I see the goal of an HVDC national supergrid would be similar to the goal behind national railroads, interstate highways, and the TVA-type WW II power projects. National economic growth and financial security. The foundation upon which modern nation/states stand. The crumbling of that foundation, signals the fall. The path to unsubsidized, inflation fighting, foreign fuel free, renewable energy is a nationwide electricty super highway system. Then let the free market work, a project that restores free market competition will be palatable to government-phobic politicos. Solar, wind, biogas, efficiency/cogeneration, and energy storage will be competitive.    more »

Another barely noticed milestone! I have written about this project several times, mainly as an alternative to problematic NIMBY plagued offshore installations like Cape Wind. Floating wind resides further offshore out of sight of residents and isn't mounted on sensitive protected seafloor areas. And look at the capital behind this, mass production could make these cost competitive. We have four shorelines these could be mounted off of here in the US, including the Great Lakes.   more »

This german project features home based distributed cogeneration, excellent! It replaces a home furnace and hot water heater with a generator burning natural gas. The waste heat from the engine does the home heating. Electricty is generated in each home and sent onto the grid. Honda has developed a system like this as well.   more »

But it boils down to a few simple principles in terms of this current debate: ....healthy youngsters (and in fact everyone who is uninsured) who do not purchase health insurance and use the emergency room or walkin clinic, leaving taxpayers with the bill, are getting a free ride. that free ride is not free. It costs 500 bucks for a sniffle. A visit that would cost 100 dollars for an insured patient   more »

So now Grist is reporting that geo-engineering is actually being seriously considered as remediation for GHG indsuced global climate change. Does the rejuvenation of soil as a carbon sequestration mechanism constitute geo-engineering? If it were acomplished globally with a wholesale shift from chemical ag to organic fertilizer from waste stream biomass it could be, and actually would remove enough GHG to equal other geo-engineering schemes. Consider the elimination of nitrous oxide (300x the GHG effect of cO2) from chemical fertilizer and the reduction of methane (20x the GHG effect of CO2) emissions from chemical fertilizer run off bio-reacting with cellulosic biomass in soil and wetlands.   more »

Fire, precursor to desertification. The feedback loops of GHG released by fire and less carbon capture due to the loss of greenery and increased solar heat absorption by blackened landscape; all point in that direction, deserification. But the article hits on a much more immediate bottomline consideration: namely, the sheer cost of not only fighting fires, but the loss of all those homes and comminuities. It devestates the local economy.   more »

Excellent Grist article! The focus on cost and capacity factor is really on the mark. Adding solar furnace molten salt storage and/or geothermal heating to the CAES system might eliminate most of the natural gas use. Then maybe waste stream biogas could make up most of the extra power needed. Especially if the waste stream biogas were first used to generate electric power in a solid oxide fuel cell. The 800 degree waste heat from the 50% efficient fuel cell would then be used to heat the CAES compressed air before it enters the turbine generator.   more »