With the Democratic National Convention underway, and Barack Obama officially nominated as the democratic presidential candidate, his stance on offshore drilling needs to determined. The “Gang of 10″ Republicans and Democrats have come up with a plan that will allow offshore drilling by oil companies in areas currently considered off-limits because of environmental concerns to the coastline.

So what is this plan being pushed and what are the perceived benefits? In short, the plan is to lift the ban on offshore drilling to bring down the price of gasoline for Americans. A secondary goal is to raise $84 billion for alternative energy and conservation funds. This money would start accumulating immediately once exploration begins, as oil companies will no longer be eligible for a manufacturing tax credit. It’s as simple as that…

Now, what are the realistic expectations Americans should have about this plan?

• It will be 10 years before oil will start to be pumped into refinery pipelines, from the point the exploring begins.
• Oil will start being pumped out in 10 years, but maximum capacity isn’t expected to be reached until 2030.
• As the oil is pumped from these new leases, it will just be auctioned off into the global market, and the highest bidder will buy the oil. It will not be set aside solely for Americans, unless we are planning to change the way we participate in free global markets.
• Even though the plan projects to raise $84 billion for alternative energy projects, drilling in these off-limit areas will risk serious environmental damage to our coastlines.

With those kinds of expectations, you may wonder why there is even a debate. Well, it comes down to votes. The fear of continued high gas prices may lead voters to choose whatever candidate tells them their plan will reduce prices at the pump.

A recent WSJ/ABC News poll revealed voters’ stances on how they feel about about expanding offshore drilling:

Obama Voters

Right Direction: 41% Unsure: 14% Wrong Direction: 45%

McCain Voters

Right Direction: 88% Unsure: 4% Wrong Direction: 8%

Undecided Voters

Right Direction: 61% Unsure: 17% Wrong Direction: 23%

Those numbers look a little concerning. Our two nominees should start focusing on realistic alternatives to gas price reduction, instead of lobbying for whatever plan gains traction at the polls.

We’re interested to see what DumpItInThePump readers think about this issue. Let us know!

Well, it only took 8 days and the help of my brother to find what I was looking for in thermal solar energy (Can We Harness More Solar Energy From The Sun – Heat?). An Australian based company named EnviroMission has plans to build a Solar Tower to leverage thermal energy from the sun on a large scale. The first installment of the project will provide power to an estimated 200,000 homes by delivering 200 megawatts of electricity.

So what is the project and how does it work? The video below illustrates it best.

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Basically, a massive tower is built in the middle of an array of “solar collectors” which is one giant greenhouse that heats the air which is then sucked up through the tower. As the hot air rises up through the tower and out of the greenhouse, it passes through several turbines that rotate to generate electricity. A nice animation can be found here on the EnviroMission website.

To get some scope of just how large this tower could be, comparisons are being made to the Sears Tower in Chicago which rises 1,705 feet above the ground (including its antennas). According to CNN Money, “A half-mile-tall version is in the works for China…”. That’s roughly 2,600 feet tall, almost twice the height of the Sears Tower. It’s easy to see how massive amounts of electricity could be generated with such a large volume of air passing through turbines at the base of one of these towers. The thermal tower will still be able to operate at night because heat will be stored during the day and then released during periods of darkness.

The most evident advantage to this type of power supply is the infinite energy available from the sun. This electricity will be sustainable and almost unlimited. The only limit we can see is available ground space to build these massive structures, and of course, several days of cloud cover.

The Lightning Car Company, a UK based car manufacturer specializing in electric cars has developed the first truly high performance electric car - the 4 second 0-60mph, 700HP Lightning GT.

This car only compromises the driving experience in one way - no throaty V12 to listen to sucking your gas away at 7 MPG (unless you turn on the “Programmable external engine sound generator”). There are many features that set this electric car apart from its eco-friendly, performance seeking competitors. Lets start with its unique approach to the power drive. The Lightning GT uses four separate electric motors, one located at each wheel. This obviously means it has all wheel drive, but motors at each wheel also mean more finely tuned handling with motors calibrated to change speeds based on steering. This is performance you can’t find in even the most highly tuned gas powered performance cars. Two specific advantages of motors at each wheel are the elimination of power loss through a transmission and reduction of weight - where conventional combustion engines usually weigh in heavy.

The Lightning GT also claims to recharge in just 10 minutes to provide a 186 mile range. Cnet reports briefly below:

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Deliveries will start in 2010, with a base price somewhere around $250,000. If an effective electric grid is in place, Lightning officials claim the car will save $40,000+ annually on operating costs over comparable gas-powered car models. With the additional factor of being able to badge yourself as environmental friendly or “green”, this car might actually take a bite out of the super car market share.

We have discussed in the past that one of the few positives related to the growing cost of fuel is the urgency for innovation that is created. I really don’t believe we have hit that breaking point yet, however, concerns are growing and we are getting closer.

One innovative person that believes we should act now is Shai Agassi. Shai is the founder of a company called Project Better Place. The company launched in 2007, is backed by 200 million dollars and has the goal of moving a countries transportation from gasoline to electric. The companies plan is to create an infrastructure for inexpensive electric cars. Rather than buying an expensive gasoline powered automobile, you would purchase miles for an electric car on the Project Better Place system. Each subscriber would receive an electric car, a battery and have access to recharging stations across the country. The company is also looking to power the recharging of the electric cars using solar energy to create a truely green system. The first 500 cars should be available in Israel by this time next year.

More than innovation I think this is really an example of an individual pushing forward and actually making something happen. Not surprising, the driving force of this revolution is coming from the private sector, where financial incentives prevail.

We previously posted about the amount of energy it takes to burn street lights during the evening in most major cities all over the world. We concluded that there is entirely too much energy being wasted on unnecessary lighting.

It turns out that others have been looking into excess light emitted from large cities as a major form of pollution - light pollution. New research suggests that lighting the night on such a broad scale may be hazardous to human health. Humans naturally produce melatonin during the night when sunlight is not present. Researchers are theorizing that those who do not get enough exposure to natural darkness because of a broad infiltration of artificial light are more likely to develop cancerous tumors because of lack of melatonin production.

Regardless of whether that theory is proven or not, there is evidence that lack of darkness has a negative impact on wildlife. The breeding cycles of birds which relies on natural changes from light to darkness are disrupted by the enormous amount of artificial light cast into the sky every night. Millions of birds are also killed every year from being disoriented form unnatural light.

In addition to all of the harmful physical effects to ourselves and our planet is the idea that millions of people will go through life never seeing a clear sky with shining stars. Along with these negative side effects is the fact that the burning of these street lights is also burning incredible amounts of oil. It seems practical to reduce street light usage immediately.