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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from
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Species Collapse:(4)
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alternative energy  ~ weather extremes  ~ faster than expected  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ stupid humans  ~ climate impacts  ~ anthropogenic change  ~ short-term thinking  ~ unintended consequences  ~ oil issues  ~ ocean warming  



ApocaDocuments (6) matching "alternative energy" from this week
[see full week] ~ [see all stories tagged "alternative energy"]
Sat, Aug 21, 2010
from Guardian:
Rwanda harnesses volcanic gases from depths of Lake Kivu
In a world first, the barge is extracting gases that are trapped deep in Lake Kivu's waters like the fizz in a champagne bottle. Methane, the main constituent of natural gas used for household cooking and heating, is then separated out and piped back to the rugged shore where it fires three large generators. The state-owned Kibuye Power plant is already producing 3.6MW of electricity, more than 4 percent of the country's entire supply. But the success of the pilot project, and the huge unmet demand for power in Rwanda -- only one in 14 homes have access to electricity -- has encouraged local and foreign investors to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to new methane plants along the lakeshore. Within two years, the government hopes to be getting a third of its power from Lake Kivu, and eventually aims to produce so much energy from methane to be able to export it to neighbouring countries. "Our grandfathers knew there was gas in this lake but now have we proved that it can be exploited," said Alexis Kabuto, the Rwandan engineer who runs the $20m Kibuye project. "It's a cheap, clean resource that could last us 100 years." ...


Isn't that methane supposed to be used to warm the planet?

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Thu, Aug 19, 2010
from BusinessGreen:
Scientists brew up powerful whisky biofuel
Biofuels made from whisky by-products could be available on Scottish roads within a few years after a team of researchers at Edinburgh Napier's Biofuel Research Centre this week filed for a patent for the new fuel. The team, which is now planning to form a spin-off company to commercialise the fuel, used pot ale waste liquid and spent grains known as draff from Diageo's Glenkinchie Distillery to develop a method of producing butanol. The researchers said the resulting biobutanol produces 30 per cent more output power than ethanol and can be used by conventional cars without any changes to the engine. They also predicted that the fuel will have minimal impact on the environment compared to first generation biofuels made from energy crops as it will draw on the 1,600 million litres of pot ale and 187,000 tonnes of draff produced by the Scottish malt whisky industry each year. ...


Fill it up with single malt, please.

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Wed, Aug 18, 2010
from AFP, via PhysOrg:
Vestas cuts 2010 forecasts, shares plunge
Shares in Vestas slumped on Wednesday after the Danish wind power group cut this year's earnings and sales targets following a second quarter loss. The company, the world leader in the wind turbine industry, a key component in efforts to combat carbon emissions, said 2010 sales would now come in at six billion euros (7.7 billion dollars), rather than seven billion euros. The operating profit margin would be in a range of five to six percent, down from the 10-11 percent given previously, it said. The news sent Vestas shares tumbling more than 17 percent in Copenhagen where the broader market was down nearly two percent. ...


The smart money's on coal.

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Tue, Aug 17, 2010
from Reuters:
World 2009 CO2 emissions down 1.3 percent
Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2009 fell 1.3 percent to 31.3 billion tonnes in the first year-on-year decline in this decade, German renewable energy institute IWR said on Friday. The Muenster-based institute, which advises German ministries, cited the global economic crisis and rising investments in renewable energies for the fall in emissions.... China in 2009 was in top position with 7.43 billion tonnes after 6.81 billion in 2008, followed by the U.S. with 5.95 billion (6.37 billion 2008). Russia was in third position, just before India, and followed by Japan. Global investments in solar and wind power were helped by lower equipment costs as the crisis led to price cuts, IWR said. But it reiterated its earlier suggestions that, in order to put brakes on the rising fossil fuels usage and to stabilize global CO2, it recommends that global annual spending on renewables be quadrupled to 500 billion euros ($644.2 billion). Global CO2 emissions are still 37 percent above those in 1990, the basis year for the Kyoto Climate Protocol. ...


The margin of error was ± fried.

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Tue, Aug 17, 2010
from Yale360:
Low-Cost Solar Array Developed for Residential Installation
A Seattle-based company says that it has developed an inexpensive do-it-yourself solar power technology that will enable homeowners to install solar panels on their roofs and then connect them to their power supply by simply plugging a cord into a regular electrical outlet. The company, Clarian Power, is touting its Sunfish system -- with prices beginning at $799 -- as a major advance in reducing the high cost of installing home solar power systems, which typically start at $10,000. Clarian says its Sunfish system does not require a dedicated control panel and has built-in circuit protection, and thus does not require an electrician for installation. Users would mount up to five solar panels anywhere on the house, and plug the device into any outlet. The system is Wi-Fi enabled, enabling users to monitor the performance with online software such as the Google PowerMeter. The largest module will be able to generate 150 kilowatt hours per month, company officials say, so it would take five to six modules to produce the roughly 900 kilowatts used by an average American home. ...


Stop right there! I just invested in a new coal-burning plant!

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Mon, Aug 16, 2010
from New York Times:
Portugal on track for 45 percent renewable energy this year
Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal's dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects -- primarily harnessing the country's wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves. Today, Lisbon's trendy bars, Porto's factories and the Algarve's glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal's grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago. Land-based wind power -- this year deemed "potentially competitive" with fossil fuels by the International Energy Agency in Paris -- has expanded sevenfold in that time. And Portugal expects in 2011 to become the first country to inaugurate a national network of charging stations for electric cars. ...


Gosh. I wonder if that could be done in America.

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