Information Superhighway

Yesterday was a beautiful windy,cloud filled day. I spent the day with my wife and our friend at the same park as the day before. I finished "Power Trip" and started reading "Coming Climate Crisis"by Claire Parkinson. We were entertained by an older couple trying to navigate a jet ski at the boat launch. They almost fell in the water and started arguing about the procedure.They finally got it together but only went about 5 MPH to a boat in the middle of the Hudson.Maybe anyone over fifty should leave that activity to younger folks.

"Power Trip" has been an interesting book and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Some facts from the book...DoE released a report showing that the United States could get 20% of it's power from wind by 2030 and create 10 million jobs.Wind is cheaper than coal as a power source.Texas already has a wind power capacity of 7,900 megawatts which is equivalent to a dozen coal power plants.It has approved a 4.9 billion plan to build transmission lines for wind energy throughout the state.Geothermal  resources are being discovered in the West.The U.S. has 2,500 megawatts of geothermal power currently but could increase that output fifteen times in the near future.This is equivalent to 45 coal plants.Another vast untapped reserve is the ocean.Ocean power is a decade behind wind power but could produce between 6-20% of all America's electricity in the future.Human energy can be harvested through daily exercise. Human energy can be converted into electricity to charge ipods,cell phones and walkie talkies for the military.Using human garbage can be used to generate electricity.Florida(with Geoplasma's technology) has an experimental plant that blasts garbage with high temperatures that creates a combustible gas that runs turbines. They can vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day and produce 120 megawatts of electricity."Poop Power",human waste, can also be converted into electricity by an industrious breed of bacteria that creates methane gas.

Many electric cars have hit the market recently.The race to develop the best lithium-ion battery is ongoing.The Asian battery makers(Mitsubishi,Toshiba,Panasonic-Sanyo,etc.) are up against American companies(EnerDel,Kokam,KD Avanced Energy,Johnson Controls-Saft,Altair Nonotechnologies and A123 Systems).By 2015,2.3 billion will be invested in their development. Chery Automotive(China) recently released S18 which it claimed could get 93 miles on a single charge and be recharged in four to six hours.China is moving to sustainable transportation even while providing a large portion of their power from coal.At the same time,they are also looking for renewable resources to decrease their use of fossil fuels.

 Better Place is using software to connect electric cars to a smart grid in countries around the world.Their system uses digital chips in vehicles and designated charging ports that reads owners identity and register the use of electricity every time a car is charged .Car customers can also sell their unused electricity back to the Better Place network.Israel will have 1000 battery swapping stations for a battery that is running low.Better Place is installing and managing the new smart grid.Renault and Nissan built the electric cars and is a partner in the project.The car makers will lease basic car models to consumers below the cost of conventional cars thanks to substantial government subsidies.(see Better Place link)

Google is a leader in the effort to create a more reliable and dynamic power grid. It is working on an intelligent grid that communicates with consumers and can understand communication coming back from the same consumers.It would take energy from a car or household when needed and return it when desired.The intelligent grid will link millions of cars,smart garages, and homes with the new clean power sources that will sustain them.(Google.org).