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Last week, President-Elect Barack Obama’s said that his economic stimulus plan will create half a million new green jobs for America.
“We’ll create nearly half a million jobs by investing in clean energy – by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, and by modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and improving the energy efficiency of two million American homes,” the president elect said. These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can’t be outsourced.”
The number of unemployed individuals in the United States rose by 632,000 to hit 11.1 million in December, according to the Department of Labor. The U.S. economy shed 1.9 million jobs in the last four months of 2008 alone. But rather than dwell on this dire economic data a number of states are taking a proactive approach to stimulating economic growth by creating new green jobs. Read More »
The recent carbon offsets report from the Government Accountability Office may not have shed much new light on the carbon offsets industry, but it does bring additional emphasis to several issues that are critical if we are to develop new renewable energy projects and effectively address the climate crisis.
Consumers need to be protected and need to understand what their participation in a carbon offsets program means, and that is why NativeEnergy remains very transparent. We encourage consumers to research their options, read independent studiesfrom experts, ask questions, and know how the offsets are calculated, how permanence is ensured, how additionality is defined and ensured, and who ultimately benefits from the carbon offsets purchase. Consumers can find answers to all of these questions, as well as detailed terms and conditions, on our web site.
During the past 8 years, with tremendous support from our clients, we have helped build more than 30 new renewable energy projects that are, collectively, keeping more than 1 Million tons of carbon from our atmosphere.
Al, I am sorry that you still buy into a centralized electrical energy system. It is disappointing when someone with such good intentions, education, and voice still advocates for big utilities and corporations instead of a real solution. Why did you limit your comments to a 100 by 100 mile photovoltaic collection site? Especially, when you pointed out one of its fatal flaws, transmission to the sites of use. By the way. another fatal flaw is that this approach leaves us at the mercy of the utility companies.
A better solution is to promote the incorporation of photovoltaic collectors into building materials such as: siding and roofing. This technology exists today and could be substituted for conventional shingles, metal roofing, and aluminum siding. In essence, every building in the world could help to solve the energy problem. How much electricity could we generate if installed this technology on every building in and around Atlanta, New York City, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Dallas, etc? Generating electricity at the site of use in this way nearly eliminates the need for long distance transmission.
Wind can be added simply to this system using small sinusoidal wind turbines, about 6 feet in size, that can be mounted on roofs and on the sides of skyscrapers. These turbines are not susceptible to damage by high wind like the mega turbines. They look more like ornamental wind mobiles and don't have the aesthetic obstacles that large wind farms have. They are relatively cheap and can help bridge the gap during low sunlight.
Yes, we need a smart grid. We do need to transmit excess electricity to industry and areas experiencing low production. What we don't need is the means of production in a few corporate hands remotely located away from the areas of use. We need to require that the grid buy the excess electrical production at fair market price like they do from conventional generators. We need a system for powering long distance travel on our roads using electric vehicles. My suggestion for this is a system using short distance wireless electricity transmission built into the interstate highway system based on Tesla's proposal at the turn of the last century. Cars and cargo haulers would run off this system saving their batteries for local roads. A device like EasyPass could track their energy usage.
I am disappointed that Al and this site seem to be so set on centralized renewable energy instead of a small "d" democratic approach. The sun shines everywhere. The wind blows everywhere. Geothermal energy radiates out from the earths core everywhere. Why limit ourselves to isolated areas of use? Why maintain our dependence on the whims of large corporations? Why continue the insecurity of our economic stability on the good intentions of the same corporate executives that got us into the current crisis out of greed? Let's push for a real long term solution to these issues.
A better solution is to promote the incorporation of photovoltaic collectors into building materials such as: siding and roofing. This technology exists today and could be substituted for conventional shingles, metal roofing, and aluminum siding. In essence, every building in the world could help to solve the energy problem. How much electricity could we generate if installed this technology on every building in and around Atlanta, New York City, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Dallas, etc? Generating electricity at the site of use in this way nearly eliminates the need for long distance transmission.
Wind can be added simply to this system using small sinusoidal wind turbines, about 6 feet in size, that can be mounted on roofs and on the sides of skyscrapers. These turbines are not susceptible to damage by high wind like the mega turbines. They look more like ornamental wind mobiles and don't have the aesthetic obstacles that large wind farms have. They are relatively cheap and can help bridge the gap during low sunlight.
Yes, we need a smart grid. We do need to transmit excess electricity to industry and areas experiencing low production. What we don't need is the means of production in a few corporate hands remotely located away from the areas of use. We need to require that the grid buy the excess electrical production at fair market price like they do from conventional generators. We need a system for powering long distance travel on our roads using electric vehicles. My suggestion for this is a system using short distance wireless electricity transmission built into the interstate highway system based on Tesla's proposal at the turn of the last century. Cars and cargo haulers would run off this system saving their batteries for local roads. A device like EasyPass could track their energy usage.
I am disappointed that Al and this site seem to be so set on centralized renewable energy instead of a small "d" democratic approach. The sun shines everywhere. The wind blows everywhere. Geothermal energy radiates out from the earths core everywhere. Why limit ourselves to isolated areas of use? Why maintain our dependence on the whims of large corporations? Why continue the insecurity of our economic stability on the good intentions of the same corporate executives that got us into the current crisis out of greed? Let's push for a real long term solution to these issues.
Hello, my name is Nick Albertini. I am a physics student at Lawrence University in Appelton WI. I reside in Elk Grove IL.
Everyone seems to think that we are going to produce solutions to the energy problem by building machines... usually lots of BIG machines. In the case of solar, wind and even bioenergy (fuel production facilities), large human operations are involved with producing energy. We must remember, also, that we don't just need to power our civilization right now, we must advance and colonize space... eventually. That will require enormous energy production capability. We are going to grow in population, for a while. Hopefully we begin to regulate ourselves before it is too late. A large populaiton will also require extraordinarily efficient technology for energy production. We have limited resources for this as well. There is only so much silicon for solar panels, steel or titanium for wind turbines etc.
The solution MUST be organic. However, farming our energy with crops of biofuel plants or other crops which are farmed by standard processes is not a real long term option. We need those fertile fields for food production. We cannot till and disturb so much soil or plant single plant fields everywhere. Farming itself causes problems. We need an organic solution that does not require large factories or normal destructive farming practices. The solution must have almost no environmental effects. Even technologies that create small environmental problems will produce large problems when implimented on a large scale.
My good friend James Tolar and I have come up with a solution that looks like it can solve the problem without creating such issues, even when used on a large scale. It would require a lot of scientific research and lots of money for this research. But once the technology is created, it would be virtually free. The concept involves genetically engineering a plant to produce electricity and self-organize into a network that acts like living solar panel. Thus, a field of these engineered plants would reproduce without need for farming and provide electrical energy. The plants themselves would self-organize to pass current to electrical nodes in the ground, which they would grow to by a method of tropism. The plant would likely be a form of recombinant grass. Such fields would be essentially fallow and other organisms of a healthy prairie ecosystem could grow along side these engineered plants in a normal balance. The fields would then be a near natural environment with virtually no impact. Genetic pollution would be a concern, but there are very good methods to prevent gene jumping that could be implemented. This problem can be negated. Such fields could be planted from seed and sustain themselves without much human interference.
I have been talking to the DOE and other research institutions for a couple of months about this idea. Most of the researchers that I have spoken to find it favorably. Due to funding and other mandated restrictions, the DOE will not pursue this concept right now. I am trying to get this concept into the public consciousness and put some pressure on the politicians to get something done. A more technical outline can be found on alternative-energy-news.info under the heading "Energy from Electrogenic Grass Plants", which has been copied to other similar sites as well.
Please help me to spread word of this concept and get research started. As the research on this would be primarily biological, and as I am a physics major, I will likely not be involved in this research directly. Also, it would take a large government project to achieve this technology and would require more than one could do in a single laboratory anyway.
Biological life is the most powerful force on earth. Consider the fact that there was no oxygen in the atmosphere until photosynthetic life evolved. There is a reason, for instance, that deforestation changes global atmospheric circulation and climate. The power of the most advanced nanotechnology known (life) should be utilized to solve the energy problem in the long term. The advances in human knowledge of this natural technology now make this possible. Our idea is on the very edge of current capabilities, but I submit that it is literally "green" in a way previously inconceivable and has the potential to solve the problem completely. Please help me make it happen.
Everyone seems to think that we are going to produce solutions to the energy problem by building machines... usually lots of BIG machines. In the case of solar, wind and even bioenergy (fuel production facilities), large human operations are involved with producing energy. We must remember, also, that we don't just need to power our civilization right now, we must advance and colonize space... eventually. That will require enormous energy production capability. We are going to grow in population, for a while. Hopefully we begin to regulate ourselves before it is too late. A large populaiton will also require extraordinarily efficient technology for energy production. We have limited resources for this as well. There is only so much silicon for solar panels, steel or titanium for wind turbines etc.
The solution MUST be organic. However, farming our energy with crops of biofuel plants or other crops which are farmed by standard processes is not a real long term option. We need those fertile fields for food production. We cannot till and disturb so much soil or plant single plant fields everywhere. Farming itself causes problems. We need an organic solution that does not require large factories or normal destructive farming practices. The solution must have almost no environmental effects. Even technologies that create small environmental problems will produce large problems when implimented on a large scale.
My good friend James Tolar and I have come up with a solution that looks like it can solve the problem without creating such issues, even when used on a large scale. It would require a lot of scientific research and lots of money for this research. But once the technology is created, it would be virtually free. The concept involves genetically engineering a plant to produce electricity and self-organize into a network that acts like living solar panel. Thus, a field of these engineered plants would reproduce without need for farming and provide electrical energy. The plants themselves would self-organize to pass current to electrical nodes in the ground, which they would grow to by a method of tropism. The plant would likely be a form of recombinant grass. Such fields would be essentially fallow and other organisms of a healthy prairie ecosystem could grow along side these engineered plants in a normal balance. The fields would then be a near natural environment with virtually no impact. Genetic pollution would be a concern, but there are very good methods to prevent gene jumping that could be implemented. This problem can be negated. Such fields could be planted from seed and sustain themselves without much human interference.
I have been talking to the DOE and other research institutions for a couple of months about this idea. Most of the researchers that I have spoken to find it favorably. Due to funding and other mandated restrictions, the DOE will not pursue this concept right now. I am trying to get this concept into the public consciousness and put some pressure on the politicians to get something done. A more technical outline can be found on alternative-energy-news.info under the heading "Energy from Electrogenic Grass Plants", which has been copied to other similar sites as well.
Please help me to spread word of this concept and get research started. As the research on this would be primarily biological, and as I am a physics major, I will likely not be involved in this research directly. Also, it would take a large government project to achieve this technology and would require more than one could do in a single laboratory anyway.
Biological life is the most powerful force on earth. Consider the fact that there was no oxygen in the atmosphere until photosynthetic life evolved. There is a reason, for instance, that deforestation changes global atmospheric circulation and climate. The power of the most advanced nanotechnology known (life) should be utilized to solve the energy problem in the long term. The advances in human knowledge of this natural technology now make this possible. Our idea is on the very edge of current capabilities, but I submit that it is literally "green" in a way previously inconceivable and has the potential to solve the problem completely. Please help me make it happen.
CALL TO ACTION:
CONTACT ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS
TO USE HEMP TO HELP SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF
GLOBAL WARMING AND TOXIC ENERGY.
Hemp 4 Fuel - a roll-in from 'Time 4 Hemp'
(Webeo link above to TIME 4 HEMP'S
intro from BILLION DOLLAR CROP)
Artist Statement From Youtube: Added: October 11, 2006
"This is a segment from the film, 'The Billion Dollar Crop' created by John Birrenbach. It was used as a roll-in on the television series, 'Time 4 Hemp' hosted by Casper Leitch. To find out more about the first television series to ever focus on the topic of marijuana, check out 'Time 4 Hemp' where you can find over 80 free video and 100 free audio downloads. Time 4 Hemp cable access © Casper Leitch - 1991 "
Text of webeo from the show Time4Hemp:
"Fuel. Hemp can also be used for the production of methanol.
According to World War II production rates of hemp per acre, we can produce the equivalent of 10 - 15 barrels of oil from one acre of hemp.
If we use the production rates that are in evidence in countries currently producing hemp, we could produce the equivalents of 20-30 barrels of oil per acre of hemp.
Can we fuel the nation with hemp?
The answer is YES!
According to United States Agricultural statistics, in the United States we have an excess of 950 million acres of farm land.
Of that land we planted in 1987 some 450 million acres.
This leaves some 450 to 500 million acres un-planted.
In order to produce the amount of methanol to fuel all of our transportation needs, we would need to plant some 12-34 million acres of hemp.
This would produce the biomass necessary to fuel our country."
This webeo explains how in 1980's energy needs, we could grow our way out of the energy crisis with hemp using only 34 million acres of unused farmland. If our energy needs quadrupled since then, we're only talking about 136 million acres of farmland to grow enough energy to power our needs. Double 136 and it's still only 272 million acres of farmland to solve our energy and have an impact on our environmental crisis. The aftermarket products that come from this vast resource material can have a positive impact on our economy and health care (life empowerment) systems.
Since hemp is a weed, it can grow in many places, inside and out, to contribute to solving our problems now. We're talking hemp biofuel and biomass to power engines cleanly while removing excess CO2, the cause of global warming, from the air as it grows.
YES, WE CAN DO IT NOW!!! WE JUST NEED TO THROW OFF THE LAWS OF DEAD PEOPLE THAT ARE KILLING US, LIKE HEMP BEING ILLEGAL TO GROW.
Hemp is nature's way to remove the oil from the land and change it into useful items like energy.
Hemp is a biomass champion that is 4 times more efficient than corn as biofuel.
Hemp energy pellets burn clean as biomass to fuel the nation's electric plants.
Anything toxic energy can do, hemp can do better.
The question is 'How many hemp acres do we need to grow our way out of this energy crisis in modern times?' The next logical question is how much hemp do we need to grow to remove enough CO2 to have a reversal impact on the global warming crisis. Research on the second will be posted shortly in a separate blog entry.
Looking beyond the webeo above, let's get to real world calculations. The film clip from Time4Hemp's webeo from the film the BILLION DOLLAR CROP does not explain if they calculated one or 4 crops per year per acre.
We're looking at different energy reference sites for how much energy do we need as a nation and as a planet, given the reality that we all are one. Below are some research links we're using, and will post others here for consideration.
'How many acres do we need to grow our way out of this energy crisis?'
1. How much energy do we need?
Renewable Energy Consumption http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/table1.html
Just How much energy does America Use http://www.2dtime.com/weblog/C1379175330/E1115191134/index.html
International Energy Outlook 2008 http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/highlights.html
"Total world energy use rises from 462 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2005 to 563 quadrillion Btu in 2015 and then to 695 quadrillion Btu in 2030 (Figure 1). Global energy demand grows despite the sustained high world oil prices that are projected to persist over the long term. "
Annual Energy Outlook 2008 with Projections to 2030 http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/demand.html
Here's some historic numbers of energy use: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/pdf/pages/sec1_3.pdf
2. How many "barrels" "acres" can exceed the nation and the world's projected energy needs?
Of course an effective energy strategy is one that combines clean energies like wind, solar, hydro, magnetic and other biofuels. Working together, we can create a better world for future generations, the real purpose of life.
Tell the politicians, 'we don't need no toxic energy.' Any energy strategy that can hurt us and/or generations ahead should be turned off and replaced with clean, natural and in some cases free energy.
For more information on hemp please visit the USA Hemp Museum, a private museum with a virtual wing. Richard M. Davis is the museum's founder and curator and he has a book called HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION which is a great piece on how to use hemp to solve the problem of global warming.
Other research pages on hemp energy include:
Hemp Biofuels Room, USA Hemp Museum: http://hempmuseum.org/ROOMS/ARM%20BIO-FUELS.htm
Renewables: http://www.ratical.org/renewables/
Fuel and Fiber: http://fuelandfiber.com/Hemp4NRG/Hemp4NRGRV3.htm
Davis is proposing using the successful WWII Hemp For Victory program and solve the problems of global warming and our growing energy needs. We'll be posting his projections here soon and please share your thoughts on this blog.
Read More »You do not need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that America has an oil problem. How many cars are on the road today that use a fuel other than fossil fuels? Not many. Although GM has announced that they are working on creating a parallel plug-in hybrid called the Chevy Volt, in my opinion GM is not committed to producing cars that will get us off of oil. If they were committed to reducing our consumption of fossil fuels then why did they crush the EV-1?
Furthermore "Big Oil" has not made a serious effort to invest in R&D for producing energy from renewable and truly clean sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal and hyrdo-electric. Instead they have produced to drilling offshore. The problem with this plan is that oil is not a renewable resource. Even if the Republics are right and offshore drilling makes the price of gas go down, eventually we will exhaust our resources and then we will be in an even worse position then we are now, because we will have continued to contribute to global warming thus putting even more strains on our environment and gas prices will be even higher because we will have less oil then before. So what makes more sense. Drill for more oil now to maybe lower the price, or invest in renewable sources of energy that can free us from fossil fuels, reverse global warming, and create new green jobs that cannot be outsources. In my opinion the latter sounds a lot better.
Furthermore "Big Oil" has not made a serious effort to invest in R&D for producing energy from renewable and truly clean sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal and hyrdo-electric. Instead they have produced to drilling offshore. The problem with this plan is that oil is not a renewable resource. Even if the Republics are right and offshore drilling makes the price of gas go down, eventually we will exhaust our resources and then we will be in an even worse position then we are now, because we will have continued to contribute to global warming thus putting even more strains on our environment and gas prices will be even higher because we will have less oil then before. So what makes more sense. Drill for more oil now to maybe lower the price, or invest in renewable sources of energy that can free us from fossil fuels, reverse global warming, and create new green jobs that cannot be outsources. In my opinion the latter sounds a lot better.
I'll start with the standard criticisms of Ethanol and work my way up to the biggest issues. Read More »
I have include two excellent sources of information - SEED magazine and HOMEPOWER magazine. There are many articles in Seed that flow with the current interest in environmentally sound design and Home Power has articles every issue that discuss DIY projects and provide information on how others are including RE into their lifestyles. Both can be found at the larger bookstores and online at seed.com and homepower.com respectively. Read More »
"Renewable" energy comes from common things in nature. So, what makes this energy Re-New-Able? Read More »
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