Geothermal project gaining steam...

(pardon the pun) at Newberry volcano: Oregon Volcano Holds Energy Hopes.

UPDATE:  Here are the related technical documents.

Geology guest lecture next Monday...

by Dr. Frannie Skomurski from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on nuclear waste management.  The presentation is scheduled for Monday, 14 November, at 10 am in SCI 118.  Frannie will also be available at 9 am in SCI 115 to meet with students about summer internship opportunities at PNNL.

The regulated plumbing system...

that we call the Columbia River:  The High-Stakes Math Behind the West's Greatest River.

Canadian black gold...

Alberta's Oil Sands Heat Up

Elk Basin oil field...

sits astride the Montana/Wyoming border in the northern Bighorn basin and is a breached doubly-plunging anticline (click to enlarge):

This geologic structure is the site of an actively operating oil field and is used as a three-day mapping exercise for students attending geology field camp at YBRA:

The historic field is no longer operated by Amoco, but it is still under production:

For some perspective...

10 Biggest Oil Spills in History

Size XXL carbon footprint...

Al Gore, Tipper Gore snap up Montecito-area villa

Well, experts say a lot of things...

Oil Production to Peak in 2014, Scientists Predict

You can't have it both ways...

Good: Obama to announce financing for two nuclear reactors.

Bad: DOE to withdraw application for Yucca Mountain and Obama's nuclear power push faces obstacle: Waste.

One megajoule barrier...

has been surpassed: Laser Fusion Test Results Raise Energy Hopes.

Read more about the National Ignition Facility project. Here's the significance:

"The peak power of the laser light, which was delivered within a few billionths of a second, was about 500 times that used by the United States at any given time."

Wow.

Faster, please.

Geothermal project in California...

shuts down due to a link to increased earthquake frequency. That's unfortunate since "millions of degrees of heat" will now go untapped as a virtually unlimited natural energy resource.

The myth...

of clean coal. You can't claim to be an environmentalist if you don't acknowledge the benefits of nuclear energy.

Al Gore on geothermal energy...

demonstrates how absolutely little he knows about science and technology. I guess I've been teaching my students incorrect information about the geothermal gradient.

Is there any doubt whatsoever that this guy is a blowhard and a charlatan? Sheesh.

UPDATE: Link to a history of geothermal energy development at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Wind energy not so green...

after all, that is, if you care about bats and birds: Wind Energy: A Scare for Bats and Birds.

Previous related post on bat mortality related to wind farms.

Remember, bats need friends.

You must forego hot showers...

in order to save the planet. If you don't then you're a bad person. And stinky.

Hot rocks at Newberry Volcano...

south of Bend, Oregon may provide geothermal energy for 100,000 homes. Exploration has been occurring for more than a decade in this area and the project still seems far from development.

Oil imports to the U.S....

Click graphic to enlarge to a higher resolution version.

Image courtesy Oil and Gas News.

New uranium mill...

being considered near Paradox, Colorado. "If approved, it would be the first new uranium mill to open in the U.S. in nearly 30 years."

Will electric cars...

wreck the grid? A very, very good question asked by Scientific American.

Hey, there's no free lunch. The electrons have to come from somewhere.

Call me skeptical...

but I have my doubts: Conservation Could Provide 85 Percent of New Power to the Pacific Northwest region. I'd like to see the math - and the assumptions. It's been my experience that pie-in-the-sky predictions such as this usually fall far short on actual delivery of the promises.