{"id":458,"date":"2009-01-05T19:52:57","date_gmt":"2009-01-06T03:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/?p=458"},"modified":"2009-01-05T19:52:59","modified_gmt":"2009-01-06T03:52:59","slug":"greener-pastures-part-1-looking-ahead-at-green-technology-in-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/05\/greener-pastures-part-1-looking-ahead-at-green-technology-in-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Greener Pastures Part 1: looking ahead at green technology in 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year! Yup, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that time again; time to look back at our past mistakes and triumphs, and look ahead to what the future might hold. The future is especially exciting for us in the United States with the fast approaching inauguration of our new President Barack Obama on January 20th! And one of the things that I personally find most compelling about our charismatic President-elect is his new energy plan for America<\/a>. He has promised to create five million new \u00e2\u20ac\u0153green collar\u00e2\u20ac\u009d jobs, and work toward energy efficiency and conservation. The past year 2008 was already a pretty exciting time for green technologies, and with Obama leading the way, 2009 promises to be even better. <\/p>\n

With eye-catching headlines like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153US military funds $35M in research of algae-based jet fuel<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d popping up at the end of December, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Air New Zealand tests biofuel Boeing<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on January 2nd, the thing on everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind lately seems to be biofuels. And boy, is there a lot to choose from!<\/p>\n

Probably the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of biofuels is ethanol, which, contrary to popular belief, can and is made from things other than corn. The world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second largest producer of ethanol, Brazil, has been using sugar cane for thirty years. But the buzzword now is not simply \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ethanol,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153cellulosic ethanol<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which is defined on Wikipedia<\/a> as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d An article posted on CNBC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s website<\/a> in March of 2007 called cellulosic ethanol \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the closest to rewarding investors with solid returns in the immediate future.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Also quoted in that article is Jerry Taylor, analyst at Washington DC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Cato Institute, who reports that cellulosic ethanol costs approximately five times as much as corn-based ethanol, which is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153several times the cost of a gallon of gasoline,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d especially without subsidies. However, Jim Matheson, general partner at Flagship Ventures, counters that by insisting new technology will cut that cost within three to five years, and judging by the rate of this craze, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably right. A popular choice for cellulosic ethanol is switchgrass<\/a>, an inedible, drought resistant plant commonly found in the prairies of North America and used for soil conservation. <\/p>\n

Another up-and-comer on the biofuels front is the jatropha fruit, or more specifically, the oil from its seeds, which is already being used to make biodiesel that power cars and trucks, and now that Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 mentioned above. The Boeing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s engine has been retrofitted to run on a combination of half Jet A1 fuel and half jatropha oil. Air New Zealand was not the first (Virgin Atlantic Airways flew the same plane fueled partly by a coconut oil and babassu oil concoction just shy of a year ago) and certainly won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be the last commercial airline to mix biofuels with traditional jet fuel. Considering that a good chunk of the major automotive companies around the globe are looking at 2010 releases of their electric vehicles and plug-in electric gasoline hybrids, right now is an exciting time for alternative energy sources. <\/p>\n

Speaking of electricity, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re looking for new ways of generating that, too. The popular answer here is wind power, often touted as being recession proof<\/a>, despite the cost of wind turbines increasing with demand. But with oil moguls like Boone Pickens investing<\/a>, there must be more than a little something to it. The Cleantech Group<\/a> (formerly known as the Cleantech Venture Network) reported in a CNBC article<\/a> that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153[w]ind energy attracted $380 million [in 2006] compared with $1.5 million in 2005.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

There are a few potential drawbacks to using wind power. A lot of the prime locations are, well, out in the middle of nowhere, for example, and power is only generated while the wind is blowing the turbines, but I agree with Jim Matheson and say that here, too, technology will quickly catch up and solve these short-comings in the very near future. Batteries to store the power from when the winds are<\/i> blowing, for instance. Though the initial investment is higher than other forms of generating electricity, the pay-off is also higher, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wind power plants have relatively little impact on the environment compared to other conventional power plants,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as pointed out at this advantages and disadvantages page<\/a> by the United States Department of Energy. <\/p>\n

In addition to the somewhat shortsighted \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re ugly\u00e2\u20ac\u009d argument (I find wind turbines to be peaceful and generally on the aesthetically pleasing side), many people express concerns about the giant blades killing birds, but according to this Wikipedia article<\/a>, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153studies show that the number of birds killed by wind turbines is negligible compared to the number that die as a result of other human activities such as traffic, hunting, power lines and high-rise buildings and especially the environmental impacts of using non-clean power sources.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Like power lines aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ugly, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve noticed they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re far more popular with the birds than wind turbines.<\/p>\n

If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the investing type, I hope this post has opened your eyes to some new markets. If not, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry, I did promise you a two-parter, and next week I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be looking at those green technology jobs promised to us by so many. Learn how to green your home and business. The technology is out there, we just have to harness it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year! Yup, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that time again; time to look back at our past mistakes and triumphs, and look ahead to what the future might hold. The future is especially exciting for us in the United States with the fast approaching inauguration of our new President Barack Obama on January 20th! And one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codebelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}