Brian Westenhaus

Latest articles from Brian

• Forget Oil and Gold – Phosphorus is the Commodity Everyone Should be Concerned About

  Published 23 May 2011 | viewed 16,930 times

  It’s phosphorus.  The element of great importance – its essential for life – humans and animals need it for healthy bone formation, and plants need…

• Designing Better Plants for Food and Fuel Production

  Published 17 May 2011 | viewed 4,887 times

  Michigan State University researcher David Kramer a Hannah Distinguished Professor of Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics leads an effort to improve fuel and food producing plants saying,…

• The Search for Deep Oil and Gas

  Published 09 May 2011 | viewed 15,498 times

  Geoffrey Styles, Managing Director of GSW Strategy Group, has came upon more information about the effort to look even deeper for hydrocarbons like natural gas…

• A Sensible Look at the Food vs Fuel Argument

  Published 04 May 2011 | viewed 7,654 times

  Mary Kissel writing in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) looks into what C. Larry Pope, the chief executive of Smithfield Foods, Inc. is saying about…

• A New Idea on Energy Extraction From Oil Shale

  Published 26 April 2011 | viewed 7,767 times

  A team at Stanford University is proposing using solid oxide fuel cells as the basis for a method for electricity production from oil shale with…

• Biofuel Real Estate – Where Should the Algae be Grown?

  Published 22 April 2011 | viewed 7,037 times

  High oil prices, environmental and economic security concerns motivate a powerful interest in using algae-derived oils as an alternative to fossil fuels. Keep in mind…

• A Different Idea on Where Hydrocarbons Come From

  Published 21 April 2011 | viewed 15,347 times

  A research team including colleagues at UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Shell Projects & Technology is offering a new computational study published in…

• Energy Breakthrough: One Step Closer to Extracting Hydrogen From Water

  Published 20 April 2011 | viewed 34,716 times

  A research team at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland has announced they have come upon a new catalyst for electrolysis to split…

• Bug That Produces Methane Gas in Landfills Has Been Found

  Published 11 April 2011 | viewed 62,227 times

  We’ve long known that garbage piled up on landfills weep and leak methane gas.  Its even harvested and being put to use in many places. …

• Japan’s Nukes – Scary or Interesting Concern?

  Published 23 March 2011 | viewed 4,580 times

  Fast answer – an interesting concern.  Those words are chosen as the human tragedy unfolds.  Perhaps hundreds or thousands of people are exposed to the…

• The Coming Geothermal Energy Boom

  Published 21 March 2011 | viewed 17,939 times

  According to a report released last week by Pike Research we’ll see a significant increase in the use of geothermal as an energy source between…

• Even More Natural Gas on the Way

  Published 15 March 2011 | viewed 6,908 times

  Sometimes you have to wonder, how did so much energy get packed away in the earth’s crust?  Even with tens of millions of years, moving…

• High Oil Prices are Not here to Stay

  Published 13 March 2011 | viewed 6,546 times

  One hundred dollar oil sends a shiver through the economy. One hundred ten dollar oil gets consumer reactions.  If oil prices stay climbing the consuming…

• The Energy Potential of Household Sewage

  Published 03 March 2011 | viewed 5,487 times

  Elizabeth S. Heidrich at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom is leading a team that gives new meaning to the adage, “waste not, want not.” …

• It’s Time for the US to Recycle Used Nuclear Fuel

  Published 27 February 2011 | viewed 6,323 times

  Dale Klein, Ph.D., former commissioner (and former chairman) of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Texas System and Associate…

• Another Massive Natural Gas Resource Becomes Available

  Published 25 February 2011 | viewed 6,230 times

  There is a huge reserve of natural gas already discovered, waiting for use and distributed worldwide.  The reserves are simply natural gas that is naturally…

• Can Zero Point Energy Gain Credibility?

  Published 21 February 2011 | viewed 16,086 times

  There is a lot of activity in Zero Point Energy around the world.  In the U.S. it remains an oddball or unscientific field.  In other…

• Ethanol Works and is Here to Stay

  Published 10 February 2011 | viewed 9,411 times

  Jennifer Johnson at Wahpeton North Dakota’s Daily News has looked into ethanol smack in the midst of America’s prime oil boom of the Bakken oil…

• Generating More Fuel from Less Crude Oil

  Published 21 January 2011 | viewed 10,073 times

  The UK’s University of Bradford researchers are proposing a method for increasing the yield of the middle distillates, gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel at…

• Wind Company Allows Consumers to Store Renewable Energy

  Published 10 January 2011 | viewed 10,087 times

  The state of Maine is cracking the market open for self-storing of renewable energy with a collaboration between a wind company and a thermal energy…