I
never saw a purple cow,
I
never hope to see one;
But,
I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d
rather see than be one.
Gelett
Burgess, The Purple Cow
It
seems everyone worldwide has begun looking for this purple cow with ever
increasing earnest-ness ever since the report by the IEA (International Energy
Agency) stating that we will be experiencing Peak Oil by 2015 AD as stated in
the article “IEA official
warns of shrinking oil supplies: Report”,
Sunday August 2nd, 9:04 pm ET, Yahoo! News and
backed up by the dire warning in statements attributed to Sir Richard Branson
of Virgin as stated in the article “World faces Oil
Crunch by 2015”, published Sunday 14 February 2010, AFP, The Jamaica Herald.
Alternatives
to Oil seem to be the main focus and the history tells the tale of the tape.
Brunei earlier in August of 2009 began building a solar power plant as stated
in the article " Oil-Rich Brunei
to have solar power plant", published Thursday August 6, 3:33
am ET,Yahoo! News. This should
have struck John Public following the Oil Futures Market as being decidedly
odd, as with supposedly billions of gallons of oil still untapped, why would
they be seeking to conserve, being as they had an abundance of oil supposedly
able to last for the next 200 years?
The
use of Nuclear Power for Civilian Power by the Arabs, who have been having
talks about setting up their own regional Arab Atomic Agency to legitimize
nuclear proliferation by Iran ostensibly for Civilian Power is also of
interest, as civilian Nuclear Power Plants the size of a small school exist
that can safely be housed underground and power an entire country.
The breakthrough by venture capitalist K.R.
Sridar, CEO of Bloom Energy in developing what Leslie Stahl on “60 Minutes”, aired Sunday 21st February
2010, CBS News refers to as “the Holy Grail” of power engineering is a Bloom
Power Server. The article “Bloom energy
unveils fuel cell of the future”,
published Thursday February 25,
9:01 am ET by Glenn Chapman, AFP Yahoo! News explains
what it it’s about. My blog article entitled
“The Secret of
the Bloom Energy Server unraveled – and can be locally Reverse Engineered”.
A
fuel cell technology that is based on a semi permeable membrane made from
pyrolized sand i.e. sand that has been heated and temperature controlled sintering
under anaerobic (oxygen free, vacuum). It holds the greatest promise in my
eyes, as it could in principle replace the combustion engine in cars and allow
them to go All-Electric while still using LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) or other
heavily filtered fossil fuel, a compromise no doubt the Oil Industry likes to
hear.
Even
Apple, a Silicon Valley Gadget Trendsetter with the fab new Apple iPad and
Apple iPhone 4.0, has caught the Solar Renewable bug, expected to be on
September 1st : D-Day for the big Apple (no pun intended!)
presentation from CEO Steve Jobs. A focus on refreshes for the Apple iPod and
its closely related siblings or offspring in the form of the Apple iPod Touch,
Apple iPod Nano and the Apple iPod Shuffle as stated in the article “Apple likely to
show off new iPods Sept 1”, published Wednesday August 25, 6:26 pm
ET, by Reuters, Yahoo! News.
Apple
Engineers have mysteriously been filing patents to develop Solar powered
devices, possibly with the processor of these devices such as the Apple iPod,
Apple iPod Nano, Apple iPod Shuffle, Apple iMac, Apple Mac Mini, Apple TV,
Apple Air, Apple MacBook Pro and their latest toy, the Apple iPad to be all
Solar powered.
Using
ambient light from radiation from any part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum via
the upgraded touch screen display on these devices is a possibility as stated
in the article “Apple eyes
gadgets with built in Solar panels”, published January 22, 2010 7:46
AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News.
This
is further asserted in the article “Apple patent bid
combines Solarwith touch Screen”, published June 7, 2010 6:31 AM PDT
by Martin LaMonica, CNET News thereby
in theory eliminating the battery charger from their devices altogether.
This
is an impressive leap forward by Apple, and it is hoped that the development of
these Solar powered devices will result in a virtual extension of the battery
time of these devices, and bring the convenience of self-charging Solar
Technologies. This has long being designed for African countries with limited
access to electricity.
Now
Developed countries with consumers are willing to pay a premium for technology
that basically would cut the tethered electrical cord, still the last relic of
an analog era that most devices have yet to free themselves. If Apple does
this, tomorrow, September 1st2010, be it known that God himself,
assuming he exists of course, may be in the front row, cutting his ten,
listening.
The
ultimate aim, globally however, is clear: Wean the US off a dependence of
Foreign Oil and produce energy by alternative or otherwise deemed “natural”
power sources and create a couple thousand jobs in the process to boot. This
news could not come at better time, given the challenges facing the Green Tech
field:
1.
Shortage of manpower as stated in the
article “People power in
short supply for Green Tech”, published March 26, 2010 8:29 AM PDT
by Martin LaMonica, CNET News
2.
Rare Earth minerals needed to produce
photovoltaic and Wind Turbines as stated in the article “Rare-earth metal
recycling needed to power green tech”, published May 17, 2010 7:31
AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News
3.
General lack of standardized
certification, which CompTIA is trying to address with its Green
Energy Certification as stated in the article “CompTIA offering
Green IT exam”, published March 25, 2010 10:34 AM PDT by Lance
Whitney, CNET News
Whether
the Americans wish to acknowledge these problems or not, one thing is for
certain: Silicon Valley in the not-so-sexy Green Energy Race, long the
stepchild of Silicon Valley, is very far behind People’s Republic of China in
terms of Research and Development.
But
it is the opinion of this blog writer, John Public that the whole situation in
the Gulf involving the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill on that fateful day on
Tuesday April 20th 2010 and the hoopla that followed was not
the real reason for the move towards weaning the American Economy from a
dependence on Foreign Oil.
It
again may more be a response to an observation of the same international body,
the IEA, which has called for the cutting of fuel subsidies to encourage
efficiency of design or even alternatives to the Internal Combustion Fuel
Engine.
A
technology which like the Fokker Tri-plane from WWI, should have long ago been
relegated to the museums as slyly alluded in the article “IEA: To promote
efficiency, cut fossil fuel subsidies”, published June 8, 2010 7:56
AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News.
It is a continuing plan that was initiated as far back as the last Oil Crisis
at the end of the 1976, which I must admit, was before my time. John Public, like
the oil munching bacteria, breaks it down………..
Granted,
BP, the poster child for corporate irresponsibility, has created the worst
ecological disaster when its Deep Horizon Oil Rig off the Coast of Louisiana
exploded on Tuesday April 20th 2010, killing nearly eleven (11)
workers. After expending over US$1 billion (US$1,000,000,000), they are the
main talking point of Washington and Senator Barack Obama, President of the
United States of America and Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron.
Senator
Barack Obama, President of the United States of America even imposed a six (6)
month moratorium on Offshore Oil Exploration as stated in the article “Obama signals
tough stance on Oil Industry”, published Tuesday Jun 8, 11:25 am ET,
By Russell Blinch and Rick Cowan, CNET News.
This signalled an end to a dependence on Fossil Fuels as stated in the article
“Obama: End
depedence on fossil fuels”, published Wednesday June 2010, By JULIE
PACE, Associated Press Writer, Yahoo! News.
But
the President’s statements relating to the cutting of its dependence on Foreign
Based Fossil fuels has no connection whatsoever, no matter how severe or
Katrina-like this tragedy was, as it was apparent from the start that he was
fully aware that he was working with a Full House in his hand, a winning hand,
using Poker parlance, if the Editor, may be so kind, in this International
Poker Game.
The
President’s statements were a reflection of an overarching plan set in motion
by the previous President, Senator George W. Bush, who had created the
conditions for the war against Iran in order to acquire their cheap oil for the
American Economy, having signaled no more Nuclear Power Plants to be built on
American Soil, a decision that John Public hopes, has nothing to do with
Nuclear Fusion Reactors or Nuclear Reactors not using weapons grade material.
Now
the previous President, Senator George W. Bush, having failed in this bid and
out of office, Senator Barack Obama, President of the United States of America,
the man currently in the hot seat, is now merely doing clean-up of the
Government of the United States of America and the American Economy. The Deep
Horizon Incident of the coast of Louisiana, for that is what it is really, on
the grand scale of Global Politics, is ironically, already being dealt with by
an even greater Government: Nature.
The
underwater plume of Oil which Georgia University claim was the missing 80% and
yet still below the depths as stated in the article “Ga. scientists:
Gulf Oil not gone, 80 pct remains”, published Monday August 16, 6:30
pm ET, Yahoo! News countering
Government scientists claims of the Oil having evaporated.
In reality it had been totally consumed by a dormant species of
microbe, a feast that they will soon never forget as stated in the article “Microbes ate BP
oil deep-water plume: study” published Tuesday August 24, 3:37 pm ET
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent, Yahoo! News.
Best
of all, no tax dollars were expended to pay these Naturally occurring microbes,
but John Public does take issue with their consuming Oil that could have
otherwise have been used to power vehicles, and thus suggests to the President
that these critters be put to work to pay back their taxes owed to the
Government of the United States of America.
Thus
it would be in the interest of the Government of the United States of America
to harvest these bacteria, as the fact that they did not significantly deplete
the Gulf of Mexico’s Oxygen levels in the process and create a Dead Zone as is
the Seasonal occurrence every year when Nitrates and Phosphates from fertilizer
laden river runoff enter the Gulf, make them very interesting to the BioFuel
Sector that Barack Obama has been pumping American Taxpayer funded Venture
Capital money.
Again,
happy news for the Oil Industry, as these unpaid Government Workers can be
genetically modified and put to work to convert Oil to Diesel, Kerosene and
other by-products, thus making Catalytic Cracking of Oil, an energy intensive
and inefficient process a thing of the past, not to mention the use of these
bacteria to make Bio-Diesel and Anhydrous Ethanol and other types of fuel from
almost any Organic material that can be pyrolized to Oil.
Did
I forget to mention that the shrimp are back, a definitive indication of a
healthy Gulf?
The
shrimp are back, having dined on a nutritious diet of algae, bacteria and
phytoplankton about three (3) miles down in the Gulf of Mexico as implied in
the article “Shrimpers report
clean 1st day catch after spill”, published Wednesday, August 18,
2010, AP, The Jamaica
Observer. This making it safe for the President and Sasha to swim,
the possibility of a shark attack not withstanding as stated in the article “Obama swims in
Gulf, says beaches open for business”, published Sunday August 15,
6:57 am ET by Ross Colvin, Yahoo! News
This
long term Foreign Oil Dependence cord-cutting drive by the Government of the
United States of America being spearheaded by the President, coupled with the
public outcry against the “over-hyped in the media” Deep Water Horizon Incident
thus makes it easier for the Government of the United States of America to make
its case, and no, this in no Rothschild Conspiracy Theory, but obvious common
sense.
These
conditions has quietly turned Silicon Valley on its head as the Green Energy
start-ups have been a backwater are of research, now spotlighted by a forward
thinking 44thPresident of the United States of America looking to
cut the United States of America dependence on Foreign Oil – minus a small war.
Senator
Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, has showed his faith,
both in photo ops as well as his wallet, the Obama Administration plunking down
billions on the Bio-Fuels Sector in a bid:
1.
Finding alternatives to the taxation of
corn-based ethanol as stated in the article “'Green' gas and
Diesel get boost in Biofuel grants”, published December 4, 2009
12:33 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News
2.
Jumpstarting Large Scale Solar Plant
installations and research as stated in the article “Obama commits
billions to solar firms”, published July 4, 2010 11:34 AM PDT by
Reuters, CNET News
3.
Increasing All-Electric Car or EV
research, specifically into battery technology development as stated in the
article “Obama: Clean
energy's Venture Capitalist-in-Chief”, published August 5, 2010,
5:00PM EST By Mike Dorning, POLITICS & POLICY, BusinessWeek
It
seems in terms of Venture Capital money investment, the Obama Administration is
following the lead of VC’s and Investors with the Midas touch such as Warren
Buffet, who is investing billions in BYD Electric in the People’s Republic of
China, a definite sign of the coming importance of All-Electric Vehicles as
stated in the “BYD Dreams of
Electric Cars”, published June 28, 2010, 3:10PM EST By Inder
Sidhu, BusinessWeek.
Indeed,
the United States of America has a lot of catching up to do, as despite their
high end lifestyle, the Americans are in fact behind the rest of the world.
The
US of A is not leading it, the technological progress, education interest in
the sciences and innovative thinking of WWII and up to the 60’s lost to the
wild obsession with music and the Internet in the 80’s and 90’s. Most
production and research has been shipped overseas as stated in the article “The Other U.S.
Energy Crisis: Lack of R&D”, published June 17, 2010, 12:01AM
EST by Peter Coy, POLITICS & POLICY,BusinessWeek and
in the prior article “America's Green
innovation Problem”, published May 3, 2010, 4:41PM EST By Rob
Atkinson and Devon Swezey, BusinessWeek.
The
Obama Administration jumpstarted the recently bailed out Auto Industry, which
the Obama Administration can dictate the terms of their recovery via State Tax
laws against gas guzzlers as stated in the article “Will
'fun-factor' or mandates drive electric car sales?”, published March
6, 2010 1:56 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News.
Tax
breaks for buyers of All-Electric Vehicles will spur their sales, as already
the Nissan Leaf will garner a considerable after-rebate price that will
certainly encourage All-Electric Vehicle adoption.
All-Electric
Vehicle purchases are possibly the best way that taxpayers can send a message
to the Oil Companies, that will accelerate the breaking of the linkage between
Big Oil and the American Congress and their irresponsible behavior as
demonstrated by the BP Oil Disaster as opined in the article “The Electric car
might be the perfect Second ride”, published August 3,
2010, 4:35PM EST By Ed Wallace, WALLACE'S WORLD,BusinessWeek.
Globally,
the search for low cost Renewable is increasing and my references are not meant
to be exhaustive, merely highlighting the different research initiatives, which
have now begun to show a pattern, with a bit of Social Networking humour thrown
in for good measure.
Bacteria to make fuel:
Food for the NanoMachines
In
BioDiesel Research, aside from the recently discovered bacteria, processing
algae-eating fish seems to be trending as stated in the article “PetroAlgae signs
deal with Indian Oil”, published November 5, 2009 6:55 AM PST by
Candace Lombardi, CNET News.
Trending
too is the use of Genetically Modified Bacteria to munch on mechanically
masticated or pyrolized organic material reduced further to an organic oily
mixture to make either Bio-Diesel or Anhydrous ethanol is the case
as stated in “A Forest
epidemic turns into energy opportunity”, published April 7, 2010
2:04 PM PDT by Candace Lombardi, CNET News.
There
is the much touted research regarding LS9’s Bio-Diesel process detailed in the
article “Gene-altered
bugs make Bio-Diesel”, published Wed Jan 27, 1:31 pm ET byYahoo! News and the article “Researchers coax
bacteria to make bio-diesel”, publishedJanuary
27, 2010 3:59 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News.
Anhydrous
Ethanol from wood chips as a starting stock as stated in:
1.
“Wood-chip
ethanol maker opens plant”, published October 15, 2009 7:50 AM PDT
by Martin LaMonica, CNET News
2.
“Microbes to
start making ethanol”, chemicals, published November 18, 2009 9:52
AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News
Biofuel
being made from scratch from just Carbon Dioxide and Water using genetically
modified bacteria, a direct reverse of combustion as stated in the article “Joule to make
diesel at solar fuels plant”, published April 27, 2010 8:07 AM PDT
by Martin LaMonica,CNET News is also
another interesting take on making Bio-Fuels and is an emerging future
technology that may be trending by 2012.
Solar Film Research:
Windows to Power from the Sun
The
latest trending in solar, however, is towards the use of nanotechnology and
easy- to-install spray on solar films, as easy as painting a wall, albeit one
must have concerns about toxicity:
“Spray-on films
turns glass into solar panels”, published August 19, 2010 1:09 PM
PDT by Juniper Foo, CNET News.
This
is following in the footsteps of Solexant as stated in the article “Solexant funded
to print thin-film Solarcells”, published June 4, 2010 8:50 AM PDT
by Martin LaMonica,CNET News and JA
Solar as stated in the article “'Silicon Ink'
for solar cell glides towards production”, published September 17,
2009 6:10 AM PDT, by Candace Lombardi, CNET News.
Wind Power: The Taller
the Wind Turbine the Better
Wind
power is also showing great promise, especially offshore power, which has long
been recommended, which albeit notoriously hard to build and very risky
propositions for Venture Capitalists, like terrestrial power stations, can reap
great benefit. This if connected together in a massive Power Ring based on
research done by the University of Delaware and Stony Brook University as
stated in the article “Offshore wind
grid is the answer, study says”, published April 7, 2010 9:44 AM PDT
by Candace Lombardi, CNET News.
The
EU is surging ahead, with large Wind Turbine installations expected to exceed
18.8 Megawatts by 2015 based on estimates by research group Frost and Sullivan,
due to the increasing ease of securing Venture Capital money from the
Governments of Great Britain and the Government of Germany for such potentially
risky projects as stated in the article “Bankers warming
up to offshore wind”, published January 21, 2010 9:52 AM PST by
Candace Lombardi, CNET News, simply put.
The
Americans are not too far behind in this race thought as stated in the article
“U.S. wind power
growing fast but still lags”, published March 19, 2010 6:28 AM PDT
by Reuters, CNET News
LNG: Leftover Gas from
the OilFields
LNG
(Liquid Natural Gas) is plentiful in terms of domestic supply, which according
to Ernest Moniz, Director of the prestigious engineering institute, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently in Time Magazine,
a prestigious USA publication, accounts for 24% of the Electricity Generation
within the USA as stated in the article “Fuel of the
future?”, published
Sunday July 4 2010 by Dwight Bellanfante, Gleaner WriterThe Sunday Gleaner.
Additionally,
Middle East and Far East interests, hoping to maintain the USA’s drug addict’s
dependence on their supply of Cheap Energy, have begun to sequester the
Government of United States of America with their abundant supplies. Middle
East and Far East interests LNG is so plentiful and cheap that they’re
successfully competing with the People’s Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
contractually guaranteed supply of LNG to the USA as stated in the
article “Rivalry sends
Trinidad in search of New LNG Markets”,
published Saturday, July 4, 2009, The Saturday Gleaner, by Linda
Hutchinson-Jafar, Business Writer, The Sunday Gleaner.
Middle
East and Far East interests are also challenging
the very investment in Wind and Solar Energy with LNG supplies so cheap, that
it can compete with the LNG extracted from within the USA on the basis of
pricing alone, even with USA extracted LNG having ten-year lows as stated in
the article “Solar, Wind feel
the heat from low natural-gas prices”, published January 29, 2010
12:43 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News
Locally, the Government of Jamaica is eyeing LNG
(Liquid Natural Gas) Gas Turbine Generator upgrades to their Generators with an
estimated cost reduction of 20% to 30% in the electricity bills of consumers as
stated in the article “Government eyes
LNG cure for Energy problems”, published Wednesday June 16 2010 by
Laura Redpath, Senior Staff
Writer, The Daily
Gleaner, as a path to reducing the cost of energy in Jamaica, thus
boosting our country’s productivity.
Even
exotic sources of fuel, such as Methane Hydrate deposits at five (5) miles
below the China Sea are being explored by the People’s Republic of China DSV
appropriately named Jaiolong, Mandarin for “Sea Dragon” along with
the quest for more Rare Earth Metals as stated in the article “China builds
base to tap deep-sea energy: state media”, published Friday August
27, 1:23 am ET, Yahoo! News.
The
People’s Republic of China has LNG in abundance and is using to build out its
Clean Energy Infrastructure as well as do research to make Wind Turbines and
Solar Technology to sell to the world as stated in the article “China clean
tech's rare-earth advantage”, published August 12, 2010 5:37 AM PDT
by Reuters News Agency, CNET News.
Lightning
is being considered as a source of Renewable Energy, a very good source, as a
huge amount of energy is stored in the atmosphere, lightning discharges being a
sign of this stored energy reserve as stated in the article “Scientists work
to harness lightning for electricity”, published August 26, 2010
11:23 AM PDT by Candace Lombardi, CNET News.
Shocking
good prospect, no pun intended, as the atmosphere is the ultimate capacitive
battery storage for Energy. The Global Race is indeed on, as the year 2015 is
only five (5) years away. Ironically, America may not emerge the leader in this
Race…………..