Energy

With nuclear power trapped in committee meetings and biofuels exposed as a bad idea, the search for another carbon-neutral alternative is ongoing. While the sun gives us enough energy in an hour to meet all human needs for a year, solar technologies are an ideal solution that needs better technology - just like it has been for 50 years. Conversion of solar energy into electrochemical energy on a massive-scale first needs to show proof-of-concept on the micro-scale.  An artificial version of photosynthesis is regarded as one of the most promising of solar technologies because for two…

Fuel cells can be as efficient (or more) than internal combustion engines, silent, and at least one type produces zero greenhouse emissions at the tail pipe. Car and bus manufacturers as well as makers of residential and small-business-sized generators have been testing and developing different forms of fuel cells for more than a decade but the high cost and insufficiencies of platinum catalysts have been the Achilles heel.  An inexpensive and easily produced catalyst that performs better than platinum in oxygen-reduction reactions could be a step toward eliminating what industry regards…

Lignocellulosic waste such as sawdust or straw can be used to produce biofuel – but only if the long cellulose and xylan chains can be successfully broken down into smaller sugar molecules. To do this, fungi are used which, by means of a specific chemical signal, can be made to produce the necessary enzymes. It's an expensive process so the Vienna University of Technology has been investigating the molecular switch that regulates enzyme production in the fungus and found it is possible to manufacture genetically modified fungi that produce the necessary enzymes fully independently, thus…

Young entrepreneurs tackling hard problems and billion dollar markets took top prizes at the First Look West (FLoW) regional finals competition with technologies that recover waste energy from energy servers powered by fuel cells, mobile phone apps for tracking home energy use and devices for improving solar panel efficiencies.  At an awards celebration held at the University of Southern California on May 7, Pyro-E, Chai Energy and Dragonfly shared $160,000 in prize money and start-up packages that include face time with top investors and legal support.   In addition Rare…

The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase 1 grant proposal for $149,900 to study the differential data from retrofitting a concentrated solar thermal array to the existing geothermal electrical generation system currently installed at the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) in Klamath Falls Oregon. Marc Rappaport of Rappaport Energy Consulting LLC, Ridgefield, WA wrote the proposal with the assistance of Don Jeter, P.E. of Eagle Engineering&Testing Services of Bellingham, WA, and Tanya Boyd of the Oregon Institute of Technology, Geo Heat…

Global use of nuclear power has prevented about 1.84 million air pollution-related deaths and release of 64 billion tons of greenhouse gases that would have resulted from burning coal and other fossil fuels, according to a paper in Environmental Science&Technology. Pushker A. Kharecha and James E. Hansen of Columbia University state that nuclear power has the potential to help control both global climate change and illness and death associated with air pollution. That potential exists, they say, despite serious questions about safety, disposal of radioactive waste and diversion of nuclear…

People generally like the idea of wind energy, they just don't want generation facilities anywhere near their homes. Or, in the case of offshore wind power, their yachts. But remote, cold places may be a better fit and a new forecast says that government mandates and subsidies in the range of approximately EUR 75 billion could lead to between 45 and 50 gigawatts of wind energy in cold climates by 2017. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has conducted what it calls the first-ever study into the feasibility of building wind turbines across the globe in areas where cold climate…

A new analysis shows that America could produce almost 9% of its annual energy needs -  25 billion gallons of fuel - using algae. But it will take a lot of water. Algae are plump with oil and various research teams and companies are pursuing ways to improve the creation of biofuels based on algae – growing algae composed of more oil, creating algae that live longer and thrive in cooler temperatures, or devising new ways to separate out the useful oil from the rest of the algae. In the administration's desire to endorse anything-but-oil, algae has caught the attention of government. But…

Rather than Draconian measures to cut emissions, which will impact people in various regions and economic spheres unfairly, a better solution may be to simply keep places cooler on hot days, which will reduce fuel needed for air conditioning. And outer space can help, Stanford researchers say. They designed an entirely new form of cooling structure that cools even when the sun is shining - by reflecting sunlight back into the chilly vacuum of space.  This required jumping over two engineering hurdles: the reflector had to reflect as much of the sunlight as possible, because poor…

One weekend each April, Duke University Alumni trek hundreds of miles back to Durham, North Carolina to see their former classmates and the changes on campus, and participate in numerous scheduled events. Among the highlights of Alumni Weekend are tours of the Lemur Center, the largest collection of Lemurs outside of Madagascar, the Duke Basketball Museum&Hall of Fame, and interestingly a dorm.Between the uninspiring Georgian architecture of the former Trinity College now known as East Campus and the faux Gothic West Campus with the imposing chapel contributed via cigarette smokers and…