How can we spread great ideas? Speak up!

We’re struck with good ideas all the time. Ways to save money by couponing at the grocery store. A cool tittle for a movie. Maybe even a nifty time-saving invention. But what about great ideas? Earth-shattering ideas? How often are we struck with those? And when we are, how can we make sure they spread?

A lot of people assume that getting a great idea to catch on is a matter of money. How much you spend on advertising, marketing, hiring a manager, pre-production and design.

It’s not.

Others assume it’s a matter of punishment versus reward. If you want a great idea to stick, you either have to reward people for conforming, or punish them for refusing. Eventually, you’ll implement the idea/condition behavior – but will it have been worth it? Furthermore, will the idea stand the test of time?

The answer to that: definitely not.

The best way for great ideas to spread and make a difference is by people talking to one another. Yes, like any long-lasting marriage, communication is the key. It’s about establishing a connection with another individual. Relishing in a human bond. And via that bond, great ideas are exchanged!

Think about the Facebook revolution that has swept up our culture for nearly a decade now. It was a great idea – a social platform on which people could connect, share pictures, catch-up, etc. But what made it so popular? Was it an expensive ad campaign? Was it cash-prizes?

Nope. It was people talking to people. Everyone who stumbled across Facebook went on to tell a friend, who told a friend, who told some girl at a bar, who told her sister back home, and so on and so forth.

Great ideas spread by people listening to one another. Debating. Brainstorming. But most importantly – they spread by people talking.

So speak up! Don’t be afraid to have your voice heard! We’re not. At NRGLab, we’re constantly collaborating with leading scientists, environmentalists, and other forward thinkers in order to get our message out there.

Our message is simple: create a greener future. A better tomorrow. Now, before it’s too late.

For more information on NRGLab and our slate of alternative energy projects, visit nrglab.asia, and help spread the next great idea.

Gasification: the future of energy recycling

We no longer have to rely on ticking-time bombs sitting just off-shore. I’m talking about oil rigs, of course. These ecological disasters in the making are obsolete compared to today’s technology.

Why risk another tragic spill, human lives, or the sanctity of Mother Nature just to save a few dollars on our monthly utility bills?

Luckily, NRGLab has developed innovative new equipment for the conversation of hydrocarbon crude and waste into electricity. From agricultural waste (sugar cane, rice, sunflowers, wild bushes, trees, etc.) to low-calorie coal and oil shale; from automotive rubber waste to municipal waste; from methane to methanol; our unique gasification techniques are going to revolutionize the way our world views energy.

First, in order to properly evaluate energy potential, we must take into account the type of combustible material versus its greenhouse gas emissions. During processing, fossil fuels like coal and crude oil poison our atmosphere with CO2 and NO.

This is particularly important because incineration stations are now under construction in a number of highly-populated cites. These facilities will also be twice as cheap compared to today’s standards. But will they be safe?

The lifespan of gas powered turbines will also increase two-fold as well, from 50,000 hours to 120,000 hours!

While alternative energy projects have proved frustrating for investors in the past (what with their decade-long returns and all), today, most of these projects are expected to see profits within three years.

A common misconception about energy recycling is that it requires more waste than what’s available. Untrue! Combined with local recycling efforts, more than 250 million tons of waste is sent to landfills across the U.S. each year. Even if recycling rates increased, there would still be enough waste left over to convert into electricity. People have a habit of being wasteful, after all!

Today, communities have two options in terms of discarding waste. The first is burying it in a landfill, which can emit harmful greenhouse gases like methane. The other option is taking the same waste and transporting to one of NRGLab’s gasification plants and turning it into useable fuel.

For more information on NRGLab and our slate of alternative energy projects, visit nrglab.asia.

You can be part of a greener future. All you have to do is reduce, reuse, and recycle your waste into electricity.

China & India lead surge in future energy consumption

A new study released by the United States’ Energy Department predicts that the world’s energy consumption will surge 56% by the year 2040, nearly half of which will stem from China and India.

Sure, that date might seem a long ways away, but if we fail to address the problem now, there’s no telling how we’ll manage to meet future demand.

Based on current government policies, fossil fuels will account for 80% of world’s energy use by 2040; this, despite increased efforts to fund more alternative energy programs.

The natural gas industry is expected to grow faster than coal or oil, thanks in part to new extraction techniques (not to mention global warming, which is opening up natural gas deposits in the Acrtic).

While the U.S. has dominated fracking and the natural gas industry to date, they’ll soon have foreign competition to deal with. Russia is predicted to keep pace with the U.S. in terms of productivity, particularly in the Russian Arctic. The study claims that China and Canada are poised to increase production as well.

And where exactly is all this new fuel being shipped off to?

A majority of new production is intended to meet rising demands in other markets. Russia, for instance, is planning to export more gas to China, while more than a dozen other companies have proposed facilities to transport gas from the U.S. to Asia and Europe.

The Energy Department study warns that this trend could expand to other counties like India amid high oil prices, which “are expected to rise to $163 per barrel world-wide in 2040 from $105 in 2013. That increase could drive consumers to use less or seek alternatives.”

The result?

Burning more fossil fuels will increase the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. The study projects that emissions will increase 46% by 2040. That puts us well beyond the “point of no return” scientists have been warning us about for years.

The time for change is now. Follow us at nrglab.asia for updates on our slate of alternative energy projects designed to eliminate carbon-emissions and reduce consumption.

An economic time bomb lurks under the icecaps

According to a joint-study conducted by a group of polar scientist and economists, the melting icecaps could prompt an “economic time bomb” to go off, costing the global economy TRILLIONS of dollars.

The common theory for the last two decades has been that melting icecaps would result in an economic “boom” of another kind. Companies would finally be able to exploit untapped reservoirs of natural gas and crude oil which had been trapped underneath thick sheaths of ice for centuries.

The Arctic ice, which melts and refreezes on an annual basis, is shrinking at an unheralded rate. Last year, “it collapsed to under 3.5m sqkm by mid-September, just 40% of its usual extent in the 1970s”. And since the ice is also becoming less thick, some scientists predict the Arctic Ocean will be largely free of summer ice by the end of the decade.

The growing concern is that, as the icecaps melt, the warming of the sea water will trigger offshore permafrost to release greater quantities of methane. “A giant reservoir of the greenhouse gas, in the form of gas hydrates on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS), could be emitted, either slowly or catastrophically fast over a shorter time frame,” the researchers claim. “And that could result in “a $60 TRILLION global price tag.”

"This massive methane boost will have major implications for global economies and societies. Much of those costs would be borne by developing countries in the form of extreme weather, flooding and impacts on health and agricultural production," says Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University, one of the authors of the study.

The poorer economies of Africa, Asia, and South America are expected to be impacted the most by all this. But since we live in a global economy, like a stone cast into a pond – the ripple effects can stretch across oceans.

"Neither the World Economic Forum nor the International Monetary Fund currently recognize the economic danger of Arctic change. [They must] pay much more attention to this invisible time-bomb. The impacts of just one [giant "pulse" of methane] approaches the $70-tn value of the world economy in 2012,” says Professor Gail Whiteman of the Rotterdam School of Management, another author involved in the study.

Shipping companies are preparing to deploy a record number of vessels across the north of Russia later this year in order to tap into the natural gas and oil preserves. The new Northern Sea Route uses the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska and is only passable a few months out of the year with an icebreaker. This shorted trip slashes travel costs up to 40%!

It’s only a matter of time until one of the drilling operations opens up a massive pocket of methane gas and releases the “pulse” scientists are waiting for.

NRGLab would prefer if we didn’t have to trek all the way up to the artic for a fuel that could wind up costing us TRILLIONS in oversight. That’s why we’ve developed a number of alternative energy programs that are not only cost-effective, but renewable and reliable as well. For more information on NRGLab, visit nrglab.asia.

Will we be able to survive future superstorms?

According to a report filed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the country’s energy infrastructure may not be able to sustain future superstorms like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. 

As infrastructures get older, they grow susceptible to power outages, which can cost the taxpayers anywhere between $20 and $50 billion annually. And “the damages are going to get worse…” warns Jonathan Pershing Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy at the DOE.

By 2030, approximately $1 trillion in energy assets in the Gulf Coast will be at risk of rising sea levels and increased hurricane activity. Last year was the 2^nd most expensive year on record for weather related disasters, with $115 billion in damages caused Sandy and extended droughts (Katrina was even more costly!).

“Increasing temperatures, decreasing water availability, more intense storm events, and sea level rise will each independently, and in some cases in combination, affect the ability of the United States to produce and transmit electricity from fossil, nuclear, and existing and emerging renewable energy sources,” the DOE report claims.

New research performed by Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals that greenhouse gas emissions may contribute to a 40% spike in the rate of tropical cyclones by 2100. Emanuel predicts that “these storms will generate stronger winds, rain and storm surges around the world. This extreme storm activity will likely be felt most acutely in the North Pacific, the North Atlantic and the southern Indian Ocean.”

Superstorms have already ravaged energy infrastructures across the U.S. Sandy caused fuel shortages throughout New Jersey and New York. Hot summer months forced power plants in New England and Illinois to shut down. Droughts and a lack of access to water resulted in fracking restrictions in Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania.

The DOE report cites that these phenomenon “may become more frequent and intense in the future decades.” 2012 was the hottest year since the U.S. began recording temperatures back in 1895. These temperatures were followed by historic droughts, which reduced water available for generating hydroelectric power, cooling coal burning power plants, and supplying fracking operations.

 “We don’t have a robust energy system, and the costs of dealing with adverse environmental conditions are significant,” says Pershing. “The cost today is measured in the billions. Over the coming decades, it will be in the trillions. You can’t just put your head in the sand anymore.”

In the future, will you be able to rely on your regular utility company to provide for you? Or, when supply struggles to meet demand, will you be treated like an animal and left to forage for energy? Hopefully when that day comes you’ll have invested in the SH-Box by NRGLab, a renewable generator that’s portable, long-lasting, and completely carbon-free! That’s right - you could cut ties with public utilities and save money doing it! The SH-Box produces electricity for as little as $.03 per kWh. That’s less than a third of what you’re probably paying now…

Become energy independent. Be prepared for the future. Visit nrglab.asia for updates on the revolutionary SH-Box.

Your charger is sucking up electricity!

Think about how many electronic devices you own. A cell phone? Sure. Laptop? You bet. Tablet, perhaps? How about that music playing device? All of these electronic devices have one thing in common - a battery charger. 

You would never think that charger could utilize a lot of energy, but when you're dealing with four, five, or even six different battery chargers, it adds up. 

In fact, roughly two-thirds of the energy used by mobile devices goes wasted. "It may seem like it's a very small thing when you think of an individual charger, but given the number of chargers that are out there it has the potential of large energy savings," claims Susan Smith, a communications manager at Nokia.

The California Energy Commission in the United States voted to adopt minimum energy efficiency standards for these devices. California alone boasts 170 million chargers, excluding San Diego (which wasn't included in the census). The new energy efficient chargers will save Californians an estimated $300 million a year in electricity costs.

To raise awareness, companies like Nokia, LG, Samsung, and Motorola have developed a new ratings system to show consumers exactly how much electricity chargers use during "standby mode." Five stars designate chargers using 0.03 watts or less. Chargers that consume over than 0.5 watts get a big, fat zero.

Says Smith: "The first thing is to make people aware that there are these issues around chargers, and that there are certain ones that are more energy efficient."

The ratings are based on the European Commission's energy standards for chargers and the internationally recognized Energy Star standards established by the U.S.'s Environmental Protection Agency.

In the near future, you an expect to see more announcements concerning developments in eco-friendly mobile technology. From recycled cell phones to more efficient laptop batteries, solar powered tablets to carbon-free electricity, the sky is the limit when no idea is left unturned.  

That's why NRGLab has thought long and hard about the future, and we feel strongly about some of the ideas we've come up with. For more information on any number of our current energy projects, visit nrglab.asia.

Because change is good! Working towards becoming a better person, a better company, a better planet - now that's change we can believe in. 

Is your engine at risk? How ethanol threatens the gas industry

New legislation requiring a minimum amount of ethanol to be blended with gasoline is causing quite a stir amongst the United States gas industry. By 2022, they’ll be mixing approximately 36 billion gallons of ethanol with their standard gasoline.

Is this a savvy consumption cutting maneuver? Or is it simply placing a bandage over a wound without washing it out first? We all know what happens when a wound gets infected…

A tough economy is forcing Americans to cut down on their daily driving. Last year, Americans drove 93 billion miles less than in 2007. This, combined with greater fuel-efficiency standards in newer vehicles, contributed to an 8 billion gallon decline in gas consumption – not an easy hit for the industry to absorb.

In the near future, all gasoline sold in the U.S. will contain at least 10% ethanol.

“Who cares?” you ask.

Well, most cars sold today feature engines with warranties that don’t extend to ethanol concentrations that high. Basically, a lot of angry motorists are going to be wondering why they have to lug their vehicles in for regular monthly maintenance, NONE of which is covered.

The Environmental Protection Agency waived restrictions in 2012 that allowed refineries to begin increasing the amount of ethanol being mixed into the gasoline - from 10% to 15%  - despite concerns raised from auto manufacturers. Raising the ethanol content of gasoline any further could decrease fuel efficiency by as much as 30%!

Gasoline with high ethanol content can also cause severe damage to your vehicle’s engine. Four years ago, Lexus was forced to recall vehicles with model years between 2006 and 2008 after reports that ethanol-blended gasoline was corroding their fuel injection lines.

Ethanol is considered the poster-child of government intervention gone awry. Originally intended as a means of reducing harmful emissions, new studies suggest that increased corn production and processing nullifies any potential carbon reductions.

Nowadays, roughly 40% of U.S. corn is used to produce ethanol rather than food. This has created a spike in food prices both domestically and abroad. In some countries, like Egypt and Brazil, rising food costs have led to civil protest.

All in all, ethanol has proven why government intervention in the development of new energy is futile, and more often than not, destructive. Instead of continuing to fight a losing battle, the U.S. needs to admit defeat, repeal the legislation calling for increased ethanol content, and allow the free market to dictate energy policy.

By allowing companies like NRGLab to develop and create innovative energy alternatives, we can ensure the future is brimming with fresh ideas, new perspectives, and the best possible intentions.