Archive for November, 2006
November 10, 2006 at 2:45 pm · Filed under Green Tech, The Politics
Renewable energy and environment is back on the political agenda in Denmark. The coming election is warming up and it is clear that a main theme will be energy. While the opposition has suggested that Denmark in 2020 should be 50% supplied with renewable energy primeminister Anders Fogh believes that 20% should be targeted for. That discussion has been on very general terms and it has not been discussed how to reach the goals, what sectors should take the lead to reach the mark etc. Today I called professor Henrik Lund from Aalborg University, Department of Development and Planning, to ask him if the political promises are doable. He had another focus that turned out to more interesting:
“I think that the important thing here is that nearly all parties in parlament agrees that when we have used our own sources of oil and gas, the only solution is to become 100% supplied by renewable energy. When it is done and how we reach the 20 or 50% milestones is a matter of discussions and political field work, but when we all agree upon 100% renewable energy a strong message is send to the investors and companies that will lead this development. This is unique.”
The oilfields in the sea west of Denmark will run dry in the next 30 years meaning that Denmark before 2040 will be one of the first countries in the world based solely on renewable energy.
I can´t tell you more right now, this is a actually a part of a story I write for a magazine :-/
November 10, 2006 at 11:24 am · Filed under Green Tech
For the first time in its 32-year history, the International Energy Agency (IEA), in its World Energy Outlook 2006 urges governments around the world to help speed the construction of new nuclear power plants.
The IEA report – the first to offer advocacy rather than analysis – comes after the Group of Eight last summer asked the agency to come up with guidance on how governments could bolster energy security and combat global warming. Source: Energy Blog
November 9, 2006 at 2:26 pm · Filed under DIY Projects
Four years ago me and my girlfriend bougth this real cheap old farmhouse and in february we began to rebuild it. Now we have been working for nearly half a year and I would like to show you a part of the project: the Finish mass-oven. These ovens are great because they accumulate heat in the 3 tons of massive brick walls. They use the wood extremely effectively if used correct and there is an opening for baking bread, pizza or boiling water. We also needed a stairway to the newly build second floor, so the idea was to combine the oven with the stairway.
This is how we started. We removed ALL inner walls in the house and the machines dug 60 cm down. Some places the outer walls needed to be supported from below, since the house is build old-style directly on the ground.
Here the core of the oven is beeing build. Read the rest of this entry »
November 9, 2006 at 2:00 pm · Filed under Bio Fuel, Green Tech
An economical, low-pollutant diesel fuel is being produced from beef fat in a world-first process at Brisbane’s BP refinery.
About 110 million litres of the “renewable diesel” is expected to be produced each year through the new process.
BP refinery managing director Kathy Hirschfeld said the new fuel differed from bio-diesel because it was chemically identical to conventional diesel.
Renewable diesel is claimed to burn more efficiently and creates less pollution.
Ms Hirschfeld said the first fuel from the world-first process developed at the Bulwer Island facility would be on the market next year.
“It is very gratifying and exciting when this little site in Brisbane is recognised by the world brand of BP for producing renewable diesel,” Ms Hirschfeld said.
“From such small beginnings here I have no doubt that this could go global.”
Bio-diesel or “green” diesel is produced at two Narangba plants north of Brisbane using methanol from vegetable oil and a low-temperature and low-pressure process.
November 9, 2006 at 10:21 am · Filed under Uncategorized
The possible shift in Congress on energy issues may be summed up in one race: House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.), who received substantial contributions from oil and gas companies, lost his seat to Jerry McNerney, who runs a start-up company that hopes to make wind turbines. Read this story in today’s washingtonpost.
November 8, 2006 at 10:55 pm · Filed under Money and Finance
Alternative energy and clean technology companies are attracting investor capital in record amounts this year, setting up what one solar photovoltaic (PV) industry observer sees as a positive feedback cycle whereby technological improvements and government incentives attract investment and lead to lower production and consumer costs, which attracts more investment, which leads to further gains in quality and efficiency. And the growth trend looks set to continue, according to recently released research reports. If anything, existing production capacity and nascent distribution networks, along with short supplies of key, high-quality components and associated raw materials – copper, steel and silicon among them – are constraining production of everything from biofuels, domestic solar panels and wind turbines to their industrial-scale counterparts. There has been a flood of new money coming into the clean energy sector, Michael Liebreich, CEO and founder of London-based New Energy Finance, the lead analysts of a recent survey of investment in the European alternative energy market, told RI. The risk is that these new investors dont understand that the energy industry is about heavy engineering and commodities as well as about technology. Fortunes will be made in the coming years, but fortunes will also be lost, he said. Thanks: ResourceInvestor.com
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