tblakeslee

Making Natural Gas Transportation a Reality

The pipeline cost of natural gas is only 1/4th of the cost of crude oil with the same energy content. If much simpler, 500 psi Adsorbed Natural Gas  refueling is adopted, prices could be reduced even further..
ANG fuel tanks contain activated carbon “sponges” that adsorb 160 times their own volume of natural gas. They can be made from Corncobs , which have a network of nanoscale passageways that remain after carbonization.  One gram of this material has as much adsorbing surface area as a football field. When natural gas is adsorbed on a carbon surface it ceases to act like a gas. Dense storage at low pressure makes it possible to hide the much smaller tank inside the car's frame. Here are some links:
www.anl.gov/PCS/acsfue...
www.greencar.com/artic...

A Different Financing Approach: Solar Millennium Sells Stake in Andasol 3

Solar thermal is expensive when you consider Capacity Factor: The sun only shines part of the day. 50 MW becomes 12 MW when you average out over a year.
They made very agressive estimates for Andusol and reality may soon rear its ugly head when real results come in.

Fuel Cells as Renewable Power?

The great thing about natural gas powered fuel cells is that the very high temperature exhaust can be used directly for heating, air conditioning and industrial processes. That means the 50% of the fuels energy that would normally be wasted can be put to good use. Overall efficiencies of mare than 85% are possible by generating power where heat is needed. Since natural gas only emits 55% as much CO2 as coal and 85% is about 3X the efficiency of a coal plant, power can be generated with about 1/5 as much CO2 emitted as coal. That's better than Futuregen and it works now!
clrlight.org/BiomassCo...

FuelCell Energy and Capstone Achieve Record in Electrical Efficiency (FCEL, CPST)

Here's an even more efficient ceramic fuel cell 60% with natural gas!!
www.cfcl.com.au/Assets...
Stock ADR is CEFLF

Biofuels: No There, There. Government Should Focus on Other Alternatives

Just because the idiotic corn ethanol scam was a flop is no reason to discount all biofuels. Biocoal can clean up existing coal power plants at a lower price than coal. Read this:
clrlight.org/CleanCoal...

ABB: Switzerland's Slumbering Giant

ABB is the clear leader in HVDC power transmission. Since HVDC can be installed underground along roadways, it's a perfect way to expand the grid without battling environmentalists. An article: clrlight.org/hvdc.htm

Cost Effective Energy Storage: The Orphan Stepchild of Alternative Energy

It would much easier and cheaper to upgrade the grid if we used underground HVDC links. More secure and we don't have to fight environmentalists. Cheaper in the long run.
An article: clrlight.org/hvdc.htm

Carbon Capping Debate - Will Results Favor Wall St.?

I am amazed that the Exxon disinformation campaign has succeeded so well. It's run by the same people who told us that smoking was good for our health.
The big problem with a carbon tax is that it doesn't encourage much more effective ways to reduce greenhouse gasses like improved agricultural practices. The government has proven itself to be incompetent in picking technologies so carbon trading lets the free market make the decisions about where the money goes. Read this:
clrlight.org/Biochar.h...

Finally, Three Reasons to Buy

Rediculous! Looking backwards at two previous successful calls by Buffet is not a reliable way to make decisions. This is a very different situation than the bottoms on regular business cycles.

After Coming Rate Cuts, Some Appealing Short ETFs

The short ETFs all use derivatives to accomplish their magic. These derivatives come from companies like AIG and from hedge funds that could fail at any moment. If there is a crash the big payoff for these ETFs will have to come from companies that will probably be bankrupt.
www.trendsimwatching.c...

More Clues Housing Bottom May Be Near in Sacramento

Here is an excellent web site for tracking the Sacramento real estate market that is much more reliable than the Bee:
flippersintrouble.blog.../

Did Lack of Regulation Create the Subprime Mortgage Crisis?

The big mistake that made this all possible is the concept of collecting loans together and selling them as AAA paper. This was made possible by the ratings agencies. Moodys, S&P, etc. They failed in their job to see the risk that is obvious in hindsight. They continue to function yet they have ruined the workd financial system with their incompetence. Where is the justice?

The Energy Follies

You forgot the best alternative energy: Geothermal power. It works 24/7 and could replace both coal and nuclear as a source of baseload power. We need to tap off some of those billions we are wasting on "clean coal" and use them to advance deep drilling technology. Geothermal is already generating 5% of California's power and 26% of Iceland and the Phillipines.

Geothermal Energy Sources 101

A great job of quickly covering the basics of a very promising technology. The big Island of Hawaii has a 30 MW geothermal generating facility.
The biggest problem with geothermal is that it could really replace coal as a source of baseload power so it is seen as a threat to the very powerful coal states. The DOE budget was reduced to zero last year and even a bill to authorize $95 million for development was ignored by the DOE as they budgeted only $30 million for the 2009 budget. Powerful political forces don't want the fantastic potential of geothermal to be realized. The heavily subsidized fossil fuels get all the money ($400 million for coal in 2009). Even Barack and Hillary are trying to outdo each other to get coal votes with endorsment of "clean coal" Geothermal is the answer if we can just cut through the political manuvering financed by $13 billion in subsidies. We need a Manhattin Project in geothermal.

Tower Tech is Ready to Grow Into Its Rich Valuation

TWRT is a great company. They are now also handling the purchasing of materials including the steel used to make the towers. This will increase their revenue per job considerably. Their customers are swamped with orders and are happy to give them some of the profits so they can handle more orders. Their gear box manufacturing aquisition increases their ability to take on the whole job. Gearbox shortages have been one of the bottlenecks in delivering wind projects.