Rusted Sky

I've blogged about BlackLight Power, Inc before, a few times...

My latest post on it was that they've shipped out a 50kw test cell to a university for the PhDs to play with there.

Looks like they're having a good time with it. Apparently they've got something repeatable. Workable? Practical? That's another matter - we'll see about that.

From the BlackLight Power, Inc main page...

BlackLight
Power, Inc. is the inventor of a new primary energy source with applications to heating, distributed power generation, central power generation, and motive power. It is based on a new chemical process of releasing the latent energy of the hydrogen atom, the BlackLight Process. On October 20, 2008, BlackLight announced off-site validation of a 50 kW reactor. Rowan Scientists confirmed BLP's 1 kW and 50 kW power source tests corresponding to 20 kilojoules and 1.0 megajoules respectively. Chemical analysis of the reactant and product R-Ni powder could account for less than 1% of the observed energy from known chemistry. BlackLight's results have been published widely and replicated by independent groups.

It might not make any sense, but it seems to work. It's repeatable, and verified. Where it'll go from here, I don't know. But there's SOMETHING in the works, and if it's a scam I sure don't see where the hook is.

J.

The Ethanol Bubble Pops in Iowa - WSJ.com

In September, ethanol giant VeraSun Energy opened a refinery on the outskirts of this eastern Iowa community. Among the largest biofuels facilities in the country, the Dyersville plant could process 39 million bushels of corn and produce 110 million gallons of ethanol annually. VeraSun boasted the plant could run 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the demand for home-grown energy.
But the only thing happening 24-7 at the Dyersville plant these days is nothing at all. Its doors are shut and corn deliveries are turned away. Touring the facility recently, I saw dozens of rail cars sitting idle. They've been there through the long, bleak winter. Two months after Dyersville opened, VeraSun filed for bankruptcy, closing many of its 14 plants and laying off hundreds of employees. VeraSun lost $476 million in the third quarter last year.

But does Congress much care? Heh. They were doing what they felt was the Right Thing - and that they were weilding their power in a fashion guaranteed to affect many other industries wasn't even thought of.

Translate that to government-managed health care. What HAVEN'T they thought of that might go wrong? What unintended consequences (and you KNOW there's going to be some...) are going to hit? Can you think of ANYTHING that might go wrong that Congress wouldn't even have a hint of?

Did thinking on it give you a moment of concern? I'd be surprised if it hadn't.... And if it DIDN'T - could you take a moment and comment on why? How can you be so sure that Congress has thought things out completely, when they didn't see the side effects of ramping up ethanol - which is arguably a MUCH less complex project than taking over health care in the US?

J.

Official prediction: gas will hit $3 this summer in U.S. — Autoblog Green
Do you ever notice how the eco-minded cheer when the economy is kicked in the unmentionables by higher energy prices?

When gas prices spiked, a lot of the eco-nuts were happy - because (a) it showed how horribly dependent on fossil fuels we were and (b) it served those darn gas-guzzing rude SUV drivers right, dang it! The thought was that by slamming us with higher oil prices, 'green' energy would be much more attractive and it'd spur developement.

Then oil prices collapsed, and we went back to business more or less as usual. (Except we're importing more oil now than we were then, thanks to the efforts of those who don't want any drilling done anywhere in the US or off the coasts.) Now oil prices are inching back up again (info here... ) and gas prices are inching up, and the usual nuts (as in the comments) are proclaiming that this is a GOOD thing for everyone!

No, I don't get it either. Civilization is powered by energy, and that energy comes from fossil fuels. There's no getting around that - we need energy to keep the lights on and the wheels turning - and the higher the cost for oil or energy of any kind the higher the prices are going to be for everything.

It'd be interesting to find out what the folks who are cheering the prospect of $6 gas do for a living. Somehow I think they figure the high prices wouldn't impact them - but I'd bet they'd be the first to complain about high prices in the stores...

J.