NewEnergyNews: WHAT’S THE NEW NEW ENERGY?/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

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    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

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    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

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      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

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    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Tuesday, August 19, 2008

    WHAT’S THE NEW NEW ENERGY?

    The current debate in the U.S. Congress shows clearly that a large minority of elected representatives means “oil” when it says “energy,” primarily because polls show the U.S. electorate hears “gas pump prices” when it hears energy.

    The bulk of the electorate seems to like the ideas of solar energy and wind energy, but only because they sound free or because they sound like energies that don’t come from the Persian Gulf.

    The newest ideas in New Energy mostly remain of interest to geeks, hobbyists and futurists among the population at large. Why? Well, here’s how one writer described some of the new ideas:

    Robert S. Boyd, Sacramento Bee: “Kites, waves, tides, ocean currents, geysers, garbage, cow manure, old utility poles, algae and bacteria are being enlisted in the effort to lower the world's reliance on climate-warming coal and oil…Researchers are even trying artificial photosynthesis, producing electricity by imitating the way that green plants exploit the sun's energy…”

    Such ideas simply sound (at best) exotic and expensive to the bulk of the public, certainly nothing anybody sensible would fuel their car or heat their house with.

    These ideas are nonetheless compelling topics of debate in Silicon Valley. Up there, ambitious entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for the new new thing. Many have come to the conclusion they will find it in New Energy. That’s why the Sacramento Bee, one of Silicon Valley’s most popular dailies, took a look at some of the latest of the energy ideas on the cutting edge.

    Boyd, Sacramento Bee: “Most of these ideas may never make economic or technological sense. It's always possible, however, that a daffy-sounding scheme could turn out to be the next Google, GPS, Facebook or similar breakthrough.”


    It might seem "daffy" but it cuts trans-Atlantic shipping energy costs 20%. (click to enlarge)

    Energy hunters explore seafloor turbines, giant kites
    Robert S. Boyd, August 17, 2008 (Sacramento Bee)

    WHO
    Researchers seeking the next source of New Energy, the source that will be the next breakthrough; the folks who fund them

    WHAT
    One of Silicon Valley’s most widely read dailies took a quick look at experiments with wave, tide and current energies, with advanced wind concepts and with a very recent advancement solar energy.

    No ocean energy technology has yet emerged as the obvious best.(click to enlarge)

    WHEN
    - Wave energy prototypes and testing are ongoing.
    - A Gulf Stream current harvesting turbine will be tested in 2009.
    - The new Severn River tidal energy barrage is modeled on a French barrage that has harvested energy for 40 years.
    - Beluga Shipping’s ocean-going freighter-pulling SkySails worked in 2007.

    WHERE
    - The European Wave Energy Centre is in Lisbon, Portugal.
    - Early experiements in harvesting wave energy are ongoing off the coast of Oregon, off Hawaii, off the coast of Portugal and off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
    - Currents like the Gulf Stream 13 to15 miles off the east coast of Florida have large energy potential. Harvesting of the Manhattan’s East River current energy has been tested.
    - The $29 billion barrage on England’s Severn River Estuary is one of the foremost experiments in tide energy. It is modeled on a smaller barrage in France.
    - Beluga Shipping, based in Germany, designed a kite (SkySail) that pulled a freighter 12,000 miles across the Atlantic.
    - Makani Power is based in northern California.

    WHY
    - Many ideas sound “daffy” at first glance but a small number turn out to be important breakthroughs.
    - Many good energy ideas fail because they are more expensive than prevailing if less desirable forms of energy.
    - Environmentalists have usually resisted New Energy developments until satisfied every effort has been made to accommodate nature.
    - The European Wave Energy Centre lists 63 such projects (ex: Wave Dragon, WaveRoller, Manchester Bobber, Poseidon's Organ).
    - Wave energy devices mostly attempt to capture the up and down or in and out movement of the waves.
    - The energy of certain ocean currents, especially the Gulf Stream, could be captured. The Gulf Stream flows steadily north at 5 mph. A turbine in it could send power to shore via a seafloor cable.
    - The energy of river currents can also be captured.
    - Powerful and predictable tide current energy can also be captured. The Severn Estuary’s tides can turn turbines like traditional hydroelectric power as they rise and fall 48 feet.
    - The Beluga Shipping freighter-pulling 520-square-foot SkySail cut the ship’s energy use 20%.
    - Makani Power is experimenting with kites that would harvest very high, very strong, very steady wind energies.
    - Daniel Nocera, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chemist, has found a way to mimic photosynthesis – using sunlight to split water into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) - with cheap, abundant materials as catalysts. The H2 and O2 can then be stored and combined in a fuel cell to create electricity.

    The long-dreamed of solar energy storage is a step closer and Silicon Valley VCs' hearts are atwitter. (click to enlarge)

    QUOTES
    - Chang Mei, ocean engineering expert, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "No design has yet emerged to be the winner…"
    - Robert S. Boyd, Sacramento Bee: “Scouring the Earth for new sources of clean, renewable energy, scientists and engineers are exploring some unusual nooks and crannies… They mostly depend on government subsidies, and probably the continued high price of oil, to make them competitive with the old standbys.”

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