generation electric drive vehicles that go beyond battery platforms.

Fuel cells vs Batteries? Or both?
A very profound transition is happening in our world. The 'electrification of the auto industry' has started, but it will take decades to complete.

The tricky part? 'Electric' refers to the motor.

What delivers electrons to those electric motors is more open to debate.

The popular assumption today is that batteries will power the future of cars. But the reality is more sobering. Energy storage solutions that are appropriate for the auto industry are not likely to emerge from anything that exists on the commercial market today.

Batteries are a stepping stone to a more fully integrated energy storage system that uses batteries, fuel cells and capacitors - together.

Cars are not iPods, and the cost of building 'plug in' station infrastructure is likely to be prohibitive, if not totally inconvenient to consumers. Fuel cells and capacitors offer superior cost / size and performance advantages. And more convenient infrastructure options such as rapid refill or 'swap out' boxes (e.g. solid hydrogen).

While eco-bloggers are excited over batteries, the long view is more cloudy. Automakers are hedging their bets on energy storage solutions, and it appears the the 'hype' phase of battery powered cars might be short lived.

Related posts on the Auto Industry at The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Transportation
Year: 2015
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuelcells, cars

European researchers achieve record efficiency of 41% for solar cells

Garry Golden — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:31:23 -0500

European researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have achieved another record efficiency of 41.1% in the conversion of sunlight into electricity using a ‘multi-junction’ class of solar cells.

The cells are made out of gallium-based materials suited for the solar spectrum that reaches the surface of the Earth. The team managed to increase the regions of the material that are electrically active to attain the high efficiencies.

Prof. Eicke R. Weber, Director of Fraunhofer ISE emphasizes, “This is an especially good example of how the control of crystal defects in semiconductors can lead to a breakthrough in technology.”

Fraunhofer ISE is working with Azur Space and Concentrix Solar GmbH to commercialize their technology. “The high efficiencies of our solar cells are the most effective way to reduce the electricity generation costs for concentrating PV systems,” says Dr. Andreas Bett, Department Head at Fraunhofer ISE. “We want that photovoltaics becomes competitive with conventional methods of electricity production as soon as possible. With our new efficiency results, we have moved a big step further towards achieving this goal!”

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, solar, electricity, photovoltaics

Quantum mechanism breakthrough for thin film solar and OLED lighting displays

Garry Golden — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:46:32 -0500

Energy is driven by interactions of light, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and metals.

At least, that's the simple explanation.

The closer the human mind gets to understanding and controlling quantum behavior of light and molecules, the more likely we are to enable an era of cheap abundant energy.

Now, thanks to work by a research team led by University of Toronto's Greg Scholes and Elisabetta Collini, we are a step closer to understanding (and controlling) how light moves along long carbon-based molecular chains to create an electrical charge.

Organic Electronics - Thin Film solar & OLEDs
Their research could lead to advances in the emerging field of 'organic' electronics (carbon based electronics) that support thin film solar cells and batteries, and flexible transparent OLED display screens.

The group has focused on 'conjugated polymers' as a promising candidate for building efficient organic solar cells. These long chains repeat the same molecule patterns and can be maniuplated to mimic the properties of traditional silicon based semiconductors.

When these materials absorb light, the energy moves along the molecular chain ('polymer') ending in an electrical charge.

"One of the biggest obstacles to organic solar cells is that it is difficult to control what happens after light is absorbed: whether the desired property is transmitting energy, storing information or emitting light," Collini explained. "Our experiment suggests it is possible to achieve control using quantum effects, even under relatively normal conditions."

Humans being creating Quantum-mechanical mechanisms

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, electricity, solar, thinfilm, nanoscale, nanotechnology

Surge of Hybrid and Electric Cars in India, China

amisampat — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:53:02 -0500

By Ami Sampat

The Nano car, created by Tata Motors, has not yet gone on sale but an affordable micro-hybrid version is already gearing up to hit the market. In this micro-hybrid, the engine would automatically stop running once it has gone idle. This feature would cut fuel and gas emissions by 10 to 15 percent.

The Nano which was first introduced in January 2008, was said to be on the market by late 2008, but is now expected to roll into the market early this year. The Nano will cost an affordable $2,500, which may increase due to the added micro hybrid-system.

The introduction of Tata's Nano was meant to create the first reasonably priced, environmentally friendly car, in order to help the densely populated and polluted urban areas India. Having the hybrid being affordable will also make it more accesible to not just the rich class, but the middle class as well.

Meanwhile, China is producing hybrid cars of its own. Chinese automakers, BYD, will display their hybrid car at the Detroit auto show this month. At the auto show, BYD will be given a main floor, rather than a hallway which it had last year. BYD will displaying its plug-in hybrid.

Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is also making its first appearance at the show.

China is certainly making waves to make its car companies known. However it will be five years before Chinese automakers are able to compete in the U.S. markets.

India and China's venture into hybrid cars is a preemptive step of the automakers to reduce pollution and make a name for itself in the North American auto industry. As these country's launch their respective cars in their homeland and the U.S, it will certainly cause a sensation for the rest of the world.

Category: Environment
Year: 2009

[Video] Introduction to Future of Enhanced Geothermal Energy by MIT Professor

Garry Golden — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:42:31 -0500

We have heard from a number of readers asking about the future of geothermal energy. So here is a solid '101' primer video lecture (short lecture, extended Q&A) by MIT Professor James Tester. Tester was Chair of a panel study report on the Future of Enhanced Geothermal Energy [PDF] released in 2007.

Related Geothermal posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, geothermal, electricity

Boston Power raises $55 million to expand production of Li-ion batteries

Garry Golden — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:34:46 -0500

Advanced energy storage and portable power solutions continue to grab attention from energy investors.

Massachusetts-based startup up Boston Power has announced a $55 milllion Series D funding round to scale manufacturing, sales, marketing for its Sonata Lithium-ion batteries. This infusion of cash follows an announcement in December that Boston Power would supply HP with batteries for a coming line of laptops.

Boston Power's solutions are most relevant to supporting the continued growth of high performance portable electronics. But the company expects to be involved in first generation electric vehicles powered by batteries. Its branding effort has been to promote itself as a 'cleantech' company with high standards for its sustainability practices and partnerships with Asian manufacturers.

The Evolution of Energy Storage - Batteries, Fuel cells & Capacitors

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, electricity, batteries, fuelcells, hydrogen, transportation, cars, storage, energystorage

Quantum Sphere files patent for cheaper 'forward osmosis' water desalination method

Garry Golden — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:08:00 -0500

We should be paying closer attention to California-based QuantumSphere and its approach to the future of energy.

QuantumSphere understands the disruptive potential in performance of materials when you design catalysts at the nanoscale.

The company is designing systems that change how we look at energy storage (e.g. batteries/fuel cells) and energy intensive processes like desalination.

Next Step - Water Desalination
QuantumSphere has made headlines for its nano-structured catalysts used in lithium ion batteries, and also for its low cost hydrogen electrolysis process.

Now QuantumSphere has announced a filed patent for a more energy efficient method of desalination that uses organic solutions to separate water from salt water or polluted water. The 'forward osmosis' process is less energy intensive than current commercial methods.

A Method that is 70% cheaper ?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, electricty, osmisis, water, desalination

FuelCell Energy receives $30 million for a Post Combustion Era Solution for Cleaner Coal

Garry Golden — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:21:13 -0500

FueCellMarkets is reporting on a $30 million Phase II contract to expand testing of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) coal syngas power generation. This type of stationary fuel cell converts coal derived gas via electrochemical processes to produce electricity and heat. The result of this scalable non-combustion method is higher efficiency and signficantly lower carbon emissions.

Advancing Global Carbon Solutions
Coal is not going away anytime soon. In fact, its global market share is growing as the primary source of energy for electricity generation.

Cheaper solar and wind does not, by default, mean less coal in a world economy expected to double energy production in the decades ahead. Coal is already embedded into global power grids, and it is not going to disappear overnight.

If we expect to address carbon emissions, we have to do more than develop alternatives. We need scalable carbon solutions that move us beyond the age of combustion conversion and harmful release of emissions.

While coal will never be 'clean', there are cleaner ways of converting it that result in significantly less carbon emissions. We have written extensively about algae, but fuel cells offer another path forward.

Fuel Cells, Coal Gas, & a Post Combustion Era of Energy Conversion

Category: Environment
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, electricity, coal, carbon, fuelcells, fuel, cells, hydrogen

Does the road to Electric Vehicles pass through China? EV Startup outsources production

Garry Golden — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:47:30 -0500

EV startup Miles Automotive has announced plans to outsource manufacturing of its California-bound electric vehicles to a China-based assembly factory.

Auto analysts continue to speculate about plans by Detroit-based companies to partner with Asian manufacturers. And yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported on BYD's plans to produce EVs for global markets based on a lower barrier to manufacturing.

More than ever before, the road to electric vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors seems destined to pass through Asia.

And it is time to challenge common assumptions about EVs?

Will EVs be a Domestic or Global Industry?
It is commonly assumed that electric vehicles would bring non-OPEC countries more 'independence'. Instead it seems clear that the age of EVs will pull them further into the global economy of 'interdependence'. Electric vehicles propulsion systems and storage systems (batteries, fuel cells and capacitors) are likely to emerge from a global value chain that spans from Asia to Europe to Americas.

Will Early Adopter Markets Emerge from within Europe/California or Asia?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2014
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells

Stanford launches $100 million global energy institute, as California expands cleantech focus

Garry Golden — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:55:32 -0500

Stanford University has raised $100 million to support the creation of the Precourt Insitute for Energy.

The Institute will focus on global energy and climate issues by expanding the number of faculty and graduate research positions across the entire spectrum of energy science and engineering from photovoltaics to carbon sequestration.

The center is the result of a team of funders led by energy Executive Jay Precourt, who donated $50 million, and a $40 million gift from Thomas Steyer and Kat Taylor who supported the creation of the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy.

Stanford intends to expand global partnerships but it is clearly a big win for the State of California as it attempts to build a 'cleantech' hub of talent, IP, and companies involved in the 21st century energy systems.

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, research, electricity, climate, carbon, hydrogen, batteries

Sentilla raises $7.5 million for 'smart' software-sensor solutions to energy management

Garry Golden — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:32:29 -0500

2009 might turn out to be a great year to be a startup involved in 'smart' energy solutions that tap the power of software, sensors, microcontrollers and storage systems.

Energy bloggers are all talking about 2009 as the 'Year of the Smart Grid', and energy analysts expect to see major public-private investments over the next two years in efficiency and energy management.

We have written about visions of a 'smart' planet being promoted by companies like IBM, Honeywell and Johnson Controls. But now we have the first major '09 investment in start up Sentilla, which has raised $7.5 million to deliver solutions for commercial and industrial facilities.

It might be premature to call Sentilla a 'smart energy' startup since its vision is much broader than electricity. It's future growth is based on a vision of an 'embedded object' world often described as 'Pervasive' or 'Ubiquitious' computing. In this future every object has built in awareness, intelligence and networked capabilities (e.g. Zigbee). Sentilla's offerings span energy managment, safety and security, and logistics/asset managment. But in 2009, selling themselves as a 'smart energy' company might be the best route!

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, sensors, microcontrollers, electricity, efficiency

Wall Street Journal confirms our Case for Electric Cars: A Lower Barrier to Manufacturing

Garry Golden — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:39:29 -0500

The Wall Street Journal has finally reported on the real driver of change around the electrification of the world's auto fleet: Manufacturing.

Reframing the Problem
Our insights into the crossroads of energy and the future of the auto industry have reflected a very unique tone when compared to all major media outlets and bloggers.

We have been alone in pushing a few disruptive ideas about the future of energy and the auto industry:

Kill the Combustion Engine
While others focused on the problem of oil, we said it was the manufacturing legacy of the combustion engine. We have argued that it's how you build the car, not fuel it that matters most.

Skateboard chassis is Platform of the Future

Category: Transportation
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, car, cars, transportation, electriccars, batteries, hydrogen, fuelcells

MIT researchers advance carbon nanotube films used in 'super' batteries and capacitors

Garry Golden — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:00:38 -0500

MIT Technology Review is reporting on a breakthrough in manufacturing thin, dense films of carbon nanotubes that could improve electrodes used in 'super' batteries and capacitors used in portable devices, 'smart grids' and electric vehicles.

Energy Storage: Batteries, Fuel cells & Capacitors Batteries and fuel cells convert chemical energy into electricity in a controlled circuit. Capacitors hold electrons as a physical 'charge' and are used in applications that require rapid discharge of energy. All of these energy storage devices are going to evolve in the coming Era of Nanoscale Engineering.

How do you talk about the Future of Energy?
The MIT breakthrough demonstrates the enormous potential of nanoscale design of material components that facilitate energy reactions. It would be a mistake to merely extrapolate our current energy technologies forward based on the disruptive nature of nanoscale energy systems.

The MIT breakthrough highlights two fundamental areas to focus our conversation:

New Properties at Nanoscale Carbon
The electrical and chemical properties of carbon (and other molecules) change when you shift design from the 'microscale' (millionth of meter) to the 'nanoscale' (billionth of a meter). In recent years, researchers have demonstrated an incredible capacity for carbon nanotubes to capture photons, store electricity and hold hydrogen. Likewise, the performance of metals (e.g. platinum, zinc, nickel) changes dramatically at the nanoscale.

Higher Surface Area at the Nanoscale

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, nanoscale, nanotechnology, electricity, fuelcells, capacitors, batteries

Gaming Our Way to Efficiency

joelg — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:32:00 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

Byron Reeves is a man with a vision: using video games to teach and to help mold behavior. When we get a smart grid and smart devices that track and report on their energy consumption, we'll have the data we need to understand our energy usage in the home. But will we really take advantage of that information?

"Games have the potential change behavior," says Reeves a professor at Stanford University and co-founder of Stanford's MediaX; he conducts research on the emotional and social effects of immersive environments including complex online games . "I became interested in building a game platform that could change behavior around energy usage," he says. To that end, he's been showing a vision video he created with Millions of Us in which he brings to life a game where homeowners compete with each other to see who can become the most energy efficient.

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, efficiency, simulation, game, behavior, change

Luca Technologies raises $76 million for microbes that 'eat' coal, 'breathe out' natural gas

Garry Golden — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:29:07 -0500

MIT Technology Review is reporting on a $76 million funding round by Luca Technologies to expand its 'geobioreactor' process that 'uses coal-digesting microorganisms to convert coal into methane.'

The catch?

It happens while the coal is inside the Earth!

The bioenergy reactions occurs inside the planet, and the natural gas is pumped out using conventional techniques. The methane can then be used for electric power generation plant or as a feedstock for materials.

Microbes & 'Geobioreactors'
We have written dozens of articles on bioenergy solutions that use algae and bacteria to 'eat' carbon to produce usuable forms of liquid or gas fuels. It remains a very promising strategy for carbon utilization and energy production. But this is a very different strategy that attempts to change the notion of coal as a resource while it remains locked inside the Earth.

Historically humans have used coal as a resource for combustion based power generation in power plants. This is a low cost source of energy, but results in the release of enormous amounts of greenhouse gases.

Luca Technologies's vision is powerful and the end result is a fuel (methane/natural gas) that has a much higher hydrogen to carbon ratio, which means significantly less carbon emissions.

Related posts on the future of bioenergy on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2019

Breakthrough in high surface area MOFs that absorb hydrogen and carbon, Tell Barack Obama

Garry Golden — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:19:52 -0500

What if Barack Obama said in his first State of the Union address: 'America must invest in high surface area materials...' ?

Most people would be puzzled. Some minds would probably close down after hearing something slightly intimidating and 'scientific'.

Why surface area? Why not say 'invest in better batteries, cleaning up fossil fuels, solar and hydrogen'?

Energy is about Interactions
Surface area enables better interactions between light, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, metals, and bio enzymes. (At least, that's the short answer.)

The real road to a 'New Energy Economy' is paved at the nanoscale of material science.

What types of applications can we expect?

1) High surface area materials - Trap Molecules & Light
Imagine being able to 'trap' harmful molecules that are byproducts of coal or oil.
Or solar cells that hold photons longer to produce more energy!

2) Solid state storage of energy - High Density Packets
Imagine billions of people buying high density 'packets' of energy at retail stores. We 'refill' instead of 'plugging into' wall sockets. Or electric vehicles that can be refilled by swapping out 'bricks' of energy in the form of solid Hydrogen.

The Evolution of MOFs
Chemical Engineering & News is reporting on progress in a very promising class of high surface area materials that can absorb hydrogen and carbon: Metal Organic Frameworks or MOFs.

MOFs are highly ordered interconnected 'lego' like structures that have open pores that can selectively absorb molecules. It is a 'sponge' with the highest surface area of all known materials- estimated at several football fields per gram.

The problem? Clogged pores.

Now, a team led by UCLA's Professor Omar M. Yaghi, who synthesized MOFs in mid 1990s at Michigan, has developed a technique using supercritical fluids that essentially clean out the material leading to a vast network of open holes.

What to do next? Somebody tell Barack Obama to make Molecular Surface Area a National Priority

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, energystorage, storage, batteries, electricity, fuelcells, fuel, cells, hydrogen, mofs

A123 seeks funding for Michigan battery plant, but should the US 'leapfrog' into fuel cells & capacitors?

Garry Golden — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:33:56 -0500

The US continues to play catch up to Asia in manufacturing advanced energy storage solutions used in electric vehicles and 'smart grids'. But a more organized US energy storage industry is starting to emerge.

Last month a group of battery makers formed a coalition to seek federal support. A week later a group of fuel cell makers petitioned Congress for its share of cleantech funding.

Now lithium-ion battery start up A123 Systems has submitted an application to qualify for $1.84 billion in direct loans to support the construction of new world-class battery plant in Michigan. At full operation, A123 expects the combined plants would occupy as much as 7 million square feet and create over 14,000 jobs to supply battery systems for five million hybrid vehicles or half a million plug-in electric vehicles per year by 2013.

Should the US leapfrog batteries into fuel cells and capacitors? (Continue)

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: energy, electricity, batteries, fuelcells, hydrogen, transportation, cars, storage, energystorage

Blacklight Power announces 'Customer No 2' for its novel hydrino energy system

Garry Golden — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:49:53 -0500

Most startup energy companies don't expect major media attention when they announce their second commercial deal.

Unless of course, your technology is reported to generate energy beyond the scientific paradigms of combustion and nuclear reactions.

This is why Blacklight Power has little trouble attracting press and controversy from paradigm bound scientists.

Earlier this Fall we reported on the indepdent verification of the company's novel method of capturing energy released when powder containing hydrogen atoms reacts with a catalyst to drop its energy state into hydrinos. Then in December Blacklight announced its first commercial agreement.

Now the company has Customer No. 2: Farmers' Electric Cooperative, Inc. of New Mexico for a 250 MW power system which could in theory power 250,000 homes.

Related Blacklight posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, blacklight, hydrogen, hydrino, electricity

UK researchers develop carbon neutral hydrogen production method using ethanol

Garry Golden — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:59:58 -0500

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen (UK) have announced a new carbon neutral method of producing hydrogen using ethanol feedstock.

The new method could offer an alternative use for bioenergy feedstocks. Instead of transforming biomass (corn stovers, organic waste) into a liquid fuel used in combustion engines, we can now imagine capturing hydrogen bonds from biofeedstocks to use in more efficient fuel cells.

Why care about hydrogen?
Hydrogen is usually misrepresented by both supporters and cynics. It is neither the 'savior' of Planet Earth, nor is it a 'waste of time'.

Hydrogen is a storage system, not a source of energy. But, what the global economy needs are more breakthroughs in energy storage! (Hint: batteries are not the end game!)

Read More:

Hydrogen Economy = Electricity Economy = Hydricity Economy?
& UK Researchers give us Carbon Neutral, but leave us dependent on Biomass:

Category: Energy
Year: 2019
Tags: energy, hydrogen, electricity, nanotechnology, bioenergy, biofuels

Korea to invest $38 billion in 'New Green Deal', Signaling Asian Middle Class 'Eco' Values Shift

Garry Golden — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:10:14 -0500

Is Asia's expanding middle class closer to reaching a tipping point where modern notions of 'environmentalism' become a key component to improving quality of life factors? Maybe!

The Korean government is pushing forward on a massive 'Green' New Deal style investment package could create more than 900,000 jobs.

The $38 billion investment plan includes: waste to energy power plants, support for 'Green Homes', transportation infrastructure for rail and bicycles, cleaning up polluted river systems, and investments in energy storage technologies used for electric vehicles.

Real story = Values Shift up Maslow's Hierarchy
The long view implications of this story go far beyond any actual investments that may or may not turn Korea's attention towards 'cleantech' industries. These projects might already have been planned long before the recent global economic slowdown. And $38 billion is not a lot of money for a 'New Deal'.

The real story is the media spin on 'green' and underlying values statement that shows widespread support within Korea for cleantech and eco-friendly ventures. The ripple effect of modern notions of environmentalism (able to address impacts of large scale industrialism, not traditional forms of agricultural living) could begin to challenge the notion of 'growth at any cost' that dominates economic policies around the world in all nations, but especially in emerging economies.

Values are very important when it comes to 'cleantech' policies, and there is no evidence that 'environmentalism' as it is viewed in American and European life is a current global phenomenon. There are still several billion people in the world who see 'quality of life' factors as related to jobs, education, home ownership and upward mobility, not planetary health.

What is driving this value's shift? Economic Growth, not Traditionalism

Category: Environment
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, transportation, korea

Smart Grid Infrastructure Startups to Watch in 2009

Garry Golden — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:55:22 -0500

What might be at the top of the list as the 'Next Big Thing' for the energy sector?

Creating a 'Smart Grid' (Guide) for Electricity that is more resilient, responsive and efficient.

2009 should be a significant year for investing in the three main ingredients of smart infrastructure: Software, Sensors & Storage.

In 2009 we will be watching for major investments made by utiltiies with the help of 'smart grid' startups and incumbents capable of transforming how we manage, distribute and store electrons:

1) Gridpoint
2) Comverge
3) BPL Global (Better Power Lines)
4) Enernoc
5) Enerwise
6) Trilliant Networks
7) Silver Spring Networks – Kleiner Perkins investment
8) Tendril
9) SmartSynch
10) Itron
11) Sequentric
12) Eka Systems

Other notable sensor and systems startups:
Energy Hub, GainSpan (Embedded Systems), GreenBox, eMeter (Enterprise)

Incumbents to Watch:
General Electric, IBM, Honeywell, and Johnson Controls

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, electricity, smartgrid, grid, infrastructure, obama

Moore's Law, Materials Science & The Future of Energy

Garry Golden — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:23:40 -0500

We are not going to 'consume' ourselves into a future global economy driven by clean energy technologies.

We have to build it using new scientific knowledge based on nanoscale interactions of light and molecules mostly- carbon, hydrogen, oxygen reacting to metals and enzymes.

Energy = Interactions
Creating 'clean energy' means using materials that make these molecular interactions that capture and release energy more efficient and less wasteful.

While consumers might be the ones who get the credit for changing behavior, the real heros of our cleantech energy future will be people involved in chemistry, biology, physics and materials engineering.

And the good news is that these scientists are increasingly turning to advanced computers and simulation software to accelerate the development of energy related materials!

Computational Power & Materials Science - Recent Examples for Materials Science

Category: Science
Year: 2014
Tags: energy, electricity, materials, hydrogen, solar, hydrogenstorage, batteries

US Fuel Cell Council proposes $1.2 billion to support Smart Grid & Electric Vehicles

Garry Golden — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:52:44 -0500

The US Fuel Cell Council is now lobbying Congress for more than a billion dollar investment to accelerate America's manufacturing position around this important piece of the future energy sector.

Energy Storage - Sprint vs Marthon
Even though Asia appears to have won the sprint towards next generation 'batteries', the US could regain its position in energy storage and conversion around the marathon race towards fuel cells.

Fuel cells convert chemical energy (e.g. hydrogen, methanol, natural gas) into electricity. They can be used for stationary power to reinforce the electrical grid with onsite generation, or to power portable devices and electric vehicles.

Fuel cells are not Dead, just Misunderstood
There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty and skepticism towards fuel cells among eco and energy bloggers. The technology fell victim to the 'Hype Cycle' after the Dotcom Bust in 2000, but the energy conversion platform has been making steady progress in recent years. Their long term advantages in terms of cost per kilowatt, performance durability, scalable modular manufacturing are still complelling reasons to support fuel cells as alternatives to batteries and combustion engines.

USFCC's Recommendations:
Now, the USFCC believes the invesment could create an estimated 24,000 jobs and is recommending funds for: Deploying Fuel Cells ($100 Million), Supporting a Fueling Infrastructure ($65 million), improving Federal Fuel Cell Investment Tax Incentives, expanding applied Learning Demonstrations ($375 Million) building foundation for American Manufacturing Capacity ($100 Million), accelerating Research in Partnership with Industry ($350 Million), investing in Fuel Cell Transit ($180 Million) and including Fuel Cells in President-Elect Obama‘s Energy Initiative.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: transportation, car, electriccars, cars, batteries, fuelcells, hydrogen

Top Science Breakthroughs in 2008: Novel Energy Systems

Garry Golden — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:27:13 -0500

"Whether you think you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right." - Henry Ford

The worst thing we can do when thinking about the future of energy is to look at possible solutions and simply extrapolate today's technologies and scientific assumptions forward about what 'is' or 'isn't possible'.

There is still a lot we do not know about the basics of energy systems dealing with photons, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, enzymes and metals. Our current first phase efforts to design nanoscale materials used in energy production, conversion and storage are certain to yield systems that will change how we live in the world in the decades ahead.

Remember, only a century ago, coal and wood were king, magical 'electric' light intimidated the general public, only a few could see the potential of oil, rockets and nuclear science were beyond our imagination, and the vision of a tens of millions of 'horseless carriages' reshaping the urban landscape was a ridiculous proposition.

So what seemingly novel ideas could shape the next century?

List of 10+ Novel Energy Stories from 2008:

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, hydrogen, electricity, nanotechnology, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, electrons

Report explores energy technology roadmap for Low Carbon Economy

Garry Golden — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:06:27 -0500

'The New Energy Economy' is the latest policy buzz word being used to describe the vision of a future global economy that runs on clean, abundant energy systems.

The incentives to accelerate this cleantech future are growing. Beyond issues of climate change, there are increasing concerns about accelerating resource depletion and 'peak' production of key resources as the world adds 3 billion people and doubles energy consumption by 2050. Paris-based International Energy Agency estimates that peak oil production could occur as soon as 2020.

The 'new energy economy' will require leaps in performance with new forms of energy production and storage systems.

Nothing is likely to happen quickly as the transition takes decades to unfold. And while our dependency on fossil fuels is likely to continue through mid-century, big changes are ahead.

World Watch Energy Report
The World Watch has released a report (PDF) looking at a roadmap towards a lower carbon economy based on a wide range of new energy systems.

"We are on the verge of an energy revolution," says Flavin. "With strong political leadership, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use policy and technology innovation to stave off the greatest human-caused threat our planet has seen."

World Watch believes that 'these new energy sources will make it possible to retire hundreds of coal-fired power plants that now provide 40 percent of the world's power by 2030, eliminating up to one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions while creating millions of new jobs.'

The report's roadmap includes:

Category: Environment
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, electricity, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen, solar, wind

Top Energy Science Breakthroughs in 2008 for Materials Science

Garry Golden — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:47:59 -0500

How do you build an 'sustainable' economy for 9 billion people?

Reinvent how we make, recycle and re-use metals, wood, glass, plastic and biomaterials that go into everyday products.

Who can enable the 'new energy economy'? Our bet is on the Scientist, not the Consumer.

While some get excited over 'green products' like solar powered backpacks, better lightbulbs and organic cotton yoga mats, most notions of 'eco-friendly' products fall drastically short of what will be needed to meet the demands of adding another 3 billion people to the planet by 2050.

We need to reinvent the whole concept of 'Industrialism' to create new methods for producing materials using less energy and 'resources' in fundamentally new ways.

List of 2008 Stories in Energy Materials Science

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology, chemistry, electricity, solar, biofuels

Toshiba opens lithium ion battery plant, Asia holding advantage in energy storage systems

Garry Golden — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:35:33 -0500

While US and European leaders debate investments in clean tech energy platforms, Asia continues to advance its first mover advantage in energy storage.

Toshiba Corporation has announced plans to construct a new production facility for its safe, long-life rapid charge SCiB battery to meet expected demand for industrial and automotive applications from 2010 on. The company also announced plans to expand production of high efficiency motors at a Vietnam based factory.

Energy storage is going to be a major growth area within the 'new energy economy'. Batteries are expected to be the dominate platform in the years ahead, but fuel cells and capacitors could soon emerge from the bottom of the 'Hype Cycle' with actual commercial products.

Toshiba estimates that the market for lithium-ion batteries for industrial and automotive applications to reach sales of 1.7 trillion yen (approximately US$19 billion) worldwide in fiscal year 2015.

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, batteries, fuel, cells, micropowersystems

Penn State researchers advance cellulosic biofuels

Garry Golden — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:27:45 -0500

Penn State University understands that the future of cleantech and the 'new energy economy' comes down to advancing the fundmantals of chemistry, biology and materials science.

The University has become a powerhouse for cleantech research and its scientists are pushing the limits of performance around next generation solar cells, fuel cells and cleaner hydrocarbons.

Now researchers have made a breakthrough related to the breadown of ligin that can be used to lower the cost of cellulosic based biofuels, and change the feedstock industry.

Rethinking the breakdown of Ligin
Lignin is a key piece of cellular walls in woody plant material. Breaking it down to access the energy of chemical bonds in the plant material is one of the great barriers to cost effective cellulosic biofuels.

"There is lots of energy-rich cellulose locked away in wood," said John Carlson, professor of molecular genetics, Penn State. "But separating this energy from the wood to make ethanol is a costly process requiring high amounts of heat and caustic chemicals. Moreover, fungal enzymes that attack lignin are not yet widely available, still in the development stage, and not very efficient in breaking up lignin."

Bean gene + Poplar Tree + Enzyme
Researchers inserted a gene from beans into a poplar tree that inserts a protein between two lignin molecules when the lignin polymer is created.

"Now we have a lignin polymer with a protein stuck in between," explained Carlson "When that occurs, it creates a type of lignin that is not much different in terms of strength than normal lignin, but we can break open the lignin polymer by using enzymes that attack proteins rather than enzymes that attack lignin."

These enzymes that attack proteins are already used widely in the laundry detergent industry and are commercially readily available, added Carlson. The genetic modification does not appear to weaken the plants or the crop production.

The easy to breakdown ligin variation may also have major implications for agriculture and livestock industries:

Category: Biotechnology
Year: 2019
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Top Energy Science Breakthroughs in 2008: Batteries, Fuel Cells and Capacitors

Garry Golden — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:13:46 -0500

Let's think beyond simply trying to find new ways to produce more energy, and focus on ways of storing energy. Why? Because this expands ways for us to produce more energy! Confused?

Solar and wind alone are a hard sell to utility providers because of intermittent production when the sun isn't shining or wind doesn't blow. Add utility scale storage to solar and wind farms, and you have a more valuable proposition.

Battery powered cars sound great, but not if we have to plug in our vehicles every 50 or 100 miles. Or what about a new iPhone with a battery that cannot last the entire day.

We have written dozens of posts on energy storage and believe it deserves much more attention from the media and policy leaders. 2009 could be a turning point for awareness around the importance of enabling next generation batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

List of 20+ Energy Breakthroughs in Batteries, Fuel cells, and Capacitors

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, research, top10, list, science, hydrogen, fuelcells, batteries

Space Program Reinvigorated with Expansive Space-based Solar Energy Policy

Adam Cutsinger — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:23:37 -0500

Many people will say that pursuing a space-based solar power energy campaign is too ambitious, that there are more immediate solutions to get us through our economic/energy crisis until a time when spaced-aged, science fiction-inspired future tech can be safely explored further. They might say that we already have a head start with nuclear, oil and coal, as well as other greener alternatives like wind, water and Earthbound solar. They would be dead wrong. The truth is...

Category: Technology
Year: Beyond
Tags: alternative, energy, solar, power, space, based, panels, satellites, jaxa, nasa, nss, nsso, obama, environmental, solutions, green

EEStor receives patent for revolutionary electric energy storage device

Garry Golden — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:37:39 -0500

Could a box full of electrons change the energy industry?

Texas-based stealth energy storage company EEStor is making news again on the blogosphere now that it has received a patent for its ground breaking capacitor that might find use in electric vehicles, utility grids or high performance portable devices.

Why is this important for the auto industry?
The key to accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles is to advance energy storage devices. Batteries and fuel cells hold electricity using chemical storage, while capacitors store energy as a charge between two plates.

Designing a low cost, high performance capacitor has been a challenge for energy innovators. But EEStor believes its material platform of barium-titanate ceramic powder (94%) mixed with PET plastic could be the right combination.

The EEStor patent reveals a 281 pound storage device with more than 30,000 plates that can hold 52 kWh of electrical energy.

The company has an agreement with electric vehicle maker Zenn and Lockheed for military applications, but has intentionally kept a low profile. Its effort to remain under the radar of media attention, has in turn created a lot of energy blogger hype.

Batteries, fuel cells and capacitors - Not one device rules them all!

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuelcells, capacitors

List of 50 Hottest Biofuel companies from 2008

Garry Golden — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:47:32 -0500

Biofuels Digest has released its list of of 'Hottest' Biofuel companies based on research or production achievements in 2008. The analyst panel votes were weighted by industry and region 'to ensure a fair and broad representation of companies and technologies.'

"Innovation in renewable energy is gaining speed," said Jim Lane, editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest. "A slew of advanced bioenergy systems are coming to market from some of the brightest biologists, chemists, agronomists and engineers in the world. These companies are the hottest of the hot."

Top Ten includes:

1. Coskata
2. Sapphire Energy
3. Virent Energy Systems
4. POET
5. Range Fuels
6. Solazyme
7. Amyris Biotechnologies
8. Mascoma
9. DuPont Danisco
10. UOP

Other notables include: Novozymes (#14), Qteros (#15), Synthetic Genomics (#19), LS9 (#25),

Related posts on the future of bioenergy on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

Top Science Breakthroughs in 2008: Solar Energy

Garry Golden — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:59:56 -0500

To reach a point where our global economy can rely on solar driven energy production, we need to continue making major breakthroughs in fundamantal science.

We still know relatively little about the fundamentals of photosynthesis and how we might replicate the process in materials used to turn energy from the sun into 'clean electrons and molecules'.

Sunlight can be used to capture photons for heat (solar thermal), electricity (photovoltaics) or direct hydrogen production. We are looking at ways of capturing solar energy in silicon and carbon based materials, and also using molecular machines inside of algae and bacteria. We must also find a way to store solar energy efficiently and at a low cost.

List of 11 Solar Energy Breakthroughs in 2008

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, solar, thinfilm, electricity, nanotechnology, thermal, hydrogen

Top Research Breakthroughs in 2008 for Bio energy

Garry Golden — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 04:11:42 -0500

2008 was a big year for science breakthroughs on next generation bioenergy solutions. And that is a good thing for the future of energy.

The modern economy runs on ancient bioenergy. Coal is ancient biomass, oil is likely ancient microbes.

So why not tap the power of biology to ‘grow energy’ resources.

Forget about corn ethanol, the future taps the power of microorganisms not plants.

Next generation solutions such as algae and bacteria ‘eat’ carbon to produce biofuels, or use sunlight to produce hydrogen. Looking beyond 2015, we can imagine real breakthroughs in the field of Synthetic Biology that could change how we look at energy and carbon solutions.

List of Bioenergy Science Breakthroughs in 2008

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, bioenergy, biofuels, algae, cellulosic, ethanol, hydrogen

MIT develops innovative pilot wave power plant in Portugal

Garry Golden — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:38:25 -0500

MIT researchers are working with a Portuguese group to design a pilot-scale device that will capture significantly more of the energy in ocean waves than existing systems. The pilot plant will generate 750 kilowatts, roughly enough to power 750 homes.

Professor Chiang Mei and his colleagues have developed model simulations that can predict wave forces and guide design decisions to convert the captured mechanical energy to electrical energy.

"Given the future of conventional energy sources, we need lots of research on all kinds of alternative energy," Mei says. "Right now, wind energy and solar energy are in the spotlight because they've been developed for a longer time. With wave energy, the potential is large, but the engineering science is relatively young. We need to do more research."

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Environment
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, wave, electricity, ocean

Rice University licenses bioengineered E Coli that produces key ingredient for biomaterials

Garry Golden — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:36:03 -0500

Rice University researchers have bio-engineered Ecoli to produce large amounts of a key component used in the development of bio-based and biodegradable polymers.

What happened?
Raw (starch) materials provider Roquette Frères has licensed a bio-process from Rice University to use genetically engineered Ecoli that produce large quantities of succinic acid used in plastics, textiles, drugs and solvents and as a food additive.

The high volume process is competitive with petroleum based processes, and actually 'carbon negative' as it consumes carbon during the fermenation process.

Roquette Frères is not a household brand, but could go a long way in realizing a scalable way to produce bio-based succinic acid from renewable resources via “green” chemistry.

Roquette will develop a demonstration plant in France by the end of 2009 with the capacity to produce several hundred metric tons of succinic acid per year. After successful demonstration of the technology, the company expects to begin large-scale production by 2011.

Category: Biotechnology
Year: 2011
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology, chemistry

US battery companies form coalition for electric vehicles, playing catch up to Asia

Garry Golden — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:13:39 -0500

American Industrial leaders might be ready to reinvest in the country's industrial capacity to innovate and manufacture components needed to reinvent the energy and auto industries.

The keys to electric vehicles are electric motors, energy storage systems (batteries, fuel cells and capacitors) and drive by wire systems.

The US has now formed a new coalition to pursue the biggest prize: Energy Storage!

Pride or Profits?
US playing catch up with Asian
What if electric cars didn't bring America and Europe 'energy independence'? The public relations failure of trading 'foreign oil for foreign batteries', has motivated US business leaders to form a coalition to seek federal funding for securing a domestic battery industry.

The Chicago-baesd National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture will include 14 companies and the US DOE's Argonne National Laboratory. 'The Alliance' will be modeled around Sematech which helped the U.S. semiconductor indutsry play catch up to Asian manufacturers in the late 1980s

The founding members of the Alliance include 3M, Johnson Controls, ActaCell, All Cell Technologies, Altair Nanotechnologies, Dontech Global, EaglePicher Corporation, EnerSys, Envia Systems, FMC, MicroSun Technologies, Mobius Power, SiLyte, Superior Graphite, and Townsend Advanced Energy.

Short term vs Long view of 'Electric'
We have been writing for several months about the globalization of electric vehicle industry, and Asia's early lead in the first energy storage device lithium ion batteries.

We have also suggest that the 'car is not an iPod', and that 'pluggin in' battery systems are not the default future of electric vehicles. It is not certain that batteries can solve the energy storage problem.

Ask a lawyer or engineer if there is something wrong with this plug in picture!

Instead, next generation vehicles will integrate batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and capacitors. But industry leaders, politicians and the public seem only ready to take one step at a time, and for now talk is focused on first generation storage of batteries. So we will crawl instead of leap into the future.

Related posts on the future of electric vehicles

Category: Transportation
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, car, cars, transportation, electriccars, batteries, hydrogen, fuelcells

France's EDF outbids Buffet for nuclear power utility Constellation Energy

Garry Golden — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:27:33 -0500

Nuclear power has not stopped being controversial in the US, but global industry leaders still see America as a market for growth in electricity generation.

There are enormous challenges ahead for revitalizing support for nuclear power, but if the US does restart its nuclear power program, it will not do it alone. And it's possible that pressure could be strongest from companies based outside the US. Aside from flat public support, there is a notable lack of human engineering talent in the US.

France invests in US power generation market
Now we have a new player in the nuclear industry. France's utility giant EdF has outbid Warren Buffet's MidAmerican Energy to buy Baltimore-based Constellation Energy which has a nuclear power generation heavy portfolio. EDF will invest $1 billion in Constellation, and up to $2 billion for non-nuclaer power plant investments.

Buffet did not walk away empty handed from his earlier effort to buy Constellation, and has doubled his money in less than a year as he retains a 9% stake and $593 million in cash.

This is a significant investment by France's EDF in the US power generation market, and could be a milestone in the new battle for public support for nuclear power.

[It should be noted that, aside from all the legacy controversy issues, nuclear energy is NOT a substitute for oil or liquid fuels. Nuclear plants produce electricity and we cannot fill combustion engines with electrons. So the argument that nuclear energy provides for 'energy independence' falls flat.]

Category: Energy
Year: 2014
Tags: energy, electricity, nuclear, france, edf

Accelerating the Auto Industry's Convergence with Energy & Software

Garry Golden — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:25:19 -0500

The auto industry is going through a long painful transition that will take decades to unfold.

Why be optimistic about the future?

Because the two most profound industry shifts are wonderful platforms for growth and changing the world.

The Auto Industry is converging with the world of energy storage and software.

While we cannot ignore the short term pains, we should not lose sight of the opportunities ahead.

First, the pain. In the past three days: Toyota has delayed plans to build a Prius factory in Missiissipi, GM said that the Volt will not have its own factory as it taps existing plants, and Norway's darling electric car maker struggling to stay alive. Meanwhile suppliers and car dealerships are close to failing all over world.

What went wrong?
Everyone has their own reasons for why automakers are failing: Labor costs, oil, management, credit markets, et al. All have valid points. And, obviously there are multiple problems, not one issue.

But I have a very different theory and set of presriptions.

The problem isn't oil, it's the combustion engine and its legacy liabilties of intensive manufacturing, limited design and obsession with 'new car' sales paradigm.

Our great opportunity?
The problem is based on how we build and sell cars, not how we fuel them. So let's focus on the platform of a post-combustion engine era of mobility.

How do we get there? You cannot summon the future on demand with band-aid solutions, you must enable it and wait for it to change.

Our priority should be to enable a multi-decade long transition that changes how cars are bought, sold, driven and upgraded.

21st Century Vehicles: Focus on Wheel-based Electric Motors, Energy Storage and Software...

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, car, cars, transportation, electriccars, batteries, hydrogen, fuelcells

Chinese researchers develop platinum-free fuel cell

Garry Golden — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:25:41 -0500

MIT Technology Review has featured a research breakthrough in platinum free fuel cells that could significantly reduce costs for a unique type of fuel cell energy conversion devices.

A Wuhan University team led by Professor Lin Zhuang has developed an Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC) using a new hydroxyl ion electrolyte that uses low cost nickel catalyst materials to react hydrogen and oxygen to create electrical current, heat and water.

NASA has used alkaline fuel cells (AFC) in space missions since the 1960s, but these types of fuel cells are not likely to be used in automobile or portable devices. They might best be suited for onsite power generation, which is still an enormous market. AFCs use a water-based electrolye that lets postive charged molecules pass, diverting negative charges into the current. They are very efficient (up to 70%) but do have their downsides. If the team of researchers can increase the protoype's 'modest' electricity output (50 milliwatts/sq centimeter at 60 ºC) it could help bring low cost alkaline fuel cells to market.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
Understanding Fuel Cells & The Hype Cycle

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, fuelcells, materials, chemistry, catalysts

Piezeoelectric Power: Innowattech dreams of energy harvesting roads, railways and runways

Garry Golden — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:26:28 -0500

Piezeoelectric materials convert mechanical changes into electrical current. As with everything else in the new energy sector, its future is being driven forward by materials scientists.

Earlier we featured breakthroughs at Texas A&M and also at Georgia Tech University on materials that generate small-scale electric currents when stretched or pressed.

There is talk of piezeoelectric iPods, but it is hard to imagine systems replacing batteries given the growth in electricity demand of portable gadgets. The best applications will likely be for sensors, microcontrollers, smart tags, and digital textiles that do not use high end processors.

Energy harvesting infrastructure?

Stories of energy harvesting dance floors have been circulating on energy and environmental blogs for months, but what about roads and railways that have more steady traffic?

Israel-based Innowattech claims to be the the first company to demonstrate industrial scale piezeoelectric solutions that 'harvest' energy from traffic moving over roads, railroads and airport runways. Their vision is to capture all the motion above ground into electricity for the local grid.

The obstacles to market are probably high given the demands of infrastructure and (very) conservative nature of structural engineers and regulators who build infrastructure for performance (not energy capture). Not to mention cost challenges in a down economy. But 'harvesting energy solutions' is a great meme and certaily has its role for future micro energy solutions. And who can argue the appeal of energy producing infrastructure and built environments?!

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, electricity, piezeoelectric

China breaks ground on largest coal cluster plant project in its history, equal in size to Three Gorges Dam

Garry Golden — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:54:46 -0500

Everybody wants the world economy to move beyond coal, yet there are some brutal realities that are hard to avoid.

Coal, as an energy resource, is not going away.

In fact coal use is rising worldwide as demand for electricity increases!

No where on Earth is this more a reality of tomorrow than China.

What happened?
The People's Daily is reporting that on December 15th, construction began on the largest scale coal-electricity project cluster in China's energy construction history.

China has started simultaneous construction on eight coal power and chemical plants, and five mines to keep the plants operational.

China's Industrial Planning NDB site estimates that all the 8 power plants in it will form a thermal power generation base with a capacity up to 20,000 MW. (Compared to the Three Gorges Damn capacity is 22,500 MW)

Do they have enough supply? MiningNews reports that the Ningxia region has a proven coal reserves of 31 billion tonnes and potential reserve of 202.9 billion tonnes.

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Environment
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, coal, electricity, algae

Dow Corning adds fuel to growing solar industry, invests $3 billion in polysilicon materials

Garry Golden — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:23:37 -0500

The Solar industry is growing up and going global. Now materials giant Dow Corning is investing $3 billion into basic materials for traditional photovoltaics and thin film solar.

The Chemistry side of Solar
The full potential of solar energy depends on our ability to make big advances in materials science.

How quickly solar can grow depends on our ability to design nanoscale structures that maximize the conversion of photons into electricity, photons into heat, or photons into hydrogen. And how many utilities and consumers take the leap!

So when we see 'Big Chemistry' companies get involved in the solar industry materials market, that should be a signal of growth (and growth pains) ahead!

Dow goes Green by Being Black
Dow Corning Corporation has announced several billion dollars of investment to provide critical materials to the fast-growing solar technology industry for both glass based solar and carbon based thin film.

Dow Corning and its Hemlock Semiconductor joint venture will begin manufacturing high purity monosilane, a key specialty gas used to manufacture thin-film solar cells and liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Combined with the new $1.2 billion build up at a Clarksville, Tennesee facility and the $1 billion expanded monosilane plant in Hemlock, Michigan operations may add up to 34,000 metric tons of polysilicon capacity for the fast-growing solar industry. Construction of both the Michigan expansion and the new Tennessee site will begin immediately.

What to watch: Oversupply of Polysilicon

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, solar, electricity, photovoltaics, thinfilm

The Top 10 Energy Stories of 2008

joelg — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:41:11 -0500

By Joel Greenberg and the Staff of The Energy Roadmap

2008 was a big year in energy and one that we could very well look back upon as the platform to the not so distant future of energy. Much has happened. To help you make sense of it all, we here at The Energy Roadmap have sifted through our bookmarks, Google Notebooks, back of the napkin lists, Twitter searches, interview transcripts, and RSS feeds to come up with the top 10 energy stories that will have an impact on our culture, society, and lives.

Top Energy Stories of 2008

#1 Story of the Year:
Electrification of the Passenger Car

#2 The Year of Scientific Breakthroughs

#3 The Obama Election

#4 From $147 to $50: The Price of Oil

#5 The Dying Gasp of Corn Ethanol

#6 The Clean Coal Lobby Breaks Through the Clutter...and Gets a Response

#7 Geeks Go Green

#8 The Rise of Local Initiatives

#9 Infrastructure Gains Attention

#10 Emerging Energy Missionaries & Visionaries

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: 2008, review, energy, electricity, cars, transportation, algae, biofuels, ethanol

French oil giant Total takes $45 million equity in Thin Film Solar startup Konarka

Garry Golden — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:12:34 -0500

The thin film solar industry is going global. In the past few months we have seen manufacturing agreements that have connected companies based in the US, Italy, Japan, Korea, China and Turkey. And now we have the first major equity stake from a global energy giant Total.

Konarka partners with French oil giant
Konarka has just announced on Monday that it received $45 million in equity financing from the U.S. division of French oil and gas giant Total. The arrangement also includes R&D agreements with Total’s chemical subsidiaries (Atotech, Bostik, Hutchinson, Sartomer) to further development of the startup’s thin-film, organic solar cell technology

With this stake, Total will become the leading shareholder with a 20% equity stake. This is its first major equity stake in a thin film maker, and will expand Total's current silicon-based solar portfolio with Photovoltech and Tenesol.

Materials Science solutions for Distributed Solar Power

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, solar, thinfilm, photovoltaics, total

Energy Story of 2008: #1 Electrification of the Passenger Car

joelg — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:02:57 -0500

By the fall of 2008, every major automanufacturer from GM to Nissan to Tata--and a few startups such as Tesla and Aptera--had announced production model plans for all manner of electric vehicles, from all electrc vehicles, to plug-in hybrid electrics, to fuel cell vehicles, with deliveries to consumers starting in 2010. 2008 could well be known as the nail in the coffin for the bulky combustion engine which has plagued the auto industry with its manufacturing and design liabilities, and association with volatile oil markets.

How quickly might the world re-tool the global auto industry to build new vehicle chassis based on electric motors and advanced energy storage systems?

Continue Reading other Top Energy Stories from 2008

#2 The Year of Scientific Breakthroughs

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: electric, car, transportation, energy, electricity, batteries, hydrogen, fuelcells

Shocking interview with IEA Chief Economist, Peak Oil Production Plateau possible by 2020

Garry Golden — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:25:12 -0500

In 1972 a team of futurists published the book Limits to Growth which explored long-term forecast models based on rapidly expanding global economic and population growth against finite natural resources.

While most people assumed that growth could continue unabated, Limits to Growth offered a shocking alternative scenario - overshoot and collapse. Their future? The modern industrial economy would expand beyond the legacy resource capacity of the planet as supplies plateaued and depleted faster than expected. The 'Overshoot and Collapse' future scenario was mostly ridiculed by mainstraem economists and political leaders.

Now the world's leading oil forecasting agency is hinting that this future is closer than expected with regard to our conventional oil supplies. They are calling for an 'energy revolution'.

A Video Interview for the Ages
The UK's Guardian's George Monbiot has posted this fantastic, hard edged video interview with the International Energy Agency Chief Economist Dr Fatih Birol. (Link to video)

For those who have followed the 'peak oil' conversation evolve, this is the most shocking admission on record from a leading global oil analyst. Birol acknowledges that the major differences between the IEA's World Energy Outlook report from 2007 were based on the 'wrong assumptions' of oil field decline rates. He admits that, until 2008, no organization has ever done a comprehensive global oil field decline rate survey.

Monbiot's annoynance with the IEA's failure to back their forecasts with actual data is priceless, and scary given the implications of IEA's role in providing governments with accurate oil forecasts. In 2007 the IEA said the decline rate asumption was 3%, now in 2008 they say data support 6-7%. At that rate, the world's conventional oil production plateau could happen between 2020-2030.

Birol says that the current path is "not (economically) sustainable" and the IEA is now calling for 'an energy revolution'. We think this should certainly start with global leaders pushing to Kill the Combustion Engine and taking away the liquid fuel fed energy device that makes us so dependent on oil.

What to watch:
Peak Oil is about to go Mainstream
The broad implications of peak production in conventional oil resources?

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, oil, peakoil, peak

Duke Energy pushes for rooftop solar distributed power program

Garry Golden — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:53:35 -0500

Electricity powers the future. And changing how electricity is produced, distributed and stored is arguably the greatest challenge for governments and business in the years ahead.

What needs to change?

1) The regulatory frameworks that shape the business models of public/private utlities

2) Addressing the physical decline (and disruption vulnerability) of aging and 'one-way' flow national electricity grids.

3) Advancing science and technologies that can enable new forms of grid management (e.g. software and sensors), energy storage (batteries, hydrogen and capacitors), and distributed power generation (solar, fuel cells).

These are big tasks, with no quick fixes. But now we have one of the biggest utilities in the United States, opening up a small door of opportunity for distributed power generation. It is not game-changing, but noteworthy!

What happened?
'Big Grid' embracing Distributed Power Generation?
Utility giant Duke Energy has asked the North Carolina Utilities Commission(NCUC) to support a solar distributed generation program. Duke plans to install electricity-generating photovoltaic solar panels across several hundred North Carolina homes, schools, office buildings, shopping malls, warehouses and large manufacturing facilities – both on roofs and on the ground.

The plans have been slighly scaled back since the project's first announcement in June 2008, but Duke remains committed. According to a press release, Duke Energy Carolinas would own and operate the equipment, and the power produced by each installation would be used to serve the utility’s customers. So the electricity would not be owned and used by the host sites.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2011

Synthetic Biology meet Energy Industry, UCLA researchers modify E coli to produce biofuels

Garry Golden — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:50:00 -0500

Should our bioenergy solutions be limited to what nature has provided?

Or if it was possible to improve upon the efficiencies of algae and microbes to 'eat' carbon to produce low cost, clean forms of energy- should we try to improve upon nature at the molecular level?

Many researchers have already answered - Yes.

Startups like Amyris, LS9 and Synthetic Genomics are developing commercial products.

The good news is that they are making progress. The bad news is that the public is totally unprepared to have a conversation about the idea of 'synthetic biology'. If leadership does not emerge soon to explain the benefits of bioenergy solutions, confusion and fear could soon outshine the promise of synthetic biology.

What happened at UCLA?
Earlier we covered a breakthrough by Craig Venter's team in advancing synthetic biology and genome assembly. Now researchers at UCLA have engineered a synthetic biological pathway inside Ecoli bacteria to produce a next generation biofuel equivalent to gasoline.

The team led by Professor James Liao inserted genes into the Ecoli, a well studied and commonly modified bacteria, to produce alcohol liquid fuels from sugar rich feedstocks. The butanol grade fuels have the same energy content equivalent, or better, of traditional gasoline.

"The ability to make these branched-chain higher alcohols so efficiently is surprising," according to Liao. "Unlike ethanol, organisms are not used to producing these unusual alcohols, and there is no advantage for them to do so. The fact taht they can be made by E. coli is even more surprising, since E. coli is not a promising host to tolerate alcohol. These results mean that these unusual alcohols in fact can be manufactured as efficiently as what evolved in nature for ethanol. Therefore, we now can explore these unusual alcohols as biofuels and are not bound by what nature has given us."

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae

Chemists advance new theory to support next generation cleantech materials

Garry Golden — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:06:04 -0500

The future of energy systems will be shaped by our ability to control light, electrons and molecules.

If we expect to transform the world's largest industries then we need fundamental breakthroughs in materials science and engineering.

This is not the time for incremental improvements, or resting on strategies of 'consuming' green. This is the time to turn to science- chemistry, physics, and biology.

If we expect to use our natural resources more efficienctly, and create low cost solar cells, batteries and fuel cells, then we need to leap foward in our ability to manipulate and assemble chains (polymers) of hydrogen and carbon.

Now we are a step closer to realizing this new age of advanced materials science that enable leaps in performance and efficiencies.

What happened?
A team of Oregon University researchers led by Dr Marina Guenza, using data collected by European materials researchers, has developed a theory that could end the confusion over molecule behavior in the creation of polymer materials.

The new framework for explaining molecule movement might help lower costs and expand performance of materials used in the fields of engineering, nanotechnology, and renewable energy.

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology, chemistry

Blacklight Power announces first commercial customer for novel Hydrogen (hydrino) energy system

Garry Golden — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:53:59 -0500

Blacklight Power believes it has developed a ground breaking new form of energy production that cannot be explained by the scientific paradigms of combustion and nuclear reactions.

Yes, it's controversial! But now they have their first customer!

Earlier this Fall we reported on the independent verification of BlackLight’s novel method of capturing tremendous amounts of energy released when powder containing hydrogen atoms reacts with a catalyst to drop its energy state into hydrinos. [51 MB .wmv Video]

250 MW Contract
Now the company has announced its first commercial license agreement with Estacado Energy Services, Inc. in New Mexico. In a non-exclusive agreement, BLP has licensed Estacado to use the BlackLight Process and certain BLP energy technology for the production of thermal or electric power. Estacado may produce gross thermal power up to a maximum continuous capacity of 250 MW or convert this thermal power to corresponding electricity.

The energy blogosphere is all over this story. Comment sections are filled with praise from believers and harsh skepticism from non-believers! Blacklight challenges the core assumptions of energy physics based on combustion and nuclear science. And we are very interested in how this conversation evolves!

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, blacklight, hydrogen, hydrino

Report names IBM #1 in climate strategies, 'Big Blue' pushes for 'Big Green' Smart Planet

Garry Golden — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:15:04 -0500

A new Ceres report on company supply chain and operation efficiencies that support climate change strategies, has named IBM the #1 company for its internal practices and green innovation strategies. The RiskMetrics Group authored report analyzes climate change governance practices at 63 of the world's largest retail, pharmaceutical, technology, apparel and other consumer-facing companies.

Using a 100-point scale, the three highest scoring companies were IBM, UK-based grocery retailer Tesco and Dell, with 79, 78 and 77 points, respectively. More than half of the 63 companies scored under 50 points, with a median score of 38 points.

Beyond 'green' recognition, what does IBM see in a a Smart Planet?
The big story is not the 'green' award recognition for IBM, Tesco and Dell - it's the brand association IBM is trying to build between its core practice as a hardware-software service provider and the transformation of global industries that deal with infrastructure and the transmission of information, goods, energy and water.

Consumers can change light builts, but companies like IBM and Johnson Controls can transform industry level supply chains, built environments, and national infrastructure systems. This is where we are likely to find the greatest ROI.

IBM (and others) sees an opportunity to improve industrial scale efficiencies in a near term future shaped by software, sensors and micro controllers. The vision? A Smart Planet.

For IBM the world is quickly becoming, instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. This is the driving force behind 'Big Blue' trying to enable a 'Big Green'world. Sensors and Software can lead to a greener world.

Category: Technology
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, efficiency, ibm, sensors, software

[Video] Clean Coal PR Failure! Industry group leaves door open for eco-ridicule with Coal Carolers

Garry Golden — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:32:02 -0500

The Coal Industry marketing team must not be aware of web activist culture and its tendency to repurpose and ridicule messages that people believe miss the target.

Here come the Clean Coal Carolers!!
The coal industry group America's Power has developed a series of Christmas Carols to themes related to clean coal. Viewers pick the winter outfits for chunks of coal and then the Coal Carolers appear at the door! Singing Frosty the Coal Man, O'Technology

Now, I am not 'anti-coal'. I'd rather see a globally focused, pragmatic conversation about cleaning up coal, rather than a battle between industry and activist groups. I am pro 'reality check' to coals expanding role in China and advocate advanced carbon solutions like algae.

In fact, I'm obsessed with the social history of coal. Friends can confirm that I carry around small piece of anthracite coal in my pocket just to 'show and tell'. I never miss a chance to ask people if they know what it is. 9 out of 10 do not. They look at it, rub it, smell it, say 'it's light'. But have no idea what it is. It's also shocking how many people do not know that coal is ancient biomass. I'd much rather the coal industry focus on science than spoofy web cartoons.

The Decision behind Coal Carolers?
It's generating buzz. But it also opens the door for web creatives to turn the message against the lobby group. Who is the target audience seeing chunks of coal sing like chipmunks?! I can already see it spreading among web savvy audiences who are already skeptical of coal. Are they being converted?

Try a campaign about Science, not Cocky Satire
If the coal industry was actually clean, I'd say-- fine, have your fun. But the industry is far from clean. And there is no near term strategy to convince us otherwise.

I support people who want to enable solutions for the coal industry. Retrofit the world's factories with algae bioreactors to address carbon emissions. But let's not ask people to dress up chunks of coal and sing along to silly tunes. Teach people about science and bioenergy solutions. Don't give them another reason to avoid the challenging conversation about coal's future.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, coal, electricity, algae

Get a Mobile Fuel-Cell Charger For All of Your Gadget Charging Needs

John Heylin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:54:14 -0500

MTI MicroFuel Cells, a division of MTI, has a prototype portable fuel cell battery which it hopes to release by the end of 2009. "This compact and light weight fuel cell charger comes with a removable cartridge that can be swapped for a new one when depleted. Each additional cartridge gives consumers another 25 Watt-hours of power." 25 Watt-hours of power translates to 10 cellphone charges or 100 hours of video on a portable video player like the iPhone.

The device itself runs on 100% methanol fuel which isn't surprising since you can buy methanol for .47 cents a gallon. The Mobion chip used in the device has a new design architecture that "embodies a reduction in the size, complexity, and cost of fuel cell construction." With fuel cells currently available at astronomical prices, it will be interesting to see how much they've cut the cost off their product.

Full MTI press release here.

Category: Gadgets
Year: 2010
Tags: mti, fuel, cell, portable, microfuel, methanol

Bio Hydrogen production breakthrough - Understanding the power of enzymes

Garry Golden — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:50:59 -0500

- Editor's Note -
We cannot ignore, or dismiss hydrogen energy storage

Let's put Hydrogen (e.g. energy storage for electricity) into perspective. Hydrogen was all the hype in the late 90s as Techies rallied behind Ballard Fuel Cell stocks, and buying into the 'hype'. Then as hydrogen startups failed to live up to short term expectations, many of those same people started slamming hydrogen as a waste of time and resources. Too 'inefficient and wasteful - and hard to store.' Early believers had wanted startups to change the world, but really they needed to pay attention to science. Researchers were waving their hands- 'we're not ready yet!'

The hydrogen skeptics' new strategy?
Replace the hype of hydrogen, with hype of lithium ion batteries and capacitors. That's the 'new answer'. Meanwhile hydrogen researchers continue to evolve systems for low cost, high efficiency production, and solid-state storage.

My forecast? Batteries will disappoints us, hydrogen will surprise us.

What happened?
Nanowerk is reporting that researchers at the University of Oxford have advanced a technique that taps the of biology. Enzymes known as hydrogenase can be used as a cheap, clean and efficient way of producing hydrogen from water using sunlight (artificial photosynthesis).

Hydrogenases are biocatalysts that produce or oxidize hydrogen using clusters of iron ([FeFe]) or nickel and iron ([NiFe]) to facilitate reactions. Enyzmes transport electrons and positively charged molecules through complex chains that are largely unknown to scientists. Now we are trying to overcome challenges of tapping the power of hydrogenase (H2 enyzmes) like keeping oxygen from stopping or slowing down reactions.

Nanowerk reports that Armstrong's group has 'demonstrated a rational photochemical hydrogen cell that produces hydrogen under visible light irradiation without resort to rigorous anaerobicity.'

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, hydrogen, electricity, nanotechnology, enzymes, bioenergy

Virtual Energy Forum: More Talk, Less Carbon

joelg — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:05:25 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

What's Happening?

As cleantech businesses gathers speed, conferences abound. Instead of flying speakers and attendees around the country or the world to attend them, why not host them virtually? That's what's happening today and tomorrow, 12/10 and 12/11, online at the Virtual Energy Forum. Open to the public, attendance is free.

Speakers include:

- Joseph Kelliher, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- James E. Rogers CEO, Duke Energy
- Paul P. Bollinger Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy and Partnerships, US Army
- Roland Risser, Director for Customer Energy Efficiency Pacific Gas and Electric
- Kathleen Hogan, Director, Climate Protection Partnerships Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Category: Metaverse
Year: 2008
Tags: virtual, energy, conference

Flying on Jatropha Biofuel

amisampat — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:21:37 -0500

By Ami Sampat

What Happened?
Continental Airlines and Boeing are preparing for the first flight of a plane run partially on next generation biofuels, which will leave on January 7 from Houston, Texas. Continental and Boeing's joint venture will be the first American plane to use jatropha as a biofuel. This biofuels milestone follows Virgin Atlantic's earlier test run, using coconut oil and babassu oil.

Why is this important?
Biofuels would not only help reduce the airline industry's carbon emissions but it could also be a more stable source of fuel.

The January 7th flight is going to be fueled by a 50/50 blend of traditional jet fuel and biofuels derived from algae and jatropha fuel. Jatropha is a shrub (non-food crop) grown on marginal lands. Its oil-rich seeds can be used to make biofuels. The first commercial scale Jatropha operations are now being tested in India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and West Africa.

What's Next?
Provided the test run goes well next month, this could open doors for the airline business and biofuel producers looking to capture a part of the aviation biofuel market.

Category: Transportation
Year: 2009
Tags: oil, biofuel, jatropha, airline, transportation

Swiss team designs low cost, low maintenance wave power system

Garry Golden — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:05:54 -0500

While solar power is often described as the world's great untapped clean source of energy, ocean power deserves as much attention. In fact, it deserves a lot of attention given the expectation that the world will double energy consumption in the decades ahead. And the reality that most of the world's population lives close to an ocean.

Futures oriented energy engineers dream of capturing the steady kinetic and thermal of energy. Unlike solar and wind, ocean energy provides near 24/7 potential utilization.

A Low Mainteance Linear Generator?
Now a Swiss team from Upsalla University has developed and tested a novel system. For nearly three years, a wave power plant has stood on the bottom of the ocean a couple of kilometers off the west coast of Sweden, near Lysekil. Rafael Waters, from the Uppsala University Division of Electricity, designed and built the facility as part of his doctoral project.

The team's 'linear generator' generates electricity with the slow up and down movements of the waves. An ordinary generator transforms rotation energy to electricity, and it needs to turn at about 1500 rpm to be efficient. (Images)

“This means that a wave energy station with an ordinary generator needs energy transmission systems such as gearboxes or hydraulic systems and other complicated details that wear out and require much more maintenance than a linear generator,” says Rafael Waters. “Our generator has functioned without any trouble every time we started it up over the years, even though it has received no maintenance and has sometimes stood still for months.”

Future plans for the wave power array

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, wave, electricity, ocean

Keeping Your Computer on Can Help the Solar Industry and Environment

amisampat — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:01:18 -0500

By Ami Sampat

What Happened?
Scientists at Harvard University and IBM have an idea to create cheap, solar energy: by using the power from countless computers that are left on.

IBM's World Community Grid allows materials science researchers to use volunteers' computers for calculations testing new solar compounds. Researchers expect to get the research done faster- calculations that takes usually twenty years to collect would only take two.

Why is this important?
By gathering information from idle computers, researchers are hoping to find organic materials to manufacture solar cells. This solar energy would be cheaper and more flexible. In turn, it would be used in a wide array of situations-such as to coat windows and rooftops.

A method of clean, cheap solar energy could help to reduce our dependency on coal for electricity generation.

What to Watch
The range of potential materials used in renewable energy systems could be vastly expanded by tapping the computational power of networked personal computers. Earlier we wrote a post on a simliar computer-based discovery around solid state hydrogen storage system.

If you would like to volunteer your computer to the World Community Grid, please visit the Clean Energy Project.

Category: Environment
Year: 2010
Tags: computers, energy, electricity, solar

[6 Videos] Everything you need to know about Algae biofuels startups and research

Garry Golden — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:22:30 -0500

Seeing a Future Beyond the Hype for Algae Bioenergy
'Algae' is often referred to as a 'Next Big Thing' category technology by cleantech investors and bio-industrialists. But I've found that most people have no real understanding of what algae 'is' or 'isn't' as a new energy solution.

I've posted six videos that should give that quick overview. Some videos contain statements that I find to be short-sighted or overly focused on near-term challenges. But overall, they describe the potential of algae bioenergy solutions in a very accessible way. Enjoy!

Why algae?
[Editor's note: Great video lecture via Twitter AlgaMan, Thanks!!!]

- Algae are 'original oil producers' on Earth (Video #1) - petroleum is the result of ancient sea-living microbes that arranged carbon and hydrogen into complex chains that we blow up for energy.

- Algae grow quickly using carbon dioxide (via gas, or biomass waste), light and water as their fuel source. (Video #3) Their byproduct? High energy content hydro-carbon chains.

- Algae produce tremendous yields (Est 10,000-30,000 gallons/acre/year), compared to plant based biofuels (Corn at 20/year; Palm at 800) (Video #4)

Video #1 - MIT's Algae biophotoreactor
Scientific America produced show with Alan Alda. The program was focused on hydrogen (e.g. electricity) with a special segment on algae-to-hydrogen production.

Video #2 - Solayzme

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, biodiesel, biology, algae, fuels

Ground breaking 'Dry water' method developed to store natural gas in a powder

Garry Golden — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:35:32 -0500

Have you ever held natural gas in your hand?

“It ('dry water') looks like a powder, but if you wipe it on your skin, it smears and feels cold” says Andrew Cooper University of Liverpool, UK

What happened?
Chemists at the University of Liverpool have developed a reliable way of converting methane gas into a powder form in order to make it more transportable.

The researchers use a white powder material made of a mixture of silica and water to soak up large quantities of methane molecules.

Liverpool researchers believe that instead of shipping methane as a 'gas' or 'liquid' (LNG) we can transport it as a powder. It is also possible to use solid natural gas storage being used for electric vehicles that use fuel cells that convert natural gas (on board) into electricity.

Easier method to make store methane in a powder

It does not make sense to store all natural gas as a solid, but the market opportunities are significant. The challenge of methane gas hydrate has been that it is formed at a very slow rate when methane reacts with water under pressure. "To counteract these difficulties we used a method to break water up into tiny droplets to increase the surface area in contact with the gas. We did this by mixing water with a special form of silica – a similar material to sand – which stops the water droplets from coalescing.

This 'dry water' powder soaks up large quantities of methane quite rapidly at around water's normal freezing point."The team also found that 'dry water' could be more economical than other potential products because it is made from cheap raw materials.

Why is this important to the future?
Storing gas as a solid?

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, naturalgas, gas, oil, electricity, hydrogen, storage, energystorage

Growing Energy? Craig Venter team advances synthetic biology and genome assembly

Garry Golden — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:29:22 -0500

Craig Venter (of Human Genome fame) has a vision of future energy production that is very different from industry veterans. He believes we can design microorganisms that can 'grow energy' by capturing carbon emissions from coal plants or converting sunlight and water into hydrogen. Venter believes in the molecular power of biology and recognizes that there are fewer ideas more powerful (and controversial) than human beings harnessing and improving upon biological systems.

What happened?
Researchers at JCVI, a not-for-profit genomic research organization, have published a paper describing a significant advance in genome assembly in which the team can now assemble the whole bacterial genome (582,970 base pair), Mycoplasma genitalium, in one step from 25 fragments of DNA —adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and thymine (T).

Why is this important to the future of energy?
Today we use naturally occuring species of algae that can 'eat carbon' to produce biofuels, or bacteria that take sunlight to effortlessly split water yielding hydrogen. These bioenergy solutions are in Pilot and First Stage of commercial energy production.

But in the near future, we are likely to design our own microorganisms to be even more efficient at the molecular level. We can create microbes with very specific functions related to the fixing of emissions or production of energy. This Future of 'Synthetic biology' sounds strange and probably frightening, but it is also closer than most people might imagine.

What to watch - The Conversation over Synthetic Biology

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae

Energy Storage will be a 'Next Big Thing' for Cleantech Investors, Auto Industry and 'Big Grid'

Garry Golden — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:50:33 -0500

What do CEO's from the Auto and Utility Industries (or 'Big Grid'), Enterpreneurs involved in Solar/Wind production and gadget loving consumers all have in common?

They need major breakthroughs in energy storage.

Forget about incremental improvements. We cannot get excited over 'better' batteries. It's time for a leap in cost and performance.

These industries need fundamental breakthroughs with batteries, hydrogen and capacitors.

What's going to be the source of innovation?

Nanoscale materials science that transforms low-cost abundant materials into viable platforms for storing electrons and hydrogen. And Disruptive Business Models that scale technologies, create new growth opportunities, and overcome the resistance of deeply rooted incumbents who see energy storage as a threat to their way of business.

What to watch: Energy Storage solutions for Electric Cars & Utility companies

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, energystorage, storage, batteries, electricity

[Video] GM's Larry Burns explains why the future of the car looks like a skateboard

Garry Golden — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:26:16 -0500

Skateboard kills combustion engine
General Motors VP of R&D and Strategic Planning Larry Burns understands that the future of the global auto industry will be shaped by how we 'build' cars, not just how we 'fuel' them.

For the past decade, GM's Burns has been testing a very disruptive idea - the car of the future looks like a skateboard. When he talks about the 'skateboard' chassis, he is not outlining GM's plan for 2010-15. Burns is too smart to know that there is no quick fix. He is talking about how to radically transform the vehicle and driving experience!

What does GM really need to do?
Reduce the number of factories by shifting to modular platforms, focus on design and driving experience, shift profit streams from selling new cars to aftermarket sales and mobility services, connect cars around software and energy. How? First, kill the combustion engine.

GM's skateboard vision centers around it's 'Autonomy' concept car and three major components:
1) Wheel based electric motors (which Michelin has built) - modular manufacturing systems
2) Drive by wire systems (well under development) - digital, replaces mechanical systems
3) Energy storage- primary fuel cell systems with support from batteries and capacitors

[Filmed at TED Conference in 2005 - **note below**]

What are the big takeaways from Larry Burns' talk?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, batteries, solar, storage

New "Algae 2020" Study forecasts commercialization path for algae biofuels

Garry Golden — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:30:43 -0500

A new industry study by Emerging Markets Online describes a turning point for the algae derived biofuels sector as it enters the first stage of commercial development.

So let's hold back on the 'hype' and take a solid look at how algae biofuels might evolve in the years ahead!

The forthcoming "Algae 2020" [PDF] study measures over $300 million (€233 million) in algae investments through November 2008 "including projects, initiatives and participation from Bill Gates, The Rockefellers, DoE, BP, Chevron and the UK’s Carbon Trust."

The report notes significant trends related to public-private investments, growing investments in private startups, and engineering efforts related to the first wave of pilot and commercial facilities.

The study includes detailed analysis on: algae production methods, species selection, algae biofuel applications, CO2 selection methods, as well as updates on technical aspects of algae harvesting and extraction.

Algae 2020 Study Overview [PDF]

Related algae posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, biodiesel, biology, algae, fuels

Eco-groups form 'Reality' Coalition to fight 'clean coal', setting stage for battle over different versions of reality!

Garry Golden — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:34:54 -0500

Let the battle over 'Clean Coal' begin.

Call it 'clean coal' or 'cleaner coal' -- the idea is still the same. Stop carbon from binding with oxygen (CO2) and floating up into the atmosphere.

How do you do it?
1) Think like an engineer
Sequester the carbon by pumping it underground

2) Design new plants
Capture energy via 'gasification' (instead of combustion)

3) Think like a biologist
Retrofit coal plants with bioreactors that pull emissions into tanks of carbon-fixing algae and bacteria that bind carbon with hydrogen to form useful forms of energy (hydrocarbon chains biofuels)

Of the three carbon strategies, bioenergy (algae/bacteria) has the most potential as a 'game-changing' solution. But it is also the hardest to talk about since systems are not tested commercially.

The Battle Ahead
We should not kid ourselves about the dynamics of this coal conversation. It is likely to get ugly as industry and activists try to demonize each other and paint their own version of 'reality'. There are no simple, short term quick fixes. What could happen depends on how the fight evolves around the focus of:

- emotions vs science
- coal energy inside the United States vs China
- present day challenges or exploring and enabling future solutions
- engineeing solutions, or biosolutions
- compromise, regulatory frameworks, or lawsuits

The Players- Industry, Activitists, and Entrepreneurs

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, electricity, coal, carbon

MIT announces breakthrough in fusion, but Holy Grail of energy 'still decades away'

Garry Golden — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:56:38 -0500

MIT researchers are keeping hope alive in the long quest for fusion energy. Researchers have advanced our ability to harnesses one of the most complicated forms of energy science in the universe, but add a word of caution that real scalable reactors could still be 'decades away' as all eyes now focus on the ITER in France.

Fusion systems could generate enormous amounts of energy by tapping the same types of reactions found within stars. It has long been considered a 'holy grail' category within the energy sector because it produces no emissions or real waste, and its fuel sources are abundant.

MIT's Alcator C-Mod reactor has been in operation since 1993 and has the highest magnetic field and the highest plasma pressure of any fusion reactor in the world. It is also the largest fusion reactor operated by any university. [Image from MIT Fusion Movie]

Now MIT researchers believe they may have solved one of the most challenging problems how to propel the hot plasma (an electrically charged gas) around inside the donut-shaped reactor chamber so that the chamber doesn't lose its heat of millions of degrees to the cooler vessel walls.

"There's been a lot of progress," says physicist Earl Marmar, division head of the Alcator Project at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). "We're learning a lot more about the details of how these things work."

The Power of Radio waves
Physicist Yijun Lin and principal research scientist John Rice now describe a very efficient method for using radio-frequency waves to push the plasma around inside the vessel, not only keeping it from losing heat to the walls but also preventing internal turbulence that can reduce the efficiency of fusion reactions.

"That's very important," Marmar says, because presently used techniques to push the plasma will not work in future, higher-power reactors such as the planned ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) now under construction in France, and so new methods must be found. "People have been trying to do this for decades."

France holds Key to Future of Fusion

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, nuclear, fusion

Thin film 'energy harvesting' device maker raises another $13 million (Infinite Power Systems)

Garry Golden — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:14:01 -0500

While most companies are focused on growth opportunities around powering homes, cars and factories of the future, some entrepreneurs and startups are targeting another 'next big thing' in micro-power and energy storage systems.

What's the Big opportunity around Small devices?
A new era of expanded integration of smart sensors and microcontrol systems is likely to change our world, in the same way computer chips and PCs did in the last half of the 20th cenutry. Technology futurists call this the 'embedded age', or era of ubiquitous and pervasive computing. Even IBM sees a Smart Planet based on an 'instrumented world' where the number of sensors and micro-devices feeding small bits of data onto the 'web' vastly outnumbers today's connected 'computers and servers'.

Imagine new information flows from every product, car, boat, airplane, person, pet, and farm animal all being gathered by low-powered sensors. Imagine building a global smart infrastructure where every connection point along the energy grid, highway and pipeline is monitored in real-time. All these embedded devices sending small packets of mundane, but important data. Each of these devices will need small amounts of power and an integrated energy storage system.

This could be one of the biggest market opportunities in energy over the next century- powering billions of new portable gadgets, sensors (e.g RFIDs), and micro-electromechanical (MEMS) devices integrated into future everyday objects.

Seeing a future in 'Energy Harvesting'
Colorado-based Infinite Power Solutions, Inc. (IPS) has raised a Series B round of $13 million to commercialize its solid-state, rechargeable thin-film battery that could be used to 'harvest' ambient energy from micro-power systems driven by light, motion, or heat. Energy futurists imagine these types of energy storage systems integrated into other micro power systems, rather than rely on the old battery schematic of plugging into a wall socket.

The money will go to ramp up volume production of its new THINERGY™ micro-energy cell (MEC™) product family from its new (and 'the world’s first') facility for volume manufacturing of solid-state,rechargeable thin-film batteries.

A Little Energy Device with Big Backers

Category: Energy
Year: 2017
Tags: company, energy, electricity, sensors, micropower, microfuelcells, batteries

Thin film solar startup Konarka partners with German researchers to extend life of solar cells

Garry Golden — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:38:57 -0500

It's hard not to get excited about Thin-film solar technology!

You can produce flexible and durable rolls of plastic solar material off 'printing' machines at a fraction of the cost of glass solar panels. Thin film panels are cheap and efficient enough to make sense in building materials (e.g. rooftops) or in product casings.

The industry is global and commercial scale production plants are popping up around the world. No one region or company is likely to dominate this new part of the energy industry.

What's the problem with thin film solar?
Short lifespan of the solar material. Sunlight can actually destroy the compounds the convert photons into electrical energy.

Konarka Technologies tries to improve 'organic solar stability'
There are a number of innovative startups in the thin-film solar industry worth noting. But US-based KonarkaTechnologies is widely considered to be a rising star in the field of organic (carbon) solar technology. Earlier this year, it announced the opening of the world's first 1 Gigawatt scale production plant and its Power Plastic (TM) technology platform appears to be ready for growth.

But if Konarka hopes to remain a powerful player in this emerging industry, it must continue to advance basic science that can sustain this new low cost form of solar energy long into the future.

Yesterday Konarka announced a partnership with German research institutions to address the most fundamental problem with thin film solar - degradation of the material. The goal of the BMBF Stability Project is to increase the lifespan of organic solar cells (OSC) by combining high-quality encapsulation techniques with photoactive materials.

The BMBF Efficiency Project is expected to yield solar cells that are optimized for specific applications with efficiencies of more than 10% and are highly competitive with other photovoltaic (PV) technologies.

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, electricity, solar, thinfilm

DuPont CEO supports idea of "Detroit Project", US Savings Bond funding for reinventing auto industry

Garry Golden — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:18:47 -0500

Earlier we made a bold forescast that an old industry giant, Johnson Controls, could become one of the most relevant (and greenest) companies in the 'new energy economy' as it delivers energy management solutions, and enables the transition to electric vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

Now we're adding DuPont to that list of companies to watch in the new energy economy.

A New Vision for American Competitiveness?
Speaking to an attentive crowd at the Detroit Economic Club, DuPont Chairman and CEO Charles Holliday, Jr. described a 'unique time for transformation' and called on the United States to improve its global competitiveness via sustainability.

"As industries shift to address the new reality, innovative, science-based products that provide the solutions must lead the way. Speed, agility and transformative science are needed today as never before. Success during this time is ultimately going to come down to two very key concepts: sustainability and competitiveness. Without sustainability, it will be hard for a business to remain competitive in the new reality."

The Detroit Project
Holliday also supported the proposal for the 'Detroit Project', a 'Manhattan Project' style effort to develop a new, energy-efficient vehicle that could achieve 75 miles per gallon. The U.S. Council on Competitiveness has proposed funding for the program to come from a U.S. savings bonds program to stimulate U.S. personal savings and provide financing for U.S. infrastructure investments like the Detroit Project.

Why DuPont? Does the Auto Industry need help from the World of Science?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, transportation, cars, politics

Buddy Can you Spare a $Billion? How about $18b? Automakers Ask Congress for Loans

joelg — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:28:55 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

What Happened?
Responding to the US government's request that they provide plans for what they would do with government loans, the Big Three automanufacturers presented their plans. Here's an overview of what they're asking.

The Big Three automakers all describe a 'perfect storm':

- sales down 30% or so from last year due to downturn in economy
- credit markets frozen so they can't offer credit to car buyers, accelerating the decrease in sales.
- All in various stages of transition to new technology (smaller vehicles, electric vehicles, more fuel efficient gas engines & drive trains, etc.)

'Help us through this rough patch,' they all seem to be saying, 'and we'll help you by not tanking the economy even further.' GM is the most direct in articulating the threat. "A failure by GM will likely trigger catastrophic damage to the U.S. economy..." while Chrysler goes into detail why a bailout is preferable to bankruptcy. Ford's the most upbeat. "We note that Ford is in a different situation from our competitors, in that we believe our Company has the necessary liquidity to weather this current economic downturn – assuming that it is of limited duration."

Here's what they're asking for:

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: auto, manufacturers, car, bailout, government, loan

Thin film solar industry going global, Air Products partners with Chinese company on 330 MW plant

Garry Golden — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:36:28 -0500

Thin film solar is coming! And the industry is already shaping up to be very global with partnerships being formed across Germany, Japan, Korea, Italy, China and the United States.

2009-11 is likely to be a very dynamic period for the first stage of growth in thin-film solar panels 'printed' on top of plastic materials. Planned production in the US, Europe and China is growing quickly with new megawatt (MW) plants coming online in the next 18 months. The biggest problem might be supply outpacing market adoption! Now we need to find enough companies and customers ready to integrate thin film in building materials like rooftops.

What happened?
US-based Air Products will supply China's Best Solar Hi Tech Co., Ltd, with on-site gases and equipment to support a new thin-film photovoltaic facility in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. When the facility comes online at its full capacity, it will have an annual solar module manufacturing capacity of 330MW. Best Solar's subsidiary plants are expected to produce at a total capacity of 1GW.

Last week Italy's largest power company Enel SpA announced a joint venture with Sharp to develop 189 megawatts of power generation by the end of 2012.

Meanwhile the US and Germany appear to be hedging their bets by investing in plants in both countries.

Who says that 'cleantech' needs to be about 'energy independence'?

Globally interdependent seems the best (and most likely) path forward.

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, solar, thinfilm, photovoltaics

Texas A&M researchers advance self powered (piezeoelectric) devices

Garry Golden — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:54:20 -0500

What if you could charge your portable device simply by having it move around in your pocket while you walk?

Texas A&M Professor Tahir Cagin believes that piezeoelectric materials, that convert motion into electric currents could be closer to applied applications thanks to their recent design breakthrough. (Not Image shown)

Professor Cagin and partners from the University of Houston are using piezoelectric material that can covert energy at a 100 percent increase when manufactured at a very small size – in this case, around 21 nanometers in thickness.

"When materials are brought down to the nanoscale dimension, their properties for some performance characteristics dramatically change," said Cagin who is a past recipient of the prestigious Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology. "One such example is with piezoelectric materials. We have demonstrated that when you go to a particular length scale – between 20 and 23 nanometers – you actually improve the energy-harvesting capacity by 100 percent.

"We're studying basic laws of nature such as physics and we're trying to apply that in terms of developing better engineering materials, better performing engineering materials. We're looking at chemical constitutions and physical compositions. And then we're looking at how to manipulate these structures so that we can improve the performance of these materials."

"Even the disturbances in the form of sound waves such as pressure waves in gases, liquids and solids may be harvested for powering nano- and micro devices of the future if these materials are processed and manufactured appropriately for this purpose," Cagin said.

Why is this important to the future?
Micro power systems are in high demand for portable gadgets and sensors like RFID tags used on products in 'smart supply chain' logistics. While batteries and micro fuel cells might be required for higher demand applications, piezeoelectric systems could find a role in the world of micro-power.

Category: Technology
Year: 2019
Tags: energy, electricity, piezeoelectric

Hydrogen nano-reactor breakthrough highlights need for energy storage solutions

Garry Golden — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:12:22 -0500

Let's clear up some confusing concepts...

A 'Hydrogen Economy' is an economy driven by electricity.
A 'Hydrogen' car is a vehicle powered by an electric motor.

H2 is merely a way to store electricity in the form of a chemical bond. Converted in a fuel cell is produces electricity. Simple, but very profound for some market applications that need better energy storage systems.

Why is it hard to talk about hydrogen? Because the enabling systems do not yet exist in the marketplace. We still need to advance disruptive solutions for solid state storage and low cost, efficient production systems that tap nanoscale materials design.

Now we have another example of how new systems can be developed by small teams with bold ambitions.

What happened?
Global Hydrogen, Inc, is a boutique energy innovation firm led by Dr. Linnard Griffin. GH claims to have developed a hydrogen producing nano-reactor that is less than 5 cubic centimeters (e.g. standard razor blade) and generates hydrogen at a rate of 1.5 cc per minute. [No statement released on scalability of the system]

The Nano Reactor is built around a proprietary nano particle electrolyte and a (low cost, non-precious metal) zinc and metal electrode. Hydrogen is developed on the surface of a newly-invented nano-nickel electrode that releases hydrogen by reacting to the chemicals when the switch electrically connects the nickel electrode to the zinc electrode. Unlike other systems the Nano-Reactor produces pure hydrogen, not hydrogen and oxygen.

Why is this important to the future? Energy Storage is a Growth Sector

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, hydrogen, electricity, nanotechnology

Brookhaven Lab researchers develop material with 2D superconductivity

Garry Golden — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:56:59 -0500

Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory (US DoE) have developed a material that could advance our understanding of superconductivity and lead to more efficiency electrical transmission lines.

The material appears to be a superconductor but only in two dimensions, and at a higher temperature than ordinary 3-D superconductivity. The material is based on an unusual pattern of charge and magnetism “stripes” that many researchers long assumed as incompatible with superconductivity.

Superconductivity 101
'The basic idea behind superconductivity is that electrons, which ordinarily repel one another because they have like charges, pair up to carry electrical current with no resistance' along high powered transmission lines. Conventional metallic superconductors do this at temperatures near absolute zero (0 kelvin or -273 degrees Celsius), requiring expensive cooling systems.

“Our basic research goal is to understand why and how these materials act as superconductors,” said Brookhaven physicist John Tranquada, who led the research. “The ultimate practical goal would be to use that understanding to develop improved bulk superconductors — ones that operate at temperatures warm enough to make them useful for real-world applications such as high-efficiency power lines.”

What happened at Brookhaven National Laboratory?

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, electricity, superconductivity

PetroSun designs algae-to-biofuel systems for catfish farms

Garry Golden — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:48:14 -0500

Algae and bacteria can be used to capture energy from carbon-rich waste streams from coal plants, agricultural farms, food processing facilities, wastewater treatment plants and - yes, catfish farms.

Arizona-based PetroSun Biofuels (Subsidiary of PetroSun) has announced plans to integrate algae systems with catfish farm ponds for commercial algae-to-biofuel operations. PetroSun Biofuels is quickly becoming a biofuel startup with global reach. It already operates an open algae biofuel farm in Texas, has licensed its technology outside of the US, and is working to launch operations in China.

PetroSun BioFuels and Biomass Partners have identified up to 80,000 acres of catfish ponds within the state of Mississippi that hold the potential for commercial algae bioenergy systems. Based on PetroSun's annual potential production rate of 2,000 gallons per acre, the existing 80,000 acres of ponds would produce 160 million gallons of algal oil annually for conversion to biodiesel. The remaining algae biomass (e.g. fatty acids) could be processed into ethanol, animal feed, fertilizer and other biomaterial products.

PetroSun is working to secure land surface rights and existing farm ponds located in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas but has not yet announced dates for planned production facilities.

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae

Another US startup producing thin film solar panels used for rooftops

Garry Golden — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:14:55 -0500

The US manufacturing base appears to be more than capable of expanding production of a very promising form of solar technology that can be integrated into building materials like rooftops.

Thin film solar (right side of roof image) based on plastic material foundations are less efficient than traditional glass-based photovoltaic panels (leftside of image), but they are much cheaper and more durable. By layering, or ‘printing’, thin film solar modules into common building and rooftop materials we can generate solar power onsite even on cloudy days.

While large utilities look to solar thermal and traditional glass based solar panels to produce large amounts of electricity, building designers and consumers are waiting for plastic based thin film solar that can be integrated into rooftops without the risk (and design issues) associated with fragile and bulky glass units.

We have covered a number of stories (below) on thin film solar startups in the US who are building megawatt scale thin film production plants in the next 18 months.

Now EPV SOLAR has announced that its new 30,000 square foot, 20 MW production facility in Robbinsville, NJ, is producing and shipping production quantities of its thin-film amorphous silicon solar modules. EPV already operates a 30 MW plant in Senftenberg, Germany.

The next step for thin film producers will be to expand partnerships with building materials and construction firms able to get products to market. Last month Michigan-based ECD Ovonic solar subsidiary Uni-Solar has signed a multi-year agreement with an Italian steel and metal materials company to build solar rooftop materials used in onsite power generation. Marcegaglia expects to introduce the low cost, durable thin film.

While it is too early to expect thin film solar panels on the shelves of Home Depot and Lowes, that day might be much closer than you think!

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: energ, solar, thinfilm, electricity

IBM expands partnerships for Smart Grid; Software, sensors & storage can transform utility sector

Garry Golden — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:20:05 -0500

There are two major convergences to watch in the world of electricity. The first relates to the convergence of the auto industry and 'big grid' utility providers to service next generation electric vehicles powered by batteries and H2 fuel cells. The second deals with the convergence of software and energy flows. We expect major enterprise software providers to jump into 'smart grid' efforts in the years ahead. And IBM is leading the charge!

IBM's Smart Planet
In early November IBM's CEO Sam Palmisano delivered a speech on Big Blue's vision of a Smart Planet based on intelligent infrastructure for flows of energy, transportation and information. Now the company is now starting to go public with its formal strategic partnerships.

IBM has announced a pilot project with Michigan-based utility Consumers Energy, 'to help plan, deploy and test an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and smart grid field pilot network.'

But the most singificant project to date is with utility giant American Electric Power (AEP). IBM will serve as the overall systems integrator for AEP's gridSMART(SM) suite of customer programs and systems that create change the nature of energy delivery systems.

IBM will help to expand gridSMART initiatives for new production, delivering and local storage systems that make utility grids more reslient and profitable.

Smart Grid: Software, Sensors & Storage
After years of conceptual planning, 'Smart Grids' appear to be closer to reality. The ingrediants for disruption will be software and sensors to anticipate grid strains, and local storage to lower the cost of meeting peak demand.

Michelin reinvents the wheel, electric motors help to retire the combustion engine

Garry Golden — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:14:01 -0500

Instead of trying to End Oil, we should focus on Retiring the Combustion Engine!

Instead of pushing Automakers to incrementally improve miles per gallon, we should empower companies like General Motors and Michelin to transform how cars are built and make liquid fuels like oil irrelevant.

Let's start by reinventing the wheel.

What happened?

Michelin is now pushing its Active Wheel concept that can simplify how vehicles are built and reduce the manufacturing overhead for auto companies: 'no more engine under the front or rear, no more traditional suspension system, and no more gearbox or transmission shaft...all essential components have been integrated into the wheel itself'

Let's start by reinventing the wheel.

There are a few specialty engineering firms that have built high performance wheel based electric motors, but Michelin has the potential to bring ‘scaling’ to this disruptive technology. The company has integrated the system into the new Venturi Volage which premieres at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. There is also the new WILL built through a partnership involving Heuliez, Michelin and Orange.

Change the Wheel, Reinvent the Factory Floor
A New (more effective) Message: Greener cars = Leaner cars

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells

Solar cell efficiency improved by 50% with anti-reflection coating (MIT Researchers)

Garry Golden — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:56:18 -0500

What happened?
MIT researchers are rethinking how light can be manipulated within solar cells. They have applied an antireflection coating, a novel combination of multi-layered reflective coatings and a tightly spaced array of lines to the backs of ultrathin silicon films to boost the cells' output by as much as 50 percent. [No official statement has been released on original vs improved efficiency level.]

The coatings on the back of the solar cell force the light to bounce around longer inside the thin silicon layer, giving it time to deposit its energy and produce an electric current. "Without these coatings, light would just be reflected back out into the surrounding air" said Peter Bermel, an MIT postdoctoral physics researcher.

"It's critical to ensure that any light that enters the layer travels through a long path in the silicon," Bermel said. "The issue is how far does light have to travel [in the silicon] before there's a high probability of being absorbed" and knocking loose electrons to produce an electric current.

Why is this important to the future?
Depending on the range of its applications, this type of breakthrough could transform solar efficiencies for traditional crystalline (glass substrate) solar cells as well as thin film (carbon substrate) solar.

While we invest in commercializing solar energy systems, we must not turn our backs on funding basic science that can yield fundamental breakthroughs. "The simulated performance was remarkably better than any other structure, promising, for 2-micrometer-thick films, a 50 percent efficiency increase in conversion of sunlight to electricity," said Lionel Kimerling, the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, who directed the project.

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, solar, electricity, photovoltaics

Global Weirding: A Solar Company Makes An Unsuccessful Bid for an Auto Company

joelg — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:51:28 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

What Happened?

Call it a man bites dog story for the clean energy era. German solar cell manufacturer SolarWorld recently made a bid for Opel, GM’s European car company.

Not that Opel was for sale. But it does show that at least one solar manufacturer is looking for a way to make a solar powered car.

What This Means for the Future of Energy

SolarWorld Chairman Frank H. Asbeck insists the offer is in good faith. SolarWorld is betting that GM is in bad enough shape that they’d have to sell off assets, such as European brands, making an easier entry into the automotive market for SolarWorld than having to create a car company from scratch.

More importantly, it shows that the electric vehicle market is up for grabs. SolarWorld wanted to buy a car manufacturer so that they could get a leg up on bringing an electric vehicle to market; then, they could sell the solar panels that could be used to charge it up. One solar installer consulted for the reality of solar panels powering an electric vehicle quoted an installation costing $12,000 to $15,000 to be adequate to charge up a typical electric vehicle.

Could this be a signal that cleantech could lead the way in many business deals in the future? What’s next, a bid from First Solar for Chrysler?

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: solar, car, gm, opel, solarworld

Self-assembled metal nanostructures improve fuel cell performance

Garry Golden — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:53:30 -0500

The way to improve fuel cells, energy storage devices and solar cells is to evolve our ability to control the way molecules and photons flow through materials and lead to other reactions. We do not need to overcome the Laws of Physics, just improve the design of materials at the molecular level.

What happened?
Cornell University researchers have designed platinum nanoparticles that automatically assemble into complex, ordered patterns and can be used for efficient and low cost catalysts in fuel cells and other micro-fabrication processes.

“The challenge with metals is that their high surface energies cause the particles to cluster,” explains , led by Professor Uli Wiesner who led the team. “This tendency to aggregate makes it difficult to coax metal particles into lining up in an orderly fashion, which is a critical step in forming ordered materials.”

Instead of relying on the traditional (and imprecise) ‘heat it and beat it’ approach” to structuring metals, Professor Wiesner, Scott C. Warren, and their coworkers prepared their materials through self-assembly of block copolymers and stabilized platinum nanoparticles. This ‘bottom up’ approach can lower costs and improve the precision of material design.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
We need breakthroughs in materials science that make energy systems cost effective and clean. Nanoscale science (billionth of a meter) and engineering is the platform of future innovation.

Fuel cell costs are based on two main factors: the cost of membranes (MEAs) that enable the reactions and manufacturing techniques to build the device. The way forward is to reduce the amount of precious metal catalysts needed in membranes, and also lower the cost of manufacturing materials around self-assembly. These metallic structures developed by the Cornell team could take us further down the road towards lower cost energy systems that go beyond traditional combustion energy conversion.

Related research:

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, fuelcells, materials, chemistry

Reality check for future of coal, China confirms massive 23 billion ton coal deposit

Garry Golden — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:57:21 -0500

While US activists prepare for a battle against the notion of ‘clean coal’, China’s coal industry continues to boom. A recent MIT report estimates that China’s power sector has been expanding at a rate roughly equivalent to three to four new coal-fired, 500 megawatt plants coming on line every week.

The real danger is not just the carbon emissions, but the wrong assumptions and perception that incremental solutions, protests, or stricter carbon regulations can somehow shift China’s current direction. Why worry?

The gap continues to widen between what activists want to happen with the global coal industry, versus the reality of coal’s expanding role as the world’s fastest growing source of energy.

Worse, is the misguided hope that cheap solar (which is coming 2015-2025!) can magically counter the existing growth trend lines for coal. Most of that solar power generation will just go to satisfy new demand, not take away from coal’s market share and prime access to national energy grids. If there is a viable solution for this reality, it must be algae or advanced bioenergy solutions that can scale and eat the emissions from the combustion of coal. We need carbon solutions, not just alternatives to coal.

What happened?
The People’s Daily Online reports that geologists have confirmed a massive 23 billion ton coal reserve deposit in the country’s Turfan Basin. ‘The coal mine occupies an area of over 300 square kilometers with a thickness of 169.69 meters, and a coal bearing ratio of 29%’. This is the second major reserve confirmed in the last six months.

That’s only the beginning! China does not appear to be limiting its reliance to coal on its own domestic supplies. Last week Reuters reported that China’s largest coal miner Shenhua Energy Co Ltd paid $187.4 million for a coal exploration license in Australia.

Another brutal fact? China now has the busiest coal port in the world.

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, coal, electricity, algae

[Blogpinion] Making Cents of Lower Gas Prices

joelg — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:00:00 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

What Happened?

Gas prices have dropped to under $2/gal at some gas stations around the country. “It feels like the 1970’s, with people waiting in line for gas,” one observer says as she waited to fill up at almost half the price of what she was paying earlier in the year. But unlike the ‘70’s (or two months ago) there now seems to be plenty of supply.

So why are prices so low, almost two months after gas shortages in places like Atlanta, due primarily to Hurricane Ike? (Click here to read a twitter history of Atlantans and their search for gas.)

The simplest answer appears to be the low demand as a result of the slow down in the economy worldwide, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

As Amory Lovins points out, we can lower our demand faster than Saudi Arabia can lower their production, although his idea is to lower demand with more efficient vehicles, not via a global economic slowdown.

Why is this important to the Future of Energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: gas, gasoline, price, pricing, refinery, refining, pump, oil, crude

Novozymes opens world's largest bioenergy solutions facility in the world. Yes, in China!

Garry Golden — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:55:00 -0500

Here is a recipe for the future of biofuels that avoids the conflict of ‘food versus fuel’ and the politics of corn derived ethanol.

Organic waste plus bio-enzymes = cellulosic ethanol (bioethanol)

Tap the molecular machine power of Mother Nature’s enyzmes that convert raw organic waste into usable forms of fuel. How do we get there? First we need to lower the costs of enzymes and bio-manufacturing facilities that make next generation biofuels possible.

What happened?
Denmark-based bio-solutions firm Novozymes continues to expand its global partnerships for delivering next generation biofuel solutions that can convert agricultural and organic waste into fuel. The company’s technologies are now supporting the world’s largest enzyme fermentation facility in the world.

Where? China.

The Suzhou Hongda Enzymes Co. facility is located in Taicang, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province just north of Shanghai. The expanded capacity will primarily focus on products for the bioethanol industry.

“We believe bioethanol is a good example how biotechnology can make more from less, decoupling economic growth from the use of natural resources” (e.g. food crops) according to EVP Peder Holk Nielsen, “The Suzhou facility is one of Novozymes’ strategic manufacturing locations, and this new expansion will enable us to accomplish more.”

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Investments in Next Generation Biofuels & China’s Cleantech sector

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae

VIVACE: 'fish' inspired energy device captures power from slow moving currents

Garry Golden — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:20:14 -0500

The thermal and kinetic energy potential of the world’s oceans remains largely untapped by energy producers. Earlier we featured a new Lockheed pilot project in Hawaii that evolves the once novel idea of capturing ocean thermal energy conversion into clean electricity. What other power generation schemes might emerge from our oceans?

What happened?
University of Michigan engineer Michael Bernitsas has made a machine that works like a fish to turn potentially destructive vibrations in fluid flows into clean, renewable power.

The machine, called VIVACE, is being developed by Vortex Hydro Energy as the first known device that could harness energy from most of the water currents around the globe because it works in flows moving slower than 2 knots (about 2 miles per hour.) Most of the Earth’s currents are slower than 3 knots. Turbines and water mills need an average of 5 or 6 knots to operate efficiently.

VIVACE stands for Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy. The array of devices doesn’t depend on waves, tides, turbines or dams. Instead it is a unique hydrokinetic energy system that relies on “vortex induced vibrations” that have damaged bridges for decades. Rather than try to avoid damage by these vibrations, VIVACE captures the motion power by mimicking the movement of fish.

The concept model of VIVACE looks nothing like a fish, but future versions should have the equivalent of a tail and surface roughness a kin to scales. The working prototype is one sleek cylinder attached to springs that hangs horizontally across the flow of water in a tractor-trailer-sized tank in his marine renewable energy laboratory. The water in the tank flows at 1.5 knots.

Bernitsas estimates that an array of VIVACE converters the size of a running track and about two stories high could power about 100,000 houses. Such an array could rest on a river bed or it could dangle, suspended in the water. But it would all be under the surface.

*Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Technology
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, oceanpower, wave, electricity, renewable

Could Johnson Controls be the greenest company of the future?

Garry Golden — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:05:40 -0500

Johnson Controls is quietly becoming one of the most relevant companies in the new energy world. And while it is often off the radar of most cleantech and eco-enthusiasts it might have the best set of tools and systems to accelerate our shift into a new energy economy based on software, sensors and micro-controllers. And it is possible that by mid century Johnson Controls could be behind some of the most measurable advances in energy efficiencies on the planet.

Reinventing itself for the 21st Century
Johnson Controls is one of those companies that touches our lives every time we drive our cars or step into a building. Yet it remains an obscure industrial brand to most consumers.

But make no mistake about it, Johnson Controls is massive and by most accounts it sees the future quite clearly. Its 140,000 employees stretch across 1,300 locations with clients in 125 countries. It has been around since 1885 and understands the need to change and reinvent itself as the world transforms its major industries.

Today, Johnson Controls touches almost every aspect of mechanical life with its systems used inside vehicles, buildings and industrial appliances. And, without sounding too much like a love fest or a stock endorsement, this is a company that could change the world dramatically in years ahead around electric vehicles, smart infrastructure and building systems.

Electrification of the World’s Vehicle Fleet

Category: Technology
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, sensors, microcontrollers, electricity, efficiency

SunEthanol is now 'Qteros', cellulosic startup raises $25 million to focus on next generation biofuels

Garry Golden — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:44:19 -0500

At Memebox’s The Energy Roadmap.com, we have argued that the future of bioenergy is likely to be shaped by algae and bacteria rather than the short-term distraction of corn or plant derived fuels. While we do not expect corn ethanol to disappear overnight, major investments are now shifting towards companies involved in next generation biofuels that tap the conversion power of microbes not plants.

What happened?
The company formerly known as SunEthanol has raised money and changed its name to Qteros to emphasize its focus on cellulosic fuel production. The $25 million Series B financing round included investments from Venrock, Battery Ventures, BP and Soros Fund Management LLC

The company is now pushing forward on scaling up volume production of ethanol biofuels produced from its proprietary Q Microbe (Clostridium phytofermentans). This ‘super-bug’ is an anaerobic, cellulose-fermenting microbe that rapidly degrades a wide range of biomass material to produce H2 and ‘exceptionally large amounts of ethanol’. Commercial efforts around Q Microbe grew out of research from the microbe that was discovered in the woods by a professor from the University of Massachusetts

Qteros claims that its lollipop-shaped Q Microbe can breakdown a wide variety of biomass while using one less (expensive) step in the fermentation to fuel process.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
There is obviously a tremendous need to produce new forms of energy. Tapping biology to convert biomass waste to fuel is a powerful idea.

Europe has already set high targets for biofuel production and the US Congress has incrementally expanding mandates for 36 billion gallons a year of biofuels — 16 billion gallons of which must be advanced (non-food crop based) biofuels.

Qteros is trying to capture a piece of that 16 billion gallons, and it could make a lot of money along the way.

What to watch

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosic, algae

California moves forward on 'green infrastructure', invites startup Better Place to build out electric car fueling network

Garry Golden — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:53:59 -0500

On November 20th California took a major step towards building out the state’s “green” infrastructure to support the electrification of the auto fleet towards vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. State and local leaders gathered in San Francisco to announce a new public partnership with ‘mobility operator’ Better Place.

Better Place has big plans for California and has estimated that the network investment in the Bay Area alone will total $1 billion when the system is fully deployed.

We have featured several stories on Better Place and CEO Shai Agassi [Video Interview] to highlight the company’s vision for changing the business model for how cars are fueled. Better Place is moving quickly and has already negotiated infrastructure projects within Israel, Denmark, Australia, and Hawaii. Adding California to their list could be the tipping point. Not just for Better Place, but for how we think about fueling our vehicles with batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

The simplest translation of Shai Agassi’s disruptive vision?
To expand adoption of electric vehicles we must lower barriers for consumers and rethink our notions of infrastructure in a way that goes beyond the model of paying at the corner gas station pump.

Consumers should buy the car, but not the energy storage device (battery, fuel cell or capacitor). Remove the cost and risk of owning energy storage systems that might be improved in the next six months or a year. Instead consumers would subscribe to an energy infrastructure provider who offers a ‘pay per mile’ (e.g. mobile phone minutes) plan.

Drivers could recharge at a local station, or (pay attention!!) pull up to a station to ‘swap out’ an old battery (or solid block of hydrogen, other fuel cartridge) for a new container. It is this ‘swap out’ model that holds the greatest disruptive potential.

How do we do it?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, car, cars, electriccars, batteries, hydrogen, fuelcells

Korean researchers use 3D silicon material to improve lithium ion batteries

Garry Golden — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:16:23 -0500

It’s very hard to build a better battery. The chemistry is just bad. Pulling together the right combination of elements is either expensive, toxic or the ideal performance is short lived. The long view favorite for portable power systems remains micro fuel cells, but until that day arrives it is likely to be lithium ion batteries that dominate the market share for micropower.

Rechargeable lithium ion batteries power everything from cell phones and laptops to digital cameras. But they have failed to keep up with the pace of development in high performance, power hungry consumer electronics. iPhone owners struggle to get through a full day of use without running out of juice. And laptop carrying road warriors scramble inside airports, and geek freelancers position themselves in cafes just to find a plug. But hope for lithium ion batteries may be on the horizon!

What happened?
A Korean research team led by Dr. Jaephil Cho at Hanyang University has demonstrated a novel 3D silicon material used as a lithium-ion battery anode that greatly improves performance.

Li-ion batteries charge by transporting lithium ions from a positive cathode to a negative anode usually made of carbon (graphite). The energy charge is stored on the anode side of the unit, until needed by the device. Researchers try to expand performance by increasing the amount of energy that can be stored. Switching from carbon to silicon based materials is one path towards better performance.

Materials scientists have been exploring silicon as an anode material but, until now, have been unable to overcome its main barrier: maintaining its structural integrating after repeated charging and discharging.

A solution? Cho’s team of researchers have created a 3D porous silicon material that appears to hold its own and avoids collapsing on itself.

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, batteries, fuel, cells, micropowersystems

Research breakthrough in microbial fuel cell converts waste to energy

Garry Golden — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:30:47 -0500

What happened?
Researchers at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities believe they have found a unique species of bacteria, Geobacter sulfurreducens, that can convert wastewater organic compounds into electricity using a low cost carbon (graphite) electrode.

“Other species of bacteria may produce just as many electrons as they oxidize available fuels, but their cell membranes act like an insulator for electron transport,” said Daniel Bond, a microbiologist at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. “With Geobacter, it’s the difference between a rickety one-land bridge and a modern 12-lane highway. The electrons pass easily through internal membranes and cell walls and hop onto the electrode.” As each “hop” requires them to travel about 10 Angstroms.

Geobacter has proteins that guide electrons all the way to the electrode. “This makes Geobacter unique in comparison to other bacteria,” Bond said. “Because of the distances involved, we know that multiple proteins are involved, which adds to the complexity and why we can’t just clone a gene into E. coli to do this.”

Why is this important to the future of energy?
While traditional batteries and fuel cells often use expensive precious-metal catalysts (e.g. platinum) to strip electrons off the fuel source to generate electricity, microbial fuel cells use biological agents to do the heavy work.

A microbial fuel cell based on Geobacter would require only an inexpensive form of carbon (graphite) to help the bacteria transfer electrons onto the surface of electrodes. This novel design of microbial fuel cells could be scaled to efficiently convert waste organic matter (e.g. sewage, food waste) to electricity.

What to watch

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, microbialfuelcell, fuelcell, bioenergy, waste

[Video] Honda reveals hydrogen fuel cell electric sports car

Garry Golden — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:11:36 -0500

[2008 Los Angeles Auto Show] Honda has revealed the FC Sport design study model- a three-seat sports car concept hydrogen powered electric car based on Honda’s V Flow fuel cell technology already deployed in the Honda Fuel Cell (FCX) Clarity sedan.

The lightweight sports car design has an ultra-low center of gravity, powerful electric motor performance and zero-emissions. The design study concept is inspired by supercar levels of performance through low weight and a high-performance, electrically driven fuel cell powertrain.

Hydrogen cars are electric cars!
While many journalists and bloggers are getting this story wrong and asking is the future ‘battery or fuel cell’- – the answer is both. Hydrogen fuel cell cars ARE electric powered cars! Hydrogen converted in a fuel cell produces electricity to power electric motors.

Pure battery vehicles are based on first generation energy storage systems. But cars are not iPods and next generation high performance electric vehicles- will combine batteries, fuel cells and capacitors! Not one device rules them all, and Honda understands this engineering reality!

Now for some futuristic sports car eye-candy!!

Video via Edmunds Insider

Music Video & Images #2

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: car, cars, electriccars, transportation, fuelcells, batteries

[Video] Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) pilot project by Lockheed announced in Hawaii

Garry Golden — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:42:43 -0500

Energy visionaries have long promoted the idea of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion which uses the temperature difference of warm surface water to cold deeper ocean currents to boil a liquid (e.g. ammonia) to drive an electricity producing turbine. It is an elegant energy solution that is gaining more mainstream attention.

Now the Honolulu Advertising is reporting on a partnership between Lockheed Martin Corporation and the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute to develop a 10 megawatt ocean thermal energy conversion pilot plant in Hawai’i that could deliver enough electricity to power about 3,000 homes.

Understanding Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

Video courtesy of DigInfo

Imaged sourced from OTEC Video about a project in Puerto Rico

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, oceanpower, wave, electricity, renewable

Why natural gas will never bring 'energy independence' to the US and European Union

Garry Golden — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:55:47 -0500

It is impossible to talk about the future of energy without giving serious consideration to the role of natural gas as a 21st century resource. And it should not be a surprise! The case made by energy historians is that human civilization has been gradually moving away from dirty carbon rich fuels like wood and coal towards cleaner hydrogen rich fossil fuels of petroleum and natural gas. The next step for civilization is to grow our own energy supplies and reduce reliance on extracting reserves. (But we’re not there yet!!)

Even as leaders from the US and the European Union boldly focus on efforts to get off their ‘oil dependency’ their domestic utility providers, energy giants and chemical companies are opening the spigot for natural gas supplies that often come from the same oil rich regions. Natural gas is arguably the most complicated and overlooked piece of our future energy puzzle.

What happened?
We now have an updated picture of what is happening inside the United States. The Energy Information Administration has posted a web based presentation looking at expansions to the country’s natural gas pipeline network over the last decade [Link launches web based PPT].

The presentation looks at the last ten years of laying more than 20,000 miles of new transmission pipeline (97 billion cubic ft/day capacity) that has opened up access to new new supplies from Canada and the Gulf Region that feed natural-gas-fired electric power plants, factories and homes. [We will feature Europe’s pipeline in another post.]

Why is this important to the future of energy?
The world’s largest natural gas reserves are of course located within today’s oil-rich nations like Russia, Iran, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabi, Nigeria, and Venezuela.

While The Pickens Plan paints a picture of vast US supplies, they are tiny relative to global production capacities outside US borders. And Europe is already committed to connecting its power plants to resources from neighboring regions.

Coal might be challenged by carbon policies, oil is likely to hit a production plateau—but natural gas might just be getting started as a global industry.

What to Watch: The Petro Product poker hand

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, naturalgas, gas, oil, electricity

Dubai to build the Middle East's largest solar panel manufacturing plant

amisampat — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:25:54 -0500

By Ami Sampat

The Middle Eastern city of Dubai is in the process of creating the region’s largest photovoltaic manufacturing plant.

What Happened?

A recent article in Dubai’s Khaleej Times discusses the city’s plans to create a photovoltaic manufacturing plant. The plant, made by Solar Technologies FZE, will be 93,000 square meters, and able to produce solar panels of 5.7 square meters, making it the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the Middle East.

The plant will generate 130 megawatts of power annually and will go into production in the last quarter of 2010.

Solar Technologies FZE CEO Dilip Rahulan states, “The mission of Solar Technologies is to accelerate the adoption of solar photovoltaic by rapidly expanding the manufacturing capacity and significantly reducing the cost of solar modules through innovations and manufacturing excellence.”

Why is this important to the future?
The building of the solar panel manufacturing plant is just one of the results of Dubai’s newest program, Green Dubai 2008. It also includes the green building initiative to be used in all buildings from now on as well as advances in sustainable development.

Managing director and CEO, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, says “We have explored alternative energies, namely wind power, solar power, and tidal power- we are conducting a feasibility study for other cheaper proven sources of energy.” Dubai’s city-wide initiative to create a green environment is the first in this part of the world.

What to Watch

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: solar, energy, electricity, middle, east

Barack Obama: Building a 'green collar' economy via nanotech manufacturing climate solutions

Garry Golden — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:09:19 -0500

What happened?
Duke University researchers from the Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness (CGGC) have released a report titled- Manufacturing Climate Solutions looking at ways of building new manufacturing jobs around a low-carbon economy.

Their strategy: transform the US manufacturing base and build ourselves into a climate solutions economy.

“Until now, there was no tangible evidence of what the jobs are, how they are created and what it means for U.S. workers. We are providing that here,” said Gary Gereffi, a Duke professor of sociology and lead author of the report. “We don’t guess where the jobs are; we name them. Our report uses value chains to show that clean technology jobs are also real economy jobs.”

Duke researchers assessed five (near term) carbon-reducing technologies with potential for future green job creation: LED lighting, high-performance windows, auxiliary power units for long-haul trucks, concentrating (thermal) solar power, and Super Soil Systems (a new method for treating hog wastes).

Why is this important to the future of energy
While the Duke team has highlighted near term opportunities, we cannot help but take a longer view of ‘green collar’ industries around the emerging era of nanoscale materials science and engineering. There is likely greater growth opportunities around jobs that do not currently exist, and in industries (e.g. thin film solar) that are currently not a part of the US economy.

Nanoscale materials (nanotubes & nanoparticles) integrated into materials manufacturing processes can change the fundamental performance of old commodities like wood, glass, plastic, ceramics, metals and steel.

Applying ‘nanoscale’ science to traditional materials is a game changer for the manufacturing world, and the US is ideally situated to bring value added products related to biotech, health sciences, agriculture, carbon solutions, sensors and embedded objects, robotics, transportation, smart grids, energy storage and distributed power systems, bioenergy and electric vehicles.

So instead of relying solely on activists who urge us to ‘consume ourselves’ into a green economy, we might turn to scientists and engineers who can actually ‘build it’ by extracting value from the application of nanoscale engineering.

What to watch in growth of ‘clean collar’ jobs

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: cleantech, greencollar, energy

Solar and wind companies must embrace energy storage solutions

Garry Golden — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:38:34 -0500

What happened?
Minnesota Public Radio has featured a story of Xcel Energy’s efforts to build out the state’s first utility-sized electricity storage facility based on batteries that can store enough electricity to supply 500 homes for seven hours. This push to integrate energy storage systems with wind and solar farms could emerge as a major growth area over the next twenty years.

Why is this important to the future of energy
Today’s energy industry is dominated by two ideas: producing energy and consuming energy. As a result most leaders and consumers focus only on trying to find new ways to produce energy (‘build more plants’) or highlighting ways of being more efficient in energy consumption. But we overlook one of the most disruptive ideas in the future – energy storage.

Energy storage can help lower the cost of producing energy for utilities, accelerate adoption of renewables and electric vehicles, and bring power to billions of people who do not have reliable access to grid-based energy.

Understanding Intermittent Power Sources
Solar and wind are known as intermittent power sources since they only produce power when the wind is blowing or when the sun is shining. They are clean, but not reliable. Outside of production costs, this is the primary reason why utilities avoid making major investments to expand their renewable portfolio. They are not ‘anti’ renewable, they are ‘pro’ reliability.

Until solar and wind can overcome this problem of intermittency with energy storage systems, major utility companies will not be able to significantly expand their renewable portfolios.

Why utilities avoid solar and wind power

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, grid, smartgrid, electricity, energystorage

What powers the car of tomorrow? Batteries or Hydrogen fuel cells? [Hint: Both]

Garry Golden — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:12:09 -0500

Just a short post to clear up a common mistake made by the media on the future of electric cars:

We do not have to choose between ‘electric’ versus ‘hydrogen’ cars. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are electric vehicles. The only alternative to the combustion engine is an electric motor. The question is – what should power that electric motor? Batteries or fuel cells? Why not both?

Good News: Electric vehicles are coming!
The good news is that stories on electric vehicles are popping up all over the web. Bloggers and mainstream media outlets are covering announcements for production volumes of electric vehicles that are coming from every corner of the world. Sooner or later a leader will step up a confirm our plans to kill the combustion engine-’.

Bad news: People confuse electric motors for energy storage devices
The bad news is that while trying to describe ‘the future’ most bloggers and journalist fall back on merely describing a snapshot view of today. Then they extrapolate it forward assuming the past will dictate the future. They see battery powered electric cars and assume this is the future.

Why not?
Cars are not iPods, and batteries alone cannot carry the auto industry forward. While there is no doubt that the first generation of electric vehicles are going to be built around advanced lithium ion batteries, next generation electric vehicles (circa 2015-2025) are likely to integrate three different energy storage systems- batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors.

So while bloggers and journalists often describe uncertainty about the direction of the auto industry by asking: Is the future car powered by a battery or fuel cell? – the answer is both.

Hydrogen stored as a solid, then converted in a fuel cell produces electricity.
Hydrogen fuel cell cars are electric vehicles.
A ‘hydrogen economy’ is an economy driven by electricity. H2 is just the chemical storage system.

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com
Editor, Garry Golden 6 minute Interview PRI’s nationally syndicated The Takeaway

Related posts on the future of electric vehicles- including:

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: car, cars, transportation, automobile, energy, electricity, hydrogen, fuelcells, battery, capacitors

Major breakthough in catalyst for cleaner 'green' petrochemical materials

Garry Golden — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:37:16 -0500

What happened?

A group of researchers from Boston College and MIT have created a new catalyst that could reduce the negative environmental impact of hydrocarbon or ‘petrochemical’ derived materials found in everyday products.

[Don’t run away! Big words, but simple concepts!]

The new catalyst is used in a very common and energy intensive process known as olefin metathesis. Just think of olefins as simple carbon and hydrogen packets (image of ethylene) that are used to make more complex chains that form the backbone of materials used in everything from cleaner fuels, soaps, bags, to pharmaceuticals. The process, ‘metathesis’, simply means transforming the order of AB + CD into AD +BC

How does a simple packet of hydrogen and carbon vary so much in different industry applications? In the most simple terms – the difference between a ‘good’ compound for people and the Earth, from a ‘bad’ compound is the use of additives (other elements) and the shape of the molecule chain (polymers). These variations make materials more or less reactive to things like light, water, and heat. It also makes it more or less soluble, biodegradable or toxic. The goal is to create compounds that break down into non-toxic elements that do not harm ecosystems. The more precise we are in building key polymer materials, the less harmful waste we produce.

Why is this important to the future? Another step towards ‘greener’ hydrocarbon materials
The BC/MIT catalyst will help to reduce the waste and hazardous by products of this massive industrial chemical reaction as we try to make chemistry more ‘green’ and environmentally friendly.

“In order for chemists to gain access to molecules that can enhance the quality of human life, we need reliable, highly efficient, selective and environmentally friendly chemical reactions,” said Amir Hoveyda, Professor and Chemistry Department chairman at BC. “Discovering catalysts that promote these transformations is one of the great challenges of modern chemistry.”

What to watch- Applied Engineering

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: energy, chemistry, chemicalengineering, biofuels, hydrogen, carbon

IEA World Energy Outlook highlights major global challenges ahead

amisampat — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:44:36 -0500

By Ami Sampat

What Happened?
The International Energy Agency has released a report describing a challenging future ahead for the energy industry and planet. The IEA’s annual World Energy Outlook highlights an uncertain future shaped by tightening oil supply, higher energy prices, and rising emissions of greenhouse gases.

Why is this important to the future?

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: electricity, oil, energy, carbon

[Blogpinion] GM Volt Enthusiast Asks the Government to Turn the Bailout up to Eleven

joelg — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:07:19 -0500

by Joel Greenberg

What Happened?
Dr. Lyle J. Dennis today asked readers of his GM-Volt.com enthusiast site to sign a petition asking the Bush Administration to bail out GM. As a public advocate of the electrification of the automobile, Dennis believes without a bailout, GM will die and so will the Volt, not to mention Project Driveway, GM’s fuel cell initiative.

GM has announced the Chevy Volt will ship in 2010 with a price somewhere in the $30,000 dollar range. The big question is whether or not GM will survive long enough to see 2010 and the release of the Volt.

Why This Is Important to the Future of Energy
The first successfully mass marketed electric vehicle will tip the market away from oil and to electricity.

Here at The Energy Roadmap we’ve been talking over Skype about the Volt’s future given the economy. Garry Golden told me, “At the end of the day, they’re likely to tank Chrysler before they tank General Motors if they see it as a much more functional and valuable company.’”

Says Golden, “GM is in the best position to make this leap to electric vehicles,” because of their R&D commitment to these vehicles.

If there’s time.

What to Watch For

Category: Transportation
Year: 2008
Tags: chevy, volt, gm, bailout, scenarios

Utility Grid leaders say renewable energy must first overcome hurdles

amisampat — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:53:19 -0500

By Ami Sampat

What Happened?
The efforts to reduce carbon emissions and increase the use of reliable power generation of renewable fuels will determine the future of the electric grid, as was reported by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. But solar and wind will have to overcome some fundamental challenges before they are accepted by large utilities.

“As we consider our energy future, it becomes increasingly clear that our success in reducing carbon emissions and realizing energy independence will hinge on our ability to provide reliable, clean, electricity where and when it is needed,” states Rick Sergal, President and CEO of the NERC.

Why is this important to the future?

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: electricity, grid, smartgrid, wind, solar

Picking Apart the Pickens Plan - 5 Big Challenges

Garry Golden — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:12:45 -0500

Big Plans are susceptible to changes in the world around us, and even bold visionaries can have wrong assumptions about the future.

After blanketing the media landscape over the summer with The Pickens Plan, T Boone Pickens has announced that he is slowing down his plans to build a massive wind farm in West Texas. Pickens’ $2 billion order of GE wind turbines has not been affected, but scaling up of the project is likely to happen more slowly than originally hoped.

A changing world or wrong assumptions?
Pickens has certainly felt the pains of shifts in the market where money is now in short supply and the global economic slowdown has battered his energy intensive hedge fund. But there have always been flaws to his core assumptions that support the vision that have somehow escaped widespread critical thought or media scrutiny. Pickens deserves credit for his willingness to advance the energy conversation in the US, but it does not free his Plan from closer examination:

#1 Utilities won’t evolve without regulatory changes
#2 Wind needs storage to evolve
#3 Natural Gas is a globally integrated industry, no breaking ‘foreign’ dependency there!
#4 The Auto Industry’s problem is not oil, it’s the combustion engine.
#5 Building transmission lines in my backyard or ranch?! It’ll cost you!

#1 Utilities won’t evolve without regulatory changes

Category: Energy
Year: 2017
Tags: electricity, grid, smartgrid, wind

Research breakthrough for mass producing thin sheets of carbon (graphene)

Garry Golden — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:12:20 -0500

What happened?
Researchers at the California NanoSystems Institute have developed a process to mass produce atom thick sheets of carbon known as graphene.

[If you roll these sheets up, you form a ‘carbon nanotube’, or break them apart and bind with other compounds to form ‘nanoparticles’. These are the three basic shapes of nanoscale materials. Master these components and the next stage is creating functional mechanical nano-machines!]

Graphene sheets are arguably the strongest possible material in the universe based on bonding properties of all known elements. But what makes them very special is how carbon sheets interact (or don’t interact) with electrons, hydrogen atoms and photons. They have uses as electrodes for solar cells, ‘sandwiches’ for solid hydrogen storage, backpanels for sensors, and as the anode electrode material in lithium batteries and fuel cells.

Why is this important to the future?
Energy components designed at the nanoscale
Before we can apply graphene sheets to commercial applications we must find lower cost methods of mass production. This breakthrough is a significant milestone. According to researcher Matthew Allen “These graphene sheets are by far the largest produced, and the method allows great control over deposition. Chemically converted graphene can now be studied in depth through a variety of electronic tests and microscopic techniques not previously possible.”

What to watch

Category: Technology
Year: 2018
Tags: carbon, electronics, energy, electricity, fuelcells, solar, batteries

The Future of the US Auto Industry

Garry Golden — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:15:30 -0500

This morning I was a guest on PRI’s The Takeaway program with Hosts John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji to talk about the future of the US Auto Industry. [Podcast of conversation] Many thanks to The Takeaway!!!!

For visiting Takeaway listeners we’ve organized recent articles from The Energy Roadmap.com exploring the future of the transportation sector:

Electric vehicle industry goes global around energy storage systems
Video Interview with Shai Agassi on disruptive business models for electric cars
Is Detroit asleep at the wheel?
The Good news? China is investing in electric cars, The Bad news? China is investing in electric cars
Is GM expecting China to extend its grid for electric cars?
France to spend millions on electric vehicles
Warren Buffet buys equity in China’s BYD
New hydrogen storage device lighter than lithium batteries
McKinsey believes China could lead world in electric vehicles
GM pick Korean battery maker over US startup A123 Systems
Hyundai to build fuel cell electric vehicle for 2012
US algae startups could transform China coal industry
France’s GDF invests in electric car infrastructure
Hawaii’s HEKO utility take big regulatory step for 21st Century Grid
Electric vehicle networks startup moves into Australia
Detroit to World, Nobody has killed the electric car
India’s Tata Motors will produce electric vehicle in 2009 for Europe!
A Futurist’s Guide to Cars of 2020-

Category: Transportation
Year: 2010
Tags: transportation, electricity, energy, cars, automobiles

Algae biofuels startup secures $10 million, will build Colorado bioreactor plant

Garry Golden — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:25:15 -0500

What happened?
Another algae biofuels company has raised money to build a next generation biofuel plant that consumes carbon and creates usuable biofuels.

Colorado-based Solix Biofuels announced that it has raised $10.5 million in its first round of outside funding, and has reached an agreement with investors for an additional commitment of $5 million, to be used to build an algae biofuel facility near Durango, Colorado.

The biofuel plant will be located on a ten-acre site on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Southwest Colorado. It will be built in two phases, with the first to be completed in 12 to 18 months and consisting of four acres of photo-bioreactors for growing algae, and one acre for a lab facility. Upon completion of the first phase, Solix will build an additional five-acre expansion that will allow the pilot facility to produce at commercial scale.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
Tapping the power of biology to ‘eat’ carbon and produce commercial grade fuels could emerge as a game changing platform for carbon emissions and energy production in the next decade. But first, algae startups like Solix must demonstrate scalable bioreactor plants and work out the kinks associated with algae fuel production (e.g. lighting, nutrients, impurities, growth rates).

What to watch for?
There are a number of leading indicators to monitor: capital investments, performance claims of specific algae species, and further advances in the physical engineering systems related to high volume algae production.

Related posts on The Energyroadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: algae, biofuels, bioenergy, energy, gasoline, biodiesel

[Video] Interview on Electric Cars with Shai Agassi - 'Time for Big Bets' and Disruptive Business Models

Garry Golden — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:03:22 -0500

Last week at the OReilly Web 2.0 Summit Tim O’Reilly interviewed Shai Agassi, CEO of electric car network startup Better Place.

This [30 minute] interview reflects a very different way of thinking about the future based on the potent combination of new technology platforms and disruptive business models.

The simplest translation of Shai Agassi’s disruptive vision ?
We should buy the car, but not the battery or fuel cell. Remove the cost and risk of owning energy storage systems out of the consumer equation. Instead consumers would subscribe to an energy infrastructure provider and ‘pay per mile’ (e.g. mobile phone minutes plan). They could refill at a local electric recharge station, or pull up to a station to ‘swap out’ an old battery (or depleted solid block of hydrogen) for a new container. Agassi believes this new business model could lower the barriers that prevent us from leaping beyond the era of the combustion engine.

How do we do it? Big bets, major infrastructure investments and new business models.

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2016
Tags: electriccars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation, batteries

Report: US Electricity grid needs $1.5 - 2 Trillion investments by 2030 (7 Ideas to Watch)

Garry Golden — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:35:39 -0500

What happened?
An Edison Foundation funded report conducted by The Brattle Group has some sobering news that could radically change the tone of infrastructure investment in the incoming Obama Administration, and lead to a boom in energy startups able to deliver lower cost, innovative solutions.

The new report “Transforming America’s Power Industry: The Investment Challenge 2010-2030” [Full Report / Exec Summary] estimates that the U.S. utility industry will have to invest between $1.5 and $2.0 trillion between 2010 and 2030 to maintain current levels of reliable energy service for customers throughout the country.

“This study highlights the investment challenges confronting the power industry in the coming decades,” according to Brattle Group Principal Peter Fox-Penner. “The industry is facing enormous investment needs during a period of modest growth, high costs, and very substantial policy shifts.”

Why is this important to the future of energy?
This investment figure challenges some deeply held assumptions and visions of the future promoted by people on all sides of the political spectrum. Free market advocates will have to confront role of government spending on infrastructure. Unless we completely abandon the centralized power plant to home model that exists today, most of these investments will come from states and the federal government.

But the more emotional conversation deals with the dreams of new sources from solar, wind and ocean power. This report confirms the brutal reality- Renewables alone, cannot scale to meet demand through 2030. While Al Gore’s We Campaign is trying to make a convincing case that we can go ‘all green’ in a decade, the numbers do not add up without a radical social-industrial engineering project with no budget limits.

The most likely near term future through 2030?
All sources of energy used in electric power generation will grow.

What to watch for
These types of reports often grab headlines, but are quickly forgotten by the public. Yet there is evidence to suggest that America is preparing to make significant investments in our energy infrastructure and change its regulatory framework to enable the Utility industry to transform its business and operating models. [Until those regulatory changes are made, the utilities will remain locked in their current business models, and will be unable to introduce innovative and cost saving efforts.]

Here are Seven Ideas to Watch:

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, infrastructure, smartgrid, hydrogen, energystorage

Tiny piezoelectric devices convert motion into electricity

Garry Golden — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:51:30 -0500

What happened?
Researchers at Georgia Tech University have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current (AC) through the repeated stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires held with in a flexible plastic substrate that can be incorporated into almost any material.

This new type of piezoelectric generator can produce up to 45 millivolts by converting nearly seven percent of the mechanical energy applied directly to the zinc oxide wires into electricity. A complex array of these devices could be used to charge sensors or low power embedded MEMS devices.

Why is this important to the future?
Micro and nano-scale power systems are going to be in high demand in a future increasingly dependent on sensors and microelectronics. Piezoelectric generators could become a low cost, more durable alternative to miniaturized batteries and fuel cells used to power the billions of sensors, smart tags, and MEMS devices expected to hit the marketplace over the next two decades.

“The flexible charge pump offers yet another option for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy,” said Professor Zhong Lin Wang of the Center for Nanostructure Characterization at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “This adds to our family of very small-scale generators able to power devices used in medical sensing, environmental monitoring, defense technology and personal electronics.”

What to watch

Category: Technology
Year: Beyond
Tags: sensors, piezeoelectric, electricity, mems

The Good news? China is investing in electric cars, The Bad news? China is investing in electric cars

Garry Golden — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:52:00 -0500

Need more evidence that the electric vehicle industry is going global, quickly?!

Bloomberg is reporting on plans that General Motors is expanding its investment and partnership with China’s SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. It is unclear whether this investment is simply to secure GM’s position in China’s growing market, or if GM might tap China as the manufacturing hub for electric vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

Big bets are being made by automakers and many of them tap Asia as a manufacturing hub for energy storage. Last month GM selected a Korean maker for its Chevy Volt, and VW is now openly seeking Chinese partnerships to produce batteries. Meanwhile Korea and China are looking to build their own homegrown electric vehicle brands.

Why this is important to the future of energy?
The fastest way to move beyond the combustion engine is to tap the power of global markets. But it requires us to rethink our assumptions about the future. Namely, if Asia does leap ahead, the US and Europe will have to rethink their aspirations of being ‘energy independent’. Instead they will trade ‘foreign’ oil, for ‘foreign’ batteries!

The Good news
Electric cars can help to clean up air pollution around the world, expand opportunities for renewables to compete in transportation fuels, and could help us better manage the flow and storage of electrons currently limited to a one-way electrical grid.

Electric vehicles can change the world, but they are likely to do so in ways that we cannot currently imagine by mere extrapolation.

The Bad news?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2016
Tags: electriccars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation, capacitors, china

Here comes the solar rooftop! ECD Ovonics expanding partnerships for thin film solar

Garry Golden — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:20:37 -0500

What happened?
Michigan-based ECD Ovonic solar subsidiary Uni-Solar has signed a multi-year agreement with an Italian steel and metal materials company to build solar rooftop materials used in onsite power generation. Marcegaglia expects to introduce the low cost, durable thin film solar metal roofing products to the market in 2010. [Image shown from Spain factory installation]

Why is this important to the future of energy?
Energy entrepreneurs are thinking beyond power generation via large, expensive centralized power plants. The alternative is expanding the world’s capacity for ‘distributed power generation’ based on low cost solar, micro-wind, fuel cells, and micro turbines. These systems could soon provide a small percentage of power generation, but enough to reduce demand on power plants during ‘peak power demand’ periods, and lower our threat of grid failure by storing and producing energy at the local level. Why not tap square footage of rooftops?

Thin film solar based on plastic substrates are less efficient than traditional glass-based photovoltaic panels, but they are much cheaper and more durable. By layering, or ‘printing’, thin film solar modules onto rooftop materials we can bring solar power to buildings around the world at a low cost.

What to watch

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: solar, energy, thinfilm

The Utility of the Future? Austin Energy's Strategic Plan

joelg — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:34:41 -0500

By Joel Greenberg

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Austin Energy, the electricity company owned by the city of Austin, TX, , is asking for public input into their strategic planning process for power generation through 2020. The question they’re trying to answer is, “What should be the right mix of technologies for generating electricity? How much of energy over the next 10-12 years should come from coal, nuclear, natural gas, solar, wind, biomass, etc.?”

Austin City Council has given Austin Energy two goals: - 30% renewables by 2020, including 100 MW of solar. - Lower carbon emissions—all NEW power generation should be carbon-neutral, however, City Council provided no other goals for lowering green house gas emissions.

Austin Energy estimates that the city will be short by 627 MW in 2020 if current growth trends continue. The gap can be reduced to 238 MW if conversation efforts are stepped up. Either way, Austin Energy will need to be generating more electricity in 10 years, but how?

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THE FUTURE OF ENERGY?

Category: Economics
Year: 2008
Tags: energy, austin, utility, grid

US researchers rewarded for advancing biocatalysts

Garry Golden — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:34:34 -0500

The U.S. DOE Savannah River National Laboratory has received an award for its patent-pending BioTiger™ biocatalyst that is capable of cleaning up polluted environments and enhancing recovery efforts from non-conventional hydrocarbon deposits such as Canada’s oil tar sands.

Biocatalysts coming of age
The BioTiger catalyst started eight years ago when researchers applied micro-based solutions to cleaning up a century-old Polish waste lagoon filled with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals.

More recent efforts to expand applications of the catalyst found that it can be applied directly to cleaning up surface areas covered with oil residues on concrete slabs and building foundations.

BioTiger™ has also been shown to increase oil recovery from non-conventional hydrocarbon supplies without added chemicals. Researchers believe that an enhanced oil recovery from tar sands and oil shales could maximize capacity and minimize environmental impact in an otherwise energy intensive and dirty processes.

Category: Environment
Year: 2014
Tags: biocatalyst, bioenergy, energy

India develops cheaper fuel cell membrane (100x lower cost)

Garry Golden — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:15:37 -0500

What happened?
India researchers at Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory have created a low cost fuel cell membrane that appears competitive to the current industry standard membrane- DuPont’s Nafion. Nafion (Image shown) is a fluorocarbon based membrane with tremendous performance properties that support the complex electrochemical processes of hydrogen-oxygen reactions inside fuel cells. But it is expensive!

Researchers around the world are working to reduce the costs of fluorocarbon based membranes and also develop alternative hydrocarbon based membranes that would be a fraction of the cost. Based on this story, India researchers may have developed such a low cost electrolyte used in the MEA (membrane electrode assembly) or the heart of a fuel cell.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
Fuel cells convert chemical energy into electricity and heat. They could help the world move beyond inefficient and dirty ‘combustion energy’ systems by finding applications in portable devices, distributed power generation and electric vehicles. Rather than blow up chemical bonds, we can use the high efficiency (and relatively) clean process of electrochemical energy conversion.

Unfortunately, fuel cells have been the victim of the technology Hype Cycle. They failed to meet early expectations (circa Dotcom Boom) and have been targeted by skeptics around the world. But these promising electrochemical devices are not dead yet, and we should expect to see significant steps towards commercialization in the years.

The key to commercialization is lowering the cost and improving performance of membranes. The electrolyte of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells (used in portable and transportation applications) generally accounts for 75% of the total unit cost. While Nafion provides thermal and mechanical stability, it is expensive.

What to watch – Nanoscale Innovations

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: fuelcells, energy, electricity, hydrogen

Algae biofuel industry continues to expand community and refine its vision of future

Garry Golden — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:07:16 -0500

We expect algae to become a mainstream energy buzz word in 2009 as more people become aware of this promising form of energy conversion. But first, leaders must close the great disconnect around the conversation of ‘biofuels’ and the future of bioenergy. The general public is lagging behind in the conversation by the near-term political distraction of corn derived ethanol, while policy makers, researchers and entrepreneurs are already moving forward on next generation biofuels derived from non-food crops like Jatropha and microbes like algae and biofuels. More forward looking bioenergy advocates argue that next generation biofuels will soon make corn irrelevant. Now they must begin the public awareness campaign to bring the public and policy makers into the future.

Why bioenergy?
The idea of bioenergy is simple. Tap power of biology to convert carbon into useful forms of energy. How? By following Mother Nature. Most forms of energy arrived via biology. Coal is ancient ferns and biomass, oil is likely ancient microbes that lived in shallow seas. Both bio systems used the power of sunlight to combine carbon with hydrogen (from water) to form complex hydrocarbon chains. The modern Industrial world is based on capturing energy from blowing up those chemical bonds. Rather than extract ancient bioenergy, the 21st century might be about ‘growing energy’ using those same biological principles.

Focusing on Algae-derived biofuels
The idea of carbon eating algae derived biofuels continues to gain momentum around bioenergy researchers and investors. Last month business leaders, investors, and researchers gathered in Seattle, WA for the 2nd Annual Algae Biomass Summit sponsored by The Algal Biomass Organization.

Renewable Energy.com has a short recap of the event including a look at featured speakers and presence of the wider biofuels industry leaders. The number of attendees doubled to 700 from the inaugural conference of 350 people. And the profile of investor star power was raised as cleantech investor Vinod Khosla delivered the event’s keynote.

If things continue to expand, carbon eating ‘algae’ could become a big story in 2009 as investors continue to pump money into startups trying to scale low cost systems.

[Comprehensive list of algae biofuel companies]

Related posts from TheEnergyRoadmap.com

Category: Energy
Year: 2014
Tags: bioenergy, biofuels, electricity, energy, algae

IBM's vision of 'Smart Planet', expects sensors and software to launch era of Smart Infrastructure

Garry Golden — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:10:26 -0500

What happened?
Mark your calendars! The business case for ‘smart infrastructure’ has been made by one of the world’s biggest companies. On November 6th, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano delivered a speech (text / video) at the New York Council on Foreign Relations. Palmisano highlighted ‘Big Blue’s vision of a ‘Smart Planet’ and the tremendous near term opportunities in building out the global smart infrastructures for energy, water, information, and transportation of people and goods.

Palmisano echoed a vision described by visionaries and futurists long ago of a ‘digital planet’. Now we might expect broader endorsements for ‘smart infrastructure’ by mainstream business and policy leaders especially in the US under the incoming Obama Adminstration. We can also build more reliable forecasts and roadmaps based on expectations for investments and application of technologies that improve the flow of traffic (without adding more lanes), more efficient energy grids, wider access to clean water and food, improved personal safety, and more secure information flows around financial, governance, and healthcare information.

Quotes from Palmisano’s address:
What’s making this possible?
First, our world is becoming instrumented
“There will likely be 4 billion mobile phone subscribers by the end of this year… and 30 billion Radio Frequency Identification tags produced globally within two years. Sensors are being embedded across entire ecosystems—supply-chains, healthcare networks, cities… even natural systems like rivers.“

Second, our world is becoming interconnected
“Very soon there will be 2 billion people on the Internet. But in an instrumented world, systems and objects can now “speak” to one another, too. Think about the prospect of a trillion connected and intelligent things—cars, appliances, cameras, roadways, pipelines… even pharmaceuticals and livestock.“

Third, all things are becoming intelligent
“New computing models can handle the proliferation of end-user devices, sensors and actuators and connect them with back-end systems. Combined with advanced analytics, those supercomputers can turn mountains of data into intelligence that can be translated into action, making our systems, processes and infrastructures more efficient, more productive and responsive—in a word, smarter.“

Related posts on The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Technology
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, infrastructure, smartgrid

Is General Motors expecting China to extend its grid for electric vehicles?

Garry Golden — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:40:53 -0500

What happened?
Gasgoo.com is reporting talks between General Motors Executives and leaders from China’s State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) to extend the countries electricity grid to support the first wave of electric vehicles.

Why is this important to the future of energy
Electric vehicles powered by a combination of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors – are coming to the world market! First generation electric motor vehicles are expected to be powered by batteries, followed by next generation hydrogen fuel cells. Both forms of electron energy require investments in infrastructure and energy storage systems. GM has made its intentions very clear to kill the combustion engine and move towards a new lower cost manufacturing platform of electric motors. The company is planning to build its extended range electric vehicle Chevrolet Volt in 2011 and hopes that China might become a major growth market for its post combustion engine vehicles.

Read more:
The Energy Roadmap.com – Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
The key to moving beyond the era of liquid fuels and the combustion engine is to accelerate development of energy storage systems and infrastructure for supporting electric vehicles. We have posts on recent investments into energy storage and electric utilities by Warren Buffet
and China’s BYD, France’s GDF, Hawaii’s HEKO utility, Denmark, Australia, and Israel. But according to a recent McKinsey & Co report it is China that holds the greatest potential for transforming the global auto industry in this era of electric vehicles.

Category: Transportation
Year: 2012
Tags: electriccars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation, batteries

Minature solar cells smaller than 12 point font

Garry Golden — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:39:05 -0500

What happened?
University of South Florida researchers have developed the tiniest solar cells ever built. The solar cells provide power to the team’s microeletromechanical system (MEMS) used to detect chemicals in lakes. The sensing device includes 20 tiny solar cells each about a quarter the size of a lowercase “o” in a standard 12-point font. [Sample MEMS image shown is NOT actual device]

Why is it important to the future of energy?
In the future we will need ways to power tiny sensors that detect changes in the world based on light, chemicals, temperature, noise, motion, et al. Micro power systems integrated into sensors are a foundation piece to ‘smart infrastructure’ used in applications ranging from energy, to security and environmental detection systems. Sensors embedded into everyday objects, as well as natural and built environments are likely to change the world in the next 50 years, as much as microprocessors changed our lives over the last 50 years.

The assembled device is also important for the future of ‘organic’ (carbon-based) solar cells that differ from traditional ‘silicon’ solar panels printed on glass substrates. Organic solar cells can be suspended in liquids and assembled using low cost ‘ink jet’ printers and, in theory, ‘printed’ on any surface. So we can imagine turning a rooftop or parking lots surface into a light collecting material.

What to watch:
An Energy Roadmap for Micro power and Sensors
This fabrication could be significant for micro (millionth of meter) and nanoscale (billionth of meter) energy systems powered by light. The technique might also accelerate development of organic solar cells. But there will be competition from other viable power sources, with better energy densities, including nanoscale designed batteries, fuel cells and piezoelectric devices that convert motion into electrical pulses.

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: solar, nanoscale, electricity

Researchers advance understanding of electrons & superconductive material

Garry Golden — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:20:00 -0500

What happened?
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have figured out a previously unknown phenomena of electron pairings used in high-temperature superconductor materials that could carry electrical current across great distances with minimal loss.

Why is this important to the future of energy?

Via Physorg.com

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: electrons, electricity, grid

Is 'Clean Coal' Barack Obama's first great energy challenge?

Garry Golden — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:29:38 -0500

Could coal emerge as the biggest energy story of 2009? We think so!

Coal is likely to become President elect Barack Obama’s first great energy policy challenge- as evidenced by the coal industry’s ‘Congratulations’ ad on CNN.com

Why coal?
Big Story for 2009: Problems with ‘Big Grid’
As prices at the pump drop in response to the global economic slowdown, we can (sadly) anticipate less media and public attention to the long term challenges of oil. Fortunately we have a problem of equal magnitude- an aging, some say failing, electric utility grid run by large enterprises who are already rethinking their changing role in the next century.

There is a short list of big issues for ‘Big Grid’ – building a 21st Century ‘Smart Grid’ around software and storage, integrating utility scale renewables (solar, wind, biomass waste), addressing regulatory challenges of carbon emissions, and working with private sector entrepreneurs who are advancing technologies that could disrupt long-held pricing structures and operating principles of our antiquated grid.

Today, we cannot talk about the future of utility grid energy or global energy and climate issues without confronting the challenges of coal. ‘Clean Coal’ refers to various methods of capturing energy from coal while reducing the amount of pollutants. Critics argue that coal can never been ‘clean’, while supporters of ‘cleaner’ coal argue that we must develop cost effective strategies that can reduce the impact of coal being burned in the US, China and around the world.

3 ways to talk about clean coal

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: coal, energy, electricity, algae, biofuels

Is Detroit asleep at the wheel? Canadian battery company expands presence in China

Garry Golden — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:28:08 -0500

Yesterday, Canada’s Electrovaya announced the signing of three Memorandum of Understanding MOU’s with Chinese manufacturers of electric cars, trucks and manufacturing equipment including Chana International Corp. which has joint ventures with both Ford and Mazda. Electrovaya’s announcement comes less than a month after signing a strategic partnership with India’s TATA Motors to sell cars in Europe in 2009.

Where is Detroit?
Detroit’s Big Three (GM, Ford & Chrysler) are distracted by short-term challenges. Their ‘legacy costs’ associated with building cars around the combustion engine could keep it from leapfrogging into a new era of vehicle manufacturing and design based on electric motors.

Could we be witnessing a classic ‘low end disruption’ strategy evolving in the global auto industry as Asia grabs reigns on future of electric vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors?

How?

Global automakers figure out that the revolution is how you build cars, not how you fuel them that matters. (Oil is not the problem, the problem is the combustion engine.) The key to building low cost high performance electric cars revolves around energy storage systems. If it is cheaper to build energy storage systems in China than Ohio and Michigan, than the Rust Belt might struggle to grow cleantech jobs.

Electric car industry is going global, quickly!
Now that the US election is over, the tone of conversations could change significantly to reflect more pragmatic policies. One policy vision that could be destroyed is the notion of ‘energy independence’ via electric cars. This rhetoric could fade quickly as it becomes more clear that both the auto and energy industries are very global, and will likely continue to become more globally integrated in the post-combustion era.

We have featured dozens of stories of the globalization of the electric vehicle industry including Warren Buffets equity stake in Chinese energy storage company BYD, Korea’s push into energy storage manufacturing with General Motors, and Tata’s intention to sell electric cars inside Europe.

Energy Storage key to Accelerating Change
The key to electrifying the world’s transportation fleet is to advance and integrate energy storage systems around batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors.

Detroit’s future might depend on how the value chain unfolds around global energy storage systems. If Asia appears to be the lowest cost manufacturing hub for energy storage systems it could reinvent the world’s auto industry.

Category: Transportation
Year: 2013
Tags: car, transportation, automobile, energy, electricityhydrogen, fuel, cells, battery

Researchers develop hybrid solar materials with nanoparticles and nanotubes

Garry Golden — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:28:28 -0500

What happened?
Research teams from Spain’s IMDEA Nanoscience and the University of Hamburg have developed a hybrid material using nanoparticles (quantum dots) and carbon nanotubes in an effort to create more efficient light emitting diodes and solar cells.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
While most energy analysts expect to see tremendous growth in solar based energy (thermal, photovoltaics, thin film), there is still much we do not yet know about photoconversion. It could be another decade or two before we feel the disruptive potential of commercializing nanoscale structured energy devices that offer unprecedented performance at a low cost.

European researchers have now developed a solar system tapping the electrical and light gathering properties of carbon nanotubes with quantum dots exhibit outstanding optical properties compared to organic dyes, and carbon nanotubes.

This is the third major scientific announcement in the past month from the global solar scientific community which included significant stories from US researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Ohio State University, and Asia-European teams working on low cost dye solar cells.

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, thinfilm, storage, distributed, power

Hydrogen storage could support lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles

Garry Golden — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:04:26 -0500

What happened?
Researchers have successfully demonstrated a new way to test materials for storing hydrogen as a solid. Dutch-sponsored researcher Robin Gremaud has built a solid storage system for hydrogen based on a light alloy of magnesium, titanium and nickel. Gremaud used a novel (and potentially disruptive) method for simultaneously analyzing thousands of different combinations of the metals. This solid storage system could weigh sixty percent less than a comparable battery pack.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
The concepts of an ‘electric car’ and ‘hydrogen economy’ are misleading. The future is powered by electricity, but we can store electrical energy in form of chemical bonds of hydrogen. (Mother Nature stores energy in chemical bonds of hydrogen-carbon via coal and oil.) So a hydrogen economy is a world powered by electricity. And a hydrogen fuel cell car is still powered by electric motors.

Despite the emergence of advanced lithium ion batteries for the first wave of electric vehicles , next generation cars are likely to be powered by a combination of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. Not one energy storage device is adequate enough to meet the demands of automotive applications.

The key to growing the world’s electric vehicle fleet is developing advanced energy storage systems. If batteries struggle to meet the performance demands of automotive applications, hydrogen fuel cells could emerge as a viable alternative assuming we have a viable storage medium. Now researchers have demonstrated a method that might accelerate development of metal based solid state hydrogen solutions.

About the technique – Hydrogenography

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: electriccars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation, capacitors

Patagonia fungus that produces 'diesel' fuels

Garry Golden — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:24:26 -0500

A research group led by Montana State University Professor Gary Strobel has found a fungus (Gliocladium roseum) inside a Patagonia rainforest that produces hydrocarbon chains similar to diesel fuel or “myco-diesel”.

Why is this important?
Our world is powered by capturing the energy released from carbon-hydrogen chains from wood, coal, oil and natural gas. This chemical energy was formed by ancient biological processes via plants, algae and bacteria. But what if fungi could do the same thing?

If we expect to move beyond an extraction economy that taps ancient bio energy via coal and petroleum, we need to find substitute sources of energy producing systems. Rather than look at energy conversion via plants (e.g. corn), researchers are looking at more ancient forms of life to find the most efficient metabolic systems involved in energy conversion.

We have featured stories on the push towards cellulosic ethanol and algae biofuel startups, and now we can add fungus to that list of potential bio energy substitutes to traditional hydrocarbons.

When can I put myco-diesel in my vehicle?
There is still a very long way to go before we can develop energy roadmaps and forecasts for fungi derived fuels. For now, smart money is on cellulosic and algae derived biofuels. This is an important discovery, but we have no applied evidence that it could easily scale to produce large amounts of usable forms of liquid fuels at a low cost. But this is an important first step and a significant discovery around the fundamentals of bioenergy!

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: algae, biofuels, bioenergy, energy, gasoline, biodiesel

Solar energy breakthrough with 'near perfect' absorption of light

Garry Golden — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:54:51 -0500

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power.

“To get maximum efficiency when converting solar power into electricity, you want a solar panel that can absorb nearly every single photon of light, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky,” said Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of the university’s Future Chips Constellation, who led the research project. “Our new antireflective coating makes this possible.”

An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable. From an economic and efficiency perspective, this unharvested light is wasted potential and a major barrier hampering the proliferation and widespread adoption of solar power.

After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic viability.

Material compiled from Rensselaer Press Release

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, research

12 novel solar energy projects funded by US Dept of Energy

Garry Golden — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:34:35 -0500

Most energy analysts see solar energy (via thermal, traditional photovoltaics and thin film) at the beginning of its commercial growth curve. Yet there is still much that we do not know about the fundamentals of solar energy conversions that can produce electricity, heat, hydrogen and synthetic fuels. Developing a 21st century roadmap for the future of solar energy requires us to first recognize the need for funding basic research in science and then explore the disruptive potential of breakthroughs in applied engineering.

Funding basic and applied research in Solar Photoconversion
The US Department of Energy’s Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion is launching 12 novel solar research projects totaling more than $1.1 million in its inaugural round of research and development funding.

CRSP, the newest research center of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, is dedicated to the basic and applied research necessary to create revolutionary new solar energy technologies as well as education and training opportunities.

According to NREL Senior Research Fellow and CRSP Scientific Director Arthur Nozik, the 12 CRSP projects “represent the leading edge of research into both new ways to generate electricity and liquid and gaseous fuels directly from the sun and improving our approaches toward these goals.”

The 12 selected solar projects are:

- Integrated Electrical and Optical Characterization of Silicon Thin Films – NREL and CSM, $99,818

- Redox-Tunable Polymers for OPV active layers – NREL and CSU, $100,000

- Group IV Nanowire Photovoltaics – Colorado School of Mines, $100,000

- InVitro Evolution of RNA-Inorganic Catalysts for the Conversion of CO2 to Alcohols – CU, $100,000

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, thinfilm, storage, distributed, power

Barack Obama highlights need for investment and regulatory changes for a 'Smart Grid'

Garry Golden — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:53:51 -0400

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow interviews Barack Obama (on 10/31/08) who highlights near term demands (and opportunities) for ‘Smart Grid’ investments needed to bring the US infrastructure into 21st Century.

‘Big Grid’ could replace ‘Big Oil’ as a major story for 2009, as it becomes clear that the regulatory frameworks of our electricity utilities are not designed to support growth of utility scale wind and solar, micro-distributed power generation, and energy storage. All these things are disruptive!

[Infrastructure Theme Begins minute 4:00]

Video Source MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show

Category: Government
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, smartgrid, grid, electricity, obama

[Video] EV's, PHEV's and the Grid. Austin Energy's Roger Duncan Talks Electricity

joelg — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:27:16 -0400

By Joel Greenberg

With every major automotive manufacturer announcing an electric vehicle, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to debut in the next 2-5 years, it’s clear that these vehicles are poised to compete in the mass market. But how did we get here? Where do we need to go to make this happen? Is the grid ready?

p=.

Roger Duncan, General Manager of Austin Energy, discusses these issues from the point of view of the person responsible for delivering electricity to these vehicles.

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: pluginelectric, vehicles, phev, ev, grid, austin, energy, roger, duncan, hydrogen, plugin, partners, program

Researchers watch electrons as molecules change shape

Garry Golden — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:32:49 -0400

What happened?
Research teams from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Canada’s Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences have watched electrons rearrange themselves as molecules changes shape like a Slinky. The team shot a laser across a molecule of dinitrogen tetraoxide, or N2O4, to map the electron energy levels of the molecule as it changed shape.

Why is this important to the future of energy?
Advanced energy systems depend on our ability to understand how electrons rearrange themselves during chemical reactions. To trigger specific chemical reactions involved in producing energy, cleaning up hydrocarbons, and making materials with less energy we need to know how bonds are formed and broken between atoms.

“The Holy Grail in molecular sciences would be to be able to look at all aspects of a chemical reaction and to see how atoms are moving and how electrons are rearranging themselves as this happens,” researcher Margaret Murnane. “We’re not there yet, but this is a big step toward that goal.”

Why is it difficult? Changes in electron clouds happen on timescales of less than a femtosecond, or one quadrillionth of a second, representing some of the fastest processes in the natural world.

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, physics, science, electrons

Clean Coal via algae? Bioenergy startups could transform China's coal industry in 20 years

Garry Golden — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:26:00 -0400

Carbon capitalism
China’s future depends on carbon. Sort of. Its economy is not powered by carbon, it is powered by the energy released with they break the bonds of carbon from hydrogen locked up in wood, coal, oil and natural gas. The cheapest way to get this energy is via coal fired power plant. This is of course a problem for ecosystems that are overwhelmed with massive amounts of carbon.

China’s demand to control its carbon cycles represents a tremendous opportunity for bioenergy solution startups emerging from the US and Europe. Recent announcements of US-China strategic partnerships could be a sign of positive things ahead as we transform carbon emissions into a resource.

Coming Algae Boom? Startups riding wave of Hype
The list of algae bioenergy companies is expanding, and forcing executives to seek international strategic partnerships. TradingMarkets.com is reporting the formation of a new company (BioCentric Energy Algae Hong Kong Ltd) between BioCentric (California) and Zenxin (Wuhan, China). The first algae biofuels project will be located at a coal power plant emitting 40,000 tons of CO2 per year, in a steel-making region that releases 33,000,000 tons of CO2 per year.

This is the second pilot project between US and Chinese companies in the nascent algae biofuels market. Earlier this month Petrosun announced plans for an algae biofuels project in china.

Coal is the fastest growing source of energy in the world. It is cheap and abundant and present in China and US. We cannot run from coal’s future.

Cleaner Coal? Depends on Carbon’s choice Oxygen or Hydrogen

Category: Environment
Year: 2018
Tags: bioenergy, biofuels, algae, energy, hydrogen, china, transportation

[Video] Close up look at Blacklight Power's breakthrough in energy production

Garry Golden — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:05:32 -0400

Earlier we reported on the independent verification of BlackLight Power Inc’s novel method of generating primary power beyond the scientific paradigms of combustion and nuclear reactions. The method captures tremendous amounts of energy released when powder containing hydrogen atoms reacts with a catalyst to drop its energy state into hydrinos.

Via PESWIKI we now have a video to explain the verification process and explore the implications for energy production in the 21st century.

Download 51 MB .wmv Video

Source – BlackLight Power Inc’s

Category: Technology
Year: 2016
Tags: blacklightpower, energy, hydrogen, hydrino, electricity

McKinsey Report: China could lead the world in Electric Vehicles within 20 years

Garry Golden — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:40:58 -0400

A recent McKinsey & Co publication titled “China Charges Up” believes that China should expand its capacity to build electric vehicles in the next two decades to avoid issues related to energy security and emissions.

Reuters provides highlights from the publication- ‘within twenty years China could create a world-leading industry and a domestic market alone worth up to US$219.4 billion, even if less than a third of drivers go electric.’ Not only is it plausible that China could emerge as a leader in this new industry, the report suggests is it the ‘Realistic Choice’ given expected constraints of oil supplies and carbon emission regulations.

Could rhetoric of ‘Independence’ fade, as Electric Cars go global?
We have written on several occasions (below) about how electric vehicles, based on the integration of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors, are quickly becoming a globally integrated industry.

McKinsey does not need a crystal ball to conclude develop a forecast that China could tap its manufacturing might to lead the world in development of low-cost energy storage systems needed to transform the auto industry.

China’s real opportunity- Killing the combustion engine?
The world’s strategic opportunity is not to move beyond oil, but to kill the combustion engine platform which makes oil’s monopoly possible. Shifting to electric motors creates opportunities for ‘all’ energy inputs to create transportation fuels via electricity and hydrogen. (e.g. Today, you cannot put solar electricity into a combustion engine that uses liquid fuels) Domestic energy resources are only valuable to the transportation sector in a post-combustion engine and liquid fuel era.

Now we will see if this McKinsey & Co report brings a new way of thinking to a larger conversation dominated by the rhetoric of ‘energy independence’ that is not aligned with the reality of our global economy. The real upside of global economic interdependence might be the accelerated development of electric vehicles and industrial power provide by China.

Category: Transportation
Year: Beyond
Tags: car, transportation, automobile, energy, electricityhydrogen, fuel, cells, battery

Leaked IEA report suggests steep decline of existing oil fields

Garry Golden — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:39:55 -0400

[IEA’s official response to the leaked report]

The Financial Times has obtained a draft copy of the International Energy Agency annual World Energy Outlook. The Paris-based IEA is a highly regarded information agency on the global energy sector. The report, which will be officially released next month, states that the world’s largest oil fields have a natural annual rate of output decline is 9.1 per cent. This suggests that the world will struggle to add capacity against such a steep decline. [We will not know IEA’s official figures until November 12th, but the issue of new capacity growth should not be dismissed.]

Peak Production, not Supply
Peak oil relates to extraction, production and new capacity, not total supplies. Even though oil is a finite resource, we are not ‘running out of oil’ – especially around non-conventional hydrocarbon resources. The real concern relates to our ability to increase production to meet growing global demand. The real question is how much can we ‘add’ in new capacity, at what cost and how quickly.

The central element of this story from the IEA, and a key concept to peak oil production, is the ‘rate of decline’ of existing oil field output. The Financial Time reports from the IEA draft “…as they (oil fields) mature it is the single most important determinant of the amount of new capacity that will need to be built globally to meet demand”.

Who is going to add new capacity?
The big question is – where will the oil come from? Forget about claims of ‘known or proven reserves’, there is plenty of oil in the ground. We must ask ourselves which countries and companies can bring massive amounts of oil online at a reasonable cost. This is where things look more uncertain.

Richard Heinberg writes with the Energy Bulletin: “This (9% decline) is a stunning figure. Considering regular crude oil only, this means that 6.825 million barrels a day of new production capacity must come on line each year just to keep up with the aggregate natural decline rate in existing oilfields. That’s a new Saudi Arabia every 18 months.”

Bad news could get worse

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: oil, energy, coal, solar, wind, hydrogen, transportation

Record efficiencies around low cost solar cells

Garry Golden — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:12:26 -0400

Researchers have demonstrated the highest efficiency to date of a lower cost method of converting sunlight into electricity patterned around photosynthesis.

Alternatives to silicon solar cells
There are many ways to make solar cells that capture light and produce electricity. One alternative to expensive traditional, but expensive, silicon based solar cells is known as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) that use lower cost light collecting compounds to improve performance. These systems can be used in flexible thin film solar cells.

Low cost solar cells
Swiss Resseachers developed the Gratzel cell, or dye sensitized, in the early 1990s in an effort to mimic the basic photoelectochemical process of photosynthesis. Dye Sensitized Solar Cells use cheap titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) particles coated with a dye to absorb a wide range of wavelengths given off by sunlight. University of Washington researchers have described the structure as ‘popcorn’ solar cells (Image).

The core problem of these solar cells is that the material breaks down rapidly after being exposed to sunlight. But last month Chinese and Swiss researchers reported the highest efficiency to date (9.6-10.0%) using thin film of titanium dioxide (TiO2) solar cell that retained over 90% of the initial performance after 1000 hours of full sunlight soaking at 60 °C. In September Michael Gratzel’s group reported 11.3% efficiency.

If researchers can continue to overcome the basic performance barriers, dye sensitized solar cells could lead to an era of lower cost solar energy. There are a few notable commercial applications. Earlier we posted a story of solar startup Konarka’s plan to open a 1 gigawatt manufacturing plant in 2009.

Category: Energy
Year: 2017
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, thinfilm, storage, distributed, power

Ultra light and strong metal foam uses less energy

Garry Golden — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:09:16 -0400

A North Carolina State University research team led by Afsaneh Rabiei has developed a high-performance metal foam material that uses less energy during production, yet provides a high level of safety in the event of a collision. The material has a higher strength-to-density ratio than any metal foam ever been reported.

Energy use for Manufacturing
Consumers are not the only stakeholders that have incentive to lower the energy consumption. Industries involved in materials manufacturing are working to develop new materials that require less energy yet still provide high performance. Companies that build cars and airplanes are also looking for lighter materials to lower the cost to consumers for fueling over the lifetime of the product.

Metal Foam Applications
This metal foam, which is three times lighter than traditional steel, could be used in the aerospace, medical, automotive and building construction industries. Rabiei’s team conducted tests for automotive applications. ‘Rough traffic accident calculations show that by inserting two pieces of her composite metal foam behind the bumper of a car traveling 28 miles per hour (mph), the impact would feel the same to passengers as the impact if they were traveling at only 5 mph.’

Focusing on Fundamentals of Energy Use
In addition to solutions like ‘changing light bulbs’ and buying more fuel efficient cars, we must focus on the fundamental of materials manufacturing to enable lighter cars and airplanes, and materials used in construction.

Category: Technology
Year: 2014
Tags: energy, materials, nanotechnology

Algae biofuel startups: eat carbon, harness solar energy, create biofuels

Garry Golden — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:51:38 -0400

Which companies might shape the future of energy? How about alternative energy start ups that look to the past on ways to ‘grow energy’ using carbon as a feedstock.

The World’s Energy Resources are based on Biology
Our modern world is powered by the energy released from breaking chemical bonds of carbon and hydrogen that were assembled by ancient plants and microbes. Today we blow up coal inside large power plants to produce electricity, and combust oil inside vehicles. Coal is ancient plant material, oil is ancient microbes that lived in shallow oceans.

Rather than extract these ancient forms of bioenergy, it is possible to ‘grow’ energy above ground by tapping the power of algae and bacteria that use sunlight to bind carbon (from air/coal plants) with hydrogen from water.

Leading Algae startups ride beginning wave of hype cycle
In recent months the idea of plant-based biofuels (corn, soy) has been overshadowed by something more promising- algae. Algae ‘eat’ carbon to produce liquid biofuels that have the same complex carbon-hydrogen chains found inside the Earth. They can do so quickly and in enormous volumes (30-50x more than plant based per acre/hectare) We must now overcome the technical challenges of scaling up algae production facilities to make these biofuels and biomaterial feedstocks cost competitive with traditional hydrocarbons.

We are now starting to see more extensive media coverage as investors and governments pour hundreds of millions of dollars into algae biofuel startups.

Here is the most comprehensive list of algae biofuel companies on the web:

AlgaeLink (Netherlands)
Algaecake Technologies Corp
Algenol (Florida)
Amyris Biotech
Aquatic Energy (Lake Charles, LA)
Aurora BioFuels, Inc Northern California
AquaFlow (New Zealand) open pond, wild algae
BioCentric
BioAlgene LLC, WA)
Bionavitas, Inc. Bringing Photons to (Redmond, WA)
Bio Fuels Solution (Spain)
Blue Marble Energy (Seattle, WA)
Bodega Algae, LLC, proprietary lighting technology for photobioreactors

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: algae, biofuels, bioenergy, energy, gasoline, biodiesel

Hyundai plans fuel cell electric vehicle for 2012

Garry Golden — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:16:20 -0400

CleanTech Group is reporting that Hyundai plans to sell commercial fuel cell electric cars in 2012 (not shown). The South Korean company is taking a bold step in anticipation that the future of electric vehicles will require tight integration of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

Electric Vehicle Roadmap includes Fuel cells
The key to commercializing electric vehicles is to develop advanced energy storage devices. Batteries appear to be good enough, but not a great long term platform for automobiles. We can also store electricity in the form of chemical bonds of hydrogen and as a physical charge inside capacitors. (Imagine lightning in a box!)

Electric vehicles are not iPods- and require very different energy storage and delivery systems to match the performance of combustion engines. The future of electric vehicles is likely to evolve around the tight integration of all three major energy storage systems.

Hyundai understands this long term focus on integrating battery and fuel cells and might be trying to position itself in this new era of electric vehicles.

Hyundai’s decision stands out from the string of recent announcements from GM, Nissan, Rennault, China’s BYD, India’s Tata who all plan to sell commercial all battery electric vehicles by 2011. GM, Honda and now Hyundai have all been clear that they are not likely to bet the farm on an all battery energy storage system given the cost and performance potential of fuel cells.

Where are we in the Hydrogen Fuel cell Hype Cycle?

Category: Transportation
Year: 2011
Tags: cars, transportation, batteries, fuel, cells, detroit, automobile

Intel invests $20 million in Chinese solar maker

Garry Golden — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:12:16 -0400

Intel’s investment arm announced its first major solar investment in China with a $20 million equity investment in solar maker Trony Solar.

Solar’s Roadmap: Lowering Manufacturing Costs
The solar industry must pursue two simultaneous paths. Researchers must continue to expand efficiencies, while manufacturing engineers figure out ways to scale production and drop costs.

Intel has mastered manufacturing and specialty materials development in the semiconductor world, and its involvement in solar is welcome by most industry advocates. In June 2008 Intel spun-off SpectraWatt to manufacture PV (photovoltaic) cells for solar panels with $50 million in funding from Intel Capital and other investors. In July, Intel Capital led funding for a German thin-film solar company Sulfurcell with $35 million to expand production capacity. Intel has also invested in specialty chemicals maker Voltaix which is also working with XsunX solar startup.

Category: Energy
Year: 2015
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, thinfilm, storage, distributed, power

Airline industry moving towards next generation biofuels

Garry Golden — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:13:52 -0400

Has the airline industry committed itself to the long-term transition towards bio-derived fuels with the hope of better performing biofuels that cost less than traditional hydrocarbons?

Roadmap to Future – Jet makers & Fuel designers
Although the global economic slowdown has given the airline industry a temporary reprieve from recent high energy prices, leaders have not taken their eye off the long term goal of diversifying its fuel feedstocks beyond traditional hydrocarbons. But there are still skeptics that bio-derived fuels (like biobutanol) can compete with traditional petroleum based fuels.

In September next generation biofuels startup Solazyme developed the world’s first algae-derived aviation fuel as characterized by fuel analytics lab Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Now the Guardian (UK) is reporting on Boeing’s efforts to create next generation biofuels that could help resolve the industry’s carbon emissions liabilities, and give the aviation sector a more stable source of fuel.

Virgin Atlantic’s Richard Branson was the first to push for next generation fuels for the airline industry but his vision was met with skepticism for pundits. Boeing’s focus follows other alternative fuel initiatives by Air New Zealand (Jatropha), Japan Airlines, KLM (algae), Continental, Virgin Atlantic Airways which claims the first biofuel flight by a major airline carrier. Suddenly algae based biofuels and the promise of ‘designer’ biofuels seem more plausible than they did a few years ago.

Watching Jet & Fuel makers
Of course, nothing will happen until jet makers get involved and biofuel makers figure out a way to design fuels suitable for small aircraft and then jet engines. Several months ago Honeywell’s UOP LLC announced plans to accelerate development of legitimate biofuel substitutes. And both GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney are working on advanced aviation fuels.

Many industry analysts are looking at partnerships with bioenergy startups. Dutch algae biofuels company AlgaeLink is working KLM airlines on a pilot project to develop alternative aviation fuels. Air New Zealand is testing non-food crop Jatropha-based biofuels. But the most widely cited startups capable of changing the biofuels market include Solazyme, LS9 and Amyris and Synthetic Genomics might be the key to the airline industry’s longer term vision of more stable feedstock for fuels.

Image credit” Rolls Royce by Mark Hillary Flickr CC License

Category: Energy
Year: 2014
Tags: transportation, energy, biofuels, bioenergy, airlines

Small, Mobile, Fuel-Cell Powered, but no cars yet!

jvarden — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:12:00 -0400

By Jenna Varden

While most may think of fuel-cells as only able to power cars and other vehicles, they can also be used in smaller devices like lawnmower, vacuums and golf carts. Here are a few notable applications:

In Japan, fuel-cell powered wheel-chairs, electric carts, and electric assisted bicycles made by Kurimoto Ltd. could have a hopeful future, as more than 20% of Japan’s population is currently over the age of 65. These streamlined wheel-chairs have a max speed of about 3.7 mph, and drive for either five or ten hours for 37 or 18.6 miles, depending on the density of H2 in the storage canisters.

Princeton University’s 2007 research in fuel cell output and hydrogen regulation. “The secret of their success is a system in which the fuel input itself changes the size of the reaction chamber, and therefore the amount of power produced” (Source). They plan to use their new discoveries in lawn mowers, due to the ease of the cells incorporation, as well as the large reduction in greenhouse gasses that the fuel cells would cause.

At the Center of Renewable Energy Sources in Athens, Greece, the H2 Technologies & Renewable Energy Sources Department displayed the first fuel cell powered scooter. The scooter’s electric motor, with a range of approximately 90 miles, is powered by a 500 W fuel cell system, which charges the battery bank. Removable, the fuel cell system can also be used as a portable electricity generator. “While fuel cell cars lack infrastructure right now for long road trips, hydrogen scooters make sense for those wanting to travel cleanly and greenly within relatively small localized areas” (Source

Image: [Frankie Roberto] Flickr CC

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: fuelcells, energy, electricity, transportation

Electric vehicle industry going global as Asia invests in energy storage

Garry Golden — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:11:09 -0400

Want to think about a tough pill to swallow? Electric cars are not likely to make countries more energy independent. The US and Europe are likely to trade ‘foreign’ oil, for ‘foreign’ energy storage systems! And this might not be a bad thing. If we expect to transform the largest industries in the world (energy and transportation) it will have to be a global effort.

Key to Electric Vehicles – Asia & Energy Storage
If we look closely at recent announcements around electric vehicles, the future is looking very globally integrated and interdependent. Even as the US tries to grow its manufacturing base around ‘cleantech’ industries, Korea, China, and India are making strategic investments in the future of energy storage systems (batteries, fuel cells and capacitors) to power electric vehicles.

In the last few weeks Warren Buffet placed a $233 million bet on China’s BYD, a US firm purchased a Koren battery maker, India’s Tata announced plans to sell electric cars in Europe, and GM picked the unit of Korea’s LG Chem to supply batteries of its Volt electric car.

Today, Green Car Congress picked up a Reuters report that Korea’s number one refiner SK Energy is in talks with major automakers such as Daimler and Ford on the joint development of next-generation batteries used in electric cars. SK Energy is looking to leverage ‘separator’ components for lithium ion batteries that prevent overheating. SK joins the crowd of Exxon, Chevron and Toshiba who are getting involved in battery materials.

Selling a new message: The Eco benefits of being Global
In the months and year ahead leaders in the US and Europe might have to change their simplistic and nationalistic message of independence to reflect the complexities of the energy industry and the future. It will likely be globally integrated.

If the US and Europe expect to kill the combustion engine, and end the monopoly era of liquid fuels, they will need Asia and the rest of the world to join in the effort. This new message might better reflect the brutal facts of the global economy and fate of the planet – we’re all in it together whether we are talking energy finance, energy resources, energy emissions, energy software or energy storage.

The solar industry is growing globally. The wind industry is growing globally. Why not electric vehicles? Could that be an easier pill to swallow and a better image of the future?

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: cars, transportation, batteries, fuel, cells, detroit, automobile, china

[Video] T Boone Pickens on 60 Minutes

Garry Golden — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:16:57 -0400

After airing a special on the future of electric cars CBS 60 Minutes had energy pundits glued to the screen again with Charlie Rose leading an interview with Billionaire Texan T Boone Pickens. Pickens has generated international media attention with his ‘Pickens Plan’ to rearrange the US energy mix emphasizing natural gas and wind in a complicated scheme to wean the US off ‘foreign oil’. What is not entirely clear is how the utilities will respond to the challenges of wind power (without effective storage to manage intermittent power generation), and how Pickens expects free market driven companies to avoid buying ‘foreign’ natural gas if prices are lower than US domestic supplies.

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, oil, gasoline, electricity, wind

HelioVolt opens thin film solar plant in Austin Texas

Garry Golden — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:47:28 -0400

People in Austin, Texas pride themselves on being a forward looking island in a state dominated by a traditional ‘hydrocarbon’ industry of oil. And now it has put a stake in the ground around the future growth of low cost thin film solar.

Austin-based solar company HelioVolt has opened its first thin film solar energy factory. The 122,400 square foot facility is expected to generate 160 new jobs. Those wages are certain to support Austin’s other major industry- breakfast tacos.

Inkjet printing high efficiency solar
The factory marks the first commercial implementation of HelioVolt’s proprietary FASST reactive transfer printing process for solar thin film production. Confirmed through independent testing, FASST delivers copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells exceeding 12 percent conversion efficiency in a record setting six minutes. HelioVolt is using FASST to develop both conventional modules and next-generation building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products for the global solar energy market.

“Clean and renewable energy technologies likely represent the single greatest economic opportunity of our generation. We at HelioVolt are proud to be contributing to job creation, market growth, energy stability and environmental sustainability—the combined benefits that makes this new clean economy a positive direction for our country,” said HelioVolt’s CEO and Founder, Dr. B.J. Stanbery.

Bias disclosure- Austin is my old home town!
[Sweet Tequila Blues by video

Press release

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: thinfilm, solar, energy, electricity

The Race for the Electric Car is very confusing! [Video]

Garry Golden — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:09:07 -0400

Electric cars are coming, but most people are still confused about how easy it will be to transform the world’s largest industries – transportation and energy. And there is still much debate over what benefits we can expect beyond the hype.

When thinking about the future, we tend to overestimate (and hype) the rate and impact of change in the short-term, but underestimate its transformational power over the longer term. Electric cars powered by a combination of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors are no exception.

In an effort to clear up the confusion, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired ‘The Race for the Electric Car’ with correspondent Lesley Stahl surfacing some of the more complicated issues surrounding the emergence of electric vehicles. [12 min video]

In the weeks ahead we will look at the future of the electric car and explore core assumptions of how life might be different beyond the hype.

What if electric cars do not end our dependency on fossil fuels?

What if electric cars make nations even more dependent on each other? (e.g. Chinese batteries for US/Euro cars)

Category: Transportation
Year: 2012
Tags: car, transportation, automobile, energy, electricityhydrogen, fuelcells, battery

Solar thermal plant opens in California

Garry Golden — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:06:49 -0400

Ausra, Inc executives standing next to California Eco-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched the company’s Kimberlina Solar Thermal Energy Plant in Bakersfield, CA. It is the first solar thermal plant in the state in nearly 20 years.

Solar Thermal vs Photovoltaic panels
Unlike photovoltaic solar panels, which convert the light from the sun into electricity and are commonly rooftop mounted, solar thermal facilities use large fields of mirrors to concentrate and capture the sun’s heat, converting it into useful forms of energy. In Ausra’s technology, heat is focused on tubes of water to create steam that drives large power turbines, generating clean, reliable electricity and high-temperature, “process” steam for industrial applications.

Ausra recipe for success?
A Series of Tubes for scaling the sun’s power
The Palo Alto, CA based company expects the full output of Kimberlina to generate 5 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power 3,500 homes in central California. While Kimberlina is small compared to most utility plants, Ausra’s next generation solar thermal technology, is ready to scale. The company is also developing Ausra’s 177- megawatt Carrizo Plains solar power plant with California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). When completed, Ausra’s Carrizo facility will generate enough electricity to power more than 120,000 homes.

Ausra Press Release

Diagram below

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: solar, energy, electricity, solarthermal

Thin film battery startup raises money

Garry Golden — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:32:49 -0400

Earth2Tech is reporting that thin-film lithium-ion battery start-up Planar Energy Devices, has announced $12 million financing deal as it prepares to release its PowerBlade™ product in 2009.

The demand for safe, energy dense storage systems will only continue to grow as more consumer gadgets, wireless sensors, and micro devices hit the marketplace.

Planar hopes to capture its share of this growing market (Est. $55 billion) with its thin film solid state battery design that uses a unique cell separator to prevent overheating and potential fires common to lithium ion.

This is Planar’s second finance round. It was spun out of the U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with an initial $4 million in 2007 with venture-financing from Battelle Ventures and Innovation Valley Partners (IVP).

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: energy, batteries, fuel, cells, micropowersystems

'Green Oil' by 2020? UK invests in algae biodiesel

Garry Golden — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:37:05 -0400

Could carbon-eating algae change how we produce liquid fuels by 2020? Can we ‘grow’ energy rather than pull it out of the ground? A British energy R&D firm believes the answer is yes.

UK-based Carbon Trust, which works to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy, has launched the Algae Biofuels Challenge with an ambitious mission: to commercialize the use of algae biofuel as an alternative to fossil based oil by 2020.

Carbon Trust’s multi-million pound investment will be led through its Advanced Bioenergy Accelerator and focused on microalgae that can be cultivated and manipulated to produce high yields of oil using carbon-rich feedstocks.

This effort is another signal that the long-term future of bioenergy is more likely to tap the power of microbes (algae/bacteria) rather than plant based resources like corn, soy and palm oil.

Carbon Trust’s initial forecasts suggest that algae-based biofuels could replace over 70 billion litres of fossil derived fuels used worldwide annually in road transport and aviation by 2030 (equivalent to 12% of annual global jet fuel consumption or 6% of road transport diesel). This would equate to an annual carbon saving of over 160 million tonnes of CO2 globally and a market value of over £15 billion.

Algae fuels? A Future inspired by the Past
The Industrial Revolution has been based on capturing energy released from breaking chemical bonds of carbon and hydrogen. We blew up coal’s chemical bonds to for steam engines, then gasoline inside internal combustion engines and repurposed coal for large centralized electric power plants. Now the 21st century could be partly shaped by closing that carbon-hydrogen loop using molecular systems within biology?

Ironically this future vision of energy is inspired by the past! Coal is ancient biomass- likely ferns. And oil is likely ancient microbes that lived in shallow oceans. Both are made of complex chains of hydrogen and carbon assembled by Mother Nature’s molecular machines of algae and bacteria. As long as chemical bonds drive the economy, we need to figure out a way to keep carbon in the energy loop by binding it with hydrogen, not oxygen. This UK algae challenge is an important step in closing that cycle in the 21st Century.

Image by Memebox LLC The Energy Roadmap.com

Category: Environment
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, biodiesel, biology, algae, fuels

GE's Ecomagination strategy involves energy storage; $30m investment in A123 Systems

Garry Golden — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:07:43 -0400

General Electric is taking another step into the growth sector of energy storage by investing $30 million in A123’s $102 million Series E financing, making it the battery manufacturer’s largest single cash investor – at 9 percent ownership. The investments were made by GE Commercial Finance – Equity and GE Energy Financial Services, bringing GE’s combined total investment in A123Systems to $55 million.

What does GE see in storage? A way to manage production?
GE is already one of the world’s leading power generation equipment providers, so why invest in batteries and storage?

GE’s executives must see clear growth ahead around demand for storage to support growth in wind and solar power generation, utility companies trying to build more robust ‘smart grids’, and to help the automobile industry as it moves the world’s fleet away from liquid fuels and the combustion engine.

If GE is able to expand alternatives for energy storage through better batteries, fuel cells and capacitors- it could expand growth around its own wind turbines, solar panels and hydrogen production appliances.

In a decade GE might be a leader in emerging classes of distributed ‘energy appliances’ involved in on-site storage and power generation, not too mention a potential brand name for powering electric vehicles expected to hit showroom floors after 2011.

A123 Mixed Week of News
A123 has had a lot of recent press coverage around its nanostructured rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that provide power density, low weight, and low cost without sacrificing safety issues caused by overheating. But the startup must figure out a way to compete against strong incumbents in the energy storage sector.

Earlier we covered General Motor’s decision to skip A123’s batteries for a Detroit based unit of LG Chem to provide batteries for the Volt.

GE’s investment could help to balance out this weeks’ bad news.

Materials and Image sourced from GE Press Release

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, batteries, fuel, cells, micro, methanol

Are We Preparing Enough Scientists? - Defining Challenges in US Research [Video]

joelg — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:21:27 -0400

by Joel Greenberg

Scientists and engineers are going to develop the solutions to our energy challenges. An obvious fact, but what if we’re not preparing people for those careers in the US? At the recent NanoTX’08 conference, Dr. Zvi Yaniv, CEO of Applied Nanotech, Inc. discusses the challenges of educating scientists and engineers in the US. All is not rosy, but all is not lost.

Dr. Zvi Yaniv is an expert in LCD technology. He received his PhD in Physics at the Kent State Liquid Crystal Institute in 1982. Shortly after he graduated, he was recruited by Energy Conversion Devices to run their LCD laboratory. Three years later, he spun out Optical Imaging Systems, OSI, Inc. “The premier Liquid Crystal Display Company in America, designing displays for our avionics, for F22, phantoms, helicopters,” he says. “And I loved it!”

Category: Education
Year: 2008
Tags: zvi, yaniv, education, research, investment

More Cleantech Green Collar Jobs for Oregon

jvarden — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:03:44 -0400

By Jenna Varden

Recently we featured a story of SolarWorld opening a 500 MW facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. We also covered a research breakthrough in solar material that captures 100% of the solar light spectrum. Now another solar plant for Oregon is in the works, this time in the Renewable Energy and Technology Park of Salem, where a new solar ingot and wafer manufacturing plant will be built. Construction of this SANYO plant will begin in a year’s time and should be under full operation in under six month’s time, by April 2010. At full capacity, the plant will produce approximately 70 MW, “bringing the total for ingot and wafer production capacity in America approximately 100 MW” (Source).

This factory is only part of SANYO’s goal of an annual capacity of 600MW by 2010. SANYO’s goal competes with North America’s largest solar-cell manufacturing SolarWorld facility in Hillsboro, Oregon, only a little more than fifty miles away. SANYO has invested about $80 million in its Salem plant and upon its completion, should provide Oregon with two hundred green jobs.

Image: [Van_mij] Flicker CC

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: energy, solar, wind, electricity

Electric vehicle infrastructure start up Better Place signs contract in Australia

Garry Golden — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:34:07 -0400

Electric vehicle infrastructure start up Better Place continues to grab headlines with projects in Israel, Denmark and Hawaii. Now the company announced plans to build out infrastructure in Australia.

Infrastructure for Electricity & Hydrogen
Electric cars are coming but we will need to develop new infrastructure and business models that go beyond today’s notions of corner gas stations delivering liquid fuels to combustion engines.

Electric cars are likely to be powered by a combination of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors. Not one energy storage device is expected to rule them all. And while the short-term strategy of extending the world’s electricity grid to vehicles seems logical, in a few years we might turn to the chemical storage of electricity via hydrogen to overcome cost and performance challenges of electron storage in batteries.

Electrification in Australia
Startup Better Place has announced agreements with AGL Energy and financial advisor Macquarie Capital Group to raise $1 billion (AUD) and begin deploying an electric vehicle (EV) network powered by renewable energy.

Australia has the world’s seventh highest per capita rate of car ownership, the country has nearly 15 million cars on the road after adding over a million new cars last year.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said, “The Victorian Government supports any initiative that will have positive outcomes in reducing emissions in the transport sector and welcomes this innovative approach to help make broad adoption of EVs in Australia possible.”

NASDAQ OMX - Welcome to complicated world of energy derivatives and carbon trading!

Garry Golden — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:01:38 -0400

The world of financial trading around energy resources, power generation and carbon emissions is now a bit more complicated and, more important, globally integrated.

NASDAQ OMX has completed its acquisition of Nord Pool International. The combined companies will launch a new offering, ‘NASDAQ OMX Commodities,’ based on Nord Pool’s energy and carbon derivatives products to banks, brokers, hedge funds and other financial institutions, as well as power utilities, industry, manufacturing and oil companies.

“With NASDAQ OMX Commodities, our intent is to create a global leader in energy derivatives and carbon products,” said Bob Greifeld, Chief Executive Officer of NASDAQ OMX. “Combining Nord Pool’s footprint in the commodities market with NASDAQ OMX’s global distribution capabilities and customer base puts us in a unique position to create a financial center for energy related derivatives. As one company we can meet our customers’ demands for trading in multiple asset classes, allowing us to grow liquidity in both existing and new markets.”

Why is this important?

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: energy, energypricing, carbon, electricity

GM picks Korean LG Chem Unit to supply Volt batteries, bad news for startup A123 Systems

Garry Golden — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:55:41 -0400

Energy storage is the key to accelerating the era of electric vehicles powered by a combination of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors. Of these three, batteries are expected to be the primary energy storage device for the first generation of commercial electric vehicles like the GM Volt.

Big Auto turns to Big Chem
According to a Reuters report General Motors has selected Compact Power Inc a Detroit-area based unit of South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd to supply lithium-ion batteries for its Chevrolet Volt which the company expects to produce 10,000 vehicles in 2011 before scaling up.

The decision supports GM’s intentions. of electrifying its transportation fleet and trying to shed the manufacturing and design liabilities of the combustion engine. Electric cars are coming, but energy storage remains our greatest challenge!

The Future of Energy Storage Startups
Many energy pundits had hoped that General Motors might go with new nanostructured lithium ion batteries from start up A123 Systems. That news would have been welcomed by cleantech energy investors hoping that at least one start up might break into the energy storage sector. But now it appears GM has gone to a bigger, more established chemical company and industrial battery maker. This is a harsh reminder to startups that ‘scaling’ matters and incumbents are likely to hold that advantage.

Category: Environment
Year: 2011
Tags: electric, cars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation

Toyota Dealership Starts Promoting 2010 Prius Plug-ins

joelg — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:13:46 -0400

by Joel Greenberg

A Toyota dealership in Austin, TX sent out an email on 10/21/08 to it’s Prius list promoting the 2010 Toyota Plug-in Hybrid, asking for a refundable deposit.

To quote from the email, “The approximate release of the redesigned 2010 PLUG IN PRIUS is the last quarter of 2009.”

What’s more interesting is the mention of solar panels on the roof:

“The 2010 Plug In Prius will get approximately 40 miles to a charge without using any gas. Solar panels on the roof and our Hybrid technology for longer trips.”

Because of the small surface area, the solar panels will not be able to generate much electricity. They may be used to power a small exhaust fan which could be used during hot summer days. To quote an anonymous source cited in the International Herald Tribune, “It’s more of a symbolic gesture.”

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: toyota, prius, plugin, hybrid, phev, solar, panel

'Super enzymes' could lower cost of biofuel production

Garry Golden — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:08:49 -0400

One of the biggest obstacles in using plant-based biomass (e.g. non-food crops/bio waste) to energy is reducing the cost and energy required to break down the strong cell walls. A way to reduce the costs of biofuels and to use waste biomass to energy, is to find enzymes capable of eating through cell walls.

Researchers at the US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) now believe they have found one of these ‘super enzymes’. ARS Bioproduct Chemistry and Engineering Research Unit’s Charles Lee went looking for enzymes inside dank soil beneath 25-foot-high piles of decaying rice straw, and from the murky liquid from dairy-waste lagoons! (This is where super enzymes hang out to avoid media attention…)

Low temperature = Low cost
Lee’s team then sorted the microbe genes to find the blueprint for super enzymes. From the dairy lagoon sample, the team found a microbe with a gene that they’ve named xyn8. Xylanase is an enzyme that specializes in breaking down xylan, a troublesome component of the hemicellulose in plant cell walls.

Xylanase works well in temperatures regarded as “cold” in the biofuels business. The research group believes that this ‘cold-loving’ enzyme could sidestep the need for the costly heating typically needed at today’s biorefineries.

Read more about the research in the October 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

Material sourced from press release

Image credit – Peggy Greb, ARS

Category: Environment
Year: 2016
Tags: research, enzymes, biofuels, cellulosic, bioenergy

2030 Scenarios on Energy, InfoTech, Globalization & Climate Change

Garry Golden — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:22:41 -0400

Scenarios are stories about the future. They are not predictions or forecasts, but help us explore change and fundamentally different future landscapes.

The Forum for the Future has partnered with HP Research Labs on a new publication ‘Climate Futures responses to climate change in 2030’ to explore the broad social, political, environmental and economic drivers affecting global markets and IT related industry sectors. [Download 76 page PDF 6 MB]

The five scenarios for 2030 include:

1. Efficiency first
Rapid innovation in energy efficiency and novel technologies has enabled a low-carbon economy with almost no need for changes in lifestyle or business practice

2. Service transformation
A high price of carbon has ushered in a revolution in how people’s needs are satisfied

3. Redefining progress
New priorities of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘quality of life’ are bubbling up across the world as more sustainable forms of living become established

4. Environmental war economy
Tough measures have been adopted to combat climate change, pushing markets to the very limit of what they can deliver

5. Protectionist world
Globalization has gone into retreat and countries focus on security and access to resources at any cost

Category: Environment
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, scenarios, globalization

Hawaii takes a big (regulatory) step towards 21st Century Electric Web

Garry Golden — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:45:52 -0400

The future of Hawai’i will likely be shaped by its new vision of an energy web based on clean abundant resources.

Hawaii’s Vision starts with Regulatory Changes
On Monday, Governor Linda Lingle announced a comprehensive agreement to move the state away from its dependence on fossil fuels for electricity and ground transportation. The plan includes underwater electrical transmission wires across islands to tap more than 400 MW of wind power on neighbor islands of Honolulu,Oahu. The island grid could eventually tap other resources based on wind, solar, geothermal, and bioenergy (e.g. Jatropha and algae-based biodiesel).

There are few places on Earth that have as much pressing need (and desire) to become more reliant on local energy resources- than Hawaii. Now its political and economic development leaders have taken a very bold step forward in changing the regulatory framework of its local utility HECO to put the state on track for having 70 percent of its energy use come from clean energy sources by 2030. While state leaders are promoting the rhetoric of ‘energy independence’, the state might actually be enabling a future of cheap, clean abundant energy. And if local startups like Sopogy and Hoku Scientific succeed the state might become more integrated into global energy sector as they export energy systems around the world.

Recipe for growing renewables?
Change role of utilities, and focus on low cost renewables
Hawaii’s leaders understand that the key to expanding renewable energy resources is dependent on changing regulations that govern utility power generation. This means tackling ‘Big Grid’, not ‘Big Oil’. Leaders are rethinking the role of utilities beyond power generation in a world shaped by a ‘smart energy web’ shaped by the potent combination of software, sensors and storage.

Hawaii is now taking clear steps to end the era of a one way electricity grid in favor of a more integrated web based on distributed power generation and storage system. And HECO must explore new future roles as a 21st century utility.

The state appears ready to move beyond the era of liquid fuels and the combustion engine, as it prepares to reinvent its electricity grid to support batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors for electric vehicles. [Read: Startup planning to build out Hawaii’s electric vehicle infrastructure]

Continue with a detailed look at plan

Category: Environment
Year: 2009
Tags: electricity, cars, fuels

Future of 'Green Chemistry': Researchers watch gases react with catalysts [Video]

Garry Golden — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:47:35 -0400

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have taken the first-ever glimpse of nanoscale catalysts in action.

Why should we care about catalysts?

The future of clean abundant energy depends on our ability to lower the costs of chemical reactions in energy conversions involving light, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. These are the foundations of most energy systems, and basis for developing ‘green chemistry’ that avoid harmful byproducts.

If we want to create low cost solar cells or improve batteries and hydrogen fuel cells, we must advance our knowledge and nano-engineering of catalysts. If we want to reduce the impact of harmful emissions from coal, oil and natural gas, we must turn to catalysts.

Nanoscale design of shapes
Catalysts speed up chemical reactions. At the most basic level shape matters. To improve performance we can design catalysts at the ‘nanoscale’ (billionth of the meter) to change properties of low cost abundant elements rather than rely on expensive precious metals. At the nanoscale we design higher surface area to increase chances of molecules reacting, and we can design shapes so that they have high selectivity to deal with a certain type of molecules (e.g. capturing sulfur, releasing hydrogen).

Up until now, scientists have only dealt with snapshot images of catalysts before or after. Never live, in action. Now Berkeley scientists have changed the game. “By watching catalysts change in real time, we can possibly design smart catalysts that optimally change as a reaction evolves,” Gabor Somorjai, a renowned surface science and catalysis expert.

Berkeley researchers are confident that catalysts can be designed to decrease the harmful effects of pollutants, improve performance of energy storage systems like batteries and hydrogen fuel cells and create ‘greener’ liquid fuels and feedstocks associated with ‘green chemistry’ in which waste byproducts are minimized.

What happened? Video explanation?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: nanotechnology, energy, catalysts, fuel, cells, capacitors, batteries

Blacklight Power claims independent verification of breakthrough power generation system

Garry Golden — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:17:30 -0400

There are only a few energy companies in the world that have generated as much attention and skepticism as BlackLight Power Inc. The company has demonstrated a controllable, scalable energy system the cannot be explained by conventional scientific paradigms of combustion or nuclear reactions.

Simply put the company has devised a way to capture the chemical energy from the electrons of hydrogen atoms as they transition to lower-energy levels. It is not combustion-based or nuclear but releases tremendous amounts of energy. [Flash video of process]

While the claims have, not surprisingly, generated a lot of criticism and doubt, Black Power has now confirmed successful independent replication and validation.

The validation of its 1,000 watt and 50,000 watt reactors was led by Rowan University’s Dr. Peter Jansson which conducted 55 tests of the prototypes, including controls and calibrations, during a nine-month study. Results indicated that energy generation was proportional to the total amount of solid fuel, and only one percent of the one million joules of the energy released could be accounted for by previously known chemistry. According to Dr. Jansson “Our experiments on the BlackLight technology have demonstrated that within the range of measurement errors the significant energy generated, which is 100 times the energy that could be attributed to measurement error, cannot be explained by other known sources like combustion or nuclear energy.”

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, novel, hydrogen, nuclear, research

Energy Storage industry ready to expand, US company acquires Korean battery maker

Garry Golden — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:03:41 -0400

One word for the future: ~~Plastics~~, Storage.

There is a classic scene in the movie The Graduate, when Mr. McGuire a distinguished family friend gives recent college grad Dustin Hoffman some unsolicited advice – go into ‘plastics’. [Video clip] His visions of the future were driven by the promise of the nascent plastics industry. The man missed ‘computers’, be wasn’t entirely wrong as plastics have changed the world in very profound ways.

Today, Mr McGuire might say go into ‘energy storage’ to a recent college grad. ‘Don’t just focus on energy production, look at how energy storage can change business models for renewables, utility grids, electric vehicles and bringing power to billions of people who don’t currently have access to energy grids.’

Why energy storage? Because energy from wind and solar farms goes wasted when they are unable to find use on one-way utility grid wires that have no storage along the way. Electric vehicles find it difficult to dethrone the combustion engine without high density storage systems that match the power of gasoline. And national electricity grids are vulnerable to power outages caused by breaking the stream of electricity flowing from power plant to wall socket.

Storage is going to have a tough time competing for headlines against climate change, peak oil and clean coal, but it is one of the most disruptive pieces of the future energy puzzle.

Globalization of Energy Storage sector
Like all other energy markets, energy storage will likely be very integrated and global across the value chain of raw material providers, manufacturers, designers and product integrators. But will also be a highly competitive few years as regions try to position themselves for growth in batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

Now Indiana-based Ener1 has acquired an 83% interest in Enertech International, one of South Korea’s leading lithium-ion battery cell producers. The stake will allow Ener1 to expand manufacturing capacity of its lithium-ion automotive battery subsidiary, EnerDel as automakers around the world prepare to launch electric vehicles, and position the company for expanding storage to utility grids of tomorrow.

“Enertech is one of the largest lithium-ion battery producers in Korea, behind only LG Chemical and Samsung,” said Ener1 CEO Charles Gassenheimer. “This acquisition gives us immediate scale and volume manufacturing ability, as well as an important beachhead for supplying Asian car makers that plan to use lithium-ion technology in their electric drive vehicles.”

We have covered stories of Warren Buffet’s $233 million investment in Chinese battery maker BYD, emergence of solid state hydrogen storage, carbon-based storage systems, and the possibilities of portable power systems. But these stories only touch the surface of changes likely in a future with high density energy storage. The most exciting applications are probably those that might seem strange or impossible to us today.

Category: Environment
Year: 2011
Tags: energy, batteries, fuel, cells, micropowersystems

Artificial Trees that can Power Cars and Homes

jvarden — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:42:40 -0400

By Jenna Varden

In an innovative burst of biomimicry, Solar Botanic will harvest both sun and wind energy with their Solar Botanic Trees and Nanoleaves . Like other methods of obtaining renewable energy, Solar Botanic is clean and renewable, but the company also faced and possibly answered questions of efficiency, practicality, and aesthetics.

Solar Botanic Trees are artificial and yet lifelike trees that can collect not only solar and wind power, but also rain. Solar Botanic trees are powered by the Nanoleaf, which uses photovoltaic and thermovoltaic cells to capture and convert solar energy into electricity. Rustling through the Nanoleaves, the wind moves the voltaic material embedded in wooden portions of the tree, stems, branches, and twigs. This movement creates electricity from wind power. Unlike real trees, Solar Botanic Trees live year-round and will always continue to harness renewable energy.

With its multiple modes of power, a Solar Botanic “tree with a canopy of about 6 sq meters can create enough energy to provide for the needs of an average household” (Source). These trees can be planted in front of homes, along highways, in the street, in parks where children play, or in groves. Solar Botanic Trees could also assist in desert reclamation, as they provide both shade from the blazing sun and energy.

While Solar Botanic Trees are still in the making, multiple governments have offered research facilities for Solar Botanic to create its wonder-trees and the company is still searching for business partners to assist them in their quest to provide the world an aesthetically pleasing, practical renewable energy collector.

Image: [Wohnai] Flicker CC License

Category: Energy
Year: 2008

The future of solar is black, not green; China pushes into polysilicon production

Garry Golden — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:06:19 -0400

The color of solar is black, not green. And the future of the solar industry depends largely on our ability to produce and re-purpose this black piece of ‘polycrystaline’ material at a low cost.

China is now expanding its polysilicon production capacity with the hope of becoming a low cost manufacturing base for the global solar energy industry.

3 Types of Solar
The solar industry can be divided into three growth areas. ‘Solar thermal’ taps the power of the sun to heat liquid filled tubes that generate steam for electricity producing turbines. ‘Thin film’ solar is based on flexible, durable strips of plastic solar cells that can be integrated into materials used in buildings and products. And then there is the familiar (higher efficiency) ‘solar panel’ based on glass modules that convert photons into electricity. The key ingrediant in these ‘crystal’ solar panels is black polysilicon.

Chinese-Italian contract for solar wafers
The industry’s growth depends largely on the ability to expand polysilicon materials that go into solar wafers at a low cost. The key for solar panel makers is to sign long term, fixed price contracts.

China-based LDK Solar Co has announced a seven-year contract to supply multicrystalline solar wafers to Italy-based Helios Technology

Beginning in 2009, LDK Solar will deliver approximately 70 MW of multicrystalline silicon solar wafers over a seven-year period and extending through 2015.

LDK Solar’s headquarters and manufacturing facilities are located in China, with operations in Sunnyvale, California.

Press release

Image – Wikimedia

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: solar, energy, electricity

SolarWorld opens plant with 500 MW capacity in cloudy Oregon

Garry Golden — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:14:11 -0400

SolarWorld has opened North America’s largest solar cell manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. The facility is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.

Oregon’s Cleantech / ‘Green’ Jobs
The cloud covered Pacific Northwest is not the first place one might think of ideal for a solar manufacturing base. But there is tremendous local talent in technology and higher end manufacturing. The region is ideal for German-based SolarWorld.

The company and Oregon leaders are hoping to tap growth in the solar industry as it grows to $74 billion in 2017 from $20 billion in 2007, according to a projection by Clean Edge Inc., a market research firm focused on clean technology.

SolarWorld’s 480,000 square foot facility will develop integrated solar silicon wafer and solar cell production facility will fuel this burgeoning market. The company expects to employ 1,000 people at the Hillsboro, Oregon facility by 2011.

Headquartered in Germany and founded in 1977, SolarWorld has production facilities in Germany and the United States, including in California, Oregon and Washington, and is establishing a joint venture for module production in South Korea. The company delivers its products to market from sales offices in Germany, Singapore, South Africa, Spain and the United States.

SolarWorld announcment

Press release

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: solar, electricity, manufacturing, cleantech, jobs

Ever Vail Village Awarded the Platinum Rating By LEED-ND

jvarden — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 03:15:39 -0400

On October 14th, the Ever Vail village, a Vail Resort planned development, received the highest Platinum rating by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Neighborhood Development (ND). The LEED-ND rating system acknowledged projects that combine environmental development and the neighborhood and the larger region beyond. Earlier, we also featured a story on the Proximity Hotel in North Carolina, the first hotel to receive a LEED Platinum rating by the Green Building Counsel.

Chief Executive Officer of Vail Resorts, Rob Katz, said “being awarded the highest level of green building certification by the U.S. Green Building Council speaks to the commitment Vail Resorts has to the environment and to the dedication, hard work and creativity of our Company’s development design team.”

The Platinum rating isn’t handed out to just anyone; Ever Vail is one of only two projects in the United States to receive it. Ever Vail received the stellar rating because their design team worked hard to incorporate sustainable practices into the village project, such as:
- Solar thermal collectors to heat water and power space heating

- Biomass from beetle-killed, local trees

- Reducing energy and water use of the buildings by 20-30 and 30-50 percent

- The reduction of vehicle use through a pedestrian friendly design

- Using only local materials to limit transportation-based pollution

- Committing to sustainable waste, water, and energy management

- Building at least 80 percent of the buildings to LEED-New Construction standards

Ever Vail Village will not only be a resort for peak-seasons, but a year-long community. Vail Resorts is trying to attract residents to their sustainable, pedestrian friendly community with one of the most affordable housing available in the valley area.

Image credit : [OneOfThem] Flicker CC

Category: Energy
Year: 2008

BMW releasing electric Mini Cooper in US market; Another effort to abandon combustion engine?

Garry Golden — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:09:07 -0400

BMW will unveil its electric version of the Mini Cooper at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 19 and 20, 2008. The company is claiming to be the world’s first manufacturer of premium automobiles to deploy a fleet of some 500 all-electric vehicles for private use in daily traffic. The MINI E will be powered by a 150 kW (204 hp) electric motor fed by a high-performance rechargeable lithium-ion battery, transferring its power to the front wheels without a sound. The MINI E is expected to accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 8.5 seconds. With its top speed electronically limited to 152 km/h (95 mph).

The battery technology will have a range of more than 240 kilometers, or 150 miles. Sales are expected to focus on private and corporate customers in pilot projects in California, New York and New Jersey.

Electric Motors vs Combustion Engine
BMW’s announcement follows along with recent industry plans to electrify the world’s auto fleet. We might interpret these announcements as a response to the ‘oil problem’ or ‘climate change’ regulations. But what if the real reason is based on a desire to abandon the design and manufacturing complexities of the combustion engine? Forward looking industry insiders hope that a new low cost manufacturing platform could emerge around the combination of wheel based electric motors, drive by wire systems, and the tight integration of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors.

We have highlighted recent electric vehicle commitments of production vehicles (2009-2011) from automakers GM, Nissan, Tata Motors-, BYD, and Chevrolet.

We believe there is something happening in the auto industry that goes beyond oil and climate change The end game might be to change how we build and sell cars, not how we fuel them. If the real problem really is the combustion engine, and not oil, BMW’s plans might really be an effort to accelerate its shift to a new vehicle platform.

Press Release

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: cars, transportation, batteries, fuel, cells, detroit, automobile

New solar material captures entire light spectrum

Garry Golden — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:02:45 -0400

Ohio State University researchers have designed a new conductive plastic material that absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and loosens electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture.

Why is this important?
This materials breakthrough could help expand the efficiency of solar energy. One of the major obstacles in solar power generation is that most photovoltaic systems only capture visible light which is a small portion of the entire light spectrum.

The colors that we see with our eyes are really different energy levels. Most solar cell materials capture only a small range of these frequencies of light. The Ohio State material is the first that can absorb all the energy contained in visible light at once.

Solar panels create electricity when entering light excites the atoms of the material knocking some of the electrons in those atoms loose.

The team of chemists combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material which could change how we look at solar-electron reactions.

How the new material helps to capture electrons?

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: solar, electricity, energy

Forget about corn, US pushing cellulosic ethanol

Garry Golden — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:27:32 -0400

The Associated Press is reporting (MSNBC / Forbes) that the US EPA is changing the rules on ethanol production to eliminate the political headaches of corn-based ethanol production. Long-term biofuel production is now expected to come via next generation cellulosic ethanol production that uses enzymes capable of turning biomass waste products into usable liquid fuels.

New Targets push Cellulosic Ethanol
The article describes a new mandated goal of converting biomass waste (e.g. wood, grass, and garbage) into 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuels annually by 2022. This would be just under half the expected 36 billion gallons of biofuel to be blended into the US liquid fuel supply. But the most important piece of news is the ceiling placed on corn-derived fuels at 15 billion gallons by 2022.

Good News for Bio Industrial Startups
Corn based ethanol is not going away anytime soon. Farmers and big agricultural giants have already invested hundreds of millions of dollars based on the first wave of government policies. But their growth prospects now appear to be severely limited.

The smart money might now begin to shift towards biofuels derived from non-food crop resources driven by cellulosic conversion. The risks are still high given the complexities of next generation biofuels production. But this is good news for bio industrial start ups that go beyond corn feedstocks – Mascoma, Iogen, Verenium, Bluefire Ethanol Fuels, Pacific Ethanol, Novozyme, RangeFuels, Ceres, Coskata

Challenges ahead for cellulosic ethanol
(Keep reading…)

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: biofuels, bioenergy, cellulosicethanol

This 'solar powered' Chinese car is more of a gimmick, than a revolution

Garry Golden — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:39:14 -0400

Has China developed the ultimate vehicle? A cheap, solar powered car? Not quite.

While the ‘solar car’ concept makes a great viral story for web readers, it is not a revolution for the auto industry. Powering electric cars takes a lot more than putting solar panels on the roof. We need viable infrastructure and tremendous amounts of stored energy density to make a real transition into electric vehicles.

China’s solar powered car?
Gasgoo.com Auto News reported that Zhejiang 001 Group has developed a solar powered car for under $6,000. Within hours the story was picked up by Gas2.0, the Huffington Post, and dozens of eco-energy blogs hinting of how cheaply solar powered cars could be made, but (sadly) only available in China.

The vehicle was demonstrated at the 29th Zhejiang International Bicycles and Electric-powered Cars Exhibition. The solar panels are simply placed on the roof and not integrated into the vehicle’s body. And it reportedly takes 30 hours of direct sunlight to charge the batteries that will drive up to 90 miles.

Electric Vehicles need Energy density
The good news is that electric vehicles are coming. We have highlighted recent electric vehicle commitments of production vehicles (2009-2011) from automakers GM, Nissan, Tata Motors-, BYD, and Chevrolet.

So why is this solar powered cars more a gimmick, than a revolution?

Reason #1 Energy Storage (Read on…)

Category: Transportation
Year: 2008
Tags: transportation, electriccars, cars, batteries, solar

[Video] The Future of Paper Batteries

joelg — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:45:07 -0400

By Joel Greenberg

Among the talk of thin-film solar, nano self-assembly, among other ideas at NanoTX’08 conference in Dallas, TX, was a researcher talking about his work with paper batteries. Dr. Mangilal Agarwal of Louisana Tech University talks about how paper batteries work and what problems they solve.

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: paper, batteries, nanotech, nanotubes, conductive

Tesla Motors CEO resigns but electric vehicle industry likely to stay on course

Garry Golden — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:51:26 -0400

Tesla Motors is reporting a bump in the road along its journey to build affordable electric vehicles.

Founder Elon Musk (of Paypal fortune; SpaceX rocket fame) is now leading the company replacing CEO Ze’ev Drori. In the company’s blog Musk reports the anticipated closing of its Rochester Hills office near Detroit, and new growth focus on its Roadster sports car and sales of its powertrain.

Only a month ago the company brought joy to the California Cleantech community by announcing plans to build a $250 million facility to manufacture a zero-emission lithium ion powered sedan in the heart of Silicon Valley. Now this Model S version of Tesla’s electric car might be delayed until 2011 depending on a number of conditions.

The change in leadership is related more to ‘extraordinary times’ rather than the core vision of Tesla’s business plan. The electric vehicle market is just getting started and Tesla could certainly emerge as a specialty vehicle maker or powertrain designer.

In recent days, we have highlighted the steady stream of media commitments of production vehicles (2009-2011) from automakers GM, Nissan, Tata Motors-, BYD, and Chevrolet

Electric infrastructure investments are also not likely to slow down unless automakers divert from recent plans. In recent weeks electric vehicle infrastructure startups like Better Project have had their business efforts validated by Warren Buffet’s $233 million investment in Chinese battery maker BYD, and $500 million plan to extend France’s grid to vehicles by utility giant EDF

The future of electric vehicles based on a combination of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors should not be completely derailed by an economic slowdown. So despite the bumps ahead, we expected Tesla to stay on its course.

Category: Transportation
Year: 2008
Tags: cars, transportation, batteries, fuel, cells, detroit, automobile

Fuel cells & The Future of Infrastructure: India partners with IdaTech and Ballard

Garry Golden — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:11:06 -0400

Fuel cells generate power by converting chemical energy into electricity. They are ideal candidates for low cost, reliable, distributed power generators and remote power systems for the telecommunications and ‘cold chain’ industries. Instead of relying on traditional ‘grid’ connectivity, fuel cells could help to change the way we look at energy infrastructure in the next century.

Now FuelCell Markets.com is reporting a major contract order from India-based Acme, an emerging energy infrastructure solutions company. Acme.in has contracted with IdaTech (Bend, Oregon) for up to 30,000 5kW hydrogen fuel cell systems to be delivered by March 2013. Idatech will be using Ballard Power fuel cell stacks. Acme is expected to use these systems as back up power for India’s telecommunication infrastructure and to support ‘cold chain’ which is essential for growing access to fresh food.

The three companies are also looking to establish manufacturing hub for fuel cell systems in India as a way of reducing the cost of these clean distributed power systems.

Why are fuel cells important for India and China?

Category: Environment
Year: 2010
Tags: fuelcells, energy, electricity

From Rust Belt to Green Belt, ECD announces Michigan thin film solar plant

Garry Golden — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:56:32 -0400

Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) has selected Battle Creek, Michigan as the location for its new 120 megawatt (MW) solar cell manufacturing facility which is expected to begin production by the end of 2009.

The announcement is good news for the thin film- solar industry and Michigan leaders looking to capture growth in cleantech industrial jobs. Earlier, we covered similar high volume production announcements from Konarka and XsunX. And The Energy Roadmap.com’s Joel Greenberg recently released an Exclusive video interview with ECD Founder Stan Ovshinsky.

ECD is already the leading global manufacturer of thin-film flexible solar laminate products for the building integrated and commercial rooftop markets. This 265,000 square-foot facility will allow the company to expand production of its UNI-SOLAR branded thin film solar. The company retains an option to build a second 120MW facility on the same site.

Michigan economic development leaders are looking to tap growth of ‘cleantech’ or ‘green collar’ jobs often referred to by Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. ECD expects to create 350 jobs and will receive tax credits valued at $41.4 million over 20 years.

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: solar, thinfilm, electricity, polymer

India's Tata Motors will produce electric vehicle in 2009 (for Europeans!)

Garry Golden — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:18:56 -0400

Imagine standing in front of global auto executives in 1999 and presenting a forecast that within ten years an Indian Automaker would be planning to build and sell electric vehicles in Europe. You might have walked away with that negative ‘futurist’ stereotype of a fringe corporate strategic thinker thinking way too far ahead!

Now India’s Tata Motors has announced plans to build an electric vehicle for European markets in 2009.

The company’s UK subsidiary has acquired a 50.3% holding in Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon of Norway to advance solutions for electric vehicles. The move brings Tata closer to realizing its vision of building affordable, clean electric motor vehicles powered by a combination of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

The first generation of Miljø produced electric vehicles will use Electrovaya Lithium Ion SuperPolymer® batteries. Tata plans to launch Indica EV in Europe during 2009 as a 4 person vehicle with a predicted battery charge range of up to 200 km (125 miles) with an acceleration of 0-60 kmph (40 mph) in under 10 seconds.

Recent stories on electric vehicles:
- Could China help the world move beyond the combustion engine?
- Start up Better Place planning to build out Hawaii’s electric vehicle infrastructure
- Warren Buffet invests in Chinese battery & electric car maker
- Detroit to World: Nobody has Killed the Electric Car
- GM plans to kill Combustion Engine

Category: Environment
Year: 2009
Tags: electric, cars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation, batteries

DuPont team wins US Military Wearable Power Prize

Garry Golden — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:00:53 -0400

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded its $1 million top prize for the Wearable Power Prize competition to the team of DuPont/Smart Fuel Cell (SFC) based on a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC)system.

Announced in July 2007, the US Department of Defense Research & Engineering 2008 Prize challenged energy companies to develop a lightweight, wearable power systems capable of producing 20 watts average power for 96 hours and weighed less than 4 kilograms. The prize conclude in October 2008 with the following awards:

$1 million First Place
DuPont / SFC Smart Fuel Cell – the prize confirms DuPont’s ability to help transform energy systems through basic science and applied materials. DuPont is already a major contributor to next generation energy materials used in solar cells, fuel cells, and biomaterials. Smart Fuel Cell is also a leading company in fuel cell power systems.

$500,000 Second Place
Adaptive Materials based on its propane-powered solid oxide fuel cells. According to the team’s press release they lost by weight of 28 grams!

$250,000 Third Place
Little is known or published about third place winner Jenny 600S system of Middleburg, Virginia. [We are investigating!!]

Why portable power?
The US military’s efforts are clear – reduce the weight of energy systems for soldiers carrying an increasingly diverse array of electronic equipment from GPS devices, communication devices to vision glasses. The military is also looking for high density systems to power tiny field sensors, urban surveillance robots and unmanned aerial and mobile vehicles (UAVs).

Portable power is equally disruptive for non-military applications. Effective electron storage systems could lower the costs of electric vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors; reinforce national electricity grids; and improve performance and reliability of distributed power systems in urban and rural settings. The science and technologies behind this prize are certain to go well beyond military applications.

Future contests?
The US military has a number of contests that push innovation. The most disruptive is its Grand Challenge for fully autonomous vehicles. But in the world of energy, the next logical step beyond portable power storage will be on site power generation! So we’re imagining small appliances that can take any material and convert raw inputs into usable forms of electricity, hydrogen or liquid fuels.

Keep reading for more details…

Category: Environment
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, power, micropower, battery, fuelcells, capacitors

The Edison of our Age: Stan Ovshinsky and the Future of Energy [Video Interview Part 1]

joelg — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:44:53 -0400

By Joel Greenberg

If you had an opportunity to sit down and interview Thomas Edison, what would you ask him? That’s a similar position I found myself in at the recent NanoTX’08 conference in Dallas, TX. I asked Stanford Ovshinsky, founder of Energy Conversion Devices and Ovshinsky Innovations to sit down with me after he gave a keynote where we discussed, among other things, his plans for a 1 Gigawatt solar power plant that would produce electricity more cheaply than a coal fired plant.

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: ovshinsky, solar, science, nimh, ev

Investors betting on biological future for biofuels - We can 'grow' energy!

Garry Golden — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:36:19 -0400

Growing energy?
Can we grow our own energy resources by feeding power plant carbon emissions to algae and bacteria? We have featured videos by Juan Enriquez and Steve Jurvetson- on the feasibility of growing energy using the power of biology. Now mainstream investors are starting to bet that this future might be closer than we imagine.

Investments are now flowing into next generation biofuels that should surpass corn ethanol. But if we expect to ‘grow’ energy then we need to make choices. When do we tap the power of plants versus algae and bacteria? Will we train our students to become chemical engineers or biologists and synthetic bio-engineers?

Our world is built upon ancient bioenergy
Most of our energy resources come via biology. Coal is ancient biomass- likely decomposed ferns. And oil is likely ancient microbes that lived in shallow oceans. We power our world by blowing up these hydrogen-carbon chemical bonds in our power plants and combustion engines. It is cheap but also inefficient and dirty because we release ancient carbon.

Two paths forward – chemistry and biology
Biofuels are expanding along two paths. One future is based on creating fuels using chemical engineering processes. Biodiesel uses a process known as transesterification which exchanges molecules from fatty acids (like vegetable and oil oil) to create usuable fuels. Corn ethanol uses a process known as fermentation. Chemical conversion processes usually tap oil (fatty acids) from plants, fruit seeds or industrial waste streams.

The other future uses the power of biological energy conversion. This is the world of carbon-eating algae that create biodiesel and hydrogen producing bacteria. Biological energy production usually taps carbon emissions or waste streams (e.g. carbohydrates and sewage) as its feedstock.

Advocates of chemically driven biofuels say they offer scalability and reliability. Biology advocates want to transform carbon emissions into a resource for algae and bacteria and think their solution has a lower cost advantage, safety and fewer waste byproducts.

While there are many reasons to imagine profitable biologically driven bioenergy solutions within five years, we have yet to see a company overcome the challenges of scaling up production. So the mood among investors and analysts is ‘cautiously optimistic..!

Latest announcements contributing the bioenergy hype

Category: Environment
Year: 2011

XsunX thin film solar plant closer to commercial production

Garry Golden — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:18:21 -0400

Thin-film- solar startup XsunX, Inc. is moving forward on building out its 25 megawatt thin film photovoltaic (TFPV) solar module manufacturing plant in Oregon. A recent company press release describes the companies efforts to align material resources with low cost manufacturing process for its 90,000 square foot facility. The company expects to begin commercial production in early 2009.

Last week we reported on the opening of the first 1 Gigawatt capacity thin film solar plant operated by Konarka. (Konarka image shown) XsunX now appears to be on track to add to real production capacity for the thin film solar market.

Energy forecasters believe that growth of thin film solar could soon surge around its advantages over traditional glass-based solar panels.

While thin film’s performance (by energy conversion efficiency) is lower than traditional solar panels, it has a cost advantages per-watt because of its lower materials and manufacturing ‘roll to roll’ costs. Thin film can also be integrated into more products and building materials, and sold over retail shelves at Home Depot, Walmart and Tesco.

If XsunX and Konarka (Image) stay on course, soon solar panels will be produced on the same types of ‘reels’ that spit out newspapers using inkjet printing processes.

Category: Environment
Year: 2009
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, thinfilm, storage, distributed, power

Could China help the world move beyond the combustion engine?

Garry Golden — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:34:06 -0400

What if we are being too cynical about China’s eco-future in the transportation sector?

Imagine a future in which China is the secret to moving the world’s auto fleet beyond liquid fuels and the combustion engine.

If they can master electron storage systems of advanced batteries, fuel cells and capacitors- they might surprise the world!

Warren Buffet thinks so. The Oracle of Omaha recently invested $233 into Chinese battery and electric vehicle maker BYD.

Now, we are hearing a similar message from other electrical storage system giants who are needed to transform our global auto fleet. A recent Economic Times article China seen as potential electric car hub describes a vision of Johnson Controls where China changes its course to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles powered by batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

Buffet and Johnson Controls see China’s natural advantages:

-Fewer ‘legacy’ issues of existing infrastructure and embedded interests

-Top down policy control to accelerate changes around infrastructure

-Chinese leaders see cleantech as a growth industry, especially around energy storage and electric motor propulsion systems

-Small cars & scooters are the most likely candidates for electric propulsion systems. China (and India) are prime candidates

- A geopolitical desire to avoid issues of oil’s biggest problem. Lack of substitutability. Oil is the perfect fuel, but you can’t put coal or solar or nuclear into a liquid gas tank*. Electricity and hydrogen can be produced by any energy resource.

Of course, electric vehicles are not entirely ‘clean’ and certainly lead to suburban expansion and loss of rural lands. But the trade offs and consequences of doing nothing are hard to challenge. China’s urban areas would benefit from the removal of millions of uncontrolled polluting vehicles.

Even if electricity production came from coal, it is easier to control carbon emissions at a single point power plant rather than individual cars. And China’s industrial strength is powerful enough to change the direction of electric storage companies as well as automakers.

Category: Energy
Year: 2014
Tags: electriccars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation, capacitors

[Video] A water powered fuel cell? For toys?

Garry Golden — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 07:00:08 -0400

[Catch: water is not the fuel]

Horizon Fuel Cell’s future is based on an elegant idea – water powered electric devices. Their HydroPak portable generator units are designed for early markets around military, medical, telecommunication, building management, and industrial customers.

Fuel cells are basically advanced refillable batteries that convert chemical energy into electrical energy. The technology is taking longer than expected to commercialize, but they are coming.

Horizon uses a hydrogen rich chemical hydride (NaBH4) to power the device. This fuel was developed by Millennium Cell which formed a strategic partnership in an equity swap with Horizon last year.

The water is only part of the reaction to release the chemical energy. Water is less a fuel, than it is a reactant. So the product’s appeal uses a bit of trick marketing!!

‘Water’ powered sounds better than ‘chemical hydride’ powered!

Video credit: DigInfo

What’s happening? How does water create electricity?
Fuel cells for toys? And what about methanol fuel cells?

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: fuelcells, energy, electricity, horizon

Don't be Evil, be Green: Google's Cleantech Movement

jvarden — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:38:54 -0400

By Jenna Varden

“It’s just a math problem.” – Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Google is thinking big, again! The company that was founded to ‘organize all the world’s information’ is now focusing its attention on energy. Google’s Cleantech Movement plans to “eliminate all utility fossil fuel dependence and 50 percent of automobile fossil fuel dependence by 2030.”
So far, the company has already invested $45M in wind, solar, and geothermal energy, with tidal and wave power as next in line. This will not only save consumers and America money, one of Google’s motivations, it will also protect the Earth’s environment, reason number two, which is “all part of not being evil (Source: Stefanie Olsen/CNET). In other words, not only is funding alternative energy helpful for its monetary benefits, it helps the environment and gives Google a positive image in the public eye. It will also benefit Google’s energy guzzling servers, whose life-force is the precious commodity of electricity, thus saving the company money.

Schmidt believes that better energy efficiency will lead to more savings. And moving from fossil fuels to renewable, alternative energies will also cost less in the long-term. As an example, while it may indeed cost a hefty amount to make the switch, once in place, the ‘U.S. would save 97% of $2.17 trillion in energy spending over the next 22 years.’ Google’s renovation of its own buildings to cut carbon emissions, installed solar and power monitoring equipment, and is already saving money each year. Restructuring the U.S. power grid, currently with a 9 percent efficiency loss, could also make the country’s energy more efficient and thus, save more money.

Are Computer Servers 21st century ‘energy guzzlers’?

While Google should be lauded for its progressive view on energy efficiency, it also has an intrinsic self-interest in cheap electricity. Google’s new server farm to be built on the banks of the Columbia River in Oregon, called The Dalles data center, will need an estimated 103 megawatts of electricity to run, ‘enough to power 82,000 homes, or a city the size of Tacoma, Washington – via Roughtype

While The Dalles center will not be up and running until 2011, Google’s multitude of other server farms also require large amounts of electricity. Cheaper electricity will allow Google to save money powering their farms, as well as allow further expansion.

What is behind Google’s real motivations? Not being Evil, or Green is Good

Category: Environment
Year: 2008
Tags: energy, solar, wind, electricity

France to spend millions on electric vehicle infrastructure, but what is the future of 'plugging in'?

Garry Golden — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:07:25 -0400

In recent years advocates of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles have argued ‘the infrastructure for electric cars exists. We only need to plug in our cars at night while nobody is using the electricity.’ This was the source of their disdain for the other electron energy carrier hydrogen. Why waste time on building something new, when it already exists?

It turns out that this observation of our electricity grid was only a snapshot of reality, not the description of a future-ready system for supporting electric vehicles. The world’s electric grids are not ready to support commercial vehicle fleets. And now auto makers like Renault are leading efforts to rally utility grid operators, energy storage companies and entrepreneurs to prepare for the electrification of the global auto fleet.

France’s EDF & Renault creating the future
Business Week is reporting on a pledge by French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Paris Auto Show to dedicate 400 million euros ($549 million) in state support for the development of electric and hybrid cars.

The funds are likely to be packaged with a major agreement between Renault and France’s utility EDF to jointly develop the infrastructure needed to recharge electric vehicles, allowing Renault to deliver vehicles in 2011. (The French government owns 85 percent of EDF and 15 percent of Renault.)

GDF is already the owner of the world’s biggest corporate fleet of electric vehicles and has an obvious stake in developing a “smart” charging stations.

Meanwhile Business Week confirms that Renault-Nissan is to establish infrastructure in Israel, Denmark, Portugal, the U.S. state of Tennessee and the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, with production plans for electric cars from 2011.

Are electric recharge stations the best path?
Futurist Jamais Cascio has been quoted as saying ‘The road to hell is paved with short-term distractions.” And as someone who has followed the hype cycle of transportation propulsion systems I wonder if a strategy based solely on batteries and electricity could be that? A short-term distraction.

The future of vehicle fueling infrastructure might actually be more complicated than just plugging in. Why should we hedge our bets with powering electric vehicles around other electrons carrier systems like fuel cells and capacitors? (Continue)

Category: Environment
Year: 2011
Tags: energy, electricity, storage, batteries, fuelcells, hydrogen

Glass free solar collectors power SkyFuel's future

Garry Golden — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:37:21 -0400

Energy from the sun can be transformed into electricity directly from light (via photovoltaics), or by capturing its heat (thermal) energy use with traditional turbines. We recently featured five videos explaining ‘thin film solar photovoltaics’- and Konarka’s plans for the sector’s first 1 Gigawatt scale production plant. But while thin film solar could be big for distributed power systems, it is not ideal for large scale centralized production that feeds our national electricity grids.

When it comes to bringing solar energy to our electricity grids, thermal solar or concentrating solar power (CSP) appears to have an early lead in utility scale production.

SkyFuels unveils low cost solar utility power generation
Now SkyFuels, Inc, an emerging start up has unveiled its SkyTrough™ system as ‘the highest performance,lowest cost utility-scale solar power system of any kind for generating electricity.’

Skyfuels knows that the way forward with utility scale CSP solutions is reducing cost without sacrificing performance. And the company believes that its all-aluminum, glass free light collection modules could change the economics of thermal based solar systems.

The company claims a 35% cost savings against comparable systems because its modules use glass-free mirrors that enable compact transportation and rapid field assembly, and new more efficient drive & control systems.

The SkyTrough™ is 375 feet long, twenty feet tall, and features the largest parabolic trough modules ever built. It was developed with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and with a grant from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardon’s Energy Innovation Fund for SkyFuel’s research partnership with the University of New Mexico.

ReflectTech’s Secret Sauce – silvered polymer films
The SkyTrough’s cost-performance balance is feasible with the use of ReflecTech® Mirror Film: a low-cost, highly reflective and shatterproof silvered-polymer film, jointly designed by SkyFuel CTO, Randy Gee, and scientists at NREL to replace the expensive, heavy and fragile curved-glass mirrors, which are still used in all other parabolic trough designs used for electric power generation.

Category: Environment
Year: 2012
Tags: solar, electricity, energy

Carbon based hydrogen storage might be on the horizon

Garry Golden — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:25:56 -0400

Hydrogen fuel cells, which produce electricity, are an evolution to modern day batteries. If we can store hydrogen efficiently as a solid, we can expand the use of energy from intermittent solar and wind power. We can also lower the costs and improve performance of electric vehicles. Two recent research announcements hint that cost effective storage could be much closer to reality.

Nanoscale science & surface area
One of the key enablers of storing hydrogen as a solid is high surface area. How much? Can you imagine holding a gram of material with surface area equal to several football fields for storing hydrogen molecules?

Nanoscale (billionth of a meter) material design means high surface area ratio to volume. We can also tap nanotechnology to create storage materials able to bind and release hydrogen molecules at low pressure and low temperature.

Carbon scaffolding for storage
There are a number of ways to store hydrogen as a solid, and also as a liquid. Earlier we featured a look at metal-organic frameworks or MOFs as a viable long term storage material. Today we’ll look at two other carbon-based hydrogen storage systems.

Carbon is a controversial storage medium since it is ‘sticky’ and can often bind hydrogen too tightly. But mixing (or ‘doping’) carbon with other elements can leverage the benefits of carbon’s high surface area and its Lego-like structural design.

‘Doping corn cobs?’
The Department of Energy has awarded $1.9 million to researchers at the University of Missouri and Midwest Research Institute (MRI)

The Missouri team has found that carbon briquettes (derived from corn cobs) then “doped” (or mixed and layered) with boron, have a unique ability to store natural gas with high capacity at low pressure.

While corn cobs hydrogen storage sounds a bit far fetched, one gram of this carbon material has a surface area comparable to a football field. The boron additive to carbon creates binding energies with H2 molecules that might make this a viable storage medium.

Carbon Graphene Layers
Another carbon based solution was announced last week from researchers in Greece using stacked thin sheets of carbon doped with lithium.

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energystorage, storage, energy, electricity, hydrogen, carbon, carbonnanotubes

The world's first LEED Platinum hotel

Garry Golden — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:42:39 -0400

In recent years forward-looking architects and designers have been pushing out the leading edge of advanced energy systems for built environments. Along the way they have created a new marketplace for integrated energy solutions with lower costs and improved performance. Their efforts have been supported by the growing list of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings.

On Tuesday, Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC, became the first hotel to be awarded the LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is the USGBC’s rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings.

Opened in late 2007, the Proximity (videos) was designed to use 40% less energy and 30% less water than comparable hotels. It along with the adjacent Print Works Bistro are the first hotel and first restaurant to obtain the USGBC’s top level certification.

“When we started the design process four years ago, I would have never believed that we could use 41% less energy and 33% less water without one iota of compromise in comfort or luxury and with minimal additional construction costs,” says Dennis Quaintance, the CEO and CDO (Chief Design Officer) of builder Quaintance-Weaver “It just goes to show what a determined team can accomplish if they use common sense and get a little bit of help from the sun.”

Category: Environment
Year: 2008
Tags: design, builtenvironment, energyefficiency, energy, solar

Thermoelectric materials based on 'nano cages' capture waste heat

Garry Golden — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:10:09 -0400

Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat into electricity, or use electricity for cooling systems. Now European researchers have uncovered new insights into molecular ‘nano cages’ that might make this process of solid state energy conversion efficient.

Researchers at the University of Århus, Risø-DTU and the University of Copenhagen Niels Bohr Institute stand jointly behind new data, published in Nature Materials, that describes thermoelectric materials that could lead to breakthrough practical applications in improving engines, industrial machines, and also advance eco-friendly cooling systems for refrigeration and electronics.

Capturing waste heat – the ultimate in conservation
When we imagine ways to conserve energy and reduce waste, the real measurable gains for the planet have little to do with changing light bulbs. The area which holds the greatest potential is waste heat recovery from industrial processes, combustion engines and cooling systems. These are the most energy intensive and wasteful forms of energy conversion in the modern world.

Thermoelectric materials can be assembled into mechanical structures, which can transform the thermal difference to electrical energy or vice versa – electrical current to cooling.

Nano-cages or molecule trapping clathrate cages
The European researchers studied promising thermoelectric materials in the group of clathrates, which create crystals full of ‘nano-cages’.

“By placing a heavy atom in each nano-cage, we can reduce the crystals’ ability to conduct heat. Until now we thought that it was the heavy atoms random movements in the cages that were the cause of the poor thermal conductivity, but this has been shown to not be true”, explains Asger B. Abrahamsen, senior scientist at Risø-DTU.

“Our data shows that, it is rather the atoms’ shared pattern of movement that determines the properties of these thermoelectric materials. A discovery that will be significant for the design of new materials that utilize energy even better”, explains Kim Lefmann, associate professor at the Nano-Science Center, the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

News about thermoelectric materials is admittedly geeky when compared to stories about advances in solar and wind. But these systems are extremely important to transforming the dominant wasteful energy systems that already exist in our world. And this research adds to the growing list of recent fundamental breakthroughs that could help improve the world’s energy systems.

Category: Environment
Year: 2018
Tags: thermoelectric, nanomaterials, waste, recover, energy, electricity, cooling

US releases National Biofuels Plan to accelerate next generation bioenergy solutions

Garry Golden — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:15:14 -0400

The US Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) have released its National Biofuels Action Plan [4.9MB] detailing Federal agency and private partnership efforts to accelerate the development of ‘a sustainable biofuels industry’. While first generation biofuels such as corn ethanol have been under tremendous scrutiny in recent months, the US agencies appear to be positioning themselves to offer measurably sustainable biofuel resources that will rely heavily on next generation resources (e.g. non-food, waste biomass) and biologically driven conversion processes. [Principles outlined in Biofuel Plan Factsheet]

The official word – We have Plan
“Federal leadership can provide the vision for research, industry and citizens to understand how the nation will become less dependent on foreign oil and create strong rural economies,” USDA Secretary Schafer said. “This National Biofuels Action Plan supports the drive for biofuels growth to supply energy that is clean and affordable, and always renewable.”

Translation: We are hedging our bets on the future of bioenergy!
Looking beyond the rhetoric of energy security, and clear tip of the hat to rural agricultural politics and the influence of mainstream agricultural players, target-based plans do secure federal funding streams for next generation bioenergy solutions. And there are significant funds headed towards innovative start up companies that could develop game-changing bio industrial applications. These start ups could ease our reliance on traditional petrochemicals for making fuels, fertilizers and raw materials processing.

But the key takeaway might be that the DOE is hedging R&D investments on traditional chemical biofuel refining processes (traditional catalysts) by also advancing potentially lower cost biological conversion processes (enzymes/algae).

To develop low cost cellulosic biofuels from non-food biomass feedstock, the agency announced $12.3 million contract with bioenergy startup Novoyzme. The company will be contracted to develop enzymes capable of breaking down strong cellular plant walls under its named project DECREASE (Development of a Commercial-Ready Enzyme Application System for Ethanol).

According to Novoyzme, the company has confirmed plans to launch the enzymes required for commercially viable production of ethanol from cellulose by 2010, midway through this contract, with plans to reach an enzyme cost target that is even further reduced by 2012. But there is still rural politics infused as the primary feedstock is expected to be leftover corn biomass waste.

Additional funding announcements include

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: biofuels, bioenergy, biology, cellulosic, ethanol, next, generation

Kleiner invests in Smart Grid startup, 'Big Grid' prepares for disruptions ahead

Garry Golden — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:48:25 -0400

Red Herring is reporting on a $75 million investment round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for Smart Grid startup Silver Spring Networks. Kleiner’s involvement lends support to forecasts that ‘smart grid’ systems are a near term possibility.

The ‘smart grid’ is coming, but arriving at this future is likely to include some twists, turns and battles led by some ‘Big Grid’ utilities who might struggle to see their role in this alternative future.

At the surface ‘smart grid’ concepts sound like a logical next step for the modern day utility grid: minimizing downtime, managing peak demand, improving efficiencies, and anticipating problems before they occur all sound like a positive step for the world. But underneath it all the ‘smart grid’ is incredibly disruptive to the regulatory framework, operational standards, capital investment strategies and business models of most large utilities.

To understand the evolution of the ‘smart grid’ and the utility of the future, we can imagine two initial stages of development.

Part One: Software for Managing Infrastructure
The first steps to building a ‘smart grid’ utilize the power of software to maximize the efficiency of the grid. Simply put, we add a layer of information technology to improve management of existing one-way grid infrastructure to improve performance and reduce costs.

Leading startups include: Gridpoint, Silver Spring Networks, BPL Global, Comverge, Enerwise and Enernoc

Part Two: Onsite Power Generation & Electron Storage

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: smartgrid, electricity, energy, software, infrastructure

Opening of the world's largest (1 GW) thin film solar plant

Garry Golden — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:40:32 -0400

The world of thin film (polymer-based organic) photovoltaics continues to evolve as start ups ramp up early branding efforts around product releases and higher volume production plans.

Now Konarka Technologies has announced the opening of a 250,000 sq ft ‘roll to roll’ 1 Gigawatt capacity thin film solar plant in a former Polaroid site in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

“This facility has state-of-the-art printing capabilities that are ready for full operation, with the future potential to produce over a gigawatt of flexible plastic solar modules per year,” commented Howard Berke, executive chairman and co-founder of Konarka. “Our technical leadership and innovation in flexible thin film solar, along with this facility’s capabilities of producing in excess of 10 million square meters of material per year, will allow us to produce Power Plastic for indoor, portable, outdoor and building integrated applications.”

Konarka has long been considered a leading start up in the solar field, but this Gigawatt production capacity helps to cement its position among a growing base of thin film competitors. Analysts have been fond of describing ‘spectacular growth’ ahead for thin film solar, but near term expansion is not likely to be as easy as paper forecasts as the solar industry confronts fundamental challenges including rising costs of raw materials. Rising costs aside, the solar industry is expected to grow from a market volume of 5.6 GW in 2008 to 79.5 GW in 2015. And if thin film companies like Konarka can continue to open large scale MW and GW capacity plants they should certainly expect bright days ahead.

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: solar, thin, film, photovoltaics, energy, electricity

Geothermal power receives boost from US Department of Energy

Garry Golden — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:31:28 -0400

Geothermal energy could emerge as a vast resource for the next century if we can engineer next generation systems.

Geothermal power generation gained considerable attention in 2007 following the release of the MIT’s study‘The Future of Geothermal Energy’ which estimated that within the US alone 100 MW of energy could be established by 2050. Apparently the US government is now taking this recommendation seriously.

Yesterday the US Department of Energy announced support for 21 Research, Development and Demonstration Projects tapping $78 million in public-private partnerships. The DOE’s goal is to prove the technical feasibility of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) by 2015.

The Earth Policy institute reports that in 2008 total worldwide installed geothermal power capacity passed 10,000 megawatts producing enough electricity to meet the needs of 60 million people. The US leads the world in geothermal energy power generation with 2,900 MW followed by the Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and a dozen other countries.

While the global outlook for geothermal remain positive, the US market is receiving considerable attention due to its growth prospects in the years ahead. Nordic bank Glitnir estimates that ‘the overall number of projects has increased and projects currently underway would expand installed capacity in the U.S. by a 100-130% in the years to come.’

It is possible that geothermal energy sector will never become a darling of the energy sector as the list of award recipients hints at the no-frills futures to geothermal energy. Extracting this form of energy is an engineering intensive job and there is still a considerable amount of academic field work ahead to make EGS feasible. While the majority of funds went to universities and research institutes, there are some familiar energy industry names including Baker-Hughes (Houston, TX), GE Energy (Niskayuna, N.Y.), Chevron and Schlumberger (Sugar Land, TX). Given the potentially high returns on tapping geo-engineering skills we might see more ‘Big Energy’ developers throw their resources into expanding geothermal capacity around the world.

Image credit: Lydus Flickr CC License

Category: Environment
Year: 2015
Tags: geothermal, geo, energy, electricity

Energy implications of 'nano-confined' water

Garry Golden — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:38:36 -0400

Water molecules are central to most energy systems on this planet. Yet when we direct them through tiny nanotubes (a billionth of a meter in diameter) strange things happen to their behavior that might someday have implications for designing new energy systems.

One area deals with the energy intensity of water purification and desalination. Forward looking scientists are turning towards nanoscale engineering to change the cost and energy equation of future water systems.

Last month Indian researchers developed models that applied carbon nanotubes in filtering ‘viruses, bacteria, toxic metal ions, and large noxious organic molecules’. While there is some healthy skepticism over the real world application of nanotubes in water filtration, there is still much that we still do not know about the wide ranging implications of water molecules passing through nanotubes.

Now researchers at the University of North Carolina believe they have found new behavior of water molecules confined to passing through hallow carbon nanotubes made from rolled up graphene or single layer sheets of carbon molecules. One of the key factors of behavior is temperature.

“Normally, graphene is hydrophobic, or ‘water hating’ – it repels water in the same way that drops of dew will roll off a lotus leaf,” said Yue Wu, Ph.D. “But we found that in the extremely limited space inside these tubes, the structure of water changes, and that it’s possible to change the relationship between the graphene and the liquid to hydrophilic or ‘water-liking’.”

This new research area of nano-confined water science could have implications for lower cost water purification and desalination techniques using carbon nanotubes. It might also lead to a better understanding of water molecule behavior inside naturally occurring biological building blocks like proteins which perform key energy conversions.

The Yue Wu Team’s findings were published in the Oct. 3, 2008, issue of the journal Science

Image credit: Ghutchis Flickr CC License

Category: Science
Year: Beyond
Tags: nanoscale, nanotechnology, water, desalination, filtration, energy

Reliable Fuel Cells Powering Remote Traffic Systems

jvarden — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:13:48 -0400

By jvarden

Although fuel cell electric vehicles are still transitioning towards commercialization, the off-grid performance benefits of these electrochemical devices might soon reinforce critical pieces of our transportation infrastructure.

Smart Fuel Cell, a German-based company, has shipped thousands of their commercial fuel cell products and also totes multiple awards for its innovative methods. While most associate fuel cells with automobiles, SFC will also reliably power remote traffic systems with their EFOY Pro Series of fuel cells. Since normal batteries can only power warning blinkers for two days and solar cells/generators are too unreliable, EFOY Pro series fuel cells need no maintenance and are an off-grid power that will run, hypothetically, forever, as long as it has a fuel source. The cell’s tough case can handle rough weather, even temperatures between -4° F and +113 ° F. One 28-litre M28 fuel cell could operate the blinker for 50 days and they have a guaranteed lifetime of 5,000 operating hours or 30 months.

The Munich North Autobahn Authorities are already using the EFOY Pro Series fuel cells. If these cells become commonplace, then remote, off-the-grid traffic systems will not only be more reliable, they will cost less to maintain and will be available for usage even in disaster-struck areas whose power-lines are down.

Image: Sarah Ivancic Flicker CC

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: fuelcells, energy, electricity

5 Videos on the Future of Thin film Solar

Garry Golden — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:38:09 -0400

What if we could print low cost solar panels on pieces of plastic and integrate this energy collecting material into buildings, infrastructure and product casings?

This is the future of thin film solar.

While traditional (rigid silicon substrate) solar panels are a relatively mature platform, we have not yet hit our stride in advancing the efficiencies of thin film solar.

Thin-film, or organic solar is attractive because it is low cost, flexible and can be integrated into existing materials and products. These systems can also be designed to tap broader sections of the light spectrum. Relatively low efficiencies mean that thin film solar will never be capable of providing a majority of our energy needs, but it is certainly part of a broader strategy of new distributed power generation.

Before we start asking when we might see thin film on the shelves at Home Depot or integrated into familiar product designs, the first step is to understand why thin film is different from traditional solar.

The following five video clips help to describe the future potential of thin film solar.

Nanosolar (Palo Alto-San Jose, CA) has long been considered a leading innovator in the field of organic photovoltaics or thin film solar.

Continue with next four videos…

Category: Environment
Year: 2014
Tags: solar, electricity, energy, thinfilm, storage, distributed, power

Better Place planning to build out Hawaii's electric vehicle infrastructure

Garry Golden — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:08:22 -0400

Hawaii might be the perfect market environment for transforming its vehicle fleet from liquid fueled combustion engine vehicles to electric cars powered by batteries and fuels cells. There is strong support for ‘green’ policies, most vehicles trips are over short distances, and the islands’ fixed boundaries make it easy to plan out the cost of infrastructure. There are a number of strong cleantech startups and state has aggressive plans to expand its own local renewable energy production from solar, wind, geothermal and bio energy so it could tap this locally produced energy into electricity or hydrogen to fuel electric vehicles. Now it appears to be planning new fueling infrastructure for the coming wave of electric vehicles.

Today, the Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that electric vehicle infrastructure builder Better Place (Palo Alto, CA) has plans to build a network of electric recharge units and battery ‘swap out’ stations to service Hawaii’s first wave of battery powered electric vehicles.

Is this good news? Yes.

Will it be easy? No.

The Good News
We appear to have taken the first step – getting the auto industry on board. Every major automobile company has announced plans to release its first generation electric vehicles between 2010-12 around lithium ion batteries. Automobile companies appear ready to leverage the manufacturing cost benefits of killing of the combustion engine and adopting more modular electric motors powered by lithium ion batteries, capacitors and hydrogen fuel cells. Auto engineers are now taking the next step towards integrating all systems- to make a viable electric propulsion platform for the 21st century. With this commitment we can expect other companies to start developing infrastructure. The problem? Overcoming the politics of utility power generation.

Forcing Change on Big Utilities
While this news might feel good, the saying “It’s not a revolution if nobody loses” is certainly relevant. Transforming how we fuel our vehicle fleets is not going to be easy or conflict free. But where might we anticipate pushback?

Common sense says ‘Big Oil’, but the real challenge in accelerating this shift towards electric vehicle infrastructure might be ‘Big Utilities’ who are now struggling to imagine their place in a world of fueling homes and vehicles.

Category: Environment
Year: 2011
Tags: electric, cars, car, hydrogen, fuel, cells, transportation

Surface images of nanoparticles could advance energy systems

Garry Golden — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:06:35 -0400

Trying to make the case that surface area is important to the future of energy is difficult. Surface area is not a sexy concept, and nearly impossible to fit into a media sound clip.

Barack Obama and John McCain do not call for energy systems with high surface area nano-catalysts. Instead they call for cheaper solar, and more powerful batteries and fuel cells for electric vehicles. Energy researchers would say – same thing!

Saying nanoparticles is a little better and certainly ripe for a media sound bite. But what if you could take a picture of molecules on a nanoparticle surface?

Now a group of researchers led by MIT have released the first composite atomic-scale images of the catalytic surface area of platinum-cobalt nanoparticles used in fuel cells. Their efforts could accelerate the development of electric fuel cell vehicles.

Surface area and the future of energy
Energy reactions occur when molecules interact. We simply capture the released energy. The cost and performance of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors depends on how molecules react (or do not interact) on tiny pieces of elements like lithium, carbon, titanium, and platinum.

The smaller the pieces, the more surface area, the more molecule interactions, the better the reaction. It also means lower cost because you use less material(e.g. expensive platinum).

If we can see the surface area of nanoscale designed catalysts we can design better (and cheaper) catalysts used in fuel cells.

First images of nanoparticle platinum-cobalt surface
Today a group of researchers from MIT, UT-Austin and ORNL has released images of nanoscale surface by using a technique known as Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy.

The researchers analyzed platinum and cobalt nanoparticles to understand why the performance of a combined catalyst was more reactive than simply using platinum alone.

Now the researchers can propose and test theories to why the material is so reactive. If researchers can design catalysts with less platinum, the cost of fuel cells could drop dramatically.

The same principle of surface area applies to building better batteries and capacitors. If we can apply this imaging technique across all devices, we could accelerate commercialization of highly efficient energy storage systems.

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: nanotechnology, energy, catalysts, fuel, cells, capacitors, batteries

Tapping Wave Power in Deep Seas

jvarden — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:47:44 -0400

While most wave power turbines are sedentary, generating their energy from surface waves that crash against them, Scottish engineers at the University of Strathclyde’s Energy Systems Research Unit have developed a new, innovative turbine that can generate energy in the deep seas.

The deeper, more powerful water currents allow for more energy generation, but unfortunately, most water turbines cannot handle it. On the other hand, the ESRU turbine will function like a kite, anchored to the seabed and drifting with the ocean currents to plumb the strong, deep waters. Its contra-rotating rotors are designed to allow the simplification of the mooring system.

ESRU’s kite turbines still have more research to undergo before they are ready for use, but if they are perfected, wave powered turbines will not be limited only to the use of crashing surface waves but they could also be moored to vast ocean beds and their deep currents’ wealth of power finally tapped. The upcoming sea trials may bring up more questions for the researchers to answer, including the turbines’ environmental impact and energy-delivery infrastructure, but hopefully these kite turbines will soon be drifting in deep sea currents, powering the world with their clean, renewable energy.

Via Scientific American

Image: Chausinho Flickr CC License

Category: Energy
Year: 2008

Is Brazil an emerging energy giant?

Garry Golden — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:00:25 -0400

Few people think of Brazil as an emerging global energy player. Even the most widely cited future of energy scenarios do not put Brazil into the elite group of energy resource-rich nations.

While it is best known for its domestically produced sugarcane ethanol, Brazil’s real source of energy wealth and future geopolitical power is likely to come from exports of oil and natural gas extracted from its deepwater reserves.

Energy pundits are now tracking early indicators hinting that Brazil is awakening to its full potential as a uniquely diversified energy economy growing around traditional hydrocarbon resources while simultaneously expanding its own renewables and bio energy solutions. Brazil’s rise as a global energy powerhouse will take decades to unfold, but it might turn out to be one of the more interesting geopolitical energy stories of the next century.

Who might follow in Anadarko’s footsteps
On Thursday, Houston, Texas-based Andarko announced a successful deepwater field discovery offshore of Brazil in its Campos Basin region. This could be the beginning of a string of announcements to come from energy majors tapping the deepwater oil fields of Brazil.

Announcements are likely to come from companies based around the world. Everyone is looking to partner with Brazil in advancing deepwater drilling and securing access to their growing reserves. While the general public might see the oil industry organized neatly into brand names like BP, Shell, Exxon and Chevron, the reality is that these companies are all betting on each other. Most projects have a lead company, but the financial risk is spread with smaller stakes held by competitors and specialized development firms.

Brazil’s emergence as an energy giant might be quiet, but they are not going to do it alone. Now that it has overcome the technical challenges of deepwater drilling, it must navigate the complex geopolitical landscape of energy politics.

Brazil: Deepwater brings new opportunities & challenges

Category: Energy
Year: Beyond
Tags: energy, brazil, oil, natural, gas, deepwater

Might solid hydrogen power our future? New advances pave the way.

Garry Golden — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:36:31 -0400

How might storing electricity in the form of solid hydrogen change the future landscape of energy? We believe it could change the performance of mobile power, lower the cost of renewable energy production, and change the nature of refueling your car by ‘swapping out’ boxes of fuel.

Hydrogen & Electricity = ‘Hydricity’
Electricity powers the future. Look beyond the transportation sector of liquid fuels, and most devices and machines run on electrons. Today, we understand the important role of electricity in our world, and tomorrow we might understand its sister companion – hydrogen.

Hydrogen might be the most misunderstood and misrepresented piece of the future energy landscape. Devotees often overstate it as the savior of Planet Earth, and staunch critics underestimate its short term challenges for longer term potential in energy systems and materials science.

A ‘Hydrogen economy’ is an economy driven by electricity. The hydrogen is merely a way of storing electron power via chemical bonds of hydrogen. So hydrogen and electricity are one in the same thing. Ballard Power Founder Geoffrey Ballad has coined the phrase ‘hydricity’ to help people understand the balance of these electrons carriers.

Fuel cells capture energy released when coated membranes strip apart those hydrogen-hydrogen bonds and merge it with oxygen to get water. This is a much more efficient (and cleaner) process when compared to blowing up carbon-hydrogen bonds via combustion. But it is also harder and more expensive (at least today!).

Advances in Hydrogen Storage
The two challenges for hydrogen are production and storage. For now we’ll focus on an emerging platform for high density, low cost and safe storage systems based on ‘solid’ hydrogen.

News from Argonne National Laboratory on ‘crystal sponges’

Category: Energy
Year: 2013
Tags: hydrogen, electricity, batteries, solid, state, storage

The future of electricity: A guide to the Smart Grid

Garry Golden — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:08:09 -0400

“Our lights may be on, but systemically, the risks associated with relying on an often overtaxed grid grow in size, scale and complexity every day.”

What if our greatest energy dependency challenge was not related to the global flow of oil, but the one way flow of electricity coming from distant power plants to our wall sockets?

The world runs on electricity. Demand for electron power in emerging economies is often 3-4 times greater than demand for oil. Because the old model of the electricity grid does not seem adequate in meeting the new demands of the 21st century, many energy pundits argue that access to electricity is the world’s biggest strategic energy issue.

Realizing the ‘Smart Grid’ Vision
The conversation about electricity infrastructure is likely to change very soon as governments and the private sector build out the vision of a smarter, electricity web that is infinitely more reliable, robust and profitable.

The US Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability is hoping to push the ‘smart grid’ meme out into the public sphere. The office has released a 50 page publication The Smart Grid: An Introduction in an effort to advance the public’s ability to talk about smart grid infrastructure.

‘The electric industry is poised to make the transformation from a centralized, producer-controlled network to one that is less centralized and more consumer-interactive. The move to a smarter grid promises to change the industry’s entire business model and its relationship with all stakeholders, involving and affecting utilities, regulators, energy service providers, technology and automation vendors and all consumers of electric power.‘

A Smart Grid means many things. At The Energy Roadmap.com we believe that the most disruptive elements are software,sensors & storage. The good news is that these three systems might finally be reaching a tipping point in cost and performance that allows us to turn the ‘smart grid’ vision into a reality. While this US DOE Guide might not be the definitive guide to the future of smart grid systems, it is certainly a step forward in helping to spread the meme and outline the fundamentals!

Category: Energy
Year: 2015
Tags: energy, electricity, storage, batteries, fuel, cells, hydrogen

Five Disruptive Shifts in the Energy Sector (Part 1)

Garry Golden — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:38:09 -0400

Energy is now synonymous with the future. We cannot talk about the the world in 2025 without having energy central to that conversation. But how do we prepare to talk about the future of energy beyond extrapolating the most obvious trends and new ideas?

Here are 5 disruptive shifts that could define the next fifty years of changes in energy systems:

-Pricing of Carbon
-Rise of Renewables leads to ‘Green’ Hydrocarbons
-Nanoscale science and engineering
-Tapping power of bio energy
-Energy’s entrepreneurial spirit

What’s happening?
The world is moving from bicycles to cars, and rice to protein
The good news is that many people are now aware of the biggest trends that are pushing the global energy sector to the limits. Most people will refer to challenges of China’s growth, peak production of conventional oil reserves, climate change, and need to shift towards renewable energy sources.

Energy analysts try to sum it up in one sentence: Surging global demand has led to tighter supplies and higher costs for production of hydrocarbons (coal, oil, natural gas) and utility scale electricity generation.

If the slowdown of the global economy continues we might see a temporary drop in high prices, but sooner or later the situation will be back again as hundreds of millions of people uplift their lives and become ‘middle class’ consumers moving from traveling by foot and bicycles to cars, and from eating rice to protein based diets. Along the way their energy consumption patterns will change as they buy electronics and home appliances.

An even bigger problem? Those countries with the highest energy growth rates are more likely to have a policy of ‘grow at any cost’, including environmental degradation, unless they have serious alternatives that are low cost and easy to implement.

Our energy choices in the next twenty years will surely be among the most relevant strategic decisions of this century.

#1 Pricing of Carbon

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, globalization, technology

Book Review. Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America

joelg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:32:00 -0400

By Joel Greenberg

It’s tough as an everyday consumer to participate in changing how we generate and use power. If you don’ t work for an automobile manufacturer, an energy company, a utility, or the government, it seems you’re pretty much out of luck in affecting real change. For transportation, you can either ditch your car and use public transportation, ride your bike, or buy a Toyota Prius or other hybrid vehicle.

But soon, there will be another choice, which takes a Prius from 40-50 mpg to 100+ mpg. By adding more batteries to a hybrid and giving it a plug, you now have what’s known as a “Plug-in Hybrid Electric”, or PHEV. But you can’t buy one…yet. You could build your own from plans on the Internet today from the PriusPlus Project, but not every Prius owner is into DIY car hacking, or violating their warranty. You can hire an after market company to convert your Prius for $8,000 to $24,000. Or, you can wait 18-24 months before the first vehicles arrive from Toyota, etc.

The basic idea is this: for the average driver, most trips during the day are surprisingly short. Let’s say less than 10 miles. Errands, grocery shopping, chauffeuring kids, etc, all generally happen within 10 miles for the average driver. A PHEV has at least a 10 mile capacity with its additional battery packs, so effectively, for 80% of typical driving, a PHEV is an electric car because it will will not need to to turn on its gas engine. The benefits: no fossil fuel combustion to foul up our air, or burn up our dollars…at a cheaper price per mile. It’s the best of both worlds: an electric vehicle for most of your day to day driving, plus a gas engine as back up when you need it.

But today, about the only thing you can do is follow the news, read bloggers, or read, Plug-in Hybrids: Cars That Will Recharge the America by Sherry Boschert (2006, New Society Publishes). In it, Boschert weaves the story of the GM EV1 electric car and it’s demise with a number of related stories including one about how a group of enthusiastic hackers, makers, and activists converted a Prius into a PriusPlus PHEV, with another story of how activists and a former CIA Director are stumping for PHEV’s as the best way to help us out of the energy crunch. Along the way she brings to light how the automobile companies change (or not), how a small group of people can help affect change, and how the PHEV activists trash hydrogen.

Category: Energy
Year: 2010
Tags: plugin, hybrid, electric, vehicle, transportation

Are we preparing for energy politics of the future?

Garry Golden — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:20:12 -0400

Politics is always playing catch up to the future. While most energy issues revolve around changes to the status quo, other opportunities allow political leaders to fund basic research and help grow emerging industries.

But what about other pieces to the energy puzzle that are not central to today’s political campaigns? Or messages that seem to contradict today’s politic themes? What might be beyond the politics of oil trade and peak production? Or other cleantech ideas beyond solar and wind?

Many people believe that we are only at the beginning of an important age of energy politics. And we speculate that the hardest political conversations might be about changes in electricity grids and the control of energy flows, and the ethical issues of bio energy.

Here are two other issues that might shape the future of energy politics – global interdependence and synthetic biology.

Energy Independence vs Global Interdependence
Oil is on everyone’s radar. And common sense says rally behind the political message of the day energy independence especially with gasoline. But oil has been a globally integrated industry for decades, and undoing those relationships requires a very serious debate about what is good and bad about trade. What might complicate the future politics of energy independence is our ‘dependence’ on oil is the world’s other major resource: natural gas.

Last summer T Boone Pickens- launched a multi-million dollar television media campaign for America’s future. A central theme was energy independence via wind for power generation and shifting natural gas towards transportation fuel.

But what if the global natural gas market is only just starting to expand around liquefied natural gas? And if the US did shift to domestic natural gas for transportation fuel, wouldn’t this market be global in nature?

Or on the very positive side of renewable energy systems? What if the US or China’s clean tech industry dropped the cost of new energy systems? Would we want those products kept within a national border or delivered around the world?

Might the energy politics of the future be about thinking more globally and pushing towards further interdependence?

And if energy independence does remain a central theme, what about the politics of US and Chinese coal?

Enter energy politics of coal and synthetic biology

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: politics, policy, energy

Steve Jurvetson (& Bill Green): Biology and Energy (Part 2)

Garry Golden — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:20:00 -0400

One of our goals at The Energy Roadmap.com is to promote Big Thinkers who are able to translate the complexities of thinking about the future of energy into basic language and simple concepts. Bio energy is an emerging energy area that is widely confused with its current manifestation (e.g. plant life; corn ethanol) versus its future evolution (e.g. algae, bacteria and synthetic biology). Once again, we turn to Steve Jurvetson- for a look at this changing bio energy landscape.

In this 4 minute ZDNET presentation clip from AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference held on September 10-12th, 2008, moderator Awais Khan of KPMG asks the panel if algae biofuels are up to task of addressing short-comings of high oil prices.

Looking forward – Synthetic Biology & Scalability
Jurvetson hints at global interest and the implications of accelerating changes via synthetic biology. Bill Green of Vantage Point Venture Partners”Bill Green of Vantage Point Venture Partners addresses the issue of scaling production based on biology.

Scaling is a commonly used barrier concept for most non-traditional forms of energy like solar and wind. Bio energy solutions (esp. algae/bacteria) will first have to overcome its own process complexities to compete against more predictable chemical engineering methods used in today’s energy industry.

Also watch Video – Part I-

Video Source: ZDNET

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: bio, energy, biofuels, algae, hydrogen, scalability, biology, chemistry, venture, capital

Warren Buffet invests in Chinese battery & electric car maker

Garry Golden — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:01:00 -0400

Add Warren Buffet’s latest investment to the list of major news indicators that fuel forecasts saying that the dominant days of the combustion engine are coming to an end. (Read GM to Combustion Engine-R.I.P.)

Through his Berkshire controlled MidAmerican Energy, The Oracle of Omaha has invested $230 million for a 10% stake in China’s car and battery maker BYD. BYD could soon become a global leader in electric propulsion auto systems and a mainstream vehicle brand.

Following the growth in electric propulsion systems
While there are reports that BYD plans to ‘roll out fully electric cars before the end of next year’ and sell within the US, BYD does not have to displace GM or Toyota to return on Buffet’s investment.

Think of Shenzhen-based BYD as an advanced electric propulsion and electron storage device maker for Li-ion, Nickel batteries, capacitors and fuel cells. Rather than fight for market share against Toyota and GM in vehicle sales, BYD’s growth could be as an energy systems manufacturer.

Why MidAmerican might love BYD’s batteries more than its cars
Buffet’s other (or main) intention could be to expand the role of the electrical grid in fueling automobiles. He might also see promise in BYD’s battery systems for utility scale storage to improve the electrical grid.

Electric cars are coming in 2010-12 but we need to innovate energy storage solutions.

Recharging electric vehicles is not as simple as ‘plugging in at night.’ Our aging electrical grid and home wall sockets are not a suitable foundation for mainstream growth in battery vehicles- and automakers understand this.

Watch in the weeks and months ahead as electrical grid startups and electron storage companies like Shai Agassi’s Better Place gain more media attention and venture backing.

But what other innovative business models might emerge around electron-based transportation fleets? How about ‘swapping’ boxes?

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: cars, transportation, batteries, fuel, cells, detroit, automobile, china

Steve Jurvetson: Biology and Energy are Converging & Accelerating (Part 1)

Garry Golden — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:53:00 -0400

Steve Jurveston has long been considered one of the most forward looking technology visionaries in Silicon Valley. He is also one of many Silicon Valley investors becoming very interested (and invested) in the convergence of biosciences and the energy industry. Jurveston sits on the board of Craig Venter’s new company Synthetic Genomics which hopes to tap the power of synthetic biology for energy production.

In this 6 minute ZDNET presentation clip from AlwaysOn GoingGreen conference held on September 10-12th, 2008, Jurvetson explains the implications of accelerating changes in biology, genetics, and synthetic biology to the future of energy.

Accelerating changes in biology and cleantech
The future of biology is likely to converge with other industries like energy within the next 10-20 years. Bio energy is very complicated subject with enormous potential to change how we produce biofuels, hydrogen and bio-material feedstocks. But it is also in its early ‘hype’ stages of development and we need framers who can eloquently describe how these changes in biology and genetics might someday change energy.

Fortunately for us – Steve Jurveston is one of those visionaries who can explain this convergence of biosciences and energy.

Video embedded from ZDNET

Category: Energy
Year: 2012
Tags: bioenergy, biofuels, electricity, energy

The uncertain future of cleantech subsidies

Garry Golden — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:43:00 -0400

While the fate of a US energy tax bill that includes renewable energy credits remained up in the air on Monday morning, the market implications of federal energy production subsidies are now more clear.

Earlier this month the US Energy Information Agency released a report looking at shifts between 1999 through 2007 for federal energy subsidies. The mechanism with the most direct market influence relates to production tax credits (PTCs). Today, the solar industry is hoping that it will benefit the same way that wind and ethanol have in the past.

Global implications of national subsidies
In all major world economies, public sector subsidies play a key role in the evolution of energy production of traditional and alternative energy sources.

And despite the rhetoric of energy independence surrounding renewable sources of energy, the reality is that energy production based on wind, solar and biofuels is globally integrated across the value chain.

The biofuels industry is a global industry built upon a complex web of financiers, seed companies, producers, refiners, distributors, and equipment manufacturers. Biofuels are also heavily subsidized in the US and Europe.

Solar and wind are no exception. The wind turbine that produces ‘domestic energy’ might have been designed or manufactured abroad. And the future growth of a California solar company is likely dependent on buying ‘foreign’ raw materials or selling units outside the United States. So a dramatic shift in subsidies inside the US, Europe and China will have ripple affect across the world.

Subsidy lessons from wind and ethanol
Subsidies use public resource to assist producers, sellers or buyers in energy specific areas. According to the EIA, the Federal Government spent an estimated $16.6 billion in energy-specific subsidies in 2007- more than than double than 1999 levels.

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: government, politics, tax, energy, production

Moving Toward Zero Energy Homes

Garry Golden — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:56:00 -0400

The era of Zero Energy Home (ZEH) construction has taken another step forward with the announcement of a new US Department of Energy project in Tennessee.

The vision of ‘zero energy homes’ is to transform the residential built environment from a major consumer of energy, to a neutral, or net zero energy environment where the annual amount of energy produced and consumed is equal. More forward looking architects and energy system designers envision homes that are (annually) net producers of energy and able to push energy back into the grid, or fuel vehicles. To arrive at both futures, we must first understand the fundamentals of zero energy home design, on site energy storage and power generation, and home power management systems.

Home Energy Use
While energy consumption patterns in homes vary greatly depending on geography the US DOE estimates that nearly half of the average home’s energy consumption is used for heating, 25 percent for lighting and appliances, 17 percent is used for water heating, 6 percent for cooling rooms, and 5 percent for refrigeration.

A Step Forward – Commercial Construction
The key to making zero energy homes a reality is reducing costs around new construction materials and building processes. Last week the U.S. Department of Energy announced a collaborative proejct between the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee Valley Authority and Schaad Construction to construct and monitor four commercially affordable ‘smart’ homes.

The homes will be designed to maximize energy cooling/heating, apply home power management systems, and tap on site renewable energy generation using passive and photovoltaic solar energy to power high efficiency appliances.

The Next Steps – Smarter Homes

Category: Energy
Year: 2010

2 wheels better than 4? ZeroX Electric Motorcycle

Garry Golden — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:30:00 -0400

The smart money on electric vehicles might be placed on companies building two-wheeled vehicles, not four.

Electric motorcycles and scooters could be cheaper to manufacture given their size and design simplicity. And they are perfect for emerging economies where two-wheeled vehicles are much more common than full sized cars. A number of well known motorcycle brands like Honda have electric two-wheeled models in development, but this could be a category for new brands to emerge and carve our their niche around early adopters.

ZeroX Motorcycles (Santa Cruz, CA) has announced that its 2008 Zero X electric motorcycle has sold out and the company is hoping to generate a lot of buzz at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Cruz – September 26-27th.

The Zero X Electric Motorcycle is targeted at the early adopter market for dirt bikes, but if their core electric propulsion system and lithium-ion battery is solid and flexible enough, it might find a much bigger market abroad in Asia on street bikes.

Two-wheeled electric chassis might have the price point and performance to surprise us!

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: transportation, electricity, energy

Houston, we have a problem! Energy storage

Garry Golden — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:54:36 -0400

Today, the lights are still out for nearly a half million people in Houston, Texas- the ‘energy capital of the world’.

Business Week is reporting that ”...13 days since Hurricane Ike ripped through Texas, and nearly one-quarter of the residents of the fourth-largest U.S. city still don’t have electricity.” (Reporting by Christopher Palmeria)

Is the problem electricity production?
No. The power plants are fine.

The problem is the wires. The grid itself
The network is too vast to repair quickly in the fall out of Hurricane Ike.

The problem is storage.
We have no viable way of storing vast amounts of electricity at the local level.

The solution? Making energy storage a priority and create systems that support a local ‘Electron Reserve’.

What are the big energy lessons from Hurricane Ike?
The modern architecture for electricity grids is antiquated and fragile. Central power plants connected to home wall sockets need to be re-invented around software and storage.

Lesson #1 – Don’t assume the lights will always be on!
Today we just assume that the electricity will always be there. But only five years ago we assumed that the cheap oil would always be there. But how vulnerable is the stream of electrons?

In the US and Europe national electricity grids are aging and in much worse shape than most people might recognize. The current grid structure is highly vulnerable to overloads, bottlenecks and events that can shut down major sections of the grid. And over the next twenty years energy grids will be forced to carry more electricity, not less.

Category: Economics
Year: 2008
Tags: energy, electricity, storage, batteries, fuel, cells, hydrogen

Here comes Big Biopower - What it means for Solar & Wind

Garry Golden — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:03:00 -0400

We have ‘Big Oil’, so why not ‘Big Biopower’? (And what does it mean for the solar and wind industry?)

Enter Adage (Chadds Ford, PA) a new joint venture biomass development company formed by nuclear energy vendor AREVA (Bethesda, MD) and electrical utility giant Duke Energy, N.C).

ADAGE will be focused on enabling green biopower energy solutions for the US electricity market tapping waste organic materials like wood chips.

BioPower via Waste to Energy?
Bio energy means many things. While most people think of biofuels from corn, this first generation ‘food crop’ source is not the future of bioenergy. (Don’t get distracted by corn ethanol, bio energy potential is vast!)

Real bio energy growth is likely to come from a combination of plant, algae/bacteria and organic waste sources. A leading ‘non-food’ crop resource is Jatropha, but biofuels can also use enzyme supported systems (cellulosic ethanol) or applying chemistry to create hydrogen rich fuels from waste streams.

Bio energy also uses the higher conversion efficiencies of carbon-eating algae to produce biodiesel, and hydrogen-breathing bacteria for electricity.

Adage’s bio source will be organic waste materials like wood chips and other combustible organic matter. It is a large utility scale waste to energy strategy. The company has plans to develop standards for a 50 megawatt (MW) plant that would feed directly into the US electrical grid. This biopower plant would deliver electricity to 40,000 households and ‘avoid 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year compared to coal.’

Organic material supplies would come from regional industrial suppliers with excess wood wastes and ‘forestry operations within about a 50-mile radius around the biomass power plant.‘

So Adage will develop projects in regions with well established industries that can deliver steady streams of organic waste. [And it is important to note that waste to energy strategies have an obvious limitation based on amount of waste available.)

‘Combustion() based BioPower, but Carbon Neutral‘
Today, electricity is produced by burning things. The energy released from burning off carbon-hydrogen bonds leads to steam that spins turbines to produce electricity. Adage’s form of ‘waste to energy’ is in essence – carbon neutral.

Adage will be burning (I am verifying this claim. See comment section) organic material (trees / plant material) resulting in CO2 emissions, but that carbon is recaptured by trees and plant life. (Assuming more trees, crops and plant life are replaced!)

It might sound sketchy, but the burning of biomass waste is much better than releasing the massive amount of energy of coal that have been locked away in ground deposits for millions of years. So it is a step forward!

Despite its carbon neutral approach, Big BioPower might be a hard pill to swallow for eco-purists which favors non combustion power generation of solar and wind. The prospect of ‘Big BioPower’ could bring an unexpected twist for solar and wind producers looking to tap ‘renewable energy’ credits for state utilities.

More on Big Biopower’s opportunities and challenges ahead for solar and wind

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: bioenergy, biofuels, electricity, energy

Interactive US Energy Map

Garry Golden — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:11:00 -0400

Here is a simple but wonderful visual tool for understanding the landscape of US energy resources- electricity grid, natural gas lines, solar potential, biomass potential, et al.

We are looking for a global map if anyone wants to forward a note!! [Here is an EPA map Google Earth plug-in, Thanks Sandy]

MSNBC Energy Map of America

Thank you Venessa!

Image source: MSNBC Energy Map of America

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: energy, solar, wind, natural, gas, electricity, biomass, wave

'Growing Energy' - TED Talk by Juan Enriquez

Garry Golden — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:56:00 -0400

Bio energy is a powerful concept.

The idea is simple. Tap the power of biology for energy production, energy conversion, energy storage and carbon utilization.

Why biology?
The most common forms of energy (coal and oil) arrived here via ancient biochemical pathways. Coal is ancient biomass likely ferns. Oil is likely ancient micro organisms that lived in shallow seas. In both cases life (biology) used the power of sunlight to re-arrange carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. (Algae and bacteria are better converters compared to plants and also result in higher hydrogen to carbon ratio.)

Today, we use this ancient bio energy to power our world. When we drive our cars we are burning chemical bonds created by algae and bacteria.

So instead of extracting this ancient bioenergy, why not grow it here?

Growing Energy using Algae and Bacteria
Today there are dozens of bio energy startups tapping the power of plants, algae and bacteria to ‘grow energy’.

The most disruptive idea being explored by startups is to channel coal stack carbon dioxide emissions into water filled bags with carbon-eating algae which can re-purpose carbon and hydrogen into fatty acids which can be used to create liquid biofuels.

‘Growing Energy’ Meme Background
One of the turning points of the ‘growing energy’ meme was a talk delivered by Juan Enriquez at the 2007 T.E.D. Conference. This 18 minute talk is a wonderful first step in answering the question – ‘why biology’?

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: bioenergy, biofuels

Consumers looking to cleantech startups

Garry Golden — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:34:18 -0400

The key word for the cleantech (or alternative energy) world is momentum.

Market conditions change, as do consumer attitudes and expectations. If alternative energy concepts fail to live up to their hype, public support could fade along with political will and policies that enable growth.

Cleantech startups are trying to reach people who are asking ‘What can I do to accelerate changes in energy?’

The formula is relatively straight forward. Consumers buy things so they need to be low cost and easy to use. And moving beyond criticisms of trying to buy or consume ourselves into a greener planet, start ups have to evolve around one of two categories products and services to survive. Today we’ll look briefly at products in home and local power generation.

Cleantech Products
Local power generation is an area that should see solid growth in the years ahead. Producing 10-20% of our own electricity needs could go a long way in reducing emissions and demand on our electrical grid.

Small scale wind and solar systems are ideal for homes, schools, factories and office buildings looking to reduce their demand on the energy grid.

Small Wind Turbines

There are dozens of small wind turbine startups such as AeroVironment, HelixWind, Loopwing, Quiet Revolution and Mariah Power’s Windspire that are now driving residential and commercial sales.

Home Energy’s Energy Ball (pictured) is quiet, works at low wind speed, and can generate up to 500 kilowatt-hours per year, or 1,750 kilowatt-hours per year with the larger 2-meter unit.

Category: Environment
Year: 2012
Tags: solar, wind, electricity

Energy Scanner: Wave power, Smart Grids, Solar Thermal & Tax Credits

Garry Golden — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:22:00 -0400

The Energy Scanner Daily Top 5 highlights some of the best energy category scans submitted to the Future Scanner community.

Portugal’s Agucadoura commercial wave project
Scan by fantasywriter
-The long-term view on wave power potential is positive. But engineers are still trying to figure out the best way forward given the diversity of ocean/tidal currents across regions in the world. Scaling standards for kinetic wave energy could be a challenge.

New ‘snake-like’ wave power concepts
Scan by jvarden
-Unique bio inspired design using a giant rubber tube developed by UK-based BulgeWave

GridPoint grabs more attention, money Scan by Mielle Sullivan
-The big near future disruption to electricity grids is the potent combination of ‘storage’ and ‘software’. GridPoint is a highly regarded ‘smart grid’ company worth watching. The other thing worth watching will be the calculated reaction of utility companies to the changing landscape of power generation! Big battles ahead as business models will be challenged around distributed power management. Storage and software are big disruptors!

-GreenVolts building CPV Project in California
Scan by fantasywriter
-Utility scale solar systems that tap the heat (thermal) power of the sun are widely seen as commercially viable in the near term.

Congress moves forward on Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for alternative energy-
Scan by Mielle Sullivan
-Emerging industries always need public sector help during early stages of development. Clean coal is getting help, deep water drilling is getting help. Alternative energy is no exception. We’re watching as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) legislation works its way through Congress. And the world solar industry is watching to see what happens to the US tax credit extension.

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: solar, wind, ocean, wave, taxes, regulation, government

Detroit to World: Nobody has Killed the Electric Car

Garry Golden — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:31:00 -0400

It is a great time to be a professional futurist working in the automobile sector!! We see clearly how quickly change can happen- and how the public’s most deeply held assumptions about the future can be revised in only a few years.

The recent string of announcements coming from Detroit, Japan, China and the rest of the automotive sector suggest big changes ahead. Yes, it will take years to unfold, but the shift toward the electrification of the world’s transportation sector has begun.

Between 2010-12 consumers can expect to see first generation all-electric vehicles from nearly every major automobile manufacturer. The monopoly era of liquid fuels and the combustion engine has started its descent. By 2025 the industry might be in a position abandon this 19th century propulsion platform and begin a new era of electric propulsion with the help of batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors.

What happened? Accelerating change happened. We are now adjusting our outlook to reflect a convergence of new market conditions, shifts in the regulatory environment and new consumer expectations for positive change. And of course, materials science technology changed.

Detroit (and others) seem to be saying – “Nobody Killed the Electric Car, but would someone Please Kill the Combustion Engine!!

Last week General Motors released production model details for its all-electric extended range Volt. GM now seems to believe that the internal combustion engine might best be used to power the battery not the vehicle itself..

Yesterday Chrysler announced its plans for a full lineup of electric vehicles beginning with a production model in 2010

Who else has made statements about planned electric models for 2010-12? How about Toyota, Renault, BYD (China), Tata (India) and Mitsubishi?! And what about start ups like Tesla, Fisker, Zap, and Morgan.

And that doesn’t include all the aspiring vehicle makers in China and India who might see profits ahead around leap frogging into electric power train systems. Or visionaries in Ohio and Michigan who realize that electric vehicles could be a very good thing for revitalizing the ‘Rust Belt’ around high value added manufacturing. Now we have a green light for politicians to speak confidently about electric cars. The stigma is gone.

Yes, things will take time to change. But the public tends to focus on the new growth rather than the old technologies that fade away slowly. Adoption rates for electric vehicles might surprise us!

And I don’t expect to see Who Killed the Electric Car Part Two.

[Continue—- How Nissan’s Ghosn flip-flopped, what drives the shift towards electrification, and what about hydrogen fuel cells?]

Category: Environment
Year: 2010
Tags: cars, transportation, batteries, fuel, cells, detroit, automobile

The Progressive Automotive X Prize race begins in one year!

Garry Golden — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:18:00 -0400

By jvarden

Formed from an alliance between the X PRIZE Foundation and Progressive Insurance, the $10 million dollar Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE began on March 20, 2008. Progressive Automotive X recognizes the importance of vehicles in the modern American society as well as their environmental and economical impact. Oil dependence and carbon dioxide emissions are the detrimental byproducts of our vehicular independence.

This X Prize goal is to design, construct, and build efficient and clean 100 MPGe (mile per gallon energy equivalent) vehicle that meets all safety standards and could potentially be purchased by customers. Not only do these sixty-plus teams strive for the generous grand prize, but they also create an atmosphere of competition and innovation with a cleaner world in mind.

As the teams who applied to the Progressive Automotive X Prize are quite numerous, the candidate list shall contain those with unique strategies and approaches that made them stand out from the rest of the crowd:

- AirShip Technologies Powered by electric based track-spheres system and bio-diesel, fuel cell, or lithium-ion battery packs
- Aptera Lightweight electric vehicle that is actually classified as a motorcycle
- Atlas Motor Works Revolutionary engine that runs on fuels or compressed air
- Brilliant EV Diesel-electric hybrid with solar panels
- Lydell All-electric drive with a small engine for use when necessary
- MDI/ZPM Compressed air vehicle - Miastrada An airship-shaped body suspended over a six-wheel road-following system with an electric motor
- Myers Motors A one-seat, all-electric motorcycle that plugs into 110 volt outlets
- Revolution Motors Two-seater, pure electric and hybrid that can run on gas or biofuel
- Roane Inventions An electric car that can also drive on a monorail
- Team TWIKE IV A human-electric hybrid vehicle bicycle
- Tesla Motors An all-electric vehicle with a lithium-ion battery
- TTW Vehicles Three-wheel, two-seater electric/hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicle
- XLR8SUN solar-powered and plug-in vehicle

The X Prize race will begin in New York City in September 2009 before moving onto other major metro areas until a contestant meets all the detailed goals.

We will be looking more closely at the leading X Prize candidates in the days and weeks ahead!

Category: Transportation
Year: 2012

Energy Scanner: Electrification of cars; Low cost solar and storage

Garry Golden — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:57:00 -0400

The Energy Scanner Daily Top 5 highlights some of the best energy category scans submitted to the Future Scanner community.

- Chrysler to go electric in 2010
Scan by AJ0111 – Another blow to the future of the internal combustion engine

- Bosch-Samsung joint venture in auto lithium ion batteries
Scan by Garry Golden – Bosch-Samsung venture more signs of big shift towards electric motor vehicles

- Efficient, Cheap Solar Cells 20% efficiency claim by Atlanta startup Suniva
Scan by jvarden – Balancing low-cost and efficiency is the way forward for solar

- DOE Funds 15 Solar Power Storage and Heat Transfer Projects
Scan by jvarden – Storage is critical to expansion of utility scale solar thermal

- Baghdad’s Streets Safer with Solar-Powered Streetlights
Scan by jvarden – Brighter lights in Baghdad

Image by osmininos / Flickr CC

Category: Energy
Year: General
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, batteries, solar, storage

Is Carbon 'the Al Qaeda' of Elements?

Garry Golden — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:04:00 -0400

Carbon is a getting a lot of attention!

You’ve seen the references – carbon emissions, carbon footprint, carbon credits, carbon offsets, carbon calculators, carbon caps, carbon tax, low-carbon economy, post-carbon economy…

This should be a good thing for Eric Roston author of The Carbon Age.

Why is this an important book?

Let’s start with Steven Colbert who asked Eric Roston- Is carbon the ‘Al Qaeda’ of elements?

What is The Carbon Age?
An accessible story of carbon across the ages – from its universal origins to the first biochemical bonds formed with hydrogen, to its combustion in our gasoline gas tank, and a bright future with new nanoscale applications. Roston tells the story of carbon through the lenses of physical cosmology, geochemistry, biology, engineering, energy science, and above all else- how this element has shaped human societies.

Why read it?
I always speak highly of this book! But be prepared. The subtitle ‘How Life’s Core Element Has Becomes Civilization’s Greatest Threat’ is misleading. This is not a book about a crisis. Is not anti-carbon. Roston is not trying to shock you. He is trying to reach your head, not your heart. Roston does not avoid the seriousness of climate change, but does not fall back on simple strategies that avoid the complexities of carbon science.

Roston’s voice and perspective on carbon is fresh. He is incredibly balanced in his delivery, and the undertones of how the carbon age story ends are optimistic. But the first step in addressing the challenges of this Industrial Age’s massive release of carbon into the atmosphere is to understand how it got there- and why chemical bonds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are so important to society. All this is delivered in under 250 pages!

[Continue – on my reaction to ‘The Carbon Age’ and the importance of chemical energy, time and biology.]

Category: Environment
Year: General
Tags: book, review, carbon, hydrogen, energy

How do you see the Future of Energy? (Poll)

Garry Golden — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:06:00 -0400

Futurists often use scenario archetypes of world views to speak in general terms about forecasts on the future.

When most people talk about the future of energy their core set of assumptions fall into one or two major forecasts of change. These four archetype scenarios are useful in revealing the wide spectrum of assumptions about the future:

‘Green’ forecasts of the future of energy are usually oriented towards strategies that address climate change issues and advance the growth of cleantech industries. The core assumption is the emergence of an entirely new energy industry built around new low-cost renewable technologies and the rapid shift away from traditional hydrocarbons. Critics argue that these forecasts often overestimate the rate of change, the complexities of energy science and the push back from the powerful landscape of industry incumbents. But proponents believe that this ‘cleantech’ future taps the disruptive power of breakthrough science and technology, and entrepreneurial business that could re-write the rules of energy systems. ‘Green’ and Cleantech are a big memes in the future of energy!

‘Business-as-usual’ forecasts expect marketplace forces to shape the future. What does the future look like? Simply extrapolate today’s energy sector forward! They imagine the same players, relationships and attitudes towards energy to continue. These forecasts are based on compelling realities of incumbent business interests, ‘growth at any cost’ attitudes within emerging economies, and the market value of traditional hydrocarbon energy resources. Critics believe that these ‘business as usual’ forecasts often underestimate the long-term implications of disruptive change and advances in science, engineering, regulatory shifts and new business models. We believe new memes will emerge around ‘business-as-usual’ forecasts like the ‘greening of hydrocarbons’ and that the incumbents will rapidly expand the role of biology (bio energy) in carbon utilization (e.g. algae biofuels)!

Read on—‘Techno-optimist’ and ‘Overshoot & Collapse’

Category: Environment
Year: 2018

Biofuels, Home solar panels, China plug-ins, and Smart grid

Garry Golden — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:28:00 -0400

The Energy Scanner Daily Top 5 highlights some of the best energy category scans submitted to the Future Scanner community.

Shell funds biofuels research
Scan by fantasywriter

Wisconsin researchers evolve biofuel catalyst
Scan by Garry Golden

Berkeley, CA approves solar panel loans
Scan by obsolescence

China preparing for plug-in vehicles
Scan by Garry Golden

Google & GE to advance ‘Smart Grid’?
Scan by fantasywriter

Image by squidish on Flickr (CC-Remix)

Category: Environment
Year: General

Unplugging our Gadgets? The Future of Portable Power

Garry Golden — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:30:00 -0400

It is no secret that the energy delivered by batteries has failed to keep pace with the growing demands of power-hungry consumer products. We all deal with the inconvenience of batteries and plugging in to recharge!

Meanwhile, the multi-billion market for batteries will continue to grow exponentially in the years ahead as more people around the globe cling to advanced consumer electronics. This means more people will be dependent on cords, plugging in and recharging batteries.

The winning combination of qualities in micro-power systems is simple: low cost, long-life, high energy density, quick recharge or refill, non toxic, and safe (e.g. chemical stability and heat management).

Today, portable power means one source- lithium ion batteries (Li-ion). Unfortunately Li-ions suffer from bad chemistry. As manufacturers try to cram more energy into lithium-ion batteries, more heat is generated and the device runs a higher risk of a runaway reaction and fire. The good news is that nanoscale science and engineering is expanding the list of potential solutions to Li-ions problems.

There are a number of promising start ups innovating around nanoscale electrodes, separation membranes and new compounds that could allow lithium ions to grow their market leadership position. Boston-Power Inc, ActaCell, and Lion are start ups with impressive academic institution foundations. So their science seems strong!

Then there are the rapidly rising stars of Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. and A123 Systems who might skip over portable power applications for a potentially more lucrative role for Li-ions in automotive applications.

But let’s think beyond lithium ions. What options exist beyond today’s highest performing consumer batteries? And is there a chance that we might go ‘cord-free’ someday?

How about Silver-zinc batteries and methanol-based micro fuel cells?

Read on…

Category: Energy
Year: 2018
Tags: energy, batteries, fuel, cells, micro, methanol

Energy Grand Challenges for the 21st Century

jvarden — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:20:11 -0400

“If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” – Abraham Lincoln.

Grand Challenges can be defined as fundamental problems in need of solutions. An Energy Grand Challenge is indeed what its name implies – a competition to be challenged and won in regard to energy use, sustainability, cost, and efficiency.

Multiple teams enter as candidates to reach the goal, whether it is a certain level of fuel efficiency, carbon dioxide removal, or future energy solutions. The winner receives a prize, usually in the form of a generously large sum of money. But the Challenge’s impact, however, is not only on the team that wins the grand prize, but the technology that springs from the research, which can expand its positive influence to affect the world.

Category: Environment
Year: 2008
Tags: energy, grand, challenge, environment, transportation

A Futurist's Guide to the Cars of 2020 (Part 1)

Garry Golden — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:21:00 -0400

Imagine stepping into a local car dealership in 2020.

Does that new car look familiar by today’s standards? Or has it evolved in shape and style?

What powers that car of the near future in 2020?

Hybrids, plug-ins, electric motors, diesel engines, ethanol blends, biodiesel, synthetic fuels, veggie power, air power, natural gas, solar, batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, or the flux capacitor?

There are many ideas out there that could re-shape the auto industry in the next decade, but none is more important than how we power our vehicles.

If you are confused by the mixed messages you see in the media – welcome to our Futurist’s Guide to the Cars of 2020 (Part 1- Powering the Car)

Q: What powers my new car in 2020?

We have two basic choices – liquid fuels or electrons.

Internal Combustion Engines (I.C.E.) use liquid fuels such as gasoline, next generation biofuels (bio-gasoline or biodiesel equivalents) or synthetic fuels. By 2020 most combustion engine vehicles are likely to accommodate a wide range of liquid fuels- but we expect that gasoline will retain its market position.

Electric motors use electrons fed by batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and capacitors. Despite the mis-representation in most media reports, there is no fundamental difference between ‘electric’ cars and ‘hydrogen fuel cell’ vehicles – both use streams of electrons to power high performance electric motors. The phrase ‘electrification’ of the transportation sector includes electricity from batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.

Q: What are the differences?

Category: Energy
Year: 2020
Tags: energy, transportation, electricity, hydrogen, batteries, fuel, cells

GM’s Plan to Reinvent the Automobile: R.I.P. Combustion Engine

Garry Golden — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:53:57 -0400

General Motors is not afraid of the future. And it is not afraid to let go of the past.

On Tuesday the company released details of its production version of ‘Volt’ – the industry’s first Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV) that will go into production in 2010.

And this is only the beginning.

GM’s plan to reinvent the auto industry starts with killing the combustion engine.

We believe the company has three strategies for the future:

#1 The Real Revolution is about Manufacturing

GM knows that in the next automobile revolution – it is not how you fuel a car that matters, it’s how you build it.

GM cares less about the price of oil, than it cares about the cost and complexities of building cars around the mechanical combustion engine. The Volt is important because the combustion engine is relegated to a new temporary task – recharge the batteries. The 21st century auto industry begins when we shift to modularity of electric motors (e.g. lower manufacturing costs, fewer factories).

#2 Design Matters

GM knows that design matters, and the bulky, mechanical combustion engine holds them back. If you eliminate the engine and regain 1/3rd of the vehicle chassis you can rethink how cars are built. Transition to ‘drive by wire’ systems for steering and braking – and you open up new potential for vehicle designs and upgrades.

#3 The breakthrough is Electric motors, not the batteries

GM knows auto-engineering. High performance electric motors have arrived. Now we need to develop systems to deliver the streams of electrons. The future of the automobile is not ‘all’ battery or ‘all’ fuel cell – it’s both.

The electric car is not an iPod. The battery is not our end game. It is merely one piece of the puzzle for electric propulsion. Batteries might have a short-term commercialization advantage, but the platform might struggle to evolve into the 21st century. The chemistry is bad. The costs are too high, and the performance is adequate at best. Future electric propulsion systems will integrate all three systems – batteries, fuel cells and capacitors.

Looking beyond the Chevy Volt

The GM Volt is big – because it is the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine. R.I.P.

GM’s real revolutionary vision is not the Chevy Volt, but its AUTOnomy concept.

That vision starts with simple idea– skateboard kills car.

Then the industry uses the principles of modular design and manufacturing to change the cost structure of how cars are built, bought, sold and upgraded.

Read on…

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: car, transportation, automobile, energy, electricityhydrogen, fuel, cells, battery

MIT’s solar hydrogen storage ‘breakthrough’ – What’s all the fuss about?

Garry Golden — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:35:23 -0400

By Garry Golden

Last week bloggers across the web from sites dealing with energy, the environment, tech gadgets, mainstream business and policy pushed up MIT’s press release of a major breakthrough in ‘solar-hydrogen energy storage.’

Engadget asked is the energy crisis solved?, Treehugger mirrored MIT’s spin of this Giant Leap and blog Comment sections were flooded with posts ranging from curiosity and praise to flames from skeptics.

The announcement came from the lab of MIT’s Daniel Nocera with work from Post-doc Matthew Kanan. The breakthrough was a low-cost catalyst able to use sunlight to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.

The twist? The catalyst is made of cheap, earth-abundant materials (cobalt-phosphates), works at room temperature and is designed for a low scale production ‘energy appliance’ units (not major centralized power plants).

Why the excitement?

It is a cost breakthrough for distributed hydrogen production and an advance from basic science to engineering for oxygen. The MIT approach also hints at how small energy appliances could become someday. And the media is reporting on the importance of energy ‘storage’.

MIT’s ‘giant leap’ was the most hyped story of the week and also likely the least understood.

So why is energy storage potentially disruptive for the future of the energy sector? (Continued)

Category: Transportation
Year: General
Tags: energy, fuel, cells, hydrogen, nanotechnology, power