Hybrid Electric Car: A Promising Technology for a Promising Future for the Environment
However, the main disadvantage of the electric car is that it is mainly dependent on the batteries. Therefore, has limited range. First of all, the hybrid electric car was supposed to be an electric vehicle with batteries for power storage and is also equipped with an on-board heat engine-powered generator. This means that this type of hybrid has an extended range. The heat engine power and the battery power are specifically intended as an important scheme that constantly modulates the excess between the heat engine and the battery power systems. This will also depend on the driving schedule. Since the beginning of the use of automobiles, electric cars have been already recognized and conceptualized. Even though the electric power train is better in various aspects, as an energy source, the battery was unequal to the superior-energy content, easiness in terms of the handling, and inexpensive and profuse supplies of motor fuel. Now, it has almost been a century since the electric car has been popularly discussed, but recent developments in the HEV technology and the growing concerns for the environment has revived the drive for an HEV and this has become a realization today.
We can consider the personal means of transportation as a very important bond in the economic chain of current modern societies and that a private vehicle appears to be the popular choice. Electric vehicles are more energy efficient than the contemporary vehicles wherein the electric vehicles operates at approximately 46 percent of effectiveness, while a contemporary vehicle operates at about 18 percent only. There are studies that generally concludes that electric cars with batteries are approximately 10 to 30 percent more efficient with energy than the usual gasoline cars, depending on the exact assumptions of the vehicles energy usage and energy chain efficiency. Certainly, the comparisons of the electric vehicles and the conventional vehicles are comparisons between an extremely developed power system that is nearly in the end of its research and development, and the innovative power system in the beginning stages of the development wherein important development can be expected as the new technology evolves. Furthermore, the advantages of electric powered modes of transportation extends beyond the true outlook of economizing energy. Electric generation plants can use substitute fuels that are not adaptable to portable power systems. Electric vehicles are the definitive alternative fuel vehicles because their power is taken from the source fuels utilized to produce electricity. Aside from that, the flexibility of the fuel alone can offer important useful and economic advantages especially in relation to a variety of energy resources. The electric car is truly a promising technology that could transform one's means of transportation into a far more environmentally type of commodity. Through this innovation emission controls become more important, effective and economically beneficial.
[Via www.alternativeenergyhq.com]
Biofuel motorbike takes victory
A motorbike which is powered by biofuel and has lower emissions than rivals has won a race at the Norfolk Snetterton track.
Team Inzane's Ducati 800SS, adapted and developed to use biofuel, was driven to victory by Russell Joyner on September 14th.
The race, which Joyner won by just two hundredths of a second, was the "pinnacle of a fantastic season", said Team Inzane technical director Ian Calvert.
Since motorbike racing authorities first allowed the use of biofuels, Team Inzane has been the first team to field a biofuel powered bike.
It uses bioethanol E85, which is a blend of 15 per cent petrol and ethanol distilled from biomass.
The team was supported by the Energy Efficiency in Motor Sport government initiative, which aims to have by 2010 at least one championship in which fuel flow is regulated so environmental and energy efficiency design is stimulated.
EEMS project manager Dan Rapson said: "This is a great achievement by the team and demonstrates just how compatible the energy efficiency message is with the spectacle of exciting motor sport.
"In a relatively short space of time, Inzane has taken this from the test track to the podium - showing that with the full commitment of the team and the right support, significant steps forward can be taken."
Via http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/
Arizona gets US$3 million for algae-to-biofuel project
MESA, ARIZ.: Arizona State University's (ASU) researchers have secured US$3 million funding for an algae-to-biofuel project.
Two ASU scientists, Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld are growing algae in solar tubes at the school campus to demonstrate the fuel can be produced on a larger scale, according to various news reports.The project secured a licensing agreement with private investment group, Heliae Development and US$1.5 million in the technology. Heliae will return fees and a share of income from commercialising the technology to the university.
Heliae is led by Frank Mars, a member of the Mars family behind food conglomerate M&M's. Several members of the family are also investing in the technology because of their personal commitment to helping develop environmentally friendly energy sources, according to ASU.Science Foundation Arizona, a non-profit group, will also award a US$1.5 million grant to the project.
Source link: www.energycurrent.com
Environmentalist Says "Clean Coal" Technology is a Myth
CHARLESTON - The same day two energy companies announced plans to build West Virginia's first coal-to-gasoline plant, a spokeswoman for one of the state's largest environmental groups was trying to convince state lawmakers that coal-to-liquids technology would be a step in the wrong direction.
Vickie Wolfe of the West Virginia Environmental Council said coal- to-liquid technology was less efficient than conventional fuels, resulted in more greenhouse gas emissions and would lead to more environmental damage caused by coal mining.
"Coal is not clean and won't be," she told lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Economic Development, which is studying the issue.
CONSOL Energy of Pittsburgh and Synthesis Energy Systems of Houston announced July 28 they were entering into a joint venture to build a coal gasification plant in Marshall County.
Coal-to-liquid technology is seen as a tool by many policymakers for decreasing the nation's reliance on foreign oil. It has been used by the Germans during World War II and by South Africa, which lost access to oil due to international embargoes resulting from the country's apartheid policies.
The reason coal-to-liquid hasn't been more widely used is the expense of converting coal into useable fuel. But now with a barrel of oil costing as much as $147, coal-based fuels can compete commercially.
Before Wolfe spoke to committee members, they heard from state Division of Energy Director Jeff Herholdt, who pointed to figures showing energy demand will continue to rise over the next two decades. Coal is expected to meet more than a quarter of that demand.
Asked by a committee member what the state was doing to promote coal-to-fuel technology, Herholdt said "I certainly have to run that by the governor."
But he also said the governor has traditionally stressed it is the state's job to provide the infrastructure businesses need to build coal-to-liquid plants.
Wolfe didn't think that would be a wise use of resources. She said the process of producing coal-based fuels uses about half the BTUs the fuel actually puts out, making it less energy efficient than traditional fuels. She compared it to corn-based ethanol, which has been criticized for taking nearly as much energy to produce than it delivers.
"It is not a very efficient process," she said of coal to liquids. Converting coal to liquid also produces roughly twice the amount of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, than the production of traditional fuels. CONSOL and Synthesis said they would bury the CO2 deep withinthe earth, a process known as carbon sequestration.
However, carbon sequestration has yet to be shown effective on a large-scale industrial basis. Wolfe pointed to the climate change report produced by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which determined the technology was decades away from maturing.
She also pointed to research stating even with sequestration, coal to gas technology still puts out more CO2 than traditional fuels.
A large part of Wolfe's presentation was trying to convince lawmakers to start thinking about alternatives to coal as an energy source. She said coal led to environmental damage and referred to a recent study by a West Virginia University researcher that says people living in coal-mining communities had more health problems.
Committee members took no action of Wolfe's suggestions, given the hearing was only for informational purposes.
Copyright State Journal Corporation Aug 1, 2008
(c) 2008 State Journal, The. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Source: State Journal
Carbon clues to when Greenland was a green land
PARIS (AFP) - Climatologists poring over Greenland's ancient past say global cooling, unleashed by a fall in atmospheric greenhouse gases, caused the vast island to ice over around three million years ago.
In a study released Wednesday, the British research team say that for aeons, Greenland was mostly ice-free and may have hosted grasslands and forests before it became smothered in a thick, glacial crust in a relatively short time.
The ice sheet can only be explained by a decrease in naturally-occurring, heat-trapping carbon gases in the atmosphere, they say.
Over a period of around 300,000 years, concentrations of greenhouses gases fell by more than a third, to around the same level as before the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, they calculate.
Their conclusions are based on a powerful computer model that crunched data about the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean and recreated the growth of the Greenland icesheet, starting from a small white spot on the eastern highlands to a deep slab covering virtually all of the island.
The scientists, who published their findings in the London-based science journal Nature, looked at three other competing theories for explaining the coming of the ice.
These include a change in ocean circulation that blocked the supply of warm sea currents to Greenland; the uplifting of the Rocky Mountains, which deflected the cold jetstream of air over Greenland; and changes in Earth's orbit, which influenced the amount of solar heat reaching our planet.
Such factors did affect the amount of ice cover, but not enough to contribute to the massive, long-term growth of an ice sheet, the researchers contend.
Lead author Dan Lunt, from the University of Bristol in western England, said a reverse greenhouse effect clearly played the major role in Greenland's glaciation, but how it happened remained unclear.
Among the ideas being kicked around is geological weathering, in which certain kinds of rock, undergoing chemical change, absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2), he told AFP.
Understanding why would be a vital insight into the mechanisms of climate change, he said.
"There is a huge amount of uncertainty as to why there are big, natural swings in CO2 levels," he said.
Lunt said there were also implications for today's problems of man-made global warming, stoked by the burning of fossil fuels.
He noted that greenhouse-gas levels before the Industrial Revolution were 280 parts per million (ppm), and now stand at around 385 ppm -- just shy of the 400 ppm that prevailed in Greenland's pre-ice era.
"It's clear from our work that the Greenland ice sheet is very sensitive to carbon dioxide levels, but it's wrong to draw inferences about what will happen," he said.
"You can't say that if you get to the level of 400 ppm, the ice sheet will melt in the next hundred years, because we don't know enough about the process. It might be easier to create an icesheet than to melt. If you reverse what you did before, you don't necessarily get the same answer back."
Next to Antarctica, Greenland is the biggest source of land ice in the world.
On August 21, US researchers, adding to concern about the state of Greenland's ice cover in the face of higher temperatures, said the island's two largest glaciers had lost at least 40 square kilometers (14 square miles) of ice since the last melt season.
Source: Yahoo News
Technology's low powered future
Next month is the 50th anniversary of the invention of the microchip. Dan Simmons travels to Texas, the home of the chip, to look back at its past and forward to its future.
 Jack Kilby received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000 |
The insight that led Mr Kilby to this breakthrough was his realisation that if all the bits of an electric circuit were made from the same material then the whole thing could be printed on a single chip. It would be small and easy to mass produce.
Half a century on from that momentous insight and the ubiquity of the chip is well proven. But Texas Instruments, currently the world's third largest chip maker, wants to take it further and to do so it is busy trying to break another electronic frontier.
Miniature technology
 Devices with low power consumption allows greater functionality |
Click was shown one such example with a demonstration model of a projector housed inside the shell of a mobile phone.
Hundreds of thousands of microscopic mirrors inside the handset flip with tiny amounts of energy, reflecting the right colours to make up the picture.
Power parsimony makes this possible. If it needed as much power as a standard projector, the show would be over in minutes.
"In designing this pico-projector, with the use of LED illumination and the chip, along with other components, we've engineered it to last longer," said Michael Guillory, head of marketing for Texas Instruments' digital light processing products.
"You want to use the cell phone, so you don't want it to take up all its power using the projector," he said. "So by designing it to last at least an hour and a half it allows our customers to manufacture a very useable device."
TI hopes the first products using this miniature technology will go on sale in 2009.
Low power
It also demonstrated how grapes can be used to power a clock.
 Some chips can be powered by alternative sources of energy |
"We [Texas Instruments] have created systems that are so low-powered they can sample sensors and transmit information wireless without the need of a battery and they will last forever," he said.
 |  Wouldn't it be great to have a smoke alarm where you never change the batteries, and it wasn't plugged into the mains?  Texas Instruments' engineering manager David Freeman |
As an example of this TI wants to use vibrations generated when traffic passes over a bridge to power sensors so they can monitor themselves and relay the data back to inspectors.
Vibration power
The buzz phrase for this is "energy scavenging". This means not just using solar power, but capturing energy from any light source, any sound, any vibration, any heat.
An office, home or a car engine might produce three milliwatts of energy and that is now enough to run diagnostics, monitor and control other things.
"Wouldn't it be great to have a smoke alarm where you never change the batteries, and it wasn't plugged into the mains?" said David Freeman, engineering manager at TI.
"It would be wherever you wanted to put it and if you scavenge energy correctly that smoke alarm can actually talk to other alarms," he said. "So when one goes off and your bedroom door's closed, the one in your bedroom can also go off
"This just from the energy that can be scavenged from a normal household environment - from the light, vibrations, temperature and such," Mr Freeman added.
Perpetual devices
In a separate project Mr Freeman has adapted a mobile phone to run on solar power.
At the moment the panels would need to be six times larger than the one currently used in order to power the call on its own, but the benefits of low power chips are clear.
"There's this whole new regime of technology that nobody knows about because we've never been able to do the perpetual device," said Gene Frantz, TI principal fellow.
"The perpetual device is a device that needs no power to do its function. It just does it. And you have to step back a minute and think 'why would I want such a thing?' Or, better yet, 'what could I do differently?'"
If scavenging energy from the world around us is to work, then devices that we use will also have to work with a lot less energy.
Half a century after the first chip was born, these Texans not only think small is beautiful, but less is more.Source: BBC
Beer-based biofuel, trash brigade help turn convention green
DENVER, Colorado (AFP) - The Democratic Party is using beer-based biofuel and a recycling brigade guarding trash cans to help ease the environmental impact of its convention in Denver this week.
The aim is to have the most environmentally-sustainable convention in modern US history. And the goals are ambitious.
"We've been committed to taking the practical steps to sustainability," said Damon Jones, a spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee.
"There are a number of things you can do that are not outrageous but are responsible and use good common sense."
The plan is to divert 85 percent of the waste produced by the 50,000 people coming to the convention into recycling or composting facilities.
Some 900 volunteers were enlisted to help delegates sort their garbage so it ends up at a recycling plant or composting facility.
Caterers and other vendors are also being instructed in waste diversion.
And the company hired to build the stage where Barack Obama will accept his party's nomination has been asked to use recycled materials and make sure they get reused when the stage is torn down.
Then there's transportation: General Motors will be providing a fleet of hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles, Coors is donating ethanol made with thousands of gallons of its beer waste and bus idling will be kept to a minimum.
Pollution is also being controlled through the use of wind and solar energy and efficient lighting, computers and appliances.
To top it all off, the party's "Director of Greening" hired an outside firm to calculate the convention's carbon footprint so it can be offset with carbon credits.
"We're really proud of the steps we've taken and if you compare another event that's taking place the next week we feel really good about our track record," Jones told AFP.
The Republican National Convention has also pledged to hold its "greenest" convention ever, but its plans are more modest.
"Having someone stand next to a trash can? I don't think so," said RNC spokeswoman Yohana de La Torre.
The Republicans are also using hybrid and ethanol-powered vehicles and have been cutting down on the use of paper products while asking vendors to use recycled materials for everything from the carpets to the signs filling the arena, de la Torre said.
Their offices were filled with reused furniture and recycling bins and the bulk of staffers found apartments within walking distance so they could avoid driving.
"We are trying to be stewards of the environment and are trying to encourage others to be," she said in a telephone interview.
"The Republican Party is home to Theodore Roosevelt who was the first American president to consider the long-term needs for efficient conservation of natural resources."
These greening efforts, while important, have become pretty standard for large events, said Kert Davies, research director of Greenpeace.
"This is all good manners at this point," he told AFP. "It's more important what they talk about inside the convention. ... The campaign platforms have to match the behavior."
Source: Yahoo News
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New uranium leak discovered at French nuclear site
PARIS (AFP) - French nuclear safety authorities said Friday that a broken pipe at a nuclear fuel plant in southeast France had caused a radioactive leak but no damage to the environment.
The latest uranium spill at the plant run by nuclear giant Areva in Romans-sur-Isere came amid much public concern over a leak at another facility last week that polluted the local water supply.
Residents in the Vaucluse region of southern France have been told not to drink water or eat fish from nearby rivers after the liquid uranium spill on July 7 at the Tricastin nuclear plant.
According to the ASN nuclear safety authority, the pipe defect at the FBFC plant at Romans-sur-Isere in the Drome region may date back several years.
"Results from initial tests show there has been no impact at all on the environment, because the quantity of uranium was very small, in the order of a few hundred grammes," said ASN spokeswoman Evangelia Petit.
The FBFC plant produces nuclear fuel for some of France's 58 reactors, the world's largest network after the United States and which produces 80 percent of the nation's electricity.
Areva late Thursday notified the nuclear authority of the leak and three inspectors were dispatched to the site in the early hours on Friday to assess the damage.
Petit said the spill did not reach the ground water and that there was no sign of contamination.
Areva president Anne Lauvergeon was later Friday due to inspect the Tricastin plant, which is run by its subsidiary Socatri.
After admitting to a safety lapse at Tricastin, Areva on Thursday replaced Socatri's director and announced an internal audit to determine what went wrong.
French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo has announced that tests of the ground water near all nuclear reactors will be carried out to reassure residents following the Tricastin leak.
Swimming and water sports have also been forbidden as is irrigation of crops with the contaminated water.
The leak ranked as a level-one incident on the seven-point scale to rank nuclear accidents.
Via Yahoo News
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Qingdao's frantic race to end algae nightmare
QINGDAO, China (AFP) - The clock that once counted down to the start of the Olympics in the centre of Qingdao, the sailing venue for next month's Games, now reads zero days, zero hours and zero seconds.
It is likely a malfunction but it underscores the pressure facing the team of 10,000 soldiers and volunteers racing to clean up a foul-smelling green algae covering a third of the sailing course.
The algae bloom has become an unexpected nightmare for Olympic organisers, disrupting international competitors' training and throwing an embarrassing global spotlight on the massive environmental problems in China.
And from the military to local teachers, people from the entire spectrum of Chinese society are doing their bit in Qingdao to ensure Olympic organisers' promise of staging a "Green Games" does not become an ironic joke.
At Zhangqiao Park in the city's west, residents and tourists waded into the foul water scooping up algae with shovels, rakes and their bare hands, creating piles of woolly green clumps on the beach as a smell comparable with rotting broccoli or cauliflower hung in the air.
Teacher Ai Fuhua stood on the beach with a rake in her hands, explaining that for her this was her Olympic moment.
"I wanted to be a volunteer during the events but I wasn't selected," she said. "I can just do a little for the country, for the Olympic Games."
As her nine-year-old son Wang Haolin dredged the sand with his rake, she said it was their first day on Thursday but they would return to help in their spare time until the job was done.
About one kilometre (half-a-mile) from where sailors were training, more than 1,000 soldiers cheered and listened to patriotic music on Friday as they used pitchforks to scoop the algae into heavy plastic bags.
Meanwhile, Wang Chenchun, 24, led a team of about a dozen algae-busting volunteers, complete with a flag bearer and T-shirts emblazoned with the logo of the homeware store where they work.
He said his co-workers were inspired by the volunteers who helped relief efforts following last month's earthquake in southwest China and they wanted to help the Olympic effort.
Since the algae began appearing last week, more than 170,000 tonnes of it have been cleared, according to the city government which has vowed to have the problem fixed well before the sailing events begin in six weeks.
The algae bloom is a common occurrence in Qingdao, but lifetime resident Paul Liu, 46, said he had never seen anything like this year's, which appeared during a hot spell after weeks of heavy rain.
"But this is no problem, the government is very focused on this," Liu said.
The bloom and others like it on China's coasts are largely due to sewage and agricultural pollutant run-off, Tom Wang, a Beijing-based expert on water pollution with Greenpeace China, told AFP.
"Basically these algae blooms are due to farmers using too much fertilizer and cities failing to treat their sewage," Wang said.
More than 400 sailors from 60 countries are expected to compete in the Olympic sailing competition at Qingdao, which is about 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Beijing.
Back in the capital, the skies were typically grey and heavy with pollution on Friday, despite what China has described as a years-long effort to improve the city's environment.
International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge has warned that endurance events, such as the marathon, may be postponed if the pollution is too severe during the August 8-24 Games.
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Algae clean-up at sailing venue to take weeks - report
BEIJING (AFP) - A huge algae bloom at the Beijing Olympics' sailing venue will take at least another two weeks to eradicate despite more than 10,000 workers being used in the clean-up effort, state media reported.
The environmental problem off the coast of Qingdao has disrupted training for international competitors trying to get used to the conditions there, the Xinhua news agency, citing officials, said late on Sunday.
"We have stressed to all the people devoting to this campaign that the priority should (be) given to the Olympic venue and we expect to eliminate all these sea weeds before July 15th," Qingdao Olympic Sailing Committee member Yuan Zhiping was quoted as saying on Sunday.
The algae has covered part of the training area and blocked parts of the sailing routes, Yuan was cited as saying.
More than 10,000 workers and 1,000 boats are cleaning up the bright green algae that has smothered the city's beaches and extends far into the Yellow Sea, about 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Beijing, Xinhua said.
About 16 square kilometers (10 square miles) -- a third of the protected sea area for the sailing events -- are choked with algae, the report said.
In total, the algae has affected 13,000 square kilometers (8,080 square miles) of sea, the report said.
Workers have so far pulled out 100,000 tonnes of algae, the report said.
Xinhua said sailors from at least 30 countries and regions were already training in Qingdao for their events, which run from August 9 to 23.
Algae blooms are common in heavily polluted China, particularly in freshwater lakes.
They are mostly caused by the discharge of untreated sewage containing high concentrations of nitrogen, a main ingredient in detergents and fertilisers.
However, Wang Shulian, an official with the Qingdao Oceanic and Fishery Department, played down the connection between the algae and pollution, saying the water's temperature and salt levels helped the algae grow.
Residents have said Qingdao, which means "Green Island," was prone to summer algae infestations but that this year's was noticeably worse.
Source: news.yahoo.com
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NJ weighs bill encouraging alternative farm energy
Ad: Site build and host
TRENTON, N.J. - For centuries, farming has involved plowing the fields and tending to livestock.
Soon, farmers in New Jersey may also be tending to solar panels and windmills.
New Jersey lawmakers are contemplating a bill that defines solar and wind energy generation as agricultural activity. The measure aims to promote alternative energy sources, but has been criticized as a possible danger to farmland preservation efforts.
The bill would allow the owners of preserved farmland to construct, operate and install solar or wind energy facilities or equipment on their farms. The generated power could be used to operate the farm or be sold to a utility company.
The law also would protect solar and wind power generation on farms from nuisance complaints from neighbors, similar to protections farmers have from complaints about the smell of manure, for instance.
"It's very hard for people to get out of that traditional thinking that the only farming there is when you dig up dirt and plant seed," said state Sen. Bob Smith, who is sponsoring the bill.
He acknowledged his bill is an "attempt to think outside the box when it comes to farming," but also said farming and energy are already tied together, noting ethanol is made from corn.
"The environmental goals of renewable energy and farmland preservation are not mutually exclusive," Smith said.
Despite New Jersey being the most densely populated state, it is a leader in farm preservation, with more than 18 percent of its farmland preserved. The Garden State has prevented development of 1,616 farms with a total area of 160,840 acres, at a cumulative cost of $686 million to the state and another $358 million from local governments and charities.
New Jersey has made more money available for farmland preservation than any other state, according to The Farmland Preservation Report.
Critics question whether Smith's bill would hurt farmland conservation.
Alison Mitchell, a policy director with the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, said she appreciates efforts to promote solar and wind energy, but said farmland preservation is meant to save agriculture and farmland — not spur new construction on preserved land.
Susan Kraft, the New Jersey Agriculture Committee executive director, questioned whether power generation should be even considered farming.
"I think this crosses a line that the public did not intend," Kraft said.
Jaclyn Rhoads, director for conservation policy for the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, said she worried that opening the door to solar and wind energy construction on preserved farms could lead to other facilities being built on preserved farmland.
The bill has cleared a Senate committee is awaiting a vote by the full Senate. It hasn't received Assembly consideration.
Using solar panels on farms is not a new concept. Sixth-generation farmer Ronny Lee has 360 solar panels on his Lee Turkey Farm near Princeton.
Lee had solar panels installed before his 54-acre farm was preserved, so he didn't face problems with building restrictions. "It runs all the heat lamps in the buildings for the turkeys and things like that. It actually runs the houses, too. It runs everything," Lee said.
State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, the Senate's economic growth chairman, said he isn't worried about the aesthetics of putting energy production facilities on preserved farms. Lesniak recalled biking in France and said the windmills there are "majestic" and "lift your spirits."
"Four-dollars plus for a gallon of gasoline," said Lesniak, D-Union. "The economy in bad shape. The old ways of thinking things have to be looked at over and over again."
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New Clean Coal Plant Could Power 150,000 Homes by 2015
Illinois has been at the forefront of next-generation fuels—but on Tuesday, the state was chosen as the home for a next-generation facility that burns decidedly low-tech fuel: good old-fashioned coal. The town of Mattoon beat out three other finalists as the site for the FutureGen coal gasification plan, which aims to convert coal into hydrogen and electricity while capturing and storing the carbon dioxide 3000 ft. underground. The U.S. Department of Energy hopes the $1.5 billion plant will generate 275 megawatts of electricity and power 150,000 homes, and be nearly free of greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, Americans consumed more than 1 billion tons of coal, and more than 80 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by generating electricity in the United States comes from coal. Proponents say the plant’s integrated gasification combined cycle, which turns coal into gas before combustion, dramatically reduces most emissions—except CO2, though that will soon be buried in the heartland. Meanwhile, Illinois remains a major player in another national energy debate: According to the Illinois Corn Growers Association, the state is the second-leading producer of corn in the U.S. (1.5 billion bushels annually), and corn grown there is used to make 40 percent of the ethanol consumed in the country. Pending legislation would mandate corn-ethanol usage of 15 billion gal. per year (more than three times our current consumption) by 2015. The FutureGen plant will be built on 444 acres northwest of Mattoon; the other finalists were Tuscola, also in Illinois, and the towns of Odessa and Jewett, in Texas. Construction of the plant will begin in 2010, with full-scale operation expected in 2013. —Davin Coburn
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Solar House Competition
;)
You don't need to build a house from scratch to take advantage of smart new solar technology, but that's exactly what 18 college and university teams did for the Solar Decathlon, a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The students spent three years designing houses powered exclusively by solar energy, and this past October transported them to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where the doors were thrown open to the public. Weather during the two-week Decathlon ranged from cloudy to stormy, which put rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems to the test. Despite the inclement conditions, more than 120,000 spectators waited in line to see inside the roughly 800-sq.-ft. houses. With average winter fuel costs projected to be 33 percent higher this year than last, many people were there to glean ideas for tightening up their own homes' building envelopes with triple-glazed windows, structural insulated panels and other energy-efficient features. But perhaps the most surprising lesson was that comfort and style don't have to be sacrificed in the pursuit of alternative energy.
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Wind power has come a long way since the days of old mills dotting the Dutch countryside. Sure, this endlessly blowing fuel is far from a panacea for worldwide energy concerns, but as engineers propel through its problems, it has become a more and more compelling source of energy—even if the United States has a long way to go. Wind's future took another step toward energy prominence (if not dominance) this week when the United Kingdom unveiled a plan for what could be one of the most ambitious expansions of wind power the world has ever seen. Through the construction of hundreds of offshore turbines, the country hopes to harvest up to 33GW of wind-driven energy. "If we could manage to achieve this, by 2020 enough energy could be generated off our shores to power the equivalent of all of the UK's homes," UK Energy Secretary John Hutton told European energy industry leaders at a meeting in Berlin, where he unveiled the plan. Since the proposed project would dramatically change the British coast, it will be subject to an environmental review. —Seth Porges
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