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

To: atticus4paws who wrote (4879)	6/6/2008 2:27:55 PM
From: one_less	Respond to of 16955

Africa's Hot Deserts Could Power Entire Continent AFP Harnessing Hot Sun June 5, 2008 -- Solar power from Africa's deserts could supply all 600 million citizens currently without electricity and even export power to Europe, a green energy conference in Nairobi heard Thursday. The ferocious desert sun could provide the energy equivalent of 1.5 barrels of oil per square kilometer, said Gerhard Knies, project manager for Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC), at a meeting of nine African states. "The largest source of energy is the solar radiation (and) the best place to receive solar radiation is the desert," he told reporters at the start of meeting of 20 parliamentarians in Kenya. "Deserts get 700 times more energy per year than all human kind is using," he explained. "It is as if a layer of 25 centimeters (10 inches) of oil is falling down in the deserts year after year." The legislators from Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda Tanzania, Uganda and the Seychelles are at the conference to discuss energy access for the poor. "There is great need to provide the poorest people in east Africa with electricity," said Nicholas Dunlop, founder of the "e-parliament" conference. "But at the same time there is an urgent need to combat climate change." Dunlop explained that the technology needed to provide solar thermal energy was simple and clean compared to extracting and processing fossil fuels. "A combination of mirrors and pipes to concentrate the sun's heat to boil water and drive an old fashion steam turbine." "One you have built your mirrors and pipes ... your costs are finished. The good Lord does the rest," he said. He added that solar energy costs were steadily coming down as the industry expanded, notably in Europe, while "oil is famously going through the roof." "Now renewable energy is considered as a supplement to fossil fuels. We have to look at fossil fuels as supplements for renewable (energy)," said Knies. Stephen Karekezi of the Environment and Development Network for Africa said high oil prices were fueling the drive for alternative and cleaner energy sources. "We are quite excited by this opportunity... that the high oil prices begin to turn our policy makers to actually contribute and push for renewable (energy)." dsc.discovery.com

To: atticus4paws who wrote (4879)	6/6/2008 10:30:32 PM
From: The Vet	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16955

Has anybody examined the figures in regard to CO2 sequestration. Once you add in the construction and energy requirements to actually sequestrate the CO2 the whole process starts to look like an ethanol from corn type of energy balance equation... Also has anyone considered the possibility that this CO2 might be suddenly released by accident or geological movement in an earthquake or man made screw up. Sudden CO2 releases have occurred naturally in volcanic or CO2 eruptions and have killed thousands.. This bury it and forget it option isn't considered to be acceptable for nuclear waste, but is the rage for CO2.. Seems odd to me especially when there is no firm data that proves CO2 increases in the atmosphere in the ranges we are considering makes very much difference in global temperatures at all... geology.sdsu.edu