Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (4327)	2/25/2008 11:56:09 AM
From: $Mogul	Respond to of 16955

money.cnn.com US House Set To Vote Next Week On Energy Tax Package February 22, 2008: 04:28 PM EST WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Congressional Democrats will try again next week to take away tax breaks for oil companies in order to finance renewable-energy and building efficiency projects, but success remains elusive amid a shortage of votes in the Senate. The U.S. House of Representatives is tentatively set to vote on Wednesday on the bill, which would repeal more than $17.6 billion in tax breaks for oil and gas producers over 10 years. Consumers would gain new tax breaks for buying plug-in hybrid cars. Companies would be able to continue taking tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects, extending breaks that expire at the end of 2008. The House already cleared similar legislation last year, and passage next week is almost assured. But in the Senate, Democrats have struggled to get around opposition from Texas Republicans and foes such as Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. The Republicans side with oil companies in arguing that the way to address rising oil prices is through encouraging production through tax incentives and favorable accounting treatment. The resulting impasse has an effect on wind-project developers, whose financing depends on whether they can count on tax credits - which may only be taken once a project gets up and running. With uncertainty about whether the tax credits will be extended, "it just brings everything to a halt," said Michael Eckhart, president of The American Council on Renewable Energy. "It's not because it changes the economics. It's that it completely makes it impossible to know how to finance the project not knowing what the variables are." Winners and Losers New York, home of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D- N.Y., would be a big winner in the bill. Under the bill, Congress would provide tax credits for transportation projects connecting with the New York Liberty Zone, the area of Lower Manhattan that was damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Oil and gas companies would lose some $13.6 billion in tax breaks granted in 2004 for domestically produced goods. Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron Corp. (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA), and BP Plc (BP) would lose the tax breaks entirely. The deduction would be frozen at 6% for smaller oil and gas companies. That deduction had been scheduled to jump to 9% in 2010, as part of a 2004 law that gradually phased in the manufacturing tax break. Oil companies would also lose another $4.1 billion under provisions that provide less favorable tax treatment for certain kinds of foreign income. Under the bill, Congress would extend for three years, through the end of 2001, tax credits for wind, hydropower, and other facilities that generate power from so-called renewable sources. The tax credit would be capped at 35% of the present value of a facility's cost, and is estimated to subtract $6.57 billion from federal coffers. Under the bill, Congress would extend for eight years, through the end of 2016, tax credits for commercial investments in solar-energy equipment. Companies are able to receive a credit of 30% of the cost of solar-energy projects, with no limit, but those credits will expire at year's end unless Congress acts. The proposal is estimated to cost $621 million. Congress would extend until the end of 2014 the tax credit for homeowners who buy solar panels or solar hot water heaters. The tax credit would also be more generous, doubling to $4,000 from $2,000. The bill is H.R. 5351. -By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires 02-22-08 1628ET Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

To: Road Walker who wrote (4327)	2/25/2008 11:56:55 AM
From: A.J. Mullen	Respond to of 16955

A tear drop has minimum drag, thus a blunt nose is good. EOM

To: Road Walker who wrote (4327)	2/25/2008 12:12:01 PM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 16955

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

To: Road Walker who wrote (4327)	2/25/2008 1:05:13 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16955

When Ashley says <Any attempt to generate power is likely* to impede the movement of the air and create drag.* > "likely" is being assigned a probability of 1, meaning absolutely certain. There were allegedly attempts to invent perpetual motion machines, but mostly people have given up on that. Car manufacturers understand physics and don't try to run their cars by absorbing energy from the pressure of the air coming in the front. You might have heard of scram jets which run by air being rammed in the front which avoids the need for turbne blades to compress the air before combustion. That doesn't provide energy. The energy comes from the fuel which is injected into the air stream. You can't put drag to use by producing more energy. All you can do is reduce it by streamlining. That's for sure: < BWDIK the last thing anyone would call my is an engineer or physicist.> Human ignorance is vast. No wonder we love Google - it's like having a huge brain right there at our fingertips. There is huge evolutionary advantage in having a bigger and better brain. No wonder the Flynn Effect occurs. [See Google for Flynn Effect]. If I could have increased life expectancy or a better brain, I think I'd go with the brain. But both are nice. Humans already live a long time because wasting such a resource as a brain full of information is counterproductive. Mayflies, which don't have big brains, last a day. Viruses don't wait even a day before reproducing - clueless but effective. We wade through our personal fogs of ignorance, hoping that we don't bump into anything too painful or fatal. Mqurice PS: We remain very ignorant because perpetual motion machine can be created, as proven by us being here. The Cosmos is one giant perpetual motion machine. We have no idea how it works. We talk about gravity and stuff, but remain bewildered and certainly can't make perpetual motion machines ourselves - even small ones, let alone big ones like the Cosmos. Entropy and drag are obviously reversible. Don't ask me how.