Mapquest Gas Price & Alternative Fuel locator

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Mapquest Gas Price & Alternative Fuel locator

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The Mapquest gas price locator also includes listings for "alternative fuel" stations such as hydrogen or electricity or biodiesel or E-85 or CNG or LPG ... Really cool. But, hampered by very slow download times.

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New method for making diesel fuel uses vegetable oils

This news.com article claims that Galp Energia is working on a project to produce biodiesel using algae. They are supposedly being funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, specifically through DARPA. The program is said to be producing 6,500 barrels a day and they are based in Portugal and they have a business partner based in Italy.

I wasn't able to find any news on the DARPA site, though it's interesting that DARPA does have a biofuels research program. That biofuels research is geared to producing jet fuel.

I find it curious that DARPA is funding a non-U.S. company to develop this. Why go outside the U.S.? Isn't that a strategic liability to fund development of businesses and technologies outside the U.S.?

In any case the CNET News article does rightly point out that 6,500 barrels a day is a drop in the bucket compared to global oil usage. However I think this sort of thing is an important step in the overall development of biofuels, and always when developing a new technology it's best to do a pilot plant first to make sure it works as expected.

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The method, developed by UOP, a subsidiary of Honeywell, and Eni, the Italian energy company, adds hydrogen to oils derived from food crops to create a substitute that the companies describe as superior to ordinary diesel fuel.

The long-term goal is to modify the process to use oil from algae or from jatropha, a hardy shrub from Central America whose oil has long been burned in lamps and used to make soap.

Using algae, jatropha or oilseed crops like canola as a source of diesel would reduce carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere from diesel engines by 50 percent to 70 percent, according to Jennifer Holmgren, director for renewable energy and chemicals at UOP. The company argues that its method produces a fuel superior to the standard biodiesel already being made in places like the American Midwest.

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New method for making diesel fuel uses vegetable oils

Galp Energia

DARPA

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How $100 Oil Could Help

How $100 Oil Could Help "As speculative fervor continues to test the $100 mark, fears that expensive oil could spur inflation and cripple consumer spending is spreading. Pricey oil—coupled with the subprime crash, shaky credit markets, Wall Street turbulence, tensions with Iran and a feeble dollar—could be the catalyst that topples the U.S. economy into recession." Okay... and I do hear a lot of people complaining about high gasoline prices. So the title of this article might seem astonishing.

"But doom and gloom is not the only upshot of $100 oil. In fact, many analysts see pricey oil as the jolt the economy needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions and foster more energy efficiency. That's because as oil gets costlier, the incentives rise for new investments in energy efficiency and renewable options." If you remember from high school economics there is this 'law' about supply and demand. A product with high demand but low supply like, say, Diamonds, will fetch a high price. A product with high demand but high supply like, say, Oil, will fetch a low price. But the picture of Oil as having a high supply is rapidly becoming false.

Supposedly, however, The Market offers us self corrective processes. Automatically as prices for a given product rise the people will find alternatives to that product. Hence expensive oil will, as the article says, be its own incentive for customers and businesses to seek alternatives whether it's greater efficiency or alternative fuels.

But the Market does not take into account all aspects of the problem. That is the price of Oil does not reflect the issues of environmental degradation or global warming or the mutual poisoning we are all experiencing. The Market only takes into account the price required to explore for oil, pump oil out of the ground, refine oil, ship refined products around the world, deliver it to refueling stations, etc. The price for oil doesn't even include the cost of the War On Terror which itself is most obviously a War to Secure Oil Supplies.

While I applaud high oil prices - because I know it's incentivizing my neighbors to begin thinking along the lines I've been pondering for years - I recognize that addressing the issue of high oil price is not going to address the entire problem.

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How $100 Oil Could Help

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PowerGenix

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PowerGenix

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PowerGenix is developing and manufacturing patented, nickel-zinc (NiZn) rechargeable batteries that are substantially smaller, lighter and more powerful than other rechargeable batteries on the market today. Our rechargeable Ni-Zn batteries are green and completely safe. Ni-Zn batteries contain no toxic materials, are easily recyclable and are non-combustible.

NiZn batteries lend themselves to numerous applications requiring a light-weight, rechargeable, high-discharge rate battery. Applications for our batteries that we are pursuing include power tools, hybrid electric vehicles, personal mobility devices such as scooters and wheel chairs, military and medical device applications, as well as consumer AA/AAA batteries.

This isn't the first company to develop NiZN batteries. The NiZN chemistry tends to have similar power density to NiMH or NiCD but the chemistry is environmentally safe. As they say: "Relatively abundant and readily recyclable, both Nickel and Zinc offer appealing characteristics for a variety of industrial uses. Independently, both have been used in a number of battery technologies over the years."

The prior company, Evercel, died a horrible death. Hopefully this company will do better.

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Nanosolar

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Nanosolar

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Nanosolar is leading the “Third Wave” of solar power technology... The Third Wave of solar power consists of companies addressing the above shortcomings and opportunities. Most every of the new companies address one or the other of the above aspects. One company -- Nanosolar -- brings together the entire conjunction of all seven areas of innovation, each break-through in their own right, to deliver a dramatic improvement in the cost-efficiency, yield, and throughput of the production of much thinner solar cells.

They have brought together several processes which they claim will drastically reduce the cost of production, and drastically increase the rate of production. They are building a plant which should produce 430 megawatts of capacity per year.

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Nanosolar Powersheet The New Dawn of Solar

"Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodity ... Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. In San Jose, Nanosolar has built what will soon be the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing facility. CEO Martin Roscheisen claims that once full production starts early next year, it will create 430 megawatts’ worth of solar cells a year..."

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Nanosolar Powersheet The New Dawn of Solar

Nanosolar

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Cyclone Power Technologies

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Cyclone Power Technologies

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They are the makers of the Green Revolution Engine, an "external combustion engine" which can run on "any" fuel. It turns an external source of heat into mechanical energy.

The website has some suspicious claims and it's unclear whether this is a scam operation. Consider: "It is exceptionally environment-friendly because the combustion is continuous and more easily regulated for temperature, oxidizers and fuel amount. Lower combustion temperatures and pressures create less toxic and exotic exhaust gases.... It needs no catalytic converter … no radiator … no transmission … no oil pump (and no oil … the engine is water-lubricated)." Maybe I don't understand enough of the effect of carefully controlled combustion, but it seems obvious to me that burning a fuel causes a chemical reaction and that the constituents of the fuel that's burned will inevitably turn into waste products.

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