As a car accelerates and decelerates, the air flowing at the surface cannot keep up. Consequently, flow transitions from laminar to turbulent, which ultimately requires more work from your engine. This means that aggressive drivers will likely suffer from lower fuel efficiency simple due to driving behavior. Optimizing, however, the conditions under which laminar flow is maintained could reduce gas consumption. Mechanical engineers at MIT have recently solved this problem through theoretical predictions. Read more about this 100 year old problem at MIT

In January 1901, the Texas Spindletop Field was brought into production. Initially, this one oil field produced more oil than Russian produces yearly, now. This discovery lead to the end of the Rockefeller Oil Monopoly. It introduced a century of global oil exploration. We have probably found all the cheap oil available to us. American’s oil production peaked in 1969. World oil production is expected to peak around 2015. Meanwhile, oil consumption has risen by over fourfold since 1960. It is expected to continue to rise during the next decade. When demand exceeds dwindling supplies, the result is higher prices. It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the gas-guzzler. There are folks willing to pay fifty or one hundred dollars a gallon for gas.

There are no doubt undiscovered oil fields. Odds are these fields are small, deep and far more costly to develop than those of the 20th Century. It’s impossible to project how much oil we haven’t found. Whatever the amount of undiscovered petroleum, we will no doubt find it in the next thirty years. That oil may add a few weeks or years to our cheap oil needs.

The popular concept of profit oriented oil companies doesn’t fit with the facts. The goal of the oil companies seems to be to maximum revenues, not maximum profits. In 1953, the U.S. Postal Service postcard cost one cent. In the same year, a gallon of regular gas in the San Francisco Bay Area cost thirty-four cents a gallon. Today, a USPS postcard costs twenty-four cents. Using the same price move on regular gas, I should be paying about $8.16/gal at the pump. It’s evident that gas prices are agreed upon among the oil companies. However, the goal has always been maximum consumption, not maximum profit. It’s a policy that will cost us dearly in this Century.

A better measure of the cost of oil, or any energy source, is the amount of energy required to produce it. Economists, geologists and physicists call this quantity the “energy return on investment” or E.R.O.I. As the average E.R.O.I. of an economy’s energy sources drops toward 1 to 1, an ever-larger fraction of the economy’s wealth must go to finding and producing energy. The energy return on investment for conventional oil, which provides about 40 percent of the world’s commercial energy and more than 95 percent of America’s transportation energy, has been falling for decades. United States production leads this trend. America is where petroleum resources have been exploited the longest. In the United States, from the early 1970s to today the return on investment of oil and natural gas extraction has fallen from about 25 to 1 to about 15 to 1. It will continue to fall toward 1 to 1 over the next three decades.

Without a doubt, mankind can find ways to push back these constraints on the global energy supply. But we probably can’t push them back indefinitely, because our species’ capacity to innovate, and to deliver the fruits of that innovation when and where they’re needed, isn’t infinite and our resources are finite. We will lose the energy race in this Century.

America is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Unfortunately, burning coal currently creates more pollution than using oil. We have built dams everywhere they should have been built and many places where they should never have been built. More dams in unworkable locations won’t solve our oil problems. There is nuclear energy, but what do you do with all that radioactive waste? It’s a question that Dr. Edward Teller and all those who have followed him haven’t answer. At present, solar power is uneconomic. There should be a Manhattan Project to make solar costs and efficiency competitive with the current price of oil. There are only so many windy hills and thus wind-powered energy production is limited. None of these alternatives will meet the world’s growing need for cheap oil.

We live in a finite world. Our capacity to consume nonrenewable resources appears to be infinite. The two paths will cross in this Century. The finite world path will be the only one that continues into the 22nd Century.

By William Cate

While many potential sources are possible, research into all the avenues will eventually surface with the most viable option for our use. Presently we are using a number of various resources to create heat, electricity and desalination of seawater. Renewable energy has the sun as it’s primary source which is not deletable. Approximately 30% of our energy resources come from the sun.

Most of our economic resources and time are spend developing our resources in the area’s of wind power, water power, solar energy, biofuel, liquid biofuel, solid biomass and geothermal. Naturally these all have their pro’s and cons. The biggest concern is pollution that comes directly the materials, industrial processes and construction equipment used to create them. The side effects can be pollution and waste that will impact our environment.

We also we need to consider other key issues of environmental impacts, aesthetics and habitat hazards, land usage, proximity to demand, availability, reliability, longevity along with energy input verses output. Other possibilities such as fossil fuels and nuclear power have their own positive and negatives and are not as viable. The resources for our use are many, the challenge is not if we have alternates to use but which ones and in what order.

The U.S. currently relies heavily on coal, oil, and natural gas for its energy. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable, that is, they draw on finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally-damaging to retrieve. In contrast, renewable energy resources — such as wind and solar energy — are constantly replenished and will never run out.

Renewable energy is important because of the benefits it provides. It is believed that the major element in the learning and discovery process definitely will be and is solar energy.

A small town in northern Maine has recently been offered free and clean electricity for the next 20 years. There is, however, one catch to this opportunity – 400 ft windmills are to be placed along a ridge surrounding a nearby lake. There is both support and opposition to this alternative energy technology. Some against installation of the windmills argue that the natural beauty of the area will be corrupted, and the windmills would be too close to their homes. Other possible solutions have been argued such as placing the windmills in remote, unpopulated areas and/or offshore in coastal waters. Both of these options present greater capital investment and even more technological challenges.

Is our society ready to make sacrifices for cleaner and more efficient energy technology? A decline in property value brought about by windmills on the horizon is a steep price to pay for “free” electricity. Perhaps people would adopt this plan if the cost of electricity was more equivalent to a mortgage payment.

The survey - which focused on industry trends and opportunities - was completed August 4, 2008, and a total of 196 respondents working in alternative energy sectors participated.

Solar Is Up

The solar sector (51%; up 2-pts) has come on strong over the past 12 months according to industry respondents - echoing the findings of our December 2007 survey. However, so has Wind Power (49%; up 14-pts).

Going forward, Solar (56%; down 2-pts) is expected to achieve the most rapid growth for the next 12-24 months, but Wind (41%; up 13-pts) is also showing striking strength going forward.

In addition, the rapid rise of gasoline prices this year has led to significant gains in the Hybrid/Electric Vehicles sector.

Conversely, Biomass has fallen in terms of industry sentiment - due in large part to the impact of rising raw materials costs. One-third (33%) of industry respondents pointed to Biomass as the sector most negatively affected by the high cost of raw materials - with more than half (51%) specifically pointing to ethanol production.

As respondent CO206739 writes, “Corn Ethanol producers have cut back their expansion plans because of the high cost of steel for construction, and the high cost of corn for feedstock. The companies that built facilities years ago have the advantage on capital costs, but they are suffering from high feedstock costs and the uncertainties of market conditions.”

Customer Demand for Alternative Energy

The survey also focused on customer demand for alternative energy products, and Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (Net Score = +86) are clearly seen as having the biggest demand increase in the next year with Solar (+79) and Wind (+78) products also garnering big jumps in customer interest.

But the most telling findings were when we asked industry respondents to rate the demand for their own company’s alternative energy products and services.

Here’s what we found:

Leading Companies

We also asked industry respondents to tell us which alternative energy companies they believe are at the forefront of their respective market sectors. Here’s what they told us:

Solar Sector: First Solar (FSLR), SunPower (SPWR) Wind Sector: General Electric (GE), Vestas Hybrid/Electric Sector: Tesla Motors, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER)

The takeaway from this Alternative Industry survey is that Solar continues to burn up the charts and the momentum behind Wind Power is now blowing stronger than ever.

Investors take note — in the midst of a severe worsening of the U.S. economy the Alternative Energy sector continues to ride high.

————————

Here at ChangeWave, we leverage our expertise in industry and company level research to identify emerging trends, technologies and companies best-positioned to capitalize in today’s market.
To read more articles and to find out more about ChangeWave, visit: http://blog.changewave.com

It will take much longer for societies to embrace green habits and change their way of thinking, but progress is being made. Right now, green marketing doesn’t work because it doesn’t clearly explain how a product or service will benefit the consumer, but as more marketers study the motives and driving factors of green products and services, they will find methods that work.

As they do, we will begin to see the next bull market in the green industry.

Since 2001, the wind industry has grown 339 percent; the solar industry has grown a whopping 579 percent; both are projected to continue their blockbuster double-digit annual growth into the foreseeable future. In contrast, the Dow Jones average has climbed just 2 percent during the same period, and is only barely hanging on at those levels because of the artificial boost produced by talk of the bailout.

This green economy reminds me of the computer revolution in the 80’s. It took about a decade for consumers to realize the benefits of the personal computer, and then with the introduction of the Internet, the entire computer industry took off. However, just like the computer industry, not all companies involved will succeed. Dell and Gateway were the ones that shined during the 1990’s as many other companies failed. The green economy will see many new companies enter the market and many will fail while few have tremendous success.

This is why it will be important to invest in many different companies in the green economy. There will be a lot of great technologies that come out of it, but only a few will become “the standard”. If you have your money diversified, you will have a greater chance of catch the next Dell stock.

So be ready. Be ready for the green industry to pick up Wall Street and carry it on its back.

*This is not financial or tax advice, please see your financial advisory before making a decision on investments

How many people do you know that live on $1.25 per day? What is more, how many people living on $1.25 per day can afford $4.00 per gallon gasoline? The cost of crude oil influences virtually every consumer because transportation is central to everything from commuting to work to purchasing canned goods from the grocery store. Energy costs suppress the poor even further because these costs represent a larger fraction of total income.

Many technologies show promise as an alternative to traditional hydrocarbon fuels. Which technologies, however, are both efficient and available to the poor? The World’s energy problems are closely linked to poverty and great opportunity exists to contribute. Otherwise, we may have the same problem with the cost of solar energy 50 years from now.

1. “The bottom 1.4 billion” The Economist, 2008 (388), 8595, p. 70.

Entirely new forms of alternative energy must compete with sophisticated combustion engine technology. The infrastructure that supports gasoline driven automobiles is also comprehensive. For these reasons and others, the next generation of more efficiency and “clean” automobiles could be derived from existing combustion engine technology. Hybrids and natural gas driven cars are both examples. Further, new and unrelated discoveries often bring about solutions to previously unsolved problems. It’s not too late to revisit old technology, but from a different point-of-view altogether.

Geothermal took a big move forward this past week as Google announced it was investing $10.25 million dollars in an energy technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

And it looks like Google made a wise investment choice. According to an MIT report on EGS, only 2% of the heat beneath the continental US between 3 and 10 kilometers (depths we can reach with current technology) is more than 2,500 the annual energy use of the United States.

The funding will also go towards geothermal resource mapping, information tools, and a geothermal energy policy agenda according to CleanTechnica

The investments will go towards three institutions: AltaRock Energy, Potter Drilling, and the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Lab.

As the technology advances still, there will be more investment and research in bringing affordable geothermal energy to our homes and businesses.

A combination of airplanes, marine freight carriers, railroads, and freight trucks makeup our shipping and distribution framework, which mostly operate by some form of hydrocarbon fuel. Increasing fuel costs in the United States influence the average consumer because we rely so heavily on the current shipping network. Of course, the development of alternative energy automobiles will significantly impact our society. But, alternative energy technology has potential to impact the World on a much larger scale. For example, an airplane capable of transporting thousands of tons of freight without using a drop of jet fuel would free the freight and commercial airline industries from dependence on oil. Or, how about solar powered trucks or trains?

A commitment to develop alternative transportation technology can change how we get to work, our business and vacation travels, and the manner in which we do business overseas.