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Fast Tracking for Green Tech Patents
While the Copenhagen deal may not be exciting to many people, the Obama administration has been doing a lot for green tech innovation aside from pricing carbon.
Obviously, the RD&D money in the stimulus package was helpful, particularly during the downturn. The loan guarantees are a tried-and-true mechanism for getting capital-intensive projects built, too. But here’s [...]
The Energy Innovators Google Is Listening To
In its swanky San Francisco office, Google hosted an event on energy innovation with a slate of heavy hitters including Lynn Orr, head of Stanford’s Precourt Energy Institute, Berkeley’s Dan Kammen, MIT’s Ernie Moniz, and Google’s Dan Reicher. What do they see in the country’s energy future?
All You Need to Know About U.S. Energy Incentives in Two Graphs
This excellent data comes to us courtesy of the paper, “A half century of US federal government energy incentives:
value, distribution, and policy implications” by economists Roger H. Bezdek and Robert Wendling of Management Information Services. Granted, renewable energy has gotten more backing since 2003, but the overall trends are still good.
Paired with my previous All [...]
SERI Archive: 40 Cents a Watt Solar Power by the Year 2000 Or Bust
Document: Advances in Photovoltaics R&D: An Overview [Downloadable PDF]
Authors: L.L. Kazmerski (Larry Kazmerski)
Date: 1981
Notes: Reprinted from the Proceedings of the 16th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Vol. 2. NY: ASME.
Task Number: 1090.00
Abstract: A summary status of the advanced photovoltaics research and development is presented. These technologies cover two broad areas: (1) Thin-film intermediate efficiency (>10%) [...]
All You Need to Know About U.S. Energy R&D in Two Graphs
Both graphs are from Pacific Northwest National Lab analyst James Dooley’s excellent report, “US Federal Investments in Energy R&D.” It’s these ridiculously low levels of research spending that make me wary of writing off any particular technology. Say carbon capture and sequestration or enhanced geothermal or wave power. The truth is that we haven’t put [...]
Producing Oil for the Motherland, Or: Chinese Anthems for Energy Independence
It’s easy enough for oil-drenched Americans to claim to rail against oil, but imagine if you really, really had no access to energy. No electricity and no liquid fuel. Just you, your muscles and whatever symbiotic organisms you could evolve to fit your needs. Welcome to being a living thing for all but the last [...]
What the Inventor Saw (“May Revolutionize Labor”)
Harnessing nature is a little like harnessing God.
Or so the following article on the Reynolds Wave Machine would have us believe.
Written back in 1907, it has one of the most stupendously purple intros you’re every likely to see for a science and engineering story; it’s actually a bit like Wired circa 1994. I’ve transcribed it [...]
The Letters Van and Put Wrote
My sample chapter revolves around the construction of the Smith-Putnam wind turbine, which was the world’s first megawatt machine. It finished initial construction in 1941 and entered a prolonged testing period. In 1943, a bearing broke and the war prevented its replacement until 1945. When the machine got back up and running, it ran for [...]
Energy, the American Experience, Mid-70s Government Fiction
Here, we’ve just got a video produced by the Energy Research and Development Administration, the precursor to the Department of Energy. It’s actually quite a good summary of American energy usage up through the mid-70s while the film was made, but the pre-20th century bits are bizarre fiction. Watch for the little boy in period [...]
Solar Cells vs. The Atomic Gadget for Your Desk
Many people know that the solar cell was invented at Bell Labs, helped along by the men who created the silicon semiconductors that underpin electronics. But a far less well-known story today is the nearly simultaneous creation of what were known as “atomic batteries” by Bell Labs’ arch-rival, RCA, in 1954. As described in John [...]
Inventing Green by Alexis Madrigal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
