Energy

One of the major obstacles in widespread use hydrogen as a clean energy alternative is hydrogen storage. Solid-state storage, using solid materials such as metals that absorb hydrogen and release it as needed, has safety and practicality advantages over storing hydrogen as a liquid or gas and several materials have been discovered that have met or exceeded the DOE gravimetric and/or volumetric performance targets. Of those, however, the majority do not have the required thermodynamic and kinetic properties that allow them to release their hydrogen when needed, and be efficiently and…

Before we can begin to implement sustainable, carbon-neutral gasoline - "grassoline" - from inedible plant material like fast-growing weeds and agricultural waste, some technology hurdles have to be overcome.  Namely, finding better ways to break lignocellulosic biomass down into fermentable sugars.  The use of ionic liquids - salts that are liquids rather than crystals at room temperature - to dissolve lignocellulose and later help hydrolyze the resulting liquor into sugars, shows promise as a way of pre-treating biomass for a more efficient conversion into fuels. However, the best…

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), expected to power Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the future because they are an optimum energy harvesting source that may lead to longer flight times without refueling, have gotten a boost  by using a flexible film and a thin glass coating with transparent conductive electrodes. The University of Washington's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project team, with lead researcher Dr. Minoru Taya is working on the airborne solar cells and found that DSSCs made from organic materials, which use (dyes) and moth-eye film,…

It isn't often that the government gets it right and the energy/climate change policies being jammed through Congress while there is no way to block them could be with us for a long time.  So more data is needed and quickly. To coincide with climate change policy debates, should they be allowed to happen in Congress, and tackle land use issues that have generated much controversy in recent years, like the greenhouse gases released when land is cleared to grow biofuel crops or when other lands are cleared to compensate for food crops displaced by biofuel crops, a new paper has been…

A low-cost generator could be a boon for people in the world’s poorest countries.   The Score project, led by The University of Nottingham, is developing a biomass-burning cooking stove which also converts heat into acoustic energy and then into electricity, all in one unit. The £2 million Score project (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) has brought  together experts from across the world to develop the biomass-powered generator.  An affordable, versatile domestic appliance like Score aims to address the energy needs of rural communities in Africa and Asia,…

Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI), a privately held company co-founded by Craig Ventner in the business of applying genomic-driven commercial solutions to challenges like energy and the environment, announced a multi-year research and development agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) to develop next generation biofuels using photosynthetic algae.  SGI will receive milestone payments for achievements in developing biofuel products. Total funding for SGI in research and development activities and milestone payments could amount to more than US$300 million with the…

Even in the scramble to get clean energy funding, it's not a bad idea to devote money to research technology that isn't "shovel ready" science and technology, or even available everywhere, but can still help some regions pursue alternative sources that make financial sense. A new method for capturing significantly more heat from low-temperature geothermal resources holds promise for generating cleaner electrical energy.   Next step: the scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have to determine if their approach can safely and economically extract and convert heat from vast…

The worst thing that can happen to the American economy is a tax on current carbon-using businesses that then subsidizes flaky alternatives that already don't work, like current ethanol and solar panels. It may be too late but Richard Hess from the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls in the US and his team issued a new report in Cellulose laying out some ways to keep biofuels in the hunt, even ethanol. The United States is increasing the use of lignocellulosic biomass, of which corn stover (stalks, leaves, and cobs that remain after the corn grain is harvested ) is a substantial…

It will enrage our fellow Californians, who regard the wholesomeness and warmth of the in-home hearth as akin to fratricide, but when it comes down to it, people in the Third World, like the US is becoming economically, are going to respond to the stress of rising natural gas prices in ways that activists in cozy office buildings do not like. How they heat their homes will be at the top of the list for everyone in the upper part of North America this winter - which means out-of-fashion alternative energy options, the kind our ancestors used; wood burning stoves.  The case for modern…

Designing a new hydroelectric power station can be a laborious task - the pressures, temperatures and fluid flows can be simulated but the actual results outside FEA showbiz graphics will still be columns of numbers or a one-dimensional representation which need analysis. A new technique could make the process a lot more elegant. Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF in Magdeburg have developed a method that visualizes the processes inside energy conversion plants, e.g. such as photovoltaic, wind, biogas and hydroelectric power stations. To do…