The Aguçadoura Wave Energy Project off Portugal’s northern coast (near Oporto) is now operational and generating enough electrical power to satisfy the needs of 1,500 Portuguese homes. The full story from the UK Guardian:

From a distance, they look like nothing more than thin red lines on the horizon, easily lost amid the tumbling blue of the Atlantic Ocean. But get closer and the significance of the 140m-long tubes, 10 years in the making by a British company and now floating in the sea off the coast of Portugal, becomes apparent: they are the beginning of an entirely new industry in the hunt for clean power.

Yesterday, the red snake-like devices were inaugurated as part of the world’s first commercial-scale wave-power station, three miles from the coast of the northern Portuguese town of Aguçadoura. The project, which will generate clean electricity for more than 1,000 family homes in its first phase, marks the latest step in Portugal’s moves to become a leader in developing renewable energy sources.

At the heart of the Aguçadoura power station are three cylindrical wave energy converters, designed and built by the Edinburgh-based company Pelamis Wave Power. Moving up and down on the endless supply of waves in the open sea, they convert the motion into electricity, without emitting any of the carbon dioxide responsible for warming the planet.

“The future of wave energy starts today,” said Manuel Pinho, Portugal’s economics minister.

“Finland is very good in mobile phones, Portugal wants to be good in renewable energy. We are among the top five in the world, and we are just in the beginning of the process.

At peak output, the Pelamis wave machines near Aguçadoura will generate 2.25MW, enough for the annual needs of about 1,500 family homes. Eventually, the station will be expanded with a further 25 Pelamis machines so that it can generate up to 21MW of power. That will save 60,000 tonnes of CO2 per year compared with a conventional fossil fuel plant.

“If you compare it to wind energy, wave is more predictable and is more sustained typically,” said Ian Sharp of Babcock and Brown, the company that built and commissioned the Aguçadoura wave farm.

Each of semi-submerged Pelamis devices is 142m long, has a diameter of 3.5m and is made from 700 tonnes of carbon steel. A single wave converter is composed of four articulated sections that move up and down as the waves pass along it. At each of the hinges between the sections, hydraulic rams use the wave motion to drive generators to produce up to 750KW of power at peak output.

The electricity generated by the three Pelamis devices will be carried by undersea cable to a substation in Aguçadoura, which will then feed the power into the Portuguese national grid.

In addition to this flagship wave power, the Portuguese are investing heavily in other renewable technologies. They are already spending £250m on more than 2,500 solar photovoltaic panels to build the world’s largest solar farm near the small town of Moura in eastern Portugal. It will have twice the collecting area of London’s Hyde Park and supply 45MW of electricity each year, enough to power 30,000 homes.

In the past three years, the country has also trebled its hydroelectric capacity and quadrupled its wind power sources – northern Portugal has the world’s biggest wind farm with more than 130 turbines and a factory that builds the 40m-long blades.

Pinho wants Portugal to rival Denmark or Japan in its commitment to developing renewables industries – he predicts his country will generate 31% of all its power from clean sources by 2020, compared with Britain’s target of 15%. The Portuguese target means increasing the generation of electricity from renewable sources from 20% in 2005 to 60% in 2020.

Below the fold more on the technical aspects of the Aguçadoura Wave Energy Project from Power-Technology. (more…)

A new poll from National Public Radio (NPR) supports my thesis that while the national race has trended towards Senator Obama the race in the battleground or swing states remains competitive. My view is that Senator Obama is rolling up large majorities in heavily populated states like California (Obama leads by 17 according to Rasmussen Reports) that cannot be offset in smaller red states where McCain enjoys his largest leads. Even in Texas, the nation’s second most populous state, McCain only leads by eight. Looking at the polls in the battleground states as I do, it is pretty clear that in these states has remained tight with some states trending for Obama (Minnesota) and others trending for McCain (New Hampshire). Even so, in most swing states the race remains well with the margin of error or just outside of it.

A new NPR poll in the handful of hotly contested states that will decide the presidential election shows intense interest in the presidential debates that begin Friday. The survey of 800 likely voters in 14 states shows the race is a dead heat, and pollsters and voters agreed that the debates will be key in shaping their decisions.

On a national level, though, another new poll shows Barack Obama beating John McCain by 9 points. The ABC News/Washington Post poll out Wednesday links Obama’s surge to the country’s financial turmoil. But in NPR’s poll in battleground states, Obama still has work to do to meet voters’ high expectations.

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Well that didn’t take long, did it? The McCain campaign released a new ad today jumping on a comments by Senator Biden over the use coal plants in the United States. The ad is a 30 spot and running in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Now I actually agree with Senator Biden on this issue but I also don’t believe that he speaks for the Obama campaign either. Both McCain and Obama are for more coal-fired power plants. The problem for Obama is perception and not reality and to be sure it is one of his own making. He has been anything but consistent when it comes to energy policy other than his strong support for corn ethanol subsidies. It’s hard to believe anyone who voted for the Bush Cheney Energy Policy is now some sort of green evangelical. For Obama, it has always been the politics of expediency.

In terms of effect on the race, this ad is likely to gain McCain votes in two rather crucial states.

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In the second poll for New Hampshire (link is to US Census demographic data) in as many days, today’s Rasmussen Reports poll confirms yesterday’s Granite State University of New Hampshire poll pointing to a modest McCain trend and a narrow McCain lead.

John McCain has gained ground for the third straight month and now holds a slight two-point advantage over Barack Obama in the swing state of New Hampshire.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Granite State finds McCain attracting 49% of the vote while Obama earns 47%. A month ago, it was Obama by a point.

At the moment, the presidential race in New Hampshire is a toss-up. Nationally, the race remains close in the Daily Presidential Tracking poll.

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The Rasmussen Reports poll out today for Alabama (link is to US Census demographic data) gives Senator McCain a 21 point advantage over Senator Obama, 60% to 39%.

John McCain now leads Barack Obama 60% to 39% in Alabama, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state.

A month ago the Republican was ahead 55% to 37%. The race has never been closer than 15 points since polling began in April.

Ninety-four percent (94%) of Republicans and 11% of Democrats support McCain, while 85% of Democrats and six percent (6%) of GOP voters back Obama. Unaffiliated voters favor McCain by a whopping 70% to 28% margin.

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The first poll out for Maryland (link is to US Census demographic data) from Rasmussen Reports points to an easy landslide win for Senator Obama. Senator Obama leads Senator McCain 60% to 37%, a 23 point margin.

Barack Obama is dominant in Maryland’s presidential race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the Democrat ahead of John McCain by a 60% to 37% margin.

This is the biggest lead the Democrat has held in the state this year. Last month, Obama led 53% to 41%. Maryland has cast its ten electoral votes for Democratic candidates in the last four elections.

This month, Obama leads 57% to 38% among unaffiliated voters in the Old Line State. He also leads McCain 52% to 36% among men and 58% to 37% among women.

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The US Presidential race in Colorado remains rather dynamic and fluid with the lead changing back and forth. This week, the Rasmussen Reports poll shows Senator Obama leading Senator McCain 50% to 47%, a five point swing from last week when McCain lead by two points.

This week in Colorado, it’s Barack Obama with a modest lead over John McCain.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds the Obama attracting 50% of the vote while McCain earns 47%. A week ago, McCain had a two-point advantage. Over last four Colorado polls, each candidate has had a slight advantage twice and the two men have never been more than three percentage points apart.

In fact, the race in Colorado has been close since tracking began back in February, with the biggest advantage for either candidate being Obama’s 49% to 42% edge in July.

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Hank Paulson is my former CEO. I have always respected him and at no time more than I do now. I have read with amusement, really more horror, across many blogs from conservative to liberal deriding the $700 billion bailout plan that has been put together by Secretary Paulson. Let me put it in very simple terms why this bailout plan needs to be passed this week.

Liquidity is to the economy what oxygen is to life.

You can debate whether Wall Street compensation should be covered or not but the urgency of the matter dictates an infusion of capital to shore up investor confidence that might yet allow banks and other financial institutions the time to work through the non-performing assets on their balance sheets. Fail to provide the necessary liquidity and you will have more institutions fail causing only more distress to an already beleaguered financial system. Note that even financial institutions not even remotely connected to the subprime mortgage mess are at risk. Goldman Sachs did not participate in any of these credit derivative swaps and yet it has to scramble in recent days changing its regulatory status from investment bank to bank holding company as well as having to seek an infusion of capital.

It is ironic that when last we faced a fast moving global financial crisis in 1998 when a South East Asian currency crisis in short order caused a run on the Russian rouble that then caused Western banks to buckle as the Russian bond market collapsed coupled with a then overheated stock market then suddenly and violently pulled back leading in turn to the collapse of Long Term Capital of Connecticut, we did not debate the need to act. Then as now a Goldman CEO as was the helm of the Treasury Department. Then as now a plan was decided upon and presented. But we weren’t in the midst of a Presidential campaign then and it is truly beyond belief that Americans from across the political spectrum now would prefer to play political games that only endanger the solvency of American and international enterprise. I’m talking to you Barney Frank. I’m talking to you Newt Gingrich.

Liquidity is to the economy what oxygen is to life.

If the above is too difficult to understand, Mr Frank and Mr Gingrich then do us all a favour and try not breathing.

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Here are nine articles from both the US and international media about the US Presidential race. Highlights of each article provided with a link to the full article.

Economic Discontent Boosts Barack Obama Over John McCain
By Gary Langer writing for ABC News.

Barack Obama has seized the reins of economic discontent, vaulting over John McCain’s convention gains by persuading voters he both better understands their economic troubles and can better address them.

Concerns about the economy have spiked since the global financial crisis roiled the stock market and sparked a proposed government bailout.

Fifty-three percent of registered voters in this new ABC News/Washington Post poll call the economy the single most important issue in the election, up 12 points in two weeks to an extraordinary level of agreement.

A Note to Bill Clinton
By Paul Slansky writing for the Huffington Post.

You’re not fooling anyone, Bill. You’ve gotten so caught up in yesterday that you’ve stopped thinking about tomorrow. You have the power to influence millions of voters and you’re spitefully sitting on it. Surely you’ve noticed what’s going on in the country. Surely you’re aware of what’s at stake on November 4th. This is not a game that you can afford to take your ball and go home with if you don’t get to play the position you want. An Obama loss will most certainly be part of your legacy.

If Obama loses a close election — one in which even one state where you could have made a difference goes for McCain because you sat home and pouted — it will be on you. We will remember that you couldn’t be bothered to rise above your petty resentments for something as trivial as saving your country from the enemies of everything you profess to believe in. We forgave you for Monica, Bill, but we won’t forgive you for this.

Grim Proving Ground for Obama’s Housing Policy
By Binyamin Appelbaum in the Boston Globe.

The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold 504 apartments subsidized by the federal government for people who can’t afford to live anywhere else.

But it’s not safe to live here.

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale – a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.

Grove Parc has become a symbol for some in Chicago of the broader failures of giving public subsidies to private companies to build and manage affordable housing – an approach strongly backed by Obama as the best replacement for public housing.

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Here is the Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 edition of what’s making news and interesting reads from around the world. Also please note that off to the left there are two widgets with updates on news from Asia and the world in a separate page: Around Asia & Around the World New Feeds.

A Profile of Taro Aso, Japan’s New Prime Minister
Japan’s next prime minister, Taro Aso, is an old-school patrician with a penchant for comic books. At 68 years old, he’s been a lion of industry, a foreign minister and is now a Catholic. He is related to royalty, folk heroes and five former prime ministers. Yet frequent public gaffes, and a growing rich-poor rift, mean Aso’s famous pedigree may not be enough to win snap elections in October. More from the Asia Times.

Almost Half of Mbeki’s Cabinet Quits in Challenge to ANC
South Africa’s new President Kgalema Motlanthe’s first challenge will be to name a new cabinet and provide a sense that South Africa’s constitutional order remains intact. The story in the UK Guardian.

Finland Deaths Spark Gun Law Call
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen called for gun laws to be tightened after a school shooting that left 11 people dead. The country has a long tradition of hunting and weapons-bearing, with about 1.6 million firearms in private hands – third in the world behind only the US and Yemen, studies say. Mr Vanhanen said: “The question is what kind of guns should be available with a licence. After these incidents, we have to discuss whether handguns should be legal.” More from the BBC and from Euro News.

Syria Emerges From the Shadows
Der Spiegel looks at how Syria is emerging from isolation. Though Washington still counts him as part of its axis of evil, Europe and Russia — and, more recently, even archenemy Israel — are courting him as a negotiating partner.

Myanmar Frees Thousands, Including Political Prisoner
Myanmar’s military government said it freed 9,002 prisoners on Tuesday, including the country’s longest-serving political prisoner, Win Tin, and four people elected to Parliament in the landslide victory of opposition parties in 1990, an election result that the junta has never recognized. The complete story in the New York Times.

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