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#1 ·
#61 ·
Hydrosol project, collaboration between Greece, Germany, Denmark and the UK
The Hydrosol project has developed a method of producing hydrogen from water-splitting, using the energy of the sun, which could lead to environmentally friendly production of hydrogen for energy purposes. The Hydrosol project is composed of academics and businesses from Greece, Germany, Denmark and the UK, and was awarded an International Global 100 Eco-tech award in 2005 and a Technical Achievement award from the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy in 2006. The research project financed by the European Commission was today awarded a share of the €1m Descartes prize for Research at a ceremony in Brussels. Launched in 2000, the EU Descartes Prize for Research rewards teams of scientists for outstanding scientific or technological results achieved through trans-national research in any field of science, including the social sciences, humanities and economics.

The Hydrosol team has developed an innovative solar thermo-chemical reactor for the production of hydrogen from water splitting, resembling the familiar catalytic converter of automobiles. The reactor contains no moving parts and is constructed from special ceramic multi-channelled monoliths that absorb solar radiation. The monolith channels are coated with active water-splitting nanomaterials capable of splitting water vapour passing through the reactor by trapping its oxygen and leaving as product pure hydrogen in the effluent gas stream. In a next step, the oxygen trapping material is solar-aided regenerated (i.e. releases the oxygen absorbed) and a cyclic operation is established on a single, closed reactor/receiver system. The integration of solar energy concentration systems with systems capable to split water will have an immense impact on energy economics worldwide, as it is a promising route to provide affordable, renewable solar hydrogen with virtually zero CO2 emissions.

The uniqueness of the Hydrosol approach is based on coating nanomaterials with very high water-splitting activity and regenerability (produced by novel routes such as aerosol & combustion synthesis) on special ceramic reactors with high capacity for solar heat absorption. The production of solar hydrogen will offer opportunities to many poor regions of the world which have a huge solar potential. Producing solar hydrogen will create new opportunities for countries of Southern Europe that can become local producers of energy.

Heralding a new age in energy

With traditional energy sources diminishing, interest in alternative energy supplies is increasing. Hydrogen is considered by many to be the next link in the evolution of energy, after nuclear energy. A new chemical engineering process hopes to make the 'hydrogen economy' a reality.

The 19th Century saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Yet despite significant advances in technology, little has really changed in the way the world produces its energy. Most of the energy produced is created through the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, which has the negative side-effect of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, one of the main causes of global warming.

The global supply of fossil fuels will not last forever and so the EU has committed its member states to increasing their renewable energy use as well as reducing their CO2 emissions. Energy experts have long pointed to hydrogen as a bright energy hope for the future. Hydrogen is cleaner than fossil fuels and is the most plentiful element in the universe. However, hydrogen does not occur by itself in nature and is only found in combination with other elements, such as in the air we breathe or the water we drink.

The Hydrosol project has come up with an innovative way of extracting hydrogen from water. Traditionally, the technology to split water (H2O) into its separate hydrogen and oxygen elements has been carried out through a process known as electrolysis. The problem with this method is that the energy required to extract the hydrogen comes from burning fossil fuels, resulting in an almost nil saving in fossil fuels.

Hydrosol has overcome this problem through the use of a novel solar hydrogen production reactor, which produces practically zero carbon dioxide emissions and uses only solar energy and water. It is estimated that the cost of hydrogen produced in this way could be competitive within a decade, with non-renewable hydrogen currently produced from natural gas, attracting additional costs, for example, through emissions taxes. For Dr Athanasios G. Konstandopoulos - the project’s coordinator - clean, renewable and cost-effective energy is only half the story. For him, an equally significant achievement is the revival in the field of Chemical Engineering that Solar Hydrogen Chemical Technology promises to bring about.

Solar hydrogen production is made possible by a key development in the project: nanomaterials with high water-splitting ability, undergoing cycles of oxidation and reduction. These nanomaterials are used as coatings in the Hydrosol solar monolithic reactor, the reactor itself allows this process to be simply repeated continuously without modifications.

Monolithic reactors first emerged from traditional Chemical Engineering, with their most familiar application being the automobile catalytic converters. For the first time, this reactor geometry has been successfully transferred to solar applications, creating a state-of-the-art solar hydrogen reactor. The reactor contains no moving parts and is made from a high temperature ceramic material, which is heated by absorbing concentrated solar radiation. The reactor geometry is that of a honeycomb with many millimetre-sized parallel channels, each of them coated with the active water-splitting nanomaterial.

As water vapour travels through the reactor, oxygen atoms are absorbed by the coating in the honeycomb channels, similar to the way a sponge soaks up water, leaving only the hydrogen to carry on. The hydrogen produced is clean and ready for use. The ‘oxygen-soaked‘ nanomaterial is then heated to release the oxygen allowing a cyclical operation, so that the entire process (water splitting and redox material regeneration) can be achieved in a single reactor. The process is easily adaptable for use with materials other than water where hydrogen can be found, such as natural gas.

This achievement was only made possible through the cooperation of four teams from complementary engineering fields of study and application. Co-ordinated by the Greek Aerosol and Particle Technologies Laboratory, the consortium consisted of; the German Aerospace Centre, Stobbe Technical Ceramics from Denmark and Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells from the UK.

The work has attracted interest from a number of international organisations including the UN who foresee a huge potential for technological transfer to developing countries with high ‘Solar Potential’"; thereby offering the prospect for the creation of new markets, as well as new energy sources.

The Hydrosol project has attracted international recognition. In 2005, it was awarded an International Global 100 Eco-Tech award during the International Expo in Aichi, Japan, being selected among "… environment technologies that contribute significantly to the resolution of global environmental problems and to the creation of a sustainable future."

More recently Hydrosol was awarded the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE) inaugural 2006 Technical Achievement Award for being "…the world's first closed, solar-thermochemical cycle in operation that is capable of continuous hydrogen production." Results from this landmark research project promise the potential for long-term production of renewable based hydrogen, particularly for regions of the world that lack indigenous resources, but are endowed with ample solar energy.
 
#63 ·
UK plans big wind power expansion

Gordon Brown hails a 'green revolution'

Thousands of new wind turbines could be built across the UK over the coming decade as part of a £100bn plan to boost renewable energy.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the UK should be a leader in renewable energy.

But he warned it would not come from "business as usual" and he called for a national debate on achieving the UK's target of 15% renewable energy by 2020.

The Tories said that Labour was coming round to "our vision". The Lib Dems said Mr Brown "doesn't do green".

In a speech earlier, Mr Brown said the government's plans represented the "most dramatic change in our energy policy since the advent of nuclear power".


Increasing our renewable energy sources in these ways, on this scale, will require national purpose and a shared national endeavour
Prime Minister Gordon Brown

"The North Sea has now passed its peak of oil and gas supply - but it will now embark on a new transformation into the global centre of the offshore wind industry.

"And yes, there will have to be more windfarms onshore too."

'Inevitable' changes

Under the government's plans an extra 4,000 onshore and 3,000 offshore turbines will be needed, impacting on communities, business and the government.

Ministers say visible changes to landscapes, towns and cities are "inevitable" but in his speech Mr Brown promised local communities wind turbines would be sited in the "right" locations.


When the government has failed so lamentably to take a political lead in the last 11 years, why should we believe the coming years will be any different?
Steve Webb
Lib Dem environment

"Increasing our renewable energy sources in these ways, on this scale, will require national purpose and a shared national endeavour.

"So today I want to launch a serious national debate about how we are to achieve our targets."

He promised up to 160,000 new jobs through promoting more renewable energy, including making components for wind turbines and electric cabling.

'New social organisation'

But he said a low carbon economy - which met EU reduction targets - "will not emerge from 'business as usual'."

"It will require real leadership from government - being prepared to make hard decisions on planning or on tax for example, rather tacking and changing according to the polls.

"It will involve new forms of economic activity and social organisation."

Experts discuss whether wind power is the answer

Up to half of the government's carbon reduction target will have to come from electricity, meaning a third will have to be generated from renewables by 2020.

Moves to speed up the connection of renewable energy projects to the national grid are also expected to be announced to help clear a huge backlog of proposed developments.

The UK could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 20% and reduce its dependency on oil by 7% within 12 years, the government says.

'Fundamental problem'

Household bills are expected to increase as a result of the measures, but any impact is unlikely to be felt until later in the next decade.

The average bill for gas and electricity for the average household is currently £1,055, but this is estimated to rise to £1,346 as a result of the implementation of greener technology.

BBC environment and science correspondent David Shukman said that savings from improved insulation and energy efficiency should bring that figure down.


Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

The construction of wind turbines in Kent

Greenpeace hailed the new strategy as "visionary", but the environment group warned that ministers had promised much before and had so far failed to deliver.

The Liberal Democrats poured scorn on Mr Brown's talk of a "green revolution".

The party's environment spokesman Steve Webb said: "The fundamental problem is that Brown doesn't do 'green'.


HOW DO WIND TURBINES WORK?


"He would rather urge oil producers to extract more oil than invest in technologies that will actually save CO2 emissions now.
"When the government has failed so lamentably to take a political lead in the last 11 years, why should we believe the coming years will be any different?"

For the Conservatives, shadow business secretary Alan Duncan said: "After a series of painful and reluctant u-turns, it seems like the government is at last coming round to our vision of a greener Britain.

"Yet it's astonishing that what is billed as a 'strategy' is just another consultation - more delays after a decade of dithering.

"Gordon Brown must now translate these words into action. If we don't grasp this opportunity now, we'll still be playing catch-up in 20 years."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/7474592.stm

Published: 2008/06/26 17:29:24 GMT

© BBC MMVIII
 
#64 ·
Freakiest Form of Alternative Energy: Tornadoes

One of the most terrifying, destructive forces in nature may help keep your lights on. Louis Michaud, a retired engineer living in Ontario, Canada thinks he's created a tornado-powered generator. First, he'll create a raging tornado inside a massive cylindrical arena 100 meters high by pumping hot air into it at the base. Using intake tunnels lining the bottom of the arena, he calculates one of his Atmospheric Vortex Engines (AVE) could generate 200 megawatts of energy, or enough to power a small city.

As hot air rises from the base of the AVE it forms a vacuum, sucking in yet more air (which also has to be hot). The rising air also begins to rotate into that familiar and deadly funnel shape. Once up to speed, an AVE building would have a tornado extending miles into the sky, perhaps even altering local weather patterns and causing some extra precipitation.

The main issue is getting a reliable supply of hot air. Michaud says one of the best ways is to build an AVE next to an existing power plant and using the hot exhaust stream to power it. A solar thermal plant could work, too.

But new, innovative ways to renewably generate electricity are always going to have problems getting off the ground (pun, sorry). Especially when one of the world's largest consumers of energy, the United States won't even fund research into a clean-burning coal-fired power plant, or let solar energy companies build on public land.

http://io9.com/5020271/freakiest-form-of-alternative-energy-tornadoes
 
#65 ·
The nuclear power generation is dangerous.

Residents in the Vaucluse, a popular southern French tourist destination, were banned yesterday from drinking well-water or swimming or fishing in two rivers after a uranium leak from one of France's nuclear power plants.

Nuclear officials yesterday revised down the amount of untreated liquid uranium that spilled from the Tricastin nuclear power centre in Bollene, saying it was limited to 75kg and ranked grade one on the one-to-seven scale of nuclear accidents. But the spillage of waste material containing uranium in the picturesque area of Provence, 30 miles from Avignon, which is currently hosting an arts festival, embarrassed the government.

Nicolas Sarkozy has prioritised exporting nuclear expertise worldwide, including to Britain. Nuclear power comprises 87% of France's electricity production, but yesterday anti-nuclear groups renewed their criticisms of the nuclear power policy.

The leak occurred when a tank was being cleaned between Monday night and Tuesday morning but was not detected until yesterday. Around 30 cubic metres of liquid containing uranium, which was not enriched, leaked out of a tank. Of this, 18 cubic metres poured on to the ground and into the nearby Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers, which flow into the Rhone. The plant has been operational since 1975.

Vaucluse authorities banned drinking well-water, fishing and eating fish from the rivers as well as swimming and water sports and irrigating crops with potentially contaminated water. One swimmer among 100 bathers asked to immediately vacate a local lake said it was as if there had been sharks in it.

Officials from the Socatri safety agency, a subsidiary of nuclear giant Areva, said groundwater, wells and rivers had shown no effects yesterday. The nuclear safety authority said radioactive levels detected in rivers and lakes in the region were decreasing.

The prefecture of Vaucluse said the leaked uranium should only be found in very small quantities and the risk was low but the ban on drinking, fishing and swimming would continue.

Germany's Social Democrat environment minister, Michael Müller, whose party is opposed to nuclear energy, said yesterday that the incident should not be taken lightly. "It's no trifle when active uranium penetrates the soil," he told Agence France Presse.

The French environmental group, the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity, said that the radioactivity released into the environment was at least 100 times higher than the fixed limit for that site for the entire year.

Greenpeace International nuclear campaigner, Aslihan Tumer, said: "Given the restrictions on the consumption and use of water in the area, it is clear that the leak poses a risk to the local population and to the environment."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/10/nuclearpower.pollution
 
#66 ·
Its so strange seeing countries with goals of 15,20 or even 25% renewable electricity by 2025. In New Zealand we have a goal of 90% renewable by 2020 and already about 65% renewable as well as a 10 year ban on building new fossil fueled base load power stations. I really really hope the opposition doesn't get voted in at the next election or we might see this great idea go down the drain.
 
#67 ·
New Zealand has the advantage of mainly using hydroelectric power, however, with the state of our power infrastructure at the moment we have no reason to gloat.

Not only this, but power generation makes up very little our our emissions. New Zealand is still one of the most polluting countries in the world per capita. We have some of the highest rates of car ownership in the world and we love driving them too. Our average vehicle fleet age is poor and our engine sizes are quite large on an international scale. Considering we also have very little heavy industry, our per capita emissions are even more scary in my opinion.


I agree that our power generation policies are excellent, however, there is far more to emissions and pollution than simply power generation so don't knock other countries that actually pollute far less than us per capita.

Link for those interested in the international rankings. They take into account emissions by forestry and land change as well as readings without taking into account these big emitters.
 
#71 ·

Cleaner energy China needs to upgrade its coal-fired power plants.

An 11-story building in Beijing is one of the few places in China where you'll hear people speak fondly of Japan. Inside are the offices of the Sino-Japan Friendship Center for Environmental Protection, where experts study how Japan became one of the world's greenest countries, with the aim of applying those lessons and methods to China. "Japan, on an international level, is a responsible country," says the center's vice director, Xia Guang. "We recognize that Japan's work promoting environmental protection in China has real seriousness, and we thank the government and people of Japan."

It's hard to fathom China's thanking Japan for anything. The relationship between the two Asian giants has been strained for decades and occasionally erupts into open hostility. Japan perceives China as a rising economic competitor and a rival for political influence in Asia. Many Chinese still believe Japan never properly repented for its brutal invasion of China during the 1930s and '40s. Only three years ago, that resentment exploded into anti-Japan demonstrations in several Chinese cities.

Yet on the issue of the environment, the two nations have strong reasons to heal past wounds. So do lots of others. Pick a pair of developed and developing nations--the U.S. and Russia, Germany and Poland, Britain and India--and there is history, but at the same time beckoning opportunity. At next week's G-8 summit, to be held in Japan, the leaders of the world's most advanced economies hope to make headway on one of the biggest opportunities: an agreement to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions that would succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The U.S. never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but last year President Bush embraced the idea of a long-term reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions. G-8 representatives are trying to craft an agreement to cut emissions 50% from 1990 levels by 2050. The U.S. may push for even deeper cuts in the future. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has called for a 60% reduction over the same period; the Democratic contender, Barack Obama, would like to see an 80% cut. Bush and the GOP, reflecting U.S. auto-industry concern about changing public opinion on global warming, accepted tighter auto-emission standards this spring after years of resisting them.

As the world's biggest energy user, the U.S. is part of the problem. The opportunity is that reducing greenhouse gas offers environmental as well as economic benefits. Green tech is leapfrog tech: it will allow emerging economies to jump to the leading edge.

That's certainly true of China and Japan, which, despite their animosity, need each other desperately. China's costly and wasteful use of energy and escalating environmental degradation threaten the sustainability of its economic boom. Japan, one of the greenest, most energy-efficient countries in the industrialized world, is brimming with the know-how that could help China alleviate these problems. China could benefit from Japanese technology in everything from advanced nuclear reactors to clean steel mills to hybrid cars. And Japan has every incentive to sell that technology to generate new business for its otherwise sluggish economy. That's why the environment was a prominent topic of discussion when China's President Hu Jintao and Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met in Tokyo in May.

The more China roars, the more pollution pours out of all its new Buicks, coal-fired power plants and cement factories. Last year China surpassed the U.S. as the world's top producer of greenhouse gases. Major upgrades are needed to its power stations, steel mills and chemical factories. Not only does Japan have the technology and money to help China, India and the rest of emerging Asia reduce emissions, it also has the will to share them. The Japanese government sees environmental assistance as a way to bolster its waning influence in the region, a phenomenon its people lament as "Japan passing."

Japan certainly knows how to transform developing economies from energy wasters to energy savers after surviving its own era of environmental destruction. Much like China today, Japan in the 1950s and '60s placed modernizing industry and elevating incomes above improving the environment and public health. The air in Japanese cities was so filthy that residents walked around in masks. In the 1970s, the nation was also alarmed by the two oil shocks, which exposed its vulnerability to the global oil market. A consensus formed that Japan needed to balance growth with greater conservation, and a nationwide effort was launched to reduce energy use and clean up the environment. The result: for every dollar of GDP generated, Japan uses only one-eighth as much energy as China. "Japan was a front runner in economic development in Asia and suffered some bitter experiences," says Ichiro Kamoshita, the nation's Minister of Environment. "Japan wants the countries that are now trying to develop to become prosperous without going through such bad experiences."

Japan has shared much of its top technology with China. Since the 1990s, Japan has sponsored 18 "model projects" in China, through which the government finances the installation of the latest Japanese emissions-reducing and energy-saving systems--for example, facilities that capture the heat and pressurized-gas by-products of cement and steel manufacturing, and garbage-incineration plants to generate electricity.

Environmental protection isn't just a good-neighbor policy; it's an industry, and a new way for Japan to turn a profit from China's economic boom. Selling eco-friendly technology is potentially big business, and one in which Japanese firms still have a tremendous competitive advantage. Toshiba's Westinghouse unit, for example, (yes, once part of a famous U.S. company) is building four advanced nuclear reactors in China at about $3 billion to $4 billion each. Nippon Steel, Japan's largest steelmaker, introduced a type of eco-friendly coke-making technology called dry-quenching in China that has become widely used throughout the industry. It produces the coke, a form of carbon essential for making steel, by cooling it with nitrogen rather than water, which significantly reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released. The resulting steam is captured and used to produce electricity. Nippon has supplied about 30 of these systems at an estimated $20 million to $40 million each. In 2003, Nippon Steel set up a joint venture with Shougang, a Beijing-based steelmaker, to develop energy-efficient technologies in China.

Serious problems remain, however. Some Japanese firms are wary of selling their best technology to China out of a justified fear that it could be stolen. Beijing's lax protection of intellectual-property rights "is the biggie that is hampering technology transfer into China," says Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center. In other cases, such as solar-power generation, the technology is simply too expensive for China.

Another hurdle is popular distrust in aiding China at all. The Japanese public questions why Japan should expend its resources assisting a nation that is rapidly becoming its chief competitor. The short answer is that if Japan doesn't, someone else will--and will reap the rewards. Yet Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs discontinued new loan projects to China this year, although existing loans will be honored, and other types of aid, like technical assistance, will continue.

The potential benefits of cooperation on the environment, however, are compelling. "The environment is a mutual problem," says Environment Minister Kamoshita. "So, concretely, we benefit by working together." If so, a repaired relationship between Japan and China could make the war against global warming a lot easier to fight.
 
#72 ·
Printing process cuts down on the cost of silicon, a key material

Here's one way to bring down the price of solar energy: make churning out solar panels as easy as printing a newspaper.

That's precisely what start-up Nanosolar has done. The company says it's poised to be the first among dozens of manufacturers to make solar competitive in price with conventional electricity.

While solar-system costs have fallen, they're still about 20 cents to 30 cents per kilowatt hour, or more than twice the price of electricity from your local utility.

That's largely because traditional solar-system makers use expensive silicon as a semiconductor to generate electricity from sunlight.

Thin-filmmakers have pushed down costs by using a tiny fraction of the semiconductor. But most still employ a slow and expensive condensation method to attach the semiconductor onto a base. Yet with production volumes rising, solar energy generally is expected to be competitive with grid electricity in 2010 or after.

Nanosolar, a Northern California company, says it can achieve that next year because of its printing process.

It embeds tiny semiconductor particles in ink, then coats a layer of it onto mile-long rolls of aluminum foil, which is later cut into solar panels. The company says it can turn out panels at a rate of 100 feet a minute, 20 times faster than typical thin-filmmakers at a tenth of the cost.

"It's all about higher throughput," to more cost-efficiently leverage fixed labor and equipment costs, Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen says.

In December, Nanosolar opened a factory in San Jose that's capable of pumping out 430 megawatts of solar capacity a year, nearly the size of an average coal-fired power plant. It plans to produce huge solar panels for cities and other utility-scale users this year and target businesses and homes next year.

Consultant Paul Maycock of Photovoltaic Energy Systems says Nanosolar's systems "could be one of the more exciting products" in solar energy's history.

But he says the company has not delivered the production volumes it promised a few years ago. Roscheisen would not discuss its output, noting Nanosolar is private.

E-Coal:

No greenhouse gas in coal substitute

Imagine an electricity source that kind of looks like coal and packs all of coal's energy punch but is cheaper and produces no greenhouse gas emissions.

That's what Seattle-based NewEarth Renewable Energy says it developed with E-Coal. It's biomass made from plants or other organic waste and heated to boost its energy content.

"We can produce (clean) fuels that are pound-for-pound replacements for coal," NewEarth CEO Ahava Amen says.

In 2004, after making a small fortune in cosmetics, Amen and some former associates reunited to tackle global warming.

They hunted for a substitute for coal, the biggest greenhouse gas producer. Biomass emits carbon dioxide when burned but absorbs the same amount in its lifetime. Yet it yields a third to half of coal's energy, raising fuel costs and limiting the size of current biomass power plants. NewEarth boosts its energy content by placing the biomass in an oxygen-deprived chamber and heating it to 250 degrees.

The resulting solid is condensed, and unwanted gases and moisture are removed. The heating process was invented decades ago, but Amen says NewEarth has made it cost-efficient. It's using as its feedstock a fast-growing plant, Nile reed.

Because the energy value equals coal's, he says, there's no need to spend millions to upgrade plant boilers. Plus, he says, E-Coal costs 5% to 40% less than regular coal. Initially, a utility likely would blend a small amount of E-Coal with its coal. But Amen says a plant's entire fuel stock can be replaced. He says he's negotiating with dozens of utilities.

Larry Joseph, former U.S. Energy Department official and investor in the company, says utilities are very cautious and want clear evidence they're not going to harm their equipment.

Algenol:

Company uses algae to make ethanol more eco-friendly

Corn-based ethanol is getting slammed for straining the world's food supply and contributing to global warming by encouraging the plowing of grasslands.

Cellulosic ethanol, a more eco-friendly version derived from switch grass or wood chips, is several years away. Maryland-based Algenol says it can solve the problems by making ethanol from algae, starting next year.

The start-up recently agreed to license its technology to BioFields, which plans to build an $850 million saltwater algae farm in Mexico's Sonoran Desert and churn out 100 million gallons of ethanol the first year. It will sell the gasoline substitute to Mexico's state-run oil monopoly.

A handful of companies are working on turning the abundant marine organism into biodiesel. That requires growing algae and killing them to extract their oil, a time-consuming and expensive process.

Algenol adds enzymes to the organisms to enhance their normally limited ability to convert sugar into ethanol, a waste product. To maximize ethanol production, the algae are placed in regions with abundant sunlight and grown in 50-foot long tubes filled with seawater. Ethanol is captured as a gas in the bottle and condensed to a liquid. Since algae aren't destroyed, the same ones keep yielding ethanol, holding down costs.

Algenol CEO Paul Woods says production costs are half those of corn-based ethanol, and the fuel will wholesale for $1 less than gasoline. His goal: Woods wants to build 20 plants in sunny areas such as Texas and Florida to generate 20 billion gallons of ethanol by 2020. "We don't have any limitations, because we're not competing with the food supply," Woods says.

Philip Pienkos, of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, says Algenol's goal is "definitely doable." But he says there will still be a need for fuels with higher energy content than ethanol.

Compressed air:

Facilities put stored air to work when wind dies

Wind farms are sprouting across the country as wind energy costs become competitive with those of coal-fired power plants. But there's a rub: no wind, no electricity.

Batteries can store electricity generated by wind for use on a day when the wind doesn't blow. But they're expensive.

PSEG Global, a sister company of a New Jersey utility, says it has the answer. It recently teamed with energy storage pioneer Michael Nakhamkin to market compressed-air technology.

Here's how it works: During off-peak hours, wind turbines compress air that's stored in underground caverns or in more expensive above-ground tanks. The air is released at peak periods to run turbines and generate power when gusts flag.

The nation's only compressed-air generator was built in Alabama in 1991. PSEG says it has improved on the technology and hopes to deploy it with power providers.

PSEG says its advanced system can transform the industry. It's about half the price of batteries, partly because it uses off-the-shelf power-industry parts rather than customized compressed-air gear.

The technology is more than 25% cheaper than current systems, says Stephen Byrd, president of PSEG Energy Holdings.

Also, it can generate electricity in five minutes, vs. current systems that take 20 minutes. That's vital if the wind suddenly stops blowing. "It really is likely to further enable the growth of renewable" energy, Byrd says.

While the system is largely designed to supplement intermittent wind or solar power, it can be used to stockpile cheap electricity at night and use it midday when the grid is strained.

Energy consultant Stow Walker says it sounds promising, but finding suitable underground storage can be challenging.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-09-08-energy-innovations-environment_N.htm
 
#73 ·
Hydrogen bacteria to fill gas tanks?

A Russian-born scientist living in the U.S. state of Tennessee believes he may have found a solution to rising petrol costs – a cheap way to produce hydrogen.

Biology Professor Sergey Markov from Austin Peay State University has discovered a way to produce hydrogen fuel for vehicles by using photosynthetic bacteria.

“This is very attractive for industrial application because photosynthetic bacteria can produce hydrogen using solar light and water and we have plenty of solar light and water around,” he said.

The specific purple bacteria Dr. Markov is referring to, grows in mud, ponds and lakes. The prototype bioreactor he built mixes the bacteria with carbon monoxide and water - and makes hydrogen.

Hydrogen is an attractive alternative fuel for the future. It’s is reusable, efficient and eco-friendly since when it burns it produces ordinary water and no greenhouse gases. However it’s explosive and requires special engines – problems yet to be solved.

Dr. Markov is now building a pilot scale bio-reactor – the prototype he has now is just too small for mass hydrogen production.

He's received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy - but says more finance and support is needed.

http://www.russiatoday.com/scitech/news/27769
 
#83 ·
New project to make 11 islands waste-free

Eleven North Sea islands have signed up to become living laboratories for a waste-free environment.

The islands from six countries will follow a "cradle-to-cradle" philosophy, which calls for using renewable energy and products made from materials that can be endlessly reused or organically decomposed.

Innovations will include electric vehicles, a desalination system for drinking water that removes salt in a usable form, and purification of household water — including human waste.

"The islands will be a catalyst for innovation for the whole region," German chemist Michael Braungart said at the unveiling of the project late Wednesday.

Technical universities from around northern Europe will try out new solutions for small-scale energy production, transportation and water management, with the aim of making the islands nearly self-sustaining by 2030, project managers said.

The EU is donating euro3.5 million ($4.5 million) for the first four-year phase. Islands from Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and the Britain will take part. The Cradle to Cradle Island project will be overseen by officials of the northern Dutch province of Friesland.

The islands have a total of nearly 50,000 residents, but most of them swell with visitors during the summer. Some of the islands see the project as a way of attracting more tourists.

The concept originated in the 1970s, but was popularized with a 2002 book by Braungart and American architect William McDonough, "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things."

It calls for revamping industries to use non-harmful materials that can be reused for other products when their original life span reaches an end. An office chair, for example, can be regenerated in 200 ways, said Braungart, of the Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency.

"If you don't change the whole industrial sector within the next 10 to 15 years, the system will destroy itself. It's already starting," Braungart told The Associated Press.

Among other proposed ideas, new buildings will use paint on the internal walls containing micro-organisms that clean the air, and cement on the external walls that removes particulates from the atmosphere, he said.

Different islands will experiment with various elements of sustainability. Several islands of Britain's Shetlands, a group of 100 islands north of Scotland, will tap the energy from waves off its west coast and tidal streams between the islands.

The Dutch islands of Texel and Ameland, largely comprised of dunes and bicycle paths, will get a network of electric motor scooters and recharging posts. A Dutch water research company, Wetsus, will experiment with a system to produce electricity by mixing salt water and fresh water.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212...ree_islands;_ylt=AnbcLpTo52V0FwcmS.QC4Px0bBAF
 
#84 ·
Is the ocean Florida's untapped energy source?
The answer to easing the energy crunch in one of the nation's most populous states could lie underwater.

Imagine if your utility company could harness the ocean's current to power your house, cool your office, even charge your car.

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University are in the early stages of turning that idea into reality in the powerful Gulf Stream off the state's eastern shore.

"If you can take an engine and put it on the back of a boat or propel a ship through water, why not take a look at the strength of the Gulf Stream and determine if that can actually turn a device and create energy?" asked Sue Skemp, executive director at Florida Atlantic University's Center for Ocean Energy Technology.

The demand for energy in Florida -- the fourth most populous state, with an estimated 19 million residents -- is quickly outpacing the capacity to create it, according to experts.

"Right now in Florida, we are at the cusp of an energy crisis. Our energy demand keeps growing," said Frederick Driscoll, director of Florida Atlantic University's Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology.

Beginning in the Caribbean and ending in the upper-North Atlantic, the Gulf Stream lies on the eastern shore of Florida.

Its powerful currents have been used by many fishermen, sailors and explorers to expedite their passage in the Atlantic north and east to Europe, but scientists say the energy within its currents could propel Florida out of its potential energy crisis, powering 3 million to 7 million Florida homes -- or supplying the state with one-third of its electricity.

"The predictions at this point estimate that the strength of the Gulf Stream could generate anywhere between four to 10 gigawatts of power, the equivalent of four to 10 nuclear power plants," said Skemp.

"The Gulf Stream is the strongest current in the world, so we want to harness our greatest resource. It's renewable, emission free and reliable," said Jeremy Susac, executive director of the Florida Energy and Climate Commission.

At the university's Center for Ocean Energy Technology in Boca Raton, Florida, ocean engineers are working with marine, environmental and material scientists to develop cost-competitive technologies to commercialize the energy within the Gulf Stream.

Though it has been considered for more than a century, harnessing the energy of the Gulf Stream is no easy task, and no sustainable system has been implemented.

"First we have to do a resource assessment and understand how much energy is in the Gulf Stream current on a minute-to-minute, day-to-day, hour-to-hour and yearly basis," said Driscoll.

In April, researchers at the center deployed four acoustic Doppler current profilers in the Atlantic off the east coast of Florida.

Using high frequency, low-power sonar, these large orange ball-shaped objects measure the speed of the ocean currents.

"We are looking at how much energy we can safely extract -- what is the sensitivity of extraction versus the environmental effects?" said Driscoll.

The vision for the pilot program is to develop and test a 20-kilowatt underwater turbine by spring 2010.

Sound familiar?

The concept behind underwater turbines is similar to that of wind turbines on land.

As water flows by the turbine, it turns a rotor blade. As the rotor blade turns, energy is generated.

That energy can be transmitted from a generator inside the turbine to electrical conducting cables, where it's captured, harnessed and distributed for future use.

Researchers also are looking at ways to use the electricity that is generated underwater to generate and store hydrogen in the ocean. The hydrogen could be used to fuel clean-running cars and trucks.

"Because it's such a new endeavor, there's a lot of knowledge gaps not only in terms of the technology side but also on the ecological side of things," said Driscoll.

Completely reliant

Florida is completely reliant on out-of-state fuel sources (coal and natural gas), but generates more than 90 percent of its own electricity, according to the Florida Energy and Climate Commission. It ranks third nationally in total energy consumption.

So how much will this endeavor cost? And what kind of impacts will it have on the local marine environment?

"Those are the questions we don't have answers to," said Skemp.

There are some hurdles that need to be cleared before the technology can get approval and become commercially available.

"This area is so new, we're still finding out what needs to be done," said Skemp.

"It's not like an established industry, like the aerospace industry or the automotive industry or others, where you have models which you could base cost on," added Skemp.

So far, the state of Florida has allocated $13.75 million in grants toward research and development of the pilot project, but the cost to implement the project on a large scale could be much higher.

Before a project like this can go forward, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will have to look at a whole range of factors, from the effects it will have on wild and marine life to recreation activities and shipping, said an environmental specialist with the commission.

If the pilot program is successful, it could take another five to 10 years before the technology can be implemented.

The Gulf Stream is something that has been taken for granted, said Skemp.

"The Gulf Stream is on 24/7. It's flowing 365 days a year, so it's a continuous source of energy."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/27/ocean.turbines/



 
#87 ·
Bloom Box

I found this real amazing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.6



The Bloom Box
February 21, 2010 9:45 AM

Large corporations have been testing a new device that can generate power on the spot, without being connected to the electric grid. Will we have one in every home someday? Lesley Stahl reports.

(CBS) In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.

You'll generate your own electricity with the box and it'll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.

It has a lot of smart people believing and buzzing, even though the company has been unusually secretive - until now.
K.R. Sridhar invited "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl for a first look at the innards of the Bloom box that he has been toiling on for nearly a decade.

Looking at one of the boxes, Sridhar told Stahl it could power an average U.S. home.

"The way we make it is in two blocks. This is a European home. The two put together is a U.S. home," he explained.

"'Cause we use twice as much energy, is that what you're saying?" Stahl asked.

"Yeah, and this'll power four Asian homes," he replied.

"So four homes in India, your native country?" Stahl asked.

"Four to six homes in our country," Sridhar replied.

"It sounds awfully dazzling," Stahl remarked.

"It is real. It works," he replied.

He says he knows it works because he originally invented a similar device for NASA. He really is a rocket scientist.

"This invention, working on Mars, would have allowed the NASA administrator to pick up a phone and say, 'Mr. President, we know how to produce oxygen on Mars,'" Sridhar told Stahl.

"So this was going to produce oxygen so people could actually live on Mars?" she asked.

"Absolutely," Sridhar replied.

When NASA scrapped that Mars mission, Sridhar had an idea: he reversed his Mars machine. Instead of it making oxygen, he pumped oxygen in.

He invented a new kind of fuel cell, which is like a very skinny battery that always runs. Sridhar feeds oxygen to it on one side, and fuel on the other. The two combine within the cell to create a chemical reaction that produces electricity. There's no need for burning or combustion, and no need for power lines from an outside source.................
 
#89 ·
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/science/earth/10portugal.html?ref=science

Portugal Gives Itself a Clean-Energy Makeover

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: August 9, 2010

LISBON — Five years ago, the leaders of this sun-scorched, wind-swept nation made a bet: To reduce Portugal’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, they embarked on an array of ambitious renewable energy projects — primarily harnessing the country’s wind and hydropower, but also its sunlight and ocean waves.

Today, Lisbon’s trendy bars, Porto’s factories and the Algarve’s glamorous resorts are powered substantially by clean energy. Nearly 45 percent of the electricity in Portugal’s grid will come from renewable sources this year, up from 17 percent just five years ago.

Land-based wind power — this year deemed “potentially competitive” with fossil fuels by the International Energy Agency in Paris — has expanded sevenfold in that time. And Portugal expects in 2011 to become the first country to inaugurate a national network of charging stations for electric cars..............

While Portugal’s experience shows that rapid progress is achievable, it also highlights the price of such a transition. Portuguese households have long paid about twice what Americans pay for electricity, and prices have risen 15 percent in the last five years, probably partly because of the renewable energy program, the International Energy Agency says.

Although a 2009 report by the agency called Portugal’s renewable energy transition a “remarkable success,” it added, “It is not fully clear that their costs, both financial and economic, as well as their impact on final consumer energy prices, are well understood and appreciated.”

Indeed, complaints about rising electricity rates are a mainstay of pensioners’ gossip here..............
More in Story
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#90 ·
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fi-crazy-green-20101014,0,7430791.story

Green energy field is fertile ground for wild conceptsClean-tech ideas that have received government funding include using bacteria to make a gasoline-type fuel. Solar proposals seeking funding include sending collectors into space and beaming the sun power back to Earth.

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times
October 14, 2010

Spray-on solar panels, power beaming down from outer space and gasoline-like fuel made from bacteria.

Sound far-fetched? Maybe, but these and other futuristic concepts for producing power are being taken seriously in scientific, business and academic circles. Some have even raised millions in funding.

This is the dream era for green technology, when even concepts that sound wildly innovative or insane — depending on who's describing them — are getting attention.

"People who aren't afraid to take chances in completely uncharted waters sometimes succeed beyond their wildest dreams and turn the world on its head," said industrial designer and entrepreneur Richard Alan Hales...........



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#91 ·
http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/28/technology/audi-diesel-air-water/

What a gas: Using water and air to run a car


Researchers at Audi are making synthetic diesel fuel using only water and air. Miracle? No. Science.
The German automaker announced it has created the first batch of liquid "e-diesel" at a research facility in Dresden. The clear fuel is produced through a "power to liquid" process, masterminded by the German clean tech company and Audi partner Sunfire.

The process uses carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, which can be captured directly from air. Carbon dioxide is created largely by burning fossil fuels and contributes to global warming. Now Sunfire said it can recycle the gas to make a more efficient, carbon-neutral fuel.
Unlike conventional fossil fuels, the "e-diesel" doesn't contain sulphur and other contaminants. "The engine runs quieter and fewer pollutants are being created," Sunfire's Christian von Olshausen said........

The process uses carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas, which can be captured directly from air. Carbon dioxide is created largely by burning fossil fuels and contributes to global warming. Now Sunfire said it can recycle the gas to make a more efficient, carbon-neutral fuel.
Unlike conventional fossil fuels, the "e-diesel" doesn't contain sulphur and other contaminants. "The engine runs quieter and fewer pollutants are being created," Sunfire's Christian von Olshausen said.
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