Energy

Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current through the cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.  The new "flexible charge pump" generator is the fourth generation of devices designed to produce electrical current by using the piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide structures to harvest mechanical energy from the environment, the authors write in Nature Nanotechnology. "The flexible charge pump offers yet another option for converting…

"Net energy is a (mostly) irrelevant, misleading and dangerous metric," says Professor Bruce Dale, editor-in-chief of Biofuels, Bioresources and Biorefining (Biofpr) in the latest issue of the journal published today. Net energy is a metric by which some scientists attempt to assess the sustainability and ability of alternative fuels to displace fossil fuel but recent debate in Biofpr shows that scientists are undecided on its merits as a tool. Instead, in a series of corresponding articles clearly stating the case for and against net energy, Professor Dale calls for a more holistic approach…

Shrinkage is a good thing when you want it to happen. Energy consumption in buildings is a great candidate for shrinkage.  Do you have a building in mind? Two reports (1-2) were published recently to show how to achieve 50% energy savings over the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1-2004 in medium-sized retail buildings and grocery stores. They represent the first technical support documents for commercial retail buildings under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building…

Hydrogen is an ideal solution for cars of the future.   The problem remains storage.   People have a range they want to go (300 miles) before an automobile enhancement can become commercially acceptable.  With hydrogen, that means carrying a tank the size of the car itself or compressing the hydrogen, which has unacceptable safety risks. Dutch-sponsored researcher Robin Gremaud has shown that an alloy of the metals magnesium, titanium and nickel is excellent at absorbing hydrogen.   A hydrogen 'tank' using this alloy would have a relative weight that is sixty percent less…

The Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA Nanoscience) and the University of Hamburg have collaborated on the development of composite materials based on semiconductor nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes as functional materials for efficient light emitting diodes and photovoltaic devices.  Semiconductor nanocrystals, also called quantum dots, exhibit outstanding optical properties compared to organic dyes commonly used in research today. Due to quantum confinement, their emission color can be continuously tuned from the ultraviolet to the near infrared range by…

A team led by a Montana State University professor has found a fungus that produces a new type of diesel fuel, which they say holds great promise.  Calling the fungus' output "myco-diesel," Gary Strobel and his collaborators describe their initial observations in the November issue of Microbiology. The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Strobel, MSU professor of plant sciences and plant pathology. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol. Strobel, who travels the world looking for exotic plants that…

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Harvesting energy from the sun makes terrific sense until you factor in the economics of solar technology efficiency and the environmental impact of manufacturing panels and adding new power lines.  But solar power is clearly the path to future energy independence once the obstacles have been overcome.   Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say they have made progress overcoming two of the major efficiency hurdles;  the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and the inability of solar panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle. An…

An unfortunate downside to the energy debate is that, when politics get involved, science goes out the window.   The same activist groups that insisted ethanol would be the savior of the environment for 20 years (and were horribly wrong) now insist solar energy is the perfect solution. It isn't, but it is getting better.   Researchers in China and Switzerland are reporting the highest efficiency ever for a promising new genre of solar cells, called dye-sensitized solar cells, which some think offer the best hope for making the sun a mainstay source of energy in the future. The…

Los Alamos* says we can make gasoline with CO2 extracted from air -- plus water and energy. Furthermore, economic large-scale production is possible with off-the-shelf equipment and known processes. Result: Green Gasoline. The Los Alamos concept was named Green Freedom, mainly, because it promises freedom from foreign oil by producing gasoline with a carbon-neutral power source. The main steps are: 1. Obtain CO2 from the atmosphere 2. Split H2O into H2 and O2 3. Combine H2 and CO2 to produce methanol 4. Convert methanol into gasoline. Potassium carbonate solution is used to absorb CO2 to…