Written by Prognog Staff    Interesting article from Der Spiegel on the dangers of wind power.  The article claims that as the use of wind power continues to grow, the number of accidents have also grown as well as the number of mishaps and maintenence problems.

A wind tower toppling over in the middle of a field doesn't quite seem to pose the danger that global warming does, but I do see their point.   I see the advantages of wind power vastly outnumbering the problems and I imagine as the technology improves we'll see some of these difficulties overcome.
Read more: Is Wind Power Dangerous?

Written by Prognog Staff    Automotive X PRIZE (AXP) announced that it was funding a competition with a prize greater than $10 million for a car that is capable of obtaining 100 miles per gallon in real-world driving and conditions.

"We invite the world's best and brightest minds to look at this independent, high-profile competition as a way to make a difference for generations to come," said Mark Goodstein, executive director, Automotive X PRIZE. "In the spirit of grand competitions throughout history - including Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic 80 years ago - we expect that the Automotive X PRIZE will bring about change and innovation for the benefit of everybody. This competition will help level the playing field and capture entrepreneurial, scientific and technical energy to bring about viable cars that consumers want to buy."

More information and guidelines can be found at http://auto.xprize.org.

Written by Prognog Staff   

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) today announced that the U.S. ethanol industry set annual production records in 2005. During this time, it has produced just under 4 billion gallons (3.904 billion gallons) and averaging nearly 255,000 barrels of ethanol production daily, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The month of December also set production and demand records. Ethanol production in December rose 5,000 b/d from the previous month to 280,000 b/d. Demand skyrocketed to 310,000 b/d, breaking the old record of 297,000 b/d.

For more information, visit the Renewable Fuels Association website at: www.ethanolRFA.org.

Written by Prognog Staff   

Wind energy refers to the power that is extracted from the wind via wind turbines or windmills. As the technology in this field evolve, the cost of wind generated electric power continues to fall and the efficiency continue to increase. It has been estimated that the cost to produce energy from wind was nearly five greater in the late 1990s than in 2005. This is linked to more efficient wind turbines couples with larger multi-megawatt turbines that are becoming more mass produced.

Read more: Wind Energy

Written by Prognog Staff   

The term "clean tech" generally refers to those technologies that:

- Attempt to produce energy or use raw materiels more efficiently
- while still delivering equal or greater performance,
- and ideally creating less waste or toxicity

Cleantech companies and technolgoy include those related to water purification, air quality nanotechnology, alternative fuels, manufacturing, recycling and renewable energy such as solar, wind and hydrogen.

Increasingly, venture capitalists, as well as traditional financial firms, are looking towards new and emerging technologies for unique investment opportunities. Cleantech provides such an avenue.

Written by Web master   

A hybrid vehicle or gas-electric hybrid powered vehicle uses a mixture of technologies such as internal combustion engines (ICEs), electric motors, gassoline, and batteries.Today's hybrid cars are driven by electric motors powered by both batteries and an ICE. Please see Gas-Electric Hybrid for further clarification of what the word hybrid is describing with regards to these vehicles.