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...

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.

Why I'm Bullish On Coal Stocks

I couldn't disagree more and have shorted coal because it is an environmental disaster. It only seems to be a cheap energy source if you ignore the hidden costs: Worldwide fishing stocks are contaminated with mercury to where, in spite of warnings, one in six pregnant mothers have dangerous levels of mercury in their bloodstreams. Autism is endemic as a result. Also asthma is way up in coal areas. The entire planet is being disrupted by global warming. The Bush administration has been in denial on this problem but the new Democrat committee heads will soon pass carbon and mercury limits which will be a disaster for coal.
The so-called "clean coal" technology is an impractical idea that won't even be tested till 2012. The problem is that 3 tons of CO2 are produced for every ton of coal burned! That's a lot to dispose of. Meanwhile, wind and geothermal power is already selling for 5 cents/kwh and making a nice profit for companies like ORA and Suzilon. How can coal compete with the added cost of disposal of all that CO2?