Spain says bye bye to green energy...

A cautionary tale.  Or just a story you can tell your idiot liberal friend the next time he starts bragging about his Chevy Volt.

Read about it here

Your Body Heat is Sufficient to Cook a Potato

Really folks.  You can spend your time reading other blogs, but with information like this on a daily basis, I'm not sure why you would.  Click to enlarge.

Edison Shrugged

A DIY guide to energy independence.

William went about collecting the parts for a wind turbine from trash heaps and junkyards. He used old plastic pipes, a broken bicycle, a tractor fan, sticks, and bits of wire. He soldered the electrical components together using a piece of wire heated in a fire, and used a bent bicycle spoke as a wrench adapter.

William lashed his generator to a 16-foot tower made from tree branches. His fellow villagers thought his efforts were foolish, and they teased him. But when the blades of the turbine began to spin, and the small light bulb that he had connected to the output wires began to glow brightly, they stopped scoffing. William soon installed four light bulbs and two radios in his house, and built a circuit breaker to keep his house's thatch roof from catching fire.

And now William dates the best looking girl in town.  CAPITALISM!



This is Cool: The First Commercial Wave Project

More. Build more.

The world's first commercial wave energy project is now delivering 2.25MW off the north Portugal coast. Ocean Power Delivery (OPD) has supplied the first three Pelamis P-750 "advanced wave energy conversion technology" machines, with another 28 machines being planned along the Portugal coast within a year. They will generate 22.5MW for state-run power company Energias de Portugal.

The order for the initial phase is worth €8.2m, funded by a Portuguese consortium led by Enersis. The project brings power ashore at Agucadoura, and will supply 1,500 homes using the national state run electricity grid system. When complete, the project should meet the average electricity demand of more than 15,000 Portuguese households. It should also displace above 60,000 carbon dioxide emissions tons per year.

The Pelamis has a similar output to a modern wind turbine. Future 'wave farm' projects are likely to consist of multiple interlinked machines connected to the shore by a single subsea cable. A typical 30MW installation would occupy a square kilometre of ocean.

Toyota Developing a Solar Powered Car

The most potent weapon against terrorists and petrol thugs. A car that doesn't need gas.

Toyota Motor Corp. is secretly developing a vehicle that will be powered solely by solar energy in an effort to turn around its struggling business with a futuristic ecological car, a top business daily reported Thursday.

The Nikkei newspaper, however, said it will be years before the planned vehicle will be available on the market. Toyota's offices were closed Thursday and officials were not immediately available for comment.

According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on an electric vehicle that will get some of its power from solar cells equipped on the vehicle, and that can be recharged with electricity generated from solar panels on the roofs of homes. The automaker later hopes to develop a model totally powered by solar cells on the vehicle, the newspaper said without citing sources.

Fuel Making Fungus

This could kill a whole of terrorists. Or just make everyone itch.

A newfound fungus living in rainforest trees makes biofuel more efficiently than any other known method, researchers say.

In fact, it's so good at turning plant matter into fuel that researchers say their discovery calls into question the whole theory of how crude oil was made by nature in the first place.

"This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances," said researcher Gary Strobel from Montana State University. "The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the moment."

The scientists are now working to develop its fuel producing potential, according to a paper published in the November issue of the journal Microbiology.

The fungus grows inside the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rainforest in South America. "When we examined the gas composition of G. roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives," the stuff of diesel, Strobel said. The fuel it produces has been dubbed "myco-diesel."

Sun + Water = Fuel

Totally out of character I know, but it's important to keep up on these things.

"I'm going to show you something I haven't showed anybody yet," said Daniel Nocera, a professor of chemistry at MIT, speaking this May to an auditorium filled with scientists and U.S. government energy officials. He asked the house manager to lower the lights. Then he started a video. "Can you see that?" he asked excitedly, pointing to the bubbles rising from a strip of material immersed in water. "Oxygen is pouring off of this electrode." Then he added, somewhat cryptically, "This is the future. We've got the leaf."

What Nocera was demonstrating was a reaction that generates oxygen from water much as green plants do during photosynthesis--an achievement that could have profound implications for the energy debate. Carried out with the help of a catalyst he developed, the reaction is the first and most difficult step in splitting water to make hydrogen gas. And efficiently generating hydrogen from water, Nocera believes, will help surmount one of the main obstacles preventing solar power from becoming a dominant source of electricity: there's no cost-effective way to store the energy collected by solar panels so that it can be used at night or during cloudy days.

Nocera sees two ways to take advantage of his breakthrough. In the first, a conventional solar panel would capture sunlight to produce electricity; in turn, that electricity would power a device called an electrolyzer, which would use his catalysts to split water. The second approach would employ a system that more closely mimics the structure of a leaf. The catalysts would be deployed side by side with special dye molecules designed to absorb sunlight; the energy captured by the dyes would drive the water-splitting reaction. Either way, solar energy would be converted into hydrogen fuel that could be easily stored and used at night--or whenever it's needed.

BE THE FIRST KID ON YOUR BLOCK TO HAVE A NUCLEAR REACTOR IN YOUR YARD

If this will keep me from having to drive a car the size of a shoe box, I'm all for it.

Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years. 'Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,' said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. 'They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.'

Deal claims to have more than 100 firm orders, largely from the oil and electricity industries, but says the company is also targeting developing countries and isolated communities. 'It's leapfrog technology,' he said.

The first confirmed order came from TES, a Czech infrastructure company specialising in water plants and power plants. 'They ordered six units and optioned a further 12. We are very sure of their capability to purchase,' said Deal. The first one, he said, would be installed in Romania. 'We now have a six-year waiting list. We are in talks with developers in the Cayman Islands, Panama and the Bahamas.'

'You could never have a Chernobyl-type event - there are no moving parts,' said Deal. 'You would need nation-state resources in order to enrich our uranium. Temperature-wise it's too hot to handle. It would be like stealing a barbecue with your bare hands.'

Read more about these reactors here.

HARRY REID IS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY: PLANS TO RENEW OIL SHALE BAN

This is an act of treason. Nothing less. A dangerous and wholly irresponsible move. Why does Reid want to destroy America? Can someone answer this question?

Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to sneak an extension of the oil shale ban through as Congress fights over the financial bailout. Oil shale in America's West is estimated to hold be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil -- that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.

Here is the text of Reid's proposed new ban on oil shale, that he is trying to add as an amendment to the CR or move seperately as a "stimulus" package, or we should say an anti-stimulus package if this is included.

Sec 1602 continues ban on oil shale. The language follows:

SEC. 1602. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 152 of division A of H.R. 2638 (110th Congress), the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009, the terms and conditions contained in section 433 of division F of Public Law 110–161 shall remain in effect for the 19 fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

It would be an insult to all Americans if Senate Democrats worked to bailout Wall Street while damaging our future prosperity by banning development of vast energy reserves in oil shale.

AJ STRATA TEARS APART OBAMA'S "FILL YOUR TIRES WITH AIR" ENERGY PLAN

Like Obama knows anything about putting air in tires. From the Strata-Sphere:

Over the years I have learned that some Ivy League degrees are not so much a representation of intelligence, but more a training program for the elite to hide how dumb they are. Barrack Obama seems to fall into this category because there are times when he makes statements I would expect out of a 4th grader, not a alumni of Harvard.

For example today we have the tire inflation issue. Obama is out trying to defend is ridiculous claim that America can save up to 4% on our oil imports by inflating our tires. How stupid can this be? Well, let me do a simple analysis to assess the potential for savings and explain why folks who rely on C+ HS math skills should stay away from numbers to make their case.

4% is the maximum potential savings in mileage an individual can obtain through correct tire pressure. That assumes the tires are so far away from their optimal pressure fixing the problem will generate the maximum result. However, most people are not driving tires massively off in their tire pressure. So let’s makes some ridiculously pessimistic assumptions on the nation’s tire inflation status and determine the maximum potential benefit regarding our oil consumption.

Realize a vast majority of cars are serviced regularly, and all commercial transportation systems are highly regulated and checked. If I was to draw the worst case scenario I would say 50% of the nation’s cars and trucks do not have properly inflated tires (I will avoid the math the discusses how many tires of a potential number, which varies from cars to commercial transportation vehicles like semi-trucks).

In addition, not all of those out of spec will be 100% out of spec. So let’s assume 25% are only half out of spec, with a potential to increase mileage by 2%, while the other 25% can benefit at the maximum level possible. This means instead of saving 4% across the nation, we only save (.25*.02) + (.25*.04) = 0.015, or 1.5%. That is the realistic potential maximum savings the NATION could expect from the tire pressure magical cure due to gasoline used for driving.

Obama and his liberal media math-challenged groupies keep claiming it is 4% and they just take that off the entire national oil consumption numbers. But of course, as anyone with more than 2 IQ digits to rub together knows, gasoline is not all this nation uses oil for. We use it for heating and other oil-based products. But again, let’s just assume 80% of the oil in this nation is used for transportation (this is a complete WAG BTW). This drops the 1.5% maximum potential savings from Obama’s tire inflation ‘program’ towards energy independence to a national maxim potential savings of 1.2%.

And I am fairly confident I am over estimating this by at least 50%. So all Obama’s anger at being called out this ‘issue’ is his own ignorant fault. The fact someone with a Harvard degree failed to do a simple sanity check such as this on his silly claim is just another indicator Obama is fairly clueless and simply packages up juvenile sound bites in response to polls.

Of course, I am now an evil, anti-American, rabid conservative for actually applying my brain and knowledge to a serious issue. OK, fine with me. I am not an Obama fan because when the man speaks I see someone struggling to grasp the basics of reality. Folks, the lesson in all this is don’t let the school system ruin your kids’ future. Math is important to discern reality from the hucksters (who typically avoided math because it was ‘too hard’). Don’t let your kids grow up to be an Obidiot.

Bloggers have bigger brains.

DON'T HOPE FOR NEW ENERGY...VOTE FOR IT

New McCain ad. Well done and accurate.

THE AIR CAR

MUSTANG GETS 110 MPG

Produce and produce them now:

"My grandfather had the idea back in the (1940s) that he (could) make a difference then," Pelmear said. "There was quite a need at that time also, with the war going on and everything."
Pelmear, a mechanic in Napoleon, has been tweaking the engine for the past 10 years, squeezing out the maximum amount of power for a minimum amount of gas.

"This will bring back the automotive industry," he said. "They can sell trucks and (sport utility vehicles) and the models that are almost dead at this time."

Pelmear said the engine is 400 horsepower and goes from zero to 60 mph in three seconds.

Check out the video.

OBAMA SAYS "NO" TO ENERGY RELIEF

DURBIN ADMITS ETHANOL AFFECTING FOOD PRICES

Are the oil companies paying Durbin to say this?

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday that U.S. ethanol policies may be partly to blame for a global food crisis threatening to leave millions hungry.

Durbin, whose state produced 2.28 billion bushels of corn in 2007 — second only to Iowa — emphasized he wasn’t advocating a shift from policies that provide incentives for biofuel production. At the same time, he said the role biofuels are playing should be explored as part of a coordinated congressional response to massive hunger overseas.

Seriously you global warming nutjobs. Where's your God now?