Stories tagged with "alternative energy"

The 2008 IEA WEO - Renewable Energy

Posted by Robert Rapier on December 3, 2008 - 9:16am
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: alternative energy, biomass, iea, original, weo 2008, world energy outlook [list all tags]

As I read through the 2008 International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook, I had the distinct impression that I was reading contributions from people with completely opposite points of view. The pessimist warned that we are facing a supply crunch and much higher prices. The optimist in the report said that oil production won't peak before 2030.

This trend held in the section on renewable energy. The optimist noted that renewable energy is expected to "expand rapidly." The pessimist noted that biofuels are predicted to only supply 5% of our road transport fuel in 2030. And so the report goes, part rampant optimism and part rampant pessimism.

I guess the good news then is that there is something in there that will appeal to everyone, regardless of your outlook. The bad news? The claims that are directly opposed to your views will have you questioning the credibility of the report. And if you are like me--and note that between last year's report and this year's report they dropped their 2030 oil demand forecast by 10 million bpd--you are left wondering whether there is any credibility at all in forecasts that far out.

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Energy Vision 2050 - part I

Posted by Luis de Sousa on September 10, 2008 - 9:10am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: 2050, alternative energy, economic growth, nuclear, renewable energy [list all tags]

This is a guest post by Sterling Smith (TOD user Sterling). This first installment of the series outlines the evolution of the energy panorama from now to 2050. A second installment will deal with technical and political aspects of the path put forward.



Sterling is a software architect who works in Silicon Valley and lives in Woodside, California. He was born in the suburbs of New York City and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he majored in physics. He has worked in the software business for 35 years, still writes code, and has been part of eleven start-ups as well as several major corporations. Sterling's wife, Deborah Metzger, PhD, MD, is a very prominent gynecologist with whom he is raising four kids.

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A Compromise on the Drilling Question

Posted by Robert Rapier on July 24, 2008 - 9:00am
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: alaska, alternative energy, anwr, oil exploration, oil imports, oil prices, outer continental shelf, solar power, wind power [list all tags]

I have given a lot of thought to the issue of opening up new areas for drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). My position has always been to leave that oil in place for a very rainy day. I wanted to see major conservation efforts in place before we considered tapping that oil. Opening those areas when oil was $20 a barrel would have meant that much of it would have been used frivolously.

Now that oil is over $100 - and in my opinion will be much higher in 5 or 10 years (T. Boone Pickens predicts $300/bbl in 10 years) - we will have tightened our belts a good deal by the time any of this oil could actually reach the market. Therefore, I think now is the time for Congressional hearings on opening up these areas. Let's have an open debate on the issue. However, if these areas are opened for drilling, I have a compromise that should be very attractive to those in opposition.

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Performance Governing: Getting Lucky and Staying Lucky

Posted by Robert Rapier on July 4, 2008 - 8:17pm
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: alternative energy, congestion, edict, energy, energy policy, global warming, netmobil, peak oil, personal rapid transit, personal transit, prt, public transportation [list all tags]

The following is a guest post by Bill James.

Perfornmance Governing

Gasoline prices give a a clear measure of consequences of making oil the lifeblood of our economy. As our economic lifeblood, oil is giving us:

  1. Heart attacks, unstable price spikes in this plateau of Peak Oil
  2. Leukemia, undermining our planets ability to support us with Global Warming

Facing the facts and acting to resolve them can defeat peak Oil and Global Warming, both civilization killers. A primary fact is that our current infrastructure is the cause of these killers. We built the infrastructure. We can build better. The purpose of this essay is a call to action to defeat these civilization killers by changing the way we govern infrastructure from specifying HOW to build it, to stating WHAT is needed and allowing a free market to find the rare individuals with lucky breakthroughs that can build sustainable infrastructure. We must get lucky and discover the energy equivalents of lasers, personal computers, cell phones, the Internet, etc....

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Weekend Energy Listening: Wind Power with Paul Gipe

Posted by benk on June 8, 2008 - 10:00am in The Oil Drum: Canada
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: alternative energy, wind energy, wind farms, wind generation, wind power [list all tags]

The World Wind Energy Conference is just around the corner and happens to be in my home town. I was flipping through the conference program and noticed a familiar name pop up quite a lot: Paul Gipe. He's written a number of books on wind power and most recently has become involved in feed-in tariffs for wind power in North America. I spoke to him a while ago about how the industry has developed.

To listen to the show, you can either play it in the built in player, or download it directly via the link.


or download directly: Wind Power Conversation with Paul Gipe
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Solar Islands: A new concept for low-cost solar energy at very large scale

Posted by Francois Cellier on May 20, 2008 - 11:49am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: alternative energy, concentrating solar power, energy supply, solar island, solar power [list all tags]

This is a guest post by Dr. Thomas Hinderling. Dr. Hinderling is the CEO of CSEM Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique SA. One of CSEM's most exciting projects concerns the design of a new class of large scale concentrating solar power systems, called Solar Islands 1. This article introduces the solar island design to the readers of TOD 2.

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French PM warns that we are running out of oil

Posted by Jerome a Paris on March 13, 2008 - 7:02am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: alternative energy, france, peak oil [list all tags]

Pétrole: François Fillon prône de "changer progressivement de sources d'énergie" Oil: François Fillon says we have to move to other energy sources
"S'agissant de l'essence, il faut bien se mettre dans la tête qu'il n'y a pas de solution à cette question autre que de changer progressivement de sources d'énergie parce qu'on est devant une pénurie avancée", a souligné le Premier ministre sur RTL.

(...)

"Si on dit aux Français 'ne vous inquiétez pas on va trouver des moyens artificiels pour baisser le prix de l'essence et vous pouvez continuer à consommer de l'essence comme avant', on se trompe", a mis en garde le chef du gouvernement. "Il faut mettre tout l'argent disponible sur la recherche d'énergies alternatives". AP

"Speaking of gas, we have to get in our minds that there is no other solution to this question than to move to other energy sources because we are facing a forewarned shortage"

(...)

"If we tell the French: 'don't worry, we'll find artificial ways to lower the price of gas and you can continue to use gasoline as before', it's a lie", warned the head of government. "We have to put all available money on alternative energy R&D"

Will his government actually listen to what he is saying?

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Olduvai 2008 movie

Posted by Luis de Sousa on March 1, 2008 - 10:30am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: alternative energy, movie, olduvai, peak coal, peak fossil fuel, peak natural gas, peak oil [list all tags]



As an addendum to the Olduvai 2008 post there's a movie available that digests the main ideas presented there.

This was an original idea of Nate Hagens and Chris Vernon to somehow broaden the TOD readership spectrum to people with busy schedules and/or short attention spans. This new Olduvai assessment seemed a good place to start, although in the future the objective is to have more concise and direct movies, targeted for people who are not so savvy on fossil fuel depletion.

The budget was €0, so this piece of media is far from perfect, to which we ask for your understanding.

You can watch the movie using these links:

Google Video

YouTube (part 1)

YouTube (part 2)

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Olduvai revisited 2008

Posted by Luis de Sousa on February 28, 2008 - 10:15am in The Oil Drum: Europe
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: alternative energy, energy per capita, olduvai, peak coal, peak natural gas, peak oil, population [list all tags]


Forecast for Conventional Fossil Fuels per Capita.
Sources: UN for Population model, Jean Laherrère [pdf!] for Natural Gas, Energy Watch Group for Coal and The Oil Drum - Khebab for Oil. Click for large version.
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Tapping The Source: The Power Of The Oceans

Posted by Big Gav on February 24, 2008 - 12:00pm in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
Topic: Alternative energy
Tags: alternative energy, energy island, ocean current power, ocean power, otec, tidal power, wave power [list all tags]

Last year I came across the story of Dutch company Kema and their energy island idea - basically a variant on the usual pumped hydro energy storage concept where water is pumped out of a space below sea level then allowed to flow back in, generating power as it does. The "island" uses wind power to pump water out of the enclosed area. An obvious extension to this idea would be to harness ocean energy as well - letting wave and/or tidal power supplement the output of the wind turbines. An attraction of this concept is that it potentially allows a large amount of new energy storage to be brought online - and this storage would be along the world's coastlines, where most of the population lives.

Another form of energy island has been in the news recently, this one a substantially more ambitious proposal which envisions artificial islands to collect wind, wave, ocean current and solar power in the tropics, along with a more unusual energy source - harnessing the difference in water temperatures between the warm surface and the cold depths using a technique called OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion).

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