What would it take for synthetic biofuels to significantly alter geopolitics ?

Brazil and the United States lead the industrial production of ethanol fuel, accounting together for 87.8 percent of the world’s production in 2010, and 87.1 percent in 2011. In 2011 Brazil produced 21.1 billion liters (5.57 billion U.S. liquid gallons), representing 24.9 percent of the world’s total ethanol used as fuel. In 2012, Americans consumed …

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SolarCity Files $201 Million IPO and has been helped by the Solar Panel Glut

Forbes – Elon Musk’s Solar installation startup SolarCity this afternoon filed with the SEC for a $201.25 million initial public offering. For the six months ended June 30, the company reported revenue of $71.4 million, including $51.7 from solar energy systems sales, and the rest from operating leases. That’s up from $20.3 million in the …

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Carnival of Nuclear Energy 119

The Carnival of Nuclear energy is up at Yes Vermont Yankee. At Atomic Insights, Rod Adams asks why radiation health professionals are so reluctant to talk about radiation hormesis ? William Tucker at Nuclear townhall discussed how talking about radiation hormesis makes the public think the speaker is a zonked out weirdo. Ted Rockwell responded. …

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Improved Vacuum transistors could beat silicon-based semiconductor electronics

Eurekalert – researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are proposing a new spin on an old method: a switch from the use of silicon electronics back to vacuums as a medium for electron transport—exhibiting a significant paradigm shift in electronics “Physical barriers are blocking scientists from achieving more efficient electronics,” said Hong Koo Kim, principal …

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Brian Wang on Fast Forward Radio Tomorrow

Brian Wang will be on Fast Forward Radio (the Speculist blog on Blog Talk Radio) I will be speaking with Rand Simberg, Phil Bowermaster and Stephen Gordon about Moon colonies and Newt Gingrich’s proposed permanent moon base. The talk will start at 8pm PST February 1pm and will be recorded. My Recent articles on moon …

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Chinese Solar Power Companies and Bloomberg New Energy Finance Tout competitive Solar Power Costs

Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said. Large photovoltaic projects will cost $1.45 a watt to build by 2020, half the current price, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated today. The London-based research company says solar …

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Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Dense Plasma Fusion Project Updates

Ad Support : Nano Technology   Netbook    Technology News    Computer Software Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP) is trying to achieve commercial nuclear fusion. LPP is trying to get up to 100,000 joules in each pulse. 60 such pulses would be 6 million joules per second, which if converted at with only about 20% loss would be equal to …

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China Working towards 600 Mph Maglev Trains Through Very Low Pressure Underground Tubes for 2020 to 2030

Ad Support : Nano Technology   Netbook    Technology News    Computer Software Southwest Jiaotong University in China is developing a low pressure underground tubes and maglev train which will travel at 1,000 kilometers per hour (600 mph). This is double the speed of current maglev trains. According to Shen Zhiyun, academic member of CAS and CAE, China should …

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Reflections on David Christians Techonomy Talk

Ad Support : Nano Technology   Netbook    Technology News    Computer Software David Christian had an interesting talk with a Big History view of the universe. He had the long view of the universe, life on earth, humanity and human civilization. His point was that the collective intelligence of humanity can be used to make a civilization with …

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China On Track to Starting Ling Ao 2 Nuclear Reactor in October and Japan Progressing to Implement New Energy Plan

Ad Support : Nano Technology   Netbook    Technology News    Computer Software 1. China Ling Ao 2 reactor has achieved criticality and is on track for October, 2010 commercial operation. The reactor is the third CPR-1000 to be built, representing a development from a French 900 MWe design imported in the 1990s: The CPR-1000 can deliver 1080 MWe …

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