2008 Energy Forum

Which Batteries to Buy and Why

admin — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Batteries are a huge part of modern society, with an increasing number of items relying on batteries. It has long been known that batteries are bad for the environment, and although some manufacturers are making strides, batteries remain an environmental threat. Batteries are responsible for a large majority of the nation’s mercury contamination and are normally not disposed of properly. Fortunately, there are a growing number of environmentally friendly options.

Rechargeable batteries are more environmentally friendly than their disposable counterparts. That is due largely to the fact that they are reusable. These batteries can be used and recharged over and over without the negative financial cost and environmental toll of disposable batteries. Most rechargeable batteries contain toxic metals such as Cadmium and Mercury, but they are much better for the environment in the long run.

The best type of rechargeable battery, the nickel metal hydride, does not contain any toxic metals. It also holds electricity longer than other rechargeable batteries and can be recharged many more times than other rechargeable batteries. The best part is, these rechargeable batteries cost about the same as other rechargeable batteries and they can safely be tossed in the regular garbage because they are non-toxic.

What to Expect for Gas Prices in the Near Future

admin — Sun, 22 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

The price of gasoline is a point of contention with nearly everybody. Simple errands and family activities are now something to be weighed against the cost of gasoline and how necessary the short jaunts are. Analysts have been warning consumers that gas prices will steadily increase and soon the normal price for gasoline will be upwards of five dollars a gallon.

These ridiculous prices will hit everybody in the pocketbook, one way or another. The price of goods and services will continue to increase to make up for the increasing cost of fuel.

Every person can choose to be more frugal with gas consumption and essentially lessen the demand for crude oil. Plan errands to coincide with other necessary trips in the car. Buying enough groceries to carry a family for several days or weeks without making an emergency trip to the store can also save on gas dollars.

Driving a vehicle that uses solar power or electricity to power the engine is another effective way to reduce money spent at the gas pump. Hybrid cars are becoming more affordable and many luxury car makers have designed fuel efficient cars that have all the conveniences and comforts of the typical gas only cars.

Energy Commodities in the Markets

admin — Sun, 08 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000

You don’t have to do large things in order to conserve our environment and our energy resources. You don’t have to start a solar plant or plant thousands of trees in order to protect and guard the environment. You can start with small things. One of the easiest thing you can do is to stop buying disposable, plastic water bottles. Instead, in today’s market, there are a lot of stainless steel water bottles that can be reused over and over again. By doing this, we decrease the number of plastic waste in the environment. Aside from buying re-usable water bottles, we can buy recycled paper, such as recycled tissue paper, recycled notebook paper, etc. By buying recycled materials, we decrease the number of trees that are cut every year, and thus saving energy sources. As for those who drive, we can choose to walk more often or take public transportation to conserve our depleting oil resources. Not only do we conserve energy resources by driving less, we also decrease the amount of air pollution caused by cars. And of course, one of the easiest thing we can do is recycle. If we recycle plastics, cans, and papers, we don’t have to reuse new materials, and thus conserve and protect our environment.

Conservation does not mean capitalism or consumption

admin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Many companies and industries worldwide are scrambling to develop alternative energy technology and infrastructure in order to transition from fossil fuel sources and additionally reduce their environmental footprint. Despite these efforts there remain very few readily applicable and affordable Reliant Energy solutions provided to mainstream consumer culture. Unfortunately, most investors have devoted their resources into spurious, gimmicky, and wholly inappropriate schemes.

Hybrid automobiles, for instance, were initially touted by automobile industry giants as a great leap in energy efficiency and environmentally-sound technology. Although hybrid automobiles have slightly greater fuel efficiency they require more overall lifetime energy costs due to the research, development, manufacturing and shipping costs of their specialized parts and battery systems. Hybrid fuel cell technology typically depends on large amounts of nickel, the extraction of which is extremely environmentally destructive. Ecologically concerned consumers may prefer to switch to used, older model diesel vehicles that run on biodiesel or straight vegetable oil in order to save money and avoid the environmental costs associated with the manufacturing and development of hybrid technology.

In general, reducing energy costs as well as lowering environmental impact are best accomplished not by purchasing new gadgets or technologies but by lowering fuel use and consumption.

Virtual Energy Forum

www.2008energyforum.org — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 19:51:19 +0000

If perhaps you’re travel budget is limited and you can’t attend an upcoming energy forum, or perhaps you’d rather enjoy the energy forum in a more environmentally friendly manner, consider registering for the Virtual Energy Forum, an annual event most recently held June 16^th-17^th. The cost is free to any interested parties with the entire event taking place over the internet. Keynote speakers present in streaming video formats and questions can be submitted and answered in real time just as if every person was in the same conference center. A live chat function is also made available in order to converse with other attendees and exchange contract information, as well as people who post exhibits on the virtual exhibit floor, featuring the latest energy saving products and solutions. Video presentations on relevant energy issues can also be easily watched as you select the highpoints of the conference that most appeal to you and your energy interests.Virtual energy forum practices the very same values the conference concerns itself with, as online meetings leave no footprint as compared to the standard forum, during which hundreds of visitors must converge on one single city from across the globe. Consider the significant carbon footprint this leaves in terms of travel costs in general, including air-travel and automobile transportation. Not having to leave home is an even ecofriendlier alternative than carpooling. So if you truly believe in supporting the cleaner energy and value the opinions of experts in the field, book the Virtual Energy Forum as a part of your yearly non-travel plans.

The Downfall of Ethanol

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:10:37 +0000

This decade has brought on a serious change in the energy mentality of the United States. After the oil crisis of the ’70s, we settled back into a pattern of unsustainable, guilt-free consumption. But in the last few years, consistently high oil prices have finally created a push to find more sustainable, alternative energy sources. One of the more popular of these alternatives has been biofuel, including ethanol and biodiesel. Ethanol fuel is made by extracting the ethanol from either feedstock or a number of vegetable crops such as potatoes, corn, or sugar. Through a series of chemical reactions it is turned into fuel that can be either used alone or combined with gasoline. Biodiesel can be made from waste oil after it has been used for cooking. It can also be used alone or combine with petroleum diesel to create a hybrid fuel. Both of these biofuels burn cleaner, producing much less CO2, which is a major contributor to global warming.The energy per unit of ethanol is 34 lower than that of gasoline. So while it burns much cleaner, it takes much more of it to do the same work. Engines made specifically for ethanol have higher compression rates and can produce greater energy percentages, but they are still not equal to gasoline. Another concern many have expressed is the amount of crops and energy it takes to produce this fuel. Corn has long been an abundant crop grown throughout the American Midwest. However, now that so much of it is being dedicated to ethanol production, there are concerns that it could become scarce. The chemical processes that must be preformed consume a great deal of energy. Some suggest it is taking almost as much energy to create ethanol as it will produce. A shift to using Brazilian cane sugar has the potential to produce more promising results, but it remains to be seen whether ethanol will be the energy alternative of the future of just starve of us of valuable food.

Reopening the Cold Fusion Cold Case

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:28:59 +0000

Once considered to be the holy grail of energy solutions, “cold fusion” has turned into more of a mythical Big Foot concept, with claimed leads and developments by some researches but largely dismissed as ridiculous by mainstream science. In theory, cold fusion would allow for the nuclear fusion of atoms at almost room temperature. In the normal process of nuclear fusion, such reactions take place only under the extreme conditions found inside stars. Were the hopes and hard work of cold fusion optimists to come to fruition, our world would be blessed with an unlimited energy supply for the foreseeable future.While preliminary cold fusion work began as early as the 1920′s, cold fusion first became a widely publicized and talked about concept in 1989. In March of that year, highly regarded electro-chemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons claimed to have produced fusion through the use of electrolysis (a process requiring an electric current to drive chemical reaction) of heavy water (water with abnormally high proportion of deuterium isotopes) on a palladium electrode. The result was a wildly excessive output of heat, of such relative magnitude it could only be rationalized in terms of nuclear processes.The initial excitement that engulfed the scientific community shortly after Fleischmann and Pon’s work was made public sent scientists across the globe to test their own theories. When replication efforts fell short of the original experiment, and several skeptical scientists weighed in on why cold fusion is highly unlikely, cold fusion success was eventually discredited and other variables were attributed to Fleischmann and Pon’s results.Today however, the idea of cold fusion is undergoing somewhat of a revival as our dependence on energy combined with limited resources has led to a crisis. In hopes of paving the road towards infinite energy and alleviating our reliance on the sources that have failed us, researchers worldwide are reopening the cold fusion cold case to see if the decades-old theory was justifiably written off so quickly.

Live GreenerLook for the Energy Star Label

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:25:16 +0000

In today’s market, it seems every company is trying out some variation of a ‘green’ product line. In their haste to appeal to environmental activists and eco-friendly consumers, many of these products don’t live up to the standards their labels promise. To avoid purchasing items that simply claim to be environmentally safe, look for the Energy Star Label to guarantee quality and energy efficiency.Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient products. Created in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the program has since been adapted by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the European Union. If a product is marked with an Energy Star label, it most likely uses 20-30 less energy than required by federal standards and meets a stringent set of specifications set by the EPA or DOE for its specific product line. Consumer products that may carry an Energy Star Label are computers and electronics, household appliances (such as refrigerators and dishwashers), heating and cooling systems, lighting and fans, plumbing, and building products.If you’re trying to reduce energy in your home, Energy Star offers numerous ways to reduce high energy bills, improve comfort, and help protect the environment from your own household. They provide helpful tools for evaluating your household energy problems then numerous ways to fix them. If you want to make some minor adjustments in your energy consumption, try some of Energy Star’s most loved products. These include energy efficient battery chargers, DVD and Blu-ray players, dehumidifiers, enterprise servers, solar water heaters, and qualified windows, doors, and skylights.In addition to labeling energy-reducing products, Energy Star also provides resources for constructing and renovating buildings and plants. They provide helpful guidelines for energy management and resources for getting started. Better yet, they encourage greener buildings by hosting a ‘National Building Competition‘ in which 14 buildings compete to see who can reduce their energy the most.

Energy as an Addiction

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:19:57 +0000

In the US and other major countries worldwide, Energy has become somewhat of a druga drug with extremely addictive qualities and devastating long term effects. You might disagree seeing as energy is not something you inject, smoke, or swallow like the common ‘drug’. However, energy is something you consume, and it is something you consume in massive amounts every minute of every day. The energy being referred to is not the literal capacity for human activity; rather it is the use of fossil fuels and other resources used to power everyday utilities such as electricity, air conditioning, automobiles, and other modern day technologies.If you take a moment to analyze the twodrugs and energythe resemblances are scarily striking. Let’s define ‘drugs’ as mind altering substances that affect your daily life. Hardcore (and illegal) drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, heroine, and crystal meth are the most dangerous because they are extremely addicting and destroy user’s ability to function without them. Now, let’s talk about energy. Though not a mind altering substance, energy certainly affects your daily life. It is present in your life 24/7. When you have to go a day without itsay the power is lost due to a storm, or your car broke downyou suffer from what can only be termed ‘withdrawals’. Quite simply, energy makes life easier and most American’s can’t stand to function without it.Another scary point for comparisonthe long term effects of drugs and energy. Drugs ruin the chemistry in the brain and leave a person to be half of what they were before. Energy usage is depleting the earth of its resources and polluting the environment at an unprecedented rate.Though this comparison may be extreme and unconventional, the main point is that the world is in need of an intervention. People need to realize that the massive amounts of energy they use have detrimental effects on the environment. Until we can find a clean abundant source of renewable energy, the use of fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources can be decreased by simply turning off the lights and carpooling to work in the morning.

What is the U.S. Department of Energy doing about America’s energy usage?

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:18:01 +0000

The U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, deals with US policies regarding energy and safety for handling nuclear material. Though a majority of their time and resources are spent dealing with nuclear energy, a great deal of the department is dedicated to the problems and research of energy consumption by typical Americans. According to the DOE, energy plays a massive role in shaping American societyit affects national security and the economic output of our nation. In fact, the US spends over 500 billion dollars on energy annually. Here are some ways the Department of Energy is proactively looking out for America’s energy industry.For one thing, they are increasing energy supplies. Plenty of research has gone into finding clean fuel alternatives to replace and assist traditional fossil fuels. Cutting edge technology is being used to develop sustainable sources, such as fusion, and to find a way to use hydrogen to reduce our dependence on imported oil. The need for clean energy has drastically increased but a good source has yet to be found. The DOE’s work will hopefully lead to the necessary solution before America’s energy use dries up the oil reserves.In addition to finding alternate energy, the DOE is revolutionizing our energy infrastructure so that we can one day use their new age fuels. These developments will help protect our nation’s energy needs and hopefully work wonders for the environment. They are also “ensuring the productive and optimal use of energy resources, while limiting environmental impact”. This basically means they are finding ways to use the earth for energy. Renewable earth resources like wind, water, and geothermal energy are being taken advantage of to produce clean energy. Furthermore, the DOE are working on solving international energy issues. They deal first hand with international safety issues regarding energy supplies around the world.