Geothermal energy is an abundant resource that has not been fully tapped.  Magma is usually located 25-40 miles beneath the Earth’s surface.  However, in some areas, it is only 4 miles beneath the surface.  Once the magma is reached (through drilling) a liquid, like water, is heated and turned into steam. The steam is then transported to a turbine above ground and released.  The steam rises and rotates turbines which generate electricity.  It is a pretty simple process, but it takes a lot of work to set up the plant to process the steam.  One key advantage of geothermal energy is that it runs 24 hours a day regardless of the weather conditions.

In fact, there is so much geothermal energy available that Google has committed itself to exploring the use geothermal energy in some capacity.  It only makes sense for Google to do so since it is such a large consumer of electricity.  (One of Google’s data centers alone consumes more than 100 megawatts of electricity. This is enough electricity to power a city the size of Tacoma, Washington or 82,000 homes.)  In fact, the CEO of Google recently spoke about his interest to exploit geothermal energy at a recent Commonwealth Club event.  The video of his talk about renewable energy is available after the jump.  (Warning: The video is about 45 minutes long. So, make sure that you have some time available to watch it.)

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Remember any of the last 1000 articles you read in the paper? I rest my case.   Read an article that you will never forget, guaranteed.

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The good folks at “We Can Solve It” are still putting their marketing might behind changing consumer’s attitudes to demand clean energy within 10 years. However, this time, they are focusing on getting government officials involved in the fight. The video above is their new message to U.S. politicians. You might remember this goal of having 100% clean energy in the U.S. in 10 years from Al Gore’s Energy Challenge speech.

It is important that all countries reduce their reliance on a single source of energy, so I’ve listed all of the different sources of energy below. (The video only mentions wind and solar energy.)

1. Wind Energy
2. Solar Energy
3. Geothermal Energy
4. Hydro Energy (Dams, Wave Energy, Tide Energy)
5. Nuclear Energy
6. Fossil Fuels (Oil, Coal, Natural Gas)
7. Space Solar Power System

The technology that is most interesting to me is the Space Solar Power System as it allows electricity to be generated from outside of the Earth’s environment.

Through all of this, it is important to keep everything into perspective. As the U.S. moves to a new energy infrastructure, it needs to consider doing it in a responsible way so that it isn’t a reckless gold rush like it is in upstate New York. What are your thoughts?

I’m a big fan of concept cars. In one of my marketing classes we had to design and market a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and it was a lot of fun to research the subject.

The Chevy Beat is one of three subcompact concept cars unveiled by GM at the 2007 New York International Auto Show. Described by GM as “Designed to evoke the mood of a speedy micro import tuner, the Beat is a front-wheel-drive, three-door hatchback concept built to be personalized, and powered by a 1.2-liter turbocharged gasoline engine mated to an automatic transmission. It’s loaded with technology, including a navigation system and premium stereo.”

Why would you buy this tiny little car? The average fuel economy in the United States right now is around 25mpg and this little gadget can get you 40. That’s far more than most other vehicles in the US that run on gasoline. With gas prices at $4+/gal, who wouldn’t want to drive a fuel efficient car? It will be a nice alternative for people who are weary of alternative fueled vehicles. Or even people who are not fans of the Mini Cooper (like me).

I can’t really find any more information on this, except that they recently decided to switch over (or add in addition to?) from the Asian and Latin America markets to the US. I can’t even find a release date, but I think I remember reading something about a 2010 model. Anyone know?

“The wealth of nations is no longer stuff in
the ground; the wealth of nations resides in
the human mind, in human creativity.”
– George Weigel

The Fourth Annual Tyburn Lecture, May 2004, “The Free And Virtuous Society:”

There are few messages that are more positive than the message above. It is a concept that has been said in many different ways by many people. Although Saudi Arabia and other oil rich countries are getting a “free ride” at the moment, as have many nations who have built the majority of their wealth from resource extraction, times are changing. The more and more I read and listen to experts’ words on the topic of resource scarcity, the more and more I become convinced that the central solution is productivity out pacing inflation. The solution to productivity has always been breakthrough innovation, and the source of breakthrough innovation has always been the human mind. This applies even in resource extraction.

Other than building strong individual character, the greatest cause that anybody can advocate is this:
Increase the percentage of innovative for-profit entrepreneurs. Why? because this creates a more competitive environment which results in more creative destruction which leads to higher productivity which leads to a higher quality of life for all citizens.

I have thought about whether or not I could make this claim for some time now, and have tried to “break it”, but I have found that the claim is unbreakable.

I last wrote about the Suntory Mermaid II on March 25, 2008. For those of you catching up on the story, the Suntory Mermaid II is a prototype boat that is powered by waves for its forward propulsion. (To find out how this works, visit the original post.)

The Suntory Mermaid II is a prototype boat that was built and its maiden voyage is from Hawaii to Tokyo. The craft began its journey on March 17, 2008. Since then, the ship has successfully made it past the halfway mark and it seems that the craft will make it all the way to Japan sometime in May.

If this feat is accomplished, which I believe it will, this will be a watershed event (pun intended!) in the boating/shipping industry. I expect that it will encourage more investment into developing this type of propulsion technology. And, I can’t wait to see it used commercially.

Three cheers for the Suntory Mermaid team for dreaming and making this technology a reality.