Only when oil goes for $ 500 a barrel will we get serious about giving it up . Yes?

krsna · 09-28-2004, 05:27 AM

And look for greener alternatives :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3695820.stm

krsna · 10-04-2004, 12:49 PM

Unlimited New Energy from Sun and Water

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A revolutionary new way of harnessing the power of the sun to extract almost unlimited energy from water will be a reality within seven years.

“It would be the cheapest, cleanest and most abundant energy source ever developed,” say scientists from Australia’s University of New South Wales. “The main by-products would be oxygen and water.”

Special titanium oxide ceramics will harvest sunlight and split water to produce hydrogen fuel. The researchers say it will then be a simple engineering exercise to make a device with no moving parts to harvest the energy; and it will give off no greenhouse gases or pollutants.

“This is potentially huge, with a market the size of all the existing markets for coal, oil and gas combined,” says Professor Janusz Nowotny who, with Professor Chris Sorrell, is leading a solar hydrogen research project at the University’s Centre for Materials and Energy Conversion. The team is thought to be the most advanced in developing the cheap, light-sensitive materials that will be the basis of the new technology.

Chris Sorrell says Australia is ideally placed to take advantage of the enormous potential of this new technology: “We’ve abundant sunlight, huge re-serves of titanium. But this technology could be used anywhere in the world. It’s been the dream of many people for a long time to develop it and it’s exciting to know that it is now within such close reach.”

Although existing hydrogen fuel cell technology is more efficient than the internal combustion engine and dramatically cuts down vehicle emissions, currently hydrogen is produced from fossil fuel, so that it still gives off greenhouse gases. This new process would cut out these emissions.

In Britain, a team of scientists at Leeds University have developed an-other process that enables hydrogen to be produced from vegetable oils, so cars could in future have a tank of sun-flower oil that would be converted into hydrogen to power the fuel cell motor.

Meanwhile, in Scotland, the world’s first commercial-scale floating Wave Energy Converter, The Pelamis, has successfully generated its first electricity for the UK grid.

In the US over 350 bankers and investors met to explore the state of financing for renewable energy in America. The American Council on Renewable Energy and Euromoney was completely oversubscribed. “It’s great to see renewable energy entering the mainstream,” said the organizers.

Tarun · 10-12-2004, 03:01 PM

Both devotee & nondevotee r already running their diesel cars with various vegetable oil.
Everytime u c a gasoline station (R THERE STILL ANY AROUND?), know 4 sure u r looking at a DINOSAUR (as in extinct species).

gHari · 10-12-2004, 06:00 PM

Watch out for the vegetable rights groups. The jivas have nonetheless left the dinosaur bodies.

It's just all that whiz whiz whizzing about on the freeways here there everywhere nowhere constantly that is the problem. Like chill, world. We can be as happy here as we can be there.

krsna · 11-02-2004, 01:27 PM

Scientists Develop System to Convert Diesel Fuel to Hydrogen
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/scie...an-Diesel.html

IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO, USA, November 1, 2004: (
remarkable scientific advancement.)

Scientists at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory say they have developed the first system to convert dirty
diesel fuel into a quiet, self-contained and efficient energy source.
The system is the product of six years of research and a $25 million
joint effort between the Office of Naval Research and fuel-cell company
SOFCo-EFS. In the future, the Navy's destroyers could run quieter,
require half the fuel, pollute less and have a smaller heat signature
for enemies to detect. The system converts diesel fuel into a 30
percent hydrogen mixture. By using the diesel to run a fuel cell
instead of burning it, the system produces twice the energy output,
without sulfur or nitrous oxide pollution. About two weeks ago, the
experimental system started running a 5-kilowatt fuel cell. "We see
this as the start of a new technology that will greatly improve on
where we are today," said Rodger McKain, president of SOFCo-EFS, a
fuel-cell company that split the project's cost with the U.S. Navy.

Although the process of getting hydrogen from diesel is not new, it has
never been done before on such a large scale. It is also the only
system specifically designed to run on high-sulfur content diesel,
which the Navy can buy around the world.

Click http://www.inel.gov/featurestories/2...hydrogen.shtml for the
Lab's web site and detailed PDF report on this system.

The technology could be installed anywhere people want to have quiet,
self-contained energy systems instead of diesel generators. Dennis
Witmer, a technology specialist at the University of Alaska in
Fairbanks, wanted to see if the system could be used in remote Arctic
villages that aren't connected to a power grid. As with any new
technology, the main obstacle is the cost. The 5-kilowatt experimental
fuel cell that is running at the INEEL costs $200,000, and that doesn't
include the cost of a system to isolate hydrogen from diesel. Studies
have shown that if the cost of the system came down to about $3,500,
and could provide 5 kilowatts of electricity, plus heat, there would be
a huge market among homeowners, Witmer said.

krsna · 11-15-2004, 01:45 AM

http://positivenews.org.uk/cgi/zyvie...V=story/R=1325

krsna · 01-10-2005, 05:20 AM

DETROIT -- The future of the global automotive industry will be driven by hydrogen, not gasoline -- at least as senior management at General Motors sees it. While hybrids, which combine gasoline engines with electric motors, were the buzz last year at the North American International Auto Show, it's hydrogen that will be the fuel of the future, GM powertrain group vice-president Tom Stephens said yesterday as the 17th edition of the Detroit show geared up with the first of three days of media previews.

The show opens to the public Saturday and continues till Jan. 23.

As further evidence the industry is moving toward environmentally friendlier power systems, Ford's new Escape Hybrid was named 2005 North American Truck of the Year here yesterday.

The Chrysler 300C, with its multiple displacement system that reduces fuel consumption by shutting down cylinders when power demands permit, was named North American Car of the Year.

"Hybrids are the bridge to our long-term goal of hydrogen cell systems," Stephens said as he unveiled the latest step in the company's fuel-cell program -- the Sequel.

GM launched its hydrogen-powered program in 2002 with the Autonomy, a skateboard-like chassis powered by fuel cells that could accept a range of body styles. That was followed by the HyWire, a drivable concept that took the technology into the real world.

The Sequel is the next step -- another skateboard chassis that can be the platform for a range of models, but which also now delivers the functionality the motoring public demands.

With an SUV body mounted, Stephens said the Sequel promises a 500-kilometre range and acceleration to 100 km/h in about nine seconds -- certainly functional numbers in today's world.

To demonstrate its plans to make the transition from fossil-fuelled vehicles to pure hydrogen, GM also took the wraps off a couple of hybrid products -- vehicles it says are mid-term strategies en route to its goal of having a high-volume, hydrogen-powered product on the market by 2010.

Its first new hybrid is a sporty compact coupe, the Opel Astra concept. At the other end of the domestic vehicle scale is the new GMC Graphyte, a full-size, four-wheel-drive SUV that was designed by GM engineers in Coventry, England.

Stephens said these vehicles demonstrate the versatility of his company's new two-mode hybrid system, which has also been applied in a public transit bus.

While GM was talking about what will be, Lexus vice-president Denny Clement was telling the media about the hybrid product his company has ready for sale now.

A year ago, Lexus unveiled its RX400H, an SUV with hybrid gasoline/electric power. It's based on the brand's sales leader, the RX330 luxury SUV, and Clement said it will be in showrooms in a few months. More than 11,000 consumers have already placed orders for the vehicle.

And there's more coming from Lexus, whose parent company, Toyota, has already sold more than 300,000 hybrid vehicles world wide -- more than all other automakers combined. Lexus is now planning to introduce a hot, sporty model with hybrid power -- the Lexus GS 450H -- at the New York auto show in March.

krsna · 04-21-2005, 04:44 AM

Korean car giants Hyundai and Kia will begin testing zero-emissions fuel-cell vehicles this autumn.

A fleet of 32 Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage 4x4s will be handed over to the University of California and the US Army to be put through hot- and cold-weather testing in California and Michigan.

Fuel-cell vehicles are claimed to be the cars for a greener world because water vapour is their only emission, although Hyundai and Kia believe their widespread availability is likely to be at least 20 years away.

They are fuelled by hydrogen, which is used to create electricity to power a motor. Kia claims the fuel-cell Sportage can achieve fuel economy equivalent to around 67mpg with a petrol car.

The Koreans claim to have solved many of the problems associated with fuel-cell cars, such as poor cold-weather starting, short cell life and unreliability.

Kia is convinced it will be in a position to sell 10,000 fuel-cell Sportages a year by 2010, though it admits the buyers are likely to be organisations with their own hydrogen supply until refuelling points become commonplace.

Kulapavana · 04-21-2005, 07:42 AM

and where do you think hydrogen comes from? coconuts?

hydrogen must be produced in an industrial process, with great expenditure of energy, which REQUIRES EMISSIONS. you are simply moving emissions from the tail pipe of your car to the smokestack of the powerplant. even solar cells must be produced in an industrial process generating emissions.

as to using vegetable oils as a source of energy: you would need more land than is currently available on earth to replace the 80 million barrels of crude oil used every day.

krsna · 04-21-2005, 08:12 AM

Jee wizz, I'm just a dunce with a big dunce hat. I thought hydogen was simply H20 !

Kulapavana · 04-21-2005, 11:36 AM

to get hydrogen from water you must first split the hydrogen-oxygen bond: that requires energy - about 1.5 times the amount of energy you get from re-combining the hydrogen with oxygen in your "zero emission" car. so you end up with less energy than you started with...

so... where do you get that initial energy? the only clean options available today are solar, wind and hydroelectric. alltogether these sources provide less than 1% of all energy used by humans today. to replace all oil used by us today we would have to dam all the rivers, install millions of acres of solar panels and build wind turbines everywhere...

is it doable? in theory only...

theist · 04-21-2005, 12:29 PM

I sure don't understand the intricacies of energy production. But I do figure that as a society gears up towards one kind of production the costs of producing it will decline as the demand increases and methods become more efficent. So the cost today will not be the cost once it is in full swing.

Here in Berkeley I have noticed new garbage trucks have a sign on them that they run entirely from reclaim vegetable oil. This stuff used to be thrown away after frying french fries etc.

I think we need every form of clean(er) alternative energy we can get from multiple sources. But also we must do something about the demand side. The absurdity of mass producing something like an electric toothbrush just floors me. People have become too damn lazy to move their hand up and down while they clean their teeth.

Also cars. I have never like those things. Personal vehicles should be limited to golf cart type machines and for mass long distance travel TRAINS. But no they have created a motor car society where you can't walk mo0re than one block without risking your life intersecting with 2,000 pound speeding chunks of metal. Any wonder why this world has gone mad and getting madder?

Kulapavana · 04-21-2005, 01:56 PM

why are cars so heavy and therefore use proportionately more fuel? because people DEMAND that they be "safe". if current safety standards were removed it would allow most cars to have at least 2x better fuel efficiency.

the current energy problem is very much the result of excessive demands by people in the mode of passion and ignorance.

04-21-2005, 07:52 PM

[img]http://images.google.com.au/images?q=tbn

nNByWTdm9AJ:http://uw.travel.ru/pictures/CH_1.jpg[/img]

Can you just see some a' these CEO's going to work.

04-21-2005, 08:00 PM

I liked Constantines comment "Krsna doesn't Work"
Forget horsepower

This is Divine Civilization.

theist · 04-21-2005, 08:21 PM

That China picture, Oh My Gawd!!! lolol

krsna · 06-05-2005, 11:11 AM

Martin Oliver

An Australian inventor, Michael Perry, has built a device that generates substantial amounts of energy from underwater river and ocean currents. His Aquanator possesses rows of sail-like 'aquafoils', which turn silently powering an on-shore alternator.

Located some distance below the surface, the Aquanator avoids the risk of being a hazard for marine craft. As only one anchor point is required, environmental impact is minimised. A current of as little as 1.5 knots can generate usable power, and energy yield rises exponentially with increasing flow speed. While 2.5 knots produces around seven kilowatt hours (kWh), five knots creates an impressive sixty kWh.

The Aquanator has been developed in Maclean, a small town located on the banks of the wide Clarence River on Australia's east coast. Following the testing and improvement of prototypes, the device is on the verge of commercialisation. A pilot unit is to be installed in the Clarence late this year, and the regional power utility has signed up to buy its output. This will be sold under the company's Green Power renewable energy option.

Michael Perry sees river and ocean currents as the world's largest untapped sources of renewable energy, and also the most economically viable. They are ideal for remote island locations that presently rely on expensive and polluting diesel generators. For many of the world's cities, harnessing power from slow currents may also be an ideal solution. He would like to see submerged Aquanators being installed around the Australian coast. The Aquanator follows on the heels of Perry's earlier groundbreaking invention known as Permo-Drive. This unit, which is also being commercialised, captures the braking energy of heavy vehicles, resulting in up to 37% lower fuel consumption.