Get a Greener Holiday with LED Christmas Lights

One way of making your Christmas season greener is by using LED Christmas lights instead of conventional Christmas lights. Most stores that stock their shelves with Christmas shelves carry LED Christmas lights, too. Yep, it’s beginning to look like a green Christmas for everyone. LED Christmas lights, which last ten times longer than the traditional variety, also consume less energy. They use 75% less energy. Imagine saving on your energy bill during this holiday season when you use this type of lighting. As with traditional string lights, the LED variety are available in several shapes and sizes — including the popular “globe” and “mini” types. They can be found in the form of nets and icicles. Whatever color you’re looking for, you should be able to find it. Compared to conventional Christmas lights, the LED type are safer to use. You can connect numerous strings together without worrying about overheating them. However, you should still read the manual or box to learn how many strands you can connect safely to one another. If you want to be really energy conscious, choose LED Christmas lights that are solar powered. These lights are more energy friendly because they harness the energy of the sun. Some models are designed to light up at night. A 50-light string can cost you under $20 at Amazon. You can, therefore, save both money and energy if you buy strings of LED lights of this type. One thing that turns some people off from LED Christmas lights is their initial cost. And, of course, there’s no denying that LED light strands cost more than conventional incandescents. That said, more efficient and greener lighting solutions pay for themselves in the long run despite the higher initial investment. If you can’t spend money on LED Christmas lights and still have working incandescent lights, you can buy Christmas light timers for your existing lights. Timers like these are designed to regulate the amount of energy your lights use. In addition, these timers can give your house the appearance of someone being home when you’re away visiting friends and family during the holiday season because they turn on and off automatically, thereby helping to protect your home. You should observe safety protocols regardless of whether you use LED or incandescent Christmas lights. For example, avoid pulling the cord when you unplug the lights so you don’t tear at the wiring inside. You should also check to see if there is any damage or are any non-working bulbs before storing light strings. Don’t use lights that have loose connections, broken sockets, or bare wires. Store Christmas Lights, and any electrical decorations, in a dry place where they can’t be damaged by water. Keep them out of children’s reach during storage, to ensure the wires are not damaged. Christmas — a time of religious celebration, family and giving — can also be a time during which we take into the future of our planet as we take steps to make our carbon footpring smaller. We know that every little bit counts, but it’s also true that all of our steps combined can stretch for miles. About the author: Megan Barlow helps others learn how to live greener and more environmentally friendly lives. Find out more about green living at her blog on Green Design and Building . Source: LED Christmas Lights for a Greener Holiday . Read more on Get a Greener Holiday with LED Christmas Lights… Energy Tags: wind power , energy Subscribe to the comments for this post? Share this on del.icio.us Digg this! Post this on Diigo Post on Google Buzz Add this to Mister Wong Share this on Mixx Share this on Reddit Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon Share this on Technorati Tweet This!

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Get a Greener Holiday with LED Christmas Lights

What Is Wind Energy And What Are Its Uses

Samuel Oliver asked: Wind is nothing but air which moves at a rapid pace. When the wind blows, it possesses kinetic energy. If you ask what is wind energy, then it is just the kinetic energy that is in the wind. The wind is caused because of the sun. The sun provides heat to all the parts of the earth, which it absorbs. Due to the differing composition of the earth’s surface, the heat that is retained by the different parts of earth is uneven. In case a particular area gets too hot, the air of that area becomes hot as well. Naturally as the air gets hotter, it gets lighter and tends to rise. Since technically it is not possible for a physical vacuum to exist on the earth, the cooler air from surrounding areas rushes in to fill the void. This rapid movement of air is called wind. The wind is not something which occurs everyday but it is not possible that it would stop occurring for good any day. The windmill is used to tap the power of wind. It is one of the oldest ways to tap energy that has been in use since the ancient ages. Its principles have not been altered very much in the ages it has been in use. It was in Persia that people seem to have used windmills for the first time. These ancient windmills resembled peddle wheel. It took centuries to make any major change in the design of windmill. This time it was Holland. They greatly improved the design. This made it way more efficient. There are a number ways to harness the power of wind. Traditionally there have been a number of uses of wind mills which harness the power of wind. Most of the people used it to grind corn or grain. Farmers used it to draw ground water. The wind power is of great use in the rural environment. Sufficiently big windmills have been installed to provide basic support for entire village like drawing water for irrigation and related purposes etc. The most common way to harness the wind energy in modern world is to use a windmill that is connected to a generator. This is done to generate electricity. The electricity can be directly supplied to all those who want it. Alternatively, it is also possible to store the electricity in batteries. You can use it at a later time when you feel the requirement. A number of people still using the windmill know that the reason for their success is that they know what is wind energy and they have learned it themselves and taught to their people. They might not have the professional exposure to advanced wind mill technologies, they have however made great use of what ever they have learned. Water 4 Gas Read more on What Is Wind Energy And What Are Its Uses… Energy Tags: alternative , solar power

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What Is Wind Energy And What Are Its Uses

New Design Strategy for the Artificial Leaf

Scientists are quite optimistic that hydrogen will emerge as the fuel of the future and the world would be driven by ‘hydrogen economy’. The only byproduct of hydrogen fuel is water vapor. By using hydrogen fuel we can reduce the harmful effects of greenhouse gases. Currently many research labs are engaged in duplicating the Posted in: Environment , Future Energy , Solar Power

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New Design Strategy for the Artificial Leaf

Take Back Control – Get A Solar Battery Charger

The one uniquely distinguishing aspect of the world that we live in is our dependence (and some would argue and quite fairly, addiction) to electronic devices of all shapes and sizes. Just about every single task that can be feasibly performed by a human being has now been replaced and assumed by a machine. Our trusty friends and companions, the downfall with many of these items is that they run the risk of malfunction and failure and this can range from being merely inconvenient, to downright costly (in particular, in the specific context of a business.) Given that all machines and electronic devices are nothing more than a collection of different parts which work together to achieve a common objective, the failure of even a single component (regardless of how trivial the fault, or how petty the role actually performed) is enough to be the kiss of death for the machine in question. All electronic gadgets require fuel in the guise of power and this will be derived either from the mains power supply or from a battery source. A major bug bear is that the overwhelming majority of batteries that are used to power up the various electronic gadgets are disposable meaning that as soon as the last bit of power has been used up, they are of no further use to the device owner. They cannot be recharged, even if the owner wanted to (and many do either due do monetary concerns, or concerns about the damage to the environment that such components inflict). Solar Battery Chargers are quickly becoming much more prevalent and commonplace within our societies as government’s across the world are finally coming to appreciate the remarkable benefit these helpful products provide. Slowly but surely, the monopoly that the disposable electrical battery once enjoyed is coming to an end as more research is being dedicated solely to improving upon the design of solar battery chargers. Solar Battery Chargers satisfy one of the most fundamental perquisites of an effective invention: simplicity reigns supreme. All that is required is that the solar panels are exposed to direct sunlight…and from there, the charger will do all of the work itself. It will act as a type of electrical sponge, absorbing and storing the energy that it derives from the sun’s rays and then convert it at its own pace. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Truth be told…if you are looking for a hidden catch: there is none. Read more on Take Back Control – Get A Solar Battery Charger… Energy Tags: energy , biodiesel

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Horse Barns – Key Aspects Of Building

This article is for those people who are looking for horse barns. If you are looking for a barn you probably know what you need it for. You know how many horses you are going to stable in it. And you know how big you want it to be. However, you might not know about the shape and the design of the barn. You should also think if a three sided shelter is enough for your horses. If you live in the northern area, then this is definitely not enough. In this case you will have to build a full sized horse barn to keep your horses warm and dry in winter. A three sided shelter is definitely the cheapest option to be built. And it is very functional too. Your horses will be protected from bad weather. All you need is locate it properly and choose the right size for it. For example, if you are building a shelter for two horses, it should be at least 12 on 24 feet large. Horses require some space to feel comfortable. Their territory means a lot to them and that is why each horse has to have its own territory. After a while you will be able to transform such a shelter into a small barn. Speaking about the roof of your horse barn you could go for metal. Corrugated iron is a good choice for small horse barns. This is a simple yet reliable material and it is perfect for those who are working on a simple building project. Roofing and flooring are important parts of your barn, so you need to think well before you choose the type of them. Your barn’s roof must keep the barn dry at any season. It should be able to withstand both sun and rain or even snow if you live in the North. The flooring should also be functional and durable. Some people begin with a dirt floor, but this is not a smart idea. Such floor gets too muddy. Concrete floor is another popular option. However, some horse owners think it is too hard. If you go for concrete floor it is recommended to put rubber mats over it. Stall mats are also available on the market and you will always be able to find the ones that fit your budget. An important thing is to get all required permits before starting to build your horse barns. Building codes differ from one area to another, so it is impossible to give any general recommendations. Just contact your local building department to find out what the building regulations are in your area. Otherwise you might face the necessity to take the whole structure down. If you searching for horse barns for sale at a good price, this horse barns site is waiting for you. It has a very nice product line with wide choice of really good offers. Exactly what a horse barns seeker needs. And don’t limit your chance to find more good offers. This is easy – we live in the world where information quickly enhances the quality of our life. Due to this if you are properly armed with the info in your topic you can rest assured that you will in any case find the solution to any bad situation. So, please make sure to get back to this blog on a regular basis or – best of all – sign up to its RSS. Thus you will have your hand on the pulse of the latest info updates here. Blogs can be helpful, you just need to know how to use the updated information from the site. Read more on Horse Barns – Key Aspects Of Building… Energy Tags: energy resources , clean energy

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Homemade Pellet Mill As Well As Wood Pellets And Independence

To make a homemade pellet mill is technically possible, though is neither fee effective or a practical option. To be able to consistently as well as efficiently process biomass into energy pellets, required some fairly heavy engineering to cope by means of the forces involved. Learn more about Homemade Pellet Mill On the PelHeat website we promote a range of small pellet mills which can be used in the house. These pellet mill are of a high quality, and very affordable as the prices are directly from the manufacturer. Small pellet mills are generally all flat die pellet mills. The flat die pellet mill is a upright design. The rollers sit on greatest of the die, applying pressure vertically to the greatest surface of the die. Depending on the design, either the roller shell or die will be stationary plus the other will rotate. Material enters from the top, and falls between the rollers plus die. The pellets come because of the bottom of the die, along with are cut to length via a knife. Pellet length is much more important than many people appreciate. Some pellet stove augers cannot handle oversized pellets, causing damage to the auger or simply blocking in addition to causing the stove to confront operating properly. One view that many people in the pellet construction market including PelHeat share is that pellet construction is more of an art than an specific science. The reasons for this are each raw matter has its own unique characteristics. Component of the differences lie in the percentage of unrefined lignin found within the raw material. Lignin is the organic binding agent found in all wood materials, under the temperature along with pressure of the pellet mill the lignin is melted. Once the pellet has been formed the lignin cools to produce pellets. Read more about Home Pellet Mill Before the raw material is suitable for the pellet mill, it first must be prepared correctly. For case if you wish to manufacture 6mm pellets, which is the size of pellet most pellet stoves use, you must provide the pellet mill by way of a raw material of 6mm or below. Therefore this method sawdust is appropriate, yet biomass chips are going to call for more processing. After wood has been chipped, the finest piece of apparatus to reduce the chips further in size is a hammer mill. A hammer mill factory on the principle of attrition. Through the speed impact of the hammers on the wood chips, the chips are shattered into smaller particles. To make sure the particles are below 6mm a screen is placed in the hammer mill. Therefore no particles can escape the hammers until they are below 6mm in size. Once the material is off a suitable size, generally is must be dried before entering the pellet mill, this is particularly true is the wood chips are from fresh virgin wood. For small scale pellet production, the most practical and affordable technique of drying the matter is owing to a flash dryer. Flash dryers are also known as vent dryers or air current dryers. The hot air is generated in the stove burning wood logs, chips or pellets. From the stove there is then a series of pipes by expansion chambers. A fan pulls the wet matter because of the vent, in doing so exposing the wet particles to the hot air from the stove. At the end of the smokestack system a cyclone separates the dry material. More information on Cooking Wood Pellets Read more on Homemade Pellet Mill As Well As Wood Pellets And Independence… Energy Tags: battery technology , energy resources solar powered lights producers PHILIPPINE alternative sources of energy alternative energy solar power alternative energy sources

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Homemade Pellet Mill As Well As Wood Pellets And Independence

Use A Solar Battery Charger To Charge Your Phone

The one uniquely distinguishing aspect of the world that we live in is our dependence (and some would argue and quite fairly, addiction) to electronic devices of all shapes and sizes. Just about every single task that can be feasibly performed by a human being has now been replaced and assumed by a machine. Of course, nothing in this world is created without some sort of imperfection or design flaw and what this means therefore is that the electronic equipment that we own will only ever work for as long as it is powered and in good condition. If either of these requirements should falter or fail outright, then the entire device will in turn, also fail. One has to consider the running costs associated with the ownership of such devices, such as the cost of charging the items and ensuring that a sufficient amount of power is given to the device. This can be costly, because the owner will have to pay for the electricity used, although thankfully solar battery chargers have provided a cost effective means by which users can fuel their gadgets and not worry about burning a hole in their pocket, or the environment. When buying an electronic device, it is necessary to ensure that proper consideration is given to the running expenses that will be incurred in relation to the device in question, and the most draining of these will be the power supply. Whether you derive the power directly from your main power supply or by means of disposable batteries, this can be costly indeed. The batteries in particular are especially cumbersome because they are a one use only item, in other words, once used, they cannot be used again and must be disposed of. Solar Battery Chargers are quickly becoming much more prevalent and commonplace within our societies as government’s across the world are finally coming to appreciate the remarkable benefit these helpful products provide. Slowly but surely, the monopoly that the disposable electrical battery once enjoyed is coming to an end as more research is being dedicated solely to improving upon the design of solar battery chargers. Solar Battery Chargers satisfy one of the most fundamental perquisites of an effective invention: simplicity reigns supreme. All that is required is that the solar panels are exposed to direct sunlight…and from there, the charger will do all of the work itself. It will act as a type of electrical sponge, absorbing and storing the energy that it derives from the sun’s rays and then convert it at its own pace. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? Truth be told…if you are looking for a hidden catch: there is none. Read more on Use A Solar Battery Charger To Charge Your Phone… Energy Tags: energy resources , wind power calisolar

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Spain rolls out its first solar bus stop

The Istituto Europeo di Design of Barcelona (a Design, Fashion, Visual Arts and Communication University in Spain), the Entitat Metropolitan del Transport (the Spanish Transportation authority), and Capmar, S.L. (a Spanish company that produces urban furniture) have created and installed Spain’s first solar powered bus stop. The bus stop, which is totally self-sufficient, does a

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Spain rolls out its first solar bus stop

Clean Coal or Dirty Coal?

When President Bush said America is addicted to oil, he could also have said that America is addicted to coal. Most Americans are not aware of the sheer scale of current coal use in the United States. Over 50% of electricity is generated from coal with 20 pounds of coal per a person being burnt every day to generate electricity. While questions are increasingly being raised about remaining oil and gas reserves, we are assured that there is plenty of coal left to burn. Indeed in a talk to a meeting of builders and contractors at the Capital Hilton on June 8, 2005 President Bush asked the audience, “Do you realize we’ve got 250 million years of coal?” Hopefully readers will spot this obvious gaffe. The figure quoted by the coal industry is 250 years of reserves, not 250 million years. The energy illiteracy of the average person is worrying enough, but in our political leadership it is a real cause for concern. There are an estimated one trillion tons of recoverable coal in the world, by far the largest reserve of fossil fuel left on the planet. The United States has over 25% of the worlds recoverable coal reserves. An important point to remember when considering how many years of coal we have left is that these figures are based on current rates of consumption and do no take into account growing demand for electricity. Since 1980 coal use for power generation has increased by over 75%. A good percentage of the coal thats left is too dirty to be burned in conventional power plants and much of its buried in inconvenient places. In 1974 the USGS published an estimate of the recoverable reserve base at 243 billion tons. This however failed to take into account real world restrictions on mining: state and national parks, roads, towns, proximity to railroads, coal quality, losses during mining and geologic limitations. When these are factored in less than 50% of the coal estimated as recoverable in the 1974 study was available for mining. This fails to taken into account how much is economically recoverable at market prices. In a 1989 study by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Kentucky, at $30 a ton 22% of coal was economically recoverable. The author Tim Rohrbacher wrote a strong argument can be made that traditional coal producing regions may soon be experiencing resource depletion problems far greater and much sooner than previously thought. Recently there has been a rise in suggestions that America should replace its addiction to oil, with diesel fuel made from American coal. There is currently in place a Coal-to-Liquids Tax Credit of $0.50/gallon in place until 2023. The idea has been around for a long while, in the second world war it was used by the Germans to make Nazi oil from coal when their supply of normal gasoline was cut off. I remember when I first started researching peak oil I realised after awhile if things got bad that coal rich countries might turn to making Nazi oil in desperation when petroleum depletion started to bite. Of course calls to start building Coal to Liquids plants arent proof that petroleum depletion is well advanced, but I hardly see it as a source for optimism. Fischer-Tropsch pilot plant You dont need to be an expert on coal liquefaction to realise that its a bad idea as this article on AutoblogGreen shows. Its expensive, uses lots of water, produces double the carbon dioxide when compared to regular petroleum use and produces diesel when the vast majority of the U.S. car fleet runs on gasoline. Over at the Ergosphere, the Engineer Poet crunches the numbers and compares coal to liquids versus electric vehicles . He calculates that to replace the United States petroleum consumption at current rates would take 214 four billion dollar coal to liquid plants (thats not far off a trillion dollars in investment) and the mining of an additional one and a half billion tons of coal a year, in addition to the one billion tons already being mined for electricity generation. It should be noted that the high percentage of electricity currently produced from coal is not an argument against electric vehicles, this is something I have covered in detail elsewhere on this blog. Electric motors are inherently more efficient than the internal combustion engine. It is far easier to control emissions from large power plant, than from the exhausts of thousands of cars. Electric vehicles are not reliant on one source of energy and in the longer term polluting non-renewable sources of electricity can be replaced by clean alternative energy. The coal industrys promotion of the idea that America has a vast reserve of coal is slowing the transition to clean renewable sources of energy. In addition to tv spots showing child actors extolling the virtues of coal , the industry has spent heavily to get the ear of the political establishment. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Peabody Energy, the worlds largest coal company spent over 5% of its revenues on political contributions, for comparison Exxon Mobil and General Motors spent a fraction of one percent. In seeming return for such generosity, The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included five billion dollars of subsidies for the coal industry. Virtually every power plant built in America between 1975 and 2002 was fired by natural gas. However between 1970 and 2000, the amount of coal America used to generate electricity tripled. Now with natural gas prices rising steeply, U.S. power utilities are expected to build the equivalent of 280 500 megawatt coal-fired electricity power plants between 2003 and 2030. China is already constructing the equivalent of one large coal burning power plant a week with two thirds of energy production coming from dirty coal. 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China. India is the third largest producer of coal in the world, also getting over two thirds of its energy from coal. If these new coal plants are built, they will add as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as has been released by all the coal burned in the last 250 years. Acid run off from coal mining Coals sale price may be low, but the true costs of its extraction, processing and consumption are high. Our use of coal leads to ravaged mountains , air pollution from acidic and toxic emissions and fouled water supplies. Coal mining is massively more invasive than oil or gas drilling. Coal burning power plants account for more than two-thirds of sulfur dioxide, 22% of nitrogen oxides, nearly 40% of carbon dioxide and a third of all mercury emissions in the United States. Results of the largest mercury hair sampling project in the U.S. found mercury levels exceeding the EPAs recommended limit of one microgram of mercury per gram of hair in one in five women of childbearing age tested. Each year coal plants produce about 130 million tons of solid waste, about three times more than all the municipal garbage in the U.S. The American Lung Association calculates that around 24,000 people a year die prematurely from the effects of coal fired power plant pollution. Techniques for addressing CO2 emissions exist, although the will to quickly implement them lags. The techniques electric utilities could apply to keep much of the carbon dioxide they produce from entering the atmosphere are known as CO2 capture or geological carbon sequestration. This involves separating the CO2 as it is created and pumping it underground to be stored. Until recently I wasnt aware that all the technological components needed for carbon sequestration are commercially ready (according to an article in Septembers Scientific American magazine ) as they have already been proven in applications unrelated to avoidance of climate change. However integrated systems have yet to be built on a commercial scale. Capture technologies have been deployed extensively throughout the world both in the manufacture of chemicals (e.g. fertilizer) and in the purification of natural gas. Industry has gained experience with CO2 storage in operations to purify natural gas, principally in Canada, as well as using carbon dioxide to boost oil production, mainly in the United States. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) estimated in 2005 that it is highly likely that geologic locations worldwide are capable of sequestering at least two trillion metric tons of CO2 – more than is likely to be produced by fossil fuel consuming power plants this century. Carbon sequestration is not without risk. The two main risks are sudden escape and gradual leakage of carbon dioxide. In 1986 at Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Africa carbon dioxide originating from a volcano killed over 1,700 people. However according to IPCC this is unlikely for engineered CO2 storage in carefully selected, deep porous geologic rock formations. In regard to gradual leakage the IPCC estimated in 2005 that in excess of 99% of carbon sequestered is very likely to remain in place for at least one hundred years. Studies indicate that 85 of the carbon in coal could be sequestered using existing power generation technologies. A key point is that fundamentally different approaches to carbon capture would need to be pursued for power plants using the old pulverised coal technology as opposed to the newer integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC). IGCC plants use heat and pressure to cook off impurities in coal and convert it into a synthetic gas, this gas is then burnt in a turbine. These plants are 10% more efficient than conventional plants, consume 40% less water, produce 50% less solid waste and burn almost as cleanly as natural gas plants. Although building IGCC power plants is slightly more expensive (10), IGCC is likely to be the most effective and cheapest option for carbon capture. In an IGCC plant designed to capture CO2 the syngas exiting the gasifier, after being cooled and cleaned of particles, would be reacted with steam to make a gas made up mainly of CO2 and hydrogen. The CO2 would then be extracted and pumped to a storage site. The remaining hydrogen would be burned to generate more power. Captured carbon dioxide can by piped up to several hundred miles to a suitable geologic storage site. A recent study found that for carbon capture in a saline formation one hundred kilometers from a power plant would cost an additional 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (over the generation cost of 4.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for a coal IGCC plant that vents carbon dioxide), making a 40% premium. With coal generation costing 6.6 cents for a kilowatt hour, this would make wind power cheaper than coal and with technology advances could also provide a boost to other renewable energy sources (e.g. concentrating solar power). However electricity producers are rushing to build conventional coal pulverisation power plants, just as they rushed to build coal plants without sulfur scrubbers prior to legislation coming into force. This is short-sighted as it is more expensive, more energy intensive and less effective to attempt to capture carbon from conventional coal power plants. It is highly likely that having built these plants, that the coal industry would expect the taxpayer to foot the bill for the additional expense. Of the one hundred or so plants being planned or under construction in America only a handful use IGCC technology. Proposed Design for FutureGen FutureGen , is the Department of Energy financed one billion dollar zero emissions plant intended to turn coal into electricity and hydrogen. Proposed in 2003 and backed by a consortium of coal and electric companies, it is not due to come online until at least 2013. Many in the industry consider this date to be dubious nicknaming the project NeverGen. It is intended to make it look like the coal industry is doing something, while actually doing very little and in the process putting off changing how coal plants are built for a decade or two. Indeed in its Coal Vision report (pdf), the industry does not plan on building ultra-low emissions plants on a commerical scale until between 2025 and 2035. According to the report there is considerable debate about the need to reduce CO2 emissions. The report also states that achieving meaningful CO2 reductions would require significant technical advances. The report further states large scale and long term demonstrations of carbon sequestration technologies over a geographically and geologically diverse range of… sites are needed before making any policy decisions concerning carbon management. The coal industry wants sequestration to be demonstrated not only in the United States but additionally similar assessments need to be conducted internationally. In terms of who should pay for these demonstrations the report writes the government must play a significant role. It sounds that if the coal industry has its way, it wont be using carbon capture for many decades. Instead of waiting until 2013 or even 2035, the coal industry could be building IGCC power plants with carbon capture now. The rush to build conventional coal pulverisation plants is extremely short sighted as these plants could be operating for the next fifty years or more. In the first instance I advocate maximising our use of clean renewable energy. At the moment wind power is being used to generate only 0.5% of electricity in the United States. Using existing technology wind power could cost effecively generate a significant portion of many countries electricity supply. Significant sums of money should also be invested in making solar power and wave power more cost effective, as well as investments in energy long shots such as cellulosic ethanol and fusion power. If we are going to continue to use coal as global society as a major source of energy, which seems pretty much inevitable for at least the next few decades in key countries such as the United States, China & India, then we should be building IGCC power plants with carbon capture and retiring existing dirty coal plants now. If there are unforeseen problems with carbon capture, we need to find out now rather than in a few decades time. The coal industry’s business as usual attitude is simply not acceptable. Jeff Goodell in his recent book Big Coal concludes, coal gives us a false sense of security, if we run out of gas and oil, we can just switch over to coal the most dangerous things about our continued dependence on coal is it preserves the illusion that we dont have to change our thinking. Further Reading: Big Coal by Jeff Goodell What to Do About Coal? in Scientific American September, 2006 Lively Discussion of Coal to Liquids Coal Vision by the Coal Based Generation Stakeholders Group Mountaintop Removal A Quick Guide to Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining When Will Coal Production Peak?

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Clean Coal or Dirty Coal?

Plug-In Hybrid Campaign

I encourage everyone to sign this online plug in hybrid campaign urging automakers to produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). The petition basically says, ‘If you build it, we will buy it.’ Plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are key to energy independence and reducing pollution. Over 40 percent of the generating capacity in the U.S. sits idle or operates at a reduced load overnight, when most PHEVs would be charged. That means tens of millions of plug-ins could be charged every night without the need to build additional electric generation capacity. According to the California Electric Transportation Coalition that commissioned a study, if automakers begin producing Plug-Ins within the next few years, 2.5 million cars (eight percent of the cars on America’s roads) could be Plug-Ins by the year 2020. That’s the equivalent of taking as many as 5 million of today’s vehicles off the road. Annually that’s 11.5 million tons of CO2 which won’t be emitted and 1.14 Billion gallons of gasoline would be saved each year. For those concerned about energy security it is definitely a step in the right direction. Less than 2% of U.S. electricity is generated from oil, so using electricity as a transportation fuel would greatly reduce dependence on imported petroleum. Sign the Plug-In Hybrid Petition

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Plug-In Hybrid Campaign

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