Bringing Rotor-Sails Back on Conventional Cargo Ships

An old German technology from the 1920s is now being revived both in the country of it's birth, as well as in Finland. I like the idea of rotor sails to supplement conventional propulsion and reduce fuel consumption, but cannot help wondering if this tech will be beaten in overall efficiency and costs by the Dyna-Rig.

Some Cautious Forward Movement on Solar Energy in the USA

I am grateful to Dr Mayraj Fahim for this article on Alternet http://www.alternet.org/environment/136152?page=entire which describes the potential gains as well as risks that face entrepreneurs in the field of solar energy in the USA. There is one factor that the author of the article is possibly not sure off which I must mention here - rapid competition in advancing the field of solar photovoltaic power is bringing down the costs of manufacturing solar photovoltaic panels and efficiency is being pushed up every few months by new developments as companies and universities around the world take up the challenge of making solar cells more efficient and cheap. This is a fact that is known to the entrepreneurs who are involved in this industry and that is why people in Germany are happy to put their money into ventures in this field.

There is considerable movement in the field of renewable energy and if there is any disappointment, as far as I am concerned, it is in the fact that South Asia is not looking at this with the same degree of seriousness that the West is. With India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc bathed in sunlight around the year, just imagine the potential . . . But then, I would be repeating myself like a scratched record if I go on now.

US Now Largest Wind Power Producer

Ecogeek brings this news via Cleantechnika that the USA has beaten Germany as the world's foremost wind power producing nation: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2407/86/ In what has otherwise been a pretty bad year, this is amazing news, indeed, and I hope that the American spirit of competitiveness and a similar spirit in other countries would make the world use as much additional wind power as possible in the future. This can only be good news to a blog that aims to show fossil fuels the fist. Way to go, America! Congratulations and don't slow down, please!