Green Energy Blog

Cello: A Lesson in Due Diligence

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:45:08 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog People sometimes ask me how - if they don’t have any particular technical expertise - one determines whether companies are making fraudulent claims. I tell them that the simple test of “If it looks too good to be true…” will work in the vast majority of cases. In the case of [...]

“Your Passion is Energy”

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:12:28 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog Saying Goodbye Again Today is Independence Day in the U.S., but I am spending it in the Netherlands without my family. This has become an all-too-familiar situation for me. I have spent far too many birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays in remote locations away from my family. The time has come to rectify [...]

Thermodynamics Wins Again

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:10:34 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog Back in 2006, the Irish company Steorn announced that they had discovered a “a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.” A magnetism-based perpetual motion machine is what it amounted to, which would clearly violate various physical laws, such as the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics. Steorn put an [...]

What If I’m Wrong?

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:13:57 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog Risk Assessments I spend a lot of time playing “What if?” We all do this. I do this when I am driving - “What if that car at the next intersection pulls out in front of me?” - when I am working - “What if that high pressure line ruptures?” - and [...]

Tariffs in the Climate Bill

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:15:20 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog A number of people have written to ask why I haven’t commented on the climate bill. There are two reasons. First, the House and Senate versions are very different, so the final form may not resemble the version the House just passed. Second, I haven’t had the time to read through [...]

Wood Gasification Plant Opens

admin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:22:39 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog Been really tied up, but saw this story yesterday and wanted to bring attention to it. I think it is significant, and a sign of things to come. Not much time to comment, but some excerpts from the article: Plant making gas from wood opens in Austria GUESSING, Austria (AFP) – A new [...]

John Benemann Responds to Green Algae Strategy Review

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:58:07 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog I recently published a review of Mark Edward’s book Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports And Engineer Sustainable Food And Fuel. Following this review, I published a response from Mark Edwards. In that response, Professor Edwards mentioned Dr. John Benemann, who was Principal Investigator and main author of the U.S. DOE [...]

U.S. Ramping Up Wind Power Programs Even As Concerns Surface About Possible Declines In U.S. Wind Strength

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:37:20 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog Once again at DFW Airport, about to make my way back to Europe. So I will be offline for just a bit, but wanted to post the latest from Money Morning, which as I recently explained will be featured here whenever they have topical material to offer. As always, normal caveats [...]

ExxonMobil in the Electric Car Business?

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:15:59 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog An interesting link from a reader this morning: The Maya 300: An Exxon-Assisted Electric Car If you’ve picked up a magazine in the last year, you’ve likely seen ads touting ExxonMobil’s (XOM) research into lithium-ion batteries. This week, you will get a further look into how that technology will come to the marketplace. Electrovaya on [...]

How Much Natural Gas to Replace Gasoline?

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:14:04 +0000

Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog I Took This Picture of a CNG Bus on a Recent Trip to D.C. You may have seen the news this week that a report by the Potential Gas Committee says natural gas reserves in 2008 rose to 2,074 trillion cubic feet. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (via [...]