A View to 180 MPGs
Put super awesome batteries in a Prius instead of standard Nickle Metal Hydride ones and you get a decent PHEV - pluggable hybrid electric vehicle. If the batteries are really good, like those described here by startup Valence Technology Inc., you get a car that rarely needs its gas engine. At least not during a typical commuting type day. Check it this write-up.
posted by Andy Bochman at 8:59 PM
 
First Fuel Cell Motorcycle Arrives ... Quietly
The ENV Fuel Cell Bike 
OK, check this out. 100 mile range. 50 mile top speed. Quiet as a mouse. Runs on H2 ... hey, do you have any spare Hydrogen I can borrow for my bike? Here's the write-up. Do you think Harley folks will like this? Probably not, but maybe they'll accept it better when the gas is gone.
posted by Andy Bochman at 9:26 PM
East Coast Wind Power? Go to Hull!
Hull 600KW Turbine
The economics work in this small seaside town in Massachusetts. With Cape Wind's 130 turbine project stalling, these ones and twos projects are making money and good will. Even when placed on top of swill on a landfill.
posted by Andy Bochman at 9:35 PM
Oil Up
It's up and it ain't coming down (much) anytime soon. Well, maybe it will drop once we find the next Saudi Arabia-sized oil fields and bring them quickly (~ 20 years) online. Or maybe prices will drop when demand does, due to the US, China and India turning their economies off. Or because everyone puts their mega-pickup in the ditch and switches to Prius-like vehicles. Or starts conserving energy at work and at home. Actually, hell will freeze over when the oil tops $100 a gallon and Satan can't afford to pay his heating bills.
posted by Andy Bochman at 9:37 AM
Signs of Wind Power Economics Improving
Though this article is titled "Windpower is Becoming a Better Bargain" (NY Times, registration required), its context is mixed at best. Wind seems to be comparatively more competitive as prices for other fuels rise, but that does nothing to fix the inherently unpredicatable, unreliable nature of wind power.
This paragraph begins to explain part of the problem:
Because windiness is hard to predict, the electricity made here is worth less. In the complicated world of electricity pricing, power is valued two ways. The familiar one is as energy, meaning the work that the electric current can do. The second is as capacity, the amount that can be called upon as needed. Wind power is generally sold only as energy because most wind plants produce only 30 to 40 percent as much energy in a year as they would if they ran at full tilt, every hour of the year, a measure called "capacity factor." Unlike coal or nuclear plants, which achieve capacity factors of 90 percent or more, the wind operator cannot decide when the windmill will run. However, as much as this situation sucks for wind, because natural gas is going sky high on price, and coal may come to cost more and more as carbon emissions become a cost center, many utilities may continue to work with wind as its fuel costs and carbon costs are nil. That's a form of predictability coal and gas can't touch.
posted by Andy Bochman at 9:53 AM
High Oil Again = AE Urgency
The Financial Times reports it's happening again. An Alt Energy groundhog day. AE tech and carbon efficiency is going to happen. Only question is how much/how fast.
posted by Andy Bochman at 3:50 PM
Mean or Green Vehicles
The Meanest
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Econony (ACEEE) recently published its list of "meanest" and "greenest" passenger vehicles. Ratings were based on fuel efficiency and emissions. Drivers have a wide range of efficiencies to choose from ... all the way from the Dodge Ram SRT10 which at 9 mpg city gets mileage not much worse than a Bradley Fighting Vehicle ... to Honda Insight and Toyota Prius with mpgs approaching 60 in the city and better than 50 in the country. Mathmeticians will immediately see the 5-to-1 or 6-to-1 ratios here. And some mathmeticians will still drive the SRT10, but AEman hopes you don't find one in a parking space adjoining yours. You may not be able to get out.
posted by Andy Bochman at 8:26 AM
Nuclear Tech Knuckle Dragging
Nuclear Tech Roadmap
Though he's normally excited about the prospects of new nuclear tech as a way out of oil/coal hell, this announcement seems at first glance to be a yawner for AEman. It may have something to do with the "thirty years" part.
posted by Andy Bochman at 1:55 AM
Nuclear Reactor Science Cooperation
Though he's normally excited about the prospects of new nuclear tech as a way out of oil/coal hell, this announcement seems at first glance to be a yawner for AEman. It may have something to do with the "thirty years" part.
posted by Andy Bochman at 1:42 AM
Interesting Wind/Hydrogen Concept
This just in from Hugh F off the hybridCARS.com site. Not sure it's as common an idea as he thinks. I like it:
"I am sure this is mentioned alot, but it seems that wind generation just needs to be moved one step off of the grid to increase its value and competitiveness. If wind turbines were used to create hydrogen, and then the hydrogen was stored and used to create the electricity (possibly with large scale fuel cells) the capacity/reliability of the wind system would be dramatically increased. Down side is that the upfront costs would increase, but it seems like it is worth discussion."
AEman thinks this approach might alleviate the need for having to build fully redundant convential backup generation which would be an economic horror show and simply wouldn't happen.
posted by Andy Bochman at 10:14 PM
The Best Energy Site Bar None
No question about it: the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security group (aka: IAGS) should have been called IAGES. The institute has an extremely well executed, well documented site for the dissemination of information related to energy security. Some of its topics include "Iraqi Pipeline Watch," a comparision of hydrogen to electric-powered automobiles, an analysis of China's emerging energy policy, and on and on. Some of the content is about AE directly, but all of it, especially the security and risk studies, speaks to the need to hasten our progress towards new energy sources and approaches.
posted by Andy Bochman at 8:40 PM
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