Aug
17
What Plants for Cellulosic Biofuel Production?
August 17, 2010 | 17 Comments
In an article titled “Feedstocks for Lignocellulosic Biofuels” published in Science, Chris Somerville of the University of California, Berkeley, and Deputy Director Steve Long of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with bioenergy analysts Caroline Taylor, Heather Youngs and Sarah Davis at the Energy Biosciences Institute suggest that a diversity of plant species, adaptable to […]
Aug
16
A New Peak Demand Electricity Generation System
August 16, 2010 | 12 Comments
An impressive idea is out in the International Journal of Energy Research from the University of Leeds and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research group has invented a new way to answer quick peak electricity demands. Peak demand and particularly quick and short-lived peaks are when demand for electricity soars, causing a problem for […]
Aug
13
A New Kind of Patent
August 13, 2010 | 1 Comment
This writer was asked in an email a couple days ago about what the non-committed, seemingly idealism free, and generally pro commerce view is here about incentives for energy and fuel production. It is an arena fraught with special interests of every stripe including the environment itself to the consumers ranging from wealthy to dirt […]
Aug
12
The Electric Vehicle Age Begins in Earnest
August 12, 2010 | 10 Comments
This year will see the GM Volt and Nissan Leaf go on sale and likely deliver to buyers following the Tesla Roadster success with electric motors connected to the driving wheels. The two are of three very different designs representing the three main manufactured groups of choices we’ll see. Then there are the Do It […]
Aug
11
Farming Natural Gas
August 11, 2010 | 7 Comments
Luca Technologies harnesses natural processes to sustainably produce natural gas. The Golden, Colo. based company has developed a process to generate and then extract more natural gas from depleted coalbed methane wells by injecting water, microbes, and nutrients into the coal seams. The company is now pursuing permitting in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to expand […]