Economic lights going out in U.S...Literally

WashingtonPost
The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s.
 
Here we have a product, invented by one of America's Greatest inventors (if not THE greatest), of which the US was the premiere manufacturer, now being manufactured ENTIRELY overseas.

How could this have happened?
What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning ordinary incandescents by 2014.  The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs.

The resulting savings in energy and greenhouse-gas emissions are expected to be immense. But the move also had unintended consequences.
 
Rather than setting off a boom in the U.S. manufacture of replacement lights, the leading replacement lights are compact fluorescents, or CFLs, which are made almost entirely overseas, mostly in China.

Other big issues of the day:

• Our Debt Is More Than All the Money in the World
• Warnings of US financial apocalypse gain ground
• CBO Predicts U.S. Debt Crisis if Deficits are Not Controlled

Where There Is No Doctor - Free Ebook

Hesperian: a non-profit publisher of books and newsletters for community-based health care... first book, Where There Is No Doctor, is considered to be one of the most accessible and widely used community health books in the world.

Simply written and heavily illustrated, Hesperian books are designed so that people with little formal education can understand, apply and share health information. Developed collaboratively with health workers and community members from around the world, our books and newsletters address the underlying social, political, and economic causes of poor health and suggest ways groups can organize to improve health conditions in their communities.

In addition, Hesperian relies on a multi-faceted distribution strategy to ensure our materials reach those who need them most.

Donde no hay doctor (Where There Is No Doctor in Spanish) is also available for free download.


You can search for other language editions on our translations page.

California's High-Speed Rail Will Rely on Chinese - FAIL

PopSci Schwarzenegger Hopes California's Future High-Speed Railroads Will Rely on the Chinese, Again

Chinese workers built this country's railroad system 150 years ago, laying track for less than $30 a month in a grand effort to connect the coasts for the first time. Future railroad systems might also be built by the Chinese - or Chinese-owned firms, at least. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping to spur Chinese interest in helping his beleaguered state build a new high-speed rail network. China has plenty of experience with high-speed trains.

On a trade mission to Asia this week, Schwarzenegger said he hopes China will invest in his state both in terms of financing and in bidding to work on the project. California is about $19 billion in the red, so "creative financing" is a must, the governor acknowledged ... the project could cost $40 billion - Epic FAIL

Epic FAIL Drugs in America... the trillion dollar drain on our brains.

80% of all prisoners in America are in jail for drug related charges. 

In 2006, over $40,747,203,000 was spent on corrections for drug abusers... and more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars  (NYTimes)

Click info graphic or here for more

Supporting legalizing drugs is like supporting giving fireworks to preschoolers - Haase

Still think taking drug is O.K. Grama?

Russians Debunk Peak Oil Theory - as Bogus as Greenhouse Gas Scam

Warning - The "renewable oil  theory" is being pushed again..... The Abiotic Oil Controversy

Canada Free Press - Since the mid 20^th century scientists have known that the fossil fuel theory is bogus and have compellingly demonstrated that petroleum is derived from highly compressed mineral deposits deep beneath the surface. But the most startling consequence to these findings is that oil is a constant renewable regenerating in nature.

Since the Middle East oil crisis of the 1970's gasoline suppliers have stoked media fears that our planet's reserves are fast in decline. The term 'peak oil' was coined and we were told 'fossil fuels' would have to become increasingly more expensive as our insatiable appetite drank this 'finite' liquid energy source dry.

Such propaganda suited the interests of the oil industry and western government who systematically bolstered a weak scientific theory very much mirroring the greenhouse gas theory scam that was the vehicle for taxing emissions of carbon dioxide.

Both stories have been acted out by universal media connivance and scientists and government-funded academia were systematically kept in lockstep for decades with funding strings attached.

In a straight scientific shootout Peak Oil Theory vs Russian-Ukraine Modern Theory the Russians win hands down. But it remains a peculiar anachronism that there is no body of American or other English language peer review to verify or disprove the Russian science.

But why are we still being lied to? With such unwillingness to correct these intellectual failings it is little wonder that there is growing dissatisfaction among voters and thinkers in English-speaking nations and the EU. Those who study carefully the facts now reasonably conclude that beyond the media hard sell there is no energy crisis; the world has a plentiful supply of cheap renewable petroleum and another enviro-myth needs to be mercilessly culled.

"Perhaps one day there will be general agreement that at least some oil is indeed abiotic. Maybe there are indeed deep methane belts twenty miles below the Earth's surface."

Read on at Canada Free Press

Water: Canada’s most valuable resource

Canadians will never go thirsty. With over one million lakes, including part ownership of the Great Lakes, and massive ice fields, Canada is home to nearly nine per cent of the world's supply of fresh water. But with a population of less than one per cent of the world's total, Canada has a lot of room for water exports.

In time, those exports might be more valuable than the 170 billion barrels of oil that are trapped in the country's oil sands.

The notion of exporting water is still a taboo subject in Canadian policy circles; the country took great pains to keep water out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. But, like most things, acceptance may be a matter of price. And the price of water is rising steadily, making Canada's freshwater bounty more valuable every day.

As with tar sands oil, the natural market for Canadian water is the United States. While places like Buffalo and Cleveland have access to just as much water as any place in Canada, that's not where folks have been moving to lately. Increasingly, states like California and Florida are turning to desalination to meet their freshwater needs. At around 65 cents per cubic meter, the going rate of desalinated water in the US provides a very attractive pricing point for potential Canadian water exports.

At those prices, one study calculated that the province of Quebec, home to roughly one third of Canada's renewable sources of fresh water, could reap something in the neighborhood of a $6.5 billion annual tariff by selling as little as 10 per cent of its one trillion cubic meters of fresh water every year. That's a multiple of the dividend Hydro-Québec pays the province from selling hydro-electric power. And those kinds of revenues could even convince Canadians that it's even better to be an aqua-power than a petro-power. It certainly leaves a much smaller carbon trail.

Read more from Jeff Rubins at The Globe & Mail

DOE National Laboratory Releases Annual Accomplishments Report

Washington, D.C. — Energy research and technology development achievements, including advances in clean fossil-based systems with carbon capture and storage (CCS), are highlighted in the just-released National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL) 2009 Accomplishments report.  * Read the report (PDF).

This year's report, which details research and development (R&D) projects and activities by the laboratory and its partners, also tells the story of the laboratory's research over the past century, in commemoration of NETL's 100th anniversary.  In addition to coal and CCS-related research, the report notes R&D progress in developing "exciting domestic resources," such as methane hydrates, and "enhancing the efficiency, reliability and economics of renewable, wind, solar, and biomass-based systems."

"Since the founding of its first predecessor laboratory in 1910, NETL has implemented a broad spectrum of complementary energy and environmental research to satisfy the energy needs of yesterday, today, and those of generations to come," said Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy James J. Markowsky. "Its research and technology development programs are vital in supporting the U.S. Department of Energy's mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States."  Read full from DOE

Hydro Storage - The true smartgrid answer

Next100  An iPhone or Blackberry without a battery is just a dead lump of metal and silicon. In much the same way, many experts believe that an electrical grid without energy storage will forever be just a bunch of dumb wires.

That's why PG&E on Friday filed a request with state regulators for funding to study the feasibility of building a major new "pumped hydro storage" facility in the Mokelumne River watershed in Amador County. The facility, if built, would provide critical backup energy to even out the fluctuations of wind and solar energy, thus supporting California's ambitious goal of providing a third of the state's electricity from renewable power by 2020.

The wind can blow strongly for hours, only to die out for days at a time. Solar modules can gush electrons in full sun, then go dormant when clouds pass overhead. Since customers don't want their lights to flicker on and off as the weather changes, today's utilities—lacking much of any stored energy to call upon—must ramp generators powered by fossil fuels up and down as needed to keep supply in balance with demand.

As utilities add more and more wind and solar to their mix, managing the grid the old way would require a big investment in new backup natural gas-fired power plants.

Using energy storage instead to tame the output of wind and solar power--one of the key goals of the emerging "Smart Grid"—offers "multiple economic and environmental benefits," according to a recent staff report by the California Public Utilities Commission. By storing "intermittent renewable power, the state may reduce greenhouse gas emissions from carbon-based electricity production, avoid the need to build expensive new transmission lines and power plants to meet peak energy demand, increase system reliability and generate economic activity through the manufacture and operation of these . . . technologies."

Please read on at Next100

U.S. Oil Production Hits 6-Year High

SeekingAlpha The Department of Energy reported that in the week ending August 27th, 2010, U.S. crude oil increased by 3.4 million barrels, gasoline inventories decreased by 0.2 million barrels, distillate inventories decreased by 0.7 million barrels, and total petroleum inventories increased by 4.0 million barrels.

Total petroleum inventories moved further into multi-decade high territory. The surplus now stands at 105.395 million, or 10.2% above the 5-year average, up from 9.2% in the prior week.

Crude oil inventories increased counter-seasonally. The overall surplus to the 5-year average increased to 37.209 million barrels, or 11.5%, up from 9.4% a week ago.

Read full at SeekingAlpha

Old-style coal plants expanding across the U.S.

SeattleTimes - Utilities say they are clinging to coal because coal's abundance makes it cheaper than natural gas or nuclear power and more reliable than intermittent power sources such as wind and solar. Still, the price of coal plants is rising and consumers in some areas served by the new facilities will see their electricity bill rise by up to 30 percent.

Chest compressions are just as electrical defibrillator

MedPageToday Chest compressions prior to defibrillation are just as good as immediate treatment with an electrical defibrillator for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to analysis of pooled data.

"Based on our study, current guidelines emphasizing early defibrillation still are important," Meier said in a statement. "However, since the outcomes with the chest compression-first approach were not inferior and might be even better in the long-term, and in case of longer response times, this study may have an impact on future guidelines."

Still, survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are low, hovering at about 7.6% over the last 30 years, the researchers noted.

Rise - above the influence...

Why would you drink more soda?

• Cut soda, curb childhood obesity,
  
• Wow - drinking soda may be bad for you... go figure
  
• San Francisco bans sugar soda from vending machines
  
• Pepsi Pulling Their Sodas From Schools Worldwide By 2012
  
• Who cares - soda, tobacco, oil and alcohol can hurt you?
  
• Save Kids & Planet - "Dump Soda"
  
• Mercury in nearly half the samples of high fructose corn syrup

Environmental projects fail to live up to hype

Washingtontimes Excerpt: Noticeably absent from President Obama's latest economic-stimulus package are any further attempts to create jobs through "green" energy projects, reflecting a year in which the administration's original, loudly trumpeted efforts proved largely unfruitful. The long delays typical with environmentally friendly projects - combined with reports of green stimulus funds being used to create jobs in China and other countries, rather than in the U.S. - appear to have killed the administration's appetite for pushing green projects as an economic cure. After months of hype about the potential for green energy to stimulate job growth and lead the economy out of a recession, the results turned out to be disappointing, if not dismal. About $92 billion - more than 11 percent - of Mr. Obama's original $814 billion of stimulus funds were targeted for renewable energy projects when the measure was pushed through Congress in early 2009.   Read more at Washingtontimes

California Can Save Nearly 326 Billion Gallons of Water On The Cheap

The Pacific Institute has released a new report titled "California's Next Million Acre-Feet: Saving Water, Energy and Money that outlines the steps the state can take to come up with its next one million acre-feet of water. All of it would be relatively easy and a whole lot cheaper than trying to drum up even more fresh water out of a dried-out state -- even cheaper than surface storage projects. The steps all involve existing technology and a l...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Smile & Enjoy your weekend

WaterWars - Fresh Water Shipped from Alaska to India

Imagine an oil tanker plowing through the ocean, hauling valuable cargo from resource-rich nations of the world to the countries that need it: but instead of oil, the tanker holds millions of gallons of fresh water.

It's not a vision from some futuristic film or doomsday novel, but the present-day intention of companies trying to launch the bulk water export business. The idea has been around since the 1990's, yet no one has succeeded in making it a practical reality.

But last July, the US company S2C Global Systems, Inc. became the latest bulk water wanna-be by announcing it would begin shipping water from Alaska to India within the next six to eight months. Using large class vessels that can hold 50 million gallons at a time, S2C plans to sell the water for both manufacturing and drinking purposes to countries around the Arabian Sea. Read full at Guardian

A billion says we are drillin deep

CNS - U.S. Government Loaned Mexican Government More Than $1 Billion to Drill Oil in Gulf of Mexico Last Year; Has $1 Billion More Planned For This Year

EIA ups forecast for 2010 world oil demand growth

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Wednesday raised its forecast for growth in world oil demand this year for the third month in a row, mainly due to thirst for fuel in China, the Middle East and Brazil.

In its latest monthly report, the Energy Information Administration boosted its forecast of growth in 2010 world oil consumption by 50,000 barrels per day from its prior estimate, projecting a rise of 1.62 million bpd to 85.95 million bpd. Read at Reuters

Commercial reactor that runs on spent fuel from big reactors.

NBF
Nuclear and defense supplier General Atomics announced in February, 2010 that they would launch a 12-year ($1.7 billion) program to develop a new kind of small, commercial nuclear reactor in the U.S. that could run on spent fuel from big reactors.

The General Atomics reactor, which is dubbed EM2 for Energy Multiplier Module, would be about one-quarter the size of a conventional reactor and have unusual features, including the ability to burn used fuel, which still contains more than 90% of its original energy. Such reuse would reduce the volume and toxicity of the waste that remained. General Atomics calculates there is so much U.S. nuclear waste that it could fuel 3,000 of the proposed reactors, far more than it anticipates building.

The EM2 would operate at temperatures as high as 850 degrees Centigrade, which is about twice as hot as a conventional water-cooled reactor. The very high temperatures would make the reactor especially well suited to industrial uses that go beyond electricity production, such as extracting oil from tar sands, desalinating water and refining petroleum to make fuel and chemicals. Read full at NBF

Webcast - Business Value from Product and REACH Compliance

In a world of rapidly expanding regulations, including Europe's REACH and RoHS, companies need an effective way to work with their supply chains to collect, track and analyze a vast amount of data. Among other things, companies must determine which materials or parts can be used in production and report regularly to customers, stakeholders and authorities on a growing number of metrics.

If not properly managed, companies risk severe consequences, including lost revenue or markets, increased compliance costs and greater risk of wasted inventory and supply-chain disruption.

The good news: Companies can overcome these challenges. In this webcast, learn how manufacturers are developing and executing compliance strategies to help them gain competitive advantage while minimizing costs and risks.

Read full from Laura B.

Wisconsin Requiring Electronics Manufacturers to Pay for E-Waste

Beginning January 1, 2011, it'll be up to manufacturers to provide collection and recycling for electronics.

According to Government Technology, Wisconsin's new law will require manufacturers to document that at least 80% of what they sell is being recycled. The new program, called E-Cycle Wisconsin, took effect Wednesday, Sept. 1, the rules of which require consumers to bring discarded electronics to one of the state's 300 collection sites, but the law gives the primary responsibility for collection and recycling to the manufacturer.

"Nothing's changed in terms of costs," he said," but with this bill, instead of all these costs falling on the taxpayers, the manufacturer bears the primary financial responsibility. Now we're actually getting paid a few cents a pound."

The law will not only help ensure manufacturers shoulder more of the weight of disposing of their products, but also help divert from landfills waste that can be reused for manufacturing, and on the more dire side, release metals including lead and mercury into the soil and groundwater.

Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources lists what is covered under the new law, from computers to televisions to gaming devices.

Advocates for electronics manufacturer responsibility have helped move laws like this forward, with Connecticut recently becoming the 24th state to institute an e-waste law. While it certainly isn't popular among the manufacturers who are being required to foot a larger portion of the bill, as we heard more about during last year's Consumer Electronics Show, we're sure to continue to see news that more states are adopting law -- and those that have them becoming more strict -- about what happens to electronics at the end of their useful life...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Related:

• WI: Wisconsin E-waste Bill Passes in Senate!
• WI: Wisconsin Senate approves e-waste recycling bill
• Region 5 tips for electronic waste reuse, recycling

U.S. Preparedness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear Weapons

This document presents a broad overview of the U.S. public health response system, recent efforts to improve preparedness, challenges faced, and options for moving forward. Full Document (PDF)

ice caps melting half the speed originally predicted

"'We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted,' said researcher Bert Vermeeersen."

The new study on Greenland's and West Antarctica's rate of ice loss halves the estimate of ice loss was published in the journal Nature Geoscience... SlashDot

Study: "peak coal" coming as soon as 2011

 A new study seeks to shake up the assumption that use of coal, the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, is bound to continue its inexorable rise.

In fact, the authors predict that world coal production may reach its peak as early as next year, and then begin a permanent decline.

The study, led by Tad Patzek, chairman of the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, and published in the August issue of Energy, predicts that by mid-century, the world's coal mining will supply only half as much energy as today.

The idea that the world will face "peak coal" as soon as 2011 flies in the face of most earlier estimates and analysis.

The London-based World Coal Institute, an industry group including the largest international coal producers, says "the use of coal will rise 60 percent over the next 20 years," and that "coal will last us for at least 119 years." And the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in its most recent international outlook, projects that coal consumption for electricity will grow more than 50 percent by 2035 unless policies are put in place to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

However, the Patzek study paints a far different picture-and not because people will use up the last of the coal in the ground. Rather, the world will finish off the coal that is easy to reach and high-quality-the coal that produces a large amount of energy per ton, the new study says. What remains will often be of lower quality, and progressively harder to dig up and bring to where it is used.

The study's prediction for the time of the peak-actually a peak in the energy produced by global coal production-may not turn out to be exactly right, Patzek said. "I'm not saying that on July 1, 2011, there will be a peak."

But the main thrust of the study is stark: "We are near or at the peak right now," he said.

Read more at National Geographic 

CBO- Obesity will decimate future health costs and care

While our nations obesity problem has 'trashed' health care and insurance rates... the worst is yet to come.   The worst-ever obesity report is out. More baby-boomers and kids will be disabled, die younger and problem will get worsen for several decades. Examiner

CBO... From 1987 to 2007, the fraction of adults who were overweight or obese increased from 44 percent to 63 percent; almost two-thirds of the adult population now falls into one of those categories. The share of obese adults rose particularly rapidly, more than doubling from 13 percent to 28 percent. That sharp increase in the fraction of adults who are overweight or obese poses an important public health challenge. Those adults are more likely to develop serious illnesses, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. As a result, that trend also affects spending on health care...


...According to CBO's analysis of survey data, health care spending per adult grew substantially in all weight categories between 1987 and 2007, but the rate of growth was much more rapid among the obese (defined as those with a body-mass index greater than or equal to 30). Spending per capita for obese adults exceeded spending for adults of normal weight by about 8 percent in 1987 and by about 38 percent in 2007.


First, CBO assumed that there will be no future changes in the distribution of adults by body weight and, therefore, that the prevalence of obesity will remain at the 2007 rate of 28 percent. If so, per capita spending on health care for adults would rise by 65 percent—from $4,550 in 2007 to $7,500 in 2020,

Because lower rates of obesity are associated with better health and lower health care spending per capita, there is considerable interest in devising policies that would reduce the fraction of the population that is obese.  Read more from CBO

Free webinar: Product Stewardship You Can Use Today

Laura B - Citizens generate household hazardous wastes year round but HHW collection programs are often scheduled just a few times a year. Over the past few years several options have been created that HHW programs can use to help fill in the gaps between collection events, either by referring citizens to collection sites or hosting a collection box at their facility.

Join US EPA Region 5 and the Product Stewardship Institute for an informational webinar on product stewardship programs that citizens can use year round to manage their waste electronics, CFL bulbs, rechargeable batteries, or mercury thermostats. During this webinar attendees will hear from representatives of several established national programs that are offering collection opportunities today. Invited speakers include representatives from US EPA's Plug-in to eCycling program, Home Depot, Lowes, the Thermostat Recycling Corporation and Call2Recycle.

Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/329278305

Overlay of Chernobyl cloud if it had happened in Chicago,

Built by BERG, the BBC Dimensions site allows you to overlay the geographies of historical events and significant places onto more familiar locales. Here's the Apollo 11 Moon walk positioned over the Statue of Liberty, the size of the radiation cloud if Chernobyl had happened in Chicago, and the Marianas Trench stretching from Manhattan's West Village to Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

Source: kottke.org

White House Fingers PlayStation As Obesity Culprit

/.    "The winners of the childhood obesity infographic design contest sponsored by GOOD and First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative are in, and the overall winner calls out Sony's PlayStation as a major milestone on its timeline of childhood obesity (together with Coke, Pepsi, mall food courts, fructose and high sugar tariffs, TV, McDonald's, and other fast food). " /.
Best Overall Infographic: Jenn Cash

Somewhat ironically, the First Lady's other anti-childhood obesity efforts include a $60,000 video game contest.

1/2 cost of current reactors & uses almost all nuclear fuel.

Here are details of the subcritical accelerator driven thorium nuclear reactor designed by Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia.

This reactor was given a supportive article by the UK Telegraph. It has been extensively studied for over 15 years and is expected to have half the cost of existing light water reactors and burn up almost all of the nuclear fuel.

The Norwegian group Aker Solutions has bought Dr Rubbia's patent for the thorium fuel-cycle, and is working on his design for a proton accelerator at its UK operation. They are raising 100 million pounds ($150 million USD) for the next stage of an estimated 2 billion pound ($3 billion USD) project to develop the first commercial unit.

 

Renewable Home - The Future from nothing

Record 1-in-6 Getting Government Aid

More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid...
The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014.

More than 40 million people get food stamps.

Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance

The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion.

Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion.

The food stamps program has risen 80%, to $70 billion.

Welfare is up 24%, to $22 billion.

Read full at USA Today

How Analyst kill resources and markets - "Oil Should Be Around $10 a Barrel"

This is a perfect example of how 'Analyst' collapse markets, reserves and resources... Gold!
CBNC - "Oil Should Be Around $10 a Barrel: Analyst"

"I honestly think that if there were no investors using oil as an asset that the price of oil right now would be $10 or $15 or $18, but it wouldn't be anywhere near where it is,"

The price of a barrel of oil would be closer to $10 if the commodity wasn't traded as an investment instrument, given the record-high levels of U.S. oil inventories, Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, told CNBC Monday.

China and Russia will cooperate on floating Nuclear

(Reuters) - China and Russia have agreed to expand nuclear power cooperation in seven areas, including building floating nuclear power plants, exploring uranium mines, eliminating old plants and developing markets abroad, the China Atomic Energy Authority said.

NBF - China and Russia have agreed to expand nuclear power cooperation in seven areas, including building floating nuclear power plants, exploring uranium mines, eliminating old plants and developing markets abroad, the China Atomic Energy Authority said. - 

They will also cooperate on molten-core catcher technologies, which improve nuclear safety.

Brownfields grant application software program

Technical Assistance to Brownfields communities (TAB) easy brownfields grant application (EZ) software program

 TAB EZ is a grant writing tool to be used for preparation of EPA brownfields grant proposals. Currently, TAB EZ only addresses assessment and cleanup grants; RLF grant proposal outlines may be added at a later date.

While we put a lot of information from the guidelines into TAB EZ, there is also information we did not include. Please read the guidelines at the EPA brownfields web page. Also, a copy of the guidelines can be found in TAB EZ under "Resources".

BIG - Thermoelectric Chip converts Waste Heat to Electricity for less than $1 per watt

From NBF
Alphabet Energy has a a thermoelectric chip that can be inserted into any exhaust flue or engine to convert heat into electrical power... says its innovation is in both the choice of material and proprietary technology that gives it low thermal conductivity, and makes it highly suitable for both scale and miniaturization—for use in small devices as well as in large factory flues. The device is connected by wire to the plant's electrical system or to the grid, so it feeds in power converted by heat in real time. Only a year old, Alphabet has the ambitious goal of leading what it believes could be a $200 billion global market for technology at the core of waste heat recovery systems.

Alphabet says its chip is produced in a way that's similar to how microchips for electronic devices are made. Tapping into the semiconductor industry's economies of scale will allow the company to slash costs enough to install its systems for "well under $1 a watt," said Scullin, compared to installation costs double or triple that amount for some competing waste heat recapture systems.

Depending on the flow rate, chemical composition, and temperatures of the exhaust coming out of an industrial flue, he said, Alphabet's technology could deliver a payback time of two to four years for a manufacturer.

According to Scullin, Alphabet plans to complete a pilot installation at an industrial facility with a large waste heat source next year, with an aim of winning commercial customers by 2012. So far, most of the potential customers in discussion with Alphabet are multinational corporations

Recycled Energy Development (RED) aims to retrofit large factories to convert waste heat into electricity and useful thermal energy (typically steam or hot water), and then sell it to the grid, host, or nearby facilities.

Cogeneration (also called combined heat and power) systems, can generate electricity or mechanical power and useful heat at a facility that requires thermal energy, or convert waste energy on-site into electricity and mechanical energy. In 2008, the Oak Ridge researchers reported that the 3,300 cogeneration sites in the United States accounted for nearly 9 percent of the country's total electricity generating capacity, and called for a push to raise that to 20 percent by 2030—a level already exceeded by some European countries. Cogeneration accounted in 2008 for more than half of total national power production in Denmark, nearly 40 percent in Finland and more than 30 percent in Russia, according to the Oak Ridge report.

One reason the U.S. trails much of the pack in tapping power from waste heat, said Casten, is that regulations generally bar utilities from reaping financial rewards from efficiency gains—they're required to pass the savings along to rate-payers, robbing of them of the incentive to invest. In addition, higher taxes on energy in the European Union make energy efficiency and conservation more valuable, said Casten.