New Energy: "I'll Follow the Sun"

The Economist has this week a great survey on the future of energy production; as you would expect from the Economist, it summarizes the most important research in the field (wind, solar, bio-energy, etc), weeds the hype behind the current "greener than tough" PR greenwashing, and sticks to it's common sense focus on the economic value of these new technologies. Here's how it's all positioned:

SINCE the industrial revolution 200 years ago, mankind has depended on fossil fuel. The notion that this might change is hard to contemplate. Greens may hector. Consciences may nag. The central heating's thermostat may turn down a notch or two. A less thirsty car may sit in the drive. But actually stop using the stuff? Impossible to imagine: surely there isn't a serious alternative?

Such a failure of imagination has been at the heart of the debate about climate change. The green message—use less energy—is not going to solve the problem unless economic growth stops at the same time. If it does not (and it won't), any efficiency saving will soon be eaten up by higher consumption per head. Even the hair-shirt option, then, will bring only short-term relief. And when a dire prophecy from environmentalism's jeremiad looks as if it is coming true, as the price of petroleum rises through the roof and the idea that oil might run out is no longer whispered in corners but openly discussed, there is a temptation to believe that the end of the world is, indeed, nigh.

So the Cassandras should get pragmatic and look around; the best way to summarize this chase for alternative energy is summarized by The Economist with a Beatles song title, or as they graphically put it:

So it's "Keep It Sunny", apparently... Either you harvest the energy from the sun directly or let nature do its thing and harvest one of the "by-products" (even wind is a result of sun stirring the atmosphere). There is promising research along the whole path between the sun and the fuel.

To me, it was a good information source and I learned a lot about the technologies and trends. I can read through it and eventually make up investment advice, it I am to believe that the next bubble comes from alternative energy (make up your own mind, I'm not that reliable with investment advise :) ). Or, if you think of switching jobs and work in the alternative energy, the names mentioned in the articles are likely to be the next great companies.

Read them, save them and, last but not least, see there is hope and the economic value starts making business sense, so the money will follow. (There's an offer to buy the whole PDF. Read it soon if you're not a subscriber, the links might require a password soon.)

Contributed by "Hubby, the Economist reading geek".

Green Freedom™ - A New Concept

Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) came out with a new concept, called Green Freedom™. The project proposes the production of carbon-neutral, sulfur-free fuels and organic chemicals from air and water. Green Freedom™ is using the carbon-neutral to remove carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere, split the water into the hydrogen and oxygen, and then convert the hydrogen and the carbon-dioxide into synthetic fuels and organic chemicals. Their objective is to create a fuel that will work with existing vehicle and aircraft infrastructure.

"Among Green Freedom™ compelling advantages, it:

• Uses benign materials that are abundant supply as its chemical feeds;
• Produces carbon-neutral, sulfur-free liquid fuels and organic chemicals;
• Permits continued use of the existing industrial and transportation infrastructure;
• Enhances US energy and material security by reducing dependence on imported oil;
• Reduces the need for intrusive exploration and extraction of natural gas, oil, coal, etc.;
• Limits the environmental impact of the production facility and power assist waste stream;
• Limits pressure on agricultural capacity;
• Has the potential to stabilize energy prizes."

The major worries associated with this new project are the capital and operating costs; these worries cannot be reduced until performance data is generated for the capturing and recovering of carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere and more detailed designs and analysis are developed. If this concept is feasible, it remains to be seen. However, it is exciting to add another technology to the growing list of alternative energy sources.

California Green Roofs (rather: Shiny Ones)

In California there's so much sunshine it's always a pity it all goes to waste... It would be nice if we could turn our roofs into generators and feedback the power into the grid. You'll say: way too much pain, why would I replace my roof, yada yada... But, if you own a condo or townhouse and your roof is a HOA property, solar roofs become a possible way of lowering your HOA monthly bill: replace all roofs with solar panels, feed back energy into the grid -- and take care of the HOA electrical bill, roof maintenance and have some left over (hopefully).

Of course it takes a feasibility study and all, but it sounds reasonably sound at the surface. But it should be all possible since Al Gore did it! :) That's his roof in the image.

Here's a piece of news that makes it all interesting: because it requires the utilities to cooperate and there's an incentive to generate all the energy and feed it back to the grid. In case the link goes bust, here's the soundbite:

"Homeowners, businesses and farms that produce renewable energy should be paid by utilities for the excess power they send to the state grid, Assemblyman Jared Huffman says.

[...]

Huffman said utilities should be required to pay for excess power from all renewable energy technologies at a rate set by the state Public Utilities Commission. That would encourage residents to produce as much energy as they can.

"They've been zeroing out their own bills but get nothing else out of it," Huffman said of the contest winners. "We need to change the policy for those who do have solar panels - the message is they should not be efficient because it saves the utilities money and not themselves."

Huffman said the bill will be heard before the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee as early as March."

Search in CA Senate site for Assembly Bill 1920 from Feb 8th 2008 (or try here with little hope) for the text of the bill if you're in the mood for some legalese...