At long last, Nissan begins taking actual orders today for the first next-generation fully electric car from a major automaker, the Leaf.

More than 18,000 people who plunked down $99 to stay on the reservations list will have first crack at turning their interest into an actual order for the all-electric, five-seat car. Orders will be taken online and Nissan is still taking reservations on Leaf's web site. Even though now you can actually pay for one, deliveries won't start until December.

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Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter, executives of GE, and its partners recently came together to celebrate the start of construction of the state's largest wind power project. The wind power project stretches across 8 miles from the Oregon Trail westward across the continent.

Project investors GE Energy Financial Services, Reunion Power, Exergy Development Group and Atlantic Power Corp. signed a turbine blade in Bliss ushering in a wave of new jobs and economic development that the project will bring to the area.

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WASHINGTON, DC, August 24, 2010 (ENS) - The United States is now on track to slash the cost of electric vehicle batteries, halve the cost of solar power, double renewable energy manufacturing, and produce inexpensive personal genome maps, according to a new report on the results of the Obama administration's economic stimulus released today by Vice President Joe Biden.

Introducing the report from the Congressional Budget Office on the employment and economic impact of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Washington, Biden said today the $100 billion investment in innovation funded by the Act and the goals set by the administration have changed the American economy by inspiring new technologies and launching new industries.

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Matt Simmons, the maverick investment banker who championed the concept of peak oil, died of a heart attack in a hot tub in Maine. He was 67.

Simmons is best known for raising the alarm, in books, in lectures, television interviews and to anyone who would listen, that the world’s oil reserves had peaked.

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There is much promise in the evolving world of battery technologies for many of the devices that we use every day. Better battery tech means notebooks that can operate longer per charge, cell phones we can talk on for longer, and electric cars that can travel longer distances. With all of the aspects of technology that the battery touches, a breakthrough here can have very far reaching effects.

Yet-Ming Chiang, a researcher and founder of A123 Systems, has developed a new battery design that he claims could make electric vehicles much cheaper. Chiang has started a new company to commercialize the battery technology called 24M. The researcher says that the new battery he has designed could cut costs of the battery packs for electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt, by as much as 85%.

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A Kleiner Perkins-backed startup is supplying the gear for the largest solar farm in the world that will use concentrating photovoltaics — a hybrid tech that uses solar cells and solar thermal tech. Utility Public Service Co., part of Xcel Energy, has agreed to buy power from a 30-megawatt (AC) project being developed by Cogentrix Energy and using CPV gear from Amonix.

When it comes to the basket of solar energy technologies to pick from, utilities have largely favored solar panels and large concentrating solar thermal systems that use mirrors and lenses to concentrate the sun’s rays and capture the heat. But concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) — a hybrid of the two? Not so much.

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A majority of the wind farms in the United States use 2.5 megawatt wind turbines, and recent technology has introduced even larger turbines at 5 megawatts. Europe, on the other hand, is racing ahead of the game with the largest wind turbine yet - 10 megawatts. And it may be changing the way wind turbines are designed altogether.

Europe has seen a lot of advantages to building larger wind turbines, such as avoiding environmental issues by using larger turbines in deeper waters. There is less of a risk of encountering environmental problems the further offshore the turbines are located. Europe seems to build larger turbines as the water grows deeper, as well.

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On the steps of the San Diego County Administration Center, ECOtality, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!ecty/quotes/nls/ecty (ECTY 4.07, -0.15, -3.56%) , a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, will reveal today the first potential locations of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the San Diego region. The announcement is a significant milestone in the company's work with the U.S. Department of Energy and The EV Project, the world's largest rollout of electric vehicle infrastructure.

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Authorities in China say one of the country's worst oil spills has been contained before any of the oil could reach international waters.

Dai Yulin, the deputy mayor of Dalian port in northeast China, said Monday that more than 8,000 fishing boats helped to keep the 435-square-kilometer slick from reaching the open sea.

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China officially doubled the size of the oil spill caused by an explosion last week at the port city of Dalian. The China oil spill is now 165 square miles, but still just a fraction of the size of the BP oil spill in Gulf..(read more)

BP(BP) said the words that the world -- and the markets -- have been waiting for on Thursday afternoon: the oil flow from the leaking Macondo well has stopped.

BP began its well integrity test on Thursday and had said the flow of oil was slowing as it closed the valves of the leaking Macondo well. Kent Wells, BP senior vice president of exploration and production, made the good news official late on Thursday afternoon and BP shares surged by 7.5% in late trading.

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On Day 78 of the Gulf oil spill tar balls, tar patties and sheen continue to be reported in Northwest Florida, though fewer impacts have been observed due to westward-moving winds and ocean currents.

Oil has been found on Crystal Beach in the Galveston Area of Texas so leaking oil is now washing up on shore of every Gulf state. (read more)

A relief well that might divert the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil leak is still weeks from completion, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday, as the season's first Atlantic hurricane disrupted cleanup efforts.(read more)

Once constricted by the crumpled riser pipe, the full flow of the runaway Macondo wellhead in the BP oil spill burst forth last week when BP sawed through the pipe left over from when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and eventually sank on April 20.BP placed a "top cap" device with a rubberized seal on top of the pipe to siphon away the oil, a move that some marked as a long-awaited breakthrough in the six-week battle against geologic forces, tapped by man, that now threaten the ecology and livelihood of the US Gulf of Mexico..(read more)

BP PLC said Monday the cost of its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had reached $1.25 billion as it continued its attempts to contain more leaking crude. BP last week placed a containment cap on its ruptured oil well. On Monday, the oil major said a second containment system would be available for deployment in mid-June, potentially increasing the amount of oil and gas that can be captured.(read more)

The latest attempt to contain the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico hit a snag Wednesday when a diamond-tipped saw operated by an underwater robot got stuck in the riser pipe it was intended to slice off, federal officials said. The snared saw set back efforts to seal the stricken well that, since a drilling rig explosion on April 20, has been spewing thousands of gallons of oil into the gulf and fouling beaches, shellfish and birds on the coasts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. (read more)

After announcing over the weekend the failure of the ‘top kill’ procedure to stop the geyser of oil spreading throughout the Gulf of Mexico, on Tuesday BP has started a riskier procedure designed to capture the oil from the well. .(read more)

The British oil company British Petroleum will be attempting a "top kill" on the leaking oil well by firing a mud and cement mixture into the blowout preventer on the oil well later this week. If successful, the oil well will be closed off with cement. A back up plan in case of failure (30-40% fail risk) would be another containment apparatus.

BP has been using the oil dispersant corexit to disperse the oil film into small droplets which mix with the seawater. A riser insertion tube inserted into the largest oil leak site is collecting between 1,360 to 2,000 barrels of oil per day. Two relief oil wells are also currently under construction for a permanent solution to the oil spill. This pair will take about 90 days to complete. (read more)

Energy giant BP said on Monday it was capturing about a fifth of the estimated oil gushing from its ruptured undersea Gulf of Mexico well and hoped to increase that amount before trying to fully stop the flow later in the week.

But London-based BP (BP.L), whose shares recovered on news of the limited containment, still faced tough questions from the U.S. government and public over the extent of the spill threatening economic and environmental calamity to the U.S. Gulf Coast. (read more)

The oil gushing out of BP’s uncontrolled oil well may be at a rate which dwarfs previous estimates, according to an analysis from experts and reported on NPR on Friday. The spill is a result of the explosion and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig which occurred on April 20.

If the new flow estimate is correct, over 70.5 million gallons of oil have thus far been released into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico since April 20, to the detriment of the ecology and the economy of the region. (read more)

The White House science policy adviser, John Holdren, warned the Gulf oil spill leak could "make itself worse" at a recent science policy event.

Since the April 20 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a massive oil spill response has taken place in the Gulf of Mexico. However, the leak still continues 5,000 feet down about 50 miles from the coast, and Holdren acknowledged the true flow rate of the leak is not exactly known. (read more)

The "top hat" oil containment device has reached the sea floor in the Gulf of Mexico and should be in position over a leaking well head and operational by the end of the week, BP said Wednesday. A larger containment vessel was unsuccessful in stopping the flow of oil from the gusher about 5,000 feet underwater. The spill is sending 210,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico each day. (read more)

As crude oil continues to leak from a giant oil rig that sank last week in the Gulf of Mexico, officials have begun burning some of the petroleum in an effort to prevent it from reaching land. The giant oil slick is now less than three miles from the Louisiana coast, and officials say it will inevitably reach the shoreline, likely by some time Friday.(read more)

After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation’s first offshore wind farm, a sprawling project off the coast of Cape Cod. The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, which has lagged behind far Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to provide electricity to homes and businesses.(read more)

"The next five years will see us face another crunch – the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare. The challenge is to use that time well. ….Our message to government and businesses is clear: act. Don't let the oil crunch catch us out in the way that the credit crunch did."(read more)

Authorities continue to monitor the size and direction of a Gulf of Mexico oil sheen by air, while using robotic underwater equipment to try to shut off its source at a wrecked deepwater drilling platform. The Coast Guard and the companies that owned an operated the rig plan a Monday afternoon news conference in Robert, La., the site of a command center established over the weekend to deal with the crisis. (read more)

The International Energy Agency (IEA) released new findings Tuesday April 13 that global oil demand will reach a record high level in 2010, as the world economy recovers and developing nations’ demand for oil grows to new heights. IEA forecasts that average annual world oil demand will have rebounded 2% from 84.9 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2009 to 86.6 mb/d in 2010. Susan Lyon, Special Assistant on CAP’s Energy Opportunity team, has the story. (read more)

Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty is the first major guidebook on peak oil and global warming for people who work with and for local governments in the United States and Canada. It provides a sober look at how these phenomena are quickly creating new uncertainties and vulnerabilities for cities of all sizes, reviews how "early-actor" cities are already responding to peak oil, and recommends what steps local decision-makers can take to begin addressing these unprecedented challenges. Post Carbon Cities fills an important gap in the resources currently available to local government decision-makers on planning for the changing global energy and climate context of the 21st century.

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A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS, ESTABLISHING THE MAYOR'S TASK FORCE ON PEAK OIL

WHEREAS, global reserves of oil and natural gas are finite and sufficient substitutes are unlikely to be available in the immediate future; and

WHEREAS, the availability of affordable petroleum is critical to the functioning of our transportation system, our food production, our petrochemical-based consumer goods, the paving of roads, and myriad other parts of the economy; and

WHEREAS, U.S. oil and natural gas production have peaked and are now in decline, necessitating our nation’s continued and growing dependence on oil and natural gas imported from politically unstable regions; and

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AT THE pace of a fast bicycle, a solar-powered plane took to the skies for its maiden flight, passing an important test on the way to a historic voyage around the world – a journey that would not use a drop of fuel.

The Solar Impulse lifted off from a military airport at a speed no faster than 45km/h after briefly accelerating down the runway.(read more)

The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.

The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol in Britain reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel.

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The Fiat 500EV will go into production in 2012 for the United States market, the Michigan-based company said.

Pricing will not be announced until closer to launch, but the manufacturer promised the vehicle would be competitive with similar electric vehicles at the time.

Scott Kunselman, Senior Vice President Engineering at Chrysler Group LLC, said: “The Fiat 500 is a small, lightweight platform perfect for integrating electric-vehicle technology.” (read more)

Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries won't let global oil markets get too tight, an indication the world's biggest crude exporter won't be shy about putting more barrels into the market to quell runaway oil prices.

"We will never allow [the oil market to] get to the point where it puts too much pressure on prices," Saudi Arabia Oil Minister Ali Naimi told journalists here ahead of OPEC's Wednesday production policy meeting.

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But with its fleet of aging delivery trucks -- and limited funds -- the agency needs another innovation. Starting this summer, the Postal Service, which operates the world's largest civilian vehicle fleet, will begin a year-long pilot program of electric mail trucks in the Washington area, using vehicles converted by five manufacturers. (read more)

A local company will unveil its first converted all-electric car in the coming days. Advanced Mechanical Products has been working for three years on converting cars into fully electric-powered vehicles. Although the cars they convert, Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice, are no longer manufactured, the Blue Ash company has tripled its workforce in the past year.(read more)

Concerns over peak oil — that moment when oil demand exceeds global oil supply — has produced little more than a disdainful eye roll from Saudi Arabia. After all, the largest oil producer in the world has far more pressing problems — like peak demand, for example.(read more)

Today, a bunch of legislators and business people plan to show their support for three solar related bills being considered by the General Assembly by gathering in a state office building and explaining how they will make it easier to use solar power, how they will create jobs and how they will lessen dependence on fossil fuels, according to Environment Maryland and the Maryland Energy Administration. Environment Maryland says a quarter of Maryland homes are ready for solar panels that could capture energy that is now going unused. The group cites information from the International Center for Sustainable Development that shows the state gets about 196,000 gigawatt-hours of solar energy on a sunny summer day. That's more than what's produced at the state's mostly coal-fired power plants here in a year. (read more)

A-Power will begin shipping wind turbines in March and deliver all units by the same month of 2011. Its subsidiary, Shenyang Power, is contributing $36.6 million to the project, which is expected to produce about 600 megawatts of energy. (read more)

In Monday’s New York Times, Clifford Krauss and I wrote about the ways cities are preparing for the rollout of electric cars later year. West Coast cities like Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; and San Diego are vying to become electric car capitals. But the San Francisco Bay Area is already a center of the nascent battery-charged economy, thanks to a concentration of Silicon Valley electric car infrastructure startups, as well as companies like Google and Pacific Gas and Electric that are eager for a carbon-free future. (read more)

The International Energy Agency said Thursday it expects consumers globally, led by China, to burn more crude oil this year than previously forecast as the economic recovery deepens. The Paris-based agency expects world oil demand to average 86.5 million barrels a day in 2010, an increase of 170,000 from its January report and growth of 1.8% from 2009. All of the annual increase in consumption comes from emerging markets. (read more)

On it's face, the blockbuster movie "Avatar" would seem to be good for the renewable energy/sustainability camp. For the few remaining earthlings who haven't yet seen "Avatar," here's a quick recap ... (read more)

 

While theories differ on when the world will experience the hard hitting times of peak oil, Virgin boss Richard Branson is boldly predicting that will happen in the next five years. In the foreward to a new report being released shortly, Branson urges UK leaders to be proactive rather than reactive to peak oil. “The next five years will see us face another crunch – the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare. The challenge is to use that time well,” Branson will say. “Our message to government and businesses is clear: act,” he says in a foreword to a new report on the crisis. “Don’t let the oil crunch catch us out in the way that the credit crunch did.” (read more)

 

On January 28th the DOE announced the closing of a $1.4 billion ATVM loan to Nissan North America, a unit of Nissan Motors (NSANY), for the purpose of retooling a factory in Smyrna, Tennessee to produce the Leaf, a zero emission electric car that will be released later this year. (read more)

 

"The concern about peak oil is behind us," chief executive Khalid al-Falih told a session on energy supplies at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The peak oil theory that oil supply is at or near its peak gained currency when prices zoomed to a record of nearly $150 a barrel in 2008. The issue remains a concern for many in the industry. (read more)

 

Will technology leapfrog depletion and save drivers from the cost of triple-digit oil? Every auto producer in the world has an electric car in the works; General Motors, of course, will start producing its Volt later this year. But in actuality, the car of the future is really a throwback to the past. In 1899, an electric car was clocked going over 60 miles an hour. And a little over a decade later, a Detroit Electric managed to travel 211 miles on a single charge (by comparison, General Motors’ Volt will go just 40 miles on a single charge before its back-up gasoline engine kicks in.) (read more)

 

America, prepare to pay $3 a gallon for gasoline again. Many energy experts expect gasoline prices to return to $3 a gallon, saying gas prices will rise this year with oil prices. Oil prices have been recovering since the U.S. economy crashed in 2008. Energy experts say gas prices are bound to hit that threshold sometime this year as oil prices rise. But please spare the filling station manager your wrath. He's not the reason that pump prices across the country are rising.
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WASHINGTON — Wind could replace coal and natural gas for 20 to 30 percent of the electricity used in the eastern two-thirds of the United States by 2024, according to a study released Wednesday by the Energy Department.But doing so would require a reorganization of the power grid and a significant increase in costs. And it would have only a modest impact on cutting emissions linked to global warming, the study found. (read more)

 

Reputed companies are always conscious about their brand image and what a great way to build great brand by taking clean and green route! Bell Lab is the division of the Alcatel-Lucent. Currently Alcatel-Lucent is trying to invest in their communications networks to make it 1,000 times more energy efficient. They have launched a five year program known as “Green Touch.” Members affiliated with the Green Touch are AT&T, and China Mobile from industry; MIT and Stanford University from the academic world; and The French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control from government. Industrial laboratory members are Bell Labs, the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and Freescale Semiconductor. The project has received the nods of ascent from United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and the British, French, South Korean and Portuguese governments. (read more)

 

In his first year in office, President Obama launched America on a 21st century clean energy renaissance that is creating jobs in the short term and laying the foundation for a low carbon economy in the long term. These actions will improve energy efficiency, incentivize production of renewable energy like wind and solar, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and curb the emissions that contribute to climate change. (read more)

 

Think, the Norwegian electric carmaker, said on Tuesday that it will open its first American assembly plant in Elkhart, Ind. The Think City, a battery-powered, two-seat hatchback, is set to begin rolling off the Indiana assembly line in early 2011, ramping up to a potential annual production of 20,000 cars by 2013. The factory is expected to eventually employ more than 400 workers. (read more)

 

E.ON will today launch an LED streetlight that consumes up to 70% less energy than standard lights and promises to deliver a "step change" in the efficiency of lighting infrastructure. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network E.ON will today launch an LED streetlight that consumes up to 70 per cent less energy than standard lights and promises to deliver a "step change" in the efficiency of lighting infrastructure. The energy firm already operates a number of lighting contracts for local authorities and private companies and is now looking to offer the technology to new and existing customers. (read more)

 

New Year’s Eve at the end of the decade. A time to play around a little with alcohol and oil, I would think. In the spirit of Dean Martin then, who famously said: I don’t have a drinking problem. I drink, I get drunk, I fall down. No problem! I bring you some of the choicest No Problem! quotes from our peak oil decade, accompanied by rich visual material to get you past midnight. Happy New Year to all. (read more)