Response to "Too Hot to Handle."

This article I just found came out of the magazine "Mother Jones." This article helped me quite a lot, not in learning new ideas about alternative energy, but getting a more solid base of knowledge about how the world views climate change as a whole. I also found about ppm, which is an important measure system based on the amount of CO2 in the world. right now it is around 387 ppm, and a healthy amount for the world would be 350 ppm. The amount that is taken as the highest possible right now without the world changing drastically is 450 ppm, but if so much has already happened just at 387 ppm, 450 ppm would be much worse. Developing countries are feeling like climate change and emissions shouldn't get in the way of them developing because after all the current rich and powerful got that way by burning the majority of the greenhouse gases in the world right now. They aren't responsible for the problem, so they shouldn't help fix it...I completely disagree. This article made a point about how important the Copenhagen talks are, and how if solid solutions aren't taken out of these talks, the world could change dramatically for the worse.

Notes on "Too Hot to Handle."

The meeting in Copenhagen is the most important meeting on the climate since the 1997 Kyoto treaty meetings.
Many developing countries feel that if developed countries got rich by essentially burning coal, they shouldn't be penalized for doing the same.
Scientists have said that the number to aim for is 350 ppm (parts per million CO2.) Right now it is around 387, and Copenhagen is thinking of making sure it doesn't go over 450. Anything above 450 has been said to have changes on Earth that could render civilization as it is now unrecognizably different.
If oil was burned up till 2030, but after that there was absolutely no more oil being used, the forests and ocean could bring CO2 levels back down to manageable amounts.
There is a 50 percent chance the lake behind the Hoover Dam could dry up by 2021.
The nation The Maldives, which is all on islands, is looking to buy a new homeland as it is getting swallowed up by the sea.
Both Europe and the Americas are reasonably open to stricter environmental regulations, but that would only limit these countries to 450 ppm, and at even 387 ppm the arctic is melting at an alarming rate, 30 years before it was predicted to happen.

Response to "Nanosolar Technology"

The latest article I found was all about the company Nanosolar, which is developing nanosolar technology. Essentially, nanosolar is a new way of thinking about solar technology. Nanosolar technology sacrifices a bit of efficiency for a greatly reduced price, enabling solar panels to purchased by a much larger market. The company owns two factories, and requires many workers with higher education, especially in the engineering field. The panels produced by the company are really are really more sheets, as they are very thin, bendable, and easily adjusted in size. The driving idea behind this product is ultra low cost, with the panels selling for as low as twenty dollars per square foot. I have always felt that solar power is the way of the future, but the one thing standing between a world powered by oil, and a world powered by the sun has been the cost. This product completely changes that idea, and it could be the turning point in our search of a replacement for oil.

Notes on "Nanosolar Technology"

Nanosolar is a company that is developing solar panels.
A barrier to more widespread use of solar panels has been there cost, but nanosolar has developed a fast and cheap way to produce them.
These "solar panels" are really are really more sheets, as they are very thin, bendable, and easily adjusted in size.
These affordable solar panels are being built to ultimately be cheap enough to go up on roofs around the country.
While not being as efficient as some other solar panels (which have about 20% efficiency, as opposed to the 15 - 16% efficiency in the nanosolar panels,) The ultra low cost ,20 dollars per square foot, more than makes up for it.
"Cells are assembled into circuits and laminated into panels. By using cells only from matched performance bins, mismatch losses within a panel are minimized to less than 0.1%" (1)
The company behind nanosolar technology has over 300 patents and a factory in Berlin, Germany, and San Jose, California.
The company has many job openings in the field of engineering.

Response to "Wheres the Next Boom? Maybe in Alternative Energy"

The article I recently found helped me because it gave me new information about alternative energy, most specifically what is now being dubbed "cleantech." Cleantech is essentially the Silicon Valley term for for alternative energy, and more efficient and newer ways to store energy and distribute it. One of the points of the article was that during recessions, often the best in American ingenuity comes out and lifts us out of that recession. Robertson, the author, feels that if America takes the lead in cleantech, that could be a major part of what pulls us out of this recession. With both our president and private investors putting money and effort into developing this, I feel that this idea could become a reality. One question I had after coming away from this article regarded whether or not cleantech, while definitely adding jobs, could also take them away from the less energy efficient sectors.

Notes on "Wheres the Next Boom? Maybe in Alternative Energy"

http://www.app.com/article/20091012/BUSINESS/910120301/1003/business&source=rss

Often in depressions, the next boom happens. Such as in 1870, telephones and phonographs, 1958, the integrated circuit, and early 1980's, the personal computer.
Venture capitalists have invested as much as 8.7 billion into energy related buisiness' since 2006.
A power plant will be built by a company called GreatPoint that will create thousands of jobs in 2010.
The Obama administration has said it will focus on putting more hybrid cars on the road, and also to invest 150 billion over the next decade into cleantech.
Cleantech could possibly create 5 million jobs, but 7.2 million have been lost since the recession started, and other jobs might be cannabalized by cleantech.
GE and HP are both already established companies that are taking advantage of the cleantech revolution andd investing in technologies.

Five Paragraph Essay

I am very interested in Alternative Energy, and I can easily see it holding my attention for a couple of simple reasons. First off, I have been interested in alternative energy sources for much longer than five months already, so it seems likely that I will stay interested in it. Also, it is essential to our world's future, so it will definitely impact my future, and possibly my plans for the future. I am not planning to become an engineer, or otherwise even work with alternative energy, but it could influence me to buy a more fuel efficient car, or maybe invest in a geothermal heating system for example.

The field of Alternative Energy is constantly changing, and there are constantly more effective ways of collecting energy being researched. This subject will continue to change, and will definitely be far different five months from now than right now. Fuel cell technology, for example, is a relatively new idea, but it is already a seriously researched field of technology.

This topic will be incredibly easy to find information on, with or without a computer, as many other sources have information about it as well. If I get on the computer and search "Alternative Energy" it comes up with more than 66 million hits, so there is no shortage of information out there. The daily newspaper has articles about it, Discover and National Geographic, even Rolling Stones, have articles on it. The problem with this topic isn't getting information about it, but about getting useful information.

Because the technology being developed for Alternative Energy is changing so much and so often it absolutely will provide a basis for ongoing research, and the information will definitely not be static. The budget for alternative energy is being increased by the American government, and all around the world governments and organizations are investing in alternative energy sources, and this should provide an interesting basis for ongoing research.

What I believe now is that Alternative Energy is very important to our planets survival, and I believe that my viewpoint will not change with my research. I believe that alternative energy is essential to our future as a planet, and I will not change my mind on that stance unless something insane is found out, like solar and wind power is whats actually causing global warming. But this issue will force me to dig deep into what information is out there, and I will be forced to to separate useless information and facts from actual information and ideas.