Monthly Archives: January 2009
Logical, ja?
We are familiar with coal-gasification. The intermediate product is syn-gas, a mixture of hydrogen and CO. Syngas can be used in may ways to generate power, for stationary or mobile purposes, making it a key ingredient for future energy infrastructures. … Continue reading
Plugged
A lot of knowledgeable people predict that we will see Plugin-Hybrid Vehicles take a large part of the market quickly, much more than pure electric vehicles. They combine the best of two worlds until battery technology gets to the next … Continue reading
Financial
The graph below relates the liabilities of banks to the GDP of the home country. It shows how outdated the way is we have organized the control and regulation of the financial sector. The business is worldwide, the liabilities are … Continue reading
Turning point?
According the latest Annual report on Energy Generation in the USA they have reached a turning point: In 2007, for the first time, renewable energy sources, other than conventional hydroelectric capacity, accounted for the largest portion of capacity additions. Total … Continue reading
Smart
Lawrence Lessig first defined it a decade ago in his groundbreaking book; code is the law of cyberspace. Code being protocols and architecture. Just as in the physical world, the law/code defines the structure and rules that in their turn … Continue reading
“Clean” coal?
Factcheck.org has published a pretty good overview of the state of the discussion on coal as an energy source. Is so-called “clean coal” possible? Their answer: not yet, is probable, but with a hefty price tag. What they leave out … Continue reading
Junknet
It is not just us in the Western world who want to have high bandwidth connectivity, the demand is everywhere. People will use any possible route to get what they want, leading to unexpected developments. Brough Turner reports in his … Continue reading
Fly away
Are you looking for a way to bond with your neighbours? Buy a hot air balloon and generate energy for all your new friends with the balloon engine. Ian Edmonds’ balloon engine traps solar energy in a greenhouse and inflates … Continue reading
Lifesigns
Although we continue to get bad news from the financial sector not all is bad. During my recent trip in Germany (Bavaria) I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of people about their business. Surprisingly enough the small … Continue reading