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If you have binoculars or a telescope, prepare for a one-time opportunity to see a comet zipping past the Earth toward the sun. The comet, which is over 38 million miles away, will travel around the sun and gain speed until it leaves our solar system. The best time to see Lulin will be Monday, February 23, 2009 at approximately 10:45 pm EST. At this time, the comet is expected to be near Saturn.
It is estimated that the comet has traveled nearly 18 trillion miles from the edge of our solar system. The truly unique and interesting thing about Lulin is the fact that it is traveling around the sun clockwise, and thanks to an optical illusion, it actually appears it’s tail is in front of the comet instead of trailing it.
So get out your binoculars and check it out!

After a decade in development, the toughest wind turbines ever built are ready to make their debut.

The machines are the world’s first designed specifically for the harsh and remote conditions of the sea and have been developed in Germany, by the French energy company Areva. The turbines have a new waterproofing system and a simplified and lighter design, which should mean they require fewer expensive maintenance visits and are cheaper and easier to install and maintain. The turbines will stand 90m above the water and have a blade diameter of almost 120m. At full power each of the 5MW turbines will supply enough electricity for 5,000 homes.

The offshore turbines in use today are simply windmills designed for use on land that have been taken out to sea. As such they are not optimised for reliability or ease of installation or maintenance, which drives up the cost of their operation. But, according to the Carbon Trust, a British government-backed company which invests in low-carbon technologies, driving down costs is crucial if the UK is to build the minimum of 29GW of offshore wind power needed by 2020 to hit the EU’s renewable energy targets. “Without urgent action there is a risk that little additional offshore wind power will be built by 2020 beyond the 8GW already planned or in operation,” it said.

In development for more than a decade, Areva has now unveiled plans to install six of the giant Multibrid M5000 turbines as part of the Alpha Ventus project, Germany’s first offshore wind farm to be situated 45km from the island of Borkum. They are expected to be in place by the end of the summer.

Have you ever considered that your reading habit could be impacting the environment? The Book Industry Study Group, a nonprofit research organization, reported estimated sales of 2.295 billion books in 2004. That number decreased slightly from an estimated 2.339 billion in 2003. So how can you help? The simple answer is eBooks. eBooks are available today as an alternative to just about any type of book you’re looking for. Using reference books as an example, I was able to locate great ebooks on wine pairing at www.FoodandWineBook.com, a book of best man speeches and toasts for all occasions at www.ToastersChoice.com, and a complete reference guide to planning the perfect wedding at www.OnlinePrintableWeddingPlanner.com. Each of these ebooks, not only offered comparable content to their paper-bound counterparts, but they were much less expensive than making a purchase in a traditional bookstore. So before you decide what to read next, take a look around and consider settling in with an ebook.

Toyota has announced that they will be selling a new pure electric vehicle in the U.S. by 2012. It could be a production version of the FT-EV concept that Toyota showed at the Detroit Auto Show. Based on the iQ urban runabout sold overseas, the diminutive city car could meet some of Toyota’s stated goals pretty easily. Toyota’s national alternative-fuel vehicle manager, Bill Reinert, said the company is “looking for a 50-mile range right now,” even when features like the defroster, heater, windshield wipers and stability control are in operation.

The car is expected to be powered by lithium-ion batteries. Reinert wants a charge time of about six hours using a conventional 110-volt household outlet or about two hours using a 220-volt outlet. Toyota still hasn’t decided whether or not the car will be available for purchase or if it will be lease only. Where and for how much they’ll be sold hasn’t been ironed out yet either, but we’ll be sure to fill in some of the details as they are issued.

With the rising cost of gas and concerns that too much of our food is being used for fuel, the world could really use a new way to make energy.

There could be a new way: algae. The slimy green stuff that grows so fast and is filled with so much oil, it could be the silver bullet we’ve all been looking for to create an energy-independent future.

Scientists around the world have been looking for a breakthrough in the process to turn the green into black gold, and the breakthrough happened in Minnesota.

At a lab in Anoka, Minn., a group tried a little experiment.

“We started with a clear liquid mixture on this side, we pumped it across this reactor filled with zirconia and we got a yellow liquid on the other end,” Krohn explained.

“So we knew we’d done something,” McNeff said. “We didn’t know what it was, but we had the instrumentation to take a look at it and compare it to biodiesel. And it matched perfectly.”

Their first experiment used soybean oil, which is the traditional feedstock for making biodiesel, but they went on to try other things.

“Our process can actually use waste produced by the original biodiesel process, waste from ethanol plants, waste from paper plants, food, restaurant oils, anything. It can convert anything into biodiesel,” Krohn said. “Well, any oil.”

The size of the process is also impressive. A model of the system produced 700 gallons of diesel per year and the reactor is small. A production-scale reactor will produce 7 million gallons of diesel a year.

“This is the future of America,” said SarTec scientist Ben Yan. “This is energy independence.”

Yan is the last part of the Mcgyan process. He says it can make fuel from anything with oil - pine trees, algae, the waste from making ethanol - and it does away with the food for fuel argument.

McNeff walked through a demonstration plant running behind SarTec’s shop. It’s as big as four trailers, so you don’t have to go to the refinery. The refinery can come to you.

“And then, over here with the power plant, that’s simply a diesel generator that supplies the electricity for the process,” McNeff explained. The generator runs, of course, on biodiesel: the refinery powers itself.

There’s no electricity, the process is perfectly clean and there’s no waste. Anything that doesn’t get turned into oil is reused through the process.

A new plant is being built in Isanti, Minn. Using the Mcgyan process, it will be up and running by October, producing 3 million gallons of diesel per year.

The Mcgyan inventors look forward to the benefits.

“Five cents on every gallon that’s produced there is going to come to Augsburg for building a new science building,” Krohn explained.

“For biodiesel, it was serendipity,” McNeff said. “It just fell out of the sky on us.”

The plant will start by converting the corn waste left over from making ethanol and will then move on to the real green.

Asked if algae represents the future of energy independence, McNeff said “I believe that 100 percent.”

If you like to mix your investing with your political agenda, then we’ve sifted and sorted through the stock market and attempted to identify the top ten stocks according to products and performance. As you will quickly notice, very few stocks have been fortunate enough to survive the wicked decline in the past year, so these stocks one-year performance are not stellar. However, we feel that when looking across all available stocks, they offer a solid opportunity to invest in the future and a stable company at the same time.

As always, if you find stocks you’d like to share with us or you would just like to offer your opinion of our opinion, drop us a comment.

Here’s the list, remember - invest at your own risk and always do your homework first.

Shaw Group (SGR)
Exelon (EXC)
Cameco (CCJ)
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (POT)
General Electric (GE)
Iberdrola (IBDRF)
Gamesa (GCTAF)
First Solar (FSLR)
Sun Power (SPWR)

Donning racecar-like artwork, the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid will take to the national stage this Sunday in Miami, becoming the first hybrid vehicle to serve as official pace car at a Nascar race. The car’s appearance at the Ford 400 will precede its scheduled world debut at the Los Angeles International Auto Show later this month.

The event will build upon a recent publicity blitz for the Fusion Hybrid which began with an online unveiling of the car, followed by the introduction of its new SmartGauge technology. The hybrid has also been named a finalist by the Green Car Journal for the magazine’s Green Car of the Year Award. The winner will be announced at the LA Auto Show.

The Fusion Hybrid powertrain couples a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine with a next-generation, high-voltage electric motor. In electric-only mode, the car is capable of reaching up to 47 miles per hour. (Most hybrids have an electric-only top speed around 30 miles per hour.) “Because our hybrid can run at a much higher speed in electric mode, you can do so much more in city driving situations,” said Gil Poralatin, Ford’s Hybrid Applications Manager, in a company press release. “Under the right conditions, you can drive in your neighborhood or in mall parking lots without using a drop of gas.”

The city fuel economy for the Ford Fusion Hybrid will be approximately 38 miles per gallon—beating the Camry Hybrid by 5 mpg. Furthermore, the car has a vehicle range of more than 700 miles on a single tank of gas. That’s about 300 laps at the Homestead-Miami Speedway—without having to refuel.

Many racing associations and circuits have been spotlighting eco-friendly alternatives like diesel and ethanol in recent years, but this level of exposure for a hybrid vehicle is unprecedented. Nascar’s fanbase is larger than professional football and baseball, combined. With over 80,000 race attendees and roughly 20 million television viewers, this could prove to be the ultimate hybrid endorsement.

Worldwide Pants Incorporated has announced a new partnership with EcoMedia, a leading eco-marketing media company dedicated to helping corporations improve the environment while connecting with their consumers.

As part of the newly-forged relationship, EcoMedia and Worldwide Pants will collaborate on entertaining, environment-related content to debut in the fall of 2008.

Visit www.ecozonemedia.com for more information.

Honda has officially announced that the Insight will be available beginning in the Spring of 2009. The Honda Insight will be the least expensive hybrid vehicle available in the U.S. when it hits dealerships. And although Honda has found a way to reduce the price, they haven’t been able to increase the efficiency. The Insight is expected to achieve around 42 mpg, which isn’t tremendously better than small gasoline-powered cars.

The car actually looks a little like the Toyota Prius. And, with Honda’s goal of selling 200,000 of these autos, they hope it finds the success that the Prius has enjoyed.

The Wind Power Conference and Exhibition for 2009 has been relocated to McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL due to the growing size and interest in this event. WINDPOWER 2009 Conference and Exhibition is the largest annual wind conference and exhibition in the world featuring over 13,000 attendees and over 776 exhibitors. Each year, wind energy professionals gather at this event to learn about the latest industry developments and technologies, review new products and services in the expansive exhibit hall, and network with leading industry decision makers.