Energy

No doubt, cleantech companies were upbeat when the White House stimulus package allocated 13 percent of the total $104 billion stimulus package for green technology. Much of the economic stimulus will flow to cleantech infrastructure, but exactly where will it go? Cleantech sectors, which were big winners, include smart grid technology with $4.5 billion, energy efficiency for federal buildings with $4.5 billion and wind and solar with $6 billion for new loan guarantees. It’s an unheard of sum for cleantech. And a recent survey of technology experts by Changewave Research sheds some light on where the impact will be felt most. Changewave surveyed 409 members of the Changewave Research Network, people who...

As a physicist, my belief is that one of the reasons that intelligent energy policies have not gained sufficient traction is that we are allowing those with political agendas to define some key energy terms. Probably the most significant concept that we have unwittingly gone along with is the definition of the word "renewable." Giving some critical thought to this moniker is no academic matter, as the majority members of the US Senate's Energy Committee is currently pushing for a national Renewable Portfolio Standard (see: "Title VIII - Renewable Portfolio Standard" to view a draft). Their decision as to what is a "renewable" will have profound technical, economic and environmental consequences on the United States. To my...

There's no better way to take the pulse of innovation than to survey R&D spending. And there's no better time than during a downturn, because history tells us that this is the opportunity for businesses to gain advantage by investing and growing. Two recent R&D surveys, one from the Wall Street Journal and the other from McKinsey were released recently and both confirm that many companies are still spending on R&D (for now). (Photo: Battelle Institute) So what about green investment? Are companies spending on cleantech? They should be, since transforming energy markets (which is critical) will require an unprecedented level of R&D. But the challenges are enormous. The energy industry is...

The electric grid has been on the sideline as digital innovation has made many other systems smarter and more agile. Yes, the grid is one complicated mesh of interconnects but it's about time it got some attention. The Obama stimulus package promises to do that. Of the $104 billion going to green tech, there's roughly $4.5 billion allotted to help the grid get smart. How it's going to happen is still uncertain but at least the grid is now in the game. One startup making a run at the smart grid is e-Radio. The company, based in Los Altos, is an angel-backed venture that has developed what it claims is a low-cost and highly reliable smart-grid communication system. Its system employs the FM RDS radio standard widely used in the automobile industry to allow suppliers to pass along pricing and grid status to customers. It's intended to work with the new class of smart-grid devices like...

Cancer is a terrible disease that changes the life of anyone it touches. One incredible individual diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, John Kanzius, was motivated to develop a new treatment for cancer after having to experience the grueling side effects of chemotherapy. He used the disease as a motivator rather than a reason to give up on life and ended up inventing a device that could change history in the process. As an inventor, Kazius was used to looking for solutions in novel places. He decided that a radio frequency generator (RFG) may work against cancer cells and he used anything available, such as pie plates to build the first prototype, dubbed the Kanzius RF device, in his...

Pamela Contag is a microbiologist who's as comfortable in the lab as she is in the boardroom, dealing with the business of running a company. She has plenty of experience there, having helped found two startups: Cobalt Technologies and Xenogen. She also sits on the Department of Energy's Biomass Advisory Board. Contag is an astute observer of the biofuels industry. With much of the discussion today focused on second-generation biofuels, she points out that it's still critical for people not to mix up biofuel feedstocks with human foodstocks. That sure spelled a lot of trouble during the first-generation corn-ethanol buildout, which alarmed the public and still dampens enthusiasm for the biofuels market. Contag says there's a list of...

We live in a world of technology. Our kids grow up with computers as one of their best friends. They even mature together: The kids who grow up expect their systems to grow with them, which means that old computers are constantly replaced with new ones. Technology is evolving faster than we ever thought possible and I doubt that anyone will be surprised when machines become almost independent of their creators. The biggest problem with self sustaining machinery is fuel. Just like we consume countless varieties of foods to keep us going throughout the day, a machine's hunger pangs are generally alleviated with gas, electricity and batteries. The ideal machine, however, should be able to...

Wind turbine farms are popping up all over the place. The mammoth wind-mills are planted in the ground and then proceed to twirl their giant blades in a lazy circular motion, pumping out electricity in the process. The blades that cut through the sky vary in size, but are generally around 35 meters long. Of course some are bigger...much bigger. The largest turbine in the world - the Enercon E-126 - has a rotor diameter of 126 meters and stands proudly in Emden, Germany where it generates 20 million kilowatt hours per year. In the United States, wind generated power accounts for about one percent of the energy consumed. Wind turbines are symbols of the alternative energy movement, but the...

The push to reduce energy consumption is broad and deep. And for homeowners who are looking to reduce their energy costs, there are standard practices, such as turning down the thermostat, changing out light bulbs and purchasing energy-efficient appliances. But the U.S. building sector's energy consumption is still expected to increase by 35 percent between now and 2025 and commercial energy demand is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 1.6 percent, reaching 25.3 quads (1015 Btu) in 2025. That translates into a critical need to develop and deploy emerging energy-efficient technologies that can deliver reliable energy and peak-demand reductions throughout the lifespan of...

With the hunt for powerful energy generation innovations in full swing, there's been some investment moving into the ocean. Let's face it, waves and currents aren't likely to stop anytime soon. SRI researchers have cleverly applied a biological muscle technology to the guts of a wave generating buoy. The researchers recently demonstrated the buoy in Santa Cruz harbor, an hour drive south of San Francisco. The bobbing buoy works a bellows like span of special electrical conductive material to generate electricity. Its not something that SRI pioneer Douglas Engelbart predicted at his Jules Verne like demonstration in 1968, but like his innovation inspired to help our thinking and...

While decentralized sources of power, such as harnessing solar and wind energy to generate electricity, are well understood opportunities, there are additional fundamental areas where we are moving inexorably towards an infrastructure where being on the grid is an option, not a necessity. A recently announced new waste-to-energy system that turns trash into clean energy from IST Energy is an exciting example of this trend. There are several credible companies developing ways to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) into energy, such as Ze-Gen, Plasco Energy Group, Rentech, Bluefire Ethanol, Coskata, Enerkem, and many others. But unlike these companies, which are developing technologies for centralized plants to convert thousands or, even more...

Can Soviet-era modes of energy resource cooperation survive between newly independent states? It's been awhile since the Kyrgyz Republic, along with Tajikistan and other Central Asian nations split off from the USSR and became sovereign nations. But in terms of managing their energy resources, Kyrgyzstan faces challenges that outwit nations with far more experience with political independence, and how they best address them highlights issues of globalization and free-trade that are universal. When the lights go out in Bishkek, as they do frequently these days, more than a few of these citizens wish for the good old days of the Soviet Union, as they valiantly beat back the cold and...