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DOE scraps FutureGen 'clean coal' project for new tack

The Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that it has pulled out of a carbon-capture technology project in favor of a restructured funding mechanism.

The DOE last year signed an agreement with the FutureGen Alliance, a coalition of coal and oil companies, to spend about $950 million on a demonstration coal-fired power plant that injects carbon dioxide emissions underground. Last December, a site for the FutureGen project in Matoon, Ill., was announced by the Alliance.

On Wednesday, the DOE said that it has scrapped that agreement and issued a new request for information, which will solicit proposals for demonstration plants … Read more

FutureGen Stalled?

FutureGen is the major US Department of Energy backed effort to pilot a technological solution to prove that carbon capture and sequestration from coal fired power plants is possible. At a slated price tag of $1.5 Billion ($1 Bil estimated originally, now estimated at $1.8 Billion), it is one heck of a science project - but one that sorely needs to be done.

Now that project appears to have hit a snag. While the site the consortium picked to build the project was selected in December as Mattoon, Illinois, after a short delay in responding, the DOE is … Read more

Reports: Energy agency to bail from FutureGen carbon capture project

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to pull its support of a $1.8 billion project to build a power plant that captures pollution underground, according to published reports.

The FutureGen project is meant to test cutting-edge carbon capture and storage technology, which is supposed to dramatically reduce emissions from fossil fuel-burning power plants.

Carbon capture and storage is considered an important technology to reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions, but the technology is unproven at a large scale. A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last year called for government funding of carbon capture projects in the United … Read more

Methanol fuel cells-- how cost-efficient are they?

IdaTech, a fuel-cell manufacturer in Oregon, announced a smallish new fuel-cell power supply today, the 250-watt iGen. The announcement caught my eye because I've written here a few times about fuel cells and other alternative energy sources (including the nuclear reactor piece last week), and this time I was able to figure out the device's approximate cost of operation, something that usually isn't disclosed for fuel cells.

The iGen's 250-watt output rating doesn't sound like a lot, but it's over half an average person's home electricity consumption. A continuous supply of 250 watts … Read more

Kmart says it still supports Blu-ray

Although rumors have been swirling lately that Kmart has agreed to exclusively support the HD DVD format, they appear to be false.

When reached for comment, K-mart sent a rather defensive-sounding statement attributed to Jonathan Magasanik, vice president of home electronics for Sears Holdings, Kmart's parent company: "There have been numerous statements in the media (Wednesday), attributed to Toshiba, indicating exclusive support for the HD-DVD format in Kmart stores. These statements are false. Kmart intends to support both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray platforms, and has no plans to support either platform exclusively."

Kmart representatives didn't elaborate … Read more

Four generations at work, and online

New York Times workplace trendspotter Lisa Belkin writes today about the culture clashes arising now that four generations are in the workplace at one time. The World War II generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y have very different values and expectations that are not always compatible co-existing in the workplace. Think belly rings clashing with Brooks Brothers, or flex-time worship versus yuppie ladder climbing.

Belkin writes about programs designed to translate workplace standards and communication styles across these boundaries: "Summer is the season of culture shock in the working world, when the old guard comes face to face with a next wave of newcomers, and the result is something like lost tribes encountering explorers for the first time."

This trend story feels a little pat and overgeneralized, but Belkin's article made me smile because I had just been thinking about what it means to have four generations online. In this case, the tables are turned with the younger generations as the experts who have grown up with online technology as their native culture, and senior family members more or less along for the ride. In our family, the grandparents are online, which is a good thing, but I have run into my own case of culture shock when my father reads my blogs. … Read more

Images: Microsoft readies 'Halo 3' beta

For fans of the hit Halo video game franchise, San Francisco is the place to be Friday. That's because Microsoft is hosting a hands-on press event where invitees will be able to play the game (click here for screenshots) for the first time.

Microsoft said it wouldn't be making any announcements at the event, but those in attendance will have a chance to get an advance look at the game before the company opens up its beta on May 16.

PS3 fans line up to make a buck

SAN FRANCISCO--All those people queued up for a chance to lay down $500 to $600 bucks for a shiny new PlayStation 3 aren't just gaming fanatics--many of them are entrepreneurs as well.

Mingling with the bundled-up fans under dark gray San Francisco skies, I was hard-pressed to find anyone planning to keep one for themselves. (Note to New York Craver Caroline McCarthy: We have long lines for the bathroom on the West Coast too.)

Several people balked when I asked if they wanted a PS3 to keep. As they cited the thousands of potential dollars to be made by … Read more

Next-gen gaming consoles go mano-a-mano

And then there were three.

The Xbox 360 has had the next-gen mantle to itself for a year, but it's about to get some major competition in the form of the Sony PlayStation 3 (November 17) and Nintendo Wii (November 19). We've compared the final shipping versions of the two newcomers with our tried and true 360, and we've posted our hands-on reviews of each.

Note to fanboys of all stripes: before you unleash venomous attacks that question our sanity (whoops--too late!), please keep a few things in mind.

With these reviews, we've focused on … Read more