On Jul 9, 2007, at 4:51 AM, R.C.Macaulay wrote:
Howdy Vorts,
Lets have your brief forecasts on the potential for advances of new
energy technology for the next 5 years running.
My 2 cents:
Renewables may not be considered "new energy" but that is where the
big action is likely to be the next 5 years. I think it is a no
brainer solar power is going to take off like a gold rush. Solar
and wind power storage technology will help the ramp up. Wind power
will continue its exponential growth, but will be dwarfed by solar.
It would not be surprising to see a backlash price drop on oil and/or
coal, or their derivatives, for a while, if only in a desperate
attempt to destabilize things. Oil shocks due to social upheavals or
war are also likely. Lobbying on every level to stop renewables
will be furious. Plug in hybrids, biodiesel, natural gas refits,
and/or ethanol vehicles will, in the aggregate take at least a 20
percent market share of autos. New battery technologies will help
this boom. Algoil will start useful production but won't make it to
huge like solar in the next 5 years. Conservation will continue to
kick in some savings. Gas hog drivers will become as popular as
smokers. Energy wasting will finally be recognized as unpatriotic.
Home solar energy and conservation retrofits will become big business
in many parts of the country. Some nuclear plants will be built
despite extreme protests.
Zero point energy will be tapped from the nucleus in the first break-
even practically scalable device. It may not make it in 5 years, but
it will be close. It will be the breakthrough for "big power". See:
http://mtaonline.net/~hheffner/NuclearZPEtapping.pdf
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
