This Week in Alternative Energy - October 10, 2006

Jacksonville Beach at Sunset (Steve Andrews)

So I have decided to share my interest in alternative energy with my fellow Newsviners through what I hope will be a weekly review of the latest and greatest in alternative energy news. As we all know the United States has a serious dependence on foreign oil, importing 60% of the oil it uses each day. In addition, power generation from places like coal fired power plants endanger the quality of life for all of us that live near them. Hopefully this column can lead to a weekly discussion on alternative energy technologies. With that said, let's look at what we have this week:

Ethanol

Senators Harkin and Lugar Introduce Ethanol Pipeline Study

Senators Tom Harkin (D, IA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) have introduced a bill (S. 4003) that would direct the Department of Energy to study the feasibility of constructing one or more dedicated ethanol pipelines for distribution of the fuel from the Midwest to the East and West.

Ethanol in Lieu of Parrafin

Older article from South Africa detailing how some of the cities poorer citizens are switching to ethanol based oils to heat their homes and stoves

E85 Stations Hit the 1000 Mark

There are now 1,000 publicly and privately accessed E85 fueling locations throughout the United States according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC). That number represents about 0.6% of the number of gasoline fueling stations in the US (170,000).

Cars

Pros and Cons of Plug in Hybrids

By now, most of you must be familiar with electric car start up Tesla Motors (see links at the bottom of this post); They caused quite a stir when they announced that they would start selling an electric car that is faster than a Ferrari but twice as clean as a Prius (with the average US electricity grid mix of sources charging it, it can be even cleaner) in 2007.

How to Buy a Fuel Efficient Vehicle

From the mid-1970s to 1990, the average fuel economy for all vehicles on the road in the U.S. doubled from about 14 to 28 miles per gallon (mpg). By 2005, it had dropped to 24 mpg. Driving a fuel-efficient vehicle will save you money on gas, of course, but such a decision has other, broader, effects.

Venturi Introduces Solar or Wind Charged Electric Vehicle

Venturi, the French manufacturers of the Fetish electric sports car, have introduced a low-speed electric vehicle that can be recharged via roof-mounted solar panels or with a personal wind turbine.

Renewable Power

Renewable Solar Hydrogen Production

Notwithstanding Episode 2F 19 of a popular, long-running cartoon series (Lisa Simpson's perpetual motion machine), the first law of thermodynamics is difficult to disobey. You simply cannot get more energy out of a system compared to the energy that you put in.

Middlebury College in Vermont to Generate Fuel from Biomass

Tony private college Middlebury has committed to constructing a biomass plant to supply a portion of the schools energy needs. It would make sense for centers of higher education to take a lead role in innovate attempts to address issues such as dependency on fossil fuels. Buy-in among those on campuses would likely be high and funds are going to be more readily available. Hopefully more schools will follow suite.

California Geothermal Resources 5-25 Gigawatts

A new report issued by the US Geothermal Energy Association concludes that California's in-state "geothermal resource base could supply more power than is currently used by all of the state's investor- owned utilities combined." But the report warns that "a business as usual approach toward resource identification and development will not result in these resources being developed in a timely manner."

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