NewNergy

NewNergy discusses the latest inventions, innovations and breakthroughs in the energy & environmental sciences.

Solar Cell Components without Using Fossil Fuels

Posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 5:33 AM

Cleaner than clean energy: BioSolar creates new plastic backing for photovoltaic cells out of cotton and castor beans rather than petroleum products

Solar energy is touted by some as the solution to the world's energy woes. But the process of making the various components requires fossil fuels, both for power and for the components themselves, some of which are based on petroleum.

A new company, BioSolar, aims to kick petroleum to the curb, at least in the realm of building solar photovoltaics, cells of crystalline silicon that turn sunlight into electricity. Such photovoltaic cells rely on conventional plastic polymers to provide a protective backing, also known as backsheets. Those plastics are made from—you guessed it—petroleum.

BioSolar starts with used cotton rags and turns them into a film of cellulose, a natural fiber. They then blend this film with a type of nylon made from castor beans by Philadephia-based Arkema, Inc. to make the so-called BioBacksheet. Initial testing by the company at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows that this flexible plastic backsheet lasts as long or longer than conventional ones, and keeps out just as much moisture.

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Can Magnet-Driven Motor Replace the Gas & Diesel ?

Posted on Thursday, January 29, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:56 PM

Herman Wilt, Vidalia inventor thinks he may have the motor to revolutionize the world.He now has two patents on his Magnet Assist motor. A carousel of magnets push and pull against two beams and turns these gears. Herman said the motor can run off a fraction of the energy traditional motors that gas or electric use now.

He says the difference in this motor and others is it actually uses less energy the harder it runs. He and wife Katherine now have 2 patents on the motor, but they're waiting on more independent testing before he takes it to American-based manufacturers. "We'd be able to increase our fuel mileage on gas motors and diesel motors. We could also eliminate the gas or diesel motors and go strictly electric," he contended.

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New Super-Efficient LED Light

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:30 PM

LED light bulbs are already more efficient than our average bulb, but researchers at the Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new kind of LED that exhibits both improved energy efficiency and lighting performance. The researchers‘ polarization-matching LED shows an 18 percent increase in light output and a 22 percent increase in wall plug efficiency (the amount of electricity that the LED converts into light).Renssalaer’s LED is more powerful thanks to a reduction in “efficiency droop”, which makes LEDs most efficient when receiving low-density electrical currents and least efficient when higher density electrical currents are received.

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Thin-Film Solar Material Could Charge Portable Devices?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:14 PM

Massachusetts based solar upstart Konarka has developed a low cost thin-film solar material that may one day revolutionize solar power. The solar film is made by printing a secret polymer ink onto thin filmstrips using a converted Poloroid press. When light contacts the film, the ink emits electrons and generates an electric current.

The material, called Power Plastic®, is a lightweight, flexible and inexpensive source of power for portable devices and structures. While Power Plastic® is currently being used in handbags and patio umbrellas to charge portable devices, Konarka hopes to perfect a translucent version of the product within the new few years.

Power Plastic® has several advantages over traditional photovoltaic technology including a higher efficiency at low light levels, the ability to flex to a 2-inch diameter and an extremely low production cost. The flexibility factor means that the solar film can be integrated into new materials such as fabrics.

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Caviar Green - Energy-Efficient 2TB Hard Drive

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 7:58 PM

Western Digital releases energy-efficient 2TB Hard Drive,which drive features IntelliSeek technology to find the drive’s optimal speed at any given point in time. That means the Caviar Green only uses as much energy as it needs, resulting in energy savings of up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives.The Caviar Green also utilizes Western Digital’s GreenPower technology to ensure low temperatures for increased reliability and quiet operation. And of course, the hard drive has impressive stats: 32 MB of cache, 500 GB per platter, and 26 to 29 dBA of noise from idle to seek mode.

Labels: computers, efficiency, energy

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Fission - Fusion Hybrid - A Possible Solution for Clean Nuclear Power?

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 5:51 PM

Nuclear power is one of the most controversial alternative energies, partially due to the toxic waste it creates. Now physicists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a system that uses fusion to eliminate the transuranic wastes created by nuclear plants.

The scientists’ proposed fusion-fission hybrid reactor contains a Compact Fusion Neutron Source (CFNS) that provides neutrons through fusion to a surrounding fission blanket that uses transuranic waste for nuclear fuel. The neutrons augment the fission reaction, thus giving the waste incineration process efficiency and stability.

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Regenerative Shock Absorbers For Energy Retention

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 3:48 AM

Regenerative braking usually is one of the selling points of hybrid cars, and this technology help increase mileage and energy retention thus it is economically viable to exploit similar technologies.

Engineers at Tufts University have created regenerative shock absorbers and hopefully, there will be the new way of harnessing energy from the vertical movement of a vehicle. According to Tufts Journal, the technology using Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS)is an electromagnetic linear generator, which converts energy that would otherwise be lost, into electrical energy that can help charge a vehicle’s battery. It is said that it could potentially increase mileage by 20% to 70% and be employed in hybrids such as the Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Chevy Volt.

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Quad Wind Turbine Array-Breakthrough in Wind Resource Utilization

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 2:54 AM

Greenward Technologies Announces a Major Breakthrough in Wind Resource Utilization Using Their 'Quad Wind Turbine Array. Greenward Technologies, Inc. announced today that data from controlled velocity testing of their scale model counter-rotating quad wind turbine array strongly supports the Company's 'Wake Convergence plus Swirl Cancellation' hypothesis.

Single flow channel at about 2 ½ to 3 rotor diameters downstream, then fully restoring to free stream velocity at just under 5 rotor diameters. This really got our attention, particularly in view of the fact that the CFD study did not consider the effect of counter-rotating swirl. If the turbine wakes can be made to converge quickly, then it is a virtual physical requirement that the opposing swirls will sum to zero, or cancel each other'.

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Rooftop Wind Turbine- A New Invention

Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:30 PM

Seattle inventor Chad Maglaque has a dream. A dream that he will one day be able to walk into a big-box store and purchase a rooftop wind turbine along with his giant jar of mayonnaise.

The invention meets the "simple" criteria: the 3-foot turbine is made from a motor similar to a blender's, mounts directly onto the roof, and gets plugged into an electrical socket. But instead of drawing electricity, it would generate power and deliver it back to the grid.Maglaque says it won't be enough to power an entire house, but could light a home using high-efficiency bulbs.

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Wood-Eating Marine Gribbles For Better Biofuel

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:39 PM

A marine bug that eats boat bottoms and pier supports has been identified as the likely key to improving the efficiency of biofuel production.Four-spotted gribbles are able to break down cellulose in wood to make sugar. Scientists are convinced that by mimicking the process they will be able to produce better biofuel.

Research is under way to pinpoint the enzymes produced in the bug's stomach, and the genes that control them, so that the process can be applied to woody biofuel crops such as willow.The investigation is being carried out as part of research by the Sustainable Bioenergy Centre, a £27million initiative announced yesterday that is the biggest public investment in bioenergy research.

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Nuclear Waste To Carbon-free Energy

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:19 PM

Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have designed a new system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to eliminate most of the transuranic waste produced by nuclear power plants.The invention could help combat global warming by making nuclear power cleaner and thus a more viable replacement of carbon-heavy energy sources, such as coal.

The scientists propose destroying the waste using a fusion-fission hybrid reactor, the centerpiece of which is a high power Compact Fusion Neutron Source (CFNS) made possible by a crucial invention.The CFNS would provide abundant neutrons through fusion to a surrounding fission blanket that uses transuranic waste as nuclear fuel. The fusion-produced neutrons augment the fission reaction, imparting efficiency and stability to the waste incineration process.

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Rice Husk To Energy With Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Posted on Monday, January 26, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:23 PM

One invention that has helped Filipino families is Professor Alexis Belonio's stove powered by rice husks. He literally turned agricultural waste into purified gas in a top-lit, updraft and biomass gas stove.

A ton of rice husks contains the same energy as 415 liters of petrol, or 378 liters of kerosene. A few handfuls of rice husks can boil water in six to nine minutes. Best of all, the rice husks are usually free--from farms or waste dumps that surround rice mills--and it is more efficient than ordinary cookers. Belonio's stove reduces greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate toxic fumes inside the houses. Even the char left after burning can be recycled to use as fertilizers or bio-coal briquettes.

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Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes Using Alcohol

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 11:15 PM

A Duke University-led team of chemists has modified a method for growing exceptionally long, straight, numerous and well-aligned carbon cylinders only a few atoms thick that paves the way for manufacturing reliable electronic nanocircuits.

The team had already described a method last April for growing the crystals, but the modification is targeted at making a process specifically for producing semiconducting versions of the single-walled carbon nanotubes, sometimes called buckytubes because their ends, when closed, take the form of soccer ball-shaped carbon-60 molecules known as buckminsterfullerines, or "buckyballs".

In their earlier work they had used the alcohol ethanol in the feeder gas to provide carbon atoms as building blocks for the growing nanotubes. In the new work, they describe how they tried various ratios of two alcohols -- ethanol and methanol -- combined with two other gases they also used previously -- argon and hydrogen.

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Wind Energy From Hot Air Balloons

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:40 PM

Environmental consultant Ian Edmonds has developed a “balloon engine” that could potentially compete with wind power. According to Edmonds, a 44 meter-diameter balloon could generate 50 kW of power—enough energy for 10 homes. If the balloon’s diameter is doubled, power production increases tenfold.

Edmond’s system works by using solar energy to fill a balloon with hot air. The rising balloon pulls a tether, which turns a generator on the ground. Once the balloon has floated up to 3 kilometers, air is released and it loses buoyancy. The balloon needs less energy to be pulled down and a net power gain is reached as a result.

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Ultra-Large Scale Vertical Wind Turbine- Will It Work?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:24 PM

Adam Fuller, Wisconsin inventor has designed a 12 foot diameter, 36 foot tall patent-pending wind turbine.Fuller’s design consists of 8 turbines that each have 4 structural steel wind scoops. There are multiple points of impact for the wind to hit, so even the slightest breeze will spin the blades. So far, the prototype has worked flawlessly.While nobody has ever made an ultra-large scale vertical turbine before, Fuller thinks his design is an excellent candidate.

His thought is that a 40 foot baffle will increase output by 1200 percent. If the 40 foot baffle system is successful, that means that 1 turbine and baffle system (about $200,000), would have the same amount of power as 12 turbines without baffles (about $150,000 ), so there’s financial efficiency.Eventually, Fuller wants to build a 120 foot model of his turbine. He estimates that it could produce 30,000 to 75,000 kWh—enough for 30 to 70 homes.

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Nanotech catalysts For Alcohol- Powered Green Cars

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:01 PM

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a new nanotechnology catalyst that could make alcohol-powered fuel cells possible for the first time.Like batteries that never die, fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water while producing electricity. However, hydrogen is difficult to produce and explosively dangerous to store and transport.

As an alternative, hydrogen-rich compounds like ethanol - basically, pure alcohol - can be oxidised into the hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Up until now, though, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol's carbon atoms.

The DOE's breakthrough is to develop an electrocatalyst, made from platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles, that can break carbon bonds at room temperature, with just carbon dioxide as a by-product.

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Nuclear Fusion Power For Future Energy?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 12:15 AM

A Burnaby, B.C. company says it's only a few years away from producing electricity in a way that has eluded scientists for years -- nuclear fusion.If they succeed, cheap and nearly limitless energy could be on the horizon, said General Fusion's Michel Laberge, the scientist behind the project.

Nuclear fusion power isn't the kind of power that's created in traditional nuclear power plants. There, large atoms are split into smaller atoms to create energy -- and there is the risk of a nuclear meltdown. With nuclear fusion, small atoms are fused together to create power, a much less dangerous and much cleaner process.

What distinguishes General Fusion from billion-dollar fusion megaprojects is that they have produced the telltale reaction at a fraction of the cost.They have produced a small device at only $800,000, and have their sights set on the next stage of the project at $50 million, said Laberge's partner, Doug Richardson.B.C. believes they can generate net gain (of electricity) in three to five years, and get power on the grid in ten years.

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Clean Energy from Slow-moving River Currents

Posted on Sunday, January 25, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:56 PM

VIVACE (Vortex-Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy) invented by Mike Bernitsas, director of the Marine Renewable Energy Laboratory at the University of Michigan, is a device to harness energy in slow-moving water currents across the globe and turn it into electricity. Unlike water-driven mills, turbines or dams, VIVACE doesn't require fast-moving water _ most streams on the globe are slow-moving _ and doesn't harm the environment.

The envision is groups of cylinders in frames on the ocean bed or in streams, perpendicular to currents. As the water flow hits the cylinders, it creates vortices that cause the cylinders to move up and down. That energy drives generators to make electricity, which goes through cables to the electrical grid on land. The size, number and placement of the cylinders depends on the body of water.

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Painting Photovoltaic (PV) Cells For Efficient Solar-Cell System

Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:36 PM

A simple solar-cell method being developed in the UK could provide as much electricity as that produced by 50 wind turbine farms.UK Trade & Investment publication Trade with Britain says that scientists are developing this new ecofriendly technology, after having investigated ways of painting photovoltaic (PV) cells onto the flexible steel sheeting and surfaces commonly used for cladding homes, offices or buildings.

Unlike conventional solar cells, the materials being developed at Swansea University, in Wales, are more efficient at capturing low-light radiation. Paint is applied to ordinary steel cladding when it is passed through rollers during the manufacturing process.The researchers believe that the same approach could be used to build layers of the solar-cell system, with the aim of producing cells that can be painted onto a flexible steel surface at a rate of 30m2 to 40m2 a minute.

They have been collaborating with the steel industry for decades but have tended to focus their attention on improving the long-term durability and corrosion resistance of the steel.Worsley maintains that the potential for the product is immense. Corus Colors (manufacturers of pre-finished steels), produces around 100-million square metres of steel building cladding a year. If this was treated with the PV material, and assuming a conservative 5% energy conversion rate, then we could be looking at generating 4 500 GW of electricity through the solar cells annually, which is the equivalent output of roughly 50 wind farms.

According to UK journal New Scientist, the new PV paint will be based on dye-sensitised solar cells. The report notes that instead of absorbing sunlight using silicon like conventional solar panels, these use dye molecules, attached to particles of the titanium dioxide pigment used in paints.

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Smallest Fuel Cell Could Replace batteries?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:32 PM

US chemical engineers have built the world’s smallest fuel cell, clocking in at only 9 cubic millimeters. While the hydrogen-fueled cell is currently a prototype, it could one day replace batteries in portable electronics.

Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created the cell using 4 components: a water reservoir, a chamber containing metal-hydride, a thin membrane separating the two, and an assembly of electrodes. The device’s water flow is conducted by surface tension— so it will work even if moved and rotated.Small holes in the membrane let the water molecules reach the chamber as vapor. The vapor then reacts with the metal hydride to form hydrogen, which fills the chamber, pushes the membrane up, and blocks the flow of water.

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Genetically Engineered Reflective Crops to Reduce Global Warming

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:24 PM

Researchers at the University of Bristol in England think that one easy way to counteract global warming is to plant crops that reflect more sunlight. Plants reflect different amount of sunlight depending on their waxiness and growth patterns.

The researchers’ bio-geoengineering technique could potentially lead to a 2°F drop in temperature across central North America and pieces of Europe and Asia. Existing crops could be used and more reflective crops could also be bred or genetically engineered.While bio-geoengineering won’t put a complete stop to global warming, it is a relatively cheap, simple tool that could at least buy us some time.

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Third Generation Biofuels: Corn with Embedded Cellulase Enzymes

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 8:18 PM

A new variety of corn developed and patented by Michigan State University scientists could turn corn leaves and stalks into biofuels far more efficiently than existing techniques for cellulosic biofuels.

The variety of corn has cellulase enzymes embedded in its leaves. This makes it a crop typical of so-called 'third-generation' bioproducts - green fuels and products are made from energy and biomass crops that have been designed in such a way that their very structure or properties conform to the requirements of a particular bioconversion process. The MSU scientists have tricked corn in such a way that it already contains the needed enzymes itself, in its leaves.

An example of such third-generation biofuels are those based on tree crops whose lignin-content has been artificially weakened and reduced, and disintegrates easy under dedicated processing techniques. Low-lignin hybrid trees (poplars) are being developed by several research organisations, amongst them the laboratory of the father of plant genetic engineering, Marc van Montagu of the University of Ghent, Belgium.

Content credit: Mongabay

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World’s Toughest Wind Turbines

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:10 PM

The first turbines designed specifically for offshore wind energy are finally ready for deployment in Germany after 10 years of development. Areva’s turbines are waterproofed, light, and have a simplified design— meaning they are easy to install and maintain. At full power, each 5MW turbine can supply enough energy for 5,000 homes.

The 120m blades are reinforced with carbon fiber to make them as light as possible, and all of the mechanisms needed to change their position are encased to prevent damage from sea air. Additionally, the turbine’s generator and engineering components are hermetically sealed.Areva plans on installing 6 of the 90m tall turbines as part of Germany’s first offshore wind project, located 45km off the island of Borkum.

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Third Generation Biofuels via Direct Cellulose Fermentation

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 8:02 PM

Here's an interesting research paper on a new process called Consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) in which cellulase production, substrate hydrolysis, and fermentation are accomplished in a single process step by cellulolytic microorganisms.

According to the paper, CBP offers the potential for lower biofuel production costs
due to simpler feedstock processing, lower energy inputs, and higher conversion
efficiencies than separate hydrolysis and fermentation processes, and is an economically attractive near-term goal for “third generation” biofuel production.

In this review article, production of third generation biofuels from cellulosic feedstocks will be addressed in respect to the metabolism of cellulolytic bacteria and the development of strategies to increase biofuel yields through metabolic engineering.

Read the full research paper from here (PDF) - note: this document opens as a new document on your machine, not in your browser

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AFEX - A Cost effective Pretreatment For Cellulosic Ethanol

Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:57 PM

A new process invented by Michigan State University helps to increase the yields of cellulosic ethanol at a reasonable premium. Michigan State University comes in with a new patented process. Bruce Dale, University Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the university, has invented a cheap pretreatment process using ammonia, called AFEX (ammonia fiber expansion).

Its 75 percent more efficient than with traditional enzyme treatments says Professor Dale, and is easier and more affordable than acid pretreatments. The process frees up a lot of sugar to be used in the fermentation to produce more ethanol.It's possible to use AFEX to pretreat corn stover (cobs, stalks and leaves) and then hydrolyze and ferment it to commercially relevant levels of ethanol without adding nutrients to the stover. It's always been assumed that agricultural residues such as corn stover didn't have enough nutrients to support fermentation. We have shown this isn't so.

Washing, detoxifying and adding nutrients back into the pretreated cellulose are three separate steps. Each step is expensive and adds to the cost of the biofuel. Breaking down cellulose into fermentable sugars cost effectively has been a major issue slowing cellulosic ethanol production. Using AFEX as the pretreatment process can dramatically reduce the cost of making biofuels from cellulose.

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WiTricity- Technology for Wireless Electricity

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 9:09 PM

The makers of PowerBeam, which is being showcased at a gadget show in Las Vegas this week, believe their invention will make the word 'recharge' redundant.They claim their technology – billed as WiTricity – will enable any gadgets which use batteries or power cords to be powered by electricity supplied by an invisible beam.

Similar in design to the way wireless hubs allow access to the internet without the need for wires, the PowerBeam could revolutionise the way laptops, music systems and other household electrical items are powered."The optical technology turns electricity into optical power," the creators say."That power is then beamed across open space into a receiver. Similar to a solar cell, the receiver turns the optical power back into electricity. Whatever device is attached to the receiver is powered without any wires."

The technology can currently send about 1.5 watts of power to a solar cell situated 10 metres away and PowerBeam's co-founder David Graham suggests this can be increased without difficulty. An average laptop uses between 30 and 50 watts.Fears have been raised about the health consequences of using wireless technology such as this, but these have been dismissed.

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Plastic Solar Cells For Portable Electronic Devices

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:08 PM

Solarmer Energy Inc. is developing plastic solar cells for portable electronic devices that will incorporate technology invented at the University of Chicago.

The invention, a new semiconducting material called PTB1, converts sunlight into electricity.Inventors Luping Yu, Professor in Chemistry, and Yongye Liang, a Ph.D. student, both at the University of Chicago, and five co-authors describe the technical details of the technology in an online article published Dec. 18, 2008, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The active layer of PTB1 is a mere 100 nanometers thick, the width of approximately 1,000 atoms. Synthesizing even small amounts of the material is a time-consuming, multi-step process. An advantage of the Chicago technology is its simplicity. Silicon-based solar cells dominate the market today. Industry observers see a promising future for low-cost, flexible solar cells. If people can make them sufficiently efficient, they may be useful for all sorts of applications beyond just the traditional solar panels on your house rooftop.

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Sulphur Polymer Concrete From Hazardous Petroleum Wastes

Posted on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:33 PM

Sulphur-modified concrete, developed from petroleum wastes, will be used in installing a new series of pipelines and manholes in the sewerage system here, as developers believe it will provide better and long-lasting concreting solutions.

The substance, called Sulphur Polymer Concrete (SPC), has been manufactured from recycled wastes and has been viewed as an inexpensive and durable solution for the construction industry. The invention has also offered a new technique in managing hazardous wastes, generated by oil refineries, said Dr Abdul Mohsin O. Mohammad, director of research at the UAE University (UAEU).The production of SPC does not emit carbon dioxide.

The scientists have used sulphur - a by-product of the oil industry - fly ash - a by-product from the cement industry - and sand from the abundant sand dunes and stone quarries in the UAE.Extensive test results indicated that the SPC material had high compressive strength, low hydraulic conductivity and high resistance to permeation of water, sulphuric acid and salt solutions.

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Flying Saucer With Anti Gravity Technology - Will it Work?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:39 PM

A Michigan man has designed a flying saucer that he says one day could transport you back and forth to work.It's a flying machine that has been in the works for 30 years. Alfie Carrington has invented the XV7H,That will cruise 700 miles an hour."I won't go to mach speed, too controversial," said Carrington.

His own version of Anti Gravity Technology Propulsion: His idea is to fire up the vessel with a rotary engine to stimulate a magnetic levitation system to rotate the ship's two discs. The discs would draw air into propeller blades.

"The outer disc rotates in one direction as it draws air in through the inlet holes. And then the inner disk that rotates in the opposite direction," said Carrington. Some how creating an electromagnetic force for lift and funneling air for directional control.The entire bill, about $70,000 so far, has been footed by the 59-year-old dishwasher and construction worker.The experts say it's impossible.Carrington says he'd like to debate them face-to-face about his work in progress.

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Garbage for Fuel & Construction- Breakthrough in Waste Management

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:06 PM

University of Utah civil engineer Lawrence Reaveley came up with a potentially brilliant new idea for disposing off the enormous amount of garbage generated on the planet each day, in the form of a new patent idea that claims plastics – which make up the majority of wastes worldwide – could be used for construction purposes, sound, or heat insulation, as well as for generating electricity through burning.The present invention relates to methods for reclaiming plastics and cellulose materials for use in a variety of applications, including as alternative fuel sources.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the cellulose and plastic materials are shredded or ground, and then blended together. The blended materials can then be fed to an energy converter, such as a combustion unit or a gasifier, where they are burned as fuel source or used to create synthetic gas.Or the Blended materials are heated or have a binding element added thereto. Such mixture is then compressed to form a desired shape or sized object, and that object can then be packaged, distributed, or used. The blended object can be used as a fuel source, or as a building, sound attenuation, or insulation material.

Basically, slabs made of plastic, either pressed together with fiberglass of metal rods (for resistance), or melted so that the plastic keeps the mixture together, could be used for insulating buildings both thermally and acoustically. If they are reinforced, the slabs could also be used as walls and other high-strain construction elements, and could even be employed as a structure for new edifices.

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Zero-energy Computers from Fujitsu Siemens

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 5:08 PM

Fujitsu Siemens has announced a new desktop PC dubbed the Esprimo Green or “Zero-Watt PC,” which the company will showcase during the CeBIT electronics show to be held in March. The system is being touted as the first in its class that will not consume even a single watt-hour of electricity in sleep mode and will still be able to keep all its electronics powered up.

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Li-ion Batteries - Introduction of Silicon Make them Better?

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 5:06 PM

The performance of these batteries needs to be considerably improved to keep the promise of a better and fossil-fuel free world of tomorrow. Researchers from Stanford University claim to have fixed most of the problems associated with traditional Li-Ion batteries, with the introduction of silicon into these batteries.

Silicon for long has shown its potential in solar cells, but its introduction in Li-Ion batteries was pulled back by one major drawback – silicon expands too much during ion insertion, rendering the battery unstable. Traditional Li-Ion batteries work on the movement of lithium ions from anode, which mostly is made of graphite to the cathode. The graphite material ensures no volume change during ion transfer, but the overall capacity of the battery is limited and it finally limits possibilities of next-gen devices and cars.

This new research overcomes the drawbacks of both graphite and normal silicon with the use of a nanostructured form of silicon dubbed the core-shell structure.

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Proteus, Syngenta Collaborate on Enzyme Development for Biofuels

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 5:04 PM

Proteus announced that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with agribusiness firm Syngenta. The two companies plan to work together on the development of novel high performing enzymes for next generation biofuel production.

The collaboration with Proteus will help Syngenta to accelerate development by offering technology that complements our core skills in plant expression, according to the company

Both diversity screening and directed evolution methods will be used for the discovery and the optimization of targeted enzymes for the conversion of biomass into biofuels, Proteus said.

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Photocatalysis for Green Future ?

Posted on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:10 PM

Photocatalysis is an innovative means of producing hydrogen from water using sunlight – and possibly turning carbon dioxide into methanol, as Tom Shelley reports. Success with that idea would solve, at one blow, both the problem of what to do with sequestered CO2 from burning fossil fuels and the problem of replacing them with a replacement ‘green’ fuels.

The basic process involves photons of light striking a very thin layer of semiconductor, typically only one micron thick, which produces electrons and holes – the same principle as that used in a photovoltaic cell. In a photocatalytic cell, however, the electrons combine with hydrogen ions in water at the cathode surface to produce hydrogen gas molecules, whereas the holes interact with water molecules at the anode surface, in order to produce oxygen and hydrogen ions, which have to be able to migrate through the material to the cathode. The cells can be made planar, as is the case with photovoltaic cells, or as particles, dispersed in water.
Whereas it is quite easy to make a device that produces small amounts of hydrogen, producing larger amounts has so far defeated many expert minds.

The key points are,

* New materials offer the possibility that photocatalytic conversion of water to hydrogen for fuel can be accomplished using a much wider part of the solar spectrum than at present

* The ideal material has not yet been found, but progress is being made and there are many more material combinations to try

* Photocatalytic destruction of organic pollutants and organisms is already a proven commercial technology, using ultra violet light, but can also be accomplished using sunlight

* There is also the possibility of using photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to methanol

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Vertical-axis Wind Turbine-Breakthrough in Offshore Wind Energy

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:08 PM

Project Nova (Novel Offshore Vertical-Axis), to which Qinetiq is a key technology supplier, was given the go ahead on 13 January 2009 by Lord Hunt, the UK Minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation, as part of a potential £1.1billion fund.

Project Nova's innovative aerogenerator wind turbine is based on a pair of giant V-shaped composite wings that will be scaled up to 120m high and rotate around the central axis to create power. Invented by David Sharpe and developed by Wind Power Limited, the aim is for a large-scale demonstrator to be installed offshore within six years and for offshore vertical-axis turbines to provide 1GW of power by 2020.

Offshore vertical-axis wind turbines are claimed to offer the potential for a breakthrough in offshore wind energy availability and reduced life-cycle costs due to their inherent design characteristics of few moving parts, insensitivity to wind direction, and the siting of the generator at base level potentially allowing large-scale direct drive. Their relatively low centre of gravity and overturning moments (in the case of Nova's aerogenerator) make the turbines highly suitable for offshore installation. In addition, they are potentially 'radar friendly' compared to existing horizontal-axis wind turbines.

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Alubond SCP Solar Panel-Breakthrough in Solar Energy

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 7:53 PM

American Building Technologies, a subsidiary of Mulk Holdings, a multi-national group based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has managed to devise a new method of producing solar energy at a 50 percent lower cost, while at the same time increasing the efficiency of the entire process. The new production system is several times lighter than previous photovoltaic cell systems, and has a 92 percent reflexivity rate, which makes it highly competitive as well.

The new class of panels doesn't require rivets for its joining corners, which somehow makes it weigh about 4 kilograms per square meter, as opposed to the massive 12.5 kilograms per square meter an average glass-encased panel weighs. Aluminum-based designs are lighter than glass ones, but require large components to fix them, which drastically increase their weight. Rivets make the entire construction lose its reflectivity, and thus decrease efficiency.

Alubond SCP is a 3 mm composite weighing approximately 4 kg per sq m with a 92-per-cent reflectivity. The product’s ability to retain a parabolic shape to precise coordinates, and its lightweight features and innovative rivetless joining process, substantially reduces the substructure costs.

“We hope the success of this project will lead to an upsurge in the development of more solar energy plants, which will not only lessen the strain on existing energy resources, but also severely reduce the pollution levels that are currently witnessed in power generation,” a Mulk spokesman says, commenting on the revolutionary breakthrough.

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MKII- A Southern Invention Turns Sewage Algae to Oil

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 1:28 AM

A Southern invention that turns sewage algae into crude oil is now operational but commercial testing of it is still three months away.The machine, known as the MKII, replicates the way oil is created naturally by pressure and those working on the project say it is 10 years ahead of similar projects worldwide.The oil produced can be refined into petrol, diesel and aviation fuel.

Invercargill engineering firm BL Rayners Ltd and Christchurch recycling company Solvent Rescue Ltd have collaborated under the name Solray to develop the machine, which has taken them 18 years to perfect.Solvent Rescue owner Chris Bathurst said the MKII had been operating for the past four months after performing to expectation during its testing phase.

Sewage To Oil

* The machine uses high pressure to turn algae, grown in sewage ponds, into algal sludge.

* The sludge is then processed using pressure, temperature, timing and a secret catalyst to turn it into crude oil.

* The crude oil can then be refined into jet fuel (kerosene), petrol, methane, LPG, diesel, or bitumen.

*The sewage pond water is left clean enough to be re-used by industry.

* The algae absorbs carbon dioxide.

* The process replicates how oil is created naturally, but much faster.

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Three-layer solar cell- A New Solar Energy Breakthrough

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:23 PM

German researchers say they’ve broken a new record for solar energy efficiency, converting a full 41.1 percent of the power of incoming rays into electricity.“We are elated by this breakthrough,” said Frank Dimroth, a member of the research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE).

“The high efficiencies of our solar cells are the most effective way to reduce the electricity generation costs for concentrating PV (photovoltaic) systems,” said Andreas Bett, department head at Fraunhofer ISE. “We want that photovoltaics become competitive with conventional methods of electricity production as soon as possible. With our new efficiency results, we have moved a big step further towards achieving this goal.”

The Fraunhofer system concentrates incoming sunlight by a factor of 454, then focuses the beams onto tiny — 5 millimeters square — solar cells made of gallium indium phosphide and gallium indium arsenide on a germanium substrate.Previously, such so-called “metamorphic multi-junction” solar cells presented efficiency problems because of hard-to-eliminate defects in the solar cell’s crystal materials. Rather than get rid of the defects, the Fraunhofer team found a way to localize the defects in parts of the solar cell that aren’t electrically active. The result: a solar cell whose electrically active regions are free of defects and capable of record-high efficiencies.

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Can a car run on water?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 9:14 PM

A local inventor says he has figured out how to boost a car’s fuel efficiency by using water; experts say laws of physics are against him.Inventor Rob Juliano stands in front of a customer’s engine that’s been outfitted with an electrolysis-based hydrogen gas pump he’s developed. The system uses power from the car battery to break down water into its gaseous components, which are then pumped into the engine with the goal of improving fuel efficiency.

Hydrogen is being pursued as a fuel by car manufacturers.Honda earlier this year debuted its FCX Clarity, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle powered by an electric motor. BMW has developed a car that can use either gasoline or hydrogen to power a traditional motor.Juliano, however, is peddling something a bit different. Through his company — UnitedH2O.com — builds and installs electrolytic hydrogen generators. They are small, footlong canisters that use electricity from a car battery to break water into its gaseous components, hydrogen and oxygen.

The gases are then funneled into the engine, where — due to the combustive nature of hydrogen — it is used to help drive an engine’s pistons. The process means less gasoline is injected into the piston cylinders, hence the car can travel farther on less gas, thereby increasing the car’s fuel efficiency. In other words, Juliano says cars with his system get more miles per gallon.Lincoln City resident Linda Young, who paid roughly $1,100 to have Juliano install the system, says her gas mileage has increased nearly 65 percent.

But Hydrogen can be used as a fuel, but to create it onboard a vehicle with electricity from a battery, which is charged by an alternator, which is turned by an engine, which is powered by gas, constitutes a perpetual motion machine, says Robert Paasch, the Boeing professor of mechanical design at Oregon State University’s School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.According to the first law of thermodynamics, which states energy can neither be created nor destroyed, the car as a perpetual motion machine is an impossibility, Paasch said. It takes more energy to create hydrogen from water than you get in return when burning the hydrogen in the engine, he said.

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UMass Team Promotes Microbial Fuel cell to Clean Up Waste

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:50 PM

A group of physicists and engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst propose a portable water closet that uses bacteria to clean up waste, eliminate odor and generate its own electricity.

The essence of the company is a particular strain of bacteria and an associated microbial fuel cell. According to Malvankar, a recipient of the Eugene M. Isenberg Award at UMass, the bacteria’s ability to generate small amounts of current made it useful, but only for certain applications.“It doesn’t generate enough energy to compete with wind or solar, and it isn’t really cost effective for waste water treatment,” he said. “But it works well in portable toilets, which are traditionally very unpleasing places.”

The system can produce enough power for the unit’s fan and light, according to Malvankar.Bug Power’s bacteria doesn’t break down all the waste, but Malvankar said that when dealing with porta potties, any reduction is an improvement.“If we can even reduce the servicing by half, it will be a huge savings for distributors,” he said.

While Bug Power’s application may be novel, the potential of microbial fuel cells is being looked at in several other local companies. Fall River’s Hy-SyEnce Inc. and Cambridge’s IntAct Labs LLC are applying the technology to generating large-scale power from waste water and industrial waste products. At Harvard University, a group led by researcher Peter Girguis is hoping the technology can help provide power for lighting and other systems in developing nations.

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A Green Nano-Technology For Enhanced Lithium Battery

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 2:28 AM

Apogee Power Inc. a Silicon Valley based clean tech battery research company announces the launch of its Nano-Technology Enhanced, Lithium cordless power tools and power tool replacement batteries. Apogee's patented LiCoO2 and C-LiFePO4 battery packs and cordless tools are the only cost effective green technology that can replace toxic NiCd and NiMh. While improving tool performance Apogee power tool replacement batteries are lighter weight, have longer useful life and provide more productivity per charge.

Apogee Power has been working under the radar for the past 6 years to develop a complete line of impact cordless power tools and battery packs which incorporate its Nano-Tech Ultra-Pulse Capacitor technology. This patented Ultra-Pulse Capacitor technology enhances the power and performance of lithium batteries. Apogee offers not only a line of tools but also a line of replacement batteries that can immediately replace NiCd, NiMh and Lead Acid batteries in cordless power tools, UPS systems, solar, wind and other alternative energy battery systems. The Apogee replacement batteries can be used on existing Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh) tools. These new battery packs can be charged using the existing NiCd and NiMh chargers. The consumer needs no additional equipment purchase.

Not only this technology 100% environmentally sound it offers better performance and significantly longer useful life.The Apogee Power line of Li-Ion (LiCoO2) and C-LiFePO4 tools and battery packs are designed for use in DIY, Semi-Professional, Professional and specialty cordless tools applications. Apogee has the highest efficiency Impact Wrench and Impact Driver tools available on the market today. The Apogee 14.8v Impact Wrench out performed all competitors' 18v tools and other widely known brands by 50% more lugs per charge. Apogee also has the only 12v impact wrench available. This new technology offers significant cost savings.

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Arboform - A Liquid Wood To Replace Plastic

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 2:16 AM

Though it has proven to be extremely useful in the modern world, plastic still has a number of negative selling points. There is a new chemical invention that could do away with these long-standing concerns.Norbert Eisenreich, a senior researcher Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfinztal, Germany, said his team of scientists have come up with a substance that could replace plastic: Arboform - basically, liquid wood.It is derived from wood pulp-based lignin and can be mixed with a number of other materials to create a strong, non-toxic alternative to petroleum-based plastics, Eisenreich said, as reported by DPA news agency.

"The cellulose industry separates wood into its three main components -- lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose," ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann told DPA.The lignin is not needed in papermaking, however. They mix that lignin with fine natural fibers made of wood, hemp or flax and natural additives such as wax. From this, they produce plastic granulate that can be melted and injection-moulded.The final product can resemble highly polished wood or have a more matted finish and look like the plastic used in most household items.

The German researchers were able to reduce the sulphur content in Arborform by about 90 percent, making it much safer for use in everyday items.Bolstering Arboform's environmental credentials, Eisenreich's team also discovered that the substance was highly recyclable.

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Hybrid 4 Technology To Reduce CO2 emissions

Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:30 PM

First seen as a concept at last years Paris Motorshow – Prologue Hybrid 4 – Peugeot’s new 3008 cross-over vehicle can now be revealed in all its glory.Hybrid 4 Technology describes the hybridisation of a traditional engine with an electric motor, in an original layout in engineering terms that also allows the possibility of four wheel drive.

While the traditional engine is located as usual under the bonnet and drives the front wheels, the electric motor is located under the load area floor adjacent to the rear suspension. This technology not only represents a real breakthrough in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions (a reduction of around 35%), but also in terms of four wheel drive.

This technology makes it possible to combine dynamic performance with respect for the environment, while at the same time maintaining the benefits of a spacious vehicle. Another important benefit is that there are no mechanical connections between the front diesel engine and the rear electric motor, everything is controlled electronically “by-wire”. This avoids any architectural constraints affecting the interior space and style of the passenger compartment.

The HYbrid 4 technology, which is still under development, was incorporated into the T84 programme from the very outset, since it is fully consistent with the approach adopted for the vehicle. In accordance with the announcement made at the Paris Motor show, the 3008 will be the Group’s first vehicle to be equipped with Hybrid 4 technology. The commercial launch of this four wheel drive hybrid cross-over is planned between now and 2011.

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Renewed Energy: Sugarcane could Fuel the Military Jets?

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:20 PM

In the fields of lower Alabama, sugar cane may soon become the new cash crop, harvested to fuel the U.S. Air Force.State leaders and privately held Amyris Biotechnologies envisage a $500 million-$600 million venture that would not only grow sugar cane but also refine it to fill up military jets. Officials hope the first gallon could be sold by 2012 or 2013.

The Amyris project - still in its preliminary stages - is staking its success on the Air Force, whose entire fleet is mandated to have the capability of running on a 50-50 mix of petroleum and alternative fuel. Montgomery, Ala., is home to a large Air Force base. Amyris also aims to supply the Air Force with 30% of its alternative fuel needs nationwide, Chief Executive John Melo said this week.

Most biofuels made in the U.S. are in the form of ethanol distilled from corn, which can be grown over large swaths of the country. Sugar cane can also be used to produce ethanol, but Amyris uses centrifuges to separate the hydrocarbons from water, in much the same way that milk is separated in dairy farms. Amyris plans to find partners to build and operate a refinery that would convert sugar cane to jet fuel.

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Sun-reflecting Crops Could Reduce Global Warming

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 4:12 AM

Jan 2009

Farmers could help produce cooler temperatures and limit global warming if they grow crop varieties that reflect more sunlight into space, British researchers said recently.

Using a global climate model, they found this strategy could cool much of Europe, North America and parts of North Asia by up to one degree Celsius during the summer growing season, enough to make a difference in easing heat waves and drought.

It would also translate into a 20 percent reduction in a predicted five degree Celsius temperature rise for the region by the end of the century, Andy Ridgwell and colleagues said in the journal Current Biology.

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Dangers of the Next Generation Biofuels

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 3:40 AM

While a large section of the alt energy industry - especially the bio-energy industry - is optimistic about the next-generation biofuels being in a position to provide transportation fuels in a sustainable manner, a diverse alliance of organizations published an open letter recently in the U.S. and internationally warning of the dangers of industrially produced biofuels (called agrofuels by critics). The letter explains why large-scale industrial production of transport fuels and other energy from plants such as corn, sugar cane, oilseeds, trees, grasses, or so-called agricultural and woodland waste threatens forests, biodiversity, food sovereignty, community-based land rights and will worsen climate change. With the new Obama Administration slated to take office Tuesday, the letter's originators warn that if Obama's "New Green Economy" runs on agrofuels it may trap the U.S. in a dangerous "Green Bubble" of unrealistic promises from an unsustainable industry.

"This no longer about corn ethanol-turning any plants into fuel is simply not renewable," stated Dr. Rachel Smolker, co-author of the letter and Global Justice Ecology Project agrofuels specialist. "All plants, edible or not, require soils, water, fertilizers and land, all of which are in shortening supply. Yet these unsustainable technologies are commanding the vast majority of renewable energy tax incentives, at the expense of genuine cleaner energy solutions like conservation, efficiency, wind, solar, and ocean power. Additionally, because agrofuel crops rely on fertilizers, 44% of which are imported, they cannot even satisfy the calls for U.S. energy independence."

Now, that's a rather forceful statement. I think their arguments merit more introspection. For instance, take cellulosic ethanol. Even if the entire world's cellulosic feedstock were to be converted to ethanol, from some estimates I made earlier, it would only replace a max of 30% of the total world's transportation fuels. Now, we are never going to be able to use all the available cellulosic biomass, so the total replacement is going to be much less than 30%. In fact, according to some of the studies made by large consulting groups, by 2030, it is likely that cellulosic ethanol will only form less than 20% of the total transportation fuel. Now, if this is all we are going to achieve by massively turning all cellulosic feedstock into ethanol, is the effort worth it?

Possibly, the only silver lining could be algae. Algae are the only feedstock that can completely replace all fossil fuels (at least in theory). And algae do not even have most of the negative effects that the second-gen feedstock have. So, perhaps, just perhaps, it will be algae that will save the world. It should however be pointed out that energy from algae is in the research phase and no company is really producing oil on a commercial scale from algae. But we always have hopes for the future, don't we?

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Cost Effective Generation of solar energy Using Titanium dioxide

Posted on Friday, January 16, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 10:46 PM

Jonathan Goldsteinan, Israeli chemist came across a novel way to produce inexpensive, clean solar energy. 3GSolar, the company born of that serendipitous discovery, is now poised to light up the developing world.

Goldstein's deceptively simple solution is set to revolutionize dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) technology, invented in 1988 by Swiss scientist Michael Graetzel. The cells are photovoltaic (PV), meaning they convert radiant energy - such as sunlight -- into electricity with the help of a layer of semiconductor. The larger DSC could be a cheaper and more available alternative to silicon, the relatively expensive and scarce semiconductor currently used in most solar-energy panels. Silicon solar panels are also costly to produce.

A cheap white powder called titanium dioxide had a track record in DSC technology. If treated with an absorbable dye, titanium dioxide becomes sensitive to light.We can easily screen-print thin layers of titanium dioxide on surfaces and churn out plates of this material and then oven-bake the layer on firmly - it can even be baked on in the air, with no need for expensive equipment.Goldstein's low-cost current collector enabled building tablemat-sized cells and extracting the generated current.The glass-based titanium-dioxide-treated panels are expected to debut at half the cost of similarly sized silicon panels.

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Polyflow Process For Flexible-Packaging Recycling

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 9:52 PM

Recycling and waste-to-energy technologies promise eco-friendly 'second lives' for flexible packaging.Multilayer packaging is very difficult to recycle because it contains many different polymers. Polyflow Corp is working on a technology that will recycle mixed, dirty plastic and rubber waste, sans sorting. “Our process can even take metallized film,” CEO Joe Hensel remarks. The process also does not require metal screws or paper labels to be removed from the packaging before processing.

Using high-temperature anaerobic de-polymerization and chemical reactions, the Polyflow process converts mixed-waste polymers back into monomers that can be sold to petrochemical companies to make polymers. Hensel says the technology could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil used for plastic manufacturing by as much as half. Major products of the Polyflow process are styrene and its precursors, gasoline blendstock and other hydrocarbons. The company says its technology will be able to produce 0.7 tons of light hydrocarbon liquid for every ton of polymer feedstock.

Polyflow does admit that at this stage in development, the concept carries processing costs that are about 10 percent higher than those of a typical major petrochemical company making the same virgin products. Where the Polyflow concept enjoys an economic advantage is the cost of raw materials; Dirty, mixed plastic and rubber feedstock often is available locally, in abundance and carries a low price tag.

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Ultra-Pulse Capacitor technology For Extra Power Lithium Batteries

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 3:15 AM

Apogee Power has been working under the radar for the past 6 years to develop a complete line of impact cordless power tools and battery packs which incorporate its Nano-Tech Ultra-Pulse Capacitor technology. This patented Ultra-Pulse Capacitor technology enhances the power and performance of lithium batteries. Apogee offers not only a line of tools but also a line of replacement batteries that can immediately replace NiCd, NiMh and Lead Acid batteries in cordless power tools, UPS systems, solar, wind and other alternative energy battery systems.

The Apogee replacement batteries can be used on existing Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMh) tools. These new battery packs can be charged using the existing NiCd and NiMh chargers. The Apogee Power line of Li-Ion (LiCoO2) and C-LiFePO4 tools and battery packs are designed for use in DIY, Semi-Professional, Professional and specialty cordless tools applications. This new technology offers significant cost savings.

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Hubless Windmill – A New Wind Energy Invention

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 3:00 AM

Wind power is a useful source of clean energy, but it suffers from several shortcomings – not least the fact that the best wind-farm sites tend to be far from the areas that consume the most power.Setting up conventional windmill-style wind turbines in cities is impractical because they need to orientate themselves towards the wind and so require a relatively large amount of space in which to pivot.

Now Sridhar Condoor at Saint Louis University in Missouri has designed a hollow, cylindrical wind turbine that has no central hub. Its tube-like form means the device could be placed around a pre-existing feature such as a chimney stack, cellphone mast or even a tree trunk.The outside of the turbine is a cylinder that is incised with inlets to catch the wind from any direction and toothed on the inside to drive a gear that powers a generator.

A cylindrical frame within allows the main cylinder to rotate freely and can be mounted around another object - either vertically or horizontally. That makes it possible to install without needing clear space, and could even provide a way to hide ugly features, the patent says.

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Charred wood-'Green coal' to get a tryout

Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:30 PM

North Carolina is about to become the nation's test case for what marketers call "green coal" -- wood that has been baked into charcoal.But the option of locally grown fuel is not without challenges and environmental concerns. Still, advocates of the process believe the technology is on the verge of a breakthrough.

The process is not as simple as collecting dead branches from the forest floor. The wood has to be treated in an industrial oven until it turns to charcoal. It remains to be seen if the experimental ovens can mass-produce charred wood of a uniform quality that won't clog power plants sensitively calibrated to burn coal.When burned, wood releases significantly less sulphur and almost no mercury. And wood doesn't add to the atmospheric greenhouse gases that are believed to cause global warming.

Charred wood, a type of biomass, would be a major breakthrough because it can be pulverized into a fine powder for burning in existing power plants, potentially displacing a third of the coal in some plants, advocates say. By blending wood with coal, Progress wouldn't have to build a separate power plant for incinerating wood chips, thus eliminating a multimillion-dollar expense from the green energy equation.

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Low temperature fuel cells: Energy Efficient Technology To power Cars and Mobiles

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 11:13 PM

A new version of an environmentally friendly, energy efficient technology that could replace combustion engines in cars and batteries in mobile devices such as phones and laptops is being researched by Aberdeen experts.

Academics from the University of Aberdeen are investigating the possibility of a new type of low temperature fuel cell.Fuel cells convert fuels into electricity directly without the need for combustion.Low temperature fuel cells could be used to provide power for vehicles, portable devices and small stationary power in a way that is less damaging to the environment than current powering methods.However making fuel cells as common and widely available as the conventional battery or engine is proving difficult because there are several significant challenges that still need to be overcome - including the high cost of the components and the low tolerance of the fuel cell to carbon.

The innovative electrode design will enable the fuel cell to use either carbon-contaminated hydrogen or hydrocarbon fuels such as methanol, biofuels or natural gas without the need for upstream reforming - a costly and cumbersome process whereby hydrogen fuels are "cleaned" prior to use. This makes it a more cost effective option than the low temperature fuel cell systems that are currently on the market. The new low temperature fuel cell will be able to use carbon-containing fuels directly and is expected to drastically accelerate fuel cell technology breakthrough into the current market.

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Alubond Solar Collector Panel-A New Efficient Solar Trough system

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:32 PM

American Building Technologies Inc based in Rockford Illinois, a subsidiary of the UAE based multi national group Mulk Holdings, has successfully tested an innovative solar collector panel named the 'Alubond Solar Collector Panel'.

The U.S. Patented Solar collector Panel is an important technology breakthrough that improves efficiency and lowers production costs of solar energy globally. Coventional Solar Troughs used in Solar generation are either in glass mirrors weighing over 12.5 kgs per m2 or single skin aluminium with a high reflective laminated film requiring heavy support structures and numerous riveting reducing the efficiency of the troughs. Alubond SCP is a 3 mm composite weighing approx 4 kgs per m2 with a 92% reflectivity and offering a 20 years exterior performance warranty.

The products ability to retain a parabolic shape to precise coordinates and its light weight features and its innovative rivetless joining process substantially reduces the substructure costs. The Solar Trough system is expected to lower current costs of solar generation (using Photo Voltaic technology) by more than 50%.

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A Nanomaterial To Make Flexible Electronic Devices & Solar cells

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:17 PM

South Korean scientists on Thursday unveiled a manufacturing process for large-scale, nanomaterial films that can herald the production of flexible electronic devices.The Sungkyunkwan University-Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) team, said graphene film with a diameter of 10 cm has been created by adopting a conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique.

Graphene is a one-atom-thick, honeycomb-like nano material structure that can handle 100 times more electric current than copper and transfer electrons 100 times faster than monocrystalline silicon, used in conventional semiconductors.

The wafer-scale graphene is expected to be used in flexible displays, wearable computers and advanced transistors and electrodes. It can also replace indium tin oxide, used extensively in the production of touch-screen panels and solar cells. The CVD technique calls for heating a mixture of methane, hydrogen and argon gases to 1,000 C and using it to attach carbon atoms to a 300 nanometer-thick, flat nickel catalyst

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$100 Million Initiative from Stanford to Tackle Energy Issues

Posted on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 8:13 PM

Jan 2009

Recognizing that energy is at the heart of many of the world's tribulations—economic, environmental and political—Stanford is establishing a $100 million research institute to focus intently on energy issues, President John Hennessy told a capacity crowd Monday afternoon in Memorial Auditorium.

The $100 million in new funds will enable the hiring of additional faculty and support new graduate students, in addition to the more than $30 million in yearly funding now spent on energy research. Stanford researchers are tackling some of the world's most challenging problems, such as finding an alternative to coal that is environmentally friendly yet cheap enough to sell to China. Hennessy described that particular quest as the Holy Grail of energy research.

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Nuclear Fusion - Could Fulfill the World Energy Need?

Posted on Monday, January 12, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:03 PM

After decades of discouraging setbacks, plasma physics has made jaw-dropping recent progress.To show that fusion has practical value, a consortium in Europe will build the world's largest fusion reactor in France. In a few months' time, construction of a new power plant will begin in Cadarache, near Marseille, as part of a project known as ITER (originally "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor"). The 500-megawatt experimental reactor should produce ten times more energy than necessary to heat its plasma.

What fusion power plants can do, in theory, sounds a bit like witchcraft. Nuclear fusion converts matter to energy, so a 1000-megawatt fusion reactor would require an amazingly small amount of fuel. It would burn the weight equivalent of around ten cubes of sugar per hour. A kilogram of hydrogen could generate as much electricity as 11,000 metric tons of coal.

For half a century physicists around the world have struggled with the problem of bringing nuclear fusion under control. Fusion -- as opposed to fission, which drives all commercial nuclear power plants now -- could solve a number of problems related to energy generation. The general public has given up hope in fusion, after all this time, but scientists working in the field of plasma physics appear to be making significant progress.

Fusion takes place by itself within stars. Under conditions of extreme heat and pressure, hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium atoms, releasing enormous amounts of energy. This process of fusion, lasting for billions of years, has provided a constant supply of light and warmth on earth. But a process comes naturally to the sun is not so easy to reproduce in a lab.Plasma, to physicists, is the fourth physical state after solid, liquid and gas and high-temperature plasma has a density of about one millionth that of air at sea level. As soon as the plasma comes into contact with the walls of the reaction chamber, the impurities it picks up cause it to lose temperature. Then the fusion process then breaks down. New reactors, using huge microwave components, heat the hydrogen plasma within seconds to temperatures several times those of the sun.

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“Thin-film” Solar Cells- A New Solar Energy Innovation

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:36 PM

IBM recently released its third annual “Next Five in Five” list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live, and play over the next five years. One of the innovations to make the November 2008 list was “energy saving solar technology will be built into asphalt, paint and windows”.

Ever wonder how much energy could be created by having solar technology embedded in our sidewalks, driveways, siding, paint, rooftops, and windows? Until now, the materials and the process of producing solar cells to convert into solar energy have been too costly for widespread adoption. But now this is changing with the creation of “thin-film” solar cells, a new type of cost-efficient solar cell that can be 100 times thinner than silicon-wafer cells and produced at a lower cost. These new thin-film solar cells can be “printed” and arranged on a flexible backing, suitable for not only the tops, but also the sides of buildings, tinted windows, cell phones, notebook computers, cars, and even clothing.

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Silencer for Genset Reduces Global Warming

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:06 PM

A person hailing from Bihar, India has invented a generator silencer which would not only be helpful in keeping the environment clean but would also help to deal with the problem of global warming.

Virendra Kumar Sinha, has inveneted the silencer cum exhaust filter for the generator set after a hard work of six years. Sinha said his product was put under test in three stages in the laboratory of Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Ranchi, where the lab technicians reached on the conclusion that the product was capable of reducing the harmful carbon-dioxide and carbon-monoxide gases to the extent of 60 to 70 per cent emitted by the genset.

After the lab test at BIT, the product also got patent for the innvotion on September 17, 2008 by Indian Patent Office, Kolkata. The invention would help in checking the global warming also, Sinha said adding that the exhaust silencer was capable of sucking the carbon gases inside its drum reducing the level of carbon emission into the environment to the level of 70 per cent.

Labels: co2, greenhouse-gases

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New green cement to cut out globe-warming CO2 emissions

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 9:46 PM

A cement made of magnesium silicates in place of limestone can absorb, over its lifecycle, around 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of cement and cut out greenhouse gas emissions.

Making traditional cement results in greenhouse gas emissions from two sources: it requires intense heat, and so a lot of energy to heat up the ovens that cook the raw material, such as limestone.That then releases further carbon dioxide as it burns. But, until now, no one has found a large-scale way to tackle this fundamental problem.

The new cement, based on magnesium silicates, not only requires much less heating, it also absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide as it hardens, making it carbon negative. The new environmentally friendly formulation means the cement industry could change from being a “significant emitter to a significant absorber of CO2,” says Nikolaos Vlasopoulos, chief scientist at London-based Novacem, whose invention has garnered support and funding from industry and environmentalists.

Labels: co2, greenhouse-gases

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Is Wind Energy the Most Likely Winner in the Alt Energy Stakes?

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 8:17 PM

You have heard it before - there is no one silver bullet for alternative energy sources. Today, we are trying to figure out all possibilities, and we have the following prominent contenders:

1. Solar Energy
2. Wind Energy
3. Biomass and Biofuels
4. Geothermal Energy
5. Tidal & Wave Energy
6. Hydro-power

The first three are indeed where most of the investment and research are going on, though of course geothermal could be a surprise winner.

While on the one hand we might want to derisk alt energy research by not betting on just form of energy, there is a view gaining ground that wind energy might be the single largest source of alternative energy within the next 15 years. Why is this so?

1. It has one of the higest EROI (energy return on input) - about 20, much higher than most other sources
2. It is a well understood form of energy unlike tidal and wave energy.
3. Its contribution to the overall electricity generation worldwide has been increasing tremendously over the past decade years (about 10 GW worldwide capacity in 1998 to 100 GW by 2007!)
4. There are indications that wind could contribute close to 20% of the total electricity in the US by 2020.
5. The cost of wind power is about 10 c per kWh and this could come down further. A few more cents down, and it is competitive with coal-powered grid electricity cost.

Well, if over the next 10 years electric vehicles take off, then wind could become a contributor to transportation energy as well.

I don't have estimates of how much % of world's electricity wind can theoretically supply by 2050, but if it is anything above 30%, I'd bet wind energy to be the biggest winner in this game.

What do you think?

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Petroleum Mixed with Wastewater Reduces Emissions by 84%

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 9:11 AM

Taiwanese scientists discovered that a new fuel can be made by combining industrial wastewater and petroleum oil. The new fuel’s efficiency is increased by 14% and is a friendly way to treat industrial wastewater as well.

Scientists from National Cheng Kung University mixed HFO (heavy fuel oil) with wastewater and burnt them together. By mixing 80% of HFO with 19.9% wastewater and 0.1% surfactant, the CO emissions are reduced by 84% compared to the emissions generated by burning standard HFO in the same boiler. The new fuel also drastically reduces other emissions such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organics.

How does this improvement come about? By adding wastewater to the oil, micro explosions take place prior to the ignition of oil, causing it to atomize into a fine vapor. This leads to a complete and also to a lower temperature combustion reducing pollution from nitrogen oxides.

Source

Labels: co2, environment, waste, water

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Paper from Elephant Poop - Mr. Ellie Pooh from Sri Lanka

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 9:03 AM

Now, you might be excused for thinking what I'm gonna say is a pile of, er, poop, but not, this is true.

A company in Sri Lanka is making paper from elephant poop:

"Since an elephant’s diet is all vegetarian, the waste produced is basically
raw cellulose. Thoroughly cleaned and processed, the cellulose is
converted into a uniquely beautiful textured product, marketed as “Ellie
Pooh Paper”.

So, thus we have the company Mr. Ellie Pooh making what else, ellie-pooh paper.

Source: TreeHugger

Labels: animal-waste, cellulose, environment, waste

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Microorganisms of Termite guts offer hints on biofuel

Posted on Sunday, January 11, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 11:06 PM

Researchers have scooped soil near the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts, visited a Russian volcano, and scoured the bottom of the sea looking for microbes that hold the key to new biofuels. Now, they are investigating deeper into the belly of termites.

The otherwise dreaded insect is a model bug bioreactor, adept at the difficult task of breaking down wood and turning it into fuel. Learning the secret of that skill could open the door to creating a new class of plant-based fuels to offset the nation's reliance on petroleum products.

In a study published last year, Leadbetter and others explored a small sample of termite gut bacteria genes, and found 1,000 involved in breaking down wood.The new study, which focuses on one of the most voracious of the 2,600 termite species,shows how a partnership within termite guts helps explain wood digestion.

The microorganism, called P. grassi, breaks down cellulose, a component of wood. A bacterium that lives inside that microorganism provides nitrogen, necessary for life but scarce in wood. Researchers have sequenced the genes of the bacteria and some of the protozoa, and are now analyzing the ones involved in digesting cellulose — in hopes of better understanding the secrets of the digestion process.

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EPA Approves A Safer Refrigerant with Low Global Warming Potential

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 10:06 PM

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a homemade formula for a refrigerant in home appliances and air-conditioners that is safer for consumers and the environment.

Richard Maruya designed his HCR-188c hydrocarbon blend as a replacement for refrigerants that deplete the Earth's ozone layer and/or contribute "greenhouse" gases to the atmosphere. His precise mixture of ethane, propane, isobutene, normal butane and other naturally occurring compounds has zero ozone-depleting potential and very low global warming potential.

And, because appliances using HCR-188c require only one-quarter of the usual amount of refrigerant, the danger from fires and leaks is extremely low. Independent testing also has shown that appliances with HCR-188c use less energy and provide a greater degree of cooling. Maruya's HCR-188C has been independently evaluated to have zero ozone depletion potential and a global warning potential of less than five over 100 years. By comparison, the global warming potentials of HFCs range from 140 to 11,700.

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Nano particles to Improve the Efficiency of photo-cells

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 9:52 PM

Nano particles may improve the working of photo-cells.An important reason for the conversion efficiency being low is that all the light that strikes the photo cell does not get used and also that the cell cannot convert all the colours of light that are there in sunlight.

Kylie R Catchpole and Albert Polemen, working in the Institute for Atomic and Molecular physics at Amsterdam, have reported in their paper that the nano-particle method they have developed seeks to remedy these two shortcomings of solar cells.

In the normal course, a photon striking a metal would be absorbed, allowed to pass through or reflected. When the metal is in the form of a nano-particle, of the dimensions of the wavelength of light and atomic particles, however, different processes kick in - there is formed on the surface of the nano-particle a wave of electron motion, called a 'surface plasmon', which can be very intense if the properties of the particle and the light wave should match - resonance, in fact.

The Amsterdam researchers covered a solar cell with a thin coating of nanoscopic (a millionth of a millimeter) metal particles. First of all, the barrier scattered the incoming light and made sure that more of it remained within the solar cell.And then, with careful control of the size of the nano-particles, the capture of different colours of light could be tuned and the performance of poor colours also improved.

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Conversion of CO2 to fuel using Artificial Photosynthesis

Posted on Friday, January 9, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:22 PM

A research group led by Osamu Ishitani has created a new catalyst that could turn CO2 into fuel efficiently, with only the power of the sun.The new catalyst uses ruthenium and rhenium, two elements not found in your average leaf. But they do allow for the same first step (CO2 to CO) that plants use. In fact, it's considerably more efficient and simpler than the way plants do things.

The trick was using the Ru catalyst to absorb the light, which it does very efficiently in the visual light spectrum, but then using the Re catalyst to actually take the electron produced and knock one of the oxygens off of the CO2. The Re complex has a quantum efficiency of 0.62, which means it actually uses 62% of the electrons it gets from the Ru catalyst to reduce the CO2. This number is extremely high.

Now, the only problem is to make sure the catalyst is stable and doesn't degrade over time. If they can do that, then there won't be much between this research and a CO2 to fuel manufacturing plant.

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Renewable hydrogen from the fermentation of energy crops

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:55 PM

Researchers in Aberdeen have claimed a break-through in producing hydrogen from ethanol that can be produced from the fermentation of energy crops.They said the process uses a catalyst system that produces hydrogen that is clean enough for use in fuel cells.

The scientists from the University of Aberdeen suggested their new process could lead to energy crops being used to generate electricity via fuel cell systems - rather than through relatively inefficient combustion systems.

The catalyst is made of very small nanoparticles of metals deposited on larger nanoparticles of a support called cerium oxide which is also used in catalytic converters in cars.At present the generation of hydrogen needed to power a mid-size fuel cell can be achieved using 1 Kg of this catalyst.

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New green car developed using Quantum Technologies

Posted on Thursday, January 8, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 3:00 AM

In 2008 many of the top motor shows were dominated by green cars and this year looks to be no different with Fisker Automotive planning to debut a new vehicle at the event.

The manufacturer, which bills itself as a ‘green American premium sports car company’ will be taking the wraps off the Fisker Karma S, which will be powered by a Q-DRIVE powertrain that has been developed in co-operation with Quantum Technologies.The Q-DRIVE technology will give the vehicle a 50 mile range on a single charge to its lithium-ion battery pack. However, there is no sacrifice of power as the vehicle is capable of up to 403 horsepower from two electric motors.

The company is based in Irvine, California, and has also opened up an engineering centre in Pontiac in an effort to streamline its production process.It promises to be an interesting few weeks for the manufacturer, which will announce details of the Karma S at a news conference in the Cobo Centre on January 12.

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Wireless thermostat- A new product to cut down current energy bills

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 2:39 AM

Jonathan Froggatt, director of Housetech Solutions,has designed wireless thermostat, which regulates the amount of time a household radiator is on. The device can be controlled by a computer.The thermostat would allow home owners to regulate which radiators in the house are on and can turn others off to save energy.

The idea has been patented and has been passed on to secretary of state for energy and climate change.Jonathan said: “We have worked out that the device, which is really simple, will save people up to 35 per cent on their current energy bills.”The idea was thought up in Denmark by Lars Jensen, the brother of Jonathan’s business partner, and was trialed in Scandinavia for 18 months before being brought to England.Energy firm EDF is one of those interested in the thermostats, which are individually charged at £69.

Labels: electricity, homes

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New Biofuel Made of coffee grounds leftovers

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 12:48 AM

Coffee and biofuels just became one. A team of experts from the University of Nevada have managed to obtain diesel fuel from coffee grounds leftovers.

It's not even hard to do, claimed the team, comprised of Mano Misra, a professor of engineering, Narasimharao Kondamudi, and Susanta K. Mohapatra. They stated having employed regular chemistry techniques both in order to extract the oil they needed for the process from the coffee grounds and to turn it into fuel. Also, the whole process did not require more energy than the typical fuel manufacturing, and the price of the biofuel was estimated at about one dollar per gallon (some 22 cents per liter).

Based on 50 pounds (23 kg) of material bought from Starbucks stores, their analyses indicated that some 10-15% of the coffee waste weight represented extractable oil. But obtaining the waste may prove harder than extracting its oil, since there are only a few places this could be bought from, such as the bulk roaster that the researchers will use for their program.But coffee won't be the next major breakthrough in fuel industry. Actually, all the coffee waste on the planet could only produce about 1% of the US diesel requirements for a year.

Labels: biofuels, research, waste

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Ocean Harvester:A New Approach of Electricity Generation from waves

Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:22 PM

Mikael Sidenmark, founder of Ocean Harvesting Technologies, and the inventor of the Ocean Harvester, has developed a method of generating electricity from waves

The system should produce a consistent level of power throughout the wave motion, over changing wave sizes, and even in storms. Besides generating efficiently and evenly, the simplicity of its design will allow the Ocean Harvester to be easily protected in rough conditions, and make its manufacture impressively cost-efficient.

What is unique with the Ocean Harvester is the way a counterweight is used to achieve a leveled and controlled load on the generator. As a result, excess energy from larger waves can be accumulated and used to compensate for shortage from smaller waves. In combination with the flexible mooring, this also composes a simple and efficient storm protection system

Labels: electricity, ocean

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Vegawatt(TM) : Waste vegetable oil to generate on-site Electricity

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:55 PM

Owl Power Company, developer and manufacturer of clean energy cogeneration systems, has announced Vegawatt(TM),an innovative new cogeneration system for restaurants and food service facilities. Vegawatt(TM) uses waste vegetable oil from any food service operation as a fuel to generate on-site electricity and hot water, saving the restaurant thousands of dollars as well as providing a clean, renewable source of energy. Vegawatt is installed and has been running since early December at Finz Seafood and Grill.

Any food service location with fryers can use the Vegawatt(TM) system to save $800 monthly. It is a fully automated system that requires no intervention or maintenance by restaurant staff, no additional chemicals, and produces no liquid byproducts.

Labels: electricity, renewable, waste

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Ethanol from yeast fermentation:A Breakthrough for hydrogen power

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:39 PM

A team of scientists, led by a professor from the University of Aberdeen, have achieved a leap forward in the process of using hydrogen to provide clean electricity.Using a catalyst, they have converted ethanol fermented from biofuels into hydrogen.

The process developed by scientists in Aberdeen to produce hydrogen for fuel cells from biofuels starts with fermentation.Crops are fermented using yeast, producing ethanol and water.Then a catalyst made using the metals rhodium and palladium is added to the ethanol and water, at temperatures of about 500C.This converts the ethanol and water into hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Although this has been done before, it had never been effective as it had never been achieved without producing waste products, such as carbon monoxide, which is poisonous. It took the team of scientists from across the world, led by Prof Idriss, more than ten years to hone the technique.The hydrogen could be used to power fuel cells, which can provide clean electricity for vehicles, homes and even large buildings.

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Carbon Sciences'technology to transform CO2 into gasoline and jet fuel

Posted on Monday, January 5, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 9:01 PM

Carbon Sciences Inc. , the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into gasoline and other fuels, announced today that representatives of oil refineries expressed a high level of interest in the company's technology at the ACI Downstream CO2 & Energy Efficiency Forum held December 3-5 in Istanbul, Turkey.

This breakthrough technology for transforming CO2 to hydrocarbons fits refineries' needs in today's environmentally conscious world. Instead of emitting hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and face potential legal and economic penalties, oil refineries can use our technology to transform their CO2 streams directly into fuel building blocks. These building blocks can then be used in their existing refinery processes to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other portable fuels -- without using additional crude oil.

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Scots smart meter - weapon in fight to cut carbon emissions

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:23 PM

A Scottish invention with the potential to revolutionise consumer energy conservation is set for further inroads into the mass market in 2009, according to energy and management consultant Accenture.

The "smart meter", the brainchild of Scots telecoms engineer Eric Beattie, was originally conceived as using communications equipment to interact with prepayment meters to allow customers to top-up their meter remotely. But,Smart meters currently undergoing consumer trials throughout the UK, are seen as a potentially revolutionary aid to carbon reduction, as they allow householders and businesses to monitor closely in real time how much energy they are currently consuming and at what cost.

As the energy industry faces up to ever-deeper cuts in carbon emissions over the coming decades, the installation of smart meters in customers' homes is becoming increasingly important because of its potential to change consumers' behaviour and reduce energy consumption.In Italy, around 24 million smart meters have already been installed, and France and the Nordic countries are also making "an announcement a month" on the continued roll-out.

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Michelin’s Active Wheel electric cars could revolutionise transportation?

Posted on Sunday, January 4, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:59 PM

Michelin’s new Active Wheel system has been deemed the ‘holy grail of wheel technology’ and potentially the technology that ‘revolutionises transportation’. According to the hype, the Active Wheel frees designers from the restrictions posed by the need for an engine, transmission, drive shaft and exhaust systems.

Basically there is a 14.4lb in-wheel motor that forms the heart of the Active Wheel. It includes a sophisticated active shock absorption system and with its own dedicated motor and disk braking it brings the wheel to a hefty 95lbs. Together the two front wheels deliver 41 horsepower which can spurt up to 82hp in short sprints. The aim is for the Will to travel from 0-62mph in just 10 seconds with a maximum speed of 87mph.

Lithium-ion batteries will be delivered in three configurations with ranges of 93, 186 and 248 miles. The range can be further extended by regenerative braking.The vehicle is expected to go on sale for between €20,000 and €25,000 with a release to the general public set for 2011. The Active Wheels system is also to be featured in the Venturi Volage, scheduled for release in 2012.

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Novozymes Biopolymer's Novel Hyaluronic acid (HA) HyaCare Wins Gold Innovation Award

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 8:20 PM

Novozymes Biopolymer, part of Novozymes, world leader in bioinnovation,announced winning the Gold Innovation Award at CPhI worldwide conference in Frankfurt, Germany, for its novel form of hyaluronic acid (HA) HyaCare®.

Traditionally, HA is derived from rooster combs or from strains of pathogenic Streptococcal bacteria, which allows for a high degree of contamination by animal proteins, viruses and end toxins present in the bacterial genome. HyaCare is developed under animal-free conditions with no animal derived ingredients used at any stage of the manufacturing process. Novozymes Biopolymerdeveloped this unique non-pathogenic method for producing HA by fermentation of a novel production strain, Bacillus subtilis.

HyaCare is produced using Novozymes Biopolymer patented, advanced and safe fermentation and purification technology which results in a completely pure product. While both rooster comb and Streptococcus derived HAs must be recovered using powerful organic solvents, this product is secreted outside the bacterial cell and can be collected using only water, eliminating the need for organic solvents. HyaCare is used for a wide range of solubility applications in the pharmaceutical sector, including ophthalmology, wound healing and osteoarthritis as well as in cosmetic and anti-wrinkle creams.

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Ancient Charcoal- Brakes on Global Warming by sequestering carbon

Posted on Friday, January 2, 2009 posted by posted by Mak @ 8:25 PM

Biochar was first created and used thousands of years ago to help plants grow. Researchers have found that this charcoal-like substance traps carbon and is a renewable source of fuel. Nine countries are pouring research dollars into the charcoal-like substance to see if it can sequester carbon, improve the soil and produce biofuels all at once—on an economically competitive scale. Could this ancient fertilizer really put a dent on global warming?

Biochar is different from the dry charcoal that you'd burn in a grill: It is produced by heating plant waste to 400 to 500 degrees C in the absence of oxygen—a process known as low-temperature pyrolysis—which makes a substance that has a greater number of smaller pores than charcoal. (The better to trap carbon dioxide with.)

The process used to make biochar is a closed, sustainable one: Biomass is fed into the oxygen-free burners and turned into the char. The gases that are released during the reaction is then captured and converted into electricity (from combustible gases) or biofuel, while the remaining char is safe to throw directly into the soil. Biochar does the rest of the work underground. The substance improves the ground's composition and fertility by locking in water and nutrients, thereby reducing the need for fertilizers while boosting crop yields. It also stores the carbon from the plant materials that made it— around 50 percent of the carbon produced from converting biomass into biochar can be trapped—and traps even more carbon from decomposing plants in the soil.

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Tree Carbon Calculator-software to quantify CO2 capture of trees

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 7:51 PM

U.S. Forest Service Scientists are providing online software that can show users how much carbon dioxide (CO2) an urban tree in California, US, has sequestered in its lifetime and the past year.

Known as ‘The Tree Carbon Calculator’, the software is free and programmed in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that provides carbon-related information for a single tree in one of six California climate zones.

It is the only tool approved by the California Climate Action Registry’s Urban Forest Project Reporting Protocol for quantifying carbon dioxide sequestration from tree planting projects.Users enter information such as a tree’s climate zone, species name, size or age. The program then estimates how much carbon dioxide the tree has sequestered in the past year and its lifetime. It also calculates the dry weight of the biomass that would be obtained if it were removed.

The Tree Carbon Calculator automatically calculates power plant reductions using emission factors for local utilities. Using the software, McPherson and his colleagues measured the size and growth of 5,000 trees in the six climate zones to determine how much carbon dioxide the trees sequestered and stored.

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Nuclear Fusion Closer to Reality? Some Think Yes

Posted on posted by posted by Ecacofonix @ 6:52 PM

A consortium of governments will build a groundbreaking fusion power plant in France for a price in excess of €5 billion. After decades of discouraging setbacks, plasma physics has made jaw-dropping recent progress. Could it save the world?

For over 50 years physicists around the world have struggled with the problem of bringing nuclear fusion under control. Fusion -- as opposed to fission, which drives all commercial nuclear power plants now -- could solve a number of problems related to energy generation. The general public has given up hope in fusion, after all this time, but scientists working in the field of plasma physics appear to be making significant progress.

Fusion takes place by itself within stars. Under conditions of extreme heat and pressure, hydrogen nuclei combine to form helium atoms, releasing enormous amounts of energy. This process of fusion, lasting for billions of years, has provided a constant supply of light and warmth on earth. But a process comes naturally to the sun is not so easy to reproduce in a lab.

"We are getting close to a breakthrough and things are moving forward much faster than many people realize," Günther Hasinger, the new director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, maintained. "With a kind of 'Apollo Program' for nuclear fusion we could have built a reactor for commercial-scale production by the turn of the millennium. All we needed was the money to build a big enough machine."

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Geothermal heat of ‘hot rocks’ could power America’s future

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 7:38 AM

Could hot rocks miles below the earth’s surface be the “killer app” of the energy industry? Google thinks so. It’s investing more than $10 million to develop new technology that would make this subterranean resource a widespread, economically viable competitor to fossil fuels.

Geothermal heat could meet 10 percent of America’s energy needs by mid-century, according to the US Department of Energy. What’s more, it would not generate the climate-warming carbon emissions associated with fossil fuels. Once tapped, a geothermal system would stay online for centuries. Unlike wind and solar, it would be a “base load” energy source, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.With enough investment, geothermal power could satisfy 10 percent of the US energy diet, energy experts say.

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Jet test should spark quest for new biofuels

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 6:56 AM

AN Air New Zealand jet thundered through the sky on a two-hour flight this week — on a 50-50 blend of ordinary fuel and one made of seeds from the African desert. The successful flight was promising for the airline industry, and truly exciting for the environment and the hope for national fuel autonomy.Tuesday's test was the first commercial air flight to use fuel from the jatropha weed . Each jatropha seed produces between 30 and 40 percent of its mass in oil.

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Bio-based Succinicacid Plant: Reduce dependence on fossil fuels

Posted on posted by posted by Mak @ 2:52 AM

DNP Green Technology and ARD are pleased to announce that their Bioamber joint venture has obtained the necessary permits and begun construction of the world's first production plant for bio-based succinic acid. The succinic acid plant will have an annual production capacity of 2,000 metric tons and will be integrated into an existing bio-refinery located in Pomacle, France. The plant, which is being financed by ARD at a cost of US $27m, will begin production in the fall of 2009. This technological milestone represents a significant step forward for renewable, bio-based chemistry and it will help reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels.

Bioamber's production of bio-based succinic acid can use various renewable feedstocks such as wheat, corn, sugar cane, rice, lingo-cellulose and glycerin. Succinic acid and succinate esters can be used as building blocks in a multitude of markets including biopolymers, plastics, polyesters, resins, runway deicers, non-toxic solvents and renewable fuels (as a diesel additive).

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Solar Cell Components without Using Fossil Fuels

Can Magnet-Driven Motor Replace the Gas & Diesel ?

New Super-Efficient LED Light

Thin-Film Solar Material Could Charge Portable Devices?

Caviar Green - Energy-Efficient 2TB Hard Drive

Fission - Fusion Hybrid - A Possible Solution for Clean Nuclear Power?

Regenerative Shock Absorbers For Energy Retention

Quad Wind Turbine Array-Breakthrough in Wind Resource Utilization

Rooftop Wind Turbine- A New Invention

Wood-Eating Marine Gribbles For Better Biofuel

Nuclear Waste To Carbon-free Energy

Rice Husk To Energy With Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes Using Alcohol

Wind Energy From Hot Air Balloons

Ultra-Large Scale Vertical Wind Turbine- Will It Work?

Nanotech catalysts For Alcohol- Powered Green Cars

Nuclear Fusion Power For Future Energy?

Clean Energy from Slow-moving River Currents

Painting Photovoltaic (PV) Cells For Efficient Solar-Cell System

Smallest Fuel Cell Could Replace batteries?

Genetically Engineered Reflective Crops to Reduce Global Warming

Third Generation Biofuels: Corn with Embedded Cellulase Enzymes

World’s Toughest Wind Turbines

Third Generation Biofuels via Direct Cellulose Fermentation

AFEX - A Cost effective Pretreatment For Cellulosic Ethanol

WiTricity- Technology for Wireless Electricity

Plastic Solar Cells For Portable Electronic Devices

Sulphur Polymer Concrete From Hazardous Petroleum Wastes

Flying Saucer With Anti Gravity Technology - Will it Work?

Garbage for Fuel & Construction- Breakthrough in Waste Management

Zero-energy Computers from Fujitsu Siemens

Li-ion Batteries - Introduction of Silicon Make them Better?

Proteus, Syngenta Collaborate on Enzyme Development for Biofuels

Photocatalysis for Green Future ?

Vertical-axis Wind Turbine-Breakthrough in Offshore Wind Energy

Alubond SCP Solar Panel-Breakthrough in Solar Energy

MKII- A Southern Invention Turns Sewage Algae to Oil

Three-layer solar cell- A New Solar Energy Breakthrough

Can a car run on water?

UMass Team Promotes Microbial Fuel cell to Clean Up Waste

A Green Nano-Technology For Enhanced Lithium Battery

Arboform - A Liquid Wood To Replace Plastic

Hybrid 4 Technology To Reduce CO2 emissions

Renewed Energy: Sugarcane could Fuel the Military Jets?

Sun-reflecting Crops Could Reduce Global Warming

Dangers of the Next Generation Biofuels

Cost Effective Generation of solar energy Using Titanium dioxide

Polyflow Process For Flexible-Packaging Recycling

Ultra-Pulse Capacitor technology For Extra Power Lithium Batteries

Hubless Windmill – A New Wind Energy Invention

Charred wood-'Green coal' to get a tryout

Low temperature fuel cells: Energy Efficient Technology To power Cars and Mobiles

Alubond Solar Collector Panel-A New Efficient Solar Trough system

A Nanomaterial To Make Flexible Electronic Devices & Solar cells

$100 Million Initiative from Stanford to Tackle Energy Issues

Nuclear Fusion - Could Fulfill the World Energy Need?

“Thin-film” Solar Cells- A New Solar Energy Innovation

Silencer for Genset Reduces Global Warming

New green cement to cut out globe-warming CO2 emissions

Is Wind Energy the Most Likely Winner in the Alt Energy Stakes?

Petroleum Mixed with Wastewater Reduces Emissions by 84%

Paper from Elephant Poop - Mr. Ellie Pooh from Sri Lanka

Microorganisms of Termite guts offer hints on biofuel

EPA Approves A Safer Refrigerant with Low Global Warming Potential

Nano particles to Improve the Efficiency of photo-cells

Conversion of CO2 to fuel using Artificial Photosynthesis

Renewable hydrogen from the fermentation of energy crops

New green car developed using Quantum Technologies

Wireless thermostat- A new product to cut down current energy bills

New Biofuel Made of coffee grounds leftovers

Ocean Harvester:A New Approach of Electricity Generation from waves

Vegawatt(TM) : Waste vegetable oil to generate on-site Electricity

Ethanol from yeast fermentation:A Breakthrough for hydrogen power

Carbon Sciences'technology to transform CO2 into gasoline and jet fuel