Category Archives: Zero-combustion paradigm

Focus on Tech Innovation Could Move Climate Bill to Passage

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CafeSentido.com :: Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) this week called for a move toward building consensus for a scaled back version of the climate legislation pending in the United States Senate. Two possible models, given the nature of the Kerry-Lieberman proposal, as written, would be to either establish at the federal level the kind of cooperative emissions reduction strategy already adopted by a coalition of states across the northeast or a limit on total carbon emissions from power plants only.

25 states, plus the District of Columbia, have renewable electricity standards, a requirement that a certain percentage of power generation come from clean renewable resources, by a certain year. 3 more states have voluntary RES goals, and there are incentives both at the state and federal level for power utilities to develop expanded renewable generating capacity. The state of New Jersey has quickly risen to 2nd nationwide in solar power generation, behind California, despite having no sun-scorched deserts and little eligible open space which is not protected.

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Citizens Climate Lobby Takes Campaign to Capitol Hill

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Between June 21 and 25, Citizens Climate Lobby took its message to Capitol Hill, meeting with 52 different members of Congress, or their energy and climate staff, in both the House and the Senate. The first CCL national conference was fortuitously timed, as the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought into stark relief the nature of the carbon-fuel problem and the urgent need for action to achieve a civilization-wide overhaul of energy infrastructure, and the climate bill pending in the Senate may not have the votes to override a filibuster.

The “Lobby Day” experience was part of the first annual CCL National Conference, in the nation’s capital. The landmark event brought together climate scientists, oceanographers, environmental engineers, economists, activists, community leaders, small business owners and concerned citizens, to deliver the message to members of both parties that citizens from the community, their own constituents, will support them if they take meaningful, comprehensive action to combat climate destabilization.

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Renewable Energy is Not an Ideological Issue

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There is nothing ideological about the issue of renewable energy resources. Proponents tend to care about the health of the natural environment, which motivates their wish to see renewables replace high-polluting resources like oil and coal, but the technologies, the fact of their economic viability and their usefulness for society at large, are not in any way a matter of ideology.

Neither is there anything ideological about the allegiance of some to carbon-based fuels. The considerations are entirely practical on all sides, and we need to remember this as we try to find consensus on how to move forward, responsibly, as a civilization, in terms of our relationship to energy and the environment.

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Obama Commits to National Mission for Clean Energy Future

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Pres. Obama addressed the nation last night from the Oval Office, on the tragedy unfolding across the Gulf of Mexico, and issued an impassioned call for the entire nation to rally to the cause of breaking its “addiction to fossil fuels”. The president’s vision goes beyond the question of “energy independence”, which tends to favor expanded offshore drilling, to a push for a comprehensive transition to clean, renewable sources of energy and the phasing out of carbon-based fuels.

For more than a decade, ecological economists have been arguing that the United States needs to make a nationwide effort, “at wartime speed” to innovate and commit to clean, renewable power-generation methods. Last night, Pres. Obama became the first US president to echo this vision, reminding skeptics that no one believed the US could build its military capacity as rapidly or completely as it did to fight World War II on two opposite sides of the globe.

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BP Well Casing Likely Breached

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There is mounting concern the ongoing flow of oil from the damaged BP Deepwater Horizon well in the Macondo field may be the result of one or more serious structural breaches in the cement well casing below the sea bed. Statements made on 7 June by Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, suggest the well casing has ruptured, there are multiple points of seepage across the surrounding sea bed, and the well can likely only be closed from below, if or when the two relief wells connect with the damaged well.

The news is gravely important, because it would mean that 1) efforts to seal or cap the well from above will not work and 2) the cement lining of the well itself may have been structurally flawed from the outset. Firedoglake has been reporting on this issue, in an effort to bring to light information that has apparently been included in private briefings to members of Congress but never disclosed to the public. A breach in the well casing means the leak will be far more technologically challenging to close than what was thought until now.

While it is premature to talk of the “death of the Gulf of Mexico”, it does now look likely this will be the most cataclysmic environmental disaster experienced in or around North America in recorded history, with no clear solution in sight. A breach of the well casing would also mean any future attempts to close the well from above could be even more disastrous and could ultimately prevent the safe, secure closing of the well.

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Deepwater Horizon Disaster: No Known Way to Seal the Well

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Even as Transocean, Halliburton and BP, each seek to lay blame at the feet of the other over what actions or inaction led to the explosion and the catastrophic ongoing spill, it is now amply apparent that there is no known way to seal a well pouring crude oil with such force. BP’s attempt to use dispersants to break up the slick has led to an EPA mandate that they find less toxic chemicals, to avoid threatening the environment and the health and wellbeing of the human population.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) said yesterday: “BP has lost all credibility. Now the decisions will have to be made by others, because it is clear that they have been hiding the actual consequences of this spill.” Reports from numerous sources suggest the real scale of the ongoing spill is far worse than the 5,000 barrels per day reported by BP, which amounts to 200,000 gallons per day pouring into the Gulf. BP had previously testified it could easily contain a spill as large as 300,000 gallons per day.

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Snowflake Solar Cells 100 Times More Efficient than Standard Solar Cells

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The Sandia National Laboratories have achieved a landmark breakthrough in solar-voltaic power-generation technology. The snowflake-like “solar glitter” uses 100 times less material to produce the same amount of electricity as today’s standard 6-inch square solar cells. This achievement of ultra-miniaturization now has the potential to move solar-voltaic power generation to the forefront of the clean energy revolution, and help speed the transition away from carbon-based combustible fuels.

The super-reduced size of these snowflake solar cells means they can be used to create more dependable power-generation solar arrays. Asreported by Inhabitat (‘green design will save the world’), when a large solar cell fails, it has a serious impact on the overall productivity of the solar array, already limited by the space it takes up, while these tiny snowflake cells, just 14 to 20 micrometers thick and 0.25 to 1 millimeter in diameter, can fit so much more productivity into the same space, the failure of one flake will have negligible overall impact on output.

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Fuel Efficiency: Hybrid, Electric, Solar or 'Exotics' (discussion)

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The quest for the most fuel-efficient vehicles has entered a new phase, with major government private-sector investment in research and development for industrial-scale commercial production of a new class of gas-electric hybrid vehicles and EVs (all-electric cars). Swiss-based Solar Impulse is building the world’s first 100% solar-powered airplane, an achievement that will revolutionize the travel, industrial production, transport and fuel sectors.

Now comes the news that the Chevrolet Volt will shatter the existing paradigm for fuel efficiency, achieving 230 miles per gallon (mpg). Nissan claims to have better comparable performance for their LEAF model, and Tesla is preparing a fleet of high-performance “100% torque 100% of the time” EVs.

Solar panels are creeping into automotive design, for supplemental power for commercially sold vehicles, though they have long been the subject of engineering competitions that race solar-only prototypes. Organic solar concentrators (dye-treated SV-edged windows) allow for the highly efficient use of existing window surfaces to capture solar power and generate electricity.

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Chevrolet Volt Shatters Fuel Efficiency Paradigm at 230 mpg

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The Chevrolet Volt will get 230 miles per gallon in city driving. The Volt is a plug-in hybrid not yet on the market, which will mark a technological breakthrough if it achieves the projected fuel efficiency, “changing the game” as some observers see it on automotive transport and fuel usage. If realized, the 230 mpg standard will shatter the existing paradigm for automotive fuel efficiency.

The extremely high rate of fuel efficiency is owing in part to the Volt’s ability to run only electric up to 40 miles, before the gas-electric hybrid feature kicks in. At that point, it would achieve 230 mpg in city driving, and is expected to surpass 100 mpg highway. The car would be able to travel from New York City to Washingon, DC, on just 2 to 4 gallons of gas.

The “plug-in hybrid” is a new direction in electric automotive vehicle technology, allowing for a more powerful battery to further reduce the amount of gasoline required to power the vehicle. The plug-in feature means the battery can be charged independently of the gasoline hybrid engine recharging the battery. This helps sideline the gasoline drive and shift the burden toward the electric power contained in the battery.

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Green Vehicles for Public Services: Potential Watershed for Clean Fuel Economy

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One day, recently, I saw a fire-engine, crawling its way through a stop light, sirens blaring, hulking its way to provide the noble service of putting out someone’s fire or performing some other rescue operation. It was pouring a dark grey exhaust from one side, looking shiny new and well cared for, but obviously lacking advanced exhaust filtering or clean-energy drive technologies.

Police vehicles, government SUVs, public buses, fire engines and other public service vehicles, could be the great watershed moment required to effect a workable clean energy transition. Their ubiquity would mean that a fleet of high-powered electric vehicles, or alternative fuel or cutting-edge solar-supplemented hybrids, could help spur the development of a clean car infrastructure, with one or more stations in each town.

The US is in the midst of a complex array of government economic recovery outlays, designed to provide incremental support for a reformed energy economy and a more sustainable future, in which environmental degradation, technology breakdown, infrastructure erosion and public health ill-effects, are less of a drain on finances public and private.

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