Group items tagged

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

"Abstract Most baby-boomers have some familiarity with the classical stigma surrounding aluminum conductors in residential and commercial applications: fire hazard. Mention aluminum wiring in a building or residence and, not surprisingly, a lot of folks will react as if the structure in question should be condemned. How did aluminum get this reputation? Was it deserved? Is it still a valid assumption with today's modern aluminum alloys? Many of the historical stigmas associated with aluminum can be attributed to technical design problems of the older alloys that have now been overcome by higher quality materials and/or addressed by aluminum specific design considerations. This paper addresses the aforementioned issues and investigates the current status of aluminum conductor technology as applied to subsea power cables with a specific emphasis on the following: The Element Aluminum; Early History of Aluminum; Historical Stigmas; Technical Advances; Aluminum (Al) versus Copper (Cu); Aluminum Subsea Cable Experience"

"This market insight provides an outlook of the growth opportunities for the rail industry in India. Ambitious government plans coupled with unprecedented levels of foreign investment are leading to a complete overhaul of the rail environment in India. Over 39 cities are planning to invest in expansive urban rail networks to address severe traffic congestion problems. High-speed rail and dedicated freight corridors are planned to separate passenger and freight traffic to increase operating efficiency."

A new era for commodities Cheap resources underpinned economic growth for much of the 20th century. The 21st will be different. NOVEMBER 2011 * Richard Dobbs, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Fraser Thompson Source: McKinsey Global Institute, Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice In This Article Exhibit: In little more than a decade, soaring commodity prices have erased a century of steady declines. About the authors Comments (2) Has the global economy entered an era of persistently high, volatile commodity prices? Our research shows that during the past eight years alone, they have undone the decline of the previous century, rising to levels not seen since the early 1900s (exhibit). In addition, volatility is now greater than at any time since the oil-shocked 1970s because commodity prices increasingly move in lockstep. Our analysis suggests that they will remain high and volatile for at least the next 20 years if current trends hold-barring a major macroeconomic shock-as global resource markets oscillate in response to surging global demand and inelastic supplies. Back to top Demand for energy, food, metals, and water should rise inexorably as three billion new middle-class consumers emerge in the next two decades.1 The global car fleet, for example, is expected almost to double, to 1.7 billion, by 2030. In India, we expect calorie intake per person to rise by 20 percent during that period, while per capita meat consumption in China could increase by 60 percent, to 80 kilograms (176 pounds) a year. Demand for urban infrastructure also will soar. China, for example, could annually add floor space totaling 2.5 times the entire residential and commercial square footage of the city of Chicago, while India could add floor space equal to another Chicago every year. Such dramatic growth in demand for commodities actually isn't unusual. Similar factors were at play throughout the 20th century as the planet's population tripled and demand for various resource

"Conflict mining remains an important issue, and one we are beginning to see governments step in to address in different ways. With the global economy as interconnected as ever, it's important to note that many of the products and technologies we use in our daily lives begin at the same source: mines. With leading companies across industries such as electronics, retail and jewelry, auto manufacturing, lighting aerospace, construction, and other industries relying on these commonly used 3TG metals - tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold - implementing effective regulation is essential in order to further advance support to eliminate or reduce human rights violation."

General Motors Corp., along with a consortium of more than 30 utilities and a non-profit electric industry research group, has struck a deal to forestall potential problems when the company introduces its new electric vehicle to the nation's showrooms. An EPRI official also emphasized the grid aspects of the collaboration. Said Arshad Mansoor, the organization's vice president of power delivery: "Seemless integration of [plug-in hybrid electric vehicles] into the electric grid will require close collaboration between the automobile and electric sectors." The statements from EPRI and the car company also address safe and convenient vehicle charging, public education and other public policies, including codes and standards. Among the utility participants in the collaboration are Consolidated Edison of New York, Duke Energy, First Energy Corp., Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. Others are listed as part of the EPRI statement. The research organization last year released a report along with the Natural Resources Defense Council that concluded plug-in hybrids had the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions. GM, meanwhile, emphasized the cost benefit of the new vehicles, saying consumers could find that the per-mile expense of an electric vehicle would be about one-fifth that of a gas-powered car.

Mitsui Mining & Smelting addressed this by covering the silicon with thin copper and creating a structure with spaces to accommodate the swelling of the cell inside its negative electrode.

The $1.5 billion expansion of Alcoa's Wagerup alumina refinery is under a cloud after an environmental report released yesterday found the industrial giant would have to review its airmonitoring practices to address emissions and odours from the facility.

Even the environmentalists who addressed the final day of an OPEC seminar acknowledged oil was a fuel for the future, with oil, gas and coal expected to account for around 80 percent of the world's energy until 2030.

During the inaugural address, P Parvathisem, former president, IIM and former CMD of NALCO and also Hindustan Copper Ltd, said that India remained unaffected by the global meltdown mainly because of various regulatory and control mechanisms and by nature being conservative in our approach. India was expected to grow at about 7 per cent. India witnessed substantial growth, progress in Zinc and Copper production and have to progressively invest in exploration and mining. In case of Aluminium, India was endowed with rich deposits and required R&D efforts for making Alumina. In case of lead, we should strive to develop it in a big way, he said.

Top-level executives disagree with other senior executives on how much their companies are doing to address energy efficiency, according to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). In the survey by EIU and Ingersoll-Rand, 49 percent of C-suite executives said their organizations do not do enough to integrate energy efficiency into business strategy, compared to 61 percent of executives below that level.

"Their paper (Insurance Market Perception of Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials Risks; pdf) in the Risk Management newsletter of The Geneva Association seeks to address this gap by providing some insight into the insurers' awareness and perception on nanotechnology and nanomaterials risks. "

""The water footprint, like the carbon footprint, will become an increasingly critical factor to consider in addressing reliable and sustainable energy development worldwide.""

"addressing bottlenecks in the energy, mining and power sectors; * increasing investment to help close India's major infrastructure gaps; "