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Take a look at BLDW. News out this morning.
Building Turbines' New Partner ATG-LED, Announces Sale of Approximately $250,000 to Physicians Center Project, in Houston, TX
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=55938666&symbol=BLDW
Low floater, moves with ease.
Share Structure
Market Value1 $6,198,962 a/o Jan 18, 2013
Shares Outstanding 182,322,416 a/o Sep 30, 2012
Float 10,382,824 a/o Jun 30, 2011
Authorized Shares 500,000,000 a/o Sep 30, 2012
Par Value 0.001
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/BLDW/company-info
If you're interested in alternative energy companies, I believe you should take a look at GESI - Green Energy Solution Industries.
The company has a plan to build a plant to convert 200" tons of rail ties (feedstock) per day using gasification. GESI has formed an agreement with Canadian Pacific (CP) to obtain this feedstock at no cost. Also, the company just finalized an equity funding agreement for $45 million:
GESI Completes Escrow Milestone for Plant Funding by Private Escrow Capital Raise
"Green Energy Solution Industries, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: GESI) announced today the Company has received the formal irrevocable funding commitment from the lender of the financing for its renewable energy plant in Alberta, Canada."
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=53848124
I feel that this equity funding deal is an attractive detail for investors because it means that funding will not depend on dilution.
"Through the partnership with InREFCo, GESI announced that they have entered into an agreement for the source and source of funding of the plant which will be an equity percentage funding of the project. The funding will not in any way depend upon shares of the public company. MacKay stated that the terms of ownership would be heavily in favor of a majority ownership by GESI for the project."
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=53457782
Soon we will learn the amount of the first draw and timeline for the plant buildout. A conservative estimate for the amount of the first draw will be approx $10-$15 million. This could easily put a valuation for GESI in the $0.05-$0.10 range, based on the updated share structure.
Share Structure
Market Value1 $2,887,595 a/o Aug 17, 2012
Shares Outstanding 192,506,353 a/o Jun 30, 2012
Float 96,652,498 a/o Jun 30, 2012
Authorized Shares 490,000,000 a/o Mar 31, 2012
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/GESI/company-info
I'd imagine that there will be 3 to 4 draws in the $10-$15 million range to complete the plant construction. Once the plant is complete, the company will be fully operational and will begin earning revenue. With the completeion of the plant ($45 million) coupled with revenue, it's exciting to see the potential valuation of GESI.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif., March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Varsity Produce, one of California's premier grower-shipper-processors of yellow, red, white and sweet onions will not shed a tear about its decision to go solar with Cenergy Power on its processing/cold storage and packing facilities. The 428.40 kilowatt (kW) solar system will pay for itself in less than 4 years, offset approximately 97% of Varsity's utility bills and reduce the plant's carbon footprint by over 1,000,000 lbs. of CO2 per year.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/onion-processor-varsity-produce-not-shedding-a-tear-about-going-solar-with-cenergy-power-142514735.html
This tiny village of 37 gray homes and farm buildings clustered along the main road in a wind-swept corner of rural eastern Germany seems an unlikely place for a revolution.
Yet environmentalists, experts and politicians from El Salvador to Japan to South Africa have flocked here in the past year to learn how Feldheim, a village of just 145 people, is already putting into practice Germany's vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government passed legislation in June setting the country on course to generate a third of its power through renewable sources _ such as wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy _ within a decade, reaching 80 percent by 2050, while creating jobs, increasing energy security and reducing harmful emissions.
The goals are among the world's most ambitious, and expensive, and other industrialized nations from the U.S. to Japan are watching to see whether transforming into a nation powered by renewable energy sources can really work.
"Germany can't afford to fail, because the whole world is looking at the German model and asking, can Germany move us to new business models, new infrastructure?," said Jeremy Rifkin, a U.S. economist who has advised the European Union and Merkel.
In June, the nation passed the 20 percent mark for drawing electric power from a mix of wind, solar and other renewables. That compares with about 9 percent in the United States or Japan _ both of which rely heavily on hydroelectric power, an energy source that has long been used.
Expanding renewables depends on the right mix of resources, as well as government subsidies and investment incentive _ and a willingness by taxpayers to shoulder their share of the burden. Germans currently pay a 3.5 euro cent per kilowatt-hour tax, roughly euro157 ($205) per year for a typical family of four, to support research and investment in and subsidize the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources.
That allows for homeowners who install solar panels on their rooftops, or communities like Feldheim that build their own biogas plants, to be paid above-market prices for selling back to the grid, to ensure that their investment at least breaks even.
Critics, like the Institute for Energy Research, based in Washington, D.C., maintain such tariffs put an unfair burden of expanding renewables squarely on the taxpayer. At the same time, to make renewable energy work on the larger scale, Germany will have to pour billions into infrastructure, including updating its grid.
Key to success of the transformation will be getting the nation's powerful industries on board, to drive innovation in technology and create jobs. According to the Environment Ministry, overall investment in renewable energy production equipment more than doubled to euro29.4 billion ($38.44 billion) in 2011. Solid growth in the sector is projected through the next decade.
Some 370,000 people in Germany now have jobs in the renewable sector, more than double the number in 2004, a point used as proof that tax payers' investment is paying off.
Feldheim has zero unemployment _ despite its tiny size _ compared with roughly 30 percent in other villages in the economically depressed state of Brandenburg, which views investments in renewables as a ticket for a brighter future. Most residents work in the plant that produces biogas _ fuel made by the breakdown of organic material such as plants or food waste _ or maintain the wind and solar parks that provide the village's electricity.
"The energy revolution is already taking place right here," says Werner Frohwitter, spokesman for the Energiequelle company that helped set up and run Feldheim's energy concept.
But it's not only in the country. Earlier this month in Berlin, officials unveiled a prototype of a self-sustaining, energy-efficient home, built from recycled materials and complete with electric vehicles that can be charged in its garage.
The aim of the prototype home is to produce twice as much energy as is used by a family of four _ chosen from a willing pool of volunteers who will be selected to live in the home for 15 months _ through a combination of solar photovoltaics and energy management technology, in order to show the technology already exists to allow people to be energy self-sufficient.
"We want to show people that already today it is possible to live completely from renewable energy," said German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer as the project, dubbed "Efficiency House Plus," was unveiled. The house is part of a wider euro1.2 million ($1.57 million) project investing in energy-efficient buildings.
"The Efficiency House Plus will set standards that can be adopted by the majority in the short term," Ramsauer told The Associated Press. "The basic principle is that the house produces more energy than needed to live. The extra energy is then used to charge electric-powered cars and bicycles or sold back to the public grid."
Germany's four leading car makers are also participating in the project with BMW AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Opel, which is part of Buick's parent company, General Motors Co., each making an E-car for use by in the home.
Such strong cooperation between Germany's industrial sector coupled with a political landscape that emphasizes stability and a heightened public ecological sensibility makes Germany fertile ground to lead the way in the transformation from a post-carbon economy to one run on renewable energy.
"Germany has the most robust industrial economy per capita. When you talk about industrial revolution, that's Germany. It's German technology, it's German IT, it's German commutation," said Rifkin, who outlines what he calls the "The Third Industrial Revolution," in a newly released book of the same title that explains how the economies in the future could swap fossil fuels for renewable energies and still maintain growth.
Robert Pottmann, an asset manager with Munich Re, one of the world's biggest reinsurers, says the company seeks to invest about euro2.5 billion ($3.27 billion) in the next few years in renewable energy assets such as "wind farms, solar projects or maybe new electricity grids."
Alan Simpson, an independent energy and climate adviser from Britain who visited Feldheim as part of a wider tour of Germany last month to see what the renewable revolution looks like up close said it was inspiring to view what is being accomplished on the ground.
"It's great to think about Germany delivering on everything that we are being told in Great Britain is impossible," Simpson said.
Amid the excitement, there is also an awareness of the real need for the German experiment to succeed.
"If Germany can't pull this off," said Rifkin. "We don't have a plan B."
___
Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz contributed to this story from Berlin.
Read more: http://lacrossetribune.com/news/world/all-eyes-on-german-renewable-energy-efforts/article_38d5c0dd-70f9-5e8c-992b-23bf922092e4.html#ixzz1hvgxEWyy
Unless your system is small you want to use the ultility as your battery. Buying batteries is more expensive than just paying for the electricity even if the electric you put thru them is free!
Toofuzzy
Unless your system is small you want to use the ultility as your battery. Buying batteries is more expensive than just paying for the electricity even if the electric you put thru them is free!
Toofuzzy
Been living off grid and heating with wood for 19 years now.
Not always
toofuzzy
Been living off grid and heating with wood for 19 years now.
Not always
toofuzzy
Hi Tim, its out there all you have to do is ask there is a lot of INFO on the net. and people like me to help just ask :)
Alpine:)
NOT ALL GREEN IS GREEN!
One step at a time!
Flick a switch wright check!
Think about it :)
I agree- not all "green" is green- just a matter of gaining the knowledge. Unfortunately, I don't have it yet <bg>.
Are people really in to AE or living making there on power?
I have study the "GREEN"! from about 1970 and now been off grid 11 years say 75% still need gas and propane, working on say 98%, I can't make good grease and oil:). there are thing to do little at a time I just help a friend set up a wind gen. and inverter to put power back in to off set (run backwards)use grid as battery no gov. tax shit $1500 its out there, all with safety, to me thats a must! DC/AC power IS POWER right now my 52' hd is on news
and Im on my lap top, Im 6000' in the mountains on 2.5a in Cailf.
there was 10 deer in the front today o and I still have a year before retaring at 55 do i have alot of $$$ no YOU JUST HAVE TO IT RIGHT!
ALPINE:)
Not all Green is Green!
No reason to start a new board- just revive this one, it has a heart beat <g>. Bob went on to other things- take over as Mod
Looks like this board is DEAD!
maybe I need to start a new one on living off grid?
your cost of power goes up and you pay it, flip a switch write
a check!
You can do it BUT! you have to do it your self, to pay some compay you will not make it even with tax right off and were you are to get ok from ele. company to get right off its all fix.
good luck will help all i can.
I have set up fullup off-grid too 5 places around me, have fun doing it :)
Alpine:)
Looking forward to seeing what you have- I've been considering a on-grid system, but the cost doesn't seem to justify at this time
Hi to all just found this Board into Alt.Energy.
Been living off-grid 10+ years now will try to add.
Like making my own power no bill or blackouts:)
Will read up past post
Alpine:)
Algae Biofuels Have a Promising Future
by Carolyn Austin
Algae could be the most promising candidate yet for the future of the biofuels industry.
Although algae-based fuels won’t be commercially available for several years, algae offers several advantages over other first-generation renewable fuels, such as corn and soybeans. For example, algae grows faster, requires less resources, can be used as jet fuel, can use existing distribution systems, and absorbs carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.
And according to the WSJ, in theory the U.S. could produce enough of it to meet all of the nation’s transportation needs.
Although developing an economically viable process for refining oil from algae faces challenges on many fronts, interest (and investment) is growing.
Major players in the emerging industry include Exxon (XOM) (working with privately held Sapphire Energy and Synthetic Genomics), BP (in a development deal with Martek Biosciences Corp (MATK)), Valero (VLO) (invested in Solix Biofuels), as well as the U.S. Military. Smaller companies include Aquatic Energy, Aurora Biofuels, PetroAlgae, and Origin Oil.
Industry experts claim that in order to speed the process along, algae biofuel feedstocks must get the same benefits and incentives that first-generation biofuel feedstocks receive.
Just recently, Senator Boxer revised the definition of biofuels in the Renewable Fuels Standards of the Clean Air Act, previously defined as “cellulose-based biofuels,” to “advanced green biofuels,” as a way to include algae as a qualifying biomass material in the Renewable Fuels Standard provisions.
All of this syncs up neatly with a White House concerned with climate change and looking to develop “green energy” technologies with long economic coattails.
While it may be too early to call algae the clear winner in the biofuels race, at least for now, the future of algae-based biofuels looks bright.
Author's Disclosure: No positions in the stocks mentioned
http://seekingalpha.com/article/172973-algae-biofuels-have-a-promising-future?source=yahoo
The environment in the ethanol industry has significantly improved over the last 90 days. The industry is again on solid footing. Supply and demand have reached a point where oversupply is not a pressing issue and in fact, we continue to open up new markets for our products both domestically and globally. We are optimistic as ethanol has become a permanent part of the fuel supply and has reduced our dependence on foreign oil. We must continue to drive more widespread use of our great products, which is clean burning and energy efficient.
Margins have increased on a steady basis, more plants are back operating, oil companies continue to invest in ethanol assets and demand for ethanol is more robust today than anytime earlier in the year.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/172629-green-plains-renewable-energy-inc-q3-2009-earnings-call-transcript?source=yahoo&page=2
Studying Cellulose: 75 Billion Gallons Feasible by 2030
by Jonathan Eisenthal
http://www.ethanoltoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=6&fid=66
Crazy green-energy ideas that just might work
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545685/ns/technology_and_science-future_of_energy?pg=1#Science_FringeEnergy_090826
Thanks, throw up a link to that if you can, I'd like to see it.
Hi Whipsplash
There is a company in Kingston NY that has developed a vertical access windmill (could also be used horrizontally like a toilet paper roll) that is MUCH wider. If you could imagine an 8 foot x 16 foot twisted piece of plexiglass (bent in to a helix) It has a much biger wind swept area. I would imagine it has more tourqe and less speed. There is an engineering advantage to being shorter and wider unless you stuck it on the top of a long pole in which case it would be a wash. They are built with and external frame and can be stacked. Can also be placed on the flat roof of a building or mounted horrizontally along a ridge.
Toofuzzy
@ PUTTING PEOPLE TO WORK BUILDING WIND TURBINES
Putting Americans Back to Work
We invite you to join us April 20, 2009 at MasTech Manufacturing in Manistee, Michigan to celebrate the grand opening of the new Windspire volume manufacturing facility. Watch this video to learn how Mariah Power is putting people to work building wind turbines in the USA.
Video:
Great info- thanks
Fly Ash Information
Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants, whereas bottom ash is removed from the bottom of the furnace. In the past, fly ash was generally released into the atmosphere, but pollution control equipment mandated in recent decades now require that it be captured prior to release. In the US, it is generally stored at the power plant. Depending upon the source and makeup of the coal being burned, the components of the fly ash produced vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline) and calcium oxide (CaO). Fly ash is commonly used to supplement Portland cement in concrete production, where it can bring both technological and economic benefits, and is increasingly finding use in the synthesis of geopolymers and zeolites.
Continued .....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash
Another article from today about fly ash:
Cenocell Will Turn Coal Ash Into Cement Without Concrete
By News Staff - November 28th 2008 - Scientific Blogging
Each year, coal-burning power plants, steel factories and similar facilities in the United States produce more than 125 million tons of waste, much of it fly ash and bottom ash left over from combustion. Mulalo Doyoyo has plans for that material.
An assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Doyoyo has developed a new structural material based on these leftovers from coal burning. Known as Cenocell™, the material offers attributes that include high strength and light weight – without the use of cement, an essential ingredient of conventional concrete.
With broad potential applications and advantages such as good insulating properties and fire resistance, the “green” material could replace concrete, wood and other materials in a broad range of applications in construction, transportation and even aerospace.
“Dealing with the ash left over from burning coal is a problem all over the world,” said Doyoyo. “By using it for real applications, our process can make the ash a useful commodity instead of a waste product. It could also create new industry and new jobs in parts of the world that need them badly.”
Fly ash is composed of small particles removed from combustion gases by pollution control systems. Most of it must now be disposed of as a waste product, though certain types of fly ash can be used to replace a portion of the cement used in conventional concrete.
Cenocell, produced from either fly ash or bottom ash in a reaction with organic chemicals, requires none of the cement or aggregate – sand and rock – used in concrete. And unlike concrete, it emerges from curing ovens in final form and does not require a lengthy period to reach full strength.
“This is a new material very different from concrete,” Doyoyo said.
Continued .....
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/cenocell_will_turn_coal_ash_cement_without_concrete
Hi Wiplash
Looks like a good way to get rid of toxic flyash to me.
I never thought about this till recently. I knew they used flyash in the past (cinderblocks) and wondered why it was not used more locally where I live. It makes really good concrete. But then I read about what is left in the coal after burning.
Maybe someone more knowedgeable than me can comment on if it is really aproblem or not.
Toofuzzy
Nice site with some green tech products:
http://www.popsci.com/bown/2008/product/serious-materials-ecorock
Green prisons farm, recycle to save energy, money
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Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By PHUONG LE, Associated Press Writer Phuong Le, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 22 mins ago AP – Daniel Travatte, 36, suits up to check on the Italian honey bees he cares for at the Cedar Creek Corrections … LITTLEROCK, Wash. – Of all the things convicted murderer Robert Knowles has been called during his 13 years behind bars, recycler hasn't been one of them.
But there he was one morning, pitchfork in hand, composting food scraps from the main chow line and coffee grounds from prison headquarters — doing his part to "green" the prison.
"It's nice to be out in the elements," said Knowles, 42, stirring dark, rich compost that will amend the soil at the small farm where he and fellow inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center grew 8,000 pounds of organic vegetables this year.
Inmates of the minimum-security facility, 25 miles from Olympia, the state capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, compost 100 percent of food waste and even recycle shoe scraps that are made into playground turf.
"It reduces cost, reduces our damaging impact on the environment, engages inmates as students," said Eldon Vail, secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections, which oversees 15 prisons and 18,000 offenders. "It's good security."
As around-the-clock operations, prisons are voracious resource hogs, and administrators are under increasing pressure to reduce waste and conserve energy and water.
In 2007, states spent more than $49 billion to feed, house, clothe, treat and supervise 2.3 million offenders, the Pew Center on the States reported this year.
As the prison population has grown this decade, up 76 percent from 1.3 million in 2000, the number of prisons and jails has risen with it. The latest U.S. Bureau of Justice data show 1,821 facilities in 2005, up from 1,668 in 2000.
To keep costs down, the Indiana Department of Corrections installed water boilers that run on waste wood chips, and built a wind turbine at one prison that generates about 10 kilowatts an hour and saves $2,280 a year.
At Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif., 6,200 solar panels send energy back to the grid, enough to power 4,100 homes a year. The prison was trying to meet an executive order requiring state agencies to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2015, said a spokeswoman, Lt. Sue Smith.
North Carolina's Department of Corrections switched to chemical-free cleaners and vegetable-based inks. This summer, because of a water shortage, inmates converted 50-gallon pickle barrels into small cisterns that capture rainwater.
Under a state mandate to reduce energy use, the Oregon Department of Corrections replaced old appliances with energy-efficient ones, installed solar water heaters and used a geothermal well to heat water. It also modified washing machines so they could reuse rinse-water to wash about a million pounds of clothes a month.
At Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Ore., inmates recycle scraps from old prison blues to make diaper bags for women's shelters and dog beds for animal shelters.
"We try to model prosocial behavior," said Vern Rowan, business manager for the Oregon Department of Corrections. Being sustainable "is something that everybody should be doing, regardless of where they're at."
Cedar Creek, in the heart of a forest, feels more like an outdoor retreat than institutional lockup.
Most of the 400 inmates are in a work program, and put in between six and eight hours a day.
The responsibility of caring for the prison's three hives of Italian honey bees falls mostly to Daniel Travatte, 36, a soft-spoken former drug addict who is serving 10 years for attempted armed robbery.
Under the supervision of prison counselor Vicki Briggs, Travatte has learned to harvest honey — which inmates occasionally eat with breakfast biscuits — and use beeswax to make lotions. He's become an expert on their habits.
"I'm trying to change myself," said Travatte. "A lot of people go through prison with no intention of changing. I love working with the bees. It keeps me busy. I have a lot of responsibility to take care of."
While there isn't scientific evidence that such activities are helping inmates, Nalini Nadkarni, an environmental studies professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., notes anecdotal evidence that it's working.
"They were stimulating their minds and having conversations that were different than 'How much more time we have left'?" said Nadkarni.
One inmate went beyond conversations, enrolling in a doctoral program when he got out and co-authoring a research paper with Nadkarni on a moss-growing project she started to help reduce the impact of wild moss harvesting on forests.
While Cedar Creek went green out of economic necessity — it had to conserve because it didn't have the wastewater capacity to expand four years ago — it is now embracing other benefits, said Dan Pacholke, a state prison administrator who helped implement many of the practices.
Cedar Creek uses 250,000 fewer gallons of water a year, saves $6,000 to $8,400 annually on garbage bills and avoided a $1.4 million sewage treatment plant upgrade.
A large "Con-Post" marks the prison's composting station, made of recycled concrete blocks and reclaimed wood, where Knowles spends about six hours a day, making sure the compost gets enough heat, moisture and air to break down food scraps.
"They trust me to do all this with no supervision," said Knowles, who is serving time for the hit-and-run death of an off-duty police officer.
"I like growing the vegetables," Knowles said. "My mom had a garden. I can see having my own garden."
Interesting story on solar collection through roads and parking lots
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=31450901
Nissan Motor unveils new prototype electric car
Aug 6 04:59 AM US/Eastern
Nissan Motor Co. unveiled a new prototype electric vehicle Wednesday with batteries twice as powerful as conventional technology, aiming to take a lead in zero-emission cars.
Japan's third-largest automaker said the front-wheel drive, boxy-shaped car has a newly developed 80 kilowatt motor with advanced lithium-ion batteries installed under the vehicle's floor to avoid taking up space.
The laminated batteries, jointly developed with electronics giant NEC Corp., pack twice the electric power of conventional nickel-metal hydride batteries currently used in hybrid and electric cars, it said.
Nissan aims to start selling an electric car in the United States and Japan in 2010 and the rest of the world in 2012. It will have a new "unique bodystyle" that is not based on any existing model, the company said.
Nissan has been slower than rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. to embrace petrol-electric hybrids, but it aims to become the industry leader in electric vehicles.
Such cars have so far failed to break into the mainstream, partly because of their limited battery life.
Nissan is also developing hydrogen fuel-cell cars as well as its own hybrid system, betting that zero-emission vehicles will take a 15 percent share of the global auto market in the future.
The company also unveiled a prototype hybrid which will also be launched in the US and Japan in 2010, as well as a new, slimmer fuel cell stack with double the power density of previous ones and 35 percent lower costs.
Hi Toofuzzy, here is some more info on it.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10002704-54.html
Been so long, I've forgotten how to post a link on here.
The short version is that they have come up with a catalyst that can be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which at a later time would be used in a fuel cell. They are currently working on the idea of using solar power to produce the electricity to split the water. But any electrical source would work.
New way to split water
I heard on NPR today that MIT has discovered a more energy efficient way to get hydrogen from water and it will be licenced out.
Didn't hear anything about the process itself.
Now we just need a way to store it. Does anyone know anything about putting some ferris (iron) compound in a tank that combines with hydrogen that allows storage at a MUCH lower pressure but will uncombine as pressure is reduced? So maybe you could store the same amount of hydrogen at 100 psi instead of 3000 psi or something along those lines.
Toofuzzy
For those following EESTOR...
EEStor Announces Certification of Additional Key Production Milestones and Enhancement of Chemical Purity
Last update: 1:27 p.m. EDT July 29, 2008
CEDAR PARK, Texas, July 29, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Edward D. Golla, PhD, Laboratory Director for Texas Research International (acting as an independent agent) has certified that EEStor, Inc. test equipment, procedures, and techniques are capable of providing the EEStor, Inc. required testing accuracy for EEStor's chemicals and powder production processing analyses.
Since the beginning of 2007, EEStor, Inc. has been advancing its chemical purification and powder production processes. The decision to focus on these processes was made to help assure that EEStor, Inc. could meet the most critical demands of business segments for production throughput, cost, and energy storage. The certification data described in this press release will assist in indicating the success EEStor, Inc. has had in completing its objectives.
EEStor, Inc. has achieved success on one of its most critical technical milestones and that is the certification of the completeness of the powder crystallization of the constituents utilized in producing its CMBT powders. The percent of the constituents crystallized in the CMBT powders ranged from 99.57% to 100.00% with the average being 99.92%. This level of crystallization provides the path for the possibility of EEStor, Inc. providing the published energy storage for present products and major advancements in energy storage for future products.
The purification of the EEStor, Inc. chemicals has been certified by the same chemical analysis company as EEStor's press release dated January 17, 2007 and now indicates that EEStor has improved its chemical purity to the parts-per-billion range. The aluminum oxide particle coating material purification has been certified to be in the parts-per-trillion level. Achieving these levels of purification are additional major factors in allowing EEStor, Inc. the potential to reach its target working voltage. EEStor, Inc. has certification data from outside sources that purified aluminum oxide, in the range that EEStor, Inc. has certified, can have a voltage breakdown of 1,100 volts per micron. The target working voltage of EEStor's chemical processes is at 350 volts per micron. This provides the potential for excellent protection from voltage breakdown.
It has also been certified by Mr. Ian Treviranus of HORIBA Instruments, Inc. and the LA-950 particle measurement system that EEStor, Inc. has achieved their goal of producing powder particles in the range of 1 micron with a very narrow particle size distribution. EEStor, Inc. has certification data that indicates achieving powder particle of this size and distribution along with the aluminum oxide particle coating assists EEStor, Inc. in meeting the energy storage stabilization over the temperature range of interest for key applications.
EEStor, Inc. published patent, application number 5812758, indicates the flexible matrix concept that could provide the potential of multiple technical and production advantages. One of the technical advantages indicated is assisting in providing polarization of the ultra capacitors. Polarization along with other proprietary processing steps provides the potential of a polarization saturation voltage required by EEStor, Inc.
These key certified production milestones of particle crystallization, size, purity, and polarization are expected to assist EEStor in providing not only present and future energy storage requirements but also production consistency.
ABOUT EEStor, Inc.
Headquartered in Cedar Park, Texas, EEStor, Inc. is dedicated to the design, development, and manufacturing of high-density electrical energy storage units.
Utilizing revolutionary ultra capacitor architecture and environmentally friendly materials the EEStor, Inc. EESU will have the capability to compete against all existing battery and capacitor technologies.
For additional information please email info@eestor.us
SOURCE EEStor, Inc.
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
Sorry about that try the HDVB video in the picture on this page. It really is a very interesting concept...
http://www.valcent.net/s/Ecotech.asp
The page you requested does not currently
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Please try visiting our HOME PAGE instead.
Speaking of Algae....
Check out this video......It is simply amazing! Pay particular attention to the statement the guy makes at the end.
<http://www.valcent.net/i/misc/Vertigro/index.html>
Company seeks $7M for algae fuel test
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) -- Algae grown from sewage could be used to produce biofuels, says a company seeking a $7 million state grant to help prove it.
Representatives of Bloomfield Hills-based Sequest L.L.C. are considering Holland's wastewater and coal plant as a site for their project. It would divert carbon dioxide from the power plant and combine it with treated wastewater to grow algae.
The algae would be converted to biofuels and other uses.
Bob Truxell, the company's chief executive, said the technology could help transform the world's energy system.
"We think it's very economically feasible," Truxell told The Grand Rapids Press.
Four sites are under consideration, but Truxell said he likes Holland because of the proximity of the coal and wastewater plants and a planned Michigan State University research center.
"Later on, the algae strain will evolve and we will need the genetic help that is available at the research facility," Truxell said. "I personally am very excited about Holland. I hope we proceed there."
The company is seeking funds from a pool of $18 million in a proposal now before the Legislature. It comes from a program announced in January by Gov. Jennifer Granholm called Centers of Energy Excellence.
A Michigan State University official said the project is daunting but worth pursuing in a world worried about global warming and desperate for new fuel sources.
"Clearly there are lot of questions, but we have to balance those questions with a whole lot of potential," said Steven Pueppke, director of the university's Office of Biobased Technologies.
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20080622/REG/130788421/1069
April 1, 2008 1:44 PM PDT
Zenn, EEStor detail plans for highway-capable electric car
Posted by Michael Kanellos | 5 comments Toronto's Zenn Motors has laid out its plans for a freeway-legal car, and on paper it looks pretty good.
The CityZenn will hit a top speed of 80 miles per hour (or a 125 kilometers per hour as they insist on saying in Canada) but more importantly, it will be rechargeable in five minutes. That's an astounding breakthrough: Lengthy charge times have been one of the many reasons that electric cars have yet to go mainstream. Cars powered by lithium-ion batteries need a few hours to fully charge.
Electra glide in silver.
(Credit: Zenn Motors)Zenn's car will be powered by an energy storage unit from secretive EEStor. EEStor has built an ultracapacitor that stores electrons better than a battery, the company claims. The company has said its component can also power electric cars for longer distances than batteries. Few people, however, have been able to test the company's technology, and EEStor has had to endure some delays. The secrecy and other factors have made some skeptical of EEStor.
The CityZenn comes out in the fall of 2009. While it will sell for a premium over similar gas cars, it will be affordable for mainstream buyers, the company says. Most likely it will come out in Europe first and the U.S. later. Zenn is expected to get its first samples of EEStor's energy storage units this year. Zenn is also an investor in the company.
Both Zenn and EEStor will collaborate to sell drive trains that will let car owners convert their gas-burners to running on electric.
Now for the qualifiers. EEStor may face further delays. Zenn will have to jump through several regulatory hurdles to get its cars on the road, so initial sales may be pushed past the fall 2009 goal.
Zenn, along with Tesla and a few others, has been one of the more realistic electric car companies. The company currently sells low-speed electric vehicles which get used as fleet cars on army bases and university campuses. The picture included here is a shot of its latest low-speed vehicle. CEO Ian Clifford has said that technical challenges have been one of the reasons electric cars aren't driving around in huge numbers on the streets today. (He doesn't talk about oil company conspiracies.) In other words, the company has a track record of actually selling vehicles and not overpromising.
So we shall wait and see. Either way, 2009 will be a huge year for electric cars. Tesla will be in mass production of its Tesla Roadster by then and will be starting to come out with (or finishing up) its Whitestar sedan. Tesla will make an all-electric and plug-in hybrid version of Whitestar. General Motors will be one year away from the Volt. And Fisker Automotive will start producing its sporty plug-in hybrid, the Fisker Karma.
http://www.news.com/8301-11128_3-9908050-54.html?tag=tb
Solar Company Says Its Tech Can Power 90 Percent of Grid AND Cars
By Alexis Madrigal March 06, 2008 - Wired Blog Network
The solar power plant company, Ausra, has released a paper claiming that solar thermal electric technology can provide 90% of US grid electricity, with enough left over to power a fleet of plug-in hybrids. The company estimates that change over would eliminate 40% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions with a land footprint of 9600 square miles (thanks, Kent).
The key to the scenario, however, is developing the ability to store energy for 16 hours to create a stable power source through cloudy periods and the night, a feat which has so-far eluded engineers.
"If we can do storage," Ausra CEO Bob Fishman said, "We can take on coal."
The paper says that Ausra expects to commercialize their energy storage technology within two years. A prototype of that system will go into the prototype plant the company will finish this summer in Bakersfield, California, the company's founder David Mills, who is also author of the paper, told Wired.com. The research was presented at the IEA SolarPACES conference in Las Vegas, and is described as peer-reviewed. It is available here for your inspection.
Solar thermal power is gaining adherents, including Google.org who cut a deal with another player eSolar, as a way to cleanly generate cost-competitive, city-scale amounts of power. Unlike traditional photovoltaics, which use panels to convert sunlight into electricity, solar thermal plants focus the sun's rays on liquids to make steam which powers turbines. Solar thermal is flat-out more efficient at 20-40 percent than photovoltaics, which in the field convert sunlight to electricity at about 15-22 percent. And solar thermal fits into the industrial model of power production, meaning that it works in big plants, not distributed across a bunch of houses and buildings.
Mills paper reveals some interesting statistics about the construction cost of solar thermal technologies: $3000 per kilowatt of capacity, but estimated to drop to $1500 per kW over the next "several" years. Last year, The New York Times quoted GE Energy executives giving construction costs for coal plants at $2,000 to $3,000 per kilowatt.
Ausra says they can generate electricity for 10 cents a kilowatt hour, which is close to the cost of natural gas, and they expect the price to drop even further. The company has received a lot of attention because of their compact linear fresnel reflector technology, and because they lined up two big-name VC early: Vinod Khosla and Kleiner Perkins, where Al Gore is a partner. They've received $43 million in venture capital, and an additional $30 million at least in venture debt. Later this year, they are planning a $100-150 million funding round.
Ausra, for now, sells power to utilities. In total, they have announced real commitments for 1,500 megawatts of solar power deployments from PG&E (1000 MW) and Florida Power and Light (500 MW). Fishman, however, says they have several thousand more megawatts of deals in the pipeline. A recent deal between a different solar player, Abengoa, and Arizona Public Services, for a 280 megawatt plant had the following terms: 30 years, $4 billion.
Still, there are reasons to be skeptical. For one, companies have been piling into the solar concentrating space. Stirling Energy Systems, SkyFuel, Solel, BrightSource, Rocketdyne, Abengoa, and the aforementioned eSolar are all working on using mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy in one way or another. That's a lot of competition for a still-small chunk of the energy business.
Perhaps a more fundamental question is: can all these prospective plants actually get built? Conceptually, solar thermal is a real bright spot in an otherwise depressing renewable energy landscape, but until there are dozens of functional plants, it will be hard to know what kind of engineering costs these facilities are going to run into. And that's assuming that the storage technologies being discussed turn out to work. There's a long road from a prototype plant in Bakersfield to providing 90% of the nation's electric needs. For one, the nation's electricity transmission infrastructure would have to change considerably as well, but that's a topic for another post.
In the near term, these companies will be feeding off states in the Southwest that have built solar requirements into their renewable energy dictums. Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado all require between 15 and 20 percent of their power to come from solar sources. Solar thermal is the only technology that could realistically deliver that type of power. Any sort of system that puts a price on emitting carbon dioxide -- either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade framework -- would be helpful because it would penalize coal and aid cleaner technologies.
Ultimately, though, these companies want to dominate the grid, as Mills wrote in the paper, solar thermal "is probably the only currently available technology which can be considered for a globally dominant role in the electricity sector over the next 40 years." To achieve a dominant role globally, including China and India in the picture, they'll have to fulfill Google's dream of making renewable energy less expensive than coal.
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/03/solar-company-s.html
Gas from cows
www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN0440606220080304
I have read about this for years particularly in India.
Toofuzzy
Coming Soon from VW: A 69.9 MPG Diesel Hybrid
February 28, 2008 By Chuck Squatriglia - Wired Blog Network
It's official - Volkswagen is unveiling a hybrid to challenge the mighty Toyota Prius. And not just any hybrid, but a diesel-electric hybrid it says will deliver 69.9 mpg.
VW's been experimenting with hybrids of the gasoline-electric variety since the early 1990s, but the Golf hybrid it will unveil next month at the Geneva Motor Show is the first production model the German company's rolled out. Volkswagen isn't offering much in the way of details, but the car is expected to have a parallel hybrid drivetrain with a 2.0 liter engine. Look for it to have an all-electric mode at low speed, start-stop capability, regenerative braking and a 7-speed DSG double-clutch transmission, according to Auto Express and AutoBlog Green.
What's all the techno-jargon mean? The Golf Hybrid will get almost 70 mph while meeting Europe's stringent Euro V and America's Tier 2 Bin 5 emissions standards, making it green enough even for California. The car is said to emit just 89 g/km of CO2. (For comparison, the Prius emits 104 g/km and Honda Civic Hybrid emits 116.)
The hybrid Golf may be just the start.
According to Britain's Channel 4, VW is considering the hybrid drivetrain in a Jetta and Audi A3. DailyTech says it also could appear in the VW Tiguan and Audi Q5 crossover utility vehicles.
Auto Express says the Golf hybrid will be offered for sale in Europe by the end of next year. No word yet on when we might see it on this side of the pond. VW hasn't released a picture of the hybrid, so we're offering a shot of its diesel Golf Bluemotion.
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/02/vw-unveiling-an.html
Move Over, Oil, There’s Money in Texas Wind
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/business/23wind.html?_r=1&ex=1361509200&en=3235d917da8aadba&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
Loremo: The 'Low Resistance Mobile'
At 150-miles-per-gallon, the Loremo wants to show how far a diesel can go.
By Jacob Gordon of TreeHugger.com Click to see more pictures Loremo, which stands for "low resistance mobile," combines an efficient diesel engine with low weight and minimal drag to get upwards of 150 mpg.
Full story and pictures: http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=457882
The idea is deceptively simple. Forget about fancy batteries, regenerative braking, and alternative fuels. Instead, make a car that's elegant in its minimalism and efficiency. The Loremo's German designers revisited the basics — engine efficiency, low weight, and minimal drag — to create a car that offers fuel-efficiency in the neighborhood of 130 to 150 miles per gallon. The Loremo is likely to dazzle drivers not with its acceleration, but with its ability to drive from New York to L.A. with only three stops at the pump.
Loremo stands for low resistance mobile, and its engineers have stuck obsessively to this idea. By building the car around a 2-cylinder turbodiesel engine, and cutting back on weight, drag, and other excess fat such as side-opening doors, the Loremo puffs out a mere 50 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. This is about 40 grams less per kilometer than the tiny diesel smart. According to its creators, this will make the Loremo the most efficient production car ever sold.
If the Loremo showed up as a concept on an auto show pedestal, it would certainly garner some attention. But the Loremo is not a car for dreamers; not only will it enter mass production next year, it will sport a base price attainable by mortal motorists: 15,000 euros (about U.S. $22,000).
Discuss: Will the Loremo catch on if it comes to the U.S.?
After its 2009 release in Europe, the Loremo will be redesigned to reach the North American market the following year. A $30,000, 3-cylinder GT model will also become available, offering better acceleration (0-60 in roughly 10 seconds, vs. 16 for the base model). Both hybrid and fully electric versions are also in the works.
Driving Simplicity
While the Loremo goes back to basics to come up with triple-digit fuel economy, it took some outside-the-box thinking to get there. The most striking difference is the way passengers enter, with the car's front end yawning forward — hood, windshield, and steering column included. Upon settling in, the front end closes, swinging the dashboard, touch-screen display, and steering wheel back into position. The driver is then surrounded by a minimalist design aesthetic not unlike the ultra-efficient Aptera, but with a bit more Germanic twist.
Read: Aptera: The Wingless Bird
Opening the trunk hatch reveals two rear-facing "youth" seats, both of which are removable to free up storage space. Seating in front is also snug, with the driver and front passenger nearly shoulder to shoulder.
If it sounds like the Loremo boasts all the disadvantages of a sports car (tight squeeze, low headroom, awkward entry) sans the adrenaline rush, its winning traits may be undeniable efficiency and modest cost. And validation could be on the horizon. The Loremo was one of the first cars entered in the Automotive X PRIZE, a high-profile contest offering a purse of $10 million or more for a vehicle that can prove 100-mile-per-gallon performance as well as economic viability. Luckily for the Loremo, it's not a drag race.
Read: Automotive X PRIZE: $10 million for a 100-mpg car
Gerhard Heilmaier, CEO of the Munich-based Loremo AG, says that a car's weight is the key factor in making it green, no matter what the fuel: "Cars need to be downsized. Why do we need two tons of steel to bring a 180-pound human from one place to another? That must change."
Running the Loremo on biodiesel (a vegetable-based diesel substitute) is an attractive option, but Heilmaier insists that efficiency comes before all else. "The first step must be to reduce the amount of energy you need. The second step is to choose which energy it is. Even electric vehicles are not zero emission. Think of where the electricity is coming from."
The Diesel Returns
While American carmakers have greened their vehicles mostly with hybrid-electric drives and ethanol fuel, Europe has been refining the rugged diesel engine and accentuating its high fuel-efficiency to cut greenhouse gasses and stanch oil consumption. Now it seems that American interest in diesel cars and SUVs is on the rise, with companies such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW, and even Honda (the hybrid runner-up) bringing their diesel offerings to U.S. drivers. "The European diesels are really very civilized," says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, "and they have excellent engines."
At this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Audi chairman Rupert Stadler unveiled the R8 V12 diesel sports car, telling his American audience that Audi is now "challenging the final piece of conventional wisdom" about diesel-powered cars. BMW also took the opportunity to foreshadow the arrival of more diesel cars and SUVs.
As gas prices rise and fuel economy laws stiffen, Americans continue to jump into hybrids with green stars in their eyes (in 2007, the Prius outsold the Ford Explorer). But even if the Loremo isn't exactly what American drivers are looking for, this staggeringly efficient car could serve as a powerful symbol of how far the diesel engine can go, and help break through some of that smoggy "conventional wisdom."
Jacob Gordon is a freelance writer, a blogger for TreeHugger.com, and producer of TreeHugger Radio. He can be reached at jacob@treehugger.com.
In the market for a new car? MSN Autos is pleased to provide you with information and services designed to save you time, money and hassle. Click to research prices and specifications on any new car on the market or get a free price quote through MSN Autos' New-Car Buying Service.
Mariah Power, Reno, Nevada, February 11, 2008
Friends,
We are pleased to announce that our Windspire™ has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to participate in independent testing on small wind turbine systems. This testing will occur in addition to our own independently-contracted performance testing that is currently underway in Utah. The NREL testing will take place at the NREL National Wind Technology Center near Golden, Colorado. The initiative is targeting commercially available turbine systems that have a high probability of success in the U.S. market over the next several years. NREL will evaluate the turbine systems based on IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards and, to the extent it has been defined, on the upcoming American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) standard for small wind turbines. The testing will evaluate duration, power performance, acoustic noise emissions, safety and function and power quality. Results will be posted on the NREL web site upon project completion in 2009.
“We are extremely pleased that Windspire has been selected to participate in this rigorous government testing program because it underscores Mariah Power’s mission to leverage independent test data to bring more credibility to this emerging industry” said Mike Hess, CEO of Mariah Power. “It also provides our customers with another layer of data that supports Windspire’s performance and reliability attributes. Windspire represents an industry first because it offers a propeller-free vertical axis design that is uniquely slender and aesthetic, and which produces about 1800 kilowatt hours per year in 11 mile per hour average wind speeds. We welcome the scrutiny that independent testing provides. In addition to the NREL testing, we have a Windspire unit at Windward Engineering in Utah that is being tested for a full year in real world conditions.”
Windspire is a propeller-free, vertical axis wind turbine designed for harnessing wind power in urban, suburban and rural locations. It is 30 feet tall with a two foot radius, sized below typical residential zoning restrictions. Guidelines for installation sites are generally half an acre of land and relatively windy locations. It is priced at half to a third the cost of comparable renewable power options, and can be quickly and easily installed by authorized dealers. Windspire features a fully integrated, plug ‘n produce design, including a high efficiency generator, integrated inverter, and wireless performance monitor. It incorporates a slow speed giromill rotor for virtually silent operation and improved safety and durability. It connects to the household power supply, offsetting electricity use and at times running the electricity meter backwards. This powerful, sleek and aesthetically pleasing wind power appliance can blend in well with a variety of settings, making it an ideal renewable energy option for many home and business owners.
Among Mariah Power’s other products currently in development are: an off-grid application that includes battery charging; grid-tie versions designed to meet international electricity standards; and completed design and testing of the Savonius style rotor, for release later in 2008.
Customers who are interested in purchasing a Windspire in the future can place an informal reservation at this stage, by emailing sales@mariahpower.com with their name, address, quantity needed, and primary use. Customers with reservations will be given priority when the Windspire is released for sale. Interested Dealers in the US and Canada are also encouraged to email sales@mariahpower.com to receive a Dealer packet.
Visit us at www.mariahpower.com for more information.
If you wish to subscribe to this list for updates on Mariah Power and the Windspire, please email updates@mariahpower.com with "Subscribe" in the subject header. This is a low volume list, with announcements sent out only as they happen.
If you wish to unsubscribe to this list, please email updates@mariahpower.com with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.
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Pond Scum: From Petri Dish to Gas PumpTell a Friend
By Joan Melcher | 02. 8.2008 | 05:36 PM (UTC) Photo courtesy SolazymeAlthough substantial technical obstacles remain, some companies are are already producing petrol from the Petri dish by tapping lipid-heavy algae.
TagsAlgae, Biofuels, Climate Change, energy, Innovation, Renewables In a comic book world, a superhero single-handedly addresses the ills of the world. Now imagine a simple organism simultaneously tackling three of Earth’s nagging problems: air pollution, global warming and depletion of energy supply.
The organism with this potential is the lowly alga, sometimes known as pond scum. Since the dawn of time, it has been ready for its “15 minutes.”
Chemists, fuel companies, venture capitalists and public utilities are looking to harness alga’s potential as an eco-friendly and economical biofuel as well as an answer to those pesky flue gas emissions. Their efforts come as other bio-fuels, such as corn-based ethanol, face concerns that they help create more climate woes than they solve.
Microalgae (to distinguish it from such macroalgae species as seaweed) have many desirable attributes for energy producers. Their oil content, in the form of molecules known as lipids, can be as high as 80 percent in dry weight, although 40 percent is more the average — still easily higher than any other biomass feedstock being considered today. Algae reproduce exponentially and can grow about anywhere. In fact, algae prefer salty and sunny conditions, opening up the possibility of using desert and marginal agricultural land for production of algal feedstock. They can even grow in wastewater, and they thrive on carbon dioxide from gas- and coal-fired power plants.
Indeed, they may be the original multitaskers.
Keith Cooksey, a professor emeritus at Montana State University, was researching ways of removing algae from U.S. Navy vessels more than 20 years ago when he became interested in separating lipids from algae. While doing a literature search, his wife saw an article on how lipids were being detected in human cells. Cooksey decided to see if the same process would work with algae.
He developed a method of staining the cells to determine lipid content. Using a dye called Nile red, he was able to reduce the sample size needed, making the detection of oil in the microscopic plant feasible. Much of his research was conducted with grants from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Aquatic Species Program. An executive summary of the project’s work in 1998 concluded that algal fuel was not yet economically feasible, and the project lost funding.
End of story — until 2007, a year that saw the price of oil near $100 a barrel, Al Gore and climate scientists win the Nobel Prize for their global warming call to arms and several coal-fired power plants nixed by state regulators.
Cooksey recently attended an algal fuel conference in San Francisco that attracted 300 people. The national press has taken notice, with stories in The Washington Post and BusinessWeek . Sandia National Laboratories is looking into developing algal oil as a military jet propellant. And the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research has partnered with the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to bring scientists, including Cooksey, together to assess the state of today’s algal fuel research.
Meanwhile, Cooksey has received several calls from academic and commercial entities asking about “tweaking” the Nile red procedure. “In the last few months, I’ve had more than 30 requests for information,” he said, “mainly from small companies who want to improve their research and from some who want to start something on algal biodiesel production.”
So what are the downfalls of this unexpected wunderkind?Feedstock is needed on a mass scale. Separating the water from the algae and leaving the oil remains a challenge. Sometimes the algae’s exponential growth overwhelms its human keepers. Various strains of algae are being tested to determine compatibility with different processes and uses. And, as with all new technologies, level of scale and mass production will be the last, and possibly most formidable, mountains to climb.
The field has an expectant and secretive air to it, with companies declining to provide interviews citing proprietary issues. Cooksey commented on his experience at the San Francisco conference: “No one will tell you anything.”
Several approaches are being researched, with the trend turning away from open ponds because of lower-than-expected yields of algae. Today’s research involves photobioreactors and fermentation processes, methods for identifying the most productive strains of algae and use of carbon dioxide emissions to feed the algae and sequester carbon in both gas- and coal-fired power plants.
The switch to bioreactors has made determining how much land and capital might be required for industrial-scale biofuel production an open question. Michael Briggs, a physicist at the University of New Hampshire, made some estimates for replacing imports of foreign oil in a 2004 paper, but four years later he’s backed off those optimistic estimates as it’s become obvious that commercial production will rely on more costly enclosed processes.
Still, when compared to use of corn, rapeseed or soy, the other main biofeedstocks, creating algal fuel can be done much faster because algae grows so fast — up to 40 times faster than other plants. Ron Pate, a technical expert at Sandia National Laboratories, has been quoted as saying algae has the potential to deliver 10 or 100 times more energy per acre than currently used energy crops. Other sources put it at 140 times.
Solazyme, a San Francisco-based synthetic biology company, recently announced it had road-tested the first algae-derived biodiesel in a factory-standard automobile over long distances under typical driving conditions. Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Wolfson said the company signed a development and testing agreement with Chevron Technology Ventures, a division of Chevron U.S.A.
Solazyme is using a standard industrial fermentation process to produce its algal biodiesel. Wolfson believes the company’s proprietary process, based on proven methods that utilize the current infrastructure to refine and distribute the fuel, is the ticket to commercialization, which he sees as possible within the next two or three years.
Noting that the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope likely are a product of an ancient massive algal bloom, he described his company’s process as “taking one of the best oil producers on the planet and marrying it with the tools of bioproduction and biotechnology to shrink that multimillion-year process into a few days.”
Arizona Public Service Company (APS) is taking a different tact. It has partnered with GreenFuel Technologies of Cambridge, Mass., to test the feasibility of recycling carbon dioxide emissions from its Redhawk gas-fired power plant. Using GreenFuel’s trademarked technology, smokestack emissions are trapped and transferred to containers holding algae, which consume carbon dioxide and multiply. Estimates are that for every acre of algae grown on the plant site, 150 tons of carbon dioxide can be absorbed — possibly 80 percent of the total emissions from the plant.
In addition, algae’s nontoxic leftovers have value, too: APS says the starches can be turned into ethanol and the proteins into livestock food.
APS was the first to use algae biomass produced on-site to create transportation-grade biofuels and received a Global Energy Award in 2006 for the accomplishment. However, early tests have not been without their problems. At Redhawk, the algae grew too fast, overwhelming GreenFuel’s ability to harvest the oil.
The company has come up with another approach and is looking to test the mighty alga’s ability to fight environmental crime at its Four Corners coal-fired plant. The company also is testing its technology at a 1,489-megawatt coal-fueled power plant in New Roads, La.
Imperium Renewables, a Seattle-based biofuels producer, is buying algal oil being produced by U.S. startup companies. Although commercial-scale production of an algae-derived diesel is likely years away, Imperium has dedicated its original 5 million-gallon refinery to research and development of algal biodiesel and other new fuels.
Joan Melcher is a freelance writer and editor living in Missoula, Mont. Her work ranges from travel magazine articles to stories on breaking research.
http://miller-mccune.com/main/article/162
Wind, Looks like these guys are pulling it together. I like the new design, which looks to be available soon. There's a lot more info on their web site.
http://www.mariahpower.com/
Electricity storage
Ne plus ultra
Jan 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
Illustration by David Simonds
A new version of an old idea is threatening the battery industry
PUT the pedal to the metal in the XH-150—a souped-up Saturn Vue—and watch the instruments. Sure enough, the speedometer shoots up in a satisfactory way. But an adjacent dial shows something else: the amount of charge in the car's capacitors is decreasing. Ease off the accelerator and as the speedo winds down the capacitors charge up again.
Such a capacitor gauge could become a common sight on the dashboards of the future. A capacitor can discharge and recharge far faster than a battery, making it ideal both for generating bursts of speed and for soaking up the energy collected by regenerative braking. AFS Trinity, a company based in Washington state, has turned that insight into a piece of equipment that it has fitted into an otherwise standard production model as an experiment. The result—the XH-150—was unveiled at this year's Detroit motor show.
In fact the XH-150 is a three-way hybrid, employing a petrol engine and conventional lithium-ion batteries as well as its special capacitors. An overnight charge gives it an all-electric range of 40 miles (60km), after which the petrol engine needs to come into play. AFS Trinity says the vehicle is capable of more than 80mph and returns the equivalent of 150 miles per gallon (more than 60km/litre) in normal use. Edward Furia, the firm's chief executive, reckons the extra kit would add around $8,700 to the price of a petrol-only vehicle were it put into mass production.
This, however, may be only the start. Eventually, the so-called ultracapacitors on which the XH-150 is based may supplant rather than merely supplement a car's batteries. And if that happens, a lot of other batteries may be for the chop, too. For it is possible that the long and expensive search for a better battery to power the brave, new, emission-free electrical world has been following the wrong trail.
Full capacity
A traditional capacitor stores electricity as static charges, positive and negative, on two electrodes that are separated by an insulator. This works best when the electrodes are parallel with each other, which means they need to have smooth surfaces. The amount of charge that can be stored depends on the surface area of the electrodes, the strength and composition of the insulation between them, and how close they are together. If the electrodes are then connected by a wire, a current will flow from one to the other. A battery, by contrast, stores what is known as an electrochemical potential. Its two electrodes are made of different chemicals—ones that will release energy when they react. But because the electrodes are physically separated from one another their chemical constituents can react only by remote control.
This is able to happen because the space between the electrodes is filled with a material called an electrolyte which allows ions (electrically charged atoms, or groups of atoms) to pass from one electrode to the other and thus combine with their chemical complements. To compensate for this movement of ions, electrons have to move in the opposite direction—and if the electrodes are connected by a conducting wire running through a useful circuit, that is the route they will take. Chemical electrodes of this sort can store a lot more energy than the static electricity of a capacitor. But the whole process of ion movement and chemical reaction is slower than the movement of electrons in a capacitor. Hence the different advantages of the two storage systems: capacitors give speed; batteries, endurance.
The reason ultracapacitors may be able to bridge the gap between speed and endurance is that, like batteries, they use ions and an electrolyte rather than simply relying on the static charges. In an ultracapacitor, positively charged ions gather on the surface of the negatively charged electrode and negative ions on the surface of the positive electrode. Since the ions do not actually combine with the atoms of the electrodes, no chemical reaction is involved. The ionic layers are also very close indeed to the surfaces of the electrodes, and obviously run parallel with them whatever their shape. This, in turn, means clever engineering can increase the surface area (and thus the storage capacity) without increasing the volume. And that gives endurance without sacrificing speed.
Existing ultracapacitors get their extra surface area by using electrodes coated with carbon and etched to produce holes, rather like a sponge. This gives about 5% of the storage capacity of a battery. But Joel Schindall and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology think they can do better than that using nanoengineering. Instead of digging holes in the electrodes, they are coating them with a forest of carbon nanotubes, each five nanometres (billionths of a metre) wide. This, they hope, will push capacitors to 50% of a battery's storage capacity.
A different approach has been taken by EEStor, a Texan firm that has developed a capacitor it claims can store “very high” levels of energy using a special insulator called barium titanate rather than an electrolyte. Its “Electrical Energy Storage Units” will go into production later this year. EEStor recently signed a deal to supply Lockheed Martin, a big defence contractor, which wants to use the storage units in rugged packs that will power a variety of military and security equipment.
EEStor also envisages employing its devices to build an “energy bank” to store off-peak power and release it when demand is high. One use of such a bank, the firm suggests, could be the rapid charging of electric cars—which would, of course, also be fitted with capacitors.
That would remove a big obstacle to the adoption of electric vehicles in general—that it takes so long to refuel them. If a driver could pull into an electrical filling station and top up his capacitors as rapidly as he can now replenish his petrol tank it would both increase the effective range of all-electric vehicles and decrease resistance to buying them in the first place.
At least one firm is backing the logic of this argument in its showrooms rather than just in prototypes. Ian Clifford, the chief executive of the Zenn Motor Company in Toronto, has done a deal with EEStor to replace the lead-acid batteries in the small, low-speed electric cars that his firm sells for urban use. Mr Clifford reckons that ultracapacitors will transform his vehicles and enable them to be used on motorways as well as city streets.
Whether ultracapacitors really will take over the market now dominated by batteries, rather than merely supplementing them in it, remains to be seen—for batteries themselves are also getting better. They do have a chance, though, of being one of the 21st century's disruptive technologies. And even if they do not replace batteries entirely, the world will surely be seeing more of them in applications which need that little bit of extra oomph from time to time. After all, as Dr Schindall points out, animals use two types of muscle fibre: one for endurance and one for rapid movements. So it could make sense for machines to do the same.
A Cheaper Battery for Hybrid Cars
Source: Technology Review
[Jan 24, 2008]
The new UltraBattery lasts at least four times longer than conventional lead-acid batteries, and its creators say that it can be manufactured at one-quarter the cost of existing hybrid-electric battery packs.
The future market for hybrid-electric vehicles, at least those that are affordable, isn't necessarily paved with lithium. Researchers in Australia have created what could be called a lead-acid battery on steroids, capable of performing as well as the nickel-metal hydride systems found in most hybrid cars but at a fraction of the cost.
The so-called UltraBattery combines 150-year-old lead-acid technology with supercapacitors, electronic devices that can quickly absorb and release large bursts of energy over millions of cycles without significant degradation. As a result, the new battery lasts at least four times longer than conventional lead-acid batteries, and its creators say that it can be manufactured at one-quarter the cost of existing hybrid-electric battery packs.
In the United Kingdom last week, a Honda Insight hybrid powered by the UltraBattery system surpassed 100,000 miles on a test track. "The batteries were still in perfect condition at the end of the test," says David Lamb, who heads up low-emission transport research at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency. "What we've got is a lead-acid battery that is nice and cheap but can perform as well as, or better than, the nickel-metal hydride technology, which we know is very expensive."
Lead-acid batteries, invented by French physicist Gaston Plante in 1859, don't get much respect these days, despite being a crucial fixture under the hood of most vehicles. They contain lead, so environmentalists don't like them. They're heavy for the energy they store--a bad trait for mobile applications. And they degrade easily if not cycled properly. Indeed, there have been no major advances in the technology over the decades.
Meanwhile, a newer generation of batteries--most notably lithium-ion ones--are capturing the attention of investors and automakers. "Many have tried to improve the lead-acid battery, but the improvements were usually not that great or worth the added cost," says Malcolm Shemmans, founder and president of BET Services, a provider of battery-testing services to the auto industry.
To compensate for some of the shortcomings of lead-acid technology, many in the past have tried to complement the batteries with supercapacitors. In the late 1990s, for example, Lamb helped design two hybrid cars that used a 60-volt lead-acid pack and a separate 150-volt supercapacitor pack. The lead-acid system allowed the vehicles to drive in all-electric mode in the city, while the supercapacitors gave the cars the jolt that was needed for acceleration and the ability to quickly absorb energy from braking.
The cars worked well, but all the power electronics that were needed to control the two power systems were heavy and prohibitively expensive. Instead of treating the lead-acid batteries and supercapacitors as separate systems, Lamb's team decided to eliminate the need for all external electronics and instead build the supercapacitors directly into the battery. Essentially, one of the plates (the negative electrode) in the lead-acid battery was made half of lead and half of carbon, turning the battery into a supercapacitor-lead-acid hybrid.
CSIRO brought the design to Japanese battery manufacturer Furukawa Battery Company, which saw potential in the technology. After three years of collaboration, the two organizations determined that they could manufacture the UltraBattery much like conventional lead-acid batteries and at similar cost.
Meanwhile, Axion Power International, in New Castle, PA, has also developed a new type of lead-acid battery. Edward Buiel, chief technical officer with Axion, says that lead-acid batteries can play a significant role in the future of transportation and energy supply. Unfortunately, he adds, the automakers don't see the potential. "If you're not lithium-ion or nickel-metal hydride, they're not interested. It's frustrating."
Buiel says that the typical cost of a nickel-metal hydride power pack is $2,000, and close to $5,000 retail. "A comparable lead-acid could be in the range of $1,000 in low volume, and significantly less in high volume," he says. "It's a battery where the consumer could see enough fuel savings for a payback in a year or two."
Despite the reluctance of the auto industry to embrace the technology, Lamb is convinced that by 2010 there will be some Japanese-made hybrid cars on the market offering the UltraBattery option.
However, Axion might have something to say about it. "We definitely think this technology is an excellent choice for hybrid-electric vehicles," says Buiel. "There's a lot of intellectual property in this area, and most of it is owned by Axion. Obviously, if we feel somebody violates our patent, we will defend that vigorously." He says that Axion plans to launch a demonstration project in North America this year that will test dozens of hybrid vehicles retrofitted with its lead-carbon batteries.
Lockheed signs deal with EEStor
Posted by Michael Kanellos
Lockheed Martin has signed a deal with EEStor to try to integrate the ultracapacitor start-up's electrical energy storage units into the defense contractor's products.
Financial terms of the agreement, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.
EEStor is developing a ceramic battery chemistry that could provide 10 times the energy density of lead acid batteries at about a tenth of the weight and volume, according to Lockheed. A Lockheed spokesman said the company is interested in energy storage systems a soldier can carry, but also car batteries and energy systems for remote buildings.
Lockheed will spend most of the year evaluating samples it gets from EEStor and, if all goes well, it can start incorporating them into products. EEStor will begin to conduct qualification testing and mass production of the units in late 2008. As part of the contract, Lockheed will have the exclusive right to use EEStor products in the homeland security market.
The company also announced that former Dell Chairman Mort Topfer has joined its board. Last year, it was reported that Topfer left the board. The Toronto Star broke that story. (I wrote a story repeating what the Star said, citing the newspaper.) Reporter Tyler Hamilton says that Topfer did leave, but is now rejoining.
This marks another unexpected turn in the EEStor saga. The company has devised an energy storage device that it says can change the battery industry. Zenn Motors of Canada is an investor and wants to incorporate the batteries into its cars. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is said to be an investor.
EEStor, however, doesn't say a lot. In fact, the company rarely gives statements or issues releases, though it's one of the favorite topics of debate in the clean-tech world. For instance, EEStor didn't say it will begin qualification and testing on the battery units that are part of this deal. Lockheed did, in its own release (which, incidentally, doesn't include quotes from EEStor). EEStor didn't put a release out on the deal, though it put one out on Topfer.
Some people who have visited the company's facilities or reviewed its patents have come away believers. Others have become skeptics. EEStor had hoped to come out with products in 2007 but was forced to delay.
The Lockheed deal gives the company a shot of credibility. Critics, though, will likely remain skeptical until they see the devices. Defense contractors, after all, sign lots of deals like this.
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