Nanotube Purfication Breakthrough

Carbon nanotubes are extremely strong and lightweight. Certain types can transport electrons “ballistically” the way that fiber optics can transmit photons. However this technology is far off in the future. New breakthroughs make this a very promising field. This is one of those breakthroughs.

Researchers from the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have added water to the standard method of manufacturing carbon nanotubes to produce tall, dense, vertically-aligned stands of pure nanotubes. The researchers’ demonstrations have yielded stands of single-wall carbon nanotubes as tall as 2.5 millimeters and 99.98 percent pure. Individual nanotubes range from one to three nanometers in diameter.

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Oil, gas grads get hefty salaries

Freshly graduated petroleum engineer majors from the Golden school last year received average salaries of $63,000. This year’s grads will earn about $67,000, Van Kirk estimated. Plus, employers are offering signing bonuses of $10,000 to $30,000, he said. Graduate degrees command higher salaries. Van Kirk said master’s degrees generate starting salaries of $80,000 to $85,000. […]

Forget OPEC. The next cartel may export drinking water.

consider that less than 2.5 percent of the world’s water is fresh. That vital resource is threatened by pollution, waterborne disease, and shifts in rain patterns caused by global warming, recent studies show. All of which, in some eyes, leaves the world on the verge of a scramble by private companies and countries vying for rights to available water.

Christian Science Monitor

Global oil prices seen easing in 2005

Global oil prices should retreat in 2005, barring big political shocks, after surging 32 percent this year, the International Energy Agency’s chief economist Fatih Birol told Reuters in an interview.

“We think, in general, demand will grow a little less in 2005. We think supply will increase in a positive way. If there is no significant geo-political event, we can say oil prices will find more moderate levels in 2005,” Birol said late on Wednesday.

CNN

Fiat Multijet tops tonne in Economy Run

http://www.galwayindependent.com/motoring/1657.html A Fiat Stilo 1.9 JTD Multiwagon 5 door estate driven by Alan Park won the Diesel Car Class in the recent MG Car Club – Irish Shell Economy Run, achieving an astonishing 90.51 miles per gallon. Even more remarkable was the achievement of Eoin Murray, driving a Fiat Punto 1.2 Multijet, which achieved 107 […]

Daimler’s Diminutive Daily Driver

In what looks to be a case of the French leading the blind, German automaker DaimlerChrysler (NYSE: DCX – News) has decided that the American consumer is ready once again to drive around in the automotive equivalent of a can of tuna on wheels. Equipped with a motor smaller than you could find on some […]

Earth’s permafrost starts to squelch

Alaska is not the only region in a slump. The permafrost melt is accelerating throughout the world’s cold regions, scientists reported at the recent Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco.

BBC

Oil Rebounds After Saudi Blasts

Two large blasts were heard in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, near the Interior Ministry, along with gun fire, witnesses said. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear.

Reuters

Earthquake: Coincidence or a Corporate Oil Tragedy?

“What is interesting about this is that the same place where the whale beachings have been taking place over the last 30 days is the same general area where the 8.1 Australian earthquake took place, and this is the same area where they are doing these seismic tests. Then 2 days after the Australian tectonic […]

Current Situation & 2005 Projections

This past year we have seen how volatile the oil market has become as the world approaches peak oil production. But the recent softening of oil prices demonstrates that we have not yet peaked. What we are experiencing right now is a tight oil market. Production can still increase, but not by much and only […]

Book Review: The Vanishing

In “Collapse,” Jared Diamond shows how societies destroy themselves.

The New Yorker

Short nanotubes carry big currents

Short nanotubes carry big currents

NewsTeam | TRN | POSTED: 12.17.04 @00:45
Researchers from Stanford University have developed a simple way to fabricate carbon nanotube devices whose length is as small as ten nanometers, and have shown that electricity can pass through the nanotubes very efficiently.

more at http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=7490_0_6_0_C

A Midwinter Night’s Mare

We use oil because it is by far the cheapest and most convenient form of stored energy many times over… and production is peaking while consumption climbs.

The consensus among those in the Petrology Community is that global oil production will peak within five years or so, maybe less, while world oil consumption, fueled largely by the insatiable US addiction and the burgeoning economies in Asia-India, continues to grow steadily. Production Vs consumption. Those lines will cross next year. What happens then?

brentrasmussen

Saudi’s Oil Reserves Set to Grow

Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves, the world’s largest, could increase by almost 77 per cent to top 461 billion barrels in a few years, the nation’s oil minister said Sunday. “There are big chances to increase the kingdom’s produceable oil reserves by 200 billion barrels,” Ali Naimi said in a statement issued after he inaugurated new […]

Steam engines could be eco hope

The search for a suitable alternative fuel source to hydrocarbons which can cleanly power our vehicles has touched on various different options.
Fuels which do not “rot” the environment usually bring to mind images of gently humming electric cars, clean hydrogen, natural gas, or hithane – a concoction of hydrogen and methane. Steam engine and boy
Steam engines usually conjure up romantic images of days gone by.

BBC

Defense secretary’s remark to troops fuels conspiracy theories

A Pentagon spokesman insists Rumsfeld has not changed his opinion that the plane crashed as the result of an onboard struggle between passengers and terrorists.From Jamie McIntyre CNN Washington WASHINGTON (CNN) — A comment Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made during a Christmas Eve address to U.S. troops in Baghdad has sparked new conspiracy theories about […]

A Study of the Reporting of Saudi Arabia’s Reserves —ASPO

How secure is Saudi oil?…

Recent presentations by Saudi Aramco Representatives and a review of the technical literature allow the construction of the following table showing the evolution of Saudi Aramco reserves, Oil Initially in Place (OIIP), and recovery factors.

Kenia

History Will Show US Lusted After Oil

Decades from now, historians will likely calmly discuss the war currently raging in Iraq, and identify oil as one of the key factors that led to it. They will point to the growing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, the importance of oil in the rising competition between the U.S. and China, and the huge untapped […]

Rumsfeld says 9-11 plane!

During surprise Christmas Eve trip, defense secretary contradicts official story ——————————————————————————– Posted: December 27, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON – Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, there have been questions about Flight 93, the ill-fated plane that crashed in the rural fields of Pennsylvania. The official story has been that passengers on the […]

New class offers chance to face energy challenges

“During our lifetime there will be significant changes in the structure of our society because petroleum is ultimately a finite resource. This course will provide a primer on the topic and then bring in speakers to expand on the issue. It should be a lot of fun,” Furbish said.

VH

Who Owns the World’s Oil?

The struggles over the ownership of the two most important political liquids of this era, petroleum and water, have had different fates. Though water has been claimed to be either private, state or common property throughout history, the novel feature of this period has been the move by corporations to totally privatize it. The powerful […]

When the oil runs out

Oil is the sinews of the modern life, providing the world with power. It supplies fuel for factories, heavy and light industries and generates electricity. Not only that, oil derivatives are used to make a diversity of products including clothes. Oil is also the raw material of many plastic products. Unfortunately, this valuable substance which […]

Oil – From Blessing to Curse

A century ago our growing use of oil seemed like a blessing as it supplied an abundance of cheap versatile energy to rapidly build up our civilization. Today our growing dependence on oil now seems like a curse which threatens to collapse our civilization. Unfortunately, this subject is both complex and controversial making it much […]

Time to prepare for the coming peak in world oil production

I recently saw the movie “The End of Suburbia” at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, sponsored by the Interior Alaska Outpost of the Post Carbon Institute (Alaska.postcarbon.org). The Post Carbon Institute is a national grass-roots organization that educates citizens about the imminent oil crisis.

news-miner

Other Voices: How vulnerable are we to oil?

Few people realize the full extent to which oil plays a pivotal role in their lives. It was oil that fueled the remarkable industrial progress of the 20th century, and today our reliance on it for transportation and agriculture is almost total. However, concern about the future availability of this vital resource seems limited, and the subject tends to slip beneath the radar of current political and media debate.

dialypress

US Dept of Energy office supports Peak Oil theory

you know you’re paranoid when the US Government agrees with you….

Dec 20 2004

IndyMedia

PO.com scoops DOE story
December 16

Saudi oil reserves could top 461 billion barrels

Saudi oil reserves could top 461 billion barrels, says minister 2004-12-26 16:51:00 RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – The kingdom’s oil reserves, the world’s largest, could increase by almost 77 per cent to top 461 billion barrels in a few years, the country’s oil minister said Sunday. “There are big chances to increase the kingdom’s produceable […]

Abdullah Opens Landmark Qatif Project

Qatif, the oil field that Matt Simons described as “sorry” is in the news again:

Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday inaugurated Saudi Aramco’s expanded Qatif Producing Plants Project marking the completion of 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) development program.

more at http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=56642&d=27&m=12&y=2004

Affordable Solar Homes

Super-efficient solar homes are now available that reduce monthly energy bills 50 percent to 70 percent compared to comparable conventional homes, thanks to the design innovations of private-sector pioneers and the U.S. government’s energy gurus. But these trendsetters won’t be satisfied until they’ve perfected “net-zero-energy” home designs.http://www.motherearthnews.com/article/2147/toparticles

exploration segment of the industry remains somewhat lethargic

Major exploration efforts are essential to identify badly needed new reserves. Yet the exploration segment of the industry remains somewhat lethargic — for a number of reasons. It’s a bottom-line thing, according to Burbach, who cautioned the audience not to fall into the “90-day report card” trap, referring to Wall Street’s unrealistic demand for specific […]

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