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Submission + - Ethanol Under Siege

Submitted by

Reservoir Hill

on Thursday November 29, 2007 @08:57PM

Reservoir Hill writes: "Little over a year ago, ethanol was winning the hearts and wallets of both Main Street and Wall Street, with promises of greater US energy independence, fewer greenhouse gases and help for the farm economy. But the Wall Street Journal reports that critics now blame ethanol for pushing up food prices and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil while environmentalists say additional ethanol production could strain water supplies and impair water quality and the EPA says that "ozone levels generally increase with increased ethanol use." President Bush gave ethanol a boost in his State of the Union speech in 2005 by calling for "strong funding" of renewable energy. Energy legislation that summer required oil companies to blend a total of 7.5 billion gallons of "renewable" fuels into the nation's fuel supply by 2012. Now the ethanol lobby is pushing for the Senate version of pending energy legislation, which includes a requirement that gasoline blenders use 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022 but formidable opponents such as the livestock, packaged-food and oil industries also have lawmakers' ears and what once looked like a slam-dunk could now languish in pending energy legislation that might not pass for weeks, if ever."

Submission + - Nuclear battery patent and tapping oil shale (blogspot.com)

Submitted by

nanotrends

on Wednesday November 28, 2007 @03:17PM

nanotrends writes: "The uranium hydride nuclear "battery" is a self-contained nuclear reactor. It is not a radioisotope thermal generator. With a good design it can achieve 50% fuel burnup instead of 0.7-2.0% for existing reactors. The company Hyperion claims that the first reactors will cost $1400 per KW (about the same as the claims for the latest conventional nuclear reactors). The patent info on the "nuclear battery" indicates how it will operate. The first target market is to help enhance recovery of oil shale, so this would address peak oil. They claim they can lower costs of insitu recovery down to 30% of the cost of using natural gas for the same purpose and no water is needed for reactor cooling. Thorium hydride could also be used. If the company is successful they would blunt peak oil. The USA could be generating several million barrels per day of oil from the oil shale fields in Colorado and the reactors could displace coal power which kills 30,000 americans each year from air pollution and 1 million people world wide. Teller tried to make a uranium hydride bomb but he could only get 200 tons of TNT equivalent out of it. Not much more than the recent russian father of all bombs."

Submission + - Another challenge to the DCMA subpoena clause 1

Submitted by tom_gram on Tuesday November 27, 2007 @10:03AM

tom_gram writes: A lawyer for a "a Jane/John Doe" recently filed a challenge to the RIAA's right to demand that a University provide the names of students associated with IP adresses that the RIAA suspects of sharing music files.

An article in the Columbus Dispatch describes the lawyers legal position: ""Here, we have the well-oiled and ready legal machine of the music industry poised against ... unemployed college students who depend on their parents, the government or benevolent institutions for their very sustenance," Kafantaris said. "It's an abuse of the legal system, and it is unconscionable."

The article describes the general approach of the RIAA, which has the college forward letters to students "that say they can settle the complaint at a "discount" (typically between $3,000 and $4,500)" but in this case are now demanding names of students who did not comply.

Submission + - Updated World Oil Forecasts (theoildrum.com)

Submitted by

The Oil Drum

on Wednesday August 22, 2007 @11:17AM

The Oil Drum writes: "
World total liquids production (Fig 1) remains on a peak plateau since 2006 and is forecast to fall off this peak plateau in 2009. According to the IEA, the current peak production of 86.13 mbd occurred on July 2006 and only one year later, June 2007 total liquids production fell to an unexpectedly low 84.28 mbd. As long as demand continues increasing then prices will also continue increasing.
Many charts, graphs, and interpretations. Important data.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2828"

Submission + - Sunflower Oil + MeOH + Fungus Pellet = Biodiesel (wired.com)

Submitted by BioDomez on Tuesday August 21, 2007 @11:54AM

BioDomez writes: Biodiesel is usually made by mixing vegetable oil with methanol and a sodium hydroxide and then heating it to make esters. An enzyme called lipase can do it at room temperature without a strongly basic catalyst. Unfortunately, lipase is not cheap. Researchers at IICT in Hyderabad, India have a simple solution. Why bother purifying the lipase? It would be easier to just find an organism that produces plenty of the enzyme and squish it into pellets. In this case, the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae does the trick.

Submission + - Fungi Make Biodiesel at Room Temperature

Submitted by SoyChemist on Monday August 20, 2007 @02:28PM

SoyChemist writes: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have used pellets made from the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae to produce biodiesel at room temperature. Usually, biodiesel is made by brewing vegetable oil with methanol and lye at high temperatures. That wastes a lot of energy, and thus partially defeats the point of making an alternative fuel. The researchers in Hyderabad mixed sunflower oil with methanol and trickled it through a glass column filled with fungus pellets. A lipase enzyme in the fungus converted the brew into biodiesel with a yield as high as 85 percent. Considering that the U.S. Department of Energy and BP are have pumped tons of money into synthetic biology for making alternative fuels, it is amazing to see what an apparently underfunded lab can do with natural organisms.

Submission + - The Economics of Oil: Supply and Demand (theoildrum.com)

Submitted by

Prof. Goose

on Sunday August 19, 2007 @12:15PM

Prof. Goose writes: "The lesson here is simple: there is no "over" or "under" supply, there is only the price at which the market clears. And over the long-term, high oil prices will tend to encourage consumers to either reduce energy consumption or shift to other forms of energy. Similarly, investment in either inhospitable areas or in developing technologies will result in greater quantities of oil or synthetic crude coming on to the market. Each boom in the oil price sows the seeds of its own destruction.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2899"

US Lags World In Broadband Access 608

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @02:46PM from the get-cracking-tube-layers dept.

An anonymous reader writes "When It Comes To Broadband, U.S. Plays Follow The Leader says a story in IWeek. Their thesis is that, while broadband access in the United States rose from 60 million users in March 2005 to 84 million in March 2006, the US is well behind countries like England and China. Indeed, what you may not realize is that the U.S. ranks a surprisingly poor 12th in worldwide broadband access, a situation which could threaten its ability to maintain its technological lead. The federal government is no help: the FCC has almost no data on the rate of hi-speed adoption, or of what the speed and quality of those services are. Broadband is more expensive here than in other nations, as well, almost 10 times as expensive by some estimates. The cost and poor quality of service aren't from population density, aren't from lack of interest, and are not from lack of technical know-how. So, what is holding us back?

Cancer Drug Found; Scientist Annoyed 349

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 15, 2007 @12:42PM from the serendipity dept.

sporkme writes "A scientist was frustrated when the compound she was working with (called PPAR-gamma) destroyed her sample of cancer cells. Further research revealed that the substance was surprisingly well suited as a cancer treatment. Lab test results on mice resulted in the destruction of colon tumors without making the mice sick." Quoting: "'I made a calculation error and used a lot more than I should have. And my cells died,' Schaefer said. A colleague overheard her complaining. 'The co-author on my paper said, "Did I hear you say you killed some cancer?" I said "Oh," and took a closer look.' ... [They found that the compound killed] 'pretty much every epithelial tumor cell lines we have seen.'" Update: 02/15 17:27 GMT by KD : As reader CorporalKlinger pointed out, PPAR-gamma is a cellular receptor, not a compound; and this news is not particularly new.

Music Execs Think DRM Slows the Marketplace 224

Posted by kdawson on Thursday February 15, 2007 @11:22AM from the well-duh dept.

MacGod writes "From BBC News comes a story about a Jupiter Research survey conducted before Steve Jobs's anti-DRM essay, indicating that most music industry execs see DRM-free music as a way to expand sales on digital tracks. The survey covered large and small record labels, rights bodies, digital stores, and technology providers. To summarize: 54% of music execs think that current DRM is too restrictive and 62% think selling unencumbered music would be a way to boost sales. Even limiting the survey to the record labels themselves, 48% believe this. Yet, many also believe it's not going to happen without significant governmental intervention — even though most insiders think DRM is harmful, the labels are keen to stick with it. Is this yet another sign of the typical media industry 'head in the sand, refuse to change' approach, or might we be seeing the early stages or some actual change?"

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