Coal gassification or pulverized coal?  Neither!  Fuel cell/turbine solar collector algae/biogas conversion instead.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/10/pulverized_coal.html#comment-24408921

Power plant pollution, waste water, and algae all mixed up and pumped through solar collectors, can yield 4000 gallons of biodiesel per acre.  

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/10/vertigro_algae_.html#comment-23623140

In the case of solid oxide fuel cell/turbine generation that works with biogas from algae the whole system can wean itself from fossil fuels completely. Pulverized coal can be used as long as it is still needed, then biogas from digesting the half of the algae product not turned into biodiesel.

As the area of solar collectors increases the biogas eventually replacing most fossil fuel use as this form of generation becomes mainly a backup for renewable electric grid power from wind, water, and solar. No more combustion, rather fuel cell catalytic conversion at high temperature. Distributed generation and storage backed up by these regional solar algae/biogas energized  fuel cell/turbine power plants.

These systems could be mounted on the present power plant buildings. And surrounding buildings. When the sun shines the waste water, algae, and CO 2/ NOx pumped through the tubes in the concentrating solar collectors.

The heat byproduct would provide heating/cooling power for all the buildings the systems are mounted on.

And as long as we're talking fuel for mainly cars, why not mount the remainder of systems needed over parking lots and highways. That way no more undeveloped land need be destroyed to provide this algae based biofuel.

Branson ought to have backed these systems instead of ethanol. Gates screwed up and backed ethanol too. it's alarming.

What we are talking about is an energy re-evolution. Power plants re-evolving into algae/solar power from fossil power, and from combustion to catalytic fuel cell direct electric generation. The coal feeding the fuel cells and CO 2 to the algae until a big enough collector area is built to replace the coal itself with biogas.

And demand for the power plant going lower and lower as renewable sources come online.  And when the increasing amount of biogas from the algae meets the decreasing backup  power demand?  Well then coal becomes an excelent emergency energy source, but is hardly ever needed.

Another possible source of energy for this setup is algae filtered from fertlizer runnoff polluted rivers, lakes, and oceans.  why mine coal?  Filter algae instead.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/10/biofuels_from_h.html#comment-23488923

Why no response from nuclear power advocates to a possible compromise to allow construction of newer, safer, waste eating nuclear power plants?

Because they know that nuclear power could not compete on a subsidy free, level playing field with renewable power. 

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/10/biofuels_from_h.html#comment-23375189

This message needs to be on every blog and every media outlet that it can get to.  Disaster on every level from our present prevaling energy sources needs to be halted yesterday.

Stop combustion and nuclear fission as energy sources now!

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/9/21/233944/840/#27

Time for a new religious institution?  Based on the better aspects of other religions with the reverence of nature and it's conservation as the central tenant.

The collection plate is the sale of wind power from systems installed on land put into conservation trust by the community.  It could be a global community, with wealthier members donating time and money to bringing simple techology to those in less cash rich locales of spaceship earth.  Spiritual tourism, as other religions build homes, clinics, and schools around the world, this community could spread it's renewably powered lifestyle in that helpful, peaceful mode.

Meanwhile the capitalistic members would invest in businesses to manufacture and install these new techologies and produce organic food and renewable power to sell on their own for profit.  It's a kind of socialist/religious base, owning the land and power generation wind systems on it, and members as the individual (and partnered) family farms and businesses.  Land on the border and interior of conservation land could be sold or leased to members.

What do progressives need in a great ultily grade local, state, and national political speech?  Well we are always working on that here in blogland, wether we know it or not.

Even our right winds fiends ...er friends, are helping the dialectic produce it. 

We merely need to glean.  Glean the perfect speech from the "aether".   Calling on the political muse. 

Jobs that last, good jobs, based on sustainable renewable energy and next generation techology like solar and wind power and electric plugin vehicles.  Jobs in local economies, like farming, logging, manufacturing, recreation, real estate, construction.. that all rest on long term local economic health, instead of short term corporate destruction.  Powerful interests corrupting local government and selling resources out cheap for temporay profits and temporay  jobs.

 An affordable health insurance safety net preventing all these catastopic bankruptcies due to uninured medical disasters, very personal family disasters. Health insurance that lasts so older workers can get jobs, companies are freezing people likely to have uninsured heatlh problems out of hiring, right into financial trouble. 

Older baby boomers missing affordable health insurance are at the age where they tend to vote consistently.  This issue is vital.  My idea would be to lower the medicare age 2 years every year until everyone is covered.  But means test medicare so those with over say 200,000 per year income do not get the benefits they don't need, they can afford their own insurance.

Now to reframe all this into bumper sticker slogans!  Hehehey.

As the evil, sulfur fuming GOP political consultants say, "we have a bumpersticker, they have an essay."

Their thinks tanks, Heritage foundation, Cato Institute, American enterprise Institure make up those bumperstickers, it's up to us progressive bloggers to get our bumpers stuck.

Let's all challenge our favorite blogs to work this out, dialectically.

As I've talked over the original duuhbya "trifecta", and his new "trifecta",

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/9/19/63034/8000/#5

 may I now  consider Hugo's "trifecta"?

The "sulfur fumes" reference as in he could still smell them at the UN podium after duuhbya's (devilya's) visit.

Satirizing the salem witch trial religious nut wing overtoned axis of evil pronouncements of the duuhbyaist regime.

Satirizing the chimp himself directly.  (Judge not, oh yee of shrub-like faithbasedness, hehey)

And of course the oily sufurous fumes of the exxonmob/halliburton minions from hell follow this feller everywhere he goes.

It's Hugo's trifecta joke that beats anything our lame chimp in chief could do, even with decent writers. 

Both of these torturing dictators run on oil of course.  Who tortures and kills more people?  Bush or chavez?  That ought to be a topic at their separate but equal trials, that might be held were there actually justice on this planet.

Post script!   Hugo controls citgo through Venezualan ownership. 

What's next?  China owning Walmart? 

Then who will buy exxonmob?  Iran?  Saudi Arabia?  Putin's KGB oil mob?  Just bidness as usual for the texas oil boy prez.

Nero and bonnie prince duuhbya separated at birth?  Hmmmm.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/09/prius_phev_will.html#comment-22722444

It looks like the first dawning of the technology to store renewable energy from wind, water, and solar power in the batteries of electric plugin cars plugged into the power grid.

I mentioned this in another article here awhile back. 

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/7/10/1012526.html

100s of millions of electric cars plugged in while sitting still (95% of a car's life is parked) at home, at work, at school or shopping.  Storing power, days worth of power to even out solar and wind power peaks and valleys.

Then one can charge the car full up in a few minutes when needed, either by programming the charger in the electric car, say for the time one leaves for work, or simply waiting 5 minutes to get it back to full charge anytime it is need for commuting.

Car owners that plugin to help the grid smooth its peaks would be rewared with lower cost killowatts for their car and home.  Depending upon how many storage killowatts their car provided to the grid.  all simple with computerized electronic metering and billing.

Actually this makes it worth having battery storage in one's home too.  Storing power for the power company and reducing your energy costs.  And it fits right in with home solar, wind, and even farm biogas fuel cell/microturbine  electric power generation (75% efficiency electric power from cow poop!).

The value of your killowatt hours gleaned from your own renewable energy system can be maximized by getting payed to help the power company smooth out peak demand and renwable energy supply.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/science/19rive.html?incamp=article_popular

Yep, these experts must have read my blog, hehey.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/7/15/1032024.html

My previous recomendation on global climate disaster enhanced flooding, hydroelectric power, and restoring depleted aquifers.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/09/bush_to_reverse.html#comment-22578138

Just as certain animals; dogs, cats, cows evolved symbiotically with humans, so did certain plants.

Corn, wheat, grains, vegetables, fruit trees  all suceed because they help their huiman partners suceed.  Medicinal plants do too.

Most of the commercial medicines available now were discovered by biochemists exploring traditional herbal cures.   Getting back to that root of healthcare, symbiosis between medicine plants and humans might just cure the problems with the rising cost of healthcare that makes it unafordable for most of the people on spaceship earth who need it.

Uninsured in the US?  They have to treat you anyway.  For the billions in the poorer countries it's either Doctors Without Borders or some other heroic NGO or nothing.

Going back to symbniosis with the natural world could reveal a treasure trove of medical enlightenment.  Let the developed world lead the way!

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/08/pmls_inwheel_mo.html

80 mpg with a standard internal combustion generator.  And 2 hours driving on batteries before you need to use it.

With a solid oxide fuel cell of the new CeO2 variety coupled to a microturbine this car could get 400 mpg on any liquid fuel.  Destruction of Earth's climate as we know it could be stopped with this technology.

http://greenlagirl.com/2006/08/27/interesting-quote-how-to-fix-agriculture

My comments on her thread:

Well he forgot to add: Take half the money saved from eliminating corporate welfare and turn it into tax incentives for small, local, organic farming. use the other half to pay down the deficit.

Use a few percenty of the first half to fund research into robotic farming designed to make organic farming using renewable electric power more efficient than chemical, diesel fueled, labor intensive farming.

That way organic farmers with a few acres can do it themselves on their computer connected robot that fertilizes (organic), waters, weeds,plants, harvests, all the stuff you would need to break your back doing, or break someone eles back, for below minimum wage.

Why do people use herbicide? Too much time and effort it takes to do it manually. Same with fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticides. Squash potato bugs manually? Yikes.

But a robot will vacuum them up and feed ‘em to your chickens, bwwaaaacckk (happy chicken music).

Now go tell some really rich garden loving people about this you LAers, maybe Laury David will fund this? You go LAgirl!

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/08/franklin_fuels_.html

This could make a backup generator for electric cars based on fuel cell/microturbine technology a reality.

True multi-fuel capability, high efficiency, low weight, and low cost; all the qualities that are needed to replace internal combustion.

Since the new nano tech lithium ion batteries are so very expensive, only about a 50 mile range for an electric car is practical on batteries alone. 

That is enough for most driving miles, but a good backup generator is needed to make electric cars able to compete in terms of utility with internal combustion.  This sounds like the technology that will do it.

Coupled with a microturbine and electric drivetrain in an economy car it could give 200+ mpg on liquid fuel alone.  And it would run on the cheapest liquid fuels.

And the whole design would fit into the space normally dedicated to an ICE (internal combustion engine), transmission, and related systems,  at equal to or less that the ICE weight.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/07/cryogenic_super.html#comment-19545453

Well Thomas, let them talk nukes all they want.  I just don't think they're cost effective.

 Remote cluster reactors  are  a good  compromise on nukes.  I think we  renewable fans could use this as a negotiating point to get subsidies shifted from fossil and nuclear corporations to tax incentives for homeowners and small businesses for wind, solar, and electric plugin hybrids and pure EVs.  They get a second chance, we get a fair playing field.

Put the new nuclear reactors  in remote areas where contamination already exists like Yucca mountain or Hanford, the power can be moved easily compared to the waste later on.  Let the industry prove itself on cost, safety, and waste.

But as far as the real winners?  Well I'm glad this article brings up superconduction.   Because instead of thousands of miles of superconducting cables with liquid hydrogen pipes surrounding it, smaller rings of this  material with safe liquid nitrogen supercooling could store all the wind, solar, and wave power needed in a regional grid. It's like a zero loss flywheel where the electricity does the spinning.

Even the  negative assessment on the capacity of wind and capacity factor leaves the government admitting solar can and must fill the gap.

I think much larger wind machines on the planes and on floating platforms offshore that double as wave power stations could power everything alone. There is no reason to insist on that though.

 The better strategy is to agree and admit we only expect  maybe one third of our power from large wind and wave machines.  Then propose distributed power generation and storage from home sized wind and solar roof panels on every roof that is suitable to provide the next third. 

And going to efficiency gains for the remaining third.   Much more mass transportation, ride sharing, bike trails, and telecommuting for work.  Electric cars,super insulated homes, a new generation of energy efficient appliances, geothermal/solar  heat pump heating, domestic water heating,  and air conditioning.

Also industrial efficiency gains.  Like using wind powered heat pumps and solar for refining ethanol.  Electric plugin tractors and construction equipment. 

I would say the admissions in this report give us the final negotiating position we needed to prove renewables can carry the whole energy supply burden.  Let them try nukes and "clean" coal.  But verify cost effectiveness.

Renewables will win in a fair fight.  Real capitalism minus subsidies would provide that fair market competition. Let the games begin (well they already have).

This is engineering and political strategy now.  Prove the voters will get lower costs with renewables and we win in the end.  Hope it is in time to head off global climate disaster.

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2006/07/re_the_false_ho.html

More happy fuel farming fanstasy.

This study assumes 10% of transportation fuel coming from biomass by 2020. 

As the study proposes to supply that amount by converting more photosynthetic bio-energy to fuel that is burned, that will exacerbate climate change.  All the land that can be converted to carbon sink, either through more reserve land or returning as much biomass as possible to the soil through organic farming, is needed to  reverse CO 2 climate problems.

Between non-CO 2 emmitting electric renewable power used in PHEVs and EVs and liquid fuel generated with algae in solar systems, the economic and war related problems of importing oil and the even bigger problem of CO 2 climate change can be solved simultaneously.

Trying to use fuel farming to replace oil will only replace a fraction of it and actually degrade the present level of the carbon sink effect of conserrvation reserve land and sustainable farming practices that build soil organically by recyclng biomass.

The illusion that fuel farming actually can solve these problems is a dangerous one.  It makes the release of methane from permafrost practically inevitable as CO 2 levels continue to rise.

That will overwhelm the climate system and cost far more than conversion to renewable electric transportation power and carbon sink sequestration with more conservation reserve land would.

Just the increasing storms and droughts alone will cost many orders of magnitude more than investment in mass production and adoption of renewable electric battery powered vehicles.  In fact the economic boom from  renewable energy will  pay back these investments within a few years..

And how can anyone envision agricultural yields actually increasing (as this study does) with ever increasing weather volatility?  The reverse is true, the water needed for even present ag production levels is rapidly being depleted as aquifers are destroyed with overuse and pollution.

It is interesting that renewable electric transportation advocates are often accused of over optimistic predictions given the very obvious unrealistic assumptions behind fuel farming

The Washinginton Post is onto the scamming.  Which is understandable (though unexpected) given the huge corporate fuel farming subsidies channeled through DC lobbying corruption. 

Farm and environmental votes are being bought with this greenwashing.  and farmers get none of the money doled out that adds to our huge national debt (mainly held by China), it all goes to politically connected agribizz corporations like Archer Daniels Midland.

Come on Subaru, make it so.  Warp 7.  

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/6/8/165835/4175

Great discussion Karen

"...not to forget the hundreds of thousands of Americans, tens of millions of people worldwide, who die every decade directly from fossil fuel waste."

Yes fossil fuel is awful at the scale it is currently used.  So is nuclear power.

The solution is blowing in the wind, the cleanest, cheapest, immediate replacement for fossil fuel and ever widening nuclear contamination.

At the Paduchah Kentucky plant that makes all the fuel for nuclear power plants, plutonium has been spreading out into the groundwater for decades.  The contamination of this resource, that is vital to life itself, has spread miles already during the industry coverup.  

It is flowing into the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers down through the Mississippi valley to the gulf.  Have you eaten any Louisuana quisine lately?  Crawfish and shrimp from that wonderful ecosystem?

What is life itself in all its wonderful variety of experience worth?  Can you insure life itself for "accidents" like this plutonium contamination of a whole region?

Give it up.  Go solar, go electric.  

Oil, coal, nuclear fission must all become just a horrible warning from history or there will be no one to read a history book left.  

The dark future of spaceship earth impelled by evil  men like Lord Cheney of Halliburton.  Hehey.

Dark humor?  Better to laugh than cry.

Those who learn from history are doomed to watch others repeat it.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog