Or it shouldn't be. Just as Congress and some candidates are scrambling to outdo each other with plans to lower oil and gasoline prices, so too are newspapers reporting on their readers' strategies -- all while forgetting this spring's (healthy) obsession with the evident effects of global warming. So The New York Times, no doubt with the aid of Edmunds.com's PR firm or staff, has challenged the "Ditch the Gas-Guzzler" stampede from SUVs to more efficient cars, complete with a reference to Edmunds.com's online fuel cost calculator.
While the gullible majority of the U.S. public apparently believes that opening up more off-shore drilling will lower gas prices soon, Obama, among others, has gingerly tried to point out that we need to get ourselves off oil pronto, so drilling is not the solution.
So what about that gas-guzzler? If your small business does need a vehicle of that size, look into the following strategies to lower your costs: switching to biodiesel, if you have a diesel engine. Use mapping software to plan your trips and routes more efficiently. UPS reportedly has been eliminating left turns because so many of them involve idling for minutes, waiting for a traffic signal or break in traffic. Keep tires properly inflated. Keep those hotrod drivers of yours from trying to beat sports cars away from the stop sign. And if it is time for a new vehicle, look for biodiesel or flexfuel, hybrid or all-electric delivery vehicles. Yes, watch your expenses, but also consider the value to the fight against global warming. And hey, maybe a new administration will give all current owners a tax break of some kind. You sure shouldn't be punished or deprived for having been a leader in your community or industry.
Showing posts with label Carbon dioxide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carbon dioxide. Show all posts
Monday, August 4, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
What are the "crown jewels" of U.S. R&D doing against global warming?
The nation's federal laboratories got their start with nuclear bombs (well, really with agriculture in the late 1800s), spread (a little) to encompass nuclear energy -- and starting from studies of the effects of radiation on human body tissue, joined the biotech races. In fact, putting aside the nuclear weapons work (not an easy thing to do), the weight of federal research funding overall has been towards human health for decades now.
And despite the Bush Administration's lack of interest in science generally, the labs have kept an eye on real world trends and are well aware of the need to show some progress on technologies to combat global warming.
So the magazine about lab inventions of commercial interest, "Innovation," published by TVC, the tech transfer via venture capital affiliate of Sandia National Laboratories, devoted most of its February-March 2008 issue to the subject. I'll highlight a few over the next few posts.
Sandia: "Reversing combustion." The Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5 for blessedly short -- now do you have any doubt these guys are scientists?) can take apart the carbon-oxygen bond in carbon dioxide, turning it into carbon monoxide. They had started with a plan to free hydrogen from water for the so-called Hydrogen Economy, so now they have the raw ingredients for making a liquid petroleum-like fuel. Now I remember this much from chemistry classes: there are a couple of energy hills there. So Rich Diver and his colleagues will use solar energy.
Unfortunately, they think the process is 15-20 years away from commercialization. Maybe if they got a bit of funding, say private funding, it could go faster? Contact: Craig E. Tyner, manager, licensing and IP management, cetyner@sandia.gov, 505-844-3340.
And despite the Bush Administration's lack of interest in science generally, the labs have kept an eye on real world trends and are well aware of the need to show some progress on technologies to combat global warming.
So the magazine about lab inventions of commercial interest, "Innovation," published by TVC, the tech transfer via venture capital affiliate of Sandia National Laboratories, devoted most of its February-March 2008 issue to the subject. I'll highlight a few over the next few posts.
Sandia: "Reversing combustion." The Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5 for blessedly short -- now do you have any doubt these guys are scientists?) can take apart the carbon-oxygen bond in carbon dioxide, turning it into carbon monoxide. They had started with a plan to free hydrogen from water for the so-called Hydrogen Economy, so now they have the raw ingredients for making a liquid petroleum-like fuel. Now I remember this much from chemistry classes: there are a couple of energy hills there. So Rich Diver and his colleagues will use solar energy.
Unfortunately, they think the process is 15-20 years away from commercialization. Maybe if they got a bit of funding, say private funding, it could go faster? Contact: Craig E. Tyner, manager, licensing and IP management, cetyner@sandia.gov, 505-844-3340.
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