Baltimore Sun
By Gal Luft
October 4, 2006
America's ability to accomplish its main foreign policy goals - winning the global war on terrorism, spreading freedom and democracy around the globe and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons - will be compromised as long as we are dependent on oil to the degree that we are today.
Five years ago, oil prices averaged less than $20 per barrel. A year later, they stood at $30. This year, they are more than $70, and oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela make $50 per barrel more than they earned in 2001. Awash with petrodollars, they can actively oppose America's policy goals and are simply unfazed by the prospects of international pressure.
While the United States and the European Union are trying to forge a diplomatic strategy to halt Iran's nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems comfortable advancing his anti-Western agenda, secure in the knowledge that with 10 percent of the world's known oil reserves and the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, his country is virtually immune to sanctions.
With oil at $70 a barrel, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has emerged as a leading obstructionist of U.S. foreign policy. Russian control over a large part of the world's oil and gas market allows him to play hard-to-get on Iran, jail his opponents, bully his European neighbors, cozy up to Hamas and work to roll back democracy in former Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Georgia.
High oil prices also undermine America's position in its backyard. Petrodollars lubricate the so-called Bolivarian revolution led by the viscerally anti-American president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who is using his windfall oil wealth to buy political influence in the Western Hemisphere and consolidate an anti-U.S. bloc. In other authoritarian countries highly dependent on oil and gas for their income, such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Angola, Nigeria and Chad, freedom is in retreat as oil prices rise.
Winning the war on radical Islam at current oil prices is an oxymoron. Unlike World War II and the Cold War, in which America's strategy was to deny the other side the economic wherewithal necessary to keep up the fight, in the current war, the U.S. is doing the exact opposite. While the U.S. economy hemorrhages nearly $300 billion a year to pay for imported crude, oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iran that are sympathetic to - and directly supportive of - radical Islam are on the receiving end of staggering windfalls. In 2005, OPEC's net export revenues were $473 billion, more than double the amount generated in 2001. This year, the figure is likely to surpass half a trillion dollars. An undetermined portion of that money finds its way - through official and unofficial government handouts, charities and well-connected businesses - to the jihadists committed to America's destruction.
Today, the U.S. imports 12 million barrels per day, and it is projected to import almost 20 million barrels per day by 2025. Demand for oil in China and India is growing at a staggering rate. With the nation at war, and while most oil companies acknowledge that, in the words of Chevron's CEO, "the age of easy oil is over," the odds for a significant drop in crude prices are slim. Yet Washington has failed to recognize the destructive impact high oil prices have on U.S. foreign policy and has done very little to change our energy policy.
In order for us to regain control over our foreign policy, reduce our vulnerability to supply disruptions and curb the flow of petrodollars to unfriendly regimes, a new and central objective should be added to our foreign policy: leading the world on an accelerated shift, enabled by modern technology, toward a global transportation system based on next-generation, nonpetroleum fuels and the cars and trucks that can run on them.
Only through a balanced domestic and international energy policy that encourages investment and innovation in alternative energy and energy efficiency will we be able to gradually reduce global oil prices and increase the chance of accomplishing our foreign policy objectives.
Domestically, the U.S. should require that most new vehicles be flexibly fueled with gasoline-ethanol-methanol, a feature that adds less than $150 to the cost of a new car and opens the market to alternative-fuel producers. The U.S. should also remove the protectionist 54-cents-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol - particularly absurd because we do not tax oil imports.
On the international front, the U.S. should encourage and help other countries to shift their growing transportation sector from oil, utilizing their wealth of domestic nonpetroleum energy resources. We should also assist developing countries to ramp up production of crops such as sugarcane, soybeans and palm oil that can be turned into fuel.
Failure to act now essentially would guarantee disappointing results in everything America is trying to accomplish abroad - as well as a growing cost in blood and treasure.
Gal Luft is executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and co-chairman of the Set America Free Coalition. His e-mail is luft@iags.org.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
More Efficient Solar Cells
Technology Review
By Prachi Patel-Predd
October 04, 2006
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have created a new type of semiconductor material designed to improve the efficiency of solar cells by capturing low-energy photons.
Traditional solar cells respond only to a narrow spectrum of sunlight, making them highly inefficient. In the language of physicists, solar cells convert light with wavelengths corresponding to the energy it takes for electrons to jump from the valence band to the conduction band. Photons with lower energy pass right through the material.
The new semiconductor material can capture these low-energy photons for electricity, which could make solar cells with efficiencies of around 45 percent, compared with 25 percent for conventional cells that use a single semiconductor and 39 percent for cells with layers of mixed semiconductors.
The new semiconductors have three energy bands instead of the usual two (valence and conduction). The third band lies below the conduction band, effectively splitting the gap between the valence and conduction bands into two smaller parts. "This helps low-energy photons to participate in the process because they can excite [electrons] to the [intermediate] band and then up. It's like a stepping stone," says Wladek Walukiewicz of LBNL's Materials Sciences Division, who developed the semiconductor with colleague Kin Man Yu.
The researchers found that introducing a few atoms of oxygen into a zinc-manganese-tellurium (ZnMnTe) alloy splits the compound semiconductor's conduction band into two parts. Similarly, adding nitrogen to a semiconductor such as gallium arsenide phosphide will also give a multi-band semiconductor.
LBNL has licensed the technology to RoseStreet Labs, a startup in Phoenix, AZ, which plans to commercialize solar cells made from these multi-band semiconductors. Because it's an entirely new technology, though, it's hard to say when such a solar cell will be available, Walukiewicz says.
Existing solar cells with the best efficiencies--those as high as 39 percent--convert light into electricity by using different semiconductor materials with different band gaps, which are stacked on top of each other to capture a broader spectrum of light wavelengths. But these solar cells are expensive, limiting their application to uses in satellites. A device made from a single, multi-band semiconductor would likely be cheaper and easier to make, says Walukiewicz.
Nonetheless, adding oxygen to the ZnMnTe alloy is hard, because oxygen does not mix readily with tellurium. To make the new materials, then, the researchers have developed a method that implants highly energetic oxygen atoms into the alloy using an ion beam. Then they use "a very short pulse of laser to melt the material and rapidly regrow it so that the oxygen is all trapped inside," says Yu.
Making a solar cell from gallium arsenide phosphide should be easier, the researchers say, because gallium arsenide compounds can be grown layer by layer.
To reach 40 percent efficiency, though, the semiconductor material and solar cell will have to meet some fundamental requirements of physics, says Sarah Kurtz, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. For instance, efficiency goes down if the material has defects or if electrons and "holes" combine in the solar cell and create photons. But, says Kurtz, if the LBNL researchers are able to overcome these challenges, "this would represent a breakthrough."
By Prachi Patel-Predd
October 04, 2006
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have created a new type of semiconductor material designed to improve the efficiency of solar cells by capturing low-energy photons.
Traditional solar cells respond only to a narrow spectrum of sunlight, making them highly inefficient. In the language of physicists, solar cells convert light with wavelengths corresponding to the energy it takes for electrons to jump from the valence band to the conduction band. Photons with lower energy pass right through the material.
The new semiconductor material can capture these low-energy photons for electricity, which could make solar cells with efficiencies of around 45 percent, compared with 25 percent for conventional cells that use a single semiconductor and 39 percent for cells with layers of mixed semiconductors.
The new semiconductors have three energy bands instead of the usual two (valence and conduction). The third band lies below the conduction band, effectively splitting the gap between the valence and conduction bands into two smaller parts. "This helps low-energy photons to participate in the process because they can excite [electrons] to the [intermediate] band and then up. It's like a stepping stone," says Wladek Walukiewicz of LBNL's Materials Sciences Division, who developed the semiconductor with colleague Kin Man Yu.
The researchers found that introducing a few atoms of oxygen into a zinc-manganese-tellurium (ZnMnTe) alloy splits the compound semiconductor's conduction band into two parts. Similarly, adding nitrogen to a semiconductor such as gallium arsenide phosphide will also give a multi-band semiconductor.
LBNL has licensed the technology to RoseStreet Labs, a startup in Phoenix, AZ, which plans to commercialize solar cells made from these multi-band semiconductors. Because it's an entirely new technology, though, it's hard to say when such a solar cell will be available, Walukiewicz says.
Existing solar cells with the best efficiencies--those as high as 39 percent--convert light into electricity by using different semiconductor materials with different band gaps, which are stacked on top of each other to capture a broader spectrum of light wavelengths. But these solar cells are expensive, limiting their application to uses in satellites. A device made from a single, multi-band semiconductor would likely be cheaper and easier to make, says Walukiewicz.
Nonetheless, adding oxygen to the ZnMnTe alloy is hard, because oxygen does not mix readily with tellurium. To make the new materials, then, the researchers have developed a method that implants highly energetic oxygen atoms into the alloy using an ion beam. Then they use "a very short pulse of laser to melt the material and rapidly regrow it so that the oxygen is all trapped inside," says Yu.
Making a solar cell from gallium arsenide phosphide should be easier, the researchers say, because gallium arsenide compounds can be grown layer by layer.
To reach 40 percent efficiency, though, the semiconductor material and solar cell will have to meet some fundamental requirements of physics, says Sarah Kurtz, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO. For instance, efficiency goes down if the material has defects or if electrons and "holes" combine in the solar cell and create photons. But, says Kurtz, if the LBNL researchers are able to overcome these challenges, "this would represent a breakthrough."
Environment minister summons carmakers
Toronto Star
Oct. 2, 2006. 06:22 PM
OTTAWA — Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has summoned Canada’s big car manufacturers to a meeting late Tuesday, where government and industry sources say she’ll lay out plans for Canada’s first stab at regulating car emissions.
The move is a major component of the Conservative government’s promised environmental plan.
It marks the first time carmakers will face regulations. To date, Canada has either had a written voluntary agreement with the industry to meet emissions goals or an understanding that carmakers would follow U.S. standards.
The ultimate goal, say insiders, is to bring Canada in line with North American-wide standards after 2010, that will most likely adopt California’s pioneering clean-air laws.
“They don’t want Canada to become a dumping ground (for inefficient cars) in North America,” said one Conservative insider familiar with the file.
“Canada has to have regulations that are valuable, enforceable and implementable — to do what they’re supposed to do.”
Sources say the government is also considering a new tax break for consumers who buy hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius. Ontario and British Columbia have a similar program.
In 1981, the Canadian government legislated emissions regulations, but never proclaimed the law. The car companies insisted they would follow the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in the U.S., and politicians backed off.
The Liberal government came close to imposing regulations two years ago, but eventually agreed to a voluntary memorandum of understanding that would see the total industry’s emissions reduced by roughly five per cent by 2012.
Canada’s environment commissioner last week complained there is no independent verification of whether the agreement with carmakers is achieving results.
“The bar is on the ground despite all the hot air from the Liberal party,” said the Conservative source.
Ambrose will deliver a formal notice of an intent to regulate, but as one senior government source put it, “This type of thing doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of consultation and working on legislation.”
The car companies, meanwhile, say they’ve only heard whispers of what the government is planning, and will arrive in Ottawa for the meeting with some trepidation. One source said the industry is already drafting a statement that says it will hold the government to its 2005 voluntary agreement, which is supposed to run out in 2010.
The expectation is that Ambrose will agree to live with the current situation until 2010, but will require the industry to come up with even better reductions in emissions in the meantime.
Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, warned that Canada should not fall out of step with the United States.
“Any adoption of a unique requirement in Canada would cause us consternation because we lose the economies of scale that provide real benefit in terms of cost reductions for consumers.”
But John Bennett of the Sierra Club of Canada said Canada could actually move all of North America to a new, stronger emissions standard if it simply adopted California’s new high bar.
Ten other states, representing 30 per cent of the car industry, say they’ll follow California’s lead, but are waiting for it to win a court challenge brought forward by the manufacturers. Canada doesn’t have that problem, he argues.
“Under Canadian legislation, there’s no way for the car companies to legally object to it,” said Bennett.
“The car companies couldn’t sue them to delay it or anything, and if they had to meet these standards in Canada they would probably just give up in the States, because it would be 40 per cent of the market.
“We could be the catalyst.”
Oct. 2, 2006. 06:22 PM
OTTAWA — Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has summoned Canada’s big car manufacturers to a meeting late Tuesday, where government and industry sources say she’ll lay out plans for Canada’s first stab at regulating car emissions.
The move is a major component of the Conservative government’s promised environmental plan.
It marks the first time carmakers will face regulations. To date, Canada has either had a written voluntary agreement with the industry to meet emissions goals or an understanding that carmakers would follow U.S. standards.
The ultimate goal, say insiders, is to bring Canada in line with North American-wide standards after 2010, that will most likely adopt California’s pioneering clean-air laws.
“They don’t want Canada to become a dumping ground (for inefficient cars) in North America,” said one Conservative insider familiar with the file.
“Canada has to have regulations that are valuable, enforceable and implementable — to do what they’re supposed to do.”
Sources say the government is also considering a new tax break for consumers who buy hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius. Ontario and British Columbia have a similar program.
In 1981, the Canadian government legislated emissions regulations, but never proclaimed the law. The car companies insisted they would follow the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in the U.S., and politicians backed off.
The Liberal government came close to imposing regulations two years ago, but eventually agreed to a voluntary memorandum of understanding that would see the total industry’s emissions reduced by roughly five per cent by 2012.
Canada’s environment commissioner last week complained there is no independent verification of whether the agreement with carmakers is achieving results.
“The bar is on the ground despite all the hot air from the Liberal party,” said the Conservative source.
Ambrose will deliver a formal notice of an intent to regulate, but as one senior government source put it, “This type of thing doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of consultation and working on legislation.”
The car companies, meanwhile, say they’ve only heard whispers of what the government is planning, and will arrive in Ottawa for the meeting with some trepidation. One source said the industry is already drafting a statement that says it will hold the government to its 2005 voluntary agreement, which is supposed to run out in 2010.
The expectation is that Ambrose will agree to live with the current situation until 2010, but will require the industry to come up with even better reductions in emissions in the meantime.
Mark Nantais, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, warned that Canada should not fall out of step with the United States.
“Any adoption of a unique requirement in Canada would cause us consternation because we lose the economies of scale that provide real benefit in terms of cost reductions for consumers.”
But John Bennett of the Sierra Club of Canada said Canada could actually move all of North America to a new, stronger emissions standard if it simply adopted California’s new high bar.
Ten other states, representing 30 per cent of the car industry, say they’ll follow California’s lead, but are waiting for it to win a court challenge brought forward by the manufacturers. Canada doesn’t have that problem, he argues.
“Under Canadian legislation, there’s no way for the car companies to legally object to it,” said Bennett.
“The car companies couldn’t sue them to delay it or anything, and if they had to meet these standards in Canada they would probably just give up in the States, because it would be 40 per cent of the market.
“We could be the catalyst.”
Regal Cinema, Nation's Largest Theater Chain, to Release New Climate Change Film 'The Great Warming' on Nov. 3rd
Oct. 3, 2006
New York, NY (PRWEB) October 3, 2006 -- A new documentary film, The Great Warming, examining world-wide issues of climate change and offering many real-world solutions, will be released nationwide through the Regal Cinema chain on Nov. 3, with an initial showing in the top 50 (ADI) markets in the country, it was announced today by producer Karen Coshof of Stonehaven Productions.
Coshof noted the launch marks an opening of at least three times more screens than any film of its kind. “Regal’s acceptance of The Great Warming is of special significance as the company generally doesn’t exhibit independent documentary films,” said Coshof. “This is a testament to Regal’s recognition and support of the movie’s commercial viability and to the wide public interest in finding ways to reverse the degradation of the planet.”
Coshof said the film is built on solid science, and roams the political and faith spectrum from Evangelical Christians to Friends of the Earth, asking tough questions and offering insightful and thought-provoking solutions. It’s also populated with inventors, schoolchildren, researchers, farmers and entrepreneurs from around the world who are feeling the brunt of climate change and global warming, and/or finding innovative ways to tackle them.
In the months leading up to its national release, The Great Warming (85 minutes) has attracted an unprecedented coalition of leaders in science, religion, business, environmental activism and education. These various groups have bridged historic gaps to join in support of the film, because “they believe in an individual and collective moral responsibility to reverse the growing threats to the environment and human health and well-being,” Coshof said. To that end, a full-page ad will appear in a Washington D.C. newspaper in October, announcing a call to action signed by leaders from every sector.
More than a science lecture or a red alert, The Great Warming is aimed at bringing average citizens up to speed on the issues that are and will continue to affect them. Its overall emphasis offers hope through real-world solutions that, if implemented, can make a difference now and into the future. The film’s effectiveness is already proven, as grassroots screenings in recent weeks have mobilized members of hundreds of churches, schools, town halls and community organizations across the county.
The Great Warming was made possible with the generous support of Swiss Re -- the world's leading and most diversified global reinsurer. The film’s launch sponsors include clean energy distributor Krystal Planet, Ecover green products and the Body Shop.
“In the course of making this film, we were determined not to lose sight of our most important advocate, the person on the street,” said Coshof. “We wanted to make this issue resonate in every household everywhere. To engage not only the intellect, but most importantly the emotion and will of every person so that they feel empowered to act.”
New York, NY (PRWEB) October 3, 2006 -- A new documentary film, The Great Warming, examining world-wide issues of climate change and offering many real-world solutions, will be released nationwide through the Regal Cinema chain on Nov. 3, with an initial showing in the top 50 (ADI) markets in the country, it was announced today by producer Karen Coshof of Stonehaven Productions.
Coshof noted the launch marks an opening of at least three times more screens than any film of its kind. “Regal’s acceptance of The Great Warming is of special significance as the company generally doesn’t exhibit independent documentary films,” said Coshof. “This is a testament to Regal’s recognition and support of the movie’s commercial viability and to the wide public interest in finding ways to reverse the degradation of the planet.”
Coshof said the film is built on solid science, and roams the political and faith spectrum from Evangelical Christians to Friends of the Earth, asking tough questions and offering insightful and thought-provoking solutions. It’s also populated with inventors, schoolchildren, researchers, farmers and entrepreneurs from around the world who are feeling the brunt of climate change and global warming, and/or finding innovative ways to tackle them.
In the months leading up to its national release, The Great Warming (85 minutes) has attracted an unprecedented coalition of leaders in science, religion, business, environmental activism and education. These various groups have bridged historic gaps to join in support of the film, because “they believe in an individual and collective moral responsibility to reverse the growing threats to the environment and human health and well-being,” Coshof said. To that end, a full-page ad will appear in a Washington D.C. newspaper in October, announcing a call to action signed by leaders from every sector.
More than a science lecture or a red alert, The Great Warming is aimed at bringing average citizens up to speed on the issues that are and will continue to affect them. Its overall emphasis offers hope through real-world solutions that, if implemented, can make a difference now and into the future. The film’s effectiveness is already proven, as grassroots screenings in recent weeks have mobilized members of hundreds of churches, schools, town halls and community organizations across the county.
The Great Warming was made possible with the generous support of Swiss Re -- the world's leading and most diversified global reinsurer. The film’s launch sponsors include clean energy distributor Krystal Planet, Ecover green products and the Body Shop.
“In the course of making this film, we were determined not to lose sight of our most important advocate, the person on the street,” said Coshof. “We wanted to make this issue resonate in every household everywhere. To engage not only the intellect, but most importantly the emotion and will of every person so that they feel empowered to act.”
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