Popularity Rate down 0wattwatters who think this pulse is not really interesting Rate up 1wattwatters who think this pulse is interesting

New energy source discovered….

Mat Feakins on March 27, 2008 | 1146 Views | 1 Comment

As our petro-economies lights go out we are forced to look at as many of the different options of renewable energy that are available. This weeks Anglo French nuclear talks give light to the problems that will face many economies in the next two decades. Long-term energy planning, Cooperation and sharing of resources and research are the only real building blocks for our sustainability.

In the near future, fuel cells (or something similar) may well take over as a major globally traded commodity and may well overtake the trillion dollar arms industry (oil does seem to lubricate the wheels of war somewhat). It may then prove beneficial for most continents to look at and address the long-term situation at this point in time. Maybe we should consider energy aid on a global scale (I’m not suggesting nuclear), to assist the weaning-off the black stuff. The new energy source might be next door..

| | | | |

1 Comment

Photo #1 by Pippa Rojo on March 31, 2008 at 10:58 a.m.

The catch-22 situation - Jevon's paradox

In support of the argument that the only solution for the future is cooperation and sharing of resources and research into new sources of energy, there's a very interesting article published by The Oil Drum, in which the author, Ugo Bardi, compares two very different approaches to the power resource dilemma: Italy, where energy generated from nuclear plants was banned by law 20 years ago and France, where 80% of the country's energy needs are derived from it.

He supplies some highly revealing comparative figures on the relevant costs of energies in both countries and concludes that, even if Italy were now to reverse their political decision of two decades ago and reinvest in nuclear power, it would be at a huge cost and not guaranteed to succeed in time. Furthermore, if other countries were also to follow the same pattern they'd drain world reserves of uranium and create a shortage that required further investment in alternative technologies.

He comments that as a direct consequence of investing in nuclear power and retaining relatively low prices for electricity, France's inhabitants have become wasteful. They consume almost double the amount of electricity in comparison to neighbouring Italy. But there's no going back. No government is successful when it raises the price of energy. Through its nuclear energy programme France has enabled its citizens to be profligate and created a catch twenty-two situation.

Related pulses

Australian Government incentives on solar power in homes

Jonathan Buck on September 3, 2008 | 87 Views
First admission: I work for the IEC, the organization that supports wattwatt. Second admission: I work in communications.  But I couldn't help sharing this from Australia thanks to my ...

Ocean energy for Ireland = horse with a furlong start

Philippa Martin-King on August 15, 2008 | 256 Views
Thomas C. Foley, who's US Ambassador to Ireland recently said this: "If I came up to you and said I knew how to get Ireland 20 per cent of ...

Slowly turning green

Bill Thompson on August 12, 2008 | 245 Views
  An interesting survey into attitudes towards green computing from CDW's ITMonitor shows that while the majority of US "IT decision makers" think green issues are important, there are many ...

'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

Jose Vaz Pinto on August 1, 2008 | 734 Views
Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system A breakthrough of the MIT Solar Revolution Project mimic essence of plants energy storage system, in a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process ...

Carbon Credit: Discrediting efforts

Ahmad Mukhtar on July 1, 2008 | 646 Views
International market has started looking at carbon quota exchange with an ambition in order to "fine tune" the disciplines, however the other side of the coin must be seen as ...

SMART 2020: Emissions down by 15 per cent with intelligent tech use

Toby Johnson on June 20, 2008 | 735 Views
Transformation in the way people and businesses use technology could reduce annual man‐made global emissions by 15 per cent by 2020 and deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses ...

Compulsory electricity labelling in Upper Austria favours renewables

Philippa Martin-King on June 19, 2008 | 429 Views
In Upper Austria it's mandatory on each electricity bill, for energy suppliers to state the source of electricity being invoiced and how it was generated. Consumers therefore know the ...

London: Symposium on ICTs and Climate Change

Toby Johnson on June 13, 2008 | 692 Views
The second part of ITU's Symposia on ICTs and Climate Change takes place next week in London. You can follow the event live by registering here . The first event ...

Le Dossier noir des Energies vertes

M. Denis Bloud on June 2, 2008 | 754 Views
Malheureusement, l'éolien et le solaire ne sont pas la solution pour obtenir l'hydrogène! Car il faut pousser le raisonnement un peu plus loin, comme l'a fait ...

Dirt Powered Fuel Cells for Light

Kristen Lee on May 23, 2008 | 792 Views
An organization called Lebônê is working to provide low-cost energy solutions for Africa. They've developed a simple, low maintenance system that derives energy from dirt- microbes breaking down ...

My Lab-Grown Hamburger

Kristen Lee on May 22, 2008 | 804 Views
I have felt this guilt on many occasions. It's hard to play innocent when you understand the toll that carnivorous people (such as myself) have on the environment. But ...

New Energy combined of Biomass Pellt and Stirling Engine

Shinichi Nishidate on May 21, 2008 | 1064 Views
About 5 years ago I could have a chance to study stirling engine and I met one test model of it as our new certification enterprise. I could find a ...

Does using standby make me a carbon criminal?

Mark Frary on May 7, 2008 | 933 Views
In these times of increased concern about global warming , the average person is now being forced to question everything they do in their daily lives to see whether it really ...

The Game Plan - a solution framework for the climate challenge.

Jose Vaz Pinto on May 7, 2008 | 770 Views
It worths reading and reacting upon it ! Saul Griffith, Jim McBride et all, give us at Wattzon.org a framework that enables us to think about the challenges posed by ...

ECO-ICONIC products coming our way

Laurent Haug on May 6, 2008 | 847 Views
TrendWatching thinks that we're entering the eco-iconic era, where people buy green products because it brings them more points on the social ladder. That's a pretty powerful driver ...