Energy Challenges

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Comment by Tim Zebo on October 21, 2008 at 3:37pm

Thermo-photovoltaic cells reach new record effieciency - a successful three-year collaborative research project has delivered first generation single-junction cells with energy conversion efficiencies up to 12%. This compares to 9% from existing, commercially available devices.

Thermo-photovoltaics are similar to solar cells, but operate at infrared rather than visible wavelengths, generating electricity directly from heat. They have applications in waste-heat recovery from industrial plants such as blast furnaces, combined heat and power (CHP) generation, and domestic boilers, as well as silent mobile power generation.

Above is from: From: http://www.laserfocusworld.com/display_article/342397/12/none/none/TECHN/Thermo-photovoltaic-cells-reach-new-record-effieciency?dcmp=LFWNews

Comment by Jack Park on May 27, 2008 at 1:08am

Amusing chart: Gas Prices Around the World.

Comment by Jack Park on May 26, 2008 at 8:33pm

One of the advertisements running in the right panel of this page says "Our Energy, Our Future". Worth clicking, I think. If it is gone, the link is to here. Interesting (to me) observation: the domain is a "dot coop" domain. Imagine something like globalsensemaking.coop .

Comment by Jack Park on May 26, 2008 at 8:26pm

Agree with everything George stated. Would like to add that just finding new carbon-free energy sources is not liable to be the whole story. Need to deal with the human component--need to reduce consumption. Thus, I am inclined to suggest that energy challenges include both the supply and demand sides. But, everybody already knows that.

Increased gas cost finally appears to be affecting the demand for pickup trucks and Hummers, from what I am seeing in the news (don't have any details at hand to offer), so it would seem that market forces are already affecting the demand side.

And, what about economy? Is that not an entire sensemaking thread in its own right?

Comment by George E. Mobus on May 26, 2008 at 8:01pm

The recent run-up in oil prices and various technical evidence strongly suggests that the world is entering the phase of peak oil production just at a time when demand for fossil fuels is soaring. Energy is fundamental to all of human activity. The economy is ultimately dependent on how much energy is available to do useful work. Additional non-carbon energy will be needed to mitigate climate change or adapt to the impacts that may develop.

There is no such thing as a free lunch! This global issue is one of the most critical to solve in the near term.