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Yucca Mountain Nuclear Storage on Ice. Now What?

joelg — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:50:04 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

The Obama administration recently announced their proposed budget with an interesting nuclear wrinkle: they are no longer funding Yucca Mountain, the underground repository for nuclear wastes in Nevada, 90 miles Northwest of Las Vegas. "Unfunding" effectively kills the project. Supporters view Yucca Mountain as a reasonable solution to storing nuclear waste for the long term. Critics call it a boondoggle based upon flawed science.

Nuclear waste is a byproduct of generating electricity in the 104 nuclear reactors currently running in the US. It's highly toxic with some elements remaining dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. It's currently being stored on-site at each reactor, which are running out of room to store the waste. While Yucca Mountain had room for the existing waste from these 104 reactors, it did not have room for the future waste from the reactors that are now planned as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which has kicked off a renaissance of nuclear power in the US after 30 years of dormancy.

Surprised?

"No," says Dr. Mike Kotschenreuther, a senior research scientist at the Institute for Fusion Studies at the University of Texas, "We've known that President Obama said he was going to discontinue Yucca Mountain for some time. We're still going to need a solution to nuclear waste, even if Yucca Mountain is no longer a viable project, so we've been doing our best to come up with a solution."

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: nuclear, energy, fussion, fission, hybrid, reactor

Gaming Our Way to Efficiency

joelg — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:32:00 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

Byron Reeves is a man with a vision: using video games to teach and to help mold behavior. When we get a smart grid and smart devices that track and report on their energy consumption, we'll have the data we need to understand our energy usage in the home. But will we really take advantage of that information?

"Games have the potential change behavior," says Reeves a professor at Stanford University and co-founder of Stanford's MediaX; he conducts research on the emotional and social effects of immersive environments including complex online games . "I became interested in building a game platform that could change behavior around energy usage," he says. To that end, he's been showing a vision video he created with Millions of Us in which he brings to life a game where homeowners compete with each other to see who can become the most energy efficient.

Category: Energy
Year: 2009
Tags: energy, efficiency, simulation, game, behavior, change

Energy Story of 2008: #1 Electrification of the Passenger Car

joelg — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:02:57 +0000

By the fall of 2008, every major automanufacturer from GM to Nissan to Tata--and a few startups such as Tesla and Aptera--had announced production model plans for all manner of electric vehicles, from all electrc vehicles, to plug-in hybrid electrics, to fuel cell vehicles, with deliveries to consumers starting in 2010. 2008 could well be known as the nail in the coffin for the bulky combustion engine which has plagued the auto industry with its manufacturing and design liabilities, and association with volatile oil markets.

How quickly might the world re-tool the global auto industry to build new vehicle chassis based on electric motors and advanced energy storage systems?

Continue Reading other Top Energy Stories from 2008

#2 The Year of Scientific Breakthroughs

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: electric, car, transportation, energy, electricity, batteries, hydrogen, fuelcells

The Top 10 Energy Stories of 2008

joelg — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:41:11 +0000

By Joel Greenberg and the Staff of The Energy Roadmap

2008 was a big year in energy and one that we could very well look back upon as the platform to the not so distant future of energy. Much has happened. To help you make sense of it all, we here at The Energy Roadmap have sifted through our bookmarks, Google Notebooks, back of the napkin lists, Twitter searches, interview transcripts, and RSS feeds to come up with the top 10 energy stories that will have an impact on our culture, society, and lives.

Top Energy Stories of 2008

#1 Story of the Year:
Electrification of the Passenger Car

#2 The Year of Scientific Breakthroughs

#3 The Obama Election

#4 From $147 to $50: The Price of Oil

#5 The Dying Gasp of Corn Ethanol

#6 The Clean Coal Lobby Breaks Through the Clutter...and Gets a Response

#7 Geeks Go Green

#8 The Rise of Local Initiatives

#9 Infrastructure Gains Attention

#10 Emerging Energy Missionaries & Visionaries

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: 2008, review, energy, electricity, cars, transportation, algae, biofuels, ethanol

Virtual Energy Forum: More Talk, Less Carbon

joelg — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:05:25 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

What's Happening?

As cleantech businesses gathers speed, conferences abound. Instead of flying speakers and attendees around the country or the world to attend them, why not host them virtually? That's what's happening today and tomorrow, 12/10 and 12/11, online at the Virtual Energy Forum. Open to the public, attendance is free.

Speakers include:

- Joseph Kelliher, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- James E. Rogers CEO, Duke Energy
- Paul P. Bollinger Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy and Partnerships, US Army
- Roland Risser, Director for Customer Energy Efficiency Pacific Gas and Electric
- Kathleen Hogan, Director, Climate Protection Partnerships Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Category: Metaverse
Year: 2008
Tags: virtual, energy, conference

Buddy Can you Spare a $Billion? How about $18b? Automakers Ask Congress for Loans

joelg — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:28:55 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

What Happened?
Responding to the US government's request that they provide plans for what they would do with government loans, the Big Three automanufacturers presented their plans. Here's an overview of what they're asking.

The Big Three automakers all describe a 'perfect storm':

- sales down 30% or so from last year due to downturn in economy
- credit markets frozen so they can't offer credit to car buyers, accelerating the decrease in sales.
- All in various stages of transition to new technology (smaller vehicles, electric vehicles, more fuel efficient gas engines & drive trains, etc.)

'Help us through this rough patch,' they all seem to be saying, 'and we'll help you by not tanking the economy even further.' GM is the most direct in articulating the threat. "A failure by GM will likely trigger catastrophic damage to the U.S. economy..." while Chrysler goes into detail why a bailout is preferable to bankruptcy. Ford's the most upbeat. "We note that Ford is in a different situation from our competitors, in that we believe our Company has the necessary liquidity to weather this current economic downturn – assuming that it is of limited duration."

Here's what they're asking for:

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: auto, manufacturers, car, bailout, government, loan

Global Weirding: A Solar Company Makes An Unsuccessful Bid for an Auto Company

joelg — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:51:28 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

What Happened?

Call it a man bites dog story for the clean energy era. German solar cell manufacturer SolarWorld recently made a bid for Opel, GM’s European car company.

Not that Opel was for sale. But it does show that at least one solar manufacturer is looking for a way to make a solar powered car.

What This Means for the Future of Energy

SolarWorld Chairman Frank H. Asbeck insists the offer is in good faith. SolarWorld is betting that GM is in bad enough shape that they’d have to sell off assets, such as European brands, making an easier entry into the automotive market for SolarWorld than having to create a car company from scratch.

More importantly, it shows that the electric vehicle market is up for grabs. SolarWorld wanted to buy a car manufacturer so that they could get a leg up on bringing an electric vehicle to market; then, they could sell the solar panels that could be used to charge it up. One solar installer consulted for the reality of solar panels powering an electric vehicle quoted an installation costing $12,000 to $15,000 to be adequate to charge up a typical electric vehicle.

Could this be a signal that cleantech could lead the way in many business deals in the future? What’s next, a bid from First Solar for Chrysler?

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: solar, car, gm, opel, solarworld

[Blogpinion] GM Volt Enthusiast Asks the Government to Turn the Bailout up to Eleven

joelg — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:07:19 +0000

by Joel Greenberg

What Happened?
Dr. Lyle J. Dennis today asked readers of his GM-Volt.com enthusiast site to sign a petition asking the Bush Administration to bail out GM. As a public advocate of the electrification of the automobile, Dennis believes without a bailout, GM will die and so will the Volt, not to mention Project Driveway, GM’s fuel cell initiative.

GM has announced the Chevy Volt will ship in 2010 with a price somewhere in the $30,000 dollar range. The big question is whether or not GM will survive long enough to see 2010 and the release of the Volt.

Why This Is Important to the Future of Energy
The first successfully mass marketed electric vehicle will tip the market away from oil and to electricity.

Here at The Energy Roadmap we’ve been talking over Skype about the Volt’s future given the economy. Garry Golden told me, “At the end of the day, they’re likely to tank Chrysler before they tank General Motors if they see it as a much more functional and valuable company.’”

Says Golden, “GM is in the best position to make this leap to electric vehicles,” because of their R&D commitment to these vehicles.

If there’s time.

What to Watch For

Category: Transportation
Year: 2008
Tags: chevy, volt, gm, bailout, scenarios

[Blogpinion] Making Cents of Lower Gas Prices

joelg — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

What Happened?

Gas prices have dropped to under $2/gal at some gas stations around the country. “It feels like the 1970’s, with people waiting in line for gas,” one observer says as she waited to fill up at almost half the price of what she was paying earlier in the year. But unlike the ‘70’s (or two months ago) there now seems to be plenty of supply.

So why are prices so low, almost two months after gas shortages in places like Atlanta, due primarily to Hurricane Ike? (Click here to read a twitter history of Atlantans and their search for gas.)

The simplest answer appears to be the low demand as a result of the slow down in the economy worldwide, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

As Amory Lovins points out, we can lower our demand faster than Saudi Arabia can lower their production, although his idea is to lower demand with more efficient vehicles, not via a global economic slowdown.

Why is this important to the Future of Energy?

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: gas, gasoline, price, pricing, refinery, refining, pump, oil, crude

The Utility of the Future? Austin Energy's Strategic Plan

joelg — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 06:34:41 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Austin Energy, the electricity company owned by the city of Austin, TX, , is asking for public input into their strategic planning process for power generation through 2020. The question they’re trying to answer is, “What should be the right mix of technologies for generating electricity? How much of energy over the next 10-12 years should come from coal, nuclear, natural gas, solar, wind, biomass, etc.?”

Austin City Council has given Austin Energy two goals: - 30% renewables by 2020, including 100 MW of solar. - Lower carbon emissions—all NEW power generation should be carbon-neutral, however, City Council provided no other goals for lowering green house gas emissions.

Austin Energy estimates that the city will be short by 627 MW in 2020 if current growth trends continue. The gap can be reduced to 238 MW if conversation efforts are stepped up. Either way, Austin Energy will need to be generating more electricity in 10 years, but how?

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO THE FUTURE OF ENERGY?

Category: Economics
Year: 2008
Tags: energy, austin, utility, grid

[Video] EV's, PHEV's and the Grid. Austin Energy's Roger Duncan Talks Electricity

joelg — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:27:16 +0000

By Joel Greenberg

With every major automotive manufacturer announcing an electric vehicle, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to debut in the next 2-5 years, it’s clear that these vehicles are poised to compete in the mass market. But how did we get here? Where do we need to go to make this happen? Is the grid ready?

p=.

Roger Duncan, General Manager of Austin Energy, discusses these issues from the point of view of the person responsible for delivering electricity to these vehicles.

Category: Energy
Year: 2008
Tags: pluginelectric, vehicles, phev, ev, grid, austin, energy, roger, duncan, hydrogen, plugin, partners, program

MemeBox FutureBlogger

Yucca Mountain Nuclear Storage on Ice. Now What?

Gaming Our Way to Efficiency

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #2 The Year of Scientific Breakthroughs

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #8 The Rise of Local Initiatives

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #7 Geeks Go Green

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #10 Emerging Energy Missionaries & Visionaries

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #9 Infrastructure Gains Attention

Top Energy Stories of 2008 : #6 The Clean Coal Lobby Breaks Through the Clutter...and Gets a Response

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #5 The Dying Gasp of Corn Ethanol

Top Energy Stories of 2008. #4 From $147 to $50: The Price of Oil

Top Energy Stories of 2008: #3 The Obama Election

Energy Story of 2008: #1 Electrification of the Passenger Car

The Top 10 Energy Stories of 2008

Virtual Energy Forum: More Talk, Less Carbon

Buddy Can you Spare a $Billion? How about $18b? Automakers Ask Congress for Loans

Global Weirding: A Solar Company Makes An Unsuccessful Bid for an Auto Company

[Blogpinion] GM Volt Enthusiast Asks the Government to Turn the Bailout up to Eleven

[Blogpinion] Making Cents of Lower Gas Prices

The Utility of the Future? Austin Energy's Strategic Plan

[Video] EV's, PHEV's and the Grid. Austin Energy's Roger Duncan Talks Electricity