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Glycon Garcia

Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy | Video on TED.com - 0 views

www.ted.com/..._link_to_renewable_energy.html

renewable battery

shared by Glycon Garcia on 27 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy
  • What's the key to using alternative energy, like solar and wind? Storage -- so we can have power on tap even when the sun's not out and the wind's not blowing. In this accessible, inspiring talk, Donald Sadoway takes to the blackboard to show us the future of large-scale batteries that store renewable energy. As he says: "We need to think about the problem differently. We need to think big. We need to think cheap." Donald S
  • Glycon Garcia on 27 Mar 12
     
    "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
Colin Bennett

Where we are headed: Peak oil and the financial crisis - 0 views

www.theoildrum.com/5230

trends copper oil economy

shared by Colin Bennett on 26 Mar 09 - Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 26 Mar 09
     
    I believe this assumption is basically incorrect. The current financial crisis is a direct result of peak oil. There may be oscillations in the economic situation, but generally, we can't expect things to get much better. In fact, there is a very distinct possibility that things may get very much worse in the next few years. In this post, I will put together some of the pieces I see. This post is based on a presentation, so includes more than the usual amount of graphics. The post repeats many things I have said before, but I wanted to bring more of the pieces together into more of an overview article. This is a link to a PDF version of the presentation. This is a link to the Powerpoint version.
Hans De Keulenaer

Living with Just 100 Things- It Started with a Guy Named Dave | celsias° - 0 views

www.celsias.com/...ings-it-started-guy-named-dave

microtrends

shared by Hans De Keulenaer on 13 Jul 08 - Cached
  • Hans De Keulenaer on 13 Jul 08
     
    Dave has vowed to par down his belongings and live with just 100 things by November 12, 2008 and carry on this way for a year. This is an awesome and inspiring project- and based on the internet buzz, including coverage in Time Magazine , hundreds of people agree. It seems this guy, Dave has become a bit of a hero.
Colin Bennett

Cleantech Blog: The Next Big Thing in Cleantech Venturing - 0 views

www.cleantechblog.com/...ng-in-cleantech-venturing.html

trends

shared by Colin Bennett on 01 Jul 08 - Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 01 Jul 08
     
    the top 4 contenders are: 1. Green building materials - I'm not sure it would be my thing, but investors across the board seem to think this area is ripe for a hit. 2. Carbon IT - With some sort of cap and trade a near certainty, the interest is picking up in one of the few areas in carbon that looks like a "venture bet". I should know, I have one of these companies myself. 3. Food related technologies - High food prices and rising fertilizer costs, what can I say? 4. N-generation solar technologies - Everyone not in the first wave is looking to get in to the 4th wave. Not sure venture investors will fare better in the 3rd or 4th wave than they did in the second, but they are going to try.
Colin Bennett

Ferraris for all: geo-engineering - 0 views

www.danielbenami.com/...alysis-on-geo-engineering.html

trends

shared by Colin Bennett on 01 Aug 08 - Cached
  • some are arguing that things are getting so bad that geo-engineering might be necessary despite the possibility of damaging unintended consequences. On the other hand, others are worried that discussing geo-engineering could shift the discussion away from decarbonisation. An added worry seems to be that developing countries such as China and India – those that most need
  • Colin Bennett on 01 Aug 08
     
    the most detailed popular discussion of geo-engineering I have come across so far. In broad terms three possible techniques were identified:\n\n* Removing carbon dioxide from the oceans.\n* Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.\n* Using lenses or mirrors to divert sunlight from the planet.\n\nHowever, the discussion is still wracked with anxiety. On the one hand, some are arguing that things are getting so bad that geo-engineering might be necessary despite the possibility of damaging unintended consequences. On the other hand, others are worried that discussing geo-engineering could shift the discussion away from decarbonisation. An added worry seems to be that developing countries such as China and India - those that most need great increases in energy supply - could take a lead in developing the technology.\n
Colin Bennett

Why an Intelligence Explosion is Probable - 0 views

ieet.org/...loosemore20110322

trends copper

shared by Colin Bennett on 24 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • But if nature was forced to use the pipes-and-ion-channels approach, that leaves us with plenty of scope for speeding things up using silicon and copper (and this is quite apart from all the other more exotic computing substrates that are now on the horizon).  If we were simply to make a transition membrane depolarization waves to silicon and copper, and if this produced a 1,000x speedup (a conservative estimate, given the intrinsic difference between the two forms of signalling), this would be an explosion worthy of the name.
  • Colin Bennett on 24 Mar 11
     
    "But if nature was forced to use the pipes-and-ion-channels approach, that leaves us with plenty of scope for speeding things up using silicon and copper (and this is quite apart from all the other more exotic computing substrates that are now on the horizon). If we were simply to make a transition membrane depolarization waves to silicon and copper, and if this produced a 1,000x speedup (a conservative estimate, given the intrinsic difference between the two forms of signalling), this would be an explosion worthy of the name."
Colin Bennett

The 4 reasons grid-scale energy storage is the next big thing - 0 views

www.smartgridnews.com/...s-the-Next-Big-Thing-6139.html

trends copper utility energy storage

shared by Colin Bennett on 04 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • By next March, utilities must submit applications to buy storage to supply 1% of projected peak demand for 2020. Pumped hydro is not eligible.
Colin Bennett

Lack of technical talent to help drive substitution - 0 views

www.metalbulletin.com/...o-help-drive-substitution.html

trends copper substitution

shared by Colin Bennett on 17 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 17 Jun 15
     
    "The retirement of experienced copper industry executives and the lack of trained technical replacements is helping to drive substitution and is likely to lead to more mergers and acquisitions as the industry adapts, senior industry executives said. A group of panelists at Metal Bulletin-American Metal Market's copper seminar in New York this week said that the copper sector needed to be far more proactive in attracting new talent and ensuring the gap in the professional supply chain is filled. "One thing that is driving substitution is the retirement of engineers that were very tied into the thought that copper wiring was the only alternative and that aluminium was unsafe," said Stu Thorn, CEO of Southwire. Thorn said the idea that aluminium was unsafe "almost became a psychological obsession" despite the development of new technologies to make it safe. "Now that generation of engineers is retiring, the new generation coming up doesn't necessarily have that same level of bias [towards copper], but what they do have is the drive to make more money, to reduce costs, and find cheaper alternatives," he told the seminar. "There is a shift..."
Colin Bennett

Turbulence in the Markets: How Speculators Are Crippling the Copper Industry - SPIEGEL ... - 0 views

www.spiegel.de/...0,1518,724140-4,00.html

trends copper

shared by Colin Bennett on 05 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • This is, in fact, the crux of the argument: It isn't enough to simply establish clear rules in a trading center. Governments can only successfully combat speculators if they coordinate their efforts worldwide and remove the cloak of secrecy from their commodities transactions. As long as this fails to happen, the price of copper will remain unpredictable and industry will be at the mercy of speculators. Companies will no longer be able to assume that copper will be expensive when it's scarce and cheap when it's available in abundance. Speculation destroys the basic signaling function that prices have in a market economy, says Heiner Flassbeck, chief economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Although a lot of money moves around as a result of price distortions, speculation doesn't create any real value, says Flassbeck. "The only thing that's created is an illusion of value." Making Life Difficult for Everyone In the end, the popular assessment that speculators are the purest of capitalists is by no means correct. In truth, they are the biggest enemies of the market, because they undermine its central mechanism, the efficient balancing of supply and demand. In doing so, they make life difficult for everyone: for industry, which can no longer predict how expensive its raw materials will be; for consumers, who are forced to bear the costs; and, finally, for copper producers, who face more risk when planning ahead. When the executives at CODELCO in Santiago make investment decisions today, it will be another three to five years before the results become visible. That's how long it takes to develop a new mine or expand an existing mine. The company plans to invest about $15 billion by 2015, but its executives have never been so uncertain about whether their predictions are correct. One thing is clear: Production costs will continue to rise. Now that deposits near the surface, which are easier to mine, are becoming depleted, mining companies are forced to dig deeper and deeper pits.
xxx xxx

BPA Consulting Evaluates Copper Trends in PCBs - 0 views

www.pcb007.com/...article.aspx

automotive copper power

shared by xxx xxx on 15 Jul 08 - Cached
xxx xxx liked it
  • xxx xxx on 15 Jul 08
     
    Mention copper to almost anyone in the PCB industry these days and the first thing that springs to mind is the ongoing price increase. Although copper pricing is not directly monitored by BPA, the impact on the price of laminate and PCBs is monitored through BPA's quarterly survey for its PCB Information Service. \n\nIn the short term, forecasted increases on the demand side for copper prices are likely to remain at least at the current level. The trend in copper usage has diverged in the fact that a number of different applications now exist. \n\nAt one time, 1 ounce (35µm) copper was standard, but the average is now 0.5 ounces. Using thinner copper, if the design will allow, can, to some extent, offset a price increase. However, one segment of the PCB industry which is particularly vulnerable to copper prices is the automotive sector, where recent developments have seen the introduction of thick copper PCBs for smart fuse boxes and power electronics. These boards use 4 ounce, 6 ounce and 10 ounce copper--up to 20 times the standard thickness.
xxx xxx

Venture Capital Stronger Than It Might Seem - 0 views

industry.bnet.com/...al-stronger-then-it-might-seem

renewable energy

shared by xxx xxx on 22 Jul 08 - Cached
  • xxx xxx on 22 Jul 08
     
    Venture capital is one of the pulses of the industry, and so a headline that VC investments are dropping by double digits is enough to catch the eye of anyone involved in the high tech ecosphere. But when you look at more data, things don't look bleak. On one hand, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, investment is down:\n\nIn the second quarter of 2008, quarterly venture capital investment in U.S. companies slipped below the $7 billion mark for the first time in 18 months. According to the Quarterly U.S. Venture Capital Report released today by Dow Jones VentureSource (http://www.venturecapital.dowjones.com), investment fell 12% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year with $6.64 billion put into 602 deals, the lowest quarterly deal count since 2005. The $7.58 billion invested in second quarter of 2007 was the second-highest quarterly totals recorded since the end of the dot-com boom in 2001.\n\nYet it's not all bad news because there was " steady deal activity and investment in the first half of the year," according to Dow Jones VentureSource director of global research Jessica Canning.\n\n"The movement of venture dollars from the traditional areas of information technology and health care toward burgeoning sectors like renewable energy, power management, and agriculture - or 'clean technology' areas - proves that venture capitalists are making good on their promise to tap opportunities in the massive energy market," said Ms. Canning.
Colin Bennett

China copper confidence contrasts with aluminium woe - 0 views

english.eviewweek.com/rasts-with-aluminium-woe.shtml

trends copper china

shared by Colin Bennett on 20 Jan 09 - Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 20 Jan 09
     
    Capacity is dividing China's metals producers, with the country's top copper refiner looking for an upturn in a balanced market and the leading aluminium firm hoping things will not get worse.
Colin Bennett

European copper premiums unlikely to rise - 0 views

www.mineweb.com/...page504

copper trends finance

shared by Colin Bennett on 11 Dec 08 - Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 11 Dec 08
     
    "There's nothing going on. People have stopped buying and it doesn't look any better for the first part of next year either," said a physical trader. "People don't want to carry too much stock over the year-end but they don't have a lot of choice because of the turndown in demand. If people have got metal the best thing they can do is dump it on warrant and get paid by the warehouses," he said.
Colin Bennett

Greentech Media: Cleantech Investing » Blog Archive » The Innovation Cycle an... - 0 views

blogs.greentechmedia.com/...nd-the-commercialization-cycle

solar

shared by Colin Bennett on 22 Apr 08 - Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 22 Apr 08
     
    It was necessarily a brief overview, but one thing that came through for me loud and clear (yet again) was how short the Innovation Cycle is in many of these sectors.
Wade Ren

Demographic projections and trade implications - 0 views

piaohaoreport.sampasite.com/...aphic-projections-and-trad.htm

trend

shared by Wade Ren on 22 May 08 - Cached
  •   To summarize the raw numbers, China’s population is expected to grow from 1.32 billion today to 1.46 billion in 2030, after which it will decline slowly, to around 1.42 billion in 2050.  Its working population is currently around 840 million.  This component of the population will rise in the next ten years to around 910 million and then will decline quite rapidly to around 790 million by 2050.
  • The graph below shows the composition of China’s population by age group.  Needless to say the most dramatic change is the explosive growth of the over-65 population, followed by the decline in the share of the young.  Another way of understanding this is to note that China’s median age basically climbs over this period from 24 to 45 (which, by the way, may have favorable consequence for long-term political stability).
  • I don’t have the figures yet from before 1990, but looking at other sources I would guess that China’s working population grew by about 2% or more annually during the 1970s and 1980s.  In the 1990s, as the table indicates, the growth rate of the working population slowed to 1.72%, declining further in the current decade to around 1.42% on average.  The number of working Chinese keeps growing until around the middle of the next decade, and then begins to decline by about half a percent a year.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • All this has important implications both for nominal growth rates and per capita growth rates in the next few decades.  For one thing, a country’s GDP growth rate can be expressed as a factor of the growth rate of its working population and the growth rate of average productivity per worker.  As the growth rate of the working population swings from positive to negative – by a little more than 2%, depending on what periods you compare – this will have a commensurate impact on Chinese GDP growth rates, i.e. all other things being equal (which of course they are not).  China’s equilibrium growth rate should be about 2% lower than the equilibrium growth rate of the past two or three decades.
  •  This implies that over the last three decades China has had a demographic bias towards trade surpluses (working population, a proxy for production, grew faster than total population, a proxy for consumption), but over the next three decades it is likely to have a demographic bias towards trade deficits.  
  • Three years ago I argued in a Wall Street Journal OpEd piece that because of the aging and declining populations of Europe and Japan (and to a lesser extent China and Russia), compared to the growing population and relatively stable age distribution in the US, it was not unreasonable for the former countries to run large current account surpluses with the US since they would need the accumulated claims against the US to pay for the current account deficits they would need to run to manage their demographic adjustments.  This is why I have never been terribly worried about the sustainability of the US trade deficit.  In the next decade it is likely that demographic changes will create pressures to reverse those US trade deficits.
Colin Bennett

Researchers develop copper nanowires for field-emission displays - Engadget - 0 views

www.engadget.com/...es-for-field-emission-displays

trends

shared by Colin Bennett on 07 May 08 - Cached
  • Colin Bennett on 07 May 08
     
    It's been a little while since we've heard of any significant progress in field-emission displays, but a group of researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign now seem to be shaking things up a bit, with them touting new copper nanowires that could one day be used for ultra-thin FED screens.
Colin Bennett

80 Things To Watch for in 2008 - JWT Predictions - 0 views

www.trendhunter.com/jwt

trend

shared by Colin Bennett on 02 Jan 08 - Cached
  • JWT, the world’s fourth largest advertising agency, was originally founded by William James Carlton in 1864 and renamed by James Walter Thompson in 1877 to The James Walter Thompson Company (JWT). It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP Group, headquartered in New York, and has just released its list of 80 things to watch in 2008.
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