The HYMINi

This little guy is breath of fresh air. It is a tiny wind turbine that works with very little movement. The Hymini can power a ipod, and other small gadgets. Wind is so easily made that gadgets like the Hymini are a positive start.

Let the good Blogs roll

 http://www.bioeconomyblog.blogspot.com/

This blog is centered around alternative energy and its many potentials. What most interested me about this blog was its focus on ethanol. As many already know, ethanol is a kind of gas substitute that now powers many cars. It is the hope of many that ethanol and and similar products will help alleviate our country's craving for oil.

http://thebioenergyblog.blogspot.com/

This blog also preaches of the wonders of ethanol, it differs from The Bioeconomic blog in subtle ways but it mainly provides readers with numbers and facts that may directly affect our everyday lives. I would not recommend this site as being fun, but as far as facts go, it tops my list.

Billgross.com

The author of this blog has a very strong opinion concerning energy. He seems to feel that people should work hard in order to deserve what we get. In one of his blogs he criticizes the world for complaining about oil prices when we struggle to pull our weight to help our world become more efficient. This blog is informative because its unconventional; the author relates various news topics to his subject and clearly states facts to help readers make their own decisions.

The Energy blog

This blog is centered around new and interesting findings about alternative energy. The author also incorporates news with facts to drive home the point of positive alternative energy. His latest post is very affirming because it involves the purchase of a substantial amount of wind turbines by Mesa Power, LLP owner, T. Boone Pickens. There is still hope.

Green Machine

This blog is not really centered around energy per say, it is more of a site that informs readers of the way people all over are becoming more energy efficient. It is a green site that helps readers break away from non- Eco-friendly living and into a brighter greener world. Very interesting.

The Environmental Blog

This blog warns readers about the dangers of the world we all currently live in. It informs us that there is a good deal of harmful chemicals just in the air alone. This site however, is not negative, it informs readers of how to deal with our oil crisis in a greener way.

Green Energy Blog

This blog is an optimistic one that focuses on how people can use sources around them to create various forms of energy. Ethanol is mentioned in this article and it seems to me that this is a common subject. Ethanol should be taken more seriously because there is great potential in it.

Plug- in Energy for Tomorrow

This blog addresses our countries energy plan, or lack there of. There author seems to fear that a procrastination on the subject may lead to irreversible consequences on our economy.

It's a Green World After All

For starters the brilliant irony of this blogs title is an attention grabber. The title implies that our world is well and good; that it is prospering on green energy, but the author explain that this is not so. Our world seems to be more dependant now on non renewable energy sources that the author fears that those energy sources will soon expire and leave us all without a good alternative.

Alternatively.......

This blog focuses on alternative energy and how to better our planet. The author approaches the topic very unbiasedly which helps the readers make their own decision about the topic. The author also focuses on the pressing issue of our Eco-system. Though much of the blame can be based on power plants, and substantial amount of blame should the placed on the way we manufacture our cars. What goes in will eventually come out. If we make our engines with harmful substances, we will in turn suffer from those very substances.

Fun Reads

Jumping the Fence

I feel like immigration has always been a topic that many people tend to stay away from and this is very unfortunate. Immigrants, whether legal or not are a very valuable asset to our country. In this blog, the author lays out the facts for all to see and in essence brings, this once overlooked topic into very bright lights.

Work in Progress

This blog addresses many of our countries economic problems in a clear and unbiased view of the topic. The author address the issue of our countries financial debt and how our nation plans to fix this problem. This blog also questions why our country continues to spend when it is already extreme debt. The author does a great job of holding the reader's attention.

Swidge Knows Best

Fantastic blog about our nation's heightened sense of duty and homeland security. The author seems to have a particularly strong focus on airport security. There is a great sense of pride and concern in this blog. Personally, with all I have learned from this blog, I am somewhat assured that our country is safer with each rising of the sun.

Links Post

There is a great deal of information on the web about alternative energy. Here are a few sites that have helped to educate me on exactly what alternative energy is and why it can help purify our future.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/renewable/renewable.html

This site focuses more on wind power and more specifically wind turbines. This site is good because it also clearly states that wind power can be unattractive because of the price and size of many wind turbines. There are many strides being taken to fix many of the turn offs of wind power because wind can be formed with the simplest of movements.

http://www.energy.gov/energysources/index.htm

This site is a breath of fresh air in the world of alternative energy because it informs readers of what our government is doing to help decrease dependence on foreign energy. On the left hand side of the site is a list of topics and what our government plans to do to make those sources more efficient and effective in everyday society.

http://www.nytimes.com/

This site is arguably one of my favorite sites because unlike google, all search results are backed by respectable intellectuals. On this site I check on how our economy is doing (unfortunately, there's never any good news) and also I check to see if there have any overnight break through in alternative energy.

Why Wont We Just Convert

Our environment will one day be irreversibly damaged by our conscious by neglect of our planet. Our nation and most of the world is suffering from a grand shortage of energy and will continue to suffer shortages if no fine plan to arranged. We are all guilty of destroying our planet. we have all contributed to our world's energy crisis by not taking the innitiative to completely break our dependance on other for energy. 

It is not impossible for people to live of cleaner energy. the problem is that this form of energy would require a great deal of money. 

It would be nice to direct our the world towards a future where communities take control and invest completely in alternative energy. This dream of mine is not impossible. There are several stories in circulation of brave people that have taken the risk and invested some allowance into alternative energy and have only looked foward since then. solar power seems to be the most experiment source; people have built houses that solely (or almost soley) run on the power of the sun. There have even been reports of how successful solar energy can be that communities have been known to buy energy from "alternative home owners". 

This begs me to ask the question, if money is the problem should, our communities not seek comfort in the fact that in the long run alternative energy will pay for itself? 

It is not worth it to allow our atmosphere to fill up with hazardous fumes when we can do something about it by wasting less energy and helping to educate our communities about the hazards of conventional energy sources like oil and coal.

This image can be found at Gettyimages.com

Theologically...

Our country is suffering a major energy crisis. The current energy sources we depend on are not  depleting, but yet our country and most of the world now frequently experiences droughts of energy.  Many alternative energy enthusiasts preach that the time to completely break away from conventional energy like coal and oil, and turn our attention to alternative energy is now.

While I am all for alternative energy it is not impossible to realize why alternative energy is not the main source of energy. In my research I have found that to successfully power nations with alternative energy, large sums of money would have to be dealt out. The cost alone of replacing conventional energy with alternative energy would drain any country's coffers. Apparently, there is so much cheap non-green energy sources out there that asking corporations to spend more money to save an entire planet seems also "too funny to laugh at". 

The fact is alternative energy can someday be a main source of energy, but not without the efforts of many. Many argue that alternative energy will not arrive in time to save our Eco-system. This fear is not too radical because with relation to alternative energy sources (solar-hydro-wind), convention oil and coal [for now] will always win because there might never be enough money to risk on grand-scale alternative energy while conventional sources remain far less expensive.

Highly Recommended Blogs

There are a good deal of blogs out in the blog-sphere today. My favorite blogs however are It's a Green World After All, A Shot in the Dark, and Iraq War. 

It's a Green World After All is a facinating blog about a topic that intrigues me: Energy. The author explains to the reader how alternative energy works. Making the world a greener place with environmentally friendly energy sources seems to be the authors main concern. 

A Shot in the Dark is about our country's second amendment. The right to bare arms is a very controversial issue and the author beautifully conveys both sides of the arguement of whether guns are  bad. The author is in search of the the positions of the 2008 presidential candidates on guns...

The Iraq War blog says what many of us would like to say. It is a straight foward blog about how the author believes our country went to war. The author also explains what efforts are being made to end the war.

These blogs are very impressive and close attention should be paid to them

Not Enough Focus on Energy

There has been a good deal of talk about Joe the Plumber and the economy, there has not been much mention of alternative energy during the 2008 presidential debates. while I am glad that the candidates are providing their stances on the economy and education, I am a bit dissapointed in our candidates because energy is a great problem. 

Both candidates have spent much of their time and money on negative campaigning. This issue was addressed during the last debate, when the moderator asked the candidates to express their thoughts on each candidates negative advertisements. The candidates spent some time during the last debate to straighten many facts that may have been twisted.

I am sure that both candidates feel better knowing just how each other feels, but I believe that more focus should be placed on the issue of energy. It is not enough to just briefly mention the topic .

Everyone Is Doing It: Nationalization

The banks are not well. They are not comfortable anymore because they made very bad decisions. They traded with the wrong sort of people and now they owe those people money. The government is to blame because they allowed the banks to survive like wild animals, with the mind set that the strongest would survive and our economy would flourish as a result. The idea of allowing money-hungry executives to have few rules was obviously not well thought out because as seen on the Animal Channel in the case of lions it is very hard to get greedy. Lions usually find food to sustain them for the day but unlike the banks, lions know that without patience they may go hungry because their meals are not guaranteed. The banks invested money in half baked propositions and are now in need of help. 

Leaders from around the world met not too long ago discussed the problem of the banks and this is where nationalization comes in; the government proposes to funnel $250 billion into the banks in an attempt to save our ailing economy. The government will distribute $125 billion among larger banks and the other $125 billion will be shared among smaller banks.

While it may seem that the government is looking out for the banks by being a hero of sorts in the banks' time of trouble. The reality is the government is helping the banks because in doing so, the government will own part of the banks; making the banks nationalized. The banks were last nationalized in 1930s.

Nationalization of the banks was not bad idea because, now that the bank are  better off, our economy should soon follow. Hopefully.

Well-Informed readers

I read a few comments I received on "Energy related hypocrisy". I have found that the readers are looking more closely into the presidential elections and more specifically " the oil problem".  It seems that the McCain capaign is ready to drill in Alaska. This all well and good that Sarah Palin acknowledges the fact that there are acres of oil in her state, but it seems to me that like with the rest of the oil in the world, the supply is not perennial. This oil source might hold the world for some time but we must work hard on alternative energy sources. 

Renewable Energy

The world we live in is very dependent on artificial sources of energy. Almost all everyday needs are somehow affected by the world's energy situation; oil has become such a high commodity that without enough of of it, there would be a shortage of many mundane products, for example, many may not know this but refined crude oil can produce polyester fibers. This essentially means that the curtains in your living room or the sewing thread you seldom use to alter your clothes  is in some part made of oil. Over the counter pain relievers are also products that are made with chemicals from oil. common fertilizer that is used rear crops and produce feed for cattle are also made with cheap oil; however now that the oil is no longer cheap, the price of fertilizer has steadily increased with has caused the price of food to climb. Our dependence of oil runs much deeper than many of us might have guessed, but oil is not the only solution. 

there are several renewable sources of energy out there and my hope is that one day, more energy friendly sources of energy will replace oil. I understand that my dream of alternative energy replacing oil is very unlikely; this summer is a great example, when oil prices rose this 

summer, people were very concerned and it seemed to me that they bought more oil because they felt that the supply might run out.  I suspect that people reacted this way to the potential oil shortage because, they lived through the shortage of 1992. The most logical form of renewable energy to me is wind energy. There is a considerable source of wind across the world and many scientists before now have tried to generate energy from the wind with considerable success. The major draw back of this energy source however is that to generate a respectable amount of energy, one must have enormous wind turbines. These machines produce energy kinetically with movement from the wind.  This form of energy is a great resource, but unfortunately the cost wind turbines are a bit unnerving. 

Solar energy is another form of renewable energy that I hope one day relieves oil of its duties. solar energy works the use of photovoltaic cells. These cells are commonly rectangular and work by absorbing as much of the sun's rays and converting them to energy. Solar energy is increasingly becoming popular; many PV cells can be found atop many buildings and on large farms. Unfortunately, PV cells are mainly used as back-up generators, but I believe that this is a step towards a decrease in dependence.

Although this term is now cliche it is true, this might be the most election of our life time. I write this because, the next president of our country will take power at a time in our country's history were there is so much going on. Not to say that other president have had it easy, but today our country's economy is very unstable and this is in great part to our energy crisis. It is arguable that our country's energy crisis is a result of our oil problem. The decrease in oil has tipped our economy and in effect, the world. 

In choosing a candidate for president, I think citizens should know how their candidates feel about alternative energy. Barack Obama the Democratic nominee believes that or energy problem is big, but he does not seem to feel that it is the most pressing issue. Unfortunately, John McCain takes the same position on the matter. Both candidates believe that straightening our the economy is more urgent. I ask, wont establishing a strong alternative energy plan in turn help to align the economy?...

This image can be found on Gettyimages.com

Energy related hypocrisy

The United States of America is in an energy crisis. America is a great country with a good deal of power among other countries, while power and respectability are good, they may also be not so good. This is evident with the country's current economic state. It is arguable that energy (oil) is one of the main reasons why our country's economy is not healthy. America's was once great and was the center and model by which the rest of the world followed, but now that the economy has crashed, there is chaos in the economic world and panic in everyday homes. The economy's crash directly affects the common man because the price of gas and other everyday needs have sky-rocketed.

It can easily be agreed upon that the time for alternative energy is now. Oil is no longer easily accessible and alternative energy spokespeople preach of the accessibility and the possibility of cleaner energy sources as the wave of the future but according to Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times' "Eight Strikes You're Out", Presidential candidate Senator John McCain disagrees. Friedman explains that the senator has now failed to vote eight times on a bill that would no doubt further alternative energy technologies. Friedman calls the senator out on his hypocrisy because the senator not too long ago, called for congress to "get back to work" on solving our nations energy crisis.

This image can be found here

Where Did All The Energy Go

This should come as no surprise to anyone, our planets natural energy resources are rapidly depleting. The worlds dependence on crude oil as an energy source has for many years, gradually destroyed the world's ozone layer. Crude oil is exactly what it sounds like, crude, to purify this substance man invented the power plant and along with his power plant came hazardous materials like toxic waste and green house gases. The world as a community must band together and make a conscious effort to save what we can of our ailing earth.

Crude oil dependence has created a world where oil-rich countries seem to pull the strings and essentially have a great say in decisions of the world. For example, Oil prices are very manageable in many middle eastern countries because oil is superfluous, but in more far away countries like Ghana, gas prices are unbearable. I talked to few colleagues of mine who have visited Ghana recently and they say that gas prices have reached a minimum of six dollars a gallon. There has to be a better way.

Credit must be given where credit is due; for the past few years now, there has been a great surge in alternate energy focus. In an effort to try to tame the world's dependence on oil, several car companies have now popularized cars that run mostly on electricity and a small amount of gas; these cars are aptly called Hybrids. Hybrids will no doubt pave the way for more energy efficient cars in the future and in the future people will drive mainly hybrid cars, but in today's world, hybrids are too expensive. 

In November of 2008, the United States will elect a new president. Unfortunately for the new president, there will be not rest period because, the nations economy is in turmoil and there is a major energy crisis. many of us know that the economy can be considered the piece that holds the nation together and with the economy in danger, the new president will immediately have to work towards stabilizing it. the economy problem has made the cost of living rise very high. the cost of houses have dropped significantly and as a result homeowners are falling into debt. the next president of the United States will have the task of making alternative fuels like solar and wind energy more accessible.