The advantages of using alternative energies


shuksanenergy.com keyword stats



Most current MSN search phrases:

global solar
insurance uses of flax
hydropower Negative Effects Of Global Warming

Will Innovation Transform Energy?

Something big is going on throughout themultiple.
energy business. It's a great bubbling of
innovation in every part of the industry.Prices and worry about supplies and energy
This bubbling is the brew of many differentsecurity are important. So is the prospect of
ingredients-from the impact of high pricesthe vast growth in energy demand in Asia,
and geopolitical uncertainty to the growingwhich will change the global energy balance.
focus on "clean tech" and climate change.Also looming large are environmental worries
Will  Innovation  Transform  Energy?and the growing quest to reduce carbon
emissions because of climate-change concerns.
Though invisible to the consumer, an enormous
amount of technological advance is embeddedAll these factors mean that energy is now a
in every gallon of gasoline. Less than 30major focus for technology investment.
years ago, the absolute "deep water" frontierGovernments and companies continue to be big
for  drilling  was  600  feet  of  water.players, and they are stepping up their
investment. Research-and-development spending
Today, companies are working in what isby the U.S. Department of Energy was $1.8
called ultra-deep water, drilling through asbillion last year and is currently expected
much as 12,000 feet of ocean. Explorers canto grow by at least 25 percent in 2007-and
now use a new technology called WAZ-widecould  be  even  more  with the new Congress.
azimuth seismic-to "see" deep resources
previously not visible through salt barriersAnd now there are new players: venture
thousands  of  feet  below  the  seabed.capitalists. The funding sources that brought
immense innovation in information technology
Companies are integrating a wide variety ofand life sciences-and created Silicon Valley
informationtechnology capabilities to turnalong the way-are now honing in on the energy
the "digital oilfield of the future" into theindustry. To be sure, some prominent venture
digital oilfield of the present, increasingfirms are standing back, saying that venture
efficiency and output. The large-scalecapital does not fit the longer time horizon
conversion of natural gas into high-quality,and larger capital requirements of the energy
diesel-like  fuel  is  getting  closer.business. But many others see this as their
next  frontier.
What is very visible today in the public's
eye is the innovation in renewables of every"Clean tech" is the new rubric under which
sort. Renewables received much attention inmuch of this money is flowing, and the flows
the 1970s and early 1980s, but faded away inare increasing significantly. In North
the face of falling fuel prices and ampleAmerica, venture-capital investment in energy
supplies. Their rebirth is partly the resultreached $2.1 billion in 2006-four times what
of market forces. But it is also driven byit was in 2004, according to the Cleantech
continuing technology improvements and byVenture Network. Venture capital is not
mandates and subsidies from federal and statemerely a source of money; it is also a source
governments in the United States and theof focused, results-driven discipline. This
European Union, and by similar programs inalso means a wide diversity of ideas and
countries like India, China and a growingtechnologies  will  be  explored.
number  of  other  nations.
Inevitably, many of the new initiatives will
This year will certainly see the incentivesend up being venture's version of dry wells.
and mandates expanded in the United States,That's the character of research and
as is already evident with the higher targetdevelopment- and venture investing. The kind
for ethanol in the State of the Union speech.of surge we're seeing today comes not only
with hope but also with hype. This will
The effects of the surge in alternatives areremind some of the Internet boom. That boom
being felt in unexpected ways. Growth inleft many deflated hopes and even more
renewables is going so fast that it isdeflated valuations. But it also initiated a
straining capacity in people, materials andtransformation  of  the  way the world works.
supplies. If you want to order turbines and
blades for windmills or silicon for solarAnd, by contrast, in the Internet boom there
photovoltaic cells today, you may havewas often no clear idea of how to make money.
trouble finding supply. Livestock raisers andIt was about "firstmover advantage" and "land
dairy farmers in the United States-along withgrabs." This time, the opportunity is clear
Mexicans for whom tortillas are a staple areand can be measured against costs and prices
complaining about the sharp rise in the pricein  the  marketplace.
of corn being fueled by rapid growth in
corn-based  ethanol  production.The innovation frontier in energy is very
broad. The systematic application of biology
Renewables may be called "alternatives," butto energy is new, and could end up having a
they already constitute a considerablebig impact. Ethanol is already being called a
business. The one is that is well on the way"firstgeneration" biofuel, and there is a
to becoming conventional is wind power, whichgrowing debate as to the biology driven
has gone through a considerable evolution"second-generation"  fuels.
over the last two decades. Along the way,
costs  have  declined  by  a  factor  of ten.Another area that will receive much greater
focus is energy efficiency. This is building
Last year's worldwide investment in wind andon a more solid foundation than may be
solar is estimated at over $40 billion. Yet,recognized. It's often said that the United
while the prospects for renewables are veryStates has made little progress on energy
large, they also need to be seen in context.conservation or energy efficiency. In fact,
In this case, the context is the huge scalethe United States, along with countries like
of the overall system and the long lead timesJapan, is twice as energy efficient as it was
that are needed to develop any form ofin  the  1970s.
energy.
Much technological effort will go into the
Moreover, these sources eventually have toeffort to double once again. This push is not
establish themselves as economicallylimited to the United States. German
competitive in the marketplace on a largeChancellor Angela Merkel has made energy
scale. Even with all the advances, they areefficiency the centerpiece of her agenda as
still a very small part of the overall energychairman of the G-8 nations and president of
mix. In the United States, wind is 1 percentthe  European  Union.
of total electric generating capacity. But
wind and the other renewables will continueThis "great bubbling" represents what is the
to  grow.broadest drive ever for energy innovation. It
has the potential over a period of 10 or 15
Underpinning the "great bubbling" is theyears to work major transformations in how
rapidly growing spending on energyenergy is produced, transported and consumed.
innovation.But  it  is  not  a  sure  thing.
A decade ago, I chaired a task force onTwo ingredients will likely be required if it
energy research and development for the U.S.is to have this effect. One is
Department of Energy. That was a time of lowconsistency-maintaining the level of
interest in energy; and, not surprisingly,financial commitment and stability over the
interest in the subject of our task force wascycles. And that gets to the second
also relatively low. After all, in theingredient: Prices, and what people expect of
aftermath of the First Gulf War, there wasthem, will also be an important part of this
little concern about the availability ofbrewing future. One way or the other, they
future supplies. Climate change was hardly onwill likely add much spice over the coming
the horizon as an issue. It's a veryyears.
different situation today. The reasons are



1 A B C 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 63 64 65 66 68 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93