Updates for 4/5/09

Another clogged up week! Here's some more food to chew on:

• Ireland inks deal with Renault-Nissan to help make 10% of its cars electric by 2020.

• Possible green cement process?

• 143 GW of wind potential: Brazil may become more than biofuels, oil and a rising star (hat tip: Peak Energy).

• Oil and gas industry takes a leave of absence: the news with both have been slow, so that's why I haven't posted much on either lately.

• A review of the outer continental shelf highlights renewables.

• China eyes more than becoming than next global superpower; it eyes leadership in the electric car market, too.

• Japan considers $3,000 clean car subsidy.

• EPA grants millions for green wastewater projects.

• R.I.P., please: Biofuel Energy may file for bankruptcy.

- Brewskie

Weekly Blowout: Updates for 3/22/09

The offerings from this week's buffet:

• Bad Broad of the week: Senator Fienstien seeks to block proposed solar installations in the Mojave Desert.

• President Obama to offer $2.4 billion for electric car developments.

• Power of One solar car breaks world distance record.

• Russia eyes Cuban oil.

• Petrobras sets record for deepest offshore oil production.

• U.S. solar capacity up 17% from 2007.

• Maldives vows to be carbon neutral by 2020.

• President Obama's plan to stash nuclear waste.

• Hydropower from old washing machines (hat tip: Peak Energy).

• LA residents reject 400 megawatts of city's solar plan.

- Brewskie

Updates for 3/15/09

New fields for the Hindu cattle to chew on...

• George P. Mitchell - the billionaire who went gangbusters on developing the Barnett formation to extract shale gas - is setting his sights on Pennsylvania for the next big bet.

• Mr. Big B Cole, I was gonna save your dirt on the "biggest gas bag of all" for an upcoming post on nat. gas, but fuck it. The oblivious shouldn't suffer (it will still get included in the post anyway).
  
• China's government says its strategic oil reserves are full.

• Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and president Obama discussed diplomatic relations; Obama expressed interest in Brazil supplementing Venezuela as an oil source.

• Israel's 80 MW solar plant.

• IBM is the king of supercomputers, they're into smart grid technologies. Now water management?

• Could cheap LNG put coal on the ropes (coal is despicable, but we'll see)??

• The solar gold rush in the desert.

• America sucks on others for oil and it will suck on Asia for batteries: Jap. group plans to reduce prices for lithium-ion batteries by half (oh well... sweaty oh-beastiely boys already depend on Japs for video games and anime anyways).

• Europe's natural resources are relatively paltry and it depends on others for oil and gas: what's wrong with getting solar juice from the Sahara?

• Materials that will scale solar to terawatts (hat tip: Next Big Future).

Over and out for now.

- Brewskie

Updates for Febuary 8, 2009

Weekly updates are back. Here's what's been up for the week:

• Exxon Mobil Brazil exploration nails second discovery.

• Petrobras' fourth-quarter profit surges 46%.

• Ford CEO believes EVs will dominate auto industry in a decade.

• Fiat's multi-air engine breakthrough (hat tip: Next Big Future).

• Austin, TX, approves largest solar installation in U.S.

• MIT's 90 mph solar race car.

• Google: green energy more profitable than "old" energy.

• More proof why we won't need platinum for hydrogen cars (if we go this route): stainless steel brush.

• Florida to charge water bottling companies by the gallon.

- Brewskie

Weekly Dose: 2/15/09

Educational updates for your pleasure:

• ITC Holdings Corp. proposes new wind power transmission lines for the Midwest.
• New Jersey's 120 megawatt solar plan.
• America's cellulosic potential could displace one-third of gasoline by 2030.
• Shell's coal seam gas to LNG (hat tip: Peak Energy).
• The world's largest "pinwheel" - 7 megawatts (10 megawatts in the pipeline).
• Germany plans 960 megawatt offshore wind farm.
• 10 biodiesel refineries to be built in India.
• Japs to halt production of bad porn (an Onion article).
• Why gas has nudged up (it's still cheap!) despite lower oil prices; this will likely contribute to the oil glut.

Over and out for now.

- Brewskie

January 18, 2003 Weekly Rundown

In previous writings on energy, I always posted a weekly update on the world of energy. Below is a few items; this will be expanded in upcoming weeks.

• A Technology Review article on carbon nanotube superbatteries, a promising step for high-capacity batteries and supercapacitors.


• 185 hybrid coke delivery trucks to help contribute to America's diabetes epidemic in 2009.


• Another reason not to go bald: it could help fight global hunger?


• Iran sees oil around $40 for 2009.


• A push to ban oil exploration around the Arctic.

That's it for now. More on the way.

- Brewskie