A New Way to Churn Out Cheap LED Lighting
A startup in California has developed a manufacturing technique that could substantially cut the cost of LED lightbulbs””a more energy-efficient type of lighting.
LEDs are conventionally made on a relatively costly substrate of silicon carbide or sapphire. Bridgelux has come up a new process takes advantage of existing fabrication machines used to make silicon computer chips, potentially cutting LED production costs by 75 percent, according to the company.
Despite their higher efficiencies and longer life, few homes and businesses use LED lighting””largely because of the initial cost. An LED chip makes up 30 to 60 percent of a commercial LED lightbulb. Electronic control circuits and heat management components take up the rest. So for a 60-watt equivalent bulb that costs $40, Bridgelux’s technology could bring the cost down by $9 to $18. Integrating the light chip with the electronics might further reduce costs.
LEDs made with the new technique produce 135 lumens for each watt of power. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lighting Technology Roadmap calls for an efficiency of 150 lumens per watt by 2012. Some LED makers, such as Cree, in Durham, North Carolina, already sell LED lamps with efficiencies in that range. In contrast, incandescent bulbs emit around 15 lumens per watt, and fluorescent lightbulbs emit 50 to 100 lumens per watt.
Will higher oil prices lead to a recession? (Oil Drum)
The idea that high oil prices cause recessions shouldn’t be any surprise to those who have been following my writings, those of Dave Murphy, or those of Jeff Rubin. Last month, though, the Wall Street Journal finally decided to mention the idea to its readers, in an article called “Rising Oil Prices Raise the Specter Of a Double Dip“. The quote they highlight as a “call out” is
When consumers spend more at the pump, they often cut back on discretionary purchases.
The WSJ shows this graph, linking oil price hikes to recessions:
Figure 1. Wall Street Journal graphic showing connection between oil price rise and recession.A Financial Times blog by Gavyn Davies says something very similar:Each of the last five major downturns in global economic activity has been immediately preceded by a major spike in oil prices. Sometimes (e.g. in the 1970s and in 1990), the surge in oil prices has been due to supply restrictions, triggered by OPEC or by war in the Middle East. Other times (e.g. in 2008), it has been due to rapid growth in the demand for oil.
But in both cases the contractionary effects of higher energy prices have eventually proven too much for the world economy to shrug off.
In this post, I explain what the WSJ and Financial Times articles are missing regarding the connection between oil and the economy. I also explain how the inability of oil prices to rise very far suggests that the downslope may be considerably steeper than most models based only on the Hubbert curve would predict.
As global carbon-trading market stumbles, investors think locally
Vibhav Nuwal was once an enthusiastic supporter of the global carbon market. The Indian-born banker started in September 2009 to develop carbon credits, targeted at investors in Europe and Japan, for Mumbai-based private-equity fund Managing Emissions. Less than a year later, he quit his job, convinced that the United Nations’ failure to broker a global agreement to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions meant that the carbon credit market was effectively dead.
Now, Nuwal, 32, has set up a business helping companies that earn incentives from renewable-energy projects under a new Indian government program. Nuwal says that in the absence of a global consensus, investors are more likely to channel funds into incentive programs in local markets such as India, where they can make three times as much as they do selling credits under the global, U.N.-sponsored plan.
“There is a base being built for a really strong local economy around this,” says Nuwal, a former J.P. Morgan Chase investment banker. “Carbon is getting more and more difficult. A significant amount of the business that is done in the carbon space should shift.”
Nuwal’s decision is one more sign that the consensus reached 14 years ago by 193 nations and the European Union in Kyoto, Japan, may have fractured beyond repair. The plan, which introduced greenhouse-gas restrictions to support a global carbon market, is breaking down as the United States and China grapple over how, when and to what extent they can reduce pollution.
Brazil needs to unblock climate talks: Bill Clinton
US ex-president Bill Clinton urged Brazil to push to get global climate change talks unblocked by getting key trade partners, the United States and China, to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
“You cannot create a sustainable future for Brazil alone; you have got to convince enough other greenhouse gas emitters, including the US and China, your two biggest trading partners, to go with you on this,” said Clinton, in a speech to Brazilian business executives in this sweltering city in the heart of the country’s Amazon basin region.
Brazil “can build on the success that you have had, if you can solve some of the difficult problems in a way that the people of Brazil feel good about… you can break the barrier that kept us from getting an agreement in Copenhagen,” Clinton added.
The former US president lauded Brazil’s ability to curb by 75 percent its deforestation of the Amazon, which made the country at one point a leading contributor to global warming.
Talks in Cancun last November 28-December 11 yielded a rallying call to cap warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) but split badly over the future of the UNFCCC’s Kyoto Protocol, whose first round of emissions-cutting pledges expires at the end of next year.
Senate to vote on proposal to block EPA climate rules
While House Republicans have garnered most of the attention when it comes to blocking EPA climate regulations, all eyes will turn to the Senate this week.
Three amendments that would limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions are expected to come up on the Senate floor this week during consideration of small business legislation.
Democrats are planning to first hold a vote on a less stringent amendment offered by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that would exempt agriculture from EPA’s climate rules.
At a leadership meeting Monday, top lawmakers will then determine when two other amendments will be considered, including a Republican proposal to permanently eliminate EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources like power plants and refineries.
The amendment, which was offered by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is based on legislation authored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). A companion version of the bill
passed a key House committee earlier this month and is expected to come up for a vote on the House floor in the coming weeks.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
It’ll be interesting to see how the EPA restriction legislation goes in the Senate, in my mind this is where we find out if the EPA authority will be revoked or not – as I seriously doubt our President will do anything but approve whatever measures come across his desk and in the House its already a foregone conclusion.
Two of the three amendments are being put forward by Democrats (the one exempting agriculture and the one delaying action for 2 years which would probably become an ongoing / never-ending process)… I sure hope they are defeated as once we lose EPA authority its hard to see how we could get that back.
Now we get to see if our last national firewall on CO2 emissions will get eliminated…amazing to consider we, as a nation, would be in this place considering how I felt just two years ago.
“Dumb and Dangerous-The Problems With Smart Grids”
http://www.counterpunch.org/levitt03182011.html
“Ironically, environmentalists are also pushing for Smart Grids without studying the environmental/health impacts or even calculating if such systems will save energy. Plus, provisions in the stimulus package exempt Smart Grids from National Environmental Policy Act review and allow federal preemption for siting high-tension corridors through environmentally-sensitive areas.
But the biggest enviro-irony is that most Smart Meter models don’t “run backwards”; if you install solar panels or other renewable-energy sources and want to sell energy back to the grid, without very expensive additional equipment the new metering makes that impossible.”
It seems to me now that the so-called “smart grid” has a lot in common with the recent “environmental” push for nuclear: not so smart an idea, after all (except perhaps if you’re a Terminator, and you want to stay in touch with Skynet 24/7, without any concern for your health…)
dorveK: I’ve got a smart meter that counts down when my solar panels produce more power than I’m using. It was delayed by a few months behind my neighbor’s “one-way” meters, but it’s just a different model of meter. In fact, it looks identical but for the “net metering” sticker on it, and that it cycles through a couple of different displays. So, yes, you need a different meter, but I’m not sure that qualifies as “very expensive additional equipment”.
I smell a FUD campaign.
A fuel cell range extender for an electric
bike? Weighs ~6 lbs. and extends the
Battery range by about 40 miles per hydrogen
Cartridge. SiGNa Chemistry with Andy Wallace.
Pedego bicycle. Beta testing?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110327191042.htm
Debut of the First Practical ‘Artificial Leaf’
ScienceDaily (Mar. 28, 2011) — Scientists have claimed one of the milestones in the drive for sustainable energy — development of the first practical artificial leaf. Speaking in Anaheim, California at the 241st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, they described an advanced solar cell the size of a poker card that mimics the process, called photosynthesis, that green plants use to convert sunlight and water into energy.
(2nd attempt to post this.)
This is from March 7, but I did recall seeing it here before (I did a quick search).
How Does China’s 12th Five-Year Plan Address Energy and the Environment?
By Deborah Seligsohn and Angel Hsu on March 7, 2011
This piece originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.org
The draft of China’s much-anticipated 12th Five-Year Plan was released this Saturday, March 5 at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC). The Plan will actually be brought to a vote at the close of the session later this week. While there may be some changes to the Plan, in past years these have not been large.
http://www.wri.org/stories/2011/03/how-does-chinas-12th-five-year-plan-address-energy-and-environment
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20284-worlds-wind-and-waves-have-been-rising-for-decades.html
Oil Will Be Gone in 50 Years: HSBC
“Energy resources are scarce,” Ward said in a research note. “Even if demand doesn’t increase, there could be as little as 49 years of oil left.”
“Gas is less of a constraint, but transporting it and using it to meet transport demand is a major issue,” she said. “Coal is the most abundant with 176 years left, but this is the worst carbon culprit.”
If supplies were not constrained, the world would see a 110 percent jump in demand by 2050, equivalent to 190 million barrels a day, to fuel growth in the emerging world, Ward said.
But unless someone finds major new reserves this will not be possible and other sources of energy will need to be found.
“Energy security – defined in this instance as domestic energy production per head of population – will be an increasing concern,” she said. “Diversifying to natural gas to ease the pressure on the oil market won’t overcome it since its supply is as geographically dense as oil.”
Ward said she believes the most “energy insecure” regions are Europe, Latin America and India and predicts Europe in particular will find its energy situation getting worse.
The threat of global warming is not going away and its impact will be most keenly felt in the developing world, HSBC said.
“The ‘solution’ requires greater energy efficiency and a switch in the mix of energy as well as using ‘carbon capture’ technology to limit the damage of fossil fuel use,” Ward said.
As the Japanese authorities work around the clock to avoid a nuclear disaster there is a risk that nuclear power generation will see investment cut back at a time when it was expected to play a far bigger role.
“If Fukushima results in a two-decade freeze on plans, as we saw following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, then renewable energy will have to play an even larger role, or efficiency improvements would have to accelerate further,” Ward said. “A reduced role for nuclear energy would make meeting carbon limits even more challenging.”
“Government foresight on a scale not seen for 40 years will be needed to chart the route for the next 40 – at a time when the public sector in the OECD has perhaps the least capacity in decades to make strategic investments in new infrastructure.” http://www.cnbc.com/id/42224813
Rick Covert says:
“I smell a FUD campaign.”
That’s another reminder of the nuclear industry, then…
This new Method of cost effective LEDs will pave the way for efficient lighting as considerable wastage in lighting is there by the use of Fluorescent lamps,CFLs etc.,
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP), India