The NCAA Basketball Tournament starts up again tonight. If your brackets are as scewed up as mine, consider this diary an escape from your failure. If your bracket is not screwed up, well then you are far too smart to be wasting your time reading the writings of an inferior being.
In a bit of breaking news, a Silicon Valley start up company, Calera, may have found a way to create clean coal power. Apparently, the company has figured out how to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from coal and gas power plants and lock them into cement. Here is a visual representation:
There are, of course, issues. While Calera has a pilot project up and running, it is still not clear that the process can be used on a large scale or that anyone will buy the cement it makes. And climate scientists and cement specialists are dubious that Calera can produce large quantities of cement that is durable and benign for the environment. But, clean coal research will be a part of any energy bill passed by the Senate, so we have to take such stories seriously.
America's electric vehicle infrastructure continues to grow:
As electric vehicles (EVs) become more common in the United States, with several new models expected to start shipping later this year, companies are seeking ways to make the new transportation more acceptable, and one means is to make recharging easier. To that end, General Electric Company (GE) and Juice Technologies recently jointly announced their development agreement to create intelligent plug-in electric vehicle charging devices for U.S. and global markets. The chargers will integrate GE's smart meters with Juice Technology's "Plug Smart" technology, which enables EVs to communicate with the Smart Grid, to help consumers charge their cars during low-demand, lower-cost time periods. The companies will begin offering the EV chargers in the United States in the second quarter of 2010, with full-scale production ramping up throughout the year. Global availability will follow. See the GE press release and the product description from Plug Smart, a subsidiary of Juice Technologies.
Meanwhile, Evatran has developed "Plugless Power" recharging systems that use electrical induction to eliminate the need for cords and plugs. The company announced on February 23 that it would launch a field trial of pre-production units in its headquarter town of Wytheville, Virginia. Participants will include the Town of Wytheville, several businesses, and individuals, each of whom will be driving electric vehicles on a regular basis and using the Evatran prototype systems. The company expects full-scale production by late fall 2010. For drivers seeking plug-in charges, Coulomb Technologies recently announced the ChargePoint iPhone App, a free application that allows EV drivers to locate ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations for EVs anywhere in North America. The App also allows users to see in real time if a charging station is currently available.
The American construction industry has created the International Green Construction Code, helping to set a new standard for construction projects worldwide.
India is converting their cell phone towers to solar energy, possibly reducing CO2 output by 5 million tons.
Ohio has increased their commitment to wind energy with 2 new projects, here and here.
James Cameron had a strong message to any climate change deniers, and I quote:
I want to call those deniers out into the street at high noon and shoot it out with those boneheads. Anybody that is a global-warming denier at this point in time has got their head so deeply up their ass I'm not sure they could hear me.
He also challenged Glenn Beck to a debate. I would pay to see that.
More renewable energy jobs will be coming to my home state:
RWE Innogy has marked the start of the construction phase of a 750,000 tonne per annum wood pellet plant, in Waycross in the southern region of the US state of Georgia.
Once complete, the output from the plant is due to supply RWE power plants in Europe, for use both in dedicated biomass facilities and co-fired with coal.
Muztach now offers a solar powered charger for your laptop. Here's a picture: