Japan is testing a generator for the home that runs on fuel cells. It started in 2005 at the Prime Minister’s residence but now has grown to some 3,000 households.

Japan, being the energy-poor nation that it is, is desperate to find energy elsewhere and fuel cells can run on hydrogen extracted from hydrocarbons, natural gas, bio mass, water, even rubbish to create methane. No CO2 is emitted, a side benefit is a steady supply of hot water and the machine is silent.

Japan has almost no natural energy of its own and must rely on imported crude oil and the country’s ability to produce energy efficient appliances.

Energy giants, Nippon Oil, Tokyo Gas, Sanyo Electric, Toshiba, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and even Toyota Motors is behind the push to make the fuel cell system more affordable. The current cost - Y2 million ($19Kish). The goal is to have the price quartered by 2015, and I really think they can do it.

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Toyota Motor Corp is so far out in front of the pack when it comes to fuel-efficiency, that objects in the mirror really are smaller than they appear.

The company has set the standard for hybrid cars and the use of lithium-ion batteries but it’s not enough because they have a plan to launch a plug-in hybrid car with lithium-ion batteries within the next two years, which will far “outpeform” current lithium-ion batteries. The next-generation battery will be ready for commercial use by 2030.

A new research team created by Toyota will start with 50 engineers and double in size in about two years. Full scale production of lithium-ion batteries will start up next year and go full hybrid steam ahead by 2010.

Toyota is working in cahoots with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, which makes Panasonic brand products. Remember that 13,000-hour light bulb? And, who said Japan cannot be a leader on the world stage?

Image by aminorjourney

I love it when a plan comes together. I love it more when countries work together to make the world a better place.

In this case, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will be working together with the Iceland Power Company, Reykjavik Energy, to build five 45-megawatt geothermal power plants in the small country to the north of the European continent. The new plants will begin operating in about two years, October, 2010 and the whole project is expected to be complete by February 2012.

Blessed with a high volume of volcanoes (for those who consider this kind of thing a blessing) and geothermal energy options, Iceland already has five geothermal plants and cover over 87-percent of the country’s heating and hot water requirements through them.

I need to check my math, but if five plants provide 87-percent of the heating and hot water needs, then how many more plants are needed to meet the other 13%? Seriously, how cool is it that Iceland can get so much energy in this way? ICan they bottle it up and export it, to the US? That would be cool.

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How long is 13,000 hours? 541 days is the answer. One year and a half. That’s how long we can leave a Pa-Look Ball Premium Q (quick) compact fluorescent light bulb on, before it burns out. It’s the industry’s first “hybrid lighting method”, meaning it has instant brightness.

The bulb is an energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly choice for homes and companies. Until now, the big drawback was how long it took for them to brighten up completely. No more!

“Panasonic said it has successfully developed the “hybrid lighting method” by installing a newly-developed compact “quick lamp” in the center of the spiral arc tube structure inside the pear-shaped Premium Q fluorescent light capsules. The “quick lamp” allows the bulb to obtain 60% of full brightness within the first second after it is turned on, which is 50% faster than current Pa-Look Ball Premium bulbs and stands as the industry’s quickest ramp-up time. ” - JapanToday

The bulb also has a built in timer that turns off the quick lamp once there is enough brightness. With a consumption of just 10 watts, the bulb produces the equivalent of 54-watt incandescent bulbs, cutting electric bills and CO2 emissions by 80%.

Yeah, and it can be switched on and off 40,000 times before it will say, “Will you stop doing that!?”

Saudi Arabia is calling for a summit between oil producing countries and consumer states, where the main topic going to be, soaring energy prices. The Saudis promised that along with OPEC they will “guarantee the availability of oil supplies now and in the future”.

Gosh, thanks fellows. You will keep gouging the rest of the world as long as they will pay for it, right? How kind of you.

The kingdom also promised there will be no “unwarranted and unnatural oil price hikes that could affect international economies, especially those of developing countries”. Exactly how not-affected are these developing countries when oil hits record price of $139 per barrel? Do we look stupid, that’s why you’re making fun of us?

One more thing the Saudi minister said “there is no justification for the current rise in prices”, but they still make a killing off the rest of it.

I know how to solve the high oil prices. Stop buying the stuff!!

The reason we get charged so much is because people will pay for it. It’s the market laws that says when the demand is high prices soar so better stop buying it and the price will probably go down. However, the best way would be to use alternative power sources. If OPEC realizes we do NOT need them, they’ll come around.

That’s what GreenPacks is all about - there are other ways.

Original image by anachronist

What if those more than 5 million heavy duty trucks rolling up and down just the U. S. highways, would be powered by an engine wit 30-percent better fuel mileage, that doesn’t have pistons and needs no lube?

Such a truck gets on average a 7 mpg and with oil, diesel and gas prices only going up, someone had to come up with a solution. Turbine Truck Engines may have good news for the big fellas, a new engine dubbed Detonation Cycle Gas Turbine (DCGT) that:

• will use 30-percent less fuel
• will reduce emissions by 30-percent
• will be able to use all sorts of fuels - biofuels, hydrocarbon fuels, H and even synthetic
• will have fewer moving parts, which will reduce maintenance costs
• will use no lube oil, filters or pump because it has no pistons or valves
• will be lightweight : only 2lbs / hp

All they need is investors.

Where’s Pickens when you need him because having this technology in all those French and Spanish trucks idling and on strike, would be great. Right?

The world’s speed and nuclear power do not belong in the same sentence, but sure enough China is doing its darnedest to build as many nuclear power plants as it can, using OLD technology. Their target is 4 new generators each year, through 2015.

However, the nuclear plants are going to be just a partial answer for its mounting pollution, energy security problems and the fast growing electricity use, because they will not be able to provide more than 5 percent of its power. Is coal still an option for them? Did they never hear of wind or solar power?

China’s nuclear power companies want to export that ability and technology overseas and the biggest problem would be a huge push to expand the country’s reliance on nuclear power domestically.

Nuclear power is an alternative if it is managed correctly, and when it does go wrong, it goes seriously wrong. But, who manages it correctly?

I am not pretending for a moment that Kenya is the kid and the U. S. or any other ‘developed’ nation is the adult. It’s the other way around. Kenyans have been here much longer than we ‘Westerners’.

However, the fact that the Kenyan government has a blue print for renewable energy - Kenya Energy Sector Environment Program (KEEP) - gives pause to wonder. It’s definitely the ‘under-developed‘ leading the ‘developed‘ no?

KEEP wants to -

1. phase out importing telephone poles
2. preserve the nation’s water catchment despite population pressure
3. remove existing barriers and constraints to adoption of efficiency and conservation technologies
4. begin switching from reliance on charcoal for fuel to promoting commercial tree growth
5. 85% of their planned new capacity to come from clean geothermal and hydro renewable sources

Go, Kenya, go!

Show the rest of the world how to do it.

Image by eir@si

Dubai continues to set standards and, why not with all the money the little kingdom has in the bank. Oil money. Our money.

Dr. David Fisher is the designer of this Dynamic Architecture - a wind-powered rotating skyscraper, 420 meters high and with 80 floors that rotate independently. A total of 48 wind turbines will be installed between each floor making it very environmentally friendly and capable of sustaining itself with electricity.

Dubai has some 4,000 hours of wind annually and with that kind of wind generating power, the tower will get all the annual power it needs from just four of the turbines and the other 44 will send power to support Dubai’s power grid .

The wind-powered rotating skyscraper will be built in parallel stages instead of from the ground up, with a solid concrete core and a factory nearby prefabricating each floor in segments. Each apartment will be modular and should be tailored to the individual tenant’s desires.

Another similar project, but smaller is planned for Moscow. Only 400 meters and 70 floors. I now wonder if HSBC knew about this design, before they built their eco-friendly skyscraper.

Meanwhile -‘The Donald’ and His $2B Golf Course is heading the other way.

And maybe Dubai will use Beer Bottles for their hot water system. We can only hope.

Everybody wants to lower gas prices. And everybody has an idea of how to do it.

Yesterday I wrote How Not to Lower Gas Prices.

Today…part 2.

A couple in Dartmouth decided they would beat the system by hoarding some gasoline in their apartment.

Fumes ignited from the gasoline that was stored in a utility closet and sent residents from eight units fleeing for their lives.

Firemen were on it, and the sprinklers worked well to extinguish the jugs of gasoline that had been covered with cloth rags.

Are we sure Obama wasn’t talking about people in MA, too?

The whole apartment came dangerously close to a vapor explosion.

It wouldn’t have lowered the gas prices overall, there would just be a few less people lining up at the gas pimps, er, pumps.

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