Monthly Archives: December 2013
Government Grants for Alternative Energy
In his State of the Union Address for 2007, President George W. Bush called for a 22% increase in federal grants for research and development of alternative energy. However, in a speech he gave soon after, he said to those assembled, I recognize that there has been some interesting mixed signals when it comes to funding.
Where the mixed signals were coming from concerned the fact that at the same time the President was calling on more government backing for alternative energy research and development, the NREL the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of Golden, Colorado was laying off workers and contractors left and right. Apparently, the Laboratory got the hint, because soon after the State of the Union Address, everyone was re-hired. The second speech of the President’s was actually given at the NREL. There is almost unanimous public support for the federal backing through research grants, tax breaks, and other financial incentives of research and development of alternative energy sources.
The NREL is the nation’s leading component of the National Bioenergy Center, a virtual center that has no central bricks and mortar office. The NREL’s raison d’etre is the advancing of the US Department of Energy’s and the United States’ alternative energy objectives. The laboratory’s field researchers and staff scientists, in the words of Laboratory Director Dan Arvizu, support critical market objectives to accelerate research from scientific innovations to market-viable alternative energy solutions. At the core of this strategic direction are NREL’s research and technology development areas. These areas span from understanding renewable resources for energy, to the conversion of these resources to renewable electricity and fuels, and ultimately to the use of renewable electricity and fuels in homes, commercial buildings, and vehicles. The federally-backed Laboratory directly helps along the United States’ objectives for discovering renewable alternative fuels for powering our economy and our lifestyles.
The NREL is set up to have several areas of expertise in alternative energy research and development. It spearheads research and development efforts into renewable sources of electricity these would include such things as solar power, wind power, biomass power, and geothermal power. It also spearheads research and development of renewable fuels for powering our vehicles such as biomass and biodiesel fuels and hydrogen fuel cells. Then, it seeks to develop plans for integrated system engineering this includes bringing alternative energy into play within buildings, electrical grids and delivery systems, and transportation infrastructures. The Laboratory is also set up for strategic development and analysis of alternative energy objectives through the forces of economics, market analysis and planning, and alternative energy investment portfolios structurings.
The NREL is additionally equipped with a Technology Transfer Office. This Office supports laboratory scientists and engineers in the practical application of and ability to make a living from their expertise and the technologies they develop. NREL’s research and development staff and its facilities are recognized for their remarkable prowess by private industry, which is reflected in the hundreds of collaborative projects and licensed technologies that the Laboratory now has with both public and private partners.
Your Questions About Renewable Energy
Thomas asks…
What universities offer online courses in renewable energy or green related fileds?
I am interested in the renewable energy, green field, etc. And i want to know if there are some universities offering these kind of online courses.
admin answers:
All courses and degrees dealing with “renewable energy” or “green field” without prerequisite degrees in Science or Engineering are bullbleep.
Students need a background in Science or Engineering (preferably Engineering) before they can understand energy issues. Otherwise, graduates of these phony courses just become loud and ignorant shrieking nuisances.
Michael asks…
When are republicans going to start supporting renewable energy?
Republicans are the biggest opponents of renewable energy legislation in Washington right now. Why?
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/07/31/gop-lawmakers-block-renewable–energy-credit-bill/
admin answers:
We do support renewable energy. The sources of renewable energy are just not reliable and we do not have enough of any of them right now. What most republicans want is for there to be a comprehensive energy package with nothing off the table. That means drilling, solar, nuclear, wind and whatever other sources can be invented or created. We are not slaves to the environmentalists who want only so-called clean energy. Democrats seem to be in the environmentalists pockets and are not willing to discuss anything except what the environmentalists will accept.
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Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Solutions
Sandra asks…
How can we bring sustainable energy to the world? Practical and Viable solutions?
Considering the rising energy crisis in the world, What could be some solutions to shift from conventional energy sources to more reliable energy sources? Now, I would like detail on how to shift to sustainable energy. Not the types of sustainable energy.
Solutions should be logical and implementable on a global scale.
Be specific with reference to third world countries, If possible.
admin answers:
I just read an article about Bangladesh and its government backing/paying for the installation of solar panels on people’s roofs in that country over the past several years. They went from only 7000 solar-powered homes in 2002 to more than 1 million today. While I don’t condone a One-World Government for more than one reason, I do think that the people of each respective nation should continue to push for their governments to subsidize the installation of solar panels on homes, and have requirements that all NEW homes, especially new housing tracts built by developers, have enough solar panels built into the roof to run just about everything, but still be connected to “The Grid” for back-up purposes only. This would also encourage more people to buy plug-in electric vehicles secure with the knowledge that they’re not using coal-based electricity from power plants to power their vehicles.
Donna asks…
Why aren’t people investing more into sustainable energy use practices like carpooling?
Is it just because they don’t know about the ways in which they can save energy?
admin answers:
“sustainable” What’s so sustainable about it?
Well I don’t think people use common sense when talking about energy conservation.
In reality most people don’t live and work in the same area.
We are not connected to our neighbors in close net communities.
It IS inconvenient for most if not all people to have someone else drive them around.
The government shouldn’t punish us and business for being independent from one another, God I could write a book on why we don’t live the life style they wish we would live.
But it’s really irrelevant, carpooling is insignificant to the real problem.
Bio fuels, wind power and solar energy will never work.
To create enough Bio-fuel to run cars and generators to power our daily lives would require 2/3rds more land mas JUST to grow the crops neededto make the fuel, now think about how much more we will need in the future if our needs go up.
Wind power is great in windy areas, but where it is not so windy, Solar would out perform the windmills.
At the current level of solar technology we would have to cover the entire planet with solar panels to generate enough power for our needs.
Oil really is the only solution, we just don’t have the technology to implement alternative sources, it just doesn’t exist.
But yet people are asking us and the world to suffer till it becomes available..why?
Oil and gas can been burned more efficiently, but Governemnt is blocking all attempts to promote this idea..why?
To appease the environmentalist maybe?
I think we should demand that the Government stop trying to punish the oil commpanies, because it doesn’t work, it only hurts us.
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Developing Nuclear Power as Alternative Energy
Many researchers believe that harnessing the power of the atom in fission reactions is the most significant alternative energy resource that we have, for the fact of the immense power that it can generate.
Nuclear power plants are very clean-burning and their efficiency is rather staggering. Nuclear power is generated at 80% efficiency, meaning that the energy produced by the fission reactions is almost equal to the energy put into producing the fission reactions in the first place. There is not a lot of waste material generated by nuclear fission although, due to the fact that there is no such thing as creating energy without also creating some measure of waste, there is some. The concerns of people such as environmentalists with regards to using nuclear power as an alternative energy source center around this waste, which is radioactive gases which have to be contained.
The radiation from these gases lasts for an extraordinarily long time, so it can never be released once contained and stored. However, the volume of this waste gas produced by the nuclear power plants is small in comparison to how much NOx (nitrous oxide that is, air pollution) is caused by one day’s worth of rush-hour traffic in Los Angeles. While the radiation is certainly the more deadly by far of the two waste materials, the radiation is also by far the easier of the two to contain and store. In spite of the concerns of the environmentalists, nuclear power is actually environmentally friendly alternative energy, and the risk of the contained radiation getting out is actually quite low. With a relatively low volume of waste material produced, it should not be a difficult thing at all for storage and disposal solutions for the long term to be developed as technology advances.
The splitting of an atom releases energy in the forms of both heat and light. Atomic power plants control the fission reactions so that they don’t result in the devastating explosions that are brought forth in atomic and hydrogen bombs. There is no chance of an atomic power plant exploding like a nuclear bomb, as the specialized conditions and the pure Plutonium used to unleash an atomic bomb’s vicious force simply don’t exist inside a nuclear power plant. The risk of a meltdown is very low. Although this latter event has happened a couple of times, when one considers that there are over 430 nuclear reactors spread out across 33 nations, and that nuclear reactors have been in use since the early 1950’s, these are rare occurrences, and the events of that nature which have taken place were the fault of outdated materials which should have been properly kept up. Indeed, if nuclear energy could become a more widely accepted form of alternative energy, there would be little question of their upkeep being maintained. Currently, six states in America generate more than half of all their electrical energy needs through nuclear power, and the media are not filled with gruesome horror stories of the power plants constantly having problems.
Your Questions About Renewable Energy Content
Thomas asks…
How can the use of alternative sources of energy be encouraged?
“US President Barack Obama said on Saturday that his administration will hand out nearly $2 billion (£1.3bn) for new solar plants that will create thousands of jobs and increase the use of renewable energy sources.”
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/92353
admin answers:
Yes anything that reduces western democracys dependency on oil should be encouraged
Charles asks…
What are some advantages and disadvantages of using Chocolate as a alternative fuel?
So I am doing a essay on Alternative fuels. I came up with chocolate but, what are some advantages and disadvantages with using chocolate? For a advantage I came up with we are using renewable energy or in other words recycling and I can’t seem to find a disadvantage! Is there a issue with air pollution with this Alternative fuel as well?
admin answers:
The disadvantages are that the amount of chocolate needed to fuel a vehicle is too heavy to transport. Plus using chocolate for fuel would cause the price of chocolate to rise.
The advantages are that chocolate is a renewable fuel since it comes from coco beans. Chocolate might also smell bad when it is burnt as fuel.
If it is to be used a s a fuel you have to find out the BTU content.
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Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Development
Ruth asks…
Could any of you summarize sustainable developments in three sentences?
If you were suppossed to analize the term Sustainable Development based on three questions, which questions do you think could help?.
I´m preparing myself on this area.
admin answers:
Sustainable developlement is a collection of methods to progress and still maintain devevelopments in the indefinite future, using 4 basic basic concepts;
1.environmental sustainability, 2.economic sustainability, 3.social sustainability and 4.political sustainability
So u should really be asking more than 3 questions!
-How to provide the best outcomes for the continuity of poverty relief , equitable standards of living, basic needs of all peoples while preserving biodiversity and ecosystems?
-What are the business initiatives to operate in a socially responsible manner?
-How can firms create less impacts on human rights while they can still maximise their profits ?
– What methods could be used to continuously improve living standards by long-term reconciliation of development projects ?
-How to encourage renewable energy use for continuous economic development?
C-How can we establish continuity in political practices (the incentives) to avoid ireversible dammage to natural capital or environments ?
James asks…
Where can I find a diagram of an energy sufficient city?
Where can I find a diagram of an energy sufficient city? When I type in something it only shows images of homes. An ideas where I can find a small city image?
admin answers:
Http://www.sustainable-development.veolia.com/en/strategy-sustainable-development/building-sustainable-city.aspx
has one
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