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POPSAlternative energy needs help from Congress It's crazy to me to see the Bush administration and many members of Congress focusing on drilling for oil with such passion, yet you hear next to nothing from them about investing whatever resources are necessary to jump start a brand new industry that could significantly lessen our dependence on oil. Seeing what Russia is doing in Georgia should make the U.S. government's desire to aid the development of alternative sources such as solar and wind even that much greater.
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POPSEight of the Most Scenically Breathtaking Natural Springs in the World In the past, hot springs were honored as spiritual sites by Native Americans. These springs originate from deep inside the Earth and are said to cure and aid certain ailments. Springs happen to be quite temperamental considering they can change temperature and dry up at anytime. Remember to respect Mother Nature as she has provided you with an amazing Natural Resource than can sustain life as long as we let it.
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POPSNano-Solar Power -Will it Be the Next Revolutionary Technology? Not that the technology is perfect. The system can absorb energy very well, but that's no good to anyone until they work out a way to harvest it from the sheet - when you're dealing with a hyper-complex web of millions of units oscillating at trillions of cycles per second, you can't just solder copper wires to the ends and call them plus and minus. This isn't a mistake or a weakness in the concept though; it's an issue because no-one has ever done this before. You know, the kind of thing that happens with cutting edge invention.
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POPSString Theory Faster-Than-Light Drive Proposed Dreams of interstellar travel may need to be put on hold for the moment, however. Cleaver and Obousy estimate that the amount of energy needed to influence the extra dimension is equivalent to the entire mass of Jupiter being converted into pure energy for a ship measuring roughly 10 meters by 10 meters by 10 meters. "That is an enormous amount of energy," Cleaver said. "We are still a very long ways off before we could create something to harness that type of energy." But what if we could make ourselves very very small??? I am ready to squeeze myself quite a bit to get really far... :-)
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POPSChavez To Discuss Joint Banking Venture During Moscow Visit The socialist leader, an outspoken critic of Washington and opponent of neoliberalism, has focused his foreign policy on bolstering ties with countries outside the U.S. sphere of influence since coming to power nine years ago. Chavez said last week he expected to meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and discuss a number of industrial and technological projects as part of a visit aimed at boosting bilateral relations. PetroCaribe is a regional energy security alliance between Caribbean countries and Venezuela established in 2005. The alliance enables its 17 member countries to purchase Venezuelan oil under a flexible credit payment system.
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POPSEnergy at your feet Finally, unlike roof-top solar arrays, which some find unattractive, the solar collectors in roads and parking lots would be invisible.” In the lab, small slabs were exposed to halogen lamps, simulating sunlight. Larger slabs were set up outdoors and exposed to more realistic environmental conditions, including direct sunlight and wind. The tests showed that asphalt absorbs a considerable amount of heat and that the highest temperatures are found a few centimeters below the surface. This is where a heat exchanger would be located to extract the maximum amount of energy. Experimenting with various asphalt compositions, they found that the addition of highly conductive aggregates, like quartzite, can significantly increase heat absorption, as can the application of a special paint that reduces reflection.
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POPSKites could provide electricity for 100,000 homes Several other scientists are investigating the use of kites to harness energy from the wind - which some researchers estimate provides more than 100 times the amount required to power the entire planet. In 2007, Google´s philanthropic arm invested about $10 million in a US kite company called Makani. An Italian company called Kitegen has a multi-kite scheme that could generate a gigawatt of power, as much as a standard coal plant.
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POPSAbout That Pelosi, Pickens Plan To Pick Our Pocket
but the then necessary development of the infrastructure and conversion to such energy will take even longer. We are not going to abandon gas and oil any time soon, no matter what the loudest advocates of renewable energy sources insist. As a writer noted at Fosters.com, a sane energy policy will require tuning in to a program of multiple sources. Fossil fuels -- developed and yet to be developed -- wind power nearing a scope envisioned by T. Boone Pickens, solar power, nuclear power, biomass, geothermal power and sources we haven't thought of yet are in our future - as in waaay in our future. Pickens' plan is bold — too bad it won't work The Pickens Plan isn't the boon for energy independence that it purports to be. Dallas billionaire investor and oilman-turned-wind-farmer Boone Pickens unveiled an audacious plan that he hopes will prod policymakers into a more realistic discussion of energy issues. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5882292.html
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POPSFREE email: Drill Now -- Stop the Gang of 10 The compromise plan offered by the Gang of 10 limits drilling to 50 miles off the coast of a few states, not all, and depends on an opt-in by those states. There is no mention of ANWR or of developing America's oil shale. Doing nothing is actually a better option than the compromise of the Senate's Gang of 10 because the oil drilling ban imposed by Congress expires on September 30. Democrats in Congress must renew this ban in order to continue to block America's access to her own oil. Due to Senate rules the minority may be able to block that renewal unless the Gang of 10 prevents it. Sen. McCain has not yet agreed to this compromise. Tell the Senate, the Gang of 10 and especially John McCain that voters don't want compromise with Democrats. Voters want to Drill NOW!
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POPSWhat if Electricity Was FREE??? The life story and work of Nikola Tesla. He invented AC electricity, Neon Lights, Radio transmission, The Electric motor, Wireless electricity transfer, Remote control, Hydraulics, Lasers, Space weapons, Robotics, and many, many more things. As Tesla claimed to have invented a way to harness free energy from the voltage difference in the ionosphere that causes lightning, he was seen as a threat to the world energy economy and most of his inventions were classified for national security by the US government. A lot of his discoveries in physics have not been released to the public, despite being invented nearly 100 years ago. In 2006 the first company publicly announced it could successfully power items by remote power without wires, (news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6129460. stm) something Tesla had invented nearly a century ago.
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POPSDebunking 'Truths' About Offshore Drilling No, the United States cannot drill its way to energy independence. But with the roaring economies of China and India gobbling up oil in the two countries' latter-day industrial revolutions, the United States can no longer afford to turn its back on finding all the sources of fuel necessary to maintain its economy and its standard of living. What's required is a long-term, comprehensive plan that includes wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels and nuclear -- and that acknowledges that oil and gas will be instrumental to the U.S. economy for many years to come.
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POPSThe Five GOP Senators Killing The Energy Issue For Americans The WSJ explains that by "riding voter discontent over high gas prices, the GOP has made antidrilling Democrats this summer's headlines." But, along comes the Gang of 10, complete with five GOP senators who are quite eager to stick it to conservatives and cave in to the Democrats. The plan is a Democratic giveaway. New production on offshore federal lands is left to state legislatures, and then in only four coastal states. The regulatory hurdles are huge. And the bill bars drilling within 50 miles of the coast -- putting off limits some of the most productive areas. Alaska's oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still a no-go. The highlight is instead $84 billion in tax credits, subsidies and federal handouts for alternative fuels and renewables. The Gang of 10 intends to pay for all this in part by raising taxes on . . . oil companies! The Republican Five has potentially given antidrilling Democrats the political cover they need to neutralize energy through November.
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POPSGeorgia/Russia - The story behind the story
"No sooner was BTC completed, however, than Western officials began exploring the possibility of other pipelines that could reach beyond Georgia and Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan, which was thought to have some of the world's largest gas reserves. Their interest was not only in "energy security" and the prospect of oil riches for Western energy companies, but also in promoting Western-style democracy and free-market capitalism in the former Soviet republics. " "Putin understands better than anyone that oil and gas are the source of Russia's resurgence as a military and economic power and his own control over the Russian government and key sectors of its economy. It is oil and gas that provide the money to maintain Russia's powerful military, along with a vast internal security apparatus and network of government-controlled enterprises that allow the president-turned-premier to maintain his iron grip on the levers of political and economic power. "
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POPSAir Force and Renewables This is a nice read on the role of government's involvement in energy tech. It's also interesting to see SunPower (nasdaq: SPWR) here. That stock is off 40% from a 52-week high but still sells for 5.6 times sales.
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POPSWhoring for Her Big Wind Investments Naturally, the Pickens Big Wind plan is proudly endorsed by Do-Nothing Pelosi’s friends at the obstructionist Sierra Club. Through another company, Mesa Power, Pickens has committed upwards of $12 billion in wind farms on the Texas panhandle. CEFC and Mesa Power are separate entities. But what benefits one piece of the Pickens puzzle benefits them all. The wind venture, as Pickens himself acknowledges, depends on permanent federal subsidies. Speaker Pelosi bought between $50,000 and $100,000 of stock in Pickens’ CLNE Corp. in May 2007 on the day of the initial public offering: “She, and other investors, stand to gain a substantial return on their investment if gasoline prices stay high and municipal, state and even the Federal governments start using natural gas as their primary fuel source. If gasoline prices fall? Alternative fuels and the cost to convert fleets over to them becomes less and less attractive.”
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