CleanTech investing has an entry on a company that has technology to store wind power as compressed air stored in underground tanks. Cutely named General Compression (warning: web site home page auto-starts Flash with audio, a huge web marketing no-no) has their attempt to solve the big battery problem: storing energy from sources that are not consistent like wind.
The big problem with technologies like wind and solar has been developing storage so output is steady during lulls or darkness. Fossil fuels have held their grip because they are very stable storage media for energy. General Compression aims to store wind energy as compressed air underground then use it to turn turbines when needed. The only problem I have with this is: If we’re going to dig big holes, why not tap into geo-thermal, an unlimited and constant source?

Here are few dedicated media pages where the publishers have an ongoing collection of articles on climate change. These are a fast way to scan the latest news on the subject. I’d also recommend doing a Google Alerts which sends you a daily email as new articles are posted. The subject is extremely dynamic and Google Alerts are particularly interesting because they show the breadth of the Bush supported, oil company funded denial community which receives an inordinate amount of uncritical publicity despite overwhelming scientific consensus that the threat is real and immediate:
Washington Post: The Threat of Climate Change
New Scientist Environment
NYTimes.com Environment
The Economist Technology Quarterly

Some of these may require registration or viewing an interstitial ad. I’d include the Wall Street Journal for balance but they continue their backwards strategy of hiding all content behind a paid sub firewall.

This is very cool: a car whose engine runs on compressed air with no emissions, high mileage, a top speed of 68 KM and a range of ten hours- suitable for urban driving. The compressed air would need to come from a station meaning infrastructure would need to be built but this infrastructure carries none of the complications you get with gas or hydrogen delivery. I would imagine each station has its own compressor so no global delivery system is required (saving huge amounts of fuel and emissions).
The car is ’smart’ in every way imaginable, runs off a keycard in your pocket and includes cost-free air conditioning because the air exiting the engine is very cold. It is built of new materials technology including a glued frame and fiberglas body.
After seeing the number of very small cars in use in Paris because of extremely limited parking options and high fuel costs, I think this car can make a real go of it. There is already serious interest in India, in part I’m guessing, because the fuel delivery system is simple.
This kind of technology that comes out of left field is one of the most exciting outcomes of rising fuel costs.

According to the International Herald Tribune, New York City has a real problem and there is no simple solution. In this article about NY’s reaction to rising ocean levels, a few facts stood out (note that I referenced ‘facts’ not speculation). First, all of the home insurers are changing their business models radically to protect against flood and hurricane losses. For example, Allstate will no longer renew homeowner’s policies in eight downstate, waterfront counties including the NYC area. This may represent the most concentrated chunk of premium waterfront residential real estate in the world. They’re no longer taking that bet. Last fall I drove down the Jersey shore from Atlantic City and the housing is impressive. Also impressive is the fact that all of it is built practically at sea level on what are obviously reclaimed dunes and salt marshes. Now it is increasingly difficult to insure this property which, in turn, means you can’t mortgage it.
The second fact is that lower Manahattan is built on sand so fine you can’t pile it up on a table- it just slides off. For the many older buildings whose foundations rest on sand (like all the brownstones) this means that a single flood event could wash away their foundations, leaving them uninhabitable. With a five inch rise in ocean levels predicted by 2030 and increasingly intense hurricane seasons this is a real possibility.
The ’solutions’ are equally drastic. A thirty foot high wall wide enough for a four lane highway around Manhattan? I doubt those who paid a very high premium for waterfront property are going to go for that.
New York is one of my favorite places. If you haven’t been, you have to go- it’s an amazing testament to the vitality of humanity. However, when you look at it from the perspective of climate change it is a very vulnerable place. Things could change there very quickly.