Oct
17
Get Ready – Now Its Checkbook Time At ITER!
October 17, 2008 | 3 Comments
This past Monday the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Organization (ITER) signed a cooperation agreement at the opening of an IAEA fusion energy conference held in Geneva. I’m thinking about whether to be pleased or deeply worried. I’m leaning to the worried side. ITER is an experimental reactor being built […]
Oct
16
The Money Wars – What Are Those Government Incentives?
October 16, 2008 | 2 Comments
It seems there are six or seven categories of incentives: tax policy, regulation, research and development funding, market activity, government services and disbursements. As you’ll see an incentive is just as easily and effectively a disincentive. Tax policy has been, by far, the most widely used form of incentive mechanism, accounting for $325 billion (45 […]
Oct
15
A Look At the Research For Biomass Production
October 15, 2008 | 2 Comments
The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) national program on Agricultural System Competitiveness and Sustainability scientists are combining economic and natural-resources analyses with data drawn from a national network of field experiments that are being used in models developed by ARS and the USDA Economic Research Service. The research is making it easier to understand the […]
Oct
14
What Is That Black Silicon Stuff?
October 14, 2008 | 6 Comments
You’re aware of silicon wafers made into computer chips and solar cells by very high technological skills with huge investments. There has been an enormous payoff in new products with these things appearing in an ever-growing list of products. Those chips are made by etching circuits into silicon’s shiny surface. Black Silicon is another kind […]
Oct
13
Reality Check on Markets Money and Fear
October 13, 2008 | 1 Comment
The post’s title may not lead directly to new energy and fuel, but markets and the prices they set, the value of money we use to trade and accumulate wealth are tools that can only work properly freed of fear. There are two types of fear, learned fears and instinctual fear. They are both rooted […]