Friday, May 4, 2012 at 11:07AM Hey Everyone,
Today we are talking about Colorado Electricity generation and supply! Its the final week of Energy talks for the spring semester. See you all soon,
Rudy
Monday, April 23, 2012 at 12:09PM Hi all,
This week we will be talking about energy storage! As renewables continue to grow and saturate the energy market, storage technologies are needed to moderate the peaks and troughs associated with variable generation. The wind doesnt always blow and the sun doesnt always shine, but you probably want your lights to go on whenever you want.
Organizations have been set up to encourage growth in this field because without proper storage, there is a limit on how much renewable penetration can be achieved in the modern grid system. Companies are also investing in technologies for batteries, heat storage, pumped hydro, flywheels, compressed air, supercapacitors and many other seemingly odd yet interesting technologies.
Hope to see you all there as usual from 12-1pm in ECCR150. Last week was pizza so this week is back to subs.
Rudy
Monday, April 16, 2012 at 12:06PM Hi Everyone,
This week the topic will be biofuels. I will be gone this Friday (tear) but fortunately Cole Carlson has volunteered to lead the discussion. To leave him plenty of wiggle room, I am going to keep this overview very broad.
The general topics I wanted to highlight for discussion are the technological barriers for development and the social aspect of diverting food for fuel. Should be fun, I am sorry to miss it!
As usual it is ECCR150 from 12-1. Subs will be there!
Rudy
Monday, April 9, 2012 at 12:28PM Hi all,
This week at energy talks we will have a guest speaker Bob Cohen who is a specialist on ocean thermal energy. I have already met with Bob and we hope to have about 25min of presentation on ocean thermal followed by questions about the technology and the policy going on behind it--both in the US and the world.
Bob provided plenty of reading material but I think having a basic overview of the topic is best forour discussion. Here is a brief overview of the technology from NREL. And, since I cant show it on Friday, here is a company that has a video presenting the idea of ocean thermal.
As always ECCR150 from 12-1 with free lunch.
Rudy
OCEAN THERMAL, THE ONLY REMAINING VAST, UNTAPPED SOURCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
Robert Cohen. Ph.D., Consultant on ocean thermal energy, Boulder, CO
Ocean thermal is the only remaining vast, untapped source of renewable energy. Although not a panacea, ocean thermal has the potential to contribute significantly to global energy-security, water-security, and food-security. Ocean thermal technology is mature, ready for concept-demonstration by year 2015 and a first commercial plant on or before year 2020, thanks largely to the remarkable ocean-platform-engineering innovations and experience achieved by the offshore oil industry during the past thirty years. In the absence of U.S. leadership by the Obama Administration and Congress to launch this new ocean/power industry, venture capital may be available to fund the requisite multi-megawatt pilot plant.
BRIEF BIO
Robert Cohen holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University. In 1973 he left his scientific career at NOAA to join the budding U.S. renewable energy R&D program (then at NSF, later moved to the U.S. Department of Energy), where he became the program manager responsible for organizing and conducting a concerted ocean thermal energy technology-development program. From 1985 to 1990 he was a Senior Program Officer at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, where he organized and directed studies on energy technology policy. He received the 1980 Compass Distinguished Achievement Award from the Marine Technology Society, and an Ocean Energy Pioneer Award at the EnergyOcean 2007 Conference. Currently he works pro bono to help advance ocean thermal.
For the overly enthusiastic, here is a 400pg report for ocean thermal energy in Hawaii.
Monday, April 2, 2012 at 1:50PM Hi All,
This Thursday is the CU Energy Club annual Energy Frontiers! You should all come! There will be a poster session, a panel discussion and a career fair. More info can be found on the Energy Frontiers page of our site.
The panel discussion topic is: “The Changing Landscape of Our Energy Future: What Does a Natural Gas Boom Mean for Renewables." and since Energy Talks is on Friday, I thought we would discuss the state of natural gas and tie in the discussion from Energy Frontiers--particularly how the new shale gas discoveries will affect the future of renewables.
As always, discussion will be in ECCR150 from 12-1pm this Friday. Free lunch duh.
Rudy