MIT: We've found a better way to store solar energy

MIT: We've found a better way to store solar energy from the Boston Globe. I don't understand it, it's a cheap way to make Hydrogen and Oxygen (which may be good for Hydrogen Cars. But for household there is the historical issue of... The Hindenberg.

In Beijing, Blue Skies Prove Hard to Achieve

In Beijing, Blue Skies Prove Hard to Achieve from the NY Times and Beijing Considers New Curbs As Pollution Threatens Games from the Wall Street Journal.

And yet today, a miracle of you believe the official reporting... The Beijing Sky Is Blue

It's amazing how much has been done to reduce pollution in Beijing. Of course there is a question if bribes are allowing some factories to keep on operating.

Green Air Conditioning?

Interesting, GreenCore Sells Its Solar Air Conditioners to the United States Navy

Looks like:

• DC Motor
• Batteries making it a UPS
• Solar Cells

What would have been really interesting if they had looked at the local environment to see what could be used there in the way of air flow, shade, soil temperature, to improve efficiency.

LED Bulbs - Getting Closer

The NY Times has an update on LED Bulbs. - Fans of L.E.D.’s Say This Bulb’s Time Has Come

The article is a bit confusing. First it says a LED bulb would be $100, vs. $1 for an incandescent. Then it mentions somebody used LED's for outside lighting and it cost $18,000 vs. $6000 for regular lighting, but it would save $6000 per year. 3 x to 1 vs 100 to 1 is a big ratio difference.

Fuel Subsidies fuel growth

Fuel Subsidies Overseas Take a Toll on U.S. - Great article. Fuel is subsidized in India, Indonesia, and China. Per a report by BP, 96% of oil usage growth was in countries with subsidies. And the cost to the government? China and India may be able to afford it, but can Indonesia? The argument is to prevent rioting, subsidies are required. But of what cost to the entire economy? If the government is spending money on oil, that could be better used for improving the economy? Would targeted subsidies help? For commercial transportation? This would encourage less usage by part of the economy that don't help growth.

My guess is the subsidies will continue, since this is the easiest to do. It solves the immediate problem, but does not focus on what is best long term.

GT Solar Falls 12% in a Blow

GT Solar Falls 12% in a Blow - not sure what this is saying. Solar Stocks in general seem to be down, and may be the lowering of the price of oil?

Combined Photovoltaic Thermal Solar Systems

I was looking at the thermal solar system my daughter's friend has at her house, and I wondered if anyone was selling a combined system. Since a huge cost is the housing and photovoltaic does not like to much heat, this could be a win win solution.

IEEE has done some work on it - Control of a combined photovoltaic / thermal energy syste

Seems to be a lot of research last energy crisis into this, but I am not seeing any products yet.

Ford to build 60-mpg F150 fordmuscle.com

» Ford to build 60-mpg F150 fordmuscle.com - very exciting news. My view is a lot can be done to improve fuel efficiency, the problem has been making it a priority. It's a shame it has take the tremendous losses at the Big 3 to make this happen.

Electric Mini cars on roads next year

Electric Mini cars on roads next year - things are moving faster than I expected.

Electric Cars - How Soon

There was a pretty negative article/editorial on Electric Cars in the WSJ today on this.

At the same time there was this news:

• GM, utilities join to study electric car impact
• Electric car push 'faster, earlier'
• Nissan Says Electric Cars Will Be Quickly Profitable

My opinion, Electric Cars are coming a lot sooner than you would think...

Thomas L. Friedman: 9/11 and 4/11

Thomas L. Friedman: 9/11 and 4/11 - Good discussion of the impact of $4.11 Average Gas and how the US government has done nothing about it to solve the underlying issues. The key point was both crises, $4.11 and 9-11 were wasted opportunities to get the US on the path to better energy usage and production.

Edison Proposes 30% Rate Increase

Power rates could surge - ROSEMEAD - Southern California Edison, SCE, estimates rates for some residential customers could increase by an average of 30 percent or more next year because of soaring fuel prices and costs to upgrade infrastructure, according to a company executive. I can't figure out where to go on the SCE web site to get more information.

This does help the economics of solar. I would like to know more about what the infrastructure upgrades are. Hopefully some transmission lines like what Texas is doing... Texas to Spend Billions on Wind Power Transmission Lines

This is hopeful on the conservation side - July 10, 2008Southern California Edison Customers Shine Bright by Installing More Than 1 Million CFLs

Unfortunately some of the CFL's migrated to other states via eBay and other means.

Solar Thermal

Sick of high energy bills, our columnist investigates solar options from the WSJ. Great diagram and explanation of how a Solar Thermal system works. I was surprised by the cost and adding the water/glycol mixture. In areas that freeze, this does make sense. I am not sure about Southern California. The water heater makes sense with the extra cost having a tankless, but the picture here shows one with a tank. Not how the rebates end in 2008.

Al Gore's Energy Plan

Gore's Energy Plan - I especially like the part of upgrading the electrical transmission lines and it's great during a Presidential campaign, a person who is respected by both candidates has upgraded the discussion on the future energy policy in the US.

Is it unrealistic? Probably, but you need to start the discussion someplace and the real issue is how much pain are people willing to put up with on a short term basis in order to achieve the goal of a much greener future. Current political thinking seems to be not much.

One person compares it to President Carter's energy plan, in a negative way. My opinion, President Carter got knee capped by the Iran Hostage situation and lack of understanding of how to play politics in Washington, but the US would be in such better shape if his energy plan had been followed. Unfortunately the US went back to short term thinking and did not invest in the future, so we ended up where we are now 30+ years later.

Walkable US Cities

Top 10 'walkable' cities have a leg up with gas at $4 a gallon - Hmm, none I know of in Southern California home of the suburbs and long commutes. But the article lists LA (ya, right) and Long Beach. I wished they had gotten a bit more specific. Long Beach has some new developments in their downtown, and some areas in LA have gotten redeveloped. The challenge in downtown LA is there is a lot of homeless, so it's OK during the day, but forget it at night.

Financing Solar - A Start

PSE&G's Innovative Solar Loan Program Now Available to Residential ...

I am trying to decode the marketing/eco/corporate babble in this press release.

Things that are not 100% clear:

• Owner gets 40-60% loan as solar credits. Does this mean it needs to be repayed, or what?
  
• What does solar credit mean?
• How much are the other incentives?

After reading it a few times, the PSE&G will use the power produced to pay for 40-60% of it. New Jersey power company. Looks like there will also be limited funding.

Solar thermal technology heats up

Solar thermal technology heats up per EE Times.

Key Points:

• Solar thermal power-generating costs could drop from about $4.25 per watt in 2008 to $2.5 per watt by 2020.
• Solar Thermal can store power for use after 5PM (steam stays hot for a while).
• Best for large scale utility projects.
  

No Tax Credit, No Solar Power

No Tax Credit, No Solar Power - Interesting fact that two major projects would be halted without the continuation of the solar credit.

Toyota Hybrid Plans

Someday Toyota is going to release a Hybrid Van in the US. The only question is when. The ones they have been selling in Japan are smaller, than the current monster vans Toyota sells in the US. It's amazing how the Van Toyota sells in the US has grown from one based on their small truck, to one based on their medium car the Camry. The new Sienna redesign should come out in 2010 or 2011 model year, so we may see a Hybrid in 2009. My guess is the Prius will get refreshed with the latest technology, no other major changes for a year to make sure everything works, and then have new Hybrid models come out. I also expect Toyota will will wait one year after a model refresh to introduce a hybrid.

I was surprised that Toyota had some quality issues withe the first year of a new model. We bought a Toyota Corolla in 2004, and it had a couple of stupid design defects that were later fixed. One that annoys me especially, is the clock and be pushed into the panel. And my daughter after I told her tested it out, so I have a pushed in clock. And the clock does not work and the cost of a new module is $200, and since it's out of warranty Toyota refused to fix it. Annoying, and this is our third Corolla. Not to mention the damage this has done to me of Toyota's brand. It still did not stop us from buying a new Sienna (way over engineered and too many features), after carefully considering the alternatives.

Toyota between 2020 and 2030 will have Hybrid versions of every vehicle it manufactures. Toyota is also coming out with a plug-in version that will use Lithium Ion Batteries. Recently there have been reported shortages of Nimh batteries, which has caused shortages of the Prius.

Toyota also reportedly said after the introduction of the 2009 Prius in January, there will be no shortage of batteries. I am not sure if this means they are going to Lithium Ion, or they have built more Nimh factories. They are also going to produce the Prius in the US.

Why not higher mileage standards faster?

For the US, higher vehicle mileage standards will be gradually phased in. The excuse historically is let the market decide. Now the market has decided SUV's and other low mileage vehicles for the most part are selling poorly. It's possible to build an SUV with higher mileage as a hybrid, but it costs more currently. I would guess if enough production was made the extra cost would come down significantly. So it's a chicken or egg question.

Should you wait to buy a Car?

My answer is yes, if you can wait 2 years I believe the selection of cars with higher mileage, plug-ins, and hybrids will be even greater.

• Toyota is talking about having all their cars having a hybrid option. Just imagine a hybrid corolla, and the mileage that would get!
• Toyota will have a plug in by 2010 for the Prius.
• Other car dealers are pushing hard to develop cars to compete with the Prius.
• Toyota is expanding the Prius production significantly.

Very exciting times!

Prius - Made in the USA

Toyota is going to convert a truck plan to make their Prius in the US in Mississippi. This is exciting from several different viewpoints:

1. Prius is Toyota's most advanced car.
2. Suppliers for the components will build around the factory (like batteries).
3. Nice that Toyota is helping their employees by switching the factory over to something that sells. It's nice to see a company taking care of their employees!
   

The Economics Of Solar Power

The Economics Of Solar Power in Forbes.

Keypoints:

• Economic for end users in 3-7 years
• By 2020 only 1.5 to 3% of total power output estimated
• By 2020 x20 or x 40 current amount generated.
• Growth in Solar from 10 gigawatts today to about 200 gigawatts in 2020

Comments: Global Solar capacity will increase to 5 Gigawatts per year by 2010, so getting to 200 by 2020 is easy. Especially with the rate of growth of solar every year. I would assume 20% growth per year, which over 10 years would be 309 Gigawatts. My guess is the authors are assuming around 15% growth per year. As the costs gets closer to grid parity, the amount invested in solar would be expected to grow. And as the cost of energy increases, this will make solar more and more attractive. By 2020, it would be cheaper to install solar than to buy power from the grid during the day. I expect once this happens, the growth in solar will be even bigger than expected.

Electric Cars - So what?

The more I read about Electric Cars, the more ground game changing I am finding them. Plug-hybrids combined with smart meters could do a huge amount in a relatively short amount of time to change fuel usage. The majority of energy in the US is used by automobiles with oil. What happens when the majority of oil usage goes away.

Some hopeful headlines:

• Telsa Finally Hires Someone Who Knows What He's Doing
• Toyota gets serious about batteries
• Toyota Promises Plug-In Hybrid by 2010
• Honda's New Car: The next hybrid
• Honda's New Car: The next hybrid

DC Power High Voltage Transmission Advantages

DC at higher voltages has the following advantages over AC Voltage Transmission

1. DC Power can be transmitted at twice the voltage of AC. This means lower losses
   
2. DC Power uses the entire cable, where AC Power at high voltages only uses the outside due to the skin affect.
3. DC Power lines would give the ability to have a large scale grid, allowing for wind power to be used more effectively. Since different areas have wind at different times, a big grid would allow sharing to even out the supply. Same idea as having a portfolio of companies or industries to reduce the risks in stocks.
4. DC Power can be easily transmitted on the ground, where AC due to ground can't be. This also allows for underwater DC Power cables.
5. Using modern power electronics (IGBT's is my guess), Voltage conversion for DC can be done as economically as AC is done with transformers.
6. No frequencies to sync.
7. No reactance in the lines - so no coupling issues.
   

References:

• Power transmission | Where the wind blows | Economist.com
• WikiAnswers - What were the advantages and disadvantages of dc power

China's Oil Thirst is actually good?

How China’s thirst for oil can save the planet - The pioneers of green energy report a ‘gold rush’ mentality as soaring oil prices speed up the search for alternatives. From the UK Times.

Good article to read. Keypoint is lots of R&D into different types of energy. The focus in the UK is wind, not solar. Probably makes sense as wind is more economical at this time, especially in a less sunny area. The idea with solar is with a big enough production it will lower in price enough to be economical. And with solar subsidies this will help create a local industry.

The only question with solar is when will it become more cost effective. There is so much research going on right now a silver bullet may appear that dramatically lowers the cost for alternative energy. The challenge then is how long will it take to go into production? GE's windpower for example is already booked for the next two years.

American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot - from the NY Times.

• The focus of the article is how due to politics (Big 3 Auto Makers and Unions), plus some conservative republicans, mileage standards in the US did not increase for many years.
  
• Mileage requirements in Europe are at 43 MPG, Japan 47 MGP, China 35 MPG, and the US 25 MPG.

The problem is change takes time. The argument was the US auto makers were supplying what the market wanted. They thought Toyota was dumb to invest so much in the Prius. And look where Toyota is now...

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis.

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis - 75% of the increase in cost is supposedly due to biofuels.

Interesting how a good idea (biofuels), can get perverted through a lack of common sense and special interests.

The report notes out biofuels derived from sugarcane, which Brazil specializes in, have not had such a dramatic impact, of course the US has a high tarrif on it to protect the use of corn for fuel that does not make economical sense. Supply and demand, soon there will be other alternatives...

Plug In and Hybrid Savings

Calculating the paypack time for a hybrid and a Plug In compared to a regular car.

Assume $4.50 per gallon of gas. 12,000 miles per year. Hybrid mileage 45 mpg. Plug In Cost per gallon equiv. $1.20. Assume avg. car mileage of 25 mpg. Assume a car costs $20K, Prius $24K, and Plug in $27K.

Payback for a Prius now is 4 years and Plug in 4.5 years.

Japan's Energy Saving Technology

Japan Sees a Chance to Promote Its Energy-Frugal Ways from the NY Times. I was curious what other nations were doing on energy saving research when the US stopped funding it largely due to cheap oil. The article outside of steel processing does not have a lot of content.

It would be nice to know what other energy saving technologies are in Japan that are not widely used other places?

I hope these are some of them:

• Appliances that use electricity, even when turned off is one.
  
• Another is efficiency of appliances.
  
• There are so many energy savings that can be done with building design.

Solar Water Heaters - WSJ Missed them

The Wall Street Journal had a special section on energy, and in that section an article, Alternative State, on what Hawaii is doing. And the article mentioned nothing about how Hawaii is requiring all new homes to have Solar Water Heaters! From the NY Times Hawaii: Solar Water Heaters Become a Legal Requirement It's not a very sexy or high tech method, but it works. I have done 10 or so posts on Solar Water Heating, interesting history.

US lifts Solar Moratorium

Government lifts solar project ban on public lands - only took a week since it got announced for it to get lifted. Democracy at work. The moratorium would have been for 2 years while environmental reporting was done. So far there have been 125 projects for 1 million acres.

Oil Producing Countries Status

The take away is most of the countries producing oil can't easily increase production due to a wide variety of reasons.

Brazil - Just found major field offshore, will take years to put into production.
China - Some finds offshore, production pretty much staying stable and being used by booming economy.
Iran - Embargo by US resulting in high production costs, lack of new technology for expanding production.
Iraq - Increasing production with some foreign investment starting. Still a dangerous place to do business.
Libya - May have already passed their production peak.
Kuwait - Not interested in increasing production since this will take away from future generations. Issue of cheap energy being used locally.
Mexico -Declining production due to lack of investment and inefficiency in state run and owned monopoly. Due to politics/nationalism involved, low chance of change.
Nigeria - Nasty rebellion in oil producing areas with lots of kidnapping, attacks, etc. Recently an offshore platform was attacked. 25% or so of production affected. Combined with corruption issues, historic grievances in delta, tribalism, etc.
Norway - North sea is declining in production.
Russia - Ended joint ventures resulting in declining production. Foreign oil companies are hesitant to invest due to uncertainty of keeping ownership. Requires investment and technology to stop decline.
Saudi Arabia - Unknown if it can increase production. Heavy investment required to do so. Seeks to develop local industries that can use cheap energy.
Sudan - Major client of China, human rights issues.
US - Some increase do to higher prices in production. Limited ability to do so.
UAE - Seeking to develop local industries to use local energy. Diversifying industries for when they no longer have oil. Limited ability to increase production.
Venezuela- Kicked out foreign owned oil companies. Declining production. Anti-American President.

Recyling Thieves

Battle brews over raiders of recycling bins from the SF Chronicle.

I have mixed feelings over this. For stuff that is left in regular trash at a commercial site in a regular trashbin, I view this as fair game. For taking out of recycling bins, I view this as stealing. And I have seen it on my street. Now that we have the big ones with lids and wheels, the problem has gone away. Before it was a bin so it was easy to see what was inside. The bigger recycling trash can has also increased how much we recycle. And with the larger bin for recycling, it also reduces the labor needed on site and the number of trips needed if you put all the recyclables in separate bins. This way it can go to a transfer station for sorting.