Word: fossilated
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...Greencast.) That includes characters like the Irish-born Conrad Burke, the charismatic CEO of the young solar company Innovalight; or Alla Weinstein, a Russian immigrant who wants to bring tidal energy to the Pacific Northwest. Touring the best ideas in solar, wind and geothermal power, biofuels, even clean fossil fuels, Krupp does what might seem impossible - he delivers a global warming book that leaves you feeling hopeful. "This is a positive future, a future of abundance," says Krupp. "This is a race that will create new billionaires. It's a huge opportunity for America...
...environmental entrepreneurs - the same class of people who brought us the Internet and biotech - those solutions won't leave the laboratory without political support. Right now there are countless smart new ways to get energy that won't destroy the Earth, but they're not price competitive with cheap fossil fuel power because they lack economic scale. As solar panels or wind turbines are produced in bulk, the price will fall - but that won't happen until government sends a strong signal to producers and energy consumers. And the only way to do that, Krupp argues, is through a carbon...
...companies like the California-based Thermo Life can produce energy from relatively small temperature differentials. Right now it's used mostly to power rechargeable batteries in wireless devices, but as the technology improves, it could begin to harness the vast amount of energy lost as heat in the fossil-fuel plants that provide most of our electricity. "Sixty percent of the world's energy is wasted as heat," says Rama Venkatasubramanian, a thermoelectric expert at the research firm RTI International in North Carolina. "If we could tap into just 10% of that, it would be a big thing for energy...
...solar thermal uses rows of specially curved parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight on a pipe full of synthetic oil. The sun's energy superheats the oil, which is then used to boil water into steam. The steam runs turbines, which generates electricity. The technology is as simple as any fossil fuel plant, and cheaper by material than the technologically complex photovoltaic panels. It can be more easily built up to utility-scale than photovoltaic solar - Acciona's plant, which began operation last year, produces 64 megawatts of electricity for the utility company Nevada Power, enough to light...
...into the bright sky late Sunday morning. First, there were only five people on board, while more than 100 watched intently from a nearby hangar. Second, the plane was the first commercial jet ever to fly on biofuel, a fuel produced from plant matter instead of petroleum or other fossil fuels. "This is the first stage on a journey towards renewable fuel," Virgin founder Richard Branson told reporters in the hangar shortly before takeoff, his voice drowned out every now and then by the roar of overhead planes. "It's the equivalent of those exciting first few steps...