Forum Index > Public Lands Stewardship > Energy Sources/Improvements on the Horizon
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mgd
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PostThu Aug 19, 2010 4:13 pm 
How about a thread for energy sources or improvements on the horizon? This can be anything from something new potentionally coming down the pike (or maybe just at the onramp to the pike) to something being improved, like new efficiencies for solar cells. Here is one: a biofuel, developed by the Scottish scientists, from the biproducts of whiskey distillation. Show me the proof, you say! drink.gif

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Backpacker Joe
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PostThu Aug 19, 2010 5:10 pm 
More nuclear!

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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joker
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PostThu Aug 19, 2010 5:42 pm 
Here are a few that are more on the "on ramp to the pike" stage. On the nuclear front, an interesting emerging technology is the travelling wave reactor, which doesn't have the same proliferation and waste risks of existing nuclear technologies. Artificial photosynthesis is a pretty interesting notion. Some related comments by the President of Shell WindEnergy here. There are of course lots of others - and most of these will likely turn out to be about as practically useful as Fleischman and Pons' supposed cold fusion work in 1989.

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DIYSteve
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PostThu Aug 19, 2010 5:49 pm 
News flash: Viable fusion reactors are still only 30 years away! And they always will be. That joke was first uttered in the 1960's, and it's still funny. lol.gif

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treeswarper
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PostFri Aug 20, 2010 5:58 am 
Insulation/modern weatherization for old houses. That is a no brainer.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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joker
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PostFri Aug 20, 2010 8:34 am 
I guess I didn't see that or the notion of "more of the same type of nuclear plants that we already know how to build" as "energy sources or improvements on the horizon" of the sort demonstrated by mpg's example, but indeed, this is one of the most impactful things we can each do on a personal level around our energy use. But treeswarper brings up a very important suggestion. Modernizing home appliances to new energy-efficient models is another. I'm amazed at how much energy we've saved (and how much cooler our house is in summer) after we replaced the original windows in our 1982 house. Windows have chanced a lot since the house was built. It's going to be a long payoff, but the new windows are also much more pleasant (no more foggy windows from blown seals, the "cooler in summer" thing I mentioned is sort of like having installed central air conditioning, and they just look and function better all around...). I guess another "emerging" detail here is that you can now get a really good home energy audit involving use of an infrared viewer that can help the auditer see leaky spots where you might need weather stripping or more importantly (since you should be able to see weatherstripping problems on visual inspection) spots where you should inject some new insulation in your walls. Even many new houses can benefit from tuning coming out of such an audit. From seeing the sensibilities of the OP as expressed in some of his (her?) other posts, here's a fun semi-relevant link: 11 green inventions that go too far

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El Dooder
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PostFri Aug 27, 2010 1:27 pm 
Buy a geothermal heat pump. It will heat and cool a 2,000 sq ft house for only $350/year and provide half of the domestic hot water. There is a 30% tax credit on the total installed cost, and Puget Sound Energy will give you a $1,500 cash rebate. After rebates, a 3-ton geo would run you somewheres around $17,000. A typical air-source heat pump will cost you $12,000 and is at best half as efficient, and will last half the 30-year projected life cycle of a geo heat pump. If you spent $1,200/year heating your house with a air-source heat pump, then the difference in operating cost would pay for the monthly loan payment. By far geo is the best way to go.

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mossy mom
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PostSat Sep 04, 2010 1:09 pm 
El Dooder wrote:
Buy a geothermal heat pump. It will heat and cool a 2,000 sq ft house for only $350/year and provide half of the domestic hot water. There is a 30% tax credit on the total installed cost, and Puget Sound Energy will give you a $1,500 cash rebate. After rebates, a 3-ton geo would run you somewheres around $17,000. A typical air-source heat pump will cost you $12,000 and is at best half as efficient, and will last half the 30-year projected life cycle of a geo heat pump. If you spent $1,200/year heating your house with a air-source heat pump, then the difference in operating cost would pay for the monthly loan payment. By far geo is the best way to go.
Is there room to install one of those on a small city lot with water lines and sewer lines and gas lines already in and houses only 10 feet apart?

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mgd
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PostThu Sep 16, 2010 11:59 pm 
Here is neat car.
Quote:
The makers of a futuristic-looking vehicle that weighs half as much as a Smart Car today won the main prize of a $10m challenge to design a car capable of 100 miles per gallon (mpg). ... The entire car, which some have likened to a helicopter or an egg on wheels, weighs 377kg (830lb). The Smart Car is about 726kg. The four-seater is entered via the window, like a racecar. It has the basics: a top speed of 100mph, enough acceleration to cope with traffic, a heater and basic air conditioning, great fuel economy and, according to Edison2's owner, a realistic price tag. Oliver Kuttner, a race car driver, said it is made of low-cost and recylcable materials and could potentially go on sale for $20,000.
Quote:
But Consumer Reports, which rates cars, said the Very Light Car was still very much in the development stage, with work needed on braking and handling.
Details details shakehead.gif

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Klapton
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PostFri Sep 17, 2010 9:27 am 
Mossy M0m wrote:
El Dooder wrote:
Buy a geothermal heat pump. It will heat and cool a 2,000 sq ft house for only $350/year and provide half of the domestic hot water. There is a 30% tax credit on the total installed cost, and Puget Sound Energy will give you a $1,500 cash rebate. After rebates, a 3-ton geo would run you somewheres around $17,000. A typical air-source heat pump will cost you $12,000 and is at best half as efficient, and will last half the 30-year projected life cycle of a geo heat pump. If you spent $1,200/year heating your house with a air-source heat pump, then the difference in operating cost would pay for the monthly loan payment. By far geo is the best way to go.
Is there room to install one of those on a small city lot with water lines and sewer lines and gas lines already in and houses only 10 feet apart?
They can drill DOWN, like drilling a well for the heat sink. This makes them more expensive than installing one on a property with enough space to go horizontal.

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Mongo
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PostFri Sep 17, 2010 11:51 am 
One promising technology is the use of photovoltaics to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen. New technologies are being developed that have rapidly increased efficiencies. The hydrogen can be generated as long as the sun shines, and stored in a tank. No more batteries. The hydrogen can then be run through a fuel cell to generate electricity at high efficieny rates, with no pollution.

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El Dooder
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El Dooder
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PostFri Sep 17, 2010 6:47 pm 
Klapton wrote:
Mossy M0m wrote:
El Dooder wrote:
Buy a geothermal heat pump. It will heat and cool a 2,000 sq ft house for only $350/year and provide half of the domestic hot water. There is a 30% tax credit on the total installed cost, and Puget Sound Energy will give you a $1,500 cash rebate. After rebates, a 3-ton geo would run you somewheres around $17,000. A typical air-source heat pump will cost you $12,000 and is at best half as efficient, and will last half the 30-year projected life cycle of a geo heat pump. If you spent $1,200/year heating your house with a air-source heat pump, then the difference in operating cost would pay for the monthly loan payment. By far geo is the best way to go.
Is there room to install one of those on a small city lot with water lines and sewer lines and gas lines already in and houses only 10 feet apart?
They can drill DOWN, like drilling a well for the heat sink. This makes them more expensive than installing one on a property with enough space to go horizontal.
Bodies of water can be used, too. And if common loops are used then the capital cost can be recovered by a whole community, not just individually. Think public infrastructure. Clusters of small houses can be plumbed in parallel on a common loop. Commercial buildings and schools have the most to gain from this as payback is often immediate. Farms, too. Dairy farms can use the latent heat in effluent ponds for hot water to clean with, and then use another pond to chill water for cold storage.

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mgd
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PostTue Oct 26, 2010 4:56 pm 
Quote:
ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2010) — Researchers at MIT have revealed exactly how a molecule called fulvalene diruthenium, which was discovered in 1996, works to store and release heat on demand. This understanding, reported in a paper published on Oct. 20 in the journal Angewandte Chemie, should make it possible to find similar chemicals based on more abundant, less expensive materials than ruthenium, and this could form the basis of a rechargeable battery to store heat rather than electricity. ... In effect, explained Grossman, this process makes it possible to produce a "rechargeable heat battery" that can repeatedly store and release heat gathered from sunlight or other sources. In principle, Grossman said, a fuel made from fulvalene diruthenium, when its stored heat is released, "can get as hot as 200 degrees C, plenty hot enough to heat your home, or even to run an engine to produce electricity." Science Daily

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touron
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PostFri Jan 07, 2011 10:16 pm 
Your car, powered by Four Loko? Okay, that works! souse.gif "Officer, that's not my breath, it's my car's exhaust."

Touron is a nougat of Arabic origin made with almonds and honey or sugar, without which it would just not be Christmas in Spain.
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onemoremile
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PostFri Jan 07, 2011 10:46 pm 
Solar--that produces more energy over its operational lifetime than was used to produce it. Many, if not most, solar cells require more energy in the form of mining/refining the materials (including transporting) and manufacture of the components than the cell will produce. There are some newer designs that are coming online with a positive balance----although pricey at the moment.

“Arbolist? Look up the word. I don’t know, maybe I made it up. Anyway, it’s an arbo-tree-ist, somebody who knows about trees.” G.W. Bush
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