Alternative . Renewable . Energy

The Environment Site energy forum

Reader Bruce Wayne gave me a heads up on The Environment Site, which has a great series of energy forums with lots of people talking about alternative energy who know waaaaaaay more than I do. Check it out.

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Basic info on alternative fuel sources

If you're looking for a basic, reasonably in-depth overview of alternative fuel sources, here's  a great place to start. It's a site in Australia that takes a look at...

Solar Energy
GeoThermal Energy
Hydro Energy
Tidal Power
Wind Energy
Biomass
Biogas
The Atmosphere
Focus in the Future

It was originally the lecture notes for a class taught at Tulane University in Australia.

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National Renewable Energy Laboratory - renewable energy basics

Looking for a primer on the basics of renewable energy? The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has a great resource with lots of information. It's set up along the following topics:

What Is Renewable Energy?
Why Is Renewable Energy Important?
Why Is Energy Efficiency Important?   
What Does Clean Energy Have To Do with Me?
* Home Owner
* Small Business Owner
* Student & Teacher
* Inventor
* Electricity Provider
* Farmer & Rancher

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Renewable energy incentives

Geoff over at the Renewable Energy Law Blog has a link in his list o' resources to a site worth knowing about for those in the US, with a database of renewable energy  incentives at the state level as well as select federal incentives. From the DSIRE website:

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy.

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Good news - bad news

The good news? Renewable energy sources are projected to grow in the US. The bad news? It's gonna be slow.

According to a report recently released by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, total generation from green power facilities in the United States will increase by 130 billion kWh between 2003 and 2025.

Specifically, the forecast projects that geothermal generation will increase from 13 billion kWh in 2003 to 33 billion kWh in 2025, citing this increase as "significant." As a whole, however, renewable technologies are projected to grow slowly "because of the relatively low cost of fossil-fired generation," with grid-connected generators using renewable fuels projected to remain minor contributors to U.S. electricity supply.

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The future of energy

Interesting article on the Forbes site about The Future of Energy (via The Renewable Energy Law Blog and the Alternative Energy Blog).

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Energy 101

Here's a great overview of energy issues from the Union of Concerned Scientists website. It offers perspectives on:

Past & Present
- History
- Trends

Sources & Technologies
- Measurement
- Sources
- Renewables & buildings
- Energy & transportation

Energy & Environment
- Hidden costs of fossil fuels
- Benefits of renewables
- Impacts of renewables
- Energy solutions for global warming

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American Energy Independence project

I got an e-mail today from a woman who is part of a group of graduate students working on the American Energy Independence project for the Collaborative Leadership Course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was an invitation to participate in their research/discussion forum.

She extended an open invitation to participate in the discussion. If you're interested, you can visit the web site here.

The basic idea is that the current dependence on fossil fuels has gotten the world's knickers in a knot, and it's only going to get worse. Something need to be done, and they hope to create a forum that will spark insights and ideas.

Each week there will be a different question. Here is the question this week:

"Regarding the current political debates, whose campaign plan do you feel responds the best to American energy independence and why?" [Note, if you'd like to answer this, be sure you go to their site to do it.]

DOE Energy Information Portal - energy efficiency & renewable energy

Here's another place to turn for more information on renewable energy sources.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Portal, "A gateway to hundreds of Web sites and thousands of online documents on energy efficiency and renewable energy."

Among other things, they have sections on:

* Bioenergy
* Geothermal
* Hydrogen
* Hydropower
* Ocean
* Solar
* Wind

Energy introduction

I was just thinking I needed to find a site that gave me a general, high level overview of the energy options currently at hand (I'm pretty much starting from the beginning here), when lo and behold, what do I run across but an excellent blog called PowerFrontiers. They have a section with overviews of multiple energy sources, including:

* Oil/petroleum
* Natural gas
* Nuclear
* Cold fusion
* Coal
* Solar
* Fuel cell
* Wind
* Biomass
* Hydropower
* Geothermal