Are there any solutions to our ever growing dependence on foreign oil? Couldn’t we just drill more here? Is alternative energy the only solution?

I just watched a speech by Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce where he spoke of about the food industry’s pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce, that would make everyone satisfied. The basic conclusion that he revealed is that there is no single sauce that would please everyone, but that you must produce a couple different variants of the same sauce (spicy, chunky, original) to satisfy the majority of the people. This was groundbreaking when the research came out because for decades, the food industry had a single solution that they believed would satisfy the most people and since they were content with their sales, they didn’t bother to test new recipes and didn’t innovate.

I’ve been thinking about this same concept in regards to the energy industry and how it can be applied. The basic thinking in energy is that oil is the way to go. It’s what we’ve been doing for the past 100 years and it’s what will keep us going in the future, so don’t waste any time with alternative energy, we just need to find more oil.

On the flip side, the people that are against traditional energy say that alternative energy is the only way to go, it’s what will get us off our addiction of foreign oil.

Both sides of these arguments are narrow minded. Neither of them look for solutions on the other side, or a way to intertwine them both.

So what’s the solution?

I’m going to dig a little deeper into this topic, but for now I just want to leave you with a thought. If technology was developed for automobiles to get 200 miles per gallon, would we want to spend our money and time in research and development of electric cars?

The Pros of Alternative Fuels

Alternative fuels such as bio-diesel, bio-alcohol, fuel cells, hydrogen, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas and vegetable oil are now well known and deemed to be greatly more desirable in the quest to to fuel our vehicles. There are a number of benefits to using alternative fuels. Firstl, alternative fuel-powered vehicles will emit less harmful gasses into the air resulting in less pollution. Biodiesel is also completely renewable as its primary source is vegetable oil. So there is no need to throw out used oil as it can be collected and refined. Secondl, these fuels can also prolong the engine life of your vehicle and are generally cheaper than conventional fuels. Thirdl, they burn more efficiently and will therefore help you save money. In addition to this, using alternative fuels will also help countries to end their dependency on foreign oil.

The Cons of Alternative Fuels

Although alternative fuels are becoming more and more popular, they are not yet perfected. Alternative fuel vehicles are substantially more expensive than conventional fuel vehicles and at the moment it seems that only the more affluent members of our society can afford these ECO friendly cars. Alternative fuels are also not readily available and often finding a gas station to fill your alternative fuel car can be quite a feat. As this technology is new, there are also few places that can service these cars.

Another reason that I don’t like any sort of “biofuels” as an energy source is that it will still adhere to economics supply and demand. If there’s a bad crop, or if there’s any other shortage in a biofuel, prices will rise.

This is a reason why I’m a strong supporter of alternative energy in the solar, geothermal, and wind industries. These types of alternative energy, although the technology is not quite there yet, is more predictable and more stable than any sort of biofuel.

I don’t doubt that we are still in for many years of debate on the benefits and drawbacks of alternative fuels. The most important issue however, has to be conserving the world we live in.

The teams, which collectively represent 136 vehicle entries with 14 different fuel sources, include diverse groups from 25 U.S. states and 11 countries. Established automakers, emerging start-ups, universities and inventors are among those represented. Six of the Registered Teams remain confidential.

The contestants will continue to work on their vehicles through the rest of 2009 and the winner will be announced sometime in 2010. As it gets closer to the announcement date, I will review the top contestants and give their strong points and things that they need to work on to create a vehicle that will be commercially viable.

Good luck to all!

Using smart grid technology, your future home would be as likely to be powered by electricity from a neighbor’s roof-top solar panel, or a biomass generator on the edge of town, as from a traditional power plant 50 or 100 miles away.

This setup would be great, however there’s still too few people who understand how it all works. Even though the “Smart Grid” is gaining momentum, there are some obstacles still in the way.

The technology needed to create such a “Smart Grid” is still years away as our current infrastructure’s technology is outdated. There are companies that are working on the “Smart Grid” to make the necessary changes to the infrastructure. With more companies entering this space, the idea of a “Smart Grid” is becoming more of a reality.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about that X PRIZE selecting new contest ideas and out of 133 entries, 3 finalist were chosen. Out of those 3, the Capacitor Challenge was the winner!

They want to revolutionize energy storage with the ultra capacitor. They want inventors to come up with a capacitor that holds energy more effectively, more efficiently, and longer time frames than conventional batteries.

From their video, the winning capacitor will be real, working energy storing device that must:

As proof of utility, the submission should provide enough electricity to drive an electric vehicle for 100 miles, be recharged, and then driven back in order to win the X PRIZE.

Again, congratulations. This will be a fun prize to watch and it will be an awesome technology that will change our future!

The White House website had a complete makeover just as he was being sworn into office, and with that, his policy and agenda where added to the website.

You can view Obama’s agenda for energy and environment to review his plans.

Has his agenda changed from when he was campaigning?

If you look at his energy agenda when he was campaigning, you can see there are a couple of bullet points that are now missing.

• Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
• Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families.

Why has he taken these off his energy plan? Maybe it was just a copy and paste error by whoever handles his website, maybe it wasn’t.

Even though the price of oil has dropped considerably since the high in the summer, people still help filling up the gas tanks. With the recession, most people are still trying to recover from the high prices of oil over the summer. Who knows, maybe when the price of gasoline jumps back up he will put these bullet points back on his energy plan.

We have to note that the price of a barrel of oil closed at $42.79 the day he became president. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of years when he puts his energy plan in place.

I’ve always been one to believe that the glass is half full. As long as gas prices stay low enough that everyday Americans can afford the cost to get to work and back, it’s a good thing.

It will be interesting to see how the conflict in the Middle East turns out and how the transitional of power here in the US effects gasoline prices moving forward into the spring and summer of this year.

Wiki – a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.

Please visit the Alternative Energy Wiki and add your knowledge to the community.

The decline in crude comes despite OPEC’s announcement it would cut production by 2.2 million barrels, on top of the two million barrels cut in September, for a total cut of 4.2 million barrels – its largest cut in its history. The cut brings the cartel’s daily supply target quota down to 24.85 million barrels a day.

Many people have become “complacent” since the price of oil has dropped more than 60% in the past 6 months, but smart businesses and people are using this time to develop alternative energy resources for their businesses and homes so they won’t feel the pain when the price rises again.

KAS Consulting is one such funding source that has access to investment banks that have funded over $12 Billion Dollars of energy projects and companies. They have solid management and a team of advisers that will position your company for funding. They have recently set up their green energy blog to discuss issues and ideas that are facing the industry today.

Kimo Storke, the managing partner of KAS consulting, is a personal friend of mine and if your company is looking for a trusted source for financing, I would advise you contact him.

It is essential that these types of projects get funded so we can all live in a cleaner world.