Energy from sunlight is collected on orbiting satellite collectors and beamed to Earth. The Space Solar Alliance for Future Energy formed last year to champion this 1960s-era idea.
A recent National Security Space Office study concluded that space-based solar power deserves “substantial national investment” to address America’s future energy needs via a renewable energy source with no carbon emissions or hazardous waste. Terrestrial solar power is limited to sunny days. In space, no one can hear you scream … for daylight – there are no clouds to disrupt the sun’s rays.
LS9 in San Carlos, Calif., is among several startups brewing diesel from bacteria. Others are working with algae. Biodiesel also is made from vegetable or soybean oil. Greg Pal, LS9’s senior director of development, likens the genetically engineered process to brewing beer. “The key difference,” Pal says, “is at the end of that process, you end up with a petroleum product.” The company has not concocted enough of the black gold to fuel a car yet. But Pal says to look for a large-scale commercial plant churning out microbial-generated diesel in 2011.
Pal says the goal is to “be competitive at $50 a barrel.” A barrel of crude oil topped $110 as of this writing.
Emissions from biodiesel are less toxic than petroleum drilled from Earth, and microbial biodiesel takes far less energy to produce. This is where new breeds of biodiesel have a leg up on ethanol, a fuel derived from corn and other plants. Critics note it takes too much energy to wrest ethanol from corn. Moreover, economists and others say diverting corn production to ethanol can create higher food prices.
The 5,000 wind turbines on Altamont Pass outside San Francisco chopped up birds, including federally protected golden eagles. Sen. Edward Kennedy helped stall a 130-turbine project off Cape Cod, citing environmental and economic reasons. The Cape Wind farm also would be about eight miles from his Hyannis Port home.
Yet after some turbulent times, wind power has regained momentum. Last year the nation increased its wind-power generating capacity by 45 percent, the largest annual jump ever, says the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, D.C. The new projects are enough to power 1.5 million households annually. The association predicts 2008 will be another banner year – assuming tax credits remain. Even some of the Altamont turbines are spinning again.
Where’s the biggest market? Texas. General Electric Co. in March said it will invest in its 10th wind farm there. Developers have proposed building 46,623 megawatts of wind-power capacity – a little more than half the capacity of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid, the state’s largest.
Lots of wind and state regulations that require utilities to use renewable energy are propelling wind power in the Lone Star State, says wind association spokeswoman Christine Real de Azua. On the horizon: innovations in forecasting technology that can better predict when and where wind will blow.
Current federal policy aims to make fuel-cell vehicles practical and cost-effective by 2020. The United States has dedicated more than $1 billion dollars to fuel-cell research and development. A fuel cell converts hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the process it produces electricity. Vehicles emit water vapor and some heat.
There are only 66 “operational fueling stations” and a couple of hundred hydrogen vehicles on the road today, says Patrick Serfass of the Washington, D.C.-based National Hydrogen Association. “The trick,” he says, “is to get more cars and stations out there to increase convenience.” The association is pushing for rollouts in cities such as Los Angeles and creeping the infrastructure from there.
Critics say hydrogen is too costly and you have to make it from fossil fuels. It costs about $3 a gallon to make hydrogen from natural gas. “Someday, when we have more wind or nuclear power than we need to make electricity, we can use it to make hydrogen to run cars,” says Steve Stoft, an economist and energy consultant who runs zFacts.com.
Serfass counters that wind and nuclear power generated at night could be used to make hydrogen. Petroleum has to be refined for consumer and commercial uses, he notes, and technologies that reduce greenhouse gases are worth pursuing. A promising development: researchers at Penn State University have found a way to make hydrogen with bacteria.
Meanwhile, consumers can bolt hydrogen injection units to their engines to boost fuel efficiency and horsepower. These systems use electricity from an engine’s alternator to produce hydrogen from distilled water. The aftermarket products are gaining traction in the trucking industry.
