Oil is only one Natural Resource
CNN money discusses "Peak Oil"
----------------------------------------------------
Sooner or later the "Age of Oil" will come to its final chapter.
What Energy Source will rise up to take its place?
Here are a few others that might be worth tapping, perhaps even now.
- Solar Energy resource map
- Wind Energy resource map
- Wave Energy resource map
US PhotoVoltiac Solar Radiation -- Annual
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_potential.html
http://www.tridentenergy.co.uk/renewable_energy.htm
These Other "Natural Energy Resources" are limited by only our ingenuity.
None of them contribute to Global Warming
(nor to Global Instability, nor the funding of radical foreign governments.)
Could it be the "Age of Renewable Energy" has finally arrived?
Given the ever-increasing price of a Gallon of Gas,
such "alternative sources" are suddenly becoming very cost competitive, on a per kilowatt-hour basis.
Recently, a concentrator solar cell produced by Boeing-Spectrolab has achieved a world-record conversion efficiency of 40.7%, establishing a new milestone in sunlight-to-electricity performance. This breakthrough may lead to systems with an installation cost of only $3 per watt, producing electricity at a cost of 8-10 cents per kilowatt/hour, making solar electricity a more cost-competitive and integral part of the US energy mix.
Silicon Valley startup Nanosolar Inc. is on the cutting edge of a clean-tech boom. "We can achieve a cost reduction that will ultimately enable us to deliver grid-parity solar power so that solar electricity does not cost more than power from the electricity grid."
-----
According to economist.com,
the End of the Oil Age is near
It's 2007 and it may be about time to think about
what kind of future world we want to leave behind ...
will it be marked by chaos, or creativity?
we all must decide.
======= some Links on Clean Energy =======
- Ocean Wave Energy
- How Wind Energy Works, from Citizens and Scientists for Environmental Solutions
- GE's 3.6 Megawatt Wind Turbine
- Solar America Initiative
- Solar America Initiative: Workshop Proceedings
- Boeing Spectrolab Achieves 40% Solar Cell Efficiency
- Accelerating widespread commercialization of clean solar energy technologies...while reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels and improving the environment
- Concentrated Solar Power Generation Systems
- Zero Energy Home
- Photovoltaic Basics: how is solar electricity produced?
- Why PV is Important to the Environment
- The Solar Energy Industries Association
- Renewable Energy Sources -- Current Developments: For stand-alone power systems for industry and consumers, integration of PV and BOS components in the construction of a system.
- Montana is a "Green State"
- DOE's Wind Energy Program
- "Wind Farms" are becoming a hot topic
- Sharp is Creating Energy from the Sun
- GE Energy is tapping Power From the Sun
- NanoSolar: Printing Solar Film Like Paper
- Industry Report: Thin Film and Organic Photovoltaic Market To Reach $2.3 Billion in 2011
- End of an Era
- for the planet's sake, maybe the Oil-Carbon Era can't end soon enough?
- (geologically speaking, we are treading out onto thin ice ...)