Berkeley: Developing Atomic Alternative Energy
By now, this is old news, but this is the first time I’ve been able to really sit down at my computer. The Clog has already mentioned it, and the San Francisco Chronicle is practically ejaculating over it. British Petroluem has granted $500 million to an Energy Biosciences Institute headed by Cal. A Berkeley faculty member will serve as director of the institute, and a BP rep will work underneath him. University of Illinois is also involved in the deal; it’s receiving $100 million of the grant for bioengineering in agriculture.
Finally, something the Oakies could truly celebrate, except that - wait - they’re still living in the trees. The grant’s a fantastic deal for the university, garnering more media attention and allowing it to continue to shape science and technology through the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It’s an unprecedented deal for Cal and may prove to benefit more than just the school. With global warming on the rise and scientists getting their panties all twisted about it, funded research for alternative fuels is a step in the right direction. And it makes sense that UC would be chosen for the project - it’s progressive, it’s world-renowned, and it has the expertise.
yeah, way to turn on the tree people, christine. don’t pander to ben.
anyway, while this partnership might be the magic bullet that solves global warming, id be a bit more wary about joining in the circle jerk.
partnerships between private companies and public universities are tricky, and im not saying that oil companies shouldnt be responsible for developing alternatives, i AM skeptical that they are interested in developing alternatives they cant profit off of. the aborted MCB partnership with novartis was a big embarrasment for the university, even though they dont want to admit it.
this BP deal, at first glance, looks similar. the money is sure tempting, and its not like profs dont need to find grant $ somewhere, but think of it this way. if a prof has an idea about how to develop say, water, as a biofuel, do you think that BP is going to be excited about sponsoring the research?
Comment by mano — February 5, 2007 @ 8:28 am
I AM A VIRGIN !!!!!
Comment by clammy — February 8, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
If you were Jesus, I’d say “Your mom!”
Comment by Beetle — February 8, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
Global warming is a fraud. The Artic Ocean melted in 9-12th centuries. Are you saying cars and smokestacks caused that? Now the wackos are saying people are causing the warning so we need to get rid of all the people.
Comment by ugy — February 8, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
And mano continues to address things he doesn’t understand, like always.
Comment by ? — February 9, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
I love how all the douchebags on this blog always write anonymously to insult other people.
Comment by Anonymous Douchebag — February 11, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
The Truth……Cosmic Rays.
Comment by anonymous — February 12, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
Mano, water as a biofuel? what chemical reaction are you proposing? I hope to god you are a liberal arts guy.
Comment by tom — February 14, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Er… I think his point was that BP wouldn’t be interested in that, because they wouldn’t profit from it, despite the fact that it would be awesome for the environment.
Comment by Beetle — February 14, 2007 @ 2:21 pm
I know that every time I dump water on a fire, the fire goes out, but maybe if you drop as much acid as mano, crazy sh*t can happen?
And sadly, to answer your question, he’s a vision science student, so he’s allegedly knowledgable about the scientific method.
Comment by chet — February 14, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
Then he should have proposed using unicorn blood as a biofuel
Comment by Anony-instigator — February 15, 2007 @ 8:30 am
tom, i hope to god that reading comprehension and critical reasoning skills arent going to be demanded of you in your future line of work.
anyway, i just said that a little healthy skepticism was probably in order. but if any of you sincerely believe that BP is the worldy incarnation of captain planet then i have some unicorn eggs to sell you.
chet, your logic is unassailable. do me a favor and look up the word hypothetical. then do me and the world a favor and go dump some water on a large chunk of sodium.
Comment by mano — February 15, 2007 @ 3:33 pm
i once took a large dump on a chunk of sodium.
Comment by chet — February 15, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
What major are you Chet? Why are you so familiar with other online people’s major.
Anyway, you know what I’m enthusiastic about? hydrolysis fuel injector gizmos. I still can’t figure out if there is some catch, but it seems like some gearheads independently developed a mechanical modification, using essentially old technology, which provides a more significant efficiency improvement than the collective group of engineers working at Toyota/Ford etc have been able to develop. Some diesel trucks are installing these and getting pretty good mpg improvements. http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Fuel_Efficiency_Hydrogen_Injection
Comment by cp — February 18, 2007 @ 10:43 am
so, for the non-feedingtubes out there who actually care about the issue, i was had dinner with a family friend who is in the biz, and knows her shit. i told her about bp and she agrees that it makes sense that they would push alternative “biofuels”. she suggested i see the documentary “who killed the electric car”
she pointed out that there is a relatively unknown subtext to the green energy debate which has to do with the distribution systems for fuel. energy (electric) utilities are largely regulated and theres not alot of profit to be made… electric cars or the like… if you plug them into a socket, are a big threat to existing fuel distribution systems that the big oil companies have put lots of money into, because they will no longer utilize filling stations and will just plug into electric outlets at home. the oil companies need to make sure that whatever next generation renewable fuel or energy source gets used, they dont have to write off their vast networks of filling stations as a total loss!
Comment by mano — February 20, 2007 @ 11:49 am
and, also, a source at ucb says that the research will likely revolve around using genetic engineering to increase the yield for corn and other ethanol sources.. if its a 500 million GM ethanol institute then its not so interesting or revolutionary after all.
Comment by mano — February 20, 2007 @ 11:53 am
Mano’s feeding tube line is funnier every time!!!!!
Also, for those who think the electric car is dead, check this sh*t out:
http://www.teslamotors.com/
Comment by Anony-instigator — February 21, 2007 @ 9:48 am
I tried to post this before, but this blog flagged it and then blocked me from posting. Anyway, the idea of cars running on water is not far fetched, and I’m enthusiastic about this device that uses the concept of hydrolysis which was developed over 100 years ago. Especially, it is cool to think that tinkerers and small budget businesses have developed a usable application for semitrucks and regular autos, and not BP funded research that that is trying to develop something novel and complicated.
These things are basically fuel injector adaptors that use electricity generated from the normally running vehicle to split water and create hydrogen. The hydrogen is pumped into the piston and makes the gas burn more efficiently, and apparently improves gas mileage 20%+. That’s pretty large. Aerodynamics and weight improvements in regular cars that produce a 2-5% improvement are considered fairly significant. Energy Resources Group is the center of the debate on how efficient biodiesel is, where two professors have different calculations on how much oil it takes to grow corn. What is clear is that diverting corn into ethanol is making bread prices go up in countries such as Mexico, which eventually would make life difficult for everyone
Comment by chp — February 22, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
Ahem…. Where’s our little tree-bashing BP cheerleader now? No follow-ups?
Comment by mano — February 27, 2007 @ 9:55 am
Heres one I stumbled across the the other day and had to bookmark it. Very extensive and informative alternative energy resource. Alternative Energy
Comment by Alternative Energy — June 15, 2007 @ 2:20 pm