Alternative Energy / Renewable Energy

• Hydrokinetic Power Could Grow to be a Big Player if it Passes its First Test

  Hydrokinetic power shows great promise for growth as it can be theoretically installed in both industrial waterways such as wastewater treatment and food processing plants, and natural water ways without disrupting natural flow. Hydrokinetic turbines are designed to be anchored in place in the waterway, and don’t require construction of a large dam to generate false water pressure, which reduces the huge costs in capital and carbon emissions. A company called Verdant Power has just been the first ever to win a commercial license for a hydrokinetic power facility in the US. Its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) project will…

• In 2011, Global Spending on Renewable Energy Rose 40 Percent

  A global revolution is slowly transforming the world’s energy market, with traditional transnational fossil fuel conglomerates facing future changes that will transform their previously cozy environment, whether they like it or not. Renewable energy, starved from the outset of funding, a foundling left at the door of the world’s rising energy needs, has reached adolescence and has begun to attract investment from beyond the traditional hydrocarbon-based market dominant companies. Sez who? PricewaterhouseCoopers., a titan of Wall Street. PwC noted in its annual analysis of merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in the sector shows that deal values worldwide in 2011 totalled…

• Waste to Energy: A Great Source of Clean Energy - But is it the Correct Waste?

  Converting Waste-to-Energy, and in particular MSW, are hot topics throughout the global landscape. The conversion process, which consists of a number of physical and complex chemical steps, serves a much needed civic function that at the end of the day produces potentially carbon-neutral energy in the form of electrons or fuels such as diesel, ethanol, etc. Additionally, it furthers benefits the environment by reducing the amount of landfill disposed wastes and subsequent methane emissions. The contribution of methane emissions from landfills compared to all other anthropogenic sources of methane emissions is shown below (EPA): Waste management is primarily landfills and…

• Our Energy Future: Can the Ocean Provide for all our Energy Needs?

  With the exception of tidal energy, our focus thus far has been on land-based energy sources. Meanwhile, the ocean absorbs a prodigious fraction of the Sun’s incident energy, creating thermal gradients, currents, and waves whipped up by winds. Let’s put some scales on the energetics of these sources and see if we may turn to them for help. We’ve got our three boxes ready: abundant, potent, and niche (puny). Time to do some sorting! Thermal Gradients Wherever there is a thermal gradient, our eyes light up because we can create a heat flowacross the gradient and capture some fraction of…

• European Supergrid to Revolutionise Renewable Energy?

  Europe is the world leader in renewable energy generation, but as with all renewable energy sources they face the problem of reliability. One way of overcoming this limitation and ensuring that power supply will be constant is to have expensive, traditional, fossil-fuelled power stations to generate electricity whilst conditions are unfavourable for the renewable source; but this almost makes the whole investment in renewable power sources irrelevant. A better way of ensuring consistent power is to link several diverse sources of renewable energy on one electrical grid. So when a wind farm can’t produce much power on a windless day,…

• Using Ocean Temperature Differences to Create Renewable Energy

  Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is an idea for creating renewable energy by exploiting the difference in ocean temperatures between the surface and the seabed. The OTEC permit office first opened in 1981 as part of NOAA, America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the marine counterpart to NASA. It was created after the oil price spike of the 1970’s when interest in alternative power sources rose. Oil prices eventually settled and as a result interest in the alternative power sources dwindled, so in 1994, just 13 years later the OTEC office was closed without ever having issued a permit. Good…

• Another Reason to Invest in Canada?

  Canada represents a fascinating conundrum in North American oil production. First off, its population of 34 million represents the largest foreign oil source for its giant southern neighbour, with a population nearly 10 times its size. According to the U.S. Energy Administration, the United States total crude oil imports now average 9,033 thousand barrels per day (tbpd), with the top five exporting countries being Canada (2,666 tbpd), Mexico (1,319 tbpd). Unlike many oil-exporting countries to the U.S., beyond its occasional irritation at losing the World Series, Canada harbors no significant anti-Americanism and better yet for investors from south of the…

• Which Renewable Fuel Looks Set to Replace Traditional Petroleum Fuels

  While it may be way too early to declare a final winner in the race to find replacement renewable liquid fuels to replace the jet fuel and diesel that power so many of the vehicles in the world, there are some indications as to the technology that just might end up coming out ahead. The results that are starting to appear also show that sometimes there is a disconnect between what the Government wants and considers possible and the real world. The concern over climate change (not peak oil) led many Governments around the world to mandate that propulsion fuels…

• Investment in Clean Technology Set to Reach Record Levels in 2012

  The clean-tech sector is primed for a record-setting year of investments in 2012, following robust growth in 2011 despite difficult conditions, according to the Cleantech Group. Global clean technology venture and corporate investments totalled $9 billion in 2011, a 13% increase over 2010, according to the analysis firm’s preliminary 2011 data. This is just shy of 2008’s record of $9.5 billion. Clean-tech mergers and acquisitions reached record highs in 2011 with 391 deals and a dollar volume of $41.2 billion, up 153% over 2010. “Despite some of the well-publicised headwinds, venture capitalists continue to invest in clean-tech,” said Sheeraz Haji,…

• Why Africa Needs to Embrace Bamboo Charcoal

  In the developed world where a flip of a switch or twist of a knob starts food heating the idea of gathering dung, wood or making charcoal for food preparation is a nearly horrifying thought. But for billions of humans, that procedure is a daily routine. It isn’t possible for people to join in the world of trade, increasing incomes and raising living standards to the developed world’s condition without getting through the food gathering and preparation needed at far more productive time scales.  Increasing human population is making the food issue even more complex, and much of the forests…