Doubts over World Bank energy plan
But some committee members have doubts about the initiative, and outside experts were also unconvinced by its thrust. Bank officials will over the next two years study technology options available, analyze the impact of climate change in developing countries and propose specific programs.
The global lender estimates that two-thirds of the increase in world energy demand over the next 25 years will come from the developing world.
At present, 1.6 billion people in South Asia and Africa have no access to electricity, while nearly 2.4 billion people still rely on wood, agricultural residues and dung for cooking and heating.
Turning Dirty Coal Into Clean Energy
Because of that catalyst, GreatPoint's process works at a lower temperature than other technologies, which makes the process much cheaper. The catalyst also enables GreatPoint to separate out about half of the carbon dioxide, a chief cause of climate change. (The company plans to sell that carbon dioxide to be injected into oil or gas wells to facilitate production.) Other pollutants also are removed at the plant, which makes the product much cleaner than the synthesis gas produced by other gasification processes.
Benefits of clean energy quantified
New Jersey's $140 million investment in its Clean Energy Program last year saved enough electricity to power 50,000 homes and enough natural gas to heat 6,100 homes, the Board of Public Utilities said.
In addition, the statewide program helped finance projects that should produce even bigger energy savings in the future, the BPU said in its 2005 Annual Report for New Jersey's Clean Energy Program released Friday.
Black holes generate ‘green’ energy
"If you could make a car engine that was as efficient as one of these black holes, you could get about a billion miles out of a gallon of gas," said study team leader Steve Allen of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University. "In anyone's book, that would be pretty green."
