First up is Dan Gardner writing in the Ottawa Citizen his op-ed “Even The Good News Is Bad.” Satire remember? But Dan does a good job in reversing the point of view from the bad news, and the leavening he shares puts some cause for thanks in the day. You just have to think about it – and this year the personal view for many isn’t so great- as bad as it may seem it could be worse. And yet there are surely some good reasons to give a bit of thanks today, for everyone.

Next is John Morrissy writing for Canwest News Service on canada.com about Merrill Lynch strategist Steven Milunovich’s comments titled “World On Cusp Of Clean Tech Revolution: Merrill Lynch.” Morrissy covers in broad strokes what he’s picked out of the ML report. The story line is that about each 50 years or so a “revolution” in economics takes place starting a “golden age” based on the new technology and the transformations it drives. It’s a sound review, and includes a list at the end of the previous 5 “revolutions.” Morrissy draws on Carlota Perez, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital somewhere, maybe one of her books. But in any case Milunovich is not someone to be overlooking when one gets a chance to hear what he’s thinking. It’s a link well worth you time. (If anyone finds the report let me know and I’ll add the link!)

As for me, well, I’m thankful for everyone who has stopped by this year. I hope we gave you some food for thought, hope for the coming years, amusement, insight, encouragement and little more know how than you had before you arrived. The comments are appreciated and the emails welcomed. I have done my best to include every suggestion made and hope my command of the language has improved, as it bugs some folks.

Be safe, be productive, and please come back. If any of these wishes comes true for you, then my Thanksgiving Day is a huge success.

Jyllian Kemsley writes in Chemical & Engineering News “Methanol’s Allure.” This article is very straight forward as you would expect in an engineer’s news magazine, but its written with enough care that everyone can get the full sense of the value of methanol. Methanol is the simplest alcohol with one carbon atom. It shares some of the problems that ethanol has, but is even more easily made and the variety of resources available to produce methanol are extensive now and more are likely to be available as oil based products increase in price. Methanol will be a fuel player and reading Ms. Kemsley’s article serves to help us “get it.”

Next up is the hugely interesting Sanderson Engine. The link goes to an article, that while hype like and thin on specific details, offers site links at the top of the page. There is some prospect that this design could see some traction in both engines and pumps. The most interesting aspect is the connections between the alternating motion of the piston in its cylinder and the rotating crankshaft. If you’re familiar with some of the driven pumps like refrigerant compressors the mental light will go on with a “how clever of an insight!” thought. The Sanderson people are much more forthcoming and obviously have more resources and deeper pockets than Kazimierz Holubowicz, who we looked at on November 19^th. The Sanderson design does seem to offer a claim of doubling the efficiency of internal combustion with better mechanical physics. It would be quite something if the Sanderson and Holubowicz mechanical physics were combined.

The biggest contract research organization in northern Europe is the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Their press release “Wind Power Need Not Be Backed Up By An Equal Amount of Reserve Power” is based on a study titled “Design and Operation of Power Systems with Large Amounts of Wind Power.” The study is an assessment drawn across 11 countries and other studies. The study offers three areas for the concluding assessments, additional costs, grid reinforcements that wind requires and wind capacity to replace other power generating types. The underlying study is quite complete and likely past what most of us would use. But for those dedicated to adding or displacing power generation with wind power this article is a strong resource to add to the information posted on November 27^th about interconnecting wind farms and December 6^th about storing energy from wind.

Last up is Steve Heckeroth’s piece, “Solar Is the Solution” in Mother Earth News. It’s a nice mainstream article that makes a case that solar power in its various forms is the solution to mankind’s drive to utilize forms of energy to magnify his intellectual and physical work. Its chock full of interesting bits that he uses to make his case and while true, its rather simplistic and rushes over a huge amount of current technology and research in progress. But the premise is true and the hope and confidence he exudes is warming and builds confidence. It’s a worthwhile read with a jaundiced eye, as he’s concluded that everyone can and should adopt his total view. It will trigger a lot of thoughts of “overlooked, and left out” things as you read along. Interesting, light and may well be just what you need to send to barely interested friends to get them going.

Ah, gee. I have some reservations about the next one. Its very professionally written, even with some vernacular terms and a sense of disgust about the topic. The reticence I have comes from realizing the topic is in the high probability zone but the professionalizm might be a little to good at seizing ones thoughts. You could say the piece is a thrill ride. OK, Here goes: 321enegry.com posted James H. Kunstler’s opinion piece, “The Last Days of the United States Dollar.” My God, please I hope he’s only partially right.

I check Herman Trabash’s page newenergynews.com almost everyday. His layout is interesting and creative quick view kind of layout even if its little troublesome for my research, show me the facts sort of thinking and I just don’t have time to chase the background nor care for the bait sensation that the layout leaves with me. But on the post “Thermo Electric Dreams” Mr. Trabash has a pretty complete expose’ on temperature differentials at sea between the upper and lower levels to generate power. The MIT release is here and it’s much more complete. Its all theory at this point but coming from MIT and the fact that the basic science is pretty old with new materials and engineering a good future prospect, its well worth getting informed.

Tom Whipple at Falls Church News-Press smaks squarely into the oil situation with a take on what’s going on in China. He looks into it fairly and without a huge tilt. A consequence stated as “Chinese waiting in gas lines would be of minimal concern to most Americans so long as enough stuff was still getting through to the WalMart . . . shortages in China may be only weeks or months away from becoming shortages in other places— perhaps even at your favorite gas station. Thus it may be more important than you realize to keep track of gas lines in China for we are living in a globalized world.”

Tom takes this on out to the logical conclusion. I recommend this piece, it’s a concise and balanced op ed with a lot of background stirred into a story worth being absorbed.

First up is a site that reports on the anhydrous ammonia for fuel group’s meeting. Now before you go all “Huh? How can that be?” here are the fundamentals. Anhydrous ammonia is a little bit of nitrogen and a bunch of hydrogen yielding the highest density of hydrogen fuel that I’m aware of. Added to that is the technologies are essentially in hand now, right now. The transition to NH3 (anhydrous ammonia) is a little different and in a major way like using propane. LP gas (propane) has been for decades and is used for motor fuels so the hardware is readily available. So, this is a technology that is readily useable and offers a strong way to nix the oil for transport problem. The goldmine of info is Iowa State University’s Iowa Energy Center. The meeting was October 15 & 16 in San Francisco and the site now has most of the talks in pdf files that slowly download. Over the coming weeks they might get more info up, but that may need a boost by your visiting! There are engine, emission, production and lots of other discussions. This is a great site for what might be the solution for lots of oil imports. There are a lot of presentations, it’s really informative and deserves a bookmark, as it will take a wonderful while to look at it all.

Since oil seems to be the theme this week and I’ve been castigated, quoted, called lucky and berated it was still worth the trip. With gasoline and home heating oil posing real hardships on my fellow citizens these news bits are well worth the moment it takes to read them. In light of this you have to wonder how the brave can be bidding up oil so high. Those oil market prices are spot deliveries months out and these articles are oil production years in the making. But new oil sources are out there.

First is a story on Yahoo that reports on the Iraq jump in exports. Many will say right or wrong the Iraq war was about this. So if you’re choosing between the amount and quality of your food vs. pay for home heating oil this has to be a cause to say thanks for the military personnel who laid their lives on the line for us.

The other oil-based link is from Petroleum World written by Oliver L. Campbell. It’s an opinion piece but Campbell has the credentials. He speaks to oil finds around the world and the Brazilian and Venezuelan national oil companies. It’s a very different take from a place where the national oil company mindset is hard and Chavez must have most in the oil industry fully and justifiably paranoid.

With geothermal seeming to be off the radar from a national perspective and Iceland and California the two leaders in production its natural that the University Of California at Davis university paper The California Aggie has published Jacquelyn Flatt’s “Geologists Study Geothermal Heat As An Energy Source. This is a good piece, lucid and pretty complete although brief that will give many pause to wonder why more isn’t being done. She opens up a couple ideas I haven’t heard, so it’s got some news zip. You gotta wonder where the bucks are for geothermal.

I’m setting this to go up November 22, for the long the U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday, so wherever you are, a Happy Thanksgiving to you – given in the spirit of our holiday. If time permits I might post Friday but will have the latest on Monday for certain.

Frank Pringle’s microwave emitter is being installed commercially. This device subjects the material within its exposure zone to microwaves and the results are hydrocarbons. The commercial version will install at 1:17 in:out for a mighty result to say the least. Even as the feedstock is used tires with an abundance of hydrocarbon content, there is a wide array of feed stocks that work in the emitted field. The story is here at PopSci’s innovation award site. He seems a little oil company paranoid, but eccentrically successful for sure.

The noted scientist Nate Lewis at Caltech is the focus of a story by ABC News. To quote the best words that ABC quotes, “Energy is the single most important technological challenge facing humanity today. Nothing else in science or technology comes close in comparison. … With energy, we are in the middle of doing the biggest experiment that humans will have ever done. And there is no tomorrow, because in 20 years that experiment will be cast in stone. If we don’t get this right, we can say as students of physics and chemistry that we know that the world will, on a time scale comparable to modern human history, never be the same.” Those are the closing quotes, which I hope is an incentive to click over and read the whole thing. It’s an airy mass media piece but it’s worth the time.

An awful large part of engineering that addresses energy and fuel contains or exploits the attributes of magnets. This article by Science Daily covers a new innovation by Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Here is a press release that points to use by nanoscience and semiconductor research. But these things migrate and evolve and it is for me just fascinating as the electromagnetic force is a nuclear energy that we think we understand but I suspect holds much more promise.

USAToday, not one of my regular reads, well, seldom actually as it tends to be one of the mass media tilted off into left field, has an op-ed that hits a sensible point and strikes a near centered balance politically.  The piece’s title is “Like it or not, $100 oil forces new energy policy on U.S.”  It’s a quality, informative and observant writing product that requires you to get to the end to see the line that could have opened the editorial, “But the interesting question is not why prices have gone up, but how American resourcefulness can be employed to break dependency on oil and maintain the momentum toward alternative fuels.”  It could be passed around to your more left leaning friends without sending them into a hysterical rant for government programs – or maybe not.  There is the risk the lefties will see the paragraph suggesting a tax three years ago of 140% would have given their goals a huge infusion of cash.  So, here’s the obvious answer to the implied question – dump the SUV, pickup or other large fuel hog, conserve, and invest in alternatives – while you can still afford it!  Jeesh . . .

ExtremeTech has an article “Five Ways to Cut Your Utility Bill.”  OK, its technical in content, after the programmable thermostats, but you might be pleasantly surprised how much of a difference it can make when you set up computers properly and choose appliances based on the electrical consumption.  Lots of computers are still using old monitors and have power supplies that suck hard at the grid.  LCDs can be had really cheap and with petroleum product prices squeezing so many at the holiday season the sales could get very attractive.  One point they missed is all those little things like cell phone charges and other items that idle and still draw current which need turned off.  Think another power strip (s) or the simple $2.95 cord in line switch (they just fit over the cord and a thumb wheel opens or closes the circuit) at the hardware store.  Easy, and savings will add up much faster than you might think.  Ah, you do turn out the lights when not in use?  Right?

MSNBC has posted a Forbes article that offers a slideshow about ten fuel-saving tips from Wayne Gerdes who we discussed July 17^th 2007.  Without a long comment on my part this is a top of the line fuel saver tip list, make yourself proud, improve and gain new skills kind of thing.  Highly recommended.  I think I’ll look at it again.

Victor Salmeron in El Universal discusses the state of economic failure that bedevils the nut Chavez. It’s quite well written and explains the pressures that continue to lure Chavez into more repressive moves to keep the country afloat. Imagine, all that money and still things work ever more poorly. The surprise isn’t that it’s happening, it’s that all that money is the root of the problem.

Hydrogen as a fuel has some wonderful attributes and a couple of problems. The big problem, long-term storage, hasn’t seen a really good solution yet. The other, producing it in the first place, has a few high potential methods in research. Meanwhile using it can be little more than storage and plumbing to run the car, as we know it today, a prodigiously wasteful method. The other is fuel cell and a paper out by Peter Strasser at the University of Houston adapted by Science Daily is showing how an alloy of platinum, a costly ingredient to making a fuel cell is being handled at the nanoparticle level to achieve much higher cell activity and one hopes a drop in cost.

The Wall Street Journal is one of the world’s premier publications and they have no reputation for supporting government sticking its nose into our business. On the other hand some problems are complex by their involvement in life, energy and fuel use being one. Here Joseph P. White in his Eyes on the Road column looks at an EPA number called “ton miles per gallon” and shows us that even as we drive the most efficient vehicles by ton miles per gallon the vehicles are far heavier thus setting us back. It’s a very interesting take on the problem of simply going some miles for the lowest use of fuel and shines some light on the problem.

Here’s a heads up on an example of what the policy makers will be selling over the next year as we start the US election year ending next November. Steve Milloy, rather famous for his “Junk Science” site gets a reprint at Fox News in overlooking one of the ideas floating about Washington DC and what is happening to it. See “Global Waming’s Trillion Dollar Turkey.” I got a good laugh from it.

Lastly here is 321energy.com’s link to the Simmon’s Slide show a link well worth passing around as it too offers a lot of very basic data for the new initiate in peak oil and new energy and fuel.

Next is a news release that caught me off guard.  I knew that Alaska had batteries for grid backup in emergencies but hadn’t expected Ohio’s American Electric Power to be installing them.  They are, and it’s for blackouts and might be used to make renewables more economically viable.  They’re using sodium sulfur batteries from Japan.  The article isn’t long and covers the big details with a photo.  See: Fixing the Grid.

This ones been sittin’ for two weeks as I’ve worried that somethin’ might happen.  It’s a report on the Tennessee oil discovery with the blow out well some years back that sent the regulators into a fury and stopped the exploration until this month.  What is so stimulating is that the well that blew out was producing on a level comparable to a Mid East top producing well.  Or, this kind of thing hasn’t been seen in the US in decades.  It’s a thrill and I dread a disappointment on top of all the waiting!  See 321Energy Montello Resources: The blowout Well.

After last weeks nail biters I would be remiss not to put something in that is a little on the downer side.  Well, I didn’t find anything credible.  But I did find something a little humorous instead.  It seems that human nature being what it is some in the organic solar cell community are chastising for “unrealistic and scientifically questionable results.”  I thought those were rather harsh words, but they’re in the description.  The text is more kind and I found it a little comical with reports of “outbidding phenomena.”   But this segment is in the midst of a dramatic run up and successes in research and a little competition and spirit is a good thing.  My congratulations to the authors for a little chastisement and a big GO GET ‘EM to the researchers.  Put up the proof when you’re ready.  See: Science Daily – Experts – Organic Solar Cells.

http://canada.theoildrum.com/node/3091#more

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/

I received a certain amount of blowback from the Algae Answers the Call post on Wednesday Oct 16^th. On the other hand as I share some of the bah humbug I don’t hold it as a permanent gospel. Although I sort of freeze up at mega joules per square meter approaching 2 per day I’m not saying its impossible. But skeptical I remain. On the other hand there are is a lot of smart money getting into this and the bio technology firms that we have heard of and respect are in it in a big way (See Thursday’s post “Salvation for Corn Farmers and Taxpayers”). We’re going to hear a lot more on this in the coming months and years. I have my fingers crossed.

Here Eureka Alert reports on the Department of Energy’s own results, which may already be trailing the private research labs:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/dgi-gag101007.php

Serious money, serious company, one of International Energy’s directors Harmel Rayat gets some small quotes in an article that seems to be chasing a rumor of an investment or venture of some type. International Energy is a rather large provider of energy hardware and that this quote or slip or whatever gets out in Oil and Gas Online is rather provocative to say the least. Just what’s up will come out some day.

http://www.oilandgasonline.com/content/news/article.asp?docid=656ad9ef-9c50

-4e18-a480-67042e0b92b8&atc~c=771+s=773+r=001+l=a&VNETCOOKIE=NO

National Public Radio touched on algae for part of their hour last Friday. One of the guests was Evan Ratliff who wrote the piece for Wired Magazine “One Molecule Could Cure Our Addition to Oil.” Even The National Geographic Society has a story that finally gets to algae on page 6.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2007/Oct/hour1_100407.html

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-10/ff_plant

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/biofuels/biofuels.html

One can fairly expect lots more on the way.

Accenture dropped a small bomb on Americans pointing out just how far they are behind in awareness of global climate and energy issues. That’s nothing new. But if you’ve read Paul’s work listed first today first you might be afraid for your kids. Very afraid. The people in the less developed world get it much more than we do. Which means they will be better prepared to take it away from Americans and their kids. See:

http://newsroom.accenture.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=4601

If you’re not spooked enough yet try this. The Energy Bulletin ran a post written by David DuByne stating that the Chinese government is preparing to shift from being an export-driven economy to becoming a regional trade powerhouse as the coming energy crunch aka “peak oil” and will roll back globalization and trade.

What this will mean for Walmart and other western investors in China, is only one of the most scary conclusions of the article:

“The Great 100 Year Plan: The Chinese Government must be seeing parallels between the astonishing growth of its economy and the creation of Hong Kong. You build it, we keep it. You have set up our economy with your generous investments, built factories for us, given us your technology and knowhow to produce goods, and tutored us on oil refining and coal technologies plus solar and wind-power generation. You can go now. Thanks for coming, but we will keep the factories.”

http://www.energybulletin.net/35500.html

To say you “get it” you’ll need to know that extra planetary solar collection and fusion are the only long term answers to the energy, national and personal security concerns that are rushing at us.

Lastly lets freak the global warming crowd! And unnerve the rest of us. The sun has decided to calm down which will certainly cool us off, but by how much and will the calming last? See:

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/all-quiet-alert/

http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild220907.htm

Science Daily posted a news release about research looking at the full energy investment vs. the payout. Christopher and Yanni Koroneos at the Laboratory of Heat Transfer and Environmental Engineering, Aristotle University, Thessalonika, Greece did the research.

Science Daily has pulled the net result out from behind the “pay out your nose” for the paper. Thus it seems solar, wind and geothermal yield the best payouts. See:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070813153419.htm

Energy Tech Stocks has started a series about we might meet the energy challenges coming over the next decades. It’s pretty good although brief and bite size and truly arguable, as its a financier’s point of view. Arguable for sure! The Webmaster hasn’t seen to put links on the posts to the previous or later posts (really annoying) so I have listed what I could find quickly here:

http://energytechstocks.com/wp/?p=237

http://energytechstocks.com/wp/?p=245

http://energytechstocks.com/wp/?p=256

http://energytechstocks.com/wp/?p=270

http://energytechstocks.com/wp/?p=285

http://energytechstocks.com/wp/?p=295

One of my favorite and most highly regarded writers is Ronald Bailey whose work appears almost regularly at reason.com. Here Ron looks at the antics in Congress and makes an enjoyable read out of an infuriating problem – politicians. The article link is followed by the biograph and archived articles link. Enjoy, Ron Bailey is special even if I can’t agree with him all the time.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/121799.html

http://www.reason.com/staff/show/133.html