energy
sheril | September 10, 2008This week's energy topic is geothermal and this one's not making the news as much... yet. But keep an eye on it, folks. Over at NexGen, I start with the basics:
Since I'm a closet classicist, let's start by breaking down geothermal from the Greek, Gus Portokalos style:
Okay. Geothermal comes from the Greek word geo, meaning earth, and therme, meaning heat. So, what do you energize your house with? You see: Heat from the earth. Geothermal. There you go!
So the source of geothermal energy is heat below the Earth's surface. Steam and hot water generated there provide electricity and…
sheril | September 5, 2008by Philip H.
DISCLAIMER - The opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author alone. They do NOT represent the official opinion, policy, or action of any governmental agency the author may work for or have ever worked for at the county, state or federal level. If you do not like the content or opinions, contact the author, not your Congressmen.
As one of the largest users of electricity in the U.S., the federal government has both an obligation, and an opportunity to help with global carbon emissions. You see, much of that electricity powers the computers that federal…
revere | September 4, 2008McCain wants to go full speed ahead for nuclear power (that's a maverick's way of dealing with climate change?) and Obama seems to feel friendly to it, too, as long as the waste disposal issue can be solved, satisfactorily (which it doesn't seem it can be, but that's another story). Everyone agrees that nuclear power has to be managed safely if we are going to rely on it to any extent and we are always given assurances that this is not only possible but what happens as a matter of course, no exceptions. To make sure, government plans are reviewed by independent experts. Too bad we can't see…
sheril | September 3, 2008Over at NexGen, it's the Obama McCain Energy Smackdown:
Okay ladies and gentlemen............. Let's get ready to rumble! Two candidates. Two possible administrations. Energy policy. Doesn't get much more relevant than that.
Both are Senators who say they'd like to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil, fight global warming, and cap greenhouse gas emissions with increased focus on nuclear power. What partisan politics? Time to dig a little deeper...
Since Obama already answered the 14 questions posed by ScienceDebate2008 laying out his perspectives, here's a peak at McCain's position…
rallain | August 28, 2008I recently saw a comment on a blog somewhere about putting satellites into space (I think it was from a post about a rocket that blew up). The poster suggested using a giant catapult to put things in space instead of rockets. Maybe he or she was kidding, or maybe not. But I have heard this idea before. Would it work?
First, how do things get in orbit? Orbit is a motion in which the gravitational force on an object makes it move in a circle around another object. In order to be in a circular orbit, it takes a certain amount of energy.
Let me just start with some calculations. How fast…
sheril | August 27, 2008A new skyline for the greatest and greenest city in the world?
Just imagine: It's 2018 and you stare up at the Brooklyn Bridge's gently revolving turbines. The taxis whir by, roasted nuts scent the crisp afternoon air, and you watch the giant windmill atop the Empire State Building turn round...
The scene might not be all that far-fetched. Maybe. You see, just last week Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he wants to harness the power of wind throughout the city to generate a lot more electricity. He's proposed placing them on bridges, skyscrapers, and building turbines in the Hudson…
rallain | August 26, 2008Heat. You have heard it before. You have used it. I have even used it. Do we need this word? No. Is this a useful word? No.
Let me start with the definition as usually stated in a physics type text: (this is from [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heat))
*heat:* a nonmechanical energy transfer with reference to a temperature difference between a system and its surroundings or between two parts of the same system.
This definition is fine. It is not wrong, but is it needed? Not really. Couldn't we just say energy transfer? Actually, I like to use this in the…
revere | August 23, 2008There's a lot of concern about the environmental effects of drilling for oil off the US coast, but I don't buy it. Yes, I know it won't produce any meaningful amount of oil, ever, and no oil at all for years. But that's a technicality. Politically it's a compelling idea and even though it won't do any good, what's the harm? Drilling for oil in coastal marine environments is perfectly safe. Experts from the oil and gas industry have said this is true and who would know better?
In fact, who has more experience with oil on the high seas? These guys have been shipping oil on the world's oceans…
sheril | August 21, 2008Yesterday, I wrote about financial speculators and their impacts on commodity markets, focusing on oil. Here, Stephen Colbert and Stephen Colbert play three-card Monte to explain what's going on:
sheril | August 20, 2008I'm taking on speculation in commodity markets over at NexGen:
The trouble is financial speculators. The world's growing middle class is buying more food and oil and investing in large institutional commodity markets. In other words, traders are betting on rising prices.
So don't look to ANWR and offshore drilling as the solution to high oil prices. Look to the traders who do not pass price fall benefits to the consumer. The trend has not gone unnoticed in the US and the Senate is now considering legislation aimed at cutting the cost of petrol and heating oil by ending excessive…
revere | August 20, 2008Everyone seems to agree about one thing concerning Vice President Cheney's senior aide, F. Chase Hutto III. He never met an environmental regulation he didn't just hate and oppose on principle. According to the Washington Post he has been instrumental in keeping our air and water dirtier than it needs to be. Just another day at the office in the Bush administration. Now, in the waning days of the Bush Reich, they want to name him a high official in the Department of Energy where he will in charge of policies related to climate change. The foundation of the climate change debate is the science…
sheril | August 13, 2008This week at NexGen, we're tackling solar power:
We hear about it all the time... Solar power as a renewable energy source. Not a bad idea considering that spectacular star of ours isn't burning out anytime soon. According to Scientific American, a massive transition to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of U.S. electricity and 35 percent of our total energy by 2050--with $420 billion in subsidies to fund the infrastructure that would make it cost-competitive. So is a solar future really on the horizon and possible on that scale?
Naturally, your resident blogger has a few…
cmooney | August 8, 2008That's the title of my latest Science Progress column. The argument is that amid all this talk about energy, we need to get the scientific community as a whole more integrally involved--and indeed, get American science as an institution to fully embrace what will surely be its new, generational mission: Pursue the energy innovations that will save our economy, our climate, and our planet.
Now, to be sure, the idea that we need energy innovation is already out there, big time--but its poster child today is basically T. Boone Pickens, rather than any scientist. That's got to change.
You can…
j7uy5 | August 3, 2008There are other, more interesting things to write about. But
someone is WRONG on the Internet, so it must be corrected.
Moreover, we must speculate about the rationale for this
blatant
misstatement. And wonder why it was printed in a prominent
newspaper.
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/31/AR2008073102824.html">Pelosi:
Save the Planet, Let Someone Else Drill
Friday, August 1, 2008
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes lifting the
moratorium on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on
the Outer Continental Shelf. She won't even allow it…
sheril | July 31, 2008
Speaking of energy... As gas prices topped $4 a gallon this summer, Exxon Mobil has posted a new profit record which works out to bringing in $1,485.55 a second. Go figure.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil once again reported the largest quarterly profit in U.S. history Thursday, posting net income of $11.68 billion on revenue of $138 billion in the second quarter.
How about reinvesting some of the profits tax toward alternative energy research, eh? More at CNN...
sheril | July 30, 2008This week at NexGen we're taking on nuclear energy, but be assured your resident blogger has some serious reservations. Two words: Radioactive Waste.
High-level radioactive waste is too irradiated for normal industrial disposal because exposure would pose a general health hazard to human and animal populations. Going nuclear means producing substances that can never be released back into the normally recycling industrial environment. Ever.
And of course, there's Yucca Mountain:
Oh and don't forget that pesky concern over how to transport radioactive waste from different parts of the…
cmooney | July 23, 2008
So: Dolly, which is now lashing southern Texas as a borderline Category 1/Category 2 storm, wasn't the big one. It wasn't a Katrina or a Rita--a storm capable of shutting down all Gulf oil production.
On the other hand, if you're the type to worry then it's not irrelevant that we're staring down what could be a very bad hurricane season--and one Gulf storm in the wrong place could lead to a dramatic gas price spike. Given the vulnerability of our economy right now, that's not something we could easily handle.
My latest Science Progress column, entitled "The Perfect Storm," addresses this…
sheril | July 23, 2008This week's question at NexGen asks us about what policies are necessary toward diversification of energy sources on a national and international level. Are we ready--economically, politically, and technologically--to accept and expand in so many directions?
Many have predictably taken issue with Gore's vision toward 2018, and I discussed the challenge with friend and colleague Eric Roston--author of this summer's must read, 'The Carbon Age'* and blogger at Carbon Nation. For our perspective, read my post at NexGen...
* If you haven't picked 'The Carbon Age' up yet, do! Roston's book is…
j7uy5 | July 18, 2008The House is considering
legislation that would do two things: force oil companies to
give up unused leases, and ban the export of oil from Alaska.
It's brilliant because it highlights the absurd
fallacy: that opening up more land for drilling would lower gas prices.
The fact is, oil companies already have leases that they are
sitting on, not drilling on.
Opening up more land for oil leases will not cause them to drill more
oil. It'd be like putting more gas in the tank of a
driverless car. Putting more gas in the tank will not enable
the car to go farther. The car will go nowhere,…
sheril | July 16, 2008This week at Next Generation Energy we're taking on the question of input and output. Can we--and should we--balance the production of biofuels with food production? And to add complexity, I'm asked to forecast our transportation needs down the line and predict whether sustainable biofuels will play a role. Tall order, eh?
A recent world bank report leaked to The Guardian suggests that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75%. But really, have biofuels acted independently? Doubtful. While it's possible their production has contributed to the high costs we're seeing today, the…