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First it was companies poking around and looking for places to stake their claim on the possible use of [tag-tec]ocean waves[/tag-tec] to create energy. Now it is a whole county in CA that wants to lock up its shoreline and ocean territory for miles out to sea in order to protect its right to develop wave energy technology.

Yes it seems that the technology must be coming to near term if it has come to this. The Sonoma County water Agency (just north of SF) has plans this week to ask federal regulators for exclusive rights to study and develop wave-energy technology along the entire 41-mile county coastline, extending 12 miles out to sea, an expanse of about 490 square miles.

Now there are some interesting issues in this plan. Who has the final say over these ocean energies? What impact will it have on ocean ecology, can they even develop a technology capable of standing up to salt water, huge waves, and cold temps over many years?

"Most of the prospective areas for wave arrays are right in the middle of gray whale migratory pathways," said Richard Charter, a representative of the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife.

Will these wave energy technologies get in the way of commercial and public fisheries, damage fish habitat, prevent cleanup in the case of a spill and so on. These are the questions being asked.

But the tantalizing question is can it work and how much energy can it supply? Is it another version of wind power, capable of helping out as an energy source but not yet a big player? Or is it much bigger than that?

Some of the wave science Wave power DOE on wave power

Energy Tags: solar+energy" rel="tag">solar energy, energy

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div>Jim Woods and Paul Carton asked:


"Keep your face to the sunshine…" — Helen Keller

No matter where you look, alternative energy is the topic du jour. Driven by the economics of record-high crude oil, the spotlight is shifting to non-traditional renewable energy sources, particularly solar power.

But while solar stocks were some of the biggest gainers for much of last year, recently the solar power industry has taken big hits - with several key leaders such as First Solar (FLSR) SunPower (SPWR) and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) down as much as 50% off their 52 week highs.

To find out what's going on with solar energy and the other renewable energy sources, we recently surveyed 182 respondents working directly in the alternative energy industry.

More on 2008 is the Year of Solar Energy, According to New Changewave Survey

Energy Tags: energy, solar power

This past week BP (British Petroleum) announced it had picked two universities to partner with in creating a biosciences research facility that would study the development of alternative fuel sources. The deal means $50 million in research funding over the next ten years to UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois. They held a grand press conference on Feb.1 at UC Berkeley that featured the governors of Illinois and California. BP spread the money far and wide to get the word out about their largess in this area. The press conference featured 11 speakers, a web cast, full national TV broadcast (four in house cameras, two satellite trucks, a production crew of over 20, and too many government and university egos to fit in one giant room).

There was a buzz in the air as the state and university folks were clearly slathering over the prospect of such a large grant to fund research and BP was clearly trying to buy some valuable exposure that would make big oil look like sound corporate citizens interested in looking into and developing alternative fuels.

Let's be clear here though. NO tough questions were answered. In fact the press conference was more of a reading of speeches, and when it was time to ask questions from the media the poor chancellor got the script wrong and it all fell apart. The speakers wandered off and the press was left to scramble for their questions to be answered.

Nothing was mentioned about who retains any patents that might be derived from this research effort, or who drives the prominent research. BP still wants to figure out how to get more oil out of the ground than they do now and that might end up superseding biofuel efforts and research. The other big question is how valid is this effort. I mean do we see results in ten years that make a difference or does the private sector R&D blow right past this academic effort in the production of new biofuels?

Are you a believer of Global warming or not? Or are you one of the cynics yet to be convinced? Well both have a part to play in the Global Warming arena debate. The whole issue is surrounded by facts and figures but when these facts and figures are looked at it is very difficult to prove them with science, so you end up with hearsay.

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The nuclear legacy is the inheritance of the early nuclear development of 60 years ago when there was little regulation and a new science was forging ahead, largely without adequate controls. At that time the focus in many countries was on the development and application of nuclear technology for weapons and civil purposes. Today's nuclear plants have rigorous safety systems and procedures built into them and the disposal of nuclear waste is an ongoing procedure, not something to be cleared up years later.

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