october was a whirlwind! i did pass my classes - even energy technology, painful as it was... and then whisked away to the States, with 2.5 weeks to see friends and find ways to streamline my life - like sell my car and pack up my stuff (for easier mobility). Then i came back and went to Singapore for the Carbon Forum Asia (http://www.carbonforumasia.com/) - which was quite inspiring - i've several new ideas - an urban wind energy tunnel (with a twist, of course) - and i've come across a plastics recycling project (using pyrolysis) that might serve as a precedent for a similar idea i'd had (but with different end-products)... still like the wave converters... that's going to hit the big time one of these days ;) Mostly, i've been gravitating to the totally clean energy lately, rather than the biofuels - though i believe there's a definite and necessary role for biofuels to replace existing fuel sources, particularly while other infrastructures are built. the problem is, biofuels needs it's own infrastructure too... it should still be developed as a source for electricity via waste-to-energy (ie, biogas) in a closed system, or back to a grid. In terms of vehicles/transport, it seems to me the most versatile solution would be an electric (fuel cell) car.
If that's the case though, scientists and engineers must find a way to replace rare earth metals with synthetic or polymeric alternatives - look at mining now - every country with gold or any other metal worth something is more likely to be experiencing significantly more violence and civil wars, often a territorial fight over mines, which are notoriously undocumented.
so, as you can see, i'm raring to go for semester two. It is nice to be in bangkok - not sure if it's "home" exactly, but it's something...
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