Hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials for ethanol production: a review.

The increasing energy demand in the near future will force us to seek environmentally clean alternative energy resources. The emergence of nanomaterials as the new building blocks to construct light energy harvesting assemblies has opened up new ways to utilize renewable energy sources. This article discusses three major ways to utilize nanostructures for the design of solar energy conversion devices:  (i) Mimicking photosynthesis with donor−acceptor molecular assemblies or clusters, (ii) semiconductor assisted photocatalysis to produce fuels such as hydrogen, and (iii) nanostructure semiconductor based solar cells. This account further highlights some of the recent developments in these areas and points out the factors that limit the efficiency optimization. Strategies to employ ordered assemblies of semiconductor and metal nanoparticles, inorganic-organic hybrid assemblies, and carbon nanostructures in the energy conversion schemes are also discussed. Directing the future research efforts toward utiliza...

Meeting the Clean Energy Demand: Nanostructure Architectures for Solar Energy Conversion

Production of liquid biofuels from renewable resources

Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy

The Eco-indicator 99, A damage oriented method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment

The End of Cheap Oil In 1973 and 1979 a pair of sudden price increases rudely awakened the industrial world to its dependence on cheap crude oil. Prices first tripled in response to an Arab embargo and then nearly doubled again when Iran dethroned its Shah, sending the major economies sputtering into recession. Many analysts warned that these crises proved that the world would soon run out of oil. Yet they were wrong. Their dire predictions were emotional and political reactions; even at the time, oil experts knew that they had no scientific basis. Just a few years earlier oil explorers had discovered enormous new oil provinces on the north slope of Alaska and below the North Sea off the coast of Europe. By 1973 the world had consumed, according to many experts’ best estimates, only about one eighth of its endowment of readily accessible crude oil (socalled conventional oil). The five Middle The End of Cheap Oil

The End of Cheap Oil

Keywords: PETROLE ; ENERGIE : economie Note: Index Reference Record created on 2004-09-07, modified on 2016-08-08

The Coming Oil Crisis

Extrapolating the discovery trend of the past to determine future discovery and production should be straightforward, and the size distribution of the fields should be evident. But the atrociously unreliable nature of public data has given much latitude when it comes to interpreting the status of depletion and the impact of economic and political factors on production. This has allowed two conflicting views of the subject to develop. The first is what may be called the Natural Science Approach, which observes the factors controlling oil accumulation in Nature and applies immutable physical laws to the process of depletion. The second is what may be called the Flat-Earth Approach, in which the resource is deemed to be virtually limitless, with extraction being treated as if it were controlled only by economic, political and technological factors. This paper will endeavor to present the evidence for the Natural Science Approach, addressing the geological constraints; the technical basis of reserve estimatio...

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The Peak and Decline of World Oil and Gas Production

The discovery of oil peaked in the 1960s, meaning that the corresponding peak of production is now imminent. The technical evidence is compelling, but the issue is clouded by denial and obfuscation. Peak oil threatens to be a historic discontinuity as the economic growth of the past Century, which was driven by an abundant supply of cheap oil-based energy, gives way to decline. The population of the world, which grew six-fold in parallel with oil, faces decline, probably accompanied by rising migration pressures. Radical new political structures may be needed in a world facing ever deeper resource and environmental constraints.

Petroleum and People

1 - World Assessment.- The Occurrence of Petroleum.- Source-Rocks.- Oil in the Reservoir.- Seal.- Critical Timing.- Means of Analysis.- Unreliable Data Base.- The Elements of Study.- Rounding.- Cumulative Production.- Reserves.- NGL and Condensate.- Total Discovered.- The Importance of Giant Fields.- Undiscovered.- Remaining Oil.- Ultimate.- Production.- Post Mid-Point Countries.- Pre Mid-Point Countries.- The Special Case of the Middle East Six.- Scenario-1.- Scenario-2.- Scenario-3.- The Importance of the Middle East Six.- World Distribution.- Basic Elements.- Remaining Oil and Depletion Rate.- Maturity and Undiscovered Potential.- Years to the Depletion Mid-Point.- The Importance of Revision Analysis.- Conclusions.- References.- 2 - Regional Assessment.- Key to lay-out.- Middle East Six.- Sino-Soviet.- North America.- Latin America.- Africa.- The East.- Western Europe.- Middle East (Minor).- New Provinces.- The following material is provided for each of the above regions:.- Summary.- Sumary Data Sheet.- Production Profile 1930-2050.- Produced, Reserves, Undiscovered.- Maturity - Undiscovered as percentage of Ultimate.- Remaining Oil and Depletion Rates.- Years to or form Depletion Mid-Point.- Production Plot with Giant Fields.- 3 - Production by Country and Giant Oilfields.- Production Plots (except minor producers) (Listed alphabetically by country).- Production Profiles 1930-2050 (Listed alphabetically by country).- Giant Oilfields (Listed alphabetically by country).

Colin Campbell

Papers

The End of Cheap Oil

The Coming Oil Crisis

The Peak and Decline of World Oil and Gas Production

Petroleum and People

The Golden Century of Oil 1950–2050: The Depletion of a Resource