Thursday, November 27, 2014
Big nuclear power company decides renewables are a better bet in the U S
The world’s largest operator of nuclear power plants is dumping its stake in American reactors, turning its focus instead to wind and solar power. French utility company EDF announced this week that it will sell its stake in Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG), which operates five nuclear reactors in New York and Maryland.EDF cited cheap power produced by fracked natural gas as the big reason why it’s abandoning its American nuclear facilities. But the company said it will now focus its American business strategy not on fossil fuels but on renewable energy.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Clock In The Mountain
There is a Clock ringing deep inside a mountain. It is a huge Clock, hundreds of feet tall, designed to tick for 10,000 years. Every once in a while the bells of this buried Clock play a melody. Each time the chimes ring, it’s a melody the Clock has never played before. The Clock’s chimes have been programmed to not repeat themselves for 10,000 years. Most times the Clock rings when a visitor has wound it, but the Clock hoards energy form a different source and occasionally it will ring itself when no one is around to hear it. It’s anyone’s guess how many beautiful songs will never be heard over the Clock’s 10 millennial lifespan.
The Clock is real. It is now being built inside a mountain in western Texas. This Clock is the first of many millennial Clocks the designers hope will be built around the world and throughout time. There is a second site for another Clock already purchased at the top of a mountain in eastern Nevada, a site surrounded by a very large grove of 5,000-year-old bristlecone pines.
Appropriately, bristlecone pines are among the longest-lived organisms on the planet. The designers of the Clock in Texas expect its chimes will keep ringing twice as long as the oldest 5 millennia-old bristlecone pine. Ten thousand years is about the age of civilization, so a 10K-year Clock would measure out a future of civilization equal to its past. That assumes we are in the middle of whatever journey we are on – an implicit statement of optimism.
The Clock is now being machined and assembled in California and Seattle. Meantime the mountain in Texas is being readied. Why would anyone build a Clock inside a mountain with the hope that it will ring for 10,000 years? Part of the answer: just so people will ask this question, and having asked it, prompt themselves to conjure with notions of generations and millennia. If you have a Clock ticking for 10,000 years what kinds of generational-scale questions and projects will it suggest? If a Clock can keep going for ten millennia, shouldn’t we make sure our civilization does as well? If the Clock keeps going after we are personally long dead, why not attempt other projects that require future generations to finish? The larger question is, as virologist Jonas Salk once asked, “Are we being good ancestors?"
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Splitting of prime ideals in quadratic extensions of ℚ part 1
If this is all Greek to you, I apologize, but thats unavoidable at this stage of a rather technical subject. You may want to go back to the earliest parts of the series to see how the subject got its start and why it may be interesting.
The discussion in the previous installment probably seems rather dry and abstract, but when we look at simple examples, such as quadratic extensions, why its interesting becomes clearer.
Because of how the ramification indexes and inertial degrees are related, for any prime ideal (p) of ℤ there are only three different possibilities for how the ideal factors in the ring of integers of a quadratic extension:
- (p)=P1⋅P2, so (p) splits completely. (e=f=1, g=2)
- (p)=P is a prime ideal in ℚ(√d), so p is inert. (e=g=1, f=2)
- (p)=P2 where P is prime, and p is ramified. (f=g=1, e=2)
It turns out that there are simple criteria for each of these cases. But figuring out what the criteria are is tricky.
Recall that in ℚ(√3) we found (13)=(4+√3)⋅(4-√3) and (-11)=(8+5√3)⋅(8-5√3), so both (11) and (13) split completely. Clearly, (3)=(√3)2, so (3) is an example of a prime ideal if ℤ that is ramified. How about an example of a prime ideal that is inert in the extension? This is a little harder for a couple of reasons. (p) will be inert just in case it neither splits nor is ramified, but we dont yet have simple criteria to rule out those cases.
So lets back up a little and look at the details. We found examples where (p) splits in the integers of ℚ(√3) by solving the equation ±p=a2-3b2, because that gave elements a±b√3 whose norm was ±p. Being able to find such elements guaranteed that the prime split. But ℚ(√d) with d=3 is a special case, since here d≡3 (mod 4). In that case, and also if d≡2 (mod 4), the integers of the extension have the form a+b√d with a,b∈ℤ.
If d≡1 (mod 4), integers can also have the form (a+b√d)/2, with a,b∈ℤ, and we might have a factorization like (p) = ((a+b√d)/2)⋅((a-b√d)/2), so we would have also to consider solvability of ±4p=a2-3b2. If we were to look at solvability of the approriate equation, according as to whether or not d≡1 (mod 4), the solvability would be a sufficient condition for (p) to split (or ramify if a=0). Notice that this sufficient condition for (p) to split holds regardless of whether or not ℚ(√d) is a PID.
Now we need to find a convenient necessary condition for (p) to split. Unfortunately, solvability of one simple equation is not a necessary condition in general. It would be, as well see in a minute, if the ring of integers of ℚ(√d) happens to be a PID, as is true when d=3. However, in quadratic extensions where the ring of integers isnt a PID, being unable to solve the applicable equation doesnt guarantee (p) cannot split, because there might be non-principal ideals that are factors of (p).
So lets ignore that problem for a moment and just focus on the case where the ring of integers of ℚ(√d) is a PID. Can we then find a necessary condition on p for (p) to split or ramify, i. e. for (p) to not be a prime ideal of the integers of ℚ(√d)? That is, what must be true about p if (p) splits or ramifies?
If (p) splits or ramifies, then (p)=P1⋅P2 for nontrivial ideals Pi. (The ideals are the same or distinct according as (p) ramifies or splits.) Assuming ℚ(√d) is a PID, then P1 is generated by a+b√d where both a,b∈ℤ, if d≡2 or 3 (mod 4), or else by (a+b√d)/2 with a,b∈ℤ, if d≡1 (mod 4). Likewise, the conjugate ideal P2 is generated by a-b√d or (a-b√d)/2. Since p∈P1⋅P2, by definition of a product of ideals, p is of the form p = ε(a+b√d)(a-b√d) = ε(a2-db2) or p = ε(a+b√d)(a-b√d)/4 = ε(a2-db2)/4 for some integer ε of ℚ(√d).
Recall that the norm of an element of a Galois extension field is the product of all conjugates of the element. So for an element that is also in the base field, the norm (with respect to a quadratic extension, which is always Galois) is the square of the element. Taking norms of both sides of the possible equations, then either p2 = N(&epsilon)(a2-db2)2 or 16p2 = N(&epsilon)(a2-db2)2. For simplicity, consider just the first case. Then N(ε) is a positive integer that has to be 1, p, or p2. If N(ε)≠1 then N(a±b√d) = a2-db2 must be ±1, so a±b√d must be a unit, and both Pi must be non-proper ideals (i. e. equal to the whole ring). Hence N(ε)=1. This will be true also in the other case (when d≡1 (mod 4)), so ±p=a2-db2 or ±4p=a2-db2. Consequently, solvability of the appropriate equation (depending on d mod 4), is a necessary condition for (p) to split or ramify.
So we have a necessary and sufficient condition for (p) to split or ramify in ℚ(√d), in terms of solvability of Diophantine equations, provided Oℚ(√d) is a PID. Since the only other possibility is for (p) to be inert, we also have a necessary and sufficient condition for that.
However, still assuming that Oℚ(√d) is a PID, we can find a further necessary condition for (p) to split or ramify. Take those equations we just found and reduce them modulo p. Then both equations become a2≡db2 (mod p). Since p is prime, ℤ/pℤ is a field. Assume first that b≢0 (mod p). Then b has an inverse in the finite field. So we have d≡(a/b)2 (mod p). In other words, d is a square mod p. This is the additional necessary condition we were looking for on p in order for (p) to split or ramify. Since its a necessary condition, if d is not a square mod p, then (p) must not split or ramify, and thus p is inert. And so, for d to be a non-square mod p is a sufficient condition for p to be inert.
(What if b≡0 (mod p)? Then b=b1p. So ±p = a2 - (b1p)2d or else ±4p = a2 - (b1p)2d. Either way, p∣a, hence p2 divides the right side of either equation, and hence the left side also. But thats not possible unless p=2 – which is always a special case.)
To summarize, then, let p≠2 be prime and d square-free and not 0 or 1. Then the solvability of ±tp=a2-db2 (where t is 4 or 1 according as d≡1 (mod 4) or not), is sufficient for (p) to split or ramify. And if the integers of ℚ(√d) are a PID, then solvability of the appropriate equation provides a necessary and sufficient condition for (p) to split or ramify. Further, in that case, d being a square mod p is necessary for (p) to split or ramify.
Remarkably, d being a square mod p is a necessary and sufficient condition for (p) to split or ramify, even if the integers of ℚ(√d) arent a PID, but thats harder to prove. Since solvability of Diophantine equations is generally not obvious by inspection, its very convenient to have a necessary and sufficient conditions for (p) to split or ramify simply in terms of the properties of d mod p.
In the next installment, which hopefully will not be as long in coming as this one, well show a much cleaner way to state necessary and sufficient conditions for (p) to split, ramify, or remain inert, in the case of any quadratic extension of ℚ, whether or not the ring of integers is a PID. This will be done in terms of what has long been called a "reciprocity law".
However, that will be only the beginning. It turns out that there are far more general kinds of reciprocity laws for many other types of field extensions. Thats what "class field theory" is all about, and why the whole subject is so appealing, once you get the basic ideas.
Tags: algebraic number theory
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Nobel prize in physics
French scientist Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg of Germany have won the 2007 Nobel Prize for physics.
They discovered the phenomenon of "giant magnetoresistance", in which weak magnetic changes give rise to big differences in electrical resistance.
The knowledge has allowed industry to develop sensitive reading tools to pull data off hard drives in computers, iPods and other digital devices.
It has made it possible to radically miniaturise hard disks in recent years.
Well, thats good timing. I just wrote about the field of disk technology here. That article isnt about giant magnetoresistance per se, but that part of physics is certainly an important part of the big picture.
Here are other reports on the news:
Nobel prize recognizes GMR pioneers
Giant magnetoresistance, or GMR, is the sudden change in electrical resistance that occurs when a material consisting of alternating ferromagnetic and non-magnetic metal layers is exposed to a sufficiently high magnetic field. In particular, the resistance becomes much lower if the magnetization in neighbouring layers is parallel and much higher if it is antiparallel. This change in resistance is due to "spin up" and "spin down" electrons scattering differently in the individual layers.
GMR has since been used to develop extremely small and sensitive read heads for magnetic hard-disk drives. These have allowed an individual data bit to be stored in a much smaller area on a disk, boosting the storage capacity greatly. The first commercial read heads based on GMR were launched by IBM in 1997 and GMR is now a standard technology found in nearly all computers worldwide and is also used in some digital cameras and MP3 players.
More:
Discoverers Of Giant Magnetoresistance Used In Hard Drives Win 2007 Nobel Prize In Physics
Magnetic Effect Nets a Nobel (Sub. rqd.)
Effect that Revolutionized Hard Drives Nets a Nobel (Sub. rqd.)
The physics prize inside the iPod (Sub. rqd.)
Nobel Focus: Sensitive Magnetic Sandwich
Small is beautiful: Incredible shrinking memory drives new IT (also here)
2007 Nobel Prize in Physics
Hard-disk breakthrough wins Nobel Prize
Hard Drive Pioneers Win Nobel Prize
Physics of Hard Drives Wins Nobel
Physics Nobel Goes to German, Frenchman (AFP)
A Nobel Nod for Giant Discovery
Hard Drive Pioneers Win Nobel Prize
Nobel research means you can read this
Hard disk pioneers win physics Nobel
Disk technology takes Nobel Prize
Friday, October 24, 2014
Jobs In Green Technology
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Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Bloom to Open Factory in Delaware in Geographic Expansion
Fuel cell maker Bloom Energy will open a factory on the site of a mothballed auto plant in Delaware and begin to sell fuel cells in that state.
Delaware has a portfolio standard that seeks to get 25 percent of the states capacity from renewable sources by 2025. Governor Jack Markell is pushing to get fuel cells added to the definition of "renewable." Its not impossible. President Obama in his State of the Union speech argued for a "clean" energy standard that includes nuclear, clean coal and gas, instead of a "renewable" standard. Blooms fuel cells convert gas to electricity onsite and are more efficient in most cases than converting gas at a central power plant and delivering the power through the grid.
Local utility Delmarva Power has signed a contract to buy 30 megawatts worth of Bloom boxes. Thirty megawatts will mean 100 Bloom Energy Servers. Bloom has been selling the servers for around $700,000 to $800,000 each. …
The 200,000-square-foot plant is an old Chrysler plant. Delaware has two old auto plants. Fisker Automotive took over the other. Hence the nickname "The Old Factory State" you see on those new license plates. Its also probably not a coincidence that both Bloom and Fisker come out of the portfolio of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers. Once a VC firm links one deal with a state, others follow. Three Khosla Ventures portfolio companies have inked manufacturing deals laced with incentives with Mississippi.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Chevron Bets on 30 Billion Volcanoes in Indonesian Rainforest
Chevron Corp. drilled 84 wells to a depth of two miles beneath the Indonesian rainforest to tap steam, not oil and gas, thats trapped in the worlds richest store of volcanic energy.
The geothermal plant, set among wild orchids and bamboo trees, uses 315 degree Celsius (600 degree Fahrenheit) heat to spin turbines 24 hours a day, generating electricity for Jakarta, a four-hour drive to the north. The oil driller, which pioneered geothermal energy 20 years ago in Southeast Asias biggest economy, is about to see competition.
Companies from General Electric Co. to Indias Tata Corp. are leading an investment boom in Indonesia that may climb to more than $30 billion, anticipating President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will honor his promise in February to boost clean- energy subsidies. The pledge has spurred the biggest geothermal spending spree in Asia and the largest outside of the U.S.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Spain brings in measures to reduce oil dependence
Spain, aiming to reduce its dependence on oil as crude prices surge, will raise biofuel blending and lower both speed limits and rail fares, Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said on Friday.
The minimum proportion of biofuels to be mixed with mineral fuels, known as minimum blend, is to be raised to 7.0 percent from 5.8 percent, he said.
The news sent shares in biofuel maker Abengoa up nearly 5 percent.
The fuel-saving measures, which include cutting the speed limit on motorways to 110 kilometres per hour from 120 Km/h and lowering short and medium distance rail fares by up to 5 percent, will come into effect on March 7.
"A 10 euros increase in oil prices as has been seen in recent days increases our countrys energy costs by 6 billion euros per year, or 500 million per month," Rubalcaba said at a weekly news conference after a cabinet meeting.
Spain has little or no oil reserves, making it heavily dependent on imported oil.
Global Investment in Renewable Energy France
Renewable sources such as biomass and hydro participate to a significant extent of France’s energy mix. However, France is developing policies aimed at a more diversified mix which includes increasing wind and photovoltaic electricity, solar energy for heat and biofuels. France also has the second largest potential in the European Union in terms of wind energy and a very good potential in terms of solar and geothermal energy.
 |
| Learn more about renewable energy in France here. |
Policies
Motives
The level of production of large-scale and small-scale hydropower installations combined to represent 59,712 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of the total 64,439 GWh.
The second and third principal sources are biowaste (1,671 GWh) and solid biomass (1,371 GWh).
Solar power demonstrates an average annual growth of 90% (between 1997 and 2004), and for onshore wind power this figure is 58%.
Ghana’s economy will accelerate by 8 9 in 2012 – African Dev’t Bank
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Milestone Claimed in Creating Cellulosic Ethanol From Waste
After months of frustrating delays, a chemical company announced Wednesday that it had produced commercial quantities of ethanol from wood waste and other nonfood vegetative matter, a long-sought goal that, if it can be expanded economically, has major implications for providing vehicle fuel and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.The company, INEOS Bio, a subsidiary of the European oil and chemical company INEOS, said it had produced the fuel at its $130 million Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Fla., which it had hoped to open by the end of last year. The company said it was the first commercial-scale production of ethanol from cellulosic feedstock, but it did not say how much it had produced. Shipments will begin in August, the company said.
The process begins with wastes — wood and vegetative matter for now, municipal garbage later — and cooks it into a gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Bacteria eat the gas and excrete alcohol, which is then distilled. Successful production would eliminate some of the “food versus fuel” debate in the manufacturing of ethanol, which comes from corn. “Biomass gasification has not been done like this before, nor has the fermentation,” said Peter Williams, chief executive of INEOS Bio.
The plant, which uses methane gas from a nearby landfill, has faced a variety of problems. One was getting the methane, which is a greenhouse gas if released unburned, to the plant’s boilers. (The plan is to eventually run the plant on garbage that now goes to landfills.) Another problem was its reliance on the electrical grid.
The plant usually generates more power than it needs — selling the surplus to the local utility — and is supposed to be able to operate independently. But when thunderstorms knocked out the power grid, the plant unexpectedly shut down and it took weeks to get it running again, said Mark Niederschulte, the chief operating officer of INEOS Bio. “We’ve had some painful do/undo loops,” he said.
The plant has produced “truckloads” of ethanol, said Mr. Williams, but still has work to do to improve its yield. Mr. Niederschulte said, “Now we want to produce more ethanol from a ton of wood, rather than just making ethanol from a ton of wood.”
Monday, October 13, 2014
Origins Of Nervous System Found In Genes Of Sea Sponge
We also find complex subsystems with substantial similarities. So much so that the nervous system of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, which has all of 302 neurons in its whole nervous system (hermaphrodite version), is routinely used as an experimental model for the nervous systems of much more complex animals.
Perhaps even more astonishing than that, however, is that it now appears some genes important for modern nervous systems existed even before there were nervous systems – in sea sponges, which are just about the most primitive animals known.
Origins Of Nervous System Found In Genes Of Sea Sponge
Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered significant clues to the evolutionary origins of the nervous system by studying the genome of a sea sponge, a member of a group considered to be among the most ancient of all animals.
And not only are some of the genes there, but the proteins they represent may have interacted similarly to the way that corresponding proteins interact in modern synapses.
"It turns out that sponges, which lack nervous systems, have most of the genetic components of synapses," said Todd Oakley, co-author and assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UC Santa Barbara.
"Even more surprising is that the sponge proteins have signatures indicating they probably interact with each other in a similar way to the proteins in synapses of humans and mice," said Oakley. "This pushes back the origins of these genetic components of the nervous system to at or before the first animals ---- much earlier than scientists had previously suspected."
Other blog articles: here
Original research paper: here
Tags: synapses, neuroscience
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Renewable energy sources in United States – Full overview
Fossil fuels still dominate primary energy consumption in United States but the popularity of renewable energy sources continues to grow. According to a latest report from Worldwatch Institute U.S. invested more than $50 billion in renewable energy sources in 2011.
There are various reasons behind this huge investment. Renewable energy sources do not only ensure diversified energy portfolio that can reduce nations heavy dependence on foreign fuel import but they also provide us with an environmentally acceptable energy option, one that can be quite helpful against climate change.
Fossil fuels, when burn, release harmful greenhouse gas emissions, which leads to global warming and rapidly growing climate change impact. Using more renewable energy sources instead of solely relying on fossil fuels therefore means improving environmental condition of our planet, and reducing the negative effects of climate change.
Sadly, if we look at global energy consumption we can see that renewable energy sources are way behind fossil fuels, with many energy experts estimating that fossil fuels will likely remain dominant energy sources for the foreseeable future.
At the end of 2010 renewable energy sources accounted for 11.1 percent of energy produced in United States. The list of most important renewable energy sources in United States includes: hydropower, wind power, solar power, geothermal power and biomass.
Hydropower is renewable energy source that has long tradition in United States. It is currently the most important renewable energy source in the country, with around 7 percent of nations total power being produced by hydroelectric power plants. Hydroelectric plants arent necessarily connected with a large dam as in recent times we can see some hydroelectric power plants that just use a small canal to channel the river water through a turbine. Hydropower is not 100% environmentally friendly source of energy but when compared with environmental damage done by fossil fuels, its environmental impact is minimal, especially in correlation with current regulations and new environmental policies Hydropower, beside being reliable and one of the most cost-competitive renewable energy sources, can also provide some other important services beside generating electricity like irrigation, recreation, water supply, etc.
Wind power was for many years the fastest growing renewable energy source in the country, and has only recently being left behind solar power in terms of growth. U.S. was also for many years, global wind energy leader in terms of capacity, but in the last two years it trails China, as it cannot follow Chinas rapid pace. The U.S. states which lead the way in wind energy development are Texas, Iowa and California. Texas is also the home to the worlds largest wind farm, namely the Roscoe Wind Farm with the capacity of 780 MW. At the end of the 2011 wind power in the U.S. provided enough electricity to satisfy the need of almost ten million U.S. homes. The insecurity about the renewal of wind energy tax credit is hurting U.S. wind energy industry but regardless of this wind energy should still remain one of the top renewable energy sources in the country.
Solar power industry is the fastest growing industry in the country with many states offering significant incentives for solar energy systems. The prices of solar panels have fell by more than 40% in the last few years and solar power is more popular than ever before. However, even despite this strong growth, solar power still satisfies less than 1% of total U.S. energy needs. The sunny state of California is the leading U.S. state in installed solar power capacity with the capacity of over 500 megawatts. U.S. is still not the largest photovoltaic market in the world as it trails the leader Germany.
U.S. is the world leader in both installed capacity of geothermal energy as well as in the generation of electricity from geothermal energy. Geothermal power has half of century old history in United States with the first geothermal power plant opened at The Geysers in California, back in 1960. Geothermal power plants are concentrated in the West, and most geothermal power is generated using steam or hot water from underground. Geothermal energy currently meets less than 1% of U.S. power needs though some studies have showed that just western states have the potential to provide over 20 percent of national electricity needs. California leads the way in geothermal capacity, followed by Nevada.
The use of biomass is growing in United States, and currently provides about 4% of the total energy used in the country. Biomass does not only play the important role as a renewable energy source that generates electricity but can be also considered as a vital part of U.S. waste management infrastructure. The largest biomass energy resource in U.S. is still wood, followed by waste. Biomass power has great potential because it has origin in plant sources meaning that it can potentially be produced almost anywhere in the United States (plants can be re-grown time and time again on the same piece of land).
Renewable energy is still to achieve full renaissance in United States. The clean energy industry is still in need of government and state incentives in order to remain competitive with fossil fuels. The clean energy future still looks many years away but its definitely a reachable goal. However, U.S. will have to significantly improve its renewable energy policy with federal renewable energy standard as the preferred thing to start with.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Solar installations soar in California
The Golden State is going into overdrive on solar power. California utility customers installed a record-breaking 391 megawatts of solar power systems last year. That was a banner year for the nation’s largest photovoltaic rebate scheme, with installations up 26 percent compared with 2011.Those panels were installed with the assistance of the California Solar Initiative [PDF], a $2.2 billion program started in 2007 that aims to help residents meet the costs of installing 1,940 megawatts of solar capacity by the end of 2016.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Coal seam gas exports to China in pipeline
PLANS are proceeding for a new export-oriented coal-seam gas area on the Queensland-South Australia border, with processing plants at South Australias Port Bonython.
Gold Coast-based Icon Energy has a memorandum of understanding with Chinese gas company Shantou SinoEnergy to buy 40 million tonnes of liquid natural gas (LNG) converted from coal- seam gas (CSG), over 20 years.
Icon, along with South Australia-based Beach Energy, is drilling for CSG in the Nappamerri trough of the Cooper Basin.
Icons plan is to take CSG from this field and pipe it to Port Bonython near Whyalla in South Australia and then export it to Shantou in China, where it will be re-gased and used commercially.
This is similar to the model being adopted in Queensland, where three projects now have state and federal government approval to take coal-seam gas from southern and western Queensland and liquefier it at Gladstone before exporting it to Asia.
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Many of the Gladstone projects plan for eventual capacity of up to 9 million tonnes a year, but the Icon/South Australian project is only aiming for 2 million tonnes a year.
Beach already exports liquefied petroleum gas through the Port Bonython terminal operated by Santos, and Icon plans to build up this terminal.
While the Queensland CSG project is the most advanced at the moment, a similar opportunity is being pursued in the Gunnedah Basin in NSW with processing at Newcastle.
Icon managing director Ray James told the Coal Seam Methane world conference in Brisbane yesterday that while the big projects in Gladstone and southern Queensland were attracting most attention, there was plenty of activity among smaller operators such as Icon. "The first challenge for the medium-sized operators is to get a market, and thats what weve done both through micro-LNG and signing an MOU with Shantou," he said.
"Our next challenge is to upgrade that MOU into something far more tangible, and thats something that well be working on in the next couple of months.
"But in the meantime, for us smaller companies, theres still a big market in Australia in micro-LNG. Diesel fuel is one, but anywhere in Australia that currently uses LPG, theres an opportunity there for LNG."
The obvious problem for the Cooper Basin is that its remote location makes development more difficult, an issue exacerbated at the moment because much of the area is flooded.
Even though roads are cut off at the moment, Mr James sees the isolation of the Cooper Basin as a plus.
"All of the sorts of problems theyre having now around Dalby you just wouldnt get out in the Cooper Basin, because so few people live out there," he said.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Recent Trends In Renewable Energy Resources
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Peak steel could leave Australian iron ore miners in the lurch
Theres a disturbing new phrase being uttered by bears in the resources game - "peak steel". And its a very different phenomenon to the "peak oil" theory, where supply dries up and energy prices soar.Peak steel is all about too much supply, not enough demand and tumbling prices. While not conclusive proof, the recent fall in iron ore prices is showing there is a significant rebalancing of supply and demand going on. Since the start of the year spot prices are down more than 20 per cent. ...
In a recent report, the analyst team from brokers CLSA noted that "peak steel demand would be seen this decade rather than next." The CLSA research cited factors such as "the slowing pace of urbanisation and demographic trends which are going sharply into reverse."
Increasingly Chinese developers are reducing their land banks and building smaller apartments, with floor-space construction falling 27 per cent in the first three months this year. Overall, CLSA forecasts a 37 per cent decline in private property floor-space sales between 2013 and 2020.
CLSA says steel consumption in the property sector is likely to peak this year, and a similar scenario is developing in infrastructure. "We also forecast infrastructure steel consumption to peak this year, with steel demand from road and rail construction to decline," the analysts noted.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Global Investment in Renewable Energy Italy
The most important renewable energy source in Italy is hydropower which contributes to roughly 16.6% of total gross electricity production of the country. Italy also has large geothermal resources, both high and low temperature. Italy is considered the most important producer of geothermal electricity in Europe.
Policies
Here are some ways that Italy is trying to increase development in regards to renewable energy:
Introduced new provisions for renewable power generators. Small generators (up to 1 megawatts) will have the choice between selling their green certificates on the market and receiving a feed-in tariff.
Motives
Renewable Energy Availability
Friday, October 3, 2014
Checking in with Iraqi Stability
The future of global oil supply, and the timing and height of peak oil, depend critically on whether and when Iraq can markedly increase its oil production. A precondition for increased oil production is adequate political stability in the country. So its good to check-in every so often on how the statistics in the Brookings Iraq Index are tracking.
The above graph shows the number of foreign troops in Iraq since May 2003, shortly following the invasion of the country by the US and other "coalition of the willing" members. As you can see, the number of troops stabilized last summer at a much reduced number - just shy of 50,000 Americans (everyone else lost their willingness by the middle of 2009).
Notwithstanding the withdrawal, security indicators have mostly stabilized or continued to improve. For example, here is the estimate of violent fatalities of Iraqi civilians, which continues to mainly trend down:
Similarly, deaths of the Iraqi military and police are stable or declining:
There are now very few US troop casualties by comparison with earlier years:
Likewise, the number of troops wounded is a tiny fraction of the levels of the mid 2000s:
Therefore, the continued deployment is politically tolerable in the US (though its likely that Iraqi domestic politics will enforce the current bilateral agreement that all troops will leave by the end of this year).
However, Iraq is still not a normal country - there are still 10-20 multiple fatality bombings a month, a very high rate of terrorism. However, the number is not increasing.
It appears likely that the Maliki government can keep the country stable enough for development of its oil resources to proceed at some pace constrained more by logistics than the security situation.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Japanese firms considering geothermal plants in Fukushima
Japanese firms are looking at building several geothermal plants in a volcanic zone in the area worst hit by last years nuclear disaster, a project that could gain momentum after the government eased restrictions on drilling this week.
The head of a group of firms that have studied the potential of a geothermal project in Fukushima said on Friday a consortium of about 10 companies would meet local people by early May to explain their plans to build plants with a total capacity of 270 megawatts, which would be Japans biggest.
The consortium plans to work with local communities, including those who run hotels and inns at hot springs, to develop geothermal energy, Masaho Adachi, the chairman of Japan Geothermal Developers Council said.
The council has already held a meeting with local government officials in the central zone of Fukushima, home to the nuclear plant crippled by an earthquake and tsumani last year, he said.
Along with high costs, protests by local communities fearful of the impact of a geothermal plant on hot springs have prevented such projects from taking off in the past.
"We should spend together a period of more than 10 years before having geothermal plants running," he said in an interview with Reuters on Friday, referring to activities such as collecting data, test drilling and environment assessment. Adachi declined to name the companies forming the consortium.
The Nikkei newspaper earlier said that the Fukushima project by a consortium of companies including Idemitsu Kosan Co and Inpex Corp would cost around 100 billion yen ($1.2 billion), with operations set to start in 2020.
Since the crisis, interest in renewable energy has jumped and a government subsidy scheme, similar to those in many countries in Europe, to force utilities to buy renewable electricity is due to start in July. ...
Studies show Japan, a land of volcanoes, ranks as the worlds third-richest nation in geothermal power. A government study last year showed it has the potential for business to derive 14,000 MW of energy, but it currently has only 540 MW worth of commercial plants due to restrictions on development in national parks, where most resources lie.
