Archive for the 'Energy' Category
Dean Kamen’s Stirling Hybrid Electric Car
November 11th, 2008Via: Union Leader: The same day that Ford and General Motors announced catastrophic third-quarter losses, Dean Kamen was showing off his new electric car. The prototype vehicle, a zippy two-seat hatchback designed with more than a passing resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle, can go about 60 miles on a single charge of its lithium battery […]
Garden Shed Sized Nuclear Power Plants
November 9th, 2008Oh great. What could possibly go wrong? Via: Guardian: Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb. The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, […]
Eugene Mallove: Charges Against Suspects Dismissed
November 7th, 2008Via: Norwich Bulletin: More than three years after their arrests, a Superior Court judge Thursday dismissed charges against the two suspects in a 2004 Norwich slaying, leaving Norwich police with a four-year-old unsolved murder. “There are still unanswered questions that need to be answered,” said Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane, who was the former New […]
Big Money Moving Into Geothermal
November 4th, 2008Via: Los Angeles Times: Not far from the blinking casinos of this gambler’s paradise lies what could be called the Biggest Little Power Plant in the World. Tucked into a few dusty acres across from a shopping mall, it uses steam heat from deep within the Earth’s crust to generate electricity. Known as geothermal, the […]
Exxon Mobil Posts Biggest U.S. Quarterly Profit Ever
October 30th, 2008Via: AP: Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported income Thursday that shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter.
Solar Material Absorbs Entire Spectrum
October 28th, 2008Via: EETimes: Current solar materials must be chosen to match a specific wavelength of sunlight, but a new hybrid inorganic/organic material could usher in solar cells that absorb all solar wavelengths. The new polymer could also enable much more efficient charge separation since electrons dislodged by light in the material remain free much longer than […]
Severe Fuel Shortage Grips Parts of U.S. Southeast
September 30th, 2008Just keeping an eye on this situation… Via: Reuters: A severe fuel shortage has gripped parts of the southeastern United States, causing long lines at filling stations and symbolizing for some people their fears about the wider economy. The shortage began two weeks ago in Atlanta, the region’s largest city, when oil refineries on the […]
U.S. Government Bails Out Auto Makers
September 29th, 2008More BS. Why not make these “loans” available ONLY for the development of 100% electric vehicles… None of this Volt nonsense. Where else but in Soviet America does an “electric vehicle” come with an internal combustion engine? Thanks, GM. Here’s your dole payment. Via: Wall Street Journal: The U.S. Congress moved Saturday to provide $25 […]
Temple University Physicist Developed Simple Device that Boosts Gas Efficiency 20%
September 27th, 2008Via: Temple University: With the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel impacting costs for automobiles, trucks, buses and the overall economy, a Temple University physics professor has developed a simple device which could dramatically improve fuel efficiency as much as 20 percent. According to Rongjia Tao, chair of Temple’s Physics Department, the small device […]
Major Gas Shortage In Western North Carolina Sends Drivers Scrambling
September 26th, 2008Update: Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines The Energy Department said that as of Wednesday 63 percent, or 800,000 barrels a day, of production in the Gulf of Mexico was still shut down as were five refineries with a combined capacity of 1.2 million barrels a day. The refineries produce a half-million […]
