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Our Vision
CNB Industires commitment to renewable enegies and research has been at the forefront of our efforts enabling us to focus our efforts and resourses towards creating a world in which we can be proud of our technologies and commitment to the living planet that sustains all of us.
This commitment is now and as a responsiblity to thiose who come after us. As stewards of the earth we invite all people and organizations to join in and do their share to be responsible in each and every way to insure mankind progresses towards sustainable energy.
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Biogas Energy, Readily Available, Cheap and Descentralized
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 1997 Report, Energy After Rio: Prospects and Challenges identified community biogas plants as one of the most useful decentralized sources of energy supply. Unlike the centralized energy supply technologies, such as power plants based on hydroelectricity, coal, oil or natural gas, that have hitherto been the only choices open to rural communities, biogas plants do not require big capital to set up, and do not pose environmental problems that excite public opposition. Instead, in most cases, they offer solutions to existing environmental problems, and many unexpected benefits besides. The organic materials needed for producing biogas in an anaerobic digester are readily available in developing countries. These include firewood, agricultural wastes and animal wastes. Many countries have large cattle and…read more
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Water Power is the Wave of the Future
Man has been using a small percentage of the Earth’s water power for a number of years as many large hydroelectric dams have been constructed. But, this renewable energy resource is only a small fraction of the water power this planet has to offer. More recently, researchers have been exploring tidal energy, ocean waves and running streams as sources of renewable energy. The Rance estuary in northern France holds the world’s largest tidal power station that generates electricity at regular intervals when the tide comes in or out. Offshore underwater turbines are also being developed that capitalize on extracting electrical energy from the ocean’s currents. These devices may be setup where the underwater currents are the strongest and generate electricity, which may be stored in batteries or electrolyzed into hydrogen for storage (and run through a fuel cell later) or piped…read more
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Bioethanol
First generation bioethanol is produced by distillation from crops such as wheat, corn, sugar cane and sugar beet. Cellulosic ethanol (a second generation biofuel) can be produced from a wider range of feedstocks, including agricultural residues, woody raw materials or energy crops that do not compete directly with food crops for land use. This requires a more complex production process (cellulose hydrolysis), which is currently at the demonstration stage. However, significant investment in R&D&D in Europe and the United States will lead to production of cellulosic ethanol on the commercial scale within the next decade. A number of pilot plants are also developing novel routes to create bioethanol from commercial waste and MSW. Bioethanol is the most produced biofuel worldwide with almost 74 billion litres in 2009. This figure is mainly due to the United States (54%) and Brazil (34%). In the United States, the RFA (Renewable Fuel Association) estimated bioethanol production to over 40 billion litres in 2009, mostly from corn…read more
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Solar Power Is Cheaper Than Nuclear for the First Time
Here’s bright spot in the news of the day: energy from new solar installations has, for the first time, become cheaper than energy from new nuclear plants, according to a new Duke University study. Thanks to cost-saving technologies and economies of scale, price can no longer be an excuse to invest in nuclear power rather than solar. Solar Power IIn North Carolina, nuclear energy costs 16 cents per kilowatt hour (the energy required to run 10 100-watt light bulbs for an hour), whereas solar is now going for 14 cents per kWh — a rate that continues to fall. In regions with more annual sunlight, the price gap is almost certainly even more pronounced. The data also analyzed only conventional photovoltaic power, not the concentrating technologies of troughs and reflectors, which also bring costs down…read more
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Figuring Land Use Into Renewable-Energy Equation
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.Imagine if your country had an unlimited budget but a limited amount of land: what renewable energy has the most potential?
Rutgers University professor Clinton Andrews and colleagues ran the numbers on this thought experiment and came up with some surprises. They identified clear limits on some technologies, notably biofuels, but concluded that the bigger challenges to renewable energy and land relate to siting energy facilities, particularly transmission lines.Andrews presented an early version of …read more -
Resources
Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction
Terry TamminenMr. Tamminen believes that the “pain at the pump” runs much deeper than our wallets, as argued in his book Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction (Island Press). Tamminen illustrates a timely examination of our dependence on oil and a strategy to evolve to more sustainable energy sources…read more
Renewable Energy Policy
Dr. Paul KomorDr. Paul Komor, author of Renewable Energy Policy (iUniverse, Inc.), takes a pragmatic, nuts-and-bolts look at the myriad government efforts to promote renewables, and reports back on what works, what doesn’t, and why. In clear, jargon-free language, Renewable Energy Policy shows how and why some policies have achieved impressive…read more
Alternative Energy: Political, Economic, and Social Feasibility
Dr. Christopher SimonAlternative Energy: Political, Economic, and Social Feasibility (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers) by Christopher Simon systematically explores the most viable alternative sources of energy, discussing the technical, political, economic, and social feasibility of each technology in mands in the face of a declining…read more
It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living
Crissy TraskIt’s Easy Being Green by green consultant, Crissy Trask, is a handy tool to help you make better choices for the environment. This is what the busy person needs to start making changes today. Get informative, comprehensive and practical information for adopting greener buying habits and identifying earth-friendly products…read more
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EADS Develops First Algae Fuel-Powered Aircraft
We’ve seen algae-powered cars and biofuel-powered planes, but European aerospace company EADS is the first to combine the two with an algae fuel-powered aircraft. The company’s twin-engine Diamond DA 42, set to be unveiled next week at the Berlin Air Show, runs partially on biofuel made from 100% algae….read more
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm Near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England
Visible from the beach of Skegness, England, the 54 3.6-megawatt turbines of the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farm collectively can produce up to 194 megawatts of electricity at peak. Each turbine is 353 feet (107 meters) in diameter and turns on a…read more
1.2 Megawatts: World’s Largest Tidal Turbine to be Installed
A company called Marine Current Turbines will be installing a 1.2 megawatt tidal turbine in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough in August. The SeaGen turbine will be the world’s largest ever tidal current device by a significant margin…read more
Aguçadoura Wave Farm Near Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
The world’s first and only commercial wave power plant resembles a 500-foot- (150 meter-) long, 11 foot- (3.5 meter-) wide snake that floats, half-submerged, on the sea surface. Each unit is anchored perpendicular to the beach, and has four segments…read more
Scientists Discover Tiny Solar Panels That Create Themselves
Scientists at MIT have discovered molecules that spontaneously assemble themselves into a pattern that can turn light into electricity — essentially a self-creating solar panel. In a petri dish…read more