Year of Energy 2009

contributed by:
Edward Rouse Pryor
gobbledyhaha (at) juno.com
772-468-4646
posted November 17, 2009

Summary: Just when public policy leadership has embraced as gospel the concept of man-induced atmospheric carbon dioxide as the cause of global warming, there is emerging evidence that CO₂ and man have nothing to do with global warming or climate change. If the erroneous belief that atmospheric CO₂ is responsible for global warming is incorporated into public policy legislation the unnecessary extra energy cost will be incalculable.
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J. A. Van Vechten, PureGeneration (UK) Ltd., Hillsboro, OR. email: javanvec (at) msn.com

posted November 10, 2009

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Abstract:
The overall problems for the energy-climate crisis are logistics and transportation (L&T), i.e., matching the locations, times, and amounts of supply to the location, times, and amounts of demand. The solution is to produce, at renewable and sustainable (R&S) source points, a chemical fuel that is practicable to collect, transport, store, and to distribute to demand regions. The most economic new R&S source now available is that of ideally located wind turbines. With current technology, electricity from wind turbines could be used to make enough ammonia-based fuel to relieve almost all our need for fossil fuel. In particular, this paper presents the fuel potential of guanidine, guanidine-urea alloys, and guanidine-alcohol solutions that could serve as carriers for ammonia or hydrogen. The potentials of ammonia and methanol are also discussed. If the hydrogen for any of these fuels is produced by electrolysis of saltwater, the resulting NaOH byproduct can remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and allow for climate recovery. Meanwhile, the HCl byproduct can be used in local mining operations to produce valuable commodities, and/or it can be sequestered as chlorides. The sequestered chlorides, the carbonates, and the mined pits can be used to geoengineer hydroelectric facilities.
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We ran across this showy little interactive feature from Scientific American recently. It’s part of their ongoing coverage of energy issues, and goes along with their November cover story (which is available by subscription only.)

I’m very curious to hear what you all think of the feature. Has anybody accessed and read the full story? Is the online feature useful on its own? I know some of our white paper authors will take issue with the conclusions! In any case, comments are welcome!

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Saurabh H. Mehta, Centre for Energy Environment and Education (CEEE), India. email: smh048 (at) gmail.com

posted November 6, 2009

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Abstract: Worldwide growth of economy and population has caused an immense increase in demand for energy. Furthermore, energy prices have always been volatile. These trends are expected to continue and even worsen in coming years. These trends create both pressure and opportunities in the steel industry to seek new technologies for conservation, substitution of fuels, and ultimately the development of new steelmaking processes which are environmentally friendly. Such measures are intended to reduce the steel industry’s reliance on energy sources, as well as the volume of greenhouse gases it introduces to the environment. This paper discusses a technology to improve the energy efficiency of the Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) in the steelmaking process by utilizing the heat of the waste gases from the EAF to generate steam that can be used in other applications within the steel plant.
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Dr. Solomon Zaromb, Zaromb Research Corp., Burr Ridge, IL 60527, email address: zarombs (at) cs.com
Dr. Joseph R. Stetter, Professor of Chemistry, Illinois Institute of Technology

posted November 2, 2009

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Abstract: Aluminum as a safe and compact means of energy storage and hydrogen generation is obtainable immediately from presently unutilized waste and in future years from an emissions-free process. Salvageable aluminum waste should be highly advantageous for stationary power backups, for electric motor boats, and for economizing fuel by injecting hydrogen into the intake manifold of internal combustion engines, but there is not enough of it at present for powering a sufficient number of electric automobiles to seriously impact global warming. This paper is therefore restricted to the above three immediately realizable applications, keeping in mind that it should eventually be possible to produce enough inexpensive aluminum without adding CO₂ to the atmosphere by restricting the power supplied to its production plants to carbon-free sources, sequestering plant emissions, and using an inert anode-wetted cathode process.
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Kevin DeGroat, Antares Group Incorporated (kdegroat (at) antares.org)
Joseph Morabito, Alcatel/Lucent (morabito (at) alcatel-lucent.com)
Terry Peterson, Solar Power Consultant (terry.peterson (at) mindspring.com)
Greg P. Smestad, Sigma Xi Member, Sol Ideas Technology Development & Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells Journal (smestad (at) solideas.com)

posted November 1, 2009

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Abstract: A Systems Analysis for the solar energy industry and solar R&D is presented to identify key positive reinforcements that can accelerate the adoption of solar technologies through a process of solar value creation. Such an analysis can also identify constraints that can decelerate solar technology adoption, as well as points of leverage where investment and R&D can have the most positive impact. The approach can also be useful for explaining solar energy to a wide range of decision makers and to the public. It emphasizes two major, related challenges in achieving widespread, rapid adoption of solar energy technologies in time to have a significant impact on global energy and environmental problems. The first concerns integration of solar-generated electricity with the electric grid and this is facilitated by a “Smart Grid” infrastructure. The second challenge involves the means to continue to drive down manufacturing and deployment costs for solar energy systems and to expand manufacturing capability in order to accelerate deployment of solar energy systems. This is closely tied to market supply chain transformation that considers each step in the technology’s manufacturing and installation. The Systems Analysis suggests that there are three high leverage points: research on Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS), Systems Dynamics Modeling, and a Solar Industry Supply Chain Consortium. Although such an analysis is now widely accepted in the telecommunications industry, it has yet to be applied to the solar industry until now.

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