The Bakken Oil Field: Fact or Fiction?

Our thanks to Green Planet Solar Energy, for the following.

The North American Bakken oil field has received a fair degree of news coverage recently amid claims of up to 500 billion barrels of crude oil under the ground. If this were true this would make it the single largest oil deposit in the world. Where does the Bakken field stand in relation to these claims?

The oil field was discovered over 50 years ago and is located across the border of North Dakota and Montana. The area has been extensively studied. The area is rich in oil shale, a rock formation typically associated with oil deposits. The oil in this formation is thinly spread through the rocks, which is called a continuous oil accumulation.

Continuous field has "scattered" oil

This is opposed to discreet oil

Discrete fields have large pools

SOLAR WATER HEATING STARTED IN THE HIMALAYAS

Solar Tea Boiler

A group of Americans hiking high in the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal, stopped at a collection of 5 mountain huts, perched on the side of a cliff. The people there, dressed in their colorful mountain wools, smiled and welcomed them to sit and drink tea. They used a tea pot heated by a primitive metal frame, with shiny metal as a mirror, reflecting the heat. Sometimes they fold out two shiny metal “wings” bent so as to concentrate the heat on 3 sides of the teapot.

Solar stove

Many of the temples use them, and in the process teach energy conservation by example.

The tea was boiling hot. No electricity, or natural gas at 18,000 feet. But these people did understand solar power. Later they cooked a deep pan of stew, using a similar “solar stove”.

The Tibetans, and Nepalese have been using solar power and "renewable" energy for hundreds of years. They were "green" before it was cool to be green. It is partly because of their environment, and partly because their religion suggests that "The earth is good and sacred, something to be respected."

$5,000 discount on a 5 kWh wind turbine offered by Wind Inc.

"We have a turbine that was used only for 6 months, and are able to offer a rare discounted price for it."

The turbine is rated to produce 5,000 watts of electric power per hour at its engineered and rated wind speed.

The former owners utilized it for 6 months and had to move, therefore this has come up, at a price of $5,000 below retail. These turbines are built to last for many years, and some people give a 20 year life span. Therefore the price represents a good bargain for someone needing a wind turbine.

The price includes a 5 kW inverter, a grid tie controller, a 29 foot tower, a 5 kWh wind turbine and blades, and "is on a trailer, ready to deliver", said Ben Boothe, President of Wind Inc.

Wind speeds were lower the first part of the year. Lower than normal wind conditions dominated the US in Q1 of 2010. These conditions were caused by a combination of a mild positive El Nino (ENSO) event with a strongly negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) event.

However, Q2 of 2010 saw a significant rebound with many areas of the country experiencing above average wind speeds. This effect is particularly noted in the western US, extending from Washington State to Texas. Note the map below. The white and blue areas have low winds, the orange and red areas are areas with excellent winds, where wind turbines would be considered good electricity generators. The "orange and red" areas showed good increases in wind speeds in the second quarter of 2010.

Wind Speeds Across the USA Increasing!

The increase is due to a weakening of the ENSO and NAO effects that so greatly impacted wind speeds at the end of 2009 and in Q1 of 2010. A result of these waning climatic events, Q2 experienced prevalent storm activity off the Pacific Coast, which played a large role in the overall wind speed increases.

Thus while scattered areas had above average wind speeds, many regions of the US are still below average for January through June. Those would be the blue areas on the map.

Texas, however, has been a bright spot in the study. While Texas experienced wind speeds well below average in Q1, the recovery in Q2 pushed its 6 month average above normal.

ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS

A 10 KWH Wind Turbine we just installed

IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO BUY A WIND TURBINE OR SOLAR WATER HEATING SYSTEM

THINKING ABOUT IT, AND PONDERING IS FINE TO A POINT... BUT NOW...

THE GULF OIL SPILL TEACHES THE NATION, THAT IT IS TIME TO BECOME SERIOUS ABOUT USING "CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY"

IT MAY BE POSSIBLE TO GET YOUR ELECTRIC BILL TO "0"

Have you had enough of the big polluters taking your money? Then YOU do something. Make your own power, with NO POLLUTION, NO NOISE, AND FREE ELECTRICITY FROM NOW ON.

SOLAR POWERED AIRPLANE FLIES ALL NIGHT! Recharges when sun comes up.

Airplane flew all night on Solar Power

If they can build an airplane that will fly on solar power, why can't Detroit build a car, that is solar powered?

An experimental, solar-powered plane Thursday successfully completed a 26-hour flight powered by 12,000 solar cells and sunlight-powered lithium batteries. It recharges when the sun comes up and can fly all night and then keep on flying the next day, indefinately.

The Solar Impulse, a slender, long-winged airplane, flew through the night over Switzerland, fueled by energy it collected during the previous day. Solar Impulse reached a height of 28,000 feet and a top speed of 78 mph in what project coordinators called the longest test flight of a piloted, solar-powered aircraft.

"We don't need to prolong the flight," a project team member tweeted Thursday morning. "Everything we wanted to prove with this flight has been proven ... and more."

The School of Illinois Scientists Demonstrate Us Little Known Approaches to Make More

Economical PhotoVoltaic Panels!

Thin Film

Although silicon is actually the market common semiconductor in the majority of electronic devices, which includes the pv cells that photovoltaic panels employ to convert sunshine into energy, it is not really the most effective component on the market. For instance, the semiconductor gallium arsenide and connected compound semiconductors offer nearly two times the performance as silicon in solar devices, however they are rarely employed in utility-scale applications because of their high manufacturing price.

University. of Illinois. (http://illinois.edu/) professors J. Rogers and X. Li explored lower-cost techniques to manufacture thin films of gallium arsenide which also granted versatility in the types of devices they might be integrated into.

If you can reduce substantially the price of gallium arsenide and other compound semiconductors, then you can increase their own variety of applications.

Rural Energy For America Program Grants/Renewable Energy Systems/Energy Efficiency Improvement Program (REAP/RES/EEI)

The REAP/RES/EEI Grants Program provides grants for energy audits and renewable energy development assistance. It also provides funds to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements.

How does the B&I Guaranteed Loan Program compare to the Rural Energy for America Program Guaranteed Loan and Grant? To assist you in determining which program best fit your needs this comparison chart identifies each programs common and distinct requirements in an easy to read format.

How much are the grants?The grants are awarded on a competitive basis and can be up to 25% of total eligible project costs. Grants are limited to $500,000 for renewable energy systems and $250,000 for energy efficiency improvements. Grant requests as low as $2,500 for renewable energy systems and $1,500 for energy efficiency improvements will be considered. At least 20% of the grant funds awarded must be for grants of $20,000 or less. Who is eligible? The program is designed to assist farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses that are able to demonstrate financial need. All agricultural producers, including farmers and ranchers, who gain 50% or more of their gross income from the agricultural operations are eligible. Small businesses that are located in a rural area can also apply. Rural electric cooperatives may also be eligible to apply. What types of projects are eligible?Most rural projects that reduce energy use and result in savings for the agricultural producer or small business are eligible as energy efficiency projects. These include projects such as retrofitting lighting and insulation, purchasing or replacing equipment with more energy efficient units. Eligible renewable energy projects include projects that produce energy from wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydro power and hydrogen-based sources. The projects can produce any form of energy including, heat, electricity, or fuel.

President Obama unveiled his HOMESTAR program Tuesday, a plan that would provide rebates of up to $3,000 to U.S.

Energy Star Home

homeowners who make their homes more energy efficient.

Obama said that the HOMESTAR program would create jobs and enable U.S. homeowners to receive rebates of up to $3,000 when they make energy efficient adjustments to their homes.

THIS IS IDEAL FOR WIND TURBINES FOR THE TURBINES OFFERED BY www.wind-inc.com (817 738 9595) will reduce electricity consumption from 20% up to 90%, giving homeowners an additonal $3000 rebate.

We met and heard Dr. Charles Ebinger today at the Fort Worth Club, World Affairs meeting. He is a well informed expert with an impressive grasp of facts of the energy world. The audience consisted of oil, gas, and wind executives, and was most receptive to his message.

Dr. Charles Ebinger says

"End user installations of Wind Turbines and Solar Panels will power many buildings of the future."

He is considered an expert and advisor to Presidents, on energy issues.

Charles Ebinger, director of the Energy Security Initiative and senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, examined how the international energy card is played. In his role at The Brookings Institution, Charles Ebinger specializes in international and domestic energy markets (oil, gas, coal and nuclear), the geopolitics of energy and nuclear non-proliferation, with a particular focus on the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. He has served as an energy policy advisor to more than 50 governments, and he has conducted numerous projects with the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank and USAID. Ebinger is also an adjunct professor at The Johns Hopkins University in the Energy, Resources, and Environment Program.