CLOates
Norman, Oklahoma, USA
Started: 22 January 2008
Completed: 28 March 2008
Last revised: 02 April 2008
Coming Soon:
Your House Runs on Sunshine, Your Car Runs on Moonshine
We live in an era of energy transition. One hundred dollar per barrel oil is making alternative energy sources attractive not only to conservation extremists, but to mainstream citizens as well.
What's coming is an era similar to the end of the whale oil era in the late 1850s, when doomsayers predicted that the world would run out of whale oil in a few years. The price of whale oil became so high that kerosene ("coal oil"), cheaply made from coal, was able to displace whale oil as the primary lighting fuel. Long before the supply of whales actually ran out, the whale oil industry was left wondering where its customers went. I surely hope that I live long enough to see the fossil fuels folks in the same situation.
The Eco-Tech and Invention Nation TV series, currently running on Discovery's Science Channel (digital channel 101 on Norman's Cox Cable system), document the energy changes that are surely coming. If you don't have access to digital cable or satellite TV, it's time to find a friend who does and schedule a well-timed visit. A link to the Science Channel's schedule for Echo-Tech is provided here.
The new energy sources will include low-intensity sources like wind power and direct solar conversion ("sunshine") for buildings and relatively high intensity sources like cellulosic ethanol ("moonshine")--not from corn or other food grains!--for transportation applications. Many different sources will have to be used, because the world, and the U.S. in particular, presently uses a LOT of fossil fuel energy. There won't be any need to wait on government entities to do this. They've already blown their chance to get us ahead of the game. Fortunately, economics will now impel private business to innovate, and good ole American ingenuity will put the economic dinosaurs in museums, where they belong. This won't happen overnight, or without predictions of economic doom from the oil industry, but don't make any big bets on fossil fuels' prospects after the next decade is done.
Below is an informal annotated webography for your use in exploring the topic further.
Direct Conversion Solar Power (Sunshine!)
Uses of Solar Energy
http://www.solarbuzz.com/Applications.htm
Photon International, The Photovoltaic Magazine
http://www.photon-magazine.com/
Solar Daily: Solar Energy News
http://www.solardaily.com/
Thin Film Solar Modules – Photovoltaic (PV) Cells Get Lots Cheaper!
http://www.firstsolar.com/index.php
A Chinese Company That Builds Solar Panel Factories in the US (!)
http://www.suntech-power.com/AboutUs/tabid/61/Default.aspx
NanoMarkets, Thin Film/Organic/Printable Electronics
http://www.nanomarkets.net/
Inkjet-Printed Solar Cells (!)
http://www.konarka.com/news_and_events/press_releases/2008/3_march/0304_ink.php
Prism Solar Technologies, Inc.: Advance Solar Electric ModulesI
http://www.prismsolar.com/
The Solarserver, Forum for Solar Energy
http://www.solarserver.de/index-e.html
Clear Skies Solar – Installer of Quality Solar Energy Systems
http://www.clearskiesgroup.com/
Wind Turbines: Indirect Solar Power
Big Wind Turbines Produce Electric Power Cheaper Than Coal
OG&E isn't building all those wind farms in Oklahoma out of a sense of altruism, brother!
http://www.fplenergy.com/portfolio/pdf/oklahoma.pdf
If Not Wind … Then WHAT?
http://www.ifnotwind.org/
Wind Energy 101
http://www.powerofwind.com/node/5
Power of Wind
The renewable energy tax credits weren't renewed by the U.S. Senate (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the oil and drug companies), but that's a different kind of wind, produced primarily in Washington, D.C.
http://www.powerofwind.com/
American Wind Energy Association
http://www.awea.org
Urban Wind Power
http://www.consciouschoice.com/2005/cc1808/windsb21808.html
A Wind Turbine That Works Well Atop Buildings
http://www.toronto.ca/energy/pdf/sustainable_energy/1150_d-slidler-turby_pres.pdf
Roptatec Vertical Wind Turbines
http://www.ropatec.com/
For Those Interested in Engineering Wind Turbines, Here's a Reference
http://www.educypedia.be/education/windturbines.htm
Alternative Fuels—Cellulosic Ethanol (Moonshine!)
Google Search Cellulosic Ethanol
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-21,GGLG:en&q=cellulosic+ethanol
Will Cellulosic Ethanol Take Off?
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=biofuels&id=18227&a=
Wikipedia's Article Cellulosic Ethanol
Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol
Switchgrass, the Stuff of Cellulosic Ethanol (Lots of it in Oklahoma!)
http://plants.usda.gov/factsheet/pdf/fs_pavi2.pdf
First (Really?) Cellulosic Ethanol Plant
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/798/
Wired Magazine: One Molecule Could Cure Our Addiction to Oil
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/15-10/ff_plant
Oklahoma Biofuels Conference, October 16-17, 2007
http://www.growok.com/
Oklahoma BioEnergy Center
http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/8872-oklahoma-bioenergy-center-created.html
High-Efficiency Automobiles
Aptera, a 320 Mpg Electric/Electric Hybrid Two-Seater Car (Yes, I'm in love! --CLO)
http://www.aptera.com/
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03/13/aptera-ceo-we-have-more-mainstream-designs-in-the-works/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors
http://designby11.com/?/page3/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237853.html
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/03/200mpg_for_real.html
http://gas2.org/2008/03/12/apteras-26000-electric-car-and-300-mpg-hybrid-coming-soon/
http://www.gadgetspage.com/cars/aptera-motors.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060211/news_1b11fambro.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/the_future_is_h.php (loads slowly)
http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2007/10/16/apteras-series-hybrid/
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/12/17/aptera_s_sub_30k_300_mpg_car_will_be_here_in_2009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aptera/sets/72157603722287420/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeN1Okyy05Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj718vRrYGM
The Progressive Automotive X-Prize
An attempt to kickstart producible, super-efficient car technology
http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/
Rocky Mountain Institute's Hypercar
Amory Lovins is, I believe, a bona fide genius.
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/09/04/video-rmis-hypercar-a-100-mpg-suv-featuring-amory-lovins/
Here Comes Hypercar!
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1278506
Fly the Road: VentureOne, a Super-Efficient Vehicle
http://www.flytheroad.com/
Renewable Energy General Interest Items
RenewableEnergyWorld Online
See the Renewable Energy Technology Basics section near the bottom of the page.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/home
Renewables 2007 Global Status Report
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/infocus/story?id=51744
Rocky Mountain Institute's Winning the Oil Endgame: Interesting!
http://www.oilendgame.com/ReadTheBook.html
100 mpg SUV? Physicist Amory Lovins Says, "Carbon Fiber: Add Lightness and Simplicity "
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/09/04/video-rmis-hypercar-a-100-mpg-suv-featuring-amory-lovins/
The Science Channel, Schedule, Echo-Tech TV Series
http://science.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=48.15159.122449.34341.xpid=269&srcid=269
BP, An Oil Company That's Really in the ENERGY Business?
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/BP_(BP)
Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems
http://www.ecbcs.org/
Cleantech: Helping Wal-Mart with Renewable Energy and Sustainability
http://www.cleantech.com/accelerator/
Geothermal Energy Association
http://www.geo-energy.org/
National Hydropower Association
http://www.hydro.org/
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
http://www.nrel.gov/
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