Future Energy eNews IntegrityResearchInstitute.org Jan. 10, 2005

1 Top 100 Science Stories of 2004 - Discover magazine, January, 2005, many related to energy

2 Russian Godin and Roschin Patent Awarded - Energy patent drafted by Valone at IRI for inventors

3 National Energy Commission Report - Bipartisan panel tries to end the energy policy stalemate

4 Superconductive Fusion Experiment - Levitated Dipole Experiment for magnetic fusion of hydrogen

5 EnergyNet - Progress on each state's Clean Energy Campaigns of 2004

6 End of Suburbia - Comprehensive video on oil peak and natural gas peak with dozens of authorities

7 Carbon trust awards - Innovators for low carbon energy ideas given prizes in the UK

8 Meditation Gives the Brain a Charge - Most powerful brain electrical activity found in Buddhist monks

Note: The entire 3-year archive of Future Energy eNews 2002-2004 has now been posted on our IRI website! (Also available in CD format: "Future Energy Technologies", with IRI Member's book, Future Energy Annual 2004, and two bonus slide shows.) -TV


1) Top 100 Science Stories of 2004

The Year in Science: Top 100 Stories, DISCOVER Vol. 26 No. 01 | January 2005

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/top-100-stories/

1. Turning Point of Global Warming

2. SpaceShipOne Opens Private Rocket Era

3. NASA’s Rovers Find Evidence of Ancient Seas on Mars

4. Hello, Saturn

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/sociology/low-carbs-squeeze-farmers/5. Killer Flu Incubates in Asia

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/new-drugs-target-cancer/6. Stem Cell Researchers Move Closer to Cloning Us

7. New Drugs Target Cancer

8. Low Carbs Put Squeeze on Farmers

9. Teleportation Gets Real

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/estrogen-replacement-therapy/10. Australian Crater Implicated in Global Rubout

11. Estrogen Replacement Therapy May Increase Risk of Dementia

12. Fully Developed Galaxies Found in Cosmic Nursery

13. Origins of Farming Unearthed

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/archaeology/secret-early-american-sites/14. Gas or Life?

15. Japan Sets Sail in Space

16. Secret Early American Sites Finally Revealed

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/astronomy/farthest-coldest-planet/17. Strange Worlds Found in Alien Solar Systems

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/18. Childhood Vaccines’ Link to Autism Is Debunked

19. Two New Elements Discovered

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/vioxx-recall-delay/20. Money for Science: Slim Pickings Ahead?

21. Delay in Recalling Vioxx Points to Problems in FDA Approval Process

22. Proteins Make the Primate

23. Farthest, Coldest ‘Planet’ Spied Well Beyond Pluto

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/astronomy/molecules-brew-between-stars/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/24. Polio Resurfaces in West Africa

25. Antidepressants Trigger Suicide Impulses in Teens

26. Molecules of Life Brew Between Stars

27. Frozen Ovary Restores Fertility

28. First Americans May Have Come From Australia

29. Monkeys, Humans Get Brain-Driven Prostheses

30. Little People Make Big Splash

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/31. FDA Rejects Over-the-Counter Sales of Morning-After Pills

32. These Parasites Really Get Under Your Skin

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/prostate-cancer-test-questioned/33. NASA’s Annus Horribilis

34. Prostate Cancer Test Questioned

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/sids-tied-to-serotonin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/35. Venter Sails, Collects Genes, and Laughs

36. New State of Matter Could Lead to Practical Superconductors

37. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Tied to Serotonin

38. Caution: Farmed Salmon May Cause Cancer

39. Cell Mutations Spark Aging

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/hiv-victims-reinfected/40. Security Scanner Sees Through Ship Containers

41. HIV Victims Can Be Infected Again and Again and Again

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/venter/42. Geologists Create First New Period in 113 Years

43. Man-Made Particles Dim Sun

44. First Campfire Discovered in South Africa

45. Nanoscale 3-D Imaging Moves Closer to Reality

46. Are Tiny Fossils a Missing Branch in Our Evolution?

47. Code Breakers Stumped by Photon-Based System

48. Locust Plague Sweeps Across Asia

49. Endangered Species Act Reconsidered

50. NASA Takes a Wild Comet Ride

51. To Get Pregnant in Your Sixties

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/52. Mice Bred Without Fathers

53. Oldest University Unearthed in Egypt

54. R-Rated Films Tempt Teenagers to Smoke

55. Oceans Store Half of Human-Made Carbon Dioxide

56. Overweight People Suppress Their Hunger Hormone

57. Quark Experiment Points Way to Finding Elusive Higgs Boson

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/neuroscience/brain-on-meth/58. Surface Weather Affects Life at Bottom of the Sea

59. Your Brain on Meth: Forest-Fire of Carnage

60. Royal Tomb Reveals Secrets of the Maya

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/astronomy/black-holes-forces-of-creation/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/chemistry/chemists-find-new-bonds/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/air-pollution-linked-to-mutations/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/venter/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/geology/geologists-create-new-period/61. Prime-Time News

62. Air Pollution Linked to Genetic Mutations

63. Chemists Find New Electron Bonds

64. China Promises Pollution Cleanup

65. Black Holes Revealed As Forces of Creation

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/rice-yield-drops/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/66. New Gene Reveals How Little We Know

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/venter/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/geology/geologists-create-new-period/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/mathematics/prime-time-news/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/new-strains-of-mad-cow/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/neuroscience/prionlike-proteins-help-memories/67. U. S. Science Supremacy Threatened by Competition

68. Two-Degree Rise Drops Rice Yield By 10 Percent

69. Prionlike Proteins Help Form Memories

70. New Strains of Mad Cow Materialize

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/prostate-cancer-test-questioned/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/rice-yield-drops/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/syphilis-killed-lenin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/rice-yield-drops/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/neuroscience/brain-on-meth/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/rice-yield-drops/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/neuroscience/prionlike-proteins-help-memories/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/rice-yield-drops/71. Thumb’s the Word

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/oceanography/surface-weather-affects-sea-bottom-life/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/rice-yield-drops/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/paleontology/comet-caused-nuclear-winter/

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/archaeology/archaeologists-swap-swords/72. Inner Earth Revealed

73. Plate Tectonic Shifts Suck in Water

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/74. Francis Crick (1916-2004)

75. Archaeologists Swap Swords for Pickaxes

76. Weird Worms Feast on Whale Bones

77. Comet Caused Nuclear Winter

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/biology/bald-men-mouse/78. Dietary Study Jolts Scientists

79. Bald Men: This Mouse is For You

80. Ethical Conflicts Plague NIH

81. Scans Push Back Date of Bipedalism

82. Astronomers Measure Cosmos Width: 156 Billion Light-Years

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/astronomy/halloween-storms-rock-solar-system/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/secret-of-superboys-strength/83. Atomic Clock Shrunk

84. Secret of Superboy’s Strength Revealed

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/venter/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/geology/geologists-create-new-period/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/mathematics/prime-time-news/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/new-strains-of-mad-cow/85. A Dog Outsmarts Some 3-Year-Olds

86. 2003 Halloween Storms Still Rock Solar System

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/geology/fifth-element-from-meteors/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/zoology/brave-little-chipmunk/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/paleontology/mirror-image-animals/87. Songbirds Have Southern Roots

88. Mirror-Image Animals Found

89. This Brave Little Chipmunk Braved the Ice Age

90. Early Birds Caught Wind

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/environment/particles-dim-sun/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/epidemiology/polio-resurfaces/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/francis-crick/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/gene-reveals-how-little-we-know/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/mice-breed-without-fathers/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/parasites-get-under-your-skin/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/proteins-make-the-primate/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/genetics/venter/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/geology/geologists-create-new-period/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/mathematics/prime-time-news/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/medicine/new-strains-of-mad-cow/http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/psychology/dog-outsmarts/91. Will Your Next Computer Be Powered by Spinach?

92. Life’s Fifth Element Came From Meteors

http://www.discover.com/issues/jan-05/features/zoology/smallest-fish-found/93. Broccoli Kicks Cancer

94. Smallest Fish Found

95. Team of Archaeologists Crack Siberia’s Secrets

96. Report: Syphilis Killed Lenin

97. Rakish Rodent Reformed

98. Hearing Tied to Hormones in Midshipman Fish

99. Egyptians Not the First to Tame House Cats

100. Mutant White Elephant Spotted in Sri Lanka


2) Multi-Rotor Homopolar Device

S. Godin and V. Roschin, US Patent #6,822,361, Nov. 23, 2004 http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=US6822361&CY=gb&LG=en&DB=EPD

Back in 1831, Michael Faraday discovered that a cylindrical magnet suspended by a string and touching a mercury bath at the bottom could generate electricity while spinning along its axis if a second electrical contact was made at the periphery of the midpoint of the magnet. His experiment was a one-piece homopolar machine since the magnet and conductor were joined together. Such Faraday generators have also been called acyclic, unipolar or homopolar generators because no commutation or alternating of the magnetic poles is necessary for this machine in order to generate electricity. The type of electrical output is most often direct current (DC) unless specific means are designed to provide an interruption of radial conduction and thus simulate alternating current (AC). Historically, DC was championed by Thomas Edison during the early part of the 20th century while at the same time AC was championed by Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. In the future, DC will be coming back into style with the emergence of ambient temperature superconductive cables. Therefore, highly efficient homopolar generators will be in demand to meet the market demand for electricity.

Homopolar generators usually have a single disk or drum rotating in a stationary magnetic field with sliding contacts. The sliding contacts often present high resisitance however. The construction and operation of homopolar machines for electric propulsion of marine vessels or railguns for example is already well known. Such machines include motors and generators wherein electrical current flows through a conductor situated in a magnetic field during rotation of the machine rotor. In the case of a homopolar motor, the current will develop a J x B force perpendicular to the direction of its flow through the conductor and that of the magnetic field. In the case of a homopolar generator, a voltage dependent on the rotational speed, magnetic field, and radius, is induced in a conductor moving within the magnetic field. When current is drawn from the homopolar generator, it also develops a J x B force for the same reason as with the motor but is referred to as back torque or armature reaction. General reference information including basic principles used to reduce back torque can be found in The Homopolar Handbook by Thomas Valone (ISBN 0-9641070-1-5).

The prior art rarely includes a one-piece homopolar machines that rotate the magnet with the disk. Even more unknown is the concept of rolling contacts. Eliminating sliding contacts is shown in the "Planetary Homopolar Generator," IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 17, No. 6, p. 1786-87, Nov., 1974, H. D. Varadarajan. Using a conducting belt or rolling contacts to gather current from a magnetic field flux cutting rotor, there is an annular magnetic field through which the rotor executes a planetary motion. The large stresses resulting from the centrifugal force of the massive, unbalanced planetary rotor is a distinct disadvantage, prohibiting high speed operation. Thus, only a low rate of rotation is possible with the IBM design. The "Direct Current Homopolar Machine" U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,618 to Hathaway demonstrates an analogous concept of relative motion between conductive orbiting shaft and a stationary disc-shaped magnetized armature. Science Applications International Corporation claims an obvious conductive belt, dual disk "Homopolar Motor-Generator" in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,232 to Reed that was already invented as the "Dynamo Electric Machine" of U.S. Pat. No. 406,968, patented by none other than Nikola Tesla in 1889, also with two unipolar magnetized rotors connected by a conductive belt. The belted dual unipolar machines solve one of the problems that plague the field by offering two sliding contacts at the low speed surface on the axle. However, the present invention requires only one sliding contact on the axle. These conductive belt machines also demonstrate, in principle, the concept of a multi-rotor, planetary design, by the process of coordinate transformation, since relative motion is the key to the operation of a homopolar generator. The concept of rolling contact is demonstrated with the Dalen "Dynamo Electric Machine" U.S. Pat. No. 645,943, where two disks are turning in opposite directions while in contact with each other at their periphery. However, the axle of each disk must remain fixed in place whereas each axle is in orbiting motion in the present invention. The Roshchin machine Russian Pat. No. 2155435 contains a basic concept of magnet rotors orbiting a circular stator but does not include the intimate electrical contact necessary to utilize the homopolar generation of the present invention or to initiate a homopolar motoring effect.

Homopolar machines can reversibly function as motors as well such as flywheels and used as energy storage devices. First used in transportation applications in the 1950's, flywheel powered buses were designed to have the flywheel accelerated at every stop. Composite rotors currently have been developed which can spin at very high revolutions (100,000 revolutions per second); and the speed is limited by the tensile strength of the rim of the rotor. By using a multi-rotor design, the centrifugal forces of a large disk can be greatly reduced and still maintain high energy storage or production. By using magnetic bearings, the friction on the axis of the rotor can be reduced sufficiently so that such rotors can maintain most of the energy for several days. Electricity can then be tapped, as with a battery, on demand.

The IBM Varadarajan planetary rotor is unbalanced and has a low rate of magnetic flux cutting due to its annular magnetic field design. The Hathaway direct current machine has unbalanced conductive material orbiting the central magnetized disk which limits the rotational speed. The conductive belt designs can be subject to oxidation and slippage, even requiring a toothed timing belt on each axle as well. With most disk models of homopolar generators, as opposed to drum designs, sliding contacts are the single most important contribution of resistance inhibiting the power output of the machine. Internal resistance is the only limit to the output capability of a homopolar generator and it is important to reduce all sources of internal resistance to obtain maximum power output for a given input torque. Rather than use high resistance carbon brushes, medium resistance silver-graphite brushes or dangerous conductive liquids such as mercury, low temperature solder, or sodium-potassium, there is a need to eliminate frictional sliding contact at the high speed periphery of the magnetized rotor completely. Furthermore, rather than maintaining two sliding contacts which contribute friction and resistance, even in the rolling and belted designs, there is a need to cut the number in half to only one high current sliding contact. The present invention satisfies both of these needs.

Summary of the Invention

The primary object of the invention is orbiting multi-rotor cylindrical magnets in rolling contact that eliminates friction while generating DC electricity.

Another object of the invention is to provide high efficiency, low noise and low resistance in a high generator.

Another object of the invention is that it uses readily available materials in a dynamically balanced arrangement.

A further object of the invention is safety through reduced internal stress than comparable homopolar machines with a single rotor.

Yet another object of the invention is that it provides distributed generation around an air core.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.

The present invention comprises an improved homopolar machine with dynamically balanced, axially parallel, cylindrical, electrically conductive magnets arranged circumferentially around the vertical axis of central stator ring. Such a design can be referred to as distributed generation since each magnet rotor generates only a fraction of the current that is transmitted through the machine. Thus, the conductive bearings contacting the center of each end of the magnet rotors may carry only one tenth or less of the total current. The multi-rotor homopolar also does not include sliding contacts at each magnetized rotor rim but instead utilizes a suitable rolling means attached separately to magnets and also to the stator ring for intimately contacting and engaging non-slip rolling between magnets and stator as they orbit around the stator. The magnetized rotors maintain rotational synchronism and equal relative position to each other with a bearing means rotatably securing the top and bottom end of each magnet to a corresponding electrically conductive circular endplate. The electrical energy is extracted, or inputted if used as a motor, through contacts on the conductive stator and at the machine's electrically conductive axle located in the center of the machine while rigidly attached to the top circular endplate that rotates with all of the individually magnetized rotors. The only high current, moving contact that is required is a single electrically conductive thrust bearing that supports the central axle. An insulating thrust bearing meanwhile separates the axle from the center of bottom circular endplate. The stator, which is of course stationary, accomplishes the second contact means through a standard electrical connection with no need for any relative motion sliding contact. The stator may be optionally magnetized in the opposite direction to the magnetized rotors in order to improve the coercive force or magnetic flux density of the rotors by closing the magnetic circuit.

The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.

More information

Experimental Research of the Magnetic-Gravity Effects with Magnetic Energy Converter (MEC) by V. V. Roschin and S. M. Godin

Roshchin-Godin article about Physical Effects in a Dynamic Magnetic System (http://users.erols.com/iri/Roshchin_Godin.PDF)

Summary of MEC Research Proposal (http://users.erols.com/iri/MECProposal.htm) - Contact EPS CEO Ivan Kruglak at ivan@ionsky.com for complete proposal

US Patent and Trademark Office Website for Patent Number Search http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/srchnum.htm


3) Energy Commission Report Should Spur Action by New Congress on Comprehensive Energy Legislation

Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, Dec., 2004
www.yourenergyfuture.org

Washington, D.C. – The release today of a national report on ways to end stalemates over energy policy could help create positive consensus in the U.S. Congress on national energy policy legislation, according to the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth (AEEG).

The report – Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy to Meet America’s Energy Challenges – was released today by the National Commission on Energy Policy, made up of energy experts from industry, government, labor, academic and environmental and consumer groups.

"American consumers and businesses are bearing the brunt of rising energy prices and an energy delivery infrastructure that is struggling to keep up with increasing demands," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the more than 1,350 members of the Alliance for Energy & Economic Growth.

"Today’s big-picture report by the National Commission on Energy Policy represents another push for Congress to pass comprehensive energy legislation that ensures a diverse mix of ample energy supplies, delivered through a modernized infrastructure, with encouragement of greater energy efficiency," Josten said.

To read the commission’s full report, go to
http://www.uschamber.info/ct/qp1KNt41oaKl/www.energycommission.org .

The Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth is a broad coalition of interests which develop, deliver and consume energy from all sources. The Alliance seeks to help build consensus for positive action on a U.S. energy strategy that balances supply and demand without compromising environmental safeguards, so we may fuel America’s economy and support our quality of life. For more info,
http://www.uschamber.info/ct/a11KNt41oaK0/www.yourenergyfuture.org.


4) MIT, Columbia begin new energy experiment

Columbia University Office of Public Affairs, Dec, 6, 2004, PhysOrg, http://www.physorg.com/news2245.html

Half-ton levitating ring is key to work

MIT and Columbia University students and researchers have begun operation of a novel experiment that confines high-temperature ionized gas, called
plasma, using the strong magnetic fields from a half-ton superconducting ring inside a huge vessel reminiscent of a spaceship. The experiment, the first of its kind, will test whether nature's way of confining high-temperature gas might lead to a new source of energy for the world.

First results from the Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX) were presented at a meeting of the American Physical Society the week of Nov. 15. Scientists and students described more than 100 plasma discharges created within the new device, each lasting from 5 to 10 seconds. X-ray spectroscopy and visible photography recorded spectacular images of the hot, confined plasma and of the dynamics of matter confined by strong magnetic force fields.

A dedication for LDX, the United States' newest approach to nuclear fusion, was held in late October. Fusion energy is advantageous because its hydrogen fuel is practically limitless and the resulting energy would be clean and would not contribute to global warming as does the burning of fossil fuels.

Scientists using the LDX experiment will conduct basic studies of confined high-temperature matter and investigate whether the plasma may someday be used to produce fusion energy on Earth. Fusion energy is the energy source of the sun and stars. At high temperature and pressure, light elements like hydrogen are fused together to make heavier elements, such as helium, in a process that releases large amounts of energy.

Powerful magnets, such as the ring in LDX, provide the magnetic fields needed to initiate, sustain and control the plasma in which fusion occurs. Because the shape of the magnetic force fields determines the properties of the confined plasma, several different fusion research experiments are under way throughout the world, including a second experiment at MIT, the Alcator C-Mod, and the HBT-EP experiment at Columbia University.

LDX tackles fusion with a unique approach, taking its cue from nature. The primary confining fields are created by a powerful superconducting ring about the size of a truck tire and weighing more than a half-ton that will ultimately be levitated within a large vacuum chamber. A second superconducting magnet located above the vacuum chamber provides the force necessary to support the weight of the floating coil. The resulting force field resembles the fields of the magnetized planets, such as Earth and Jupiter. Satellites have observed how these fields can confine plasma at hundreds of millions of degrees.

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5) EnergyNet update summarizes progress on state clean energy campaigns in 2004 Union of Concerned Scientists, EnergyNet Policy Update, 1-6-05 http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/energynet/page.cfm?pageID=1599 This was an exciting year for clean energy work at the state level, with five new states—New York, Hawaii, Maryland, Rhode Island, Colorado—and the District of Columbia adopting Renewable Electricity Standards (RES). In addition, Pennsylvania and New Jersey revisited and significantly raised their existing standards. UCS projects that by 2017, the 18 states that have now passed an RES will support 25,500 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy capacity—enough clean power to meet the electricity needs of more than 17 million typical homes. This level of development will reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 65 million metric tons—equivalent to taking nearly 10 million cars off the road or planting more than 15 million acres of trees—an area approximately the size of West Virginia.

While we were unable to include a summary for every state, this information does convey the scope and depth of clean energy work occurring across the country. Please contact
EnergyNet@ucsusa.org at the close of 2005 if you would like next year's update to include an update on energy campaigns in your state.

Do you know someone who would like to receive EnergyNet Updates? Forward them this email and they can
join online.

Contents:

  1. http://www.ucsaction.org/ctt.asp?u=112638&l=73296Glossary: A short list of definitions for clean energy terms
  2. Global Warming: Western Governor’s Association, West Coast Governors Initiative, and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
  3. Arizona: Anticipating an increased Renewable Electricity Standard
  4. California: RES implementation, clean energy bills, and New Los Angeles RES
  5. Colorado: Voters pass first-ever Renewable Electricity Standard Ballot Initiative
  6. Connecticut: Customers can opt to purchase clean energy
  7. Hawaii: Passage of a Renewable Electricity Standard
  8. Illinois: Building support for renewable energy and efficiency measures
  9. Iowa: Passage of a State Production Tax Credit
  10. Maine: Mars Hill Wind Project Approved
  11. Maryland: Passage of a Renewable Electricity Standard
  12. Michigan: Updates on Legislature, Public Service Commission, and Governor’s Efficiency Taskforce
  13. Minnesota: Implementation of Renewable Energy Objective
  14. Montana: Clean energy victories and prospects for 2005
  15. New Jersey: Acceleration of Renewable Electricity Standard
  16. New York: Adoption of a Renewable Electricity Standard
  17. New Hampshire: Largest utility updates plant to use wood chips for fuel
  18. Oregon: Governor takes steps to boost clean energy and cut global warming emissions
  19. Pennsylvania: Passage of a Renewable Electricity Standard
  20. Rhode Island: Passage of a Renewable Electricity Standard
  21. Texas: Working to increase the state Renewable Electricity Standard
  22. Washington: Action on global warming and a stalled clean energy bill
  23. Washington DC: District passes a strong Renewable Electricity Standard
  24. Wisconsin: Governor’s Task Force recommends increase in Renewable Electricity Standard


6) "The End of Suburbia" video is released

(c) 2004, The Electric Wallpaper Co. http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too the suburban way of life has become embedded in the American consciousness.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia ?

Hosted by Barrie Zwicker. Featuring James Howard Kunstler, Peter Calthorpe, Michael Klare, Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, Michael C. Ruppert, Julian Darley, Colin Campbell, Kenneth Deffeyes, Ali Samsam Bakhtiari and Steve Andrews. Directed by Gregory Greene. Produced by Barry Silverthorn. Duration: 78 minutes

DVD BONUS: Includes the vintage short films, In the Suburbs and Destination Earth, and producer/director commentary. Order from http://www.endofsuburbia.com/


7) Calling low carbon innovators

The Carbon Trust, 2004, www.thecarbontrust.co.uk

The Carbon Trust Innovation Awards is a major national scheme aimed at recognising practical innovation and development in the fields of low carbon technology and energy efficiency - promoting new solutions to tackle climate change.

If you or your organisation - large or small - is taking innovative steps or developing new technologies to help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, read on for more information on how you could be singled out and promoted as one of the Carbon Trust Innovators of 2005.


Winning can make the difference

The Carbon Trust in association with The Sunday Telegraph launched its Innovation Awards in 2003. Their success demonstrated the high level of innovation underway within businesses, academic institutions and public sector organisations across the UK.

The distinguished judging panel which included Science & Innovation Minister, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, selected four world-class winners from a strong short-list of finalists in all three categories. For each of the winners, being recognised as a Low Carbon Innovator brought significant benefits for their organisations.

Ceres Power was judged the overall winner - the Carbon Trust Innovator of 2003. The kudos of winning and the subsequent media attention on the company from the national, financial and trade media has had a significant impact on its subsequent development. According to Dr Peter Bance, its MD.

"Validation by a third party of our technology is critical in our business for creating the right impression amongst private equity investors. The Innovation Award and being profiled in the Telegraph has certainly helped in this regard."

Other winners Leeds City Council, Torotrak and the University of Oxford have also felt the benefits with recognition and favourable attention coming from both their colleagues and peers as well as potential investors and funding sources.


Recognising excellence in technological innovation...and energy efficiency

The Carbon Trust Innovation Awards is a major national awards scheme aimed at identifying those individuals and organisations whose innovative approach is making a significant contribution to reducing the UK's CO2 emissions.

The awards scheme seeks to recognise those who have seen the commercial potential which reducing emissions offers and have taken positive action. There are four categories for 2005 - three focus on technological innovation while the fourth, new category targets energy efficency.

Technological innovation (three categories) - As in 2003, the winners in three of the categories will have either developed or be in the process of developing innovative new technologies which have the potential to deliver CO2 emissions savings.

New for 2005 - Innovation in energy efficiency - Recognising the important role improving energy efficiency can play alongside technological innovation in tackling climate change, we have introduced a fourth category for 2005. This is aimed at organisations in both public and private sectors. They need to demonstrate new ideas or innovative thinking that has led to change in a process or behaviour within their organisation. This change will in turn have significantly improved energy efficiency and resulted in a marked reduction in energy use.


The Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust works with business and the public sector to cut carbon emissions and capture the commercial potential of low carbon technologies.

It is an independent company set up by the Government to help the UK meet its climate change obligations through business-focused solutions to carbon emission reduction. The Carbon Trust is grant funded by Defra, the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales and Invest Northern Ireland.

For full terms and conditions please see the
entry form.

For further information about the Carbon Trust please visit their website at
www.thecarbontrust.co.uk

IMPORTANT NOTE
Your invention might be capable of being protected by a patent. If you disclose information about how it works to anyone else, you may lose your ability to get a patent for it unless the information is given in the strictest confidence. You should obtain professional advice if you have any doubts about your rights.

Promoter: Telegraph Group Limited, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5DT.


8) Meditation Gives Brain a Charge, Study Finds

By Marc Kaufman, Washington Post, Jan 3, 2005, P. A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43006-2005Jan2.html


Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness.

Those transformed states have traditionally been understood in transcendent terms, as something outside the world of physical measurement and objective evaluation. But over the past few years, researchers at the University of Wisconsin working with Tibetan monks have been able to translate those mental experiences into the scientific language of high-frequency gamma waves and brain synchrony, or coordination. And they have pinpointed the left prefrontal cortex, an area just behind the left forehead, as the place where brain activity associated with meditation is especially intense.

"What we found is that the longtime practitioners showed brain activation on a scale we have never seen before," said Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the university's new $10 million W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior. "Their mental practice is having an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance." It demonstrates, he said, that the brain is capable of being trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine.

Scientists used to believe the opposite -- that connections among brain nerve cells were fixed early in life and did not change in adulthood. But that assumption was disproved over the past decade with the help of advances in brain imaging and other techniques, and in its place, scientists have embraced the concept of ongoing brain development and "neuroplasticity."

Davidson says his newest results from the meditation study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November, take the concept of neuroplasticity a step further by showing that mental training through meditation (and presumably other disciplines) can itself change the inner workings and circuitry of the brain.

The new findings are the result of a long, if unlikely, collaboration between Davidson and Tibet's Dalai Lama, the world's best-known practitioner of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama first invited Davidson to his home in Dharamsala, India, in 1992 after learning about Davidson's innovative research into the neuroscience of emotions. The Tibetans have a centuries-old tradition of intensive meditation and, from the start, the Dalai Lama was interested in having Davidson scientifically explore the workings of his monks' meditating minds. Three years ago, the Dalai Lama spent two days visiting Davidson's lab.

The Dalai Lama ultimately dispatched eight of his most accomplished practitioners to Davidson's lab to have them hooked up for electroencephalograph (EEG) testing and brain scanning. The Buddhist practitioners in the experiment had undergone training in the Tibetan Nyingmapa and Kagyupa traditions of meditation for an estimated 10,000 to 50,000 hours, over time periods of 15 to 40 years. As a control, 10 student volunteers with no previous meditation experience were also tested after one week of training.

The monks and volunteers were fitted with a net of 256 electrical sensors and asked to meditate for short periods. Thinking and other mental activity are known to produce slight, but detectable, bursts of electrical activity as large groupings of neurons send messages to each other, and that's what the sensors picked up. Davidson was especially interested in measuring gamma waves, some of the highest-frequency and most important electrical brain impulses.

Both groups were asked to meditate, specifically on unconditional compassion. Buddhist teaching describes that state, which is at the heart of the Dalai Lama's teaching, as the "unrestricted readiness and availability to help living beings." The researchers chose that focus because it does not require concentrating on particular objects, memories or images, and cultivates instead a transformed state of being.

Davidson said that the results unambiguously showed that meditation activated the trained minds of the monks in significantly different ways from those of the volunteers. Most important, the electrodes picked up much greater activation of fast-moving and unusually powerful gamma waves in the monks, and found that the movement of the waves through the brain was far better organized and coordinated than in the students. The meditation novices showed only a slight increase in gamma wave activity while meditating, but some of the monks produced gamma wave activity more powerful than any previously reported in a healthy person, Davidson said.

The monks who had spent the most years meditating had the highest levels of gamma waves, he added. This "dose response" -- where higher levels of a drug or activity have greater effect than lower levels -- is what researchers look for to assess cause and effect.

In previous studies, mental activities such as focus, memory, learning and consciousness were associated with the kind of enhanced neural coordination found in the monks. The intense gamma waves found in the monks have also been associated with knitting together disparate brain circuits, and so are connected to higher mental activity and heightened awareness, as well.

Davidson's research is consistent with his earlier work that pinpointed the left prefrontal cortex as a brain region associated with happiness and positive thoughts and emotions. Using functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) on the meditating monks, Davidson found that their brain activity -- as measured by the EEG -- was especially high in this area.

Davidson concludes from the research that meditation not only changes the workings of the brain in the short term, but also quite possibly produces permanent changes. That finding, he said, is based on the fact that the monks had considerably more gamma wave activity than the control group even before they started meditating. A researcher at the University of Massachusetts, Jon Kabat-Zinn, came to a similar conclusion several years ago.

Researchers at Harvard and Princeton universities are now testing some of the same monks on different aspects of their meditation practice: their ability to visualize images and control their thinking. Davidson is also planning further research.

"What we found is that the trained mind, or brain, is physically different from the untrained one," he said. In time, "we'll be able to better understand the potential importance of this kind of mental training and increase the likelihood that it will be taken seriously."

More Information

"Introduction to Modern Meditation, Part II" Explore, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2003 by Thomas Valone (article summary) http://www.explorepub.com/articles/summaries/12_1_valone.html


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