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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Stunning Solar Powered Plant Pot Glows In the Dark
Until now, the fragrance of fresh flowers or the splash of nature's colors would have enticed a passer by to stop by and take a look at your well maintained garden. This time your flowers are going to take the backseat. Your pot is going to bask in the spotlight. The humble clay pot has had a makeover. It has turned into a stunning solar powered plant pot that glows in the dark.
"As its name suggests, this stylish designer pot soaks up the sun's rays in order to charge an internal battery that powers several built-in LEDs.
As night falls the entire pot begins to glow, adding an enchanting touch of magic to your garden/patio. You can even choose between a pot that glows constant white or one that gently phases through a kaleidoscope of gorgeous colours."
It comes with a ground spike and a solar cell which enables the pot to be placed in shade too. A 3m cable connects the pot and the solar cell that is stuck to the ground. It comes with an eco-friendly tag; cos it doesn't require any electricity to function. Prices range from $39 to $45.
This fashionable garden accessory is sure to make heads turn.
Source - Firebox
Labels: Design-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Stunning Solar Powered Plant Pot Glows In the Dark posted by Vanessa : 4:47 AM
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Monday, June 16, 2008
Honda's Clarity - A Car That Runs on Hydrogen and Emits Only Water
A car which runs on hydrogen and electricity and emits only water from its exhaust pipe has started to come off a production line.
The first recipients of this technological marvel are Hollywood celebs Jamie Lee Curtis, husband Christopher Guest, '24' actress Laura Harris and film producer Ron Yerxa.
Hybrids require conventional gasoline, but the Honda Clarity is powered entirely by hydrogen.The fuel cell combines hydrogen with oxygen to make electricity. The electricity then powers the electric motor, which in turn propels the vehicle. Water is the only byproduct the FCX Clarity leaves behind.
Currently Honda aims to roll out just 200 cars a year. You don't have to be a celebrity to afford them, you can lease them out for $600 per month, including insurance.
Honda's creation FCX Clarity cars ushers in a new era of eco-friendly cars.The day isn't far when fuel cell cars will be a part of the mainstream and not just limited to celebrities.
Source - Honda
The first recipients of this technological marvel are Hollywood celebs Jamie Lee Curtis, husband Christopher Guest, '24' actress Laura Harris and film producer Ron Yerxa.
Hybrids require conventional gasoline, but the Honda Clarity is powered entirely by hydrogen.The fuel cell combines hydrogen with oxygen to make electricity. The electricity then powers the electric motor, which in turn propels the vehicle. Water is the only byproduct the FCX Clarity leaves behind.
Currently Honda aims to roll out just 200 cars a year. You don't have to be a celebrity to afford them, you can lease them out for $600 per month, including insurance.
Honda's creation FCX Clarity cars ushers in a new era of eco-friendly cars.The day isn't far when fuel cell cars will be a part of the mainstream and not just limited to celebrities.
Source - Honda
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering, Mechanical-Engineering
PermaLink - Honda's Clarity - A Car That Runs on Hydrogen and Emits Only Water posted by Vanessa : 11:25 PM
25 Comments
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Famous Five's Cool Invention - Air-Powered Go-Kart Race Cars
Mr. Langille and his four colleagues are thrilled with their project. “It was an awesome experience, very fulfilling. We’re excited to see it work so well because there were a lot of people who were doubtful and it was exciting to get an A+.”
The Famous Five in Enid Blyton's stories were popular for their investigative skills that kept the little readers spellbound throughout the world.
Dalhousie University's Famous Five are sure to keep Racing fans and scientists spellbound with their latest invention - air powered go-kart cars.Five Dalhousie mechanical engineering students David Alderson, Scott Allan, David Langille, Michael Roy and Dave Spencer had set upon an ambitious task for their year-long research project. They planned to develop a air powered go-kart cars. That's definitely a tall order.
To achieve it the students modified a 40-year-old snowmobile engine and ran compressed air through the engine to produce power similar to a gas engine. They attached the engine to a refurbished go-kart using two scuba tanks to house the air. The air is released through a standard scuba fitting with a high-flow regulator. The released air travels through tubing to a ball-valve connected to the foot pedal and throttle. “It operates much like a normal rotary engine,” says Mr. Langille.
The students are currently working on setting right the drawbacks. The major drawback is that it runs out of air quickly. But once the engine's capacity is refined one can look forward to a successor to conventional gas-powered engines.The students officially unveiled their air-powered go-kart at Kartbahn Racing in Bayer’s Lake Business Park last week and invited members of the media to take it for a spin.
Source - Dalhousie University
Catch the exciting drive here.
Image credit - Nick Pearce
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Engineering-Education, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Famous Five's Cool Invention - Air-Powered Go-Kart Race Cars posted by Vanessa : 10:56 PM
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Monday, May 26, 2008
Can Nanotubes Be A Source of Energy?
Image courtesy: Physorg
You have heard of carbon nanotubes, those quaint nano-stuff that can do many amazing things. Now some folks feel these can also play a role in the alternative energy domain. Read on.
When present in specially organized clusters, one could visualize carbon nanotubes as "nanotube forests." Within this forest, each individual nanotube acts like a tiny spring, and some scientists think that if you combine billions of them, they could do things that no steel spring could achieve.
Especially Carol Livermore. An assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Livermore believes these stronger-than-steel nanotubes could open new possibilities for energy generation and storage.
How?
It is well known that you can store energy in the deformation of a spring. That is hardly a challenge. The main challenge with storing energy in springs is most don't store a lot of energy per unit of weight or volume. Livermore and is team feels that this problem can possibly be taken care of by carbon nanotubes because they can stretch incredibly far without breaking.
Nanotubes work like expansion springs - pull them and they stretch, release them and they are back to their original shape, while releasing energy. This property has already been shown with individual nanotubes. And, as mentioned earlier, these deformations can be for extreme lengths / dimensions. Now, take this useful property of nanotubes, and then combine billions of such nanotubes together into bundles. Now you can explore if extreme deformations of such bundles can produce vast amounts of energy. This is what Livermore intends to do.
With a grouping of nanotubes as long as an inch or two, it will be possible to test the qualities of the carbon nanotubes in a visible experiment. Instruments could measure the amount of force used, and the amount of energy returned when the spring contracts.
What are the possible applications of energy from such nanotube bundles? Some of the possibilities discussed are high-end mechanical watches that need winding only once, regenerative braking devices for bicycles etc. They are also thinking of ways in which the nanotube springs could replace some kind of batteries. Not exactly earth-shaking, but hey, this is just the beginning. Essentially, what these folks are looking at are ways to capture & store mechanical energy and release it to do useful things. I'm sure there are more interesting applications one can visualise and perfect if the technology works out fine.
Source: Boston.com
Some related news items you could find useful:
Nanotubes Grown Straight in Large Numbers, Silicon Nanotubes Store Hydrogen More Efficiently Than Carbon Nanotubes
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Material-Sciences
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Your Bags Now Power Your Mobile - Solar Bags Have Arrived!
Now this is interesting. Call it the marriage of design and ecology. Eco-totes are becoming more and more in vogue now, with the Solar Bag being the latest in this series of eco-conscious innovations.
The Solar Bag is a bag with a miniature solar panel built into its front to accumulate energy. Inside there’s a battery and a range of plugs so you can hook up your I-Pod, mobile phone and every type of digital device.
The Solar Bag comes in two styles: a small trunk made from Bordeaux or black chamois, or classic arm-bag. With our entire society becoming eco & green conscious, eco-totes such as the Solar Bag will likely be frequently heard about from now on!
Designer Ennio Capasa is credited with developing the Solar Bag.
Of interest to you also could be the Power Purse, another cool eco-tote, developed by Solarjo. This again is covered with small solar panels that can power cell phones or any other gadgets through a USB port built inside.
Related stuff: Noon Solar - creates green totes and satchels chosen for their sustainability, Voltaic Backpacks - mobile solar power generators designed to charge virtually all handheld electronics.
We live in interesting times.
Sources: Boing Boing Gadgets, Crave, CNC Costume National, Racked
The Solar Bag is a bag with a miniature solar panel built into its front to accumulate energy. Inside there’s a battery and a range of plugs so you can hook up your I-Pod, mobile phone and every type of digital device.
The Solar Bag comes in two styles: a small trunk made from Bordeaux or black chamois, or classic arm-bag. With our entire society becoming eco & green conscious, eco-totes such as the Solar Bag will likely be frequently heard about from now on!
Designer Ennio Capasa is credited with developing the Solar Bag.
Of interest to you also could be the Power Purse, another cool eco-tote, developed by Solarjo. This again is covered with small solar panels that can power cell phones or any other gadgets through a USB port built inside.
Related stuff: Noon Solar - creates green totes and satchels chosen for their sustainability, Voltaic Backpacks - mobile solar power generators designed to charge virtually all handheld electronics.
We live in interesting times.
Sources: Boing Boing Gadgets, Crave, CNC Costume National, Racked
Labels: Design-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Your Bags Now Power Your Mobile - Solar Bags Have Arrived! posted by Ecacofonix : 8:33 AM
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Friday, April 18, 2008
Biocatalysts - Generics Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Go Green
Green chemistry incorporates concepts such as atom economy, convergency (higher process efficiency with fewer operations), reagent optimization (use of catalysis and more selective and recyclable reagents), and raw material efficiency.
One of the emerging green chemistry aspects is biocatalysts.
An advantage of these biocatalysts and of green chemistry in general, is the ability to manufacture a product in more generic facilities, compared to the demands of traditional chemocatalysis, which typically requires high pressure and high or low temperature reactors.
Another green chemistry strategy is telescoping, which aims to minimize the carryover of impurities from one process step to the next. The ability to make a product or an intermediate without any side products eliminates purification steps, saving time, energy, cost, and waste.
Interest in biocatalysis is high in the generics industry, in particular, as the generics manufacturers are actively seeking strategies to lower manufacturing costs and increase profit margins. It is predicted that biocatalysis technology will improve incrementally, with advances in proteomics enabling molecular evolution to be more directed and structure-based and less dependent on random mutagenesis.
More from here
Keywords: Green chemistry, recyclable reagents, BioVerdant, IChemE Alex Tao, CSO, Codexis, biocatalytic enzymes, biocatalysts, green generic facilities, generics industry
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Biocatalysts - Generics Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Go Green posted by Ecacofonix : 3:25 AM
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Microfiber Fabric Creates Electricity, Uses Zinc Oxide Nanowires
Scientists have developed a microfiber fabric that generates its own electricity. The cloth makes enough current to recharge a cell phone or power a small MP3 player.
The fibers are coated with zinc oxide nanowires; one fiber is also coated with gold. When rubbed together, they generate electrical current. The shirt generates power as it moves, so a person walking or a slight breeze would create power. A 3 meter square piece of fabric is enough to power an iPod!
More from here
The fibers are coated with zinc oxide nanowires; one fiber is also coated with gold. When rubbed together, they generate electrical current. The shirt generates power as it moves, so a person walking or a slight breeze would create power. A 3 meter square piece of fabric is enough to power an iPod!
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Textile-Engineering
PermaLink - Microfiber Fabric Creates Electricity, Uses Zinc Oxide Nanowires posted by Ecacofonix : 10:47 PM
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Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Algae Startups to Watch - GreenFuel, Petrosun, Solazyme
If corn-based biofuels are the Britney Spears of the cleantech world (a fallen star but still all over the place), fuel made from algae is the next great American Idol winner (major potential in the pipeline). And despite the fact that algae-to-biofuel startups have been taking their sweet time bringing a pond scum fuel product to market, some inroads have been made recently — GreenFuel is building its first plant, PetroSun starts producing at their farm on April 1, and big oil Chevron and Shell have made some early bets as well.
As we watch this play out, here are 15 algae biofuel firms that you should know about
GreenFuel Technologies
Solazyme
Blue Marble Energy
Inventure Chemical
Solena
Live Fuels
Solix Biofuels
Aurora Biofuels
Aquaflow Binomics
Petro Sun
Bionavitas
Seambiotic
More from here
Keywords: Algae Startups, Pond Scum, Fuel Tanks, corn-based biofuels, cleantech world
GreenFuel, PetroSu,Solazyme , Blue Marble Energy , Inventure Chemical , Solena
Live Fuels, Solix Biofuels, Aurora Biofuels, Aquaflow Binomics, Petro Sun Bionavitas, Seambiotic
As we watch this play out, here are 15 algae biofuel firms that you should know about
GreenFuel Technologies
Solazyme
Blue Marble Energy
Inventure Chemical
Solena
Live Fuels
Solix Biofuels
Aurora Biofuels
Aquaflow Binomics
Petro Sun
Bionavitas
Seambiotic
More from here
Keywords: Algae Startups, Pond Scum, Fuel Tanks, corn-based biofuels, cleantech world
GreenFuel, PetroSu,Solazyme , Blue Marble Energy , Inventure Chemical , Solena
Live Fuels, Solix Biofuels, Aurora Biofuels, Aquaflow Binomics, Petro Sun Bionavitas, Seambiotic
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Algae Startups to Watch - GreenFuel, Petrosun, Solazyme posted by Ecacofonix : 5:12 AM
1 Comments
India's Future Lies in its Water Management
How India manages its fresh water and the populations’ response to water issues will determine whether it will be a giant civilisation, just another giant or a giant problem. Its river basin’s are not only catchments of precipitation or Monsoon but social, cultural and political needs and challenges of highland, lowland urban and rural citizens. India will only be a giant if it survives and prospers after this global environmental change.
Dam building and the National River Linking Project need further study and careful examination because of the lack of a comprehensive environmental and cultural information database. So too the building of mega infrastructure in a seismically sensitive area of the Himalayas needs careful planning even if this hinders economic development.
Full report from here
Keywords: India Hydrological Future, river basins, seismically sensitive area
Dam building and the National River Linking Project need further study and careful examination because of the lack of a comprehensive environmental and cultural information database. So too the building of mega infrastructure in a seismically sensitive area of the Himalayas needs careful planning even if this hinders economic development.
Full report from here
Keywords: India Hydrological Future, river basins, seismically sensitive area
Labels: Civil-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering, Society
Cow Dung, Agriculture Waste as Fuel - Ann Christy, MIT BioVolt Cells
While the brightest scientists in the world are in the process of inventing high-tech equipments and processes in pursuit of alternative energy, there are folks who are looking at utterly down-to-earth sources for the same. Take Ann Christy, for example.
Ann Christy, an associate professor of food, agriculture and biological engineering at Ohio State University, has been conducting new research into the use of cow waste to produce energy. According to Ms Christy's research, the bacteria in cow dung release electrons during the digestion on cellulose - "in the form of undigested plant matter in the cows' waste.
Ms Christy's team of scientific researchers have so far succeeded in producing half of the power required to energise an AA battery. "While that's a very small amount of voltage, the results show that it is possible to create electricity from cow waste," she commented.
This is hardly the first time cow dung is used as fuel. In fact, in developing and poor countries, cow dung has been used as a form of fuel for ages. What is significant about recent research are the more scientific methods used to explore the potential of cow waste as a fuel. Current use of cow dung in poor countries, though intuitive, might not be the most optimal way to use it.
It is hoped that researches such as these will enable us to accomodate animal and human waste as a significant alternative energy source. Don't look forward to waste powering your car anytime soon, but they could at least power your mobile battery!
See also related researches done last few years in using cow dung as fuel here, here, here and here
Energy from waste is an interesting domain because of its double-benefits - creates energy from a free resource while improving the environment by sanitizing waste.
On related developments in the waste-to-energy domain, a team of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have also created waste-powered fuel cells. The MIT BioVolt cells are capable of running on plant waste and can generate electricity for household use in off-grid areas and developing countries.
Ann Christy, an associate professor of food, agriculture and biological engineering at Ohio State University, has been conducting new research into the use of cow waste to produce energy. According to Ms Christy's research, the bacteria in cow dung release electrons during the digestion on cellulose - "in the form of undigested plant matter in the cows' waste.
Ms Christy's team of scientific researchers have so far succeeded in producing half of the power required to energise an AA battery. "While that's a very small amount of voltage, the results show that it is possible to create electricity from cow waste," she commented.
This is hardly the first time cow dung is used as fuel. In fact, in developing and poor countries, cow dung has been used as a form of fuel for ages. What is significant about recent research are the more scientific methods used to explore the potential of cow waste as a fuel. Current use of cow dung in poor countries, though intuitive, might not be the most optimal way to use it.
It is hoped that researches such as these will enable us to accomodate animal and human waste as a significant alternative energy source. Don't look forward to waste powering your car anytime soon, but they could at least power your mobile battery!
See also related researches done last few years in using cow dung as fuel here, here, here and here
Energy from waste is an interesting domain because of its double-benefits - creates energy from a free resource while improving the environment by sanitizing waste.
On related developments in the waste-to-energy domain, a team of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have also created waste-powered fuel cells. The MIT BioVolt cells are capable of running on plant waste and can generate electricity for household use in off-grid areas and developing countries.
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Cow Dung, Agriculture Waste as Fuel - Ann Christy, MIT BioVolt Cells posted by Ecacofonix : 5:11 AM
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Monday, April 14, 2008
UK Wind Turbines, Wave, Tidal, Hydro Energy Devices to Increase
Nearly 10,000 wind turbines will be spinning on land and sea by 2020 if Britain is to meet a new renewable-energy target announced recently.
The estimated fivefold increase in the number of turbines would be required to meet a new renewable-energy target for the UK under a plan detailed by the European Commission. Under the proposals, which are still to be agreed by member states, the UK would have to ensure at least 15 per cent of energy – in the form of electricity, heating and fuel – will come from renewable resources. Given limited scope to reduce fossil fuels used for transport and heating, renewable electricity supplies will need to make up between 30 and 40 per cent of the total.This could potentially mean a total of 5,200 turbines on land and 4,000 on sea, plus a mix of about 5,000 wave, tidal, and small run-of-river hydro and biomass devices by 2020, generating up to 46 gigawatts – or around 37 per cent of electricity demand.
More from here
The estimated fivefold increase in the number of turbines would be required to meet a new renewable-energy target for the UK under a plan detailed by the European Commission. Under the proposals, which are still to be agreed by member states, the UK would have to ensure at least 15 per cent of energy – in the form of electricity, heating and fuel – will come from renewable resources. Given limited scope to reduce fossil fuels used for transport and heating, renewable electricity supplies will need to make up between 30 and 40 per cent of the total.This could potentially mean a total of 5,200 turbines on land and 4,000 on sea, plus a mix of about 5,000 wave, tidal, and small run-of-river hydro and biomass devices by 2020, generating up to 46 gigawatts – or around 37 per cent of electricity demand.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - UK Wind Turbines, Wave, Tidal, Hydro Energy Devices to Increase posted by Ecacofonix : 8:50 PM
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Oorja - A Small Stove in India to Reduce Carbon Emissions
A $17 stove could reduce carbon emissions and improve women’s health in India. The invention of a tiny stove in India demonstrates the link between reduced carbon emissions and improved health – and how technology can contribute to slowing climate change. Global energy giant BP is producing and marketing Oorja, which means energy in Hindi, a small pellet stove that produces substantially fewer emissions than the traditional wood-burning stoves so common throughout India. In developing the stove, BP ran models by rural consumers. A team of businesswomen based in villages sell stoves and fuel made of agricultural waste products, while also offering BP advice on promoting other energy products to rural India’s millions. In wealthy and poor countries alike, efforts to control climate changes will require innovative and affordable alternative-energy products, combined with meticulous grassroots marketing campaigns in order to change old habits.
More from here
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Oorja - A Small Stove in India to Reduce Carbon Emissions posted by Ecacofonix : 5:42 AM
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EcoGlove Reusable Gloves, Uses Cold Plasma Sterilization
The makers of the humble disposable rubber gloves are turning “green”, with the introduction of the reusable EcoGlove.
EcoGlove chairman Patrick Hampe claimed that the gloves would be cheaper for end users, reduce the risk of latex and chemical allergies, and friendlier to Mother Nature.
After use, the new gloves would be reprocessed by its manufacturers – sanitised and checked for defects – before being repackaged and sent back to the users.
A machine using cold plasma technology sterilises the gloves, and as a quality control measure, Hampe said any one set of gloves are only allowed to be reused seven times.
With EcoGlove, Hampe said the carbon footprint would be reduced by 60%, as there would be almost zero wastage.
Hampe said Loprol is a formula that is almost free from proteins, which trigger latex allergies, while most chemical allergies are linked to nitrile gloves.
More from here
EcoGlove chairman Patrick Hampe claimed that the gloves would be cheaper for end users, reduce the risk of latex and chemical allergies, and friendlier to Mother Nature.
After use, the new gloves would be reprocessed by its manufacturers – sanitised and checked for defects – before being repackaged and sent back to the users.
A machine using cold plasma technology sterilises the gloves, and as a quality control measure, Hampe said any one set of gloves are only allowed to be reused seven times.
With EcoGlove, Hampe said the carbon footprint would be reduced by 60%, as there would be almost zero wastage.
Hampe said Loprol is a formula that is almost free from proteins, which trigger latex allergies, while most chemical allergies are linked to nitrile gloves.
More from here
Labels: Design-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering, Textile-Engineering
PermaLink - EcoGlove Reusable Gloves, Uses Cold Plasma Sterilization posted by Ecacofonix : 5:38 AM
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Zenith Solar of Israel Pioneering Concentrated Solar Power Method
Israeli energy startup Zenith Solar is pioneering a "concentrated solar power" method that is up to five times more efficient than standard technology
Rooftops all over Israel look strikingly similar: More than 1 million households in the nation of 7.1 million people have solar panels that produce hot water—a relatively simple technology that gained popularity after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when oil prices shot up sharply. As of the early 1990s, all new residential buildings were required by the government to install solar water-heating systems.
Zenith Solar, based in Nes Ziona near Tel Aviv, is a pioneer in a new type of solar energy that uses mirrors and lenses to focus and intensify the sun's light, producing far more electricity at lower cost. Compared with traditional flat photovoltaic panels made of silicon, this so-called concentrated solar power technology has proved in tests to be up to five times more efficient
More from here
Rooftops all over Israel look strikingly similar: More than 1 million households in the nation of 7.1 million people have solar panels that produce hot water—a relatively simple technology that gained popularity after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when oil prices shot up sharply. As of the early 1990s, all new residential buildings were required by the government to install solar water-heating systems.
Zenith Solar, based in Nes Ziona near Tel Aviv, is a pioneer in a new type of solar energy that uses mirrors and lenses to focus and intensify the sun's light, producing far more electricity at lower cost. Compared with traditional flat photovoltaic panels made of silicon, this so-called concentrated solar power technology has proved in tests to be up to five times more efficient
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Zenith Solar of Israel Pioneering Concentrated Solar Power Method posted by Ecacofonix : 5:32 AM
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Plastic Bags Not an Environmental Disaster?
You've all heard the claims -- plastic bags kill marine animals. Hundreds of thousands of them.
Apparently, the problem started with a typo in an 2002 Australian Government report. It attempted to quote from an Canadian study 15 years earlier, which found that up to 100,000 marine animals had been killed over four years by "discarded nets" from the fishing industry. Somehow, the 2002 report replaced that phrase with "plastic bags." But finally science seems to be winning out. According to David W. Laist of the Marine Mammal Commission, and author of a primary research paper on the subject, "plastic bags don't figure in entanglement. The main culprits are fishing gear, ropes, lines and strapping bands." Professor of Marine Biology Geoff Boxshall concurred, “I’ve never seen a bird killed by a plastic bag"
Plastic bags are much cheaper than paper, which is why stores favor them. They take less resources and energy to produce, they're far cheaper to ship and store, they're recyclable and some are even biodegradable. Those savings aren't just for the stores, they translate into lower food costs and less damage to the environment, says this interesting post.
Surprising, I'd all along thought that plastic bags were an environmental disaster!
More from here
Apparently, the problem started with a typo in an 2002 Australian Government report. It attempted to quote from an Canadian study 15 years earlier, which found that up to 100,000 marine animals had been killed over four years by "discarded nets" from the fishing industry. Somehow, the 2002 report replaced that phrase with "plastic bags." But finally science seems to be winning out. According to David W. Laist of the Marine Mammal Commission, and author of a primary research paper on the subject, "plastic bags don't figure in entanglement. The main culprits are fishing gear, ropes, lines and strapping bands." Professor of Marine Biology Geoff Boxshall concurred, “I’ve never seen a bird killed by a plastic bag"
Plastic bags are much cheaper than paper, which is why stores favor them. They take less resources and energy to produce, they're far cheaper to ship and store, they're recyclable and some are even biodegradable. Those savings aren't just for the stores, they translate into lower food costs and less damage to the environment, says this interesting post.
Surprising, I'd all along thought that plastic bags were an environmental disaster!
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
Free Flow Power Corp. to Install Turbines in Mississippi River Bed for Electricity
A New England startup company wants to harness the mighty river Mississippi for generating electricity. The company, Free Flow Power Corp., is pursuing a $3 billion plan to install thousands of small electric turbines in the river bed, reaching from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, that would collectively generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 1.5 million homes. Gloucester, Mass.-based Free Flow Power is among a number of developers of so-called hydrokinetic projects, defined as those that produce electricity from river currents or ocean waves and tides — not dams
Each site would consist of hundreds or thousands of turbines installed over several miles. The turbines, which would be attached to pilings in the river bed, are about 2 feet in diameter and probably would be made of carbon fiber or another lightweight composite material, Irvin said. The river’s natural flow would spin the turbines to generate electricity, which would be transmitted to the power grid
More from here
Each site would consist of hundreds or thousands of turbines installed over several miles. The turbines, which would be attached to pilings in the river bed, are about 2 feet in diameter and probably would be made of carbon fiber or another lightweight composite material, Irvin said. The river’s natural flow would spin the turbines to generate electricity, which would be transmitted to the power grid
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Free Flow Power Corp. to Install Turbines in Mississippi River Bed for Electricity posted by Ecacofonix : 5:32 AM
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Sault Ste. Marie Invention Makes Biodiesel from Cocunut Oil
Are green-energy petrol-alternatives the renewable saviour gas guzzlers need? Green technology from two Sault Ste. Marie residents could mean a new career for many Filipino farmers - producing fuel from coconut oil.
Green Corp. entrepreneurs Luc Duchesne and Norman Jaehrling finished their latest innovation, the Greenstar 1000, last week - a $300,000 machine that produces 1,000 litres of biodiesel in a 10-hour shift. That's 5,000 litres every two days.
Coconut farmers will share the Greenstar machines, housed in explosion-proof trailers, to create biodiesel from coconut oil, which they can then sell to local oil companies.
Critics however argue the alternative fuel push is responsible for large-scale deforestation and a worldwide food crisis.
More from here
Green Corp. entrepreneurs Luc Duchesne and Norman Jaehrling finished their latest innovation, the Greenstar 1000, last week - a $300,000 machine that produces 1,000 litres of biodiesel in a 10-hour shift. That's 5,000 litres every two days.
Coconut farmers will share the Greenstar machines, housed in explosion-proof trailers, to create biodiesel from coconut oil, which they can then sell to local oil companies.
Critics however argue the alternative fuel push is responsible for large-scale deforestation and a worldwide food crisis.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Sault Ste. Marie Invention Makes Biodiesel from Cocunut Oil posted by Ecacofonix : 5:31 AM
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Iceland Turns to Geothermal and Hydroelectric Power to Cut Oil Dependence
Problems linked to foreign oil dependence are real and frightening
In fact, Iceland, in its effort to reduce dependence on imported oil and clean up its environment at the same time, is trying to become the world’s first petroleum-free economy. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson described his nation’s situation this way: “We have this eternal machine in this country created by the Almighty consisting of the fire below under the ground and the glaciers and the water that comes from the sky, and it goes on and on, year after year, century after century, creating this fascinating source of energy.”
So Iceland set out on an ambitious and risky program to develop its existing resources. Rather than import every joule of their energy, Icelanders drilled wells to tap hot underground water and built a grid of pipes throughout the entire city of Reykjavík to circulate the water to heat the city’s homes and offices. Soon, Icelanders were also using their volcanoes and many rivers to generate copious amounts of geothermal and hydroelectric energy
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Keywords: Real-World Solutions, Foreign Oil Dependence, environmental regulation, Vikings, hydrogen-powered ships, Daimler Chrysler, Toyota, hydrogen-powered cars, Hertz, Jules Verne, Asgeir Margeirsson, geothermal company, Geysir Green Energy
In fact, Iceland, in its effort to reduce dependence on imported oil and clean up its environment at the same time, is trying to become the world’s first petroleum-free economy. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson described his nation’s situation this way: “We have this eternal machine in this country created by the Almighty consisting of the fire below under the ground and the glaciers and the water that comes from the sky, and it goes on and on, year after year, century after century, creating this fascinating source of energy.”
So Iceland set out on an ambitious and risky program to develop its existing resources. Rather than import every joule of their energy, Icelanders drilled wells to tap hot underground water and built a grid of pipes throughout the entire city of Reykjavík to circulate the water to heat the city’s homes and offices. Soon, Icelanders were also using their volcanoes and many rivers to generate copious amounts of geothermal and hydroelectric energy
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Keywords: Real-World Solutions, Foreign Oil Dependence, environmental regulation, Vikings, hydrogen-powered ships, Daimler Chrysler, Toyota, hydrogen-powered cars, Hertz, Jules Verne, Asgeir Margeirsson, geothermal company, Geysir Green Energy
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Iceland Turns to Geothermal and Hydroelectric Power to Cut Oil Dependence posted by Ecacofonix : 5:30 AM
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Arctic Ocean Has 400 Billion Barrels of Oil - the Next Saudi Arabia?
Just when we thought that diminishing oil supplies would spur rapid transition to solar and wind power and other non-fossil sources, the Las Vegas-based Arctic Oil & Gas has announced that new geological data on the Arctic Ocean suggests the possible presence of 400 billion barrels of oil.Arctic Oil & Gas cites recent scientific evidence that huge, floating mats of azolla decomposed soon after the age of the dinosaurs and exist today as "vast hydrocarbon resources" trapped in layers of rock below the polar ice cap.
The latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says, as we know, that the ice cap is warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is receding. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Moscow reportedly sees the potential of minerals in its slice of the Arctic sector approaching $2 trillion. Major petroleum companies are now focusing research and exploration on the far north. In 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the sovereignty issue "a serious, competitive battle" that "will unfold more and more fiercely.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Geo-Sciences
PermaLink - Arctic Ocean Has 400 Billion Barrels of Oil - the Next Saudi Arabia? posted by Ecacofonix : 5:30 AM
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Pedal Powered Washing Machine - by Bart Orlando
This article appeared in the HSU Lumberjack newspaper in 1997. The article is based on an interview with the pedal powered washing machine designer, Bart Orlando. Since then, the pedal power drive line of the washer has been simplified. The number of fanbelts used has been reduced from two belts to one belt. Now, one fanbelt connects the flywheel of the exercise bike directly to the pulley which drives the transmission of the washer. This reduces the amount of friction by eliminating one belt and two pillow blocks. Less friction translates into less pedaling effort.
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PermaLink - Pedal Powered Washing Machine - by Bart Orlando posted by Ecacofonix : 5:27 AM
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Nokia's Mobile Eco Sensor - More Aware of Your Health & Environment
This concept from Nokia, truly is surfing the Eco trend wave.
To help make you more aware of your health and local environmental conditions, the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept will include a separate, wearable sensing device with detectors that collect environment, health, and/or weather data. You will be able to choose which sensors you would like to have inside the sensing device, thereby customizing the device to your needs and desires. For example, you could use the device as a “personal trainee” if you were to choose a heart-rate monitor and motion detector (for measuring your walking pace).
The concept consists of two parts – a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions, and a dedicated mobile phone.
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To help make you more aware of your health and local environmental conditions, the Nokia Eco Sensor Concept will include a separate, wearable sensing device with detectors that collect environment, health, and/or weather data. You will be able to choose which sensors you would like to have inside the sensing device, thereby customizing the device to your needs and desires. For example, you could use the device as a “personal trainee” if you were to choose a heart-rate monitor and motion detector (for measuring your walking pace).
The concept consists of two parts – a wearable sensor unit which can sense and analyze your environment, health, and local weather conditions, and a dedicated mobile phone.
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Labels: Electronics-Communications-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Nokia's Mobile Eco Sensor - More Aware of Your Health & Environment posted by Ecacofonix : 5:26 AM
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Park Hotel, Hyderabad - India's First Green Hotel
For the new-age green consumer and those who believe in sustainable tourism here is a good news. After eco-friendly hotels, India will have it’s first green hotel — The Park Hotel in Hyderabad. The investment in this 280-room hotel, scheduled to start operations by mid-2009, will be around Rs 350 crore, 15% higher than a regular hotel. And it might not be a good idea for smokers to book a room in the hotel as 90% of it’s area will be non-smoking. Another Park Hotel property lined up in Pune, for which the group recently acquired 90,000 sq ft, will also be built on the lines of green buildings
An eco-friendly hotel is constructed using recycled materials, whereas a green building aims at saving energy. “Though the initial cost of construction is almost 15% higher for a green hotel, we will be able to recover that through efficiency in operations. A green hotel saves 34.7% of the energy costs,” added Bali. According to Spectral Consultancy Services, The Oberoi Group also has two green hotel projects in the pipeline — in Hyderabad and Goa
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An eco-friendly hotel is constructed using recycled materials, whereas a green building aims at saving energy. “Though the initial cost of construction is almost 15% higher for a green hotel, we will be able to recover that through efficiency in operations. A green hotel saves 34.7% of the energy costs,” added Bali. According to Spectral Consultancy Services, The Oberoi Group also has two green hotel projects in the pipeline — in Hyderabad and Goa
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Park Hotel, Hyderabad - India's First Green Hotel posted by Ecacofonix : 5:26 AM
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Pot-in-Pot - A Wireless Fridge, Refrigeration Without Electricity
For hundreds of years a similar type of cooling has been employed by desert dwellers around the world. The concept is explained by a simple law of thermodynamics. When moisture comes in contact with dry air it evaporates. You see, water has this amazing characteristic of having a very high retention of heat. This ancient technology has been used for cooling water for hundreds of years
Mohammed Bah Abba took this idea one step further. By placing one pot inside another and filling the gap in between the two pots with moist sand he was able to create a refrigeration system that requires nothing more than a little bit of moisture. The moist sand filling the gap between the two pots draws heat away from the inner pot and dissipates the heat through the evaporation of the moisture. The inner pot is filled with perishable foods that would normally last for mere days, but with this system can last for weeks. Mohammed Bah Abba's invention awarded him the Rolex Award for Enterprise, and has been recognised as a very important contribution to societies with limited energy resources, or where energy costs are prohibitive. Many families no longer rely on their children to "rush sell" their food goods and can now sell when the demand arises due to the reduction of spoilage
Mohammed is a a lecturer at polytechnic college in Northern Nigeria, and comes from a family of pot makers. He drew on his childhood experience and invented his Pot-in-Pot cooling system in 1995 and received the Rolex Award in 2000.
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Mohammed Bah Abba took this idea one step further. By placing one pot inside another and filling the gap in between the two pots with moist sand he was able to create a refrigeration system that requires nothing more than a little bit of moisture. The moist sand filling the gap between the two pots draws heat away from the inner pot and dissipates the heat through the evaporation of the moisture. The inner pot is filled with perishable foods that would normally last for mere days, but with this system can last for weeks. Mohammed Bah Abba's invention awarded him the Rolex Award for Enterprise, and has been recognised as a very important contribution to societies with limited energy resources, or where energy costs are prohibitive. Many families no longer rely on their children to "rush sell" their food goods and can now sell when the demand arises due to the reduction of spoilage
Mohammed is a a lecturer at polytechnic college in Northern Nigeria, and comes from a family of pot makers. He drew on his childhood experience and invented his Pot-in-Pot cooling system in 1995 and received the Rolex Award in 2000.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Pot-in-Pot - A Wireless Fridge, Refrigeration Without Electricity posted by Ecacofonix : 5:26 AM
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CR5 - Using Concentrated Solar Power to Produce CO, Fuel from CO2
Using concentrated solar energy to reverse combustion, a research team from Sandia National Laboratories is building a prototype device intended to chemically “reenergize” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using concentrated solar power. The carbon monoxide could then be used to make hydrogen or serve as a building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel, such as methanol or even gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
The prototype device, called the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5, for short), will break a carbon-oxygen bond in the carbon dioxide to form carbon monoxide and oxygen in two distinct steps. It is a major piece of an approach to converting carbon dioxide into fuel from sunlight.
The Sandia research team calls this approach “Sunshine to Petrol” (S2P). “Liquid Solar Fuel” is the end product — the methanol, gasoline, or other liquid fuel made from water and the carbon monoxide produced using solar energy.
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The prototype device, called the Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator (CR5, for short), will break a carbon-oxygen bond in the carbon dioxide to form carbon monoxide and oxygen in two distinct steps. It is a major piece of an approach to converting carbon dioxide into fuel from sunlight.
The Sandia research team calls this approach “Sunshine to Petrol” (S2P). “Liquid Solar Fuel” is the end product — the methanol, gasoline, or other liquid fuel made from water and the carbon monoxide produced using solar energy.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - CR5 - Using Concentrated Solar Power to Produce CO, Fuel from CO2 posted by Ecacofonix : 5:25 AM
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15-Year-Old Llew Falla Uses Cow Manure to Produce Electricity & Methane
There's two schools of thought on the latest invention from Llew Falla, Sarnia's 15-year-old science fair whiz.
Some say there is unlimited application potential for the project, called CH4 optimization of biowaste via microbial fuel cell control. Then, there's the notion the kid's project is full of crap.
Actually, both are correct.
Falla's entry in the upcoming Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta, Ga., uses cow manure to produce electricity and methane gas.
He's found a better way to break down cow manure using a microbial fuel cell to produce clean, usable electricity and methane gas.
The hydrogen and ions in the manure react with water, generating electricity and methane gas. The gas is trapped and stored in a separate chamber.
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Some say there is unlimited application potential for the project, called CH4 optimization of biowaste via microbial fuel cell control. Then, there's the notion the kid's project is full of crap.
Actually, both are correct.
Falla's entry in the upcoming Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta, Ga., uses cow manure to produce electricity and methane gas.
He's found a better way to break down cow manure using a microbial fuel cell to produce clean, usable electricity and methane gas.
The hydrogen and ions in the manure react with water, generating electricity and methane gas. The gas is trapped and stored in a separate chamber.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - 15-Year-Old Llew Falla Uses Cow Manure to Produce Electricity & Methane posted by Ecacofonix : 5:25 AM
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Firewinder the Eco-friendly LED Light Powered by Wind
This might not be the most practical outdoor light in the world, but what the Firewinder lacks in pedestrian utility it makes up for in sheer engaging awesomeness. Transforming wind into light, the Firewinder is a hanging, wind-powered LED light that can be powered by the smallest breeze. Unlike most wind turbines that spin vertically, the Firewinderspins in a horizontal direction, illuminating its LEDs in a spiraling helix of light. The coolest thing about the Firewinder is that it doesn’t just run on or off, but instead is visibly reactive to subtle changes in the environment. How bright the LEDs glow corresponds directly to how fast the turbine spins, enabling observers to visualize the power of wind.
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PermaLink - Firewinder the Eco-friendly LED Light Powered by Wind posted by Ecacofonix : 5:25 AM
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Japan Aims for 10 % Energy from Ocean - Wave Energy Update
Ocean Energy Association Japan (OEAJ) is proposing to meet 10 per cent of Japan's energy needs from ocean energy by 2050. The recommendation was part of a report submitted to the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation, a governmental body set up to develop new oil alternative technologies in the 1980s.
OEAJ is hoping to kick-start the second stage of wave development in the country. The association is aiming to develop new wave power devices capable of generating outputs at JPY20 (US$0.20) per kWh during the second stage development.
Japan is among the pioneers behind the modern wave developments in the 1970s. Major wave power inventions originating from Japan include the Oscillating Wave Column (OWC) and Kaimei in the 1970s. The OWC technology is commonly applied to wave developments following the 1970s.
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OEAJ is hoping to kick-start the second stage of wave development in the country. The association is aiming to develop new wave power devices capable of generating outputs at JPY20 (US$0.20) per kWh during the second stage development.
Japan is among the pioneers behind the modern wave developments in the 1970s. Major wave power inventions originating from Japan include the Oscillating Wave Column (OWC) and Kaimei in the 1970s. The OWC technology is commonly applied to wave developments following the 1970s.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Japan Aims for 10 % Energy from Ocean - Wave Energy Update posted by Ecacofonix : 5:23 AM
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Intelligent Energy, Suzuki Motor Pact for Hydrogen Motorcycle
Leading fuel cell power systems company Intelligent Energy has strengthened its relationship with the Suzuki Motor Corporation with an agreement that will see the progression to commercially viable fuel cell motorcycles.
The collaboration has already resulted in the Suzuki Crosscage, a hydrogen fuelled concept motorcycle unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Motor show. Intelligent Energy's high performance fuel cell power systems coupled with Suzuki's commitment to low-emissions transport mean the reality of hydrogen powered motorcycles is closer than ever.
Intelligent Energy's proprietary Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell designs are based on the use of thin metallic plates, which make the fuel cell stack compact and amenable to mass manufacture.
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The collaboration has already resulted in the Suzuki Crosscage, a hydrogen fuelled concept motorcycle unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Motor show. Intelligent Energy's high performance fuel cell power systems coupled with Suzuki's commitment to low-emissions transport mean the reality of hydrogen powered motorcycles is closer than ever.
Intelligent Energy's proprietary Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell designs are based on the use of thin metallic plates, which make the fuel cell stack compact and amenable to mass manufacture.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Intelligent Energy, Suzuki Motor Pact for Hydrogen Motorcycle posted by Ecacofonix : 5:23 AM
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Waste to Ethanol, Biodiesel - U of Maryland Invention Promises Biofuels Advance
University of Maryland research that started with bacteria from the Chesapeake Bay has led to a process that may be able to convert large volumes of all kinds of plant products, from leftover brewer's mash to paper trash, into ethanol and other biofuel alternatives to gasoline. That process, developed by University of Maryland professors Steve Hutcheson and Ron Weiner, professors of cell biology and molecular genetics, is the foundation of their incubator company Zymetis, which was on view today in College Park for Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and state and university officials.
Partnership with the State enables University of Maryland faculty and students to commercialize new discoveries quickly
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Partnership with the State enables University of Maryland faculty and students to commercialize new discoveries quickly
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Waste to Ethanol, Biodiesel - U of Maryland Invention Promises Biofuels Advance posted by Ecacofonix : 5:22 AM
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Dye Based Solar Cells with Titanium Oxide Nanocrystals To Be Embedded In Consumer Products
Dye based solar cells are made of titanium oxide nanochrystals. These are coated with light absorbing dye that can be used in various materials including glass and plastic. The dye is immersed in an electrolyte solution. When light reaches the surface, the dye sets free electrons which in turn create ‘holes’ – positive charges as a result of ‘lost electrons’. The titanium dioxide semiconducts and transfers electricity to an electrical circuit and energy is created.
The solar cells convert light to electricity with an efficiency of 7.2 percent, which is a record for this type of cell. Solar panels typically convert 16 percent to 20 percent of light into energy. But the advantage of the organic dye cells is that they also convert low light and that they can be ‘tuned’ for specific wavelengths.
The first company manufacturing dye sensitized solar, Konarka, based in Lowell, MA, announced it had successfully conducted the first-ever demonstration of manufacturing solar cells by highly efficient inkjet printing ten days ago. Konarka is focusing on getting the technology embedded in hundreds of day to day products. In the Summer Konarka is planning on shipping out its first products, mainly gadgets, lights and smart cards.
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The solar cells convert light to electricity with an efficiency of 7.2 percent, which is a record for this type of cell. Solar panels typically convert 16 percent to 20 percent of light into energy. But the advantage of the organic dye cells is that they also convert low light and that they can be ‘tuned’ for specific wavelengths.
The first company manufacturing dye sensitized solar, Konarka, based in Lowell, MA, announced it had successfully conducted the first-ever demonstration of manufacturing solar cells by highly efficient inkjet printing ten days ago. Konarka is focusing on getting the technology embedded in hundreds of day to day products. In the Summer Konarka is planning on shipping out its first products, mainly gadgets, lights and smart cards.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Dye Based Solar Cells with Titanium Oxide Nanocrystals To Be Embedded In Consumer Products posted by Ecacofonix : 5:21 AM
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Jayant Baliga's IGBT's Could Have the World's Smallest Carbon Footprint
NC State Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Jayant Baliga, may have the world's smallest carbon footprint - the amount of greenhouse gases that a person directly or indirectly releases into the atmosphere each year.
One of Baliga's inventions is responsible for eliminating the need for more than 100 gigawatts of power, which translates to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of about 1 trillion pounds per year. Now, he is working to make his footprint even smaller by pursuing new inventions that further improve energy efficiency.
The energy saved by the use of IGBTs in electric motors and energy-efficient light bulbs alone equals 100 gigawatts, meaning that new one-gigawatt, coal-fired power plants won't need to be built to match the former demand. There are economic benefits as well - to the tune of $2 billion for each plant that does not have to be built.
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One of Baliga's inventions is responsible for eliminating the need for more than 100 gigawatts of power, which translates to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of about 1 trillion pounds per year. Now, he is working to make his footprint even smaller by pursuing new inventions that further improve energy efficiency.
The energy saved by the use of IGBTs in electric motors and energy-efficient light bulbs alone equals 100 gigawatts, meaning that new one-gigawatt, coal-fired power plants won't need to be built to match the former demand. There are economic benefits as well - to the tune of $2 billion for each plant that does not have to be built.
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PermaLink - Jayant Baliga's IGBT's Could Have the World's Smallest Carbon Footprint posted by Ecacofonix : 5:21 AM
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Oil, Gas Extraction Technology Bought by Platina Energy Group
An energy production company bought gas technology developed by UT researchers and will soon install it into oil wells. The technology, licensed to Platina Energy Group Inc., will reduce the amount of equipment used to extract gas and oil from wells and will help eliminate the problem of pump cavitation, which occurs when there is excess air in the pump. Kamy Sepehrnoori and Augusto Podio, petroleum and geosystems engineering professors, helped develop technology that allows a submersible pump and a jet pump to be used together in a gas well, so a separate gas vent line is unnecessary. Max Green, licensing specialist at UT's Office of Technology Commercialization, said the technology will be installed on older oil wells that do not produce oil on a large scale. Green said Platina is the only company licensed to use the technology, though it has the right to sublicense the technology to other companies.Rick Friedman, an associate director for licensing at UT, said giving Platina exclusive rights to the technology gives the company a competitive advantage.The office receives about 140 invention disclosures per year from faculty members who want their technology commercialized, Friedman said. The office then decides if it wants to secure patent protection for the technology and commercialize the invention.The office signs about 30 to 40 new licenses per year.
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PermaLink - Oil, Gas Extraction Technology Bought by Platina Energy Group posted by Ecacofonix : 5:20 AM
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Oil Producing Yeast, Buoys for Ocean Waves to Electricity New Energy Sources
Chances are you've heard of hybrids and biofuels, but what about oil-producing yeast and turbine like buoys that transform ocean waves into electricity? Those are just a couple of the alternative-energy sources that may power the future according to Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund and coauthor, with Miriam Horn, of the new book "Earth: The Sequel" (Norton).
"Everyone knows the current story of melting glaciers, rising sea levels, worsening hurricanes, dying coral reefs," said Krupp. "'The Sequel' is the story of what happens next. We are just on the threshold of a great race." While he says oft-cited solar power technology is our best bet for now, Krupp emphasizes that quirkier projects, like algae concoctions that eat up carbon emissions, are essential elements of a smart, diversified energy strategy. NEWSWEEK's Katie Paul talked with Krupp about why he thinks the next industrial revolution looks bright green. Excerpts from the talk are provided in this article
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"Everyone knows the current story of melting glaciers, rising sea levels, worsening hurricanes, dying coral reefs," said Krupp. "'The Sequel' is the story of what happens next. We are just on the threshold of a great race." While he says oft-cited solar power technology is our best bet for now, Krupp emphasizes that quirkier projects, like algae concoctions that eat up carbon emissions, are essential elements of a smart, diversified energy strategy. NEWSWEEK's Katie Paul talked with Krupp about why he thinks the next industrial revolution looks bright green. Excerpts from the talk are provided in this article
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PermaLink - Oil Producing Yeast, Buoys for Ocean Waves to Electricity New Energy Sources posted by Ecacofonix : 5:20 AM
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A123 Company Says Its Auto Battery will Propel EVs
For all the doubts about whether a tiny, 7-year-old company can essentially rewire the domestic auto industry, A123's executives express abundant confidence in their invention.
"Today, we are providing enough batteries to power the equivalent of 100,000 vehicles," said Ric Fulop, one of A123's founders and its chief evangelist. "If you look at other technologies, they're still in the lab. It's years before they get into mass production."
The hurdles to powering vehicles with electricity instead of oil have become less daunting in the past year, but they're still towering: Cost, Safety, Longevity, Environment...
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Keywords: Tech company, future of autos, A123 Systems, Chevrolet Volt, battery pack
General Motors Corp, chief evangelist, Ric Fulop, Chevy Volt
"Today, we are providing enough batteries to power the equivalent of 100,000 vehicles," said Ric Fulop, one of A123's founders and its chief evangelist. "If you look at other technologies, they're still in the lab. It's years before they get into mass production."
The hurdles to powering vehicles with electricity instead of oil have become less daunting in the past year, but they're still towering: Cost, Safety, Longevity, Environment...
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Keywords: Tech company, future of autos, A123 Systems, Chevrolet Volt, battery pack
General Motors Corp, chief evangelist, Ric Fulop, Chevy Volt
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - A123 Company Says Its Auto Battery will Propel EVs posted by Ecacofonix : 5:19 AM
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Statoil Growth - Wireless, Real-time Data Integration Key
A report emanated from the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) and bore the title “Potential Value of Integrated-Operations on the Norwegian Shelf.” OLF released the report in 2006.
The report found if oil and gas companies active in the Norwegian shelf quickly were to integrate their operations, they could increase their revenues from the shelf by $41.5 billion. If they do not, they can expect to miss $10 billion in potential revenues within the next three years alone. These staggering figures reflect an array of challenges the industry faces and the scale of the prize at stake.
Although the prescribed solution to these challenges goes under different names—Integrated Operations (Statoil), eOperations (Hydro), Smart Field (Shell), Field of the Future (BP), and i-field (Chevron)—the key elements are broadly the same.
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The report found if oil and gas companies active in the Norwegian shelf quickly were to integrate their operations, they could increase their revenues from the shelf by $41.5 billion. If they do not, they can expect to miss $10 billion in potential revenues within the next three years alone. These staggering figures reflect an array of challenges the industry faces and the scale of the prize at stake.
Although the prescribed solution to these challenges goes under different names—Integrated Operations (Statoil), eOperations (Hydro), Smart Field (Shell), Field of the Future (BP), and i-field (Chevron)—the key elements are broadly the same.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Manufacturing-Production-Engineering
PermaLink - Statoil Growth - Wireless, Real-time Data Integration Key posted by Ecacofonix : 5:17 AM
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Boeing Makes First Ever Hydrogen Battery Flight
US aircraft maker Boeing flew a plane that was powered by a hydrogen battery at the start of 2008 for the first time in aviation history, senior company officials said in Spain on Thursday.
"For the first time in the history of aviation, Boeing has flown a manned airplane that was powered by a hydrogen battery," Boeing chief technology officer John Tracy told a news conference at the firm's research centre in the central Spanish town of Ocana.
The plane, which used propellers, flew at a speed of 100 kilometres (62 miles) an hour for about 20 minutes at an altitude of about 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) using only the hydrogen battery for power, Boeing said in a statement.
The director of the Ocana research centre, Francisco Escarti, said the hydrogen battery "could be the main source of energy for a small plane" but would likely not become the "primary soruce of energy for big passenger planes".
"For the first time in the history of aviation, Boeing has flown a manned airplane that was powered by a hydrogen battery," Boeing chief technology officer John Tracy told a news conference at the firm's research centre in the central Spanish town of Ocana.
The plane, which used propellers, flew at a speed of 100 kilometres (62 miles) an hour for about 20 minutes at an altitude of about 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) using only the hydrogen battery for power, Boeing said in a statement.
The director of the Ocana research centre, Francisco Escarti, said the hydrogen battery "could be the main source of energy for a small plane" but would likely not become the "primary soruce of energy for big passenger planes".
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Boeing Makes First Ever Hydrogen Battery Flight posted by Ecacofonix : 4:21 AM
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Wind-powered Airplanes by Dr. Josef Popf. Airplane Hybrids?
An announcement made recently is stirring excitement in the aviation industry as a scientist turned inventor claims he can dramatically reduce or perhaps remove fossil fuels from modern flight. His innovative design employs wind power to make an airplane version of popular hybrid cars. He claims his prototype is cheap and scaleable–and it can easily be added to existing aircraft. The implications are far reaching as the aviation industry comes under increasing pressure to reduce their green house gas emissions. According to inventor Dr. Josef Popf, “The idea struck me as I was driving through a wind farm in Kentucky. Why not strap one of those puppies to an airplane? When I first started doing the math, it was really just for fun. I expected the wind turbine to slow down the airplane.
But the deeper I delved into the problem, the more plausible it started to appear. Then, after about two solid months, I found the answers I needed and filed for a patent.”
Essentially, it’s not so different from the hybrid systems employed by hybrid cars. As an airplane cruises or comes in to land, the turbine super-charges high-capacity batteries. That energy can then be used during future take-offs and landings. The trick, according to Popf, is to use the wind turbine at high altitudes, where the thinner atmosphere puts less stress on the airplane, preventing excessive drag.
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But the deeper I delved into the problem, the more plausible it started to appear. Then, after about two solid months, I found the answers I needed and filed for a patent.”
Essentially, it’s not so different from the hybrid systems employed by hybrid cars. As an airplane cruises or comes in to land, the turbine super-charges high-capacity batteries. That energy can then be used during future take-offs and landings. The trick, according to Popf, is to use the wind turbine at high altitudes, where the thinner atmosphere puts less stress on the airplane, preventing excessive drag.
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PermaLink - Wind-powered Airplanes by Dr. Josef Popf. Airplane Hybrids? posted by Ecacofonix : 4:19 AM
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Thursday, April 10, 2008
Converting Plant Sugars into Hydrogen to Power Fuel Cell Vehicles
Sugar-powered cars may be in your future. Chemists report development of a “revolutionary” process for converting plant sugars into hydrogen, which could be used to cheaply and efficiently power vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel cells without producing any pollutants. The scientists will describe their unique hydrogen production system in April at the American Chemical Society national meeting in New Orleans. Percival Zhang, a scientist at Virginia Tech, is developing a new process for converting plant sugars into hydrogen that could be used to cheaply and efficiently power vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel cells without producing any pollutants.
The process involves combining plant sugars, water, and a cocktail of powerful enzymes to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide under mild reaction conditions. The new system helps solve the three major technical barriers to the so-called “hydrogen economy,” researchers said. Those roadblocks involve how to produce low-cost sustainable hydrogen, how to store hydrogen, and how to distribute it efficiently, the researchers say.
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The process involves combining plant sugars, water, and a cocktail of powerful enzymes to produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide under mild reaction conditions. The new system helps solve the three major technical barriers to the so-called “hydrogen economy,” researchers said. Those roadblocks involve how to produce low-cost sustainable hydrogen, how to store hydrogen, and how to distribute it efficiently, the researchers say.
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PermaLink - Converting Plant Sugars into Hydrogen to Power Fuel Cell Vehicles posted by Ecacofonix : 10:19 AM
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Fuelstar Combustion Catalyst Increases Fuel Efficiency, Cuts Fuel Costs
A 1992 Kiwi invention called Fuelstar, a fit-and-forget fuel combustion catalyst provides greater overall engine efficiency by giving more complete combustion. The benefits are improved performance, better fuel economy, a cleaner engine and lower exhaust emissions.
The car-engine unit is about the size of a soft-drink can and is plumbed into the fuel supply line.
When fuel flows through the unit on its way to the carburettor or injection system, minuscule particles of metallic tin are released into the fuel and are carried through to the combustion chambers.
These particles are far too small to damage engine components. The tin changes the combustion characteristics of the fuel, giving a more complete and more prolonged fuel burn, resulting in improved efficiency and performance.
California Environmental Engineering tested a Fuelstar installed in a 6.9-litre Nissan diesel truck and found it reduced fuel consumption by 27 per cent. It also brought down emissions of CO2 by 30 per cent and particulates by 24 per cent.
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The car-engine unit is about the size of a soft-drink can and is plumbed into the fuel supply line.
When fuel flows through the unit on its way to the carburettor or injection system, minuscule particles of metallic tin are released into the fuel and are carried through to the combustion chambers.
These particles are far too small to damage engine components. The tin changes the combustion characteristics of the fuel, giving a more complete and more prolonged fuel burn, resulting in improved efficiency and performance.
California Environmental Engineering tested a Fuelstar installed in a 6.9-litre Nissan diesel truck and found it reduced fuel consumption by 27 per cent. It also brought down emissions of CO2 by 30 per cent and particulates by 24 per cent.
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Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Fuelstar Combustion Catalyst Increases Fuel Efficiency, Cuts Fuel Costs posted by Ecacofonix : 10:18 AM
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Project Better Place Teaming with Renault-Nissan to Promote Electric Vehicles
Today more than three billion cellphones are in use around the world. They have changed, for better or worse, not just the way we communicate, but our sense of what it means to keep in touch.
Now a private investment company with an ostentatious name hopes to employ the kind of marketing structure that put cellphones in so many pockets to launch a new era of electric cars.
Project Better Place is teaming up with Renault-Nissan in a scheme designed to drive electric vehicles from the fringe category and into the mainstream of personal transportation.
They are starting in Israel and Denmark, but if Project Better Place lives up to its name and makes this ambitious plan work, it could be a natural fit in British Columbia.
Although electric cars have been around for almost as long as their conventional gas and diesel-powered cousins, they have been held back by limited performance and range and high costs.
Project Better Place has no world-beating technology to change the performance equation. What it has is enough startup capital -- $200 million committed so far -- and a marketing idea to offer not just an electric car, but a system to make it work.
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Now a private investment company with an ostentatious name hopes to employ the kind of marketing structure that put cellphones in so many pockets to launch a new era of electric cars.
Project Better Place is teaming up with Renault-Nissan in a scheme designed to drive electric vehicles from the fringe category and into the mainstream of personal transportation.
They are starting in Israel and Denmark, but if Project Better Place lives up to its name and makes this ambitious plan work, it could be a natural fit in British Columbia.
Although electric cars have been around for almost as long as their conventional gas and diesel-powered cousins, they have been held back by limited performance and range and high costs.
Project Better Place has no world-beating technology to change the performance equation. What it has is enough startup capital -- $200 million committed so far -- and a marketing idea to offer not just an electric car, but a system to make it work.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Project Better Place Teaming with Renault-Nissan to Promote Electric Vehicles posted by Ecacofonix : 9:20 AM
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BASS Founder Ray Scott Invention Helps Prevent Lake Fish Kills
Ray Scott never had any notion of being an inventor. He's a fisherman -- and a good one at that.
But when the man who founded the BASS sport fishing empire looked out one morning from his Pintlala home and saw his lake filled with dead fish, he put on his thinking cap and designed a product that now is being produced by a Wisconsin-based company.
Scott turned to specialists at Auburn University to get answers to many questions. He learned that the days of hot weather had depleted the oxygen from the bottom of the pond.
The Auburn officials told Scott that if he wanted to ward off future fish kills, he needed to invent a device that would ensure oxygen levels remained balanced in the pond. Scott went to work on a water-circulating device.
Over the next 10 years, he continued to tinker with his invention, building a series of prototypes and testing them.
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But when the man who founded the BASS sport fishing empire looked out one morning from his Pintlala home and saw his lake filled with dead fish, he put on his thinking cap and designed a product that now is being produced by a Wisconsin-based company.
Scott turned to specialists at Auburn University to get answers to many questions. He learned that the days of hot weather had depleted the oxygen from the bottom of the pond.
The Auburn officials told Scott that if he wanted to ward off future fish kills, he needed to invent a device that would ensure oxygen levels remained balanced in the pond. Scott went to work on a water-circulating device.
Over the next 10 years, he continued to tinker with his invention, building a series of prototypes and testing them.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - BASS Founder Ray Scott Invention Helps Prevent Lake Fish Kills posted by Ecacofonix : 9:18 AM
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Saving the Coral Reefs with BioRock Mineral Accretion Technology
The oceans can't recover from the heat trap of carbon-dioxide as quickly as the atmosphere could. The rise in temperatures in the ocean work on a mean turnover rate of up to 1000 years, so even if all carbon-based energy extraction were to cease right now, it is probably too late to prevent a rise in temperatures to levels mortal to coral reefs
Corals lay the foundation for underwater colonies of marine life. If the coral die out, the effects run straight up the food chain to the fish that humans depend on for food. Unless we find a way to assist the coral to recover, we will reduce the available food stock for humans from the sea.
Perhaps there is a way for humans to undo the damage we have caused and allow our foodstocks to return to sustainable levels. Bio-Rock Mineral Accretion Technology may be one way that we can put things back to normal. Biorock Technology, or mineral accretion technology is a method that applies safe, low voltage electrical currents through seawater, causing dissolved minerals to crystallize on structures, growing into a white limestone similar to that which naturally makes up coral reefs and tropical white sand beaches. This material has a strength similar to concrete. It can be used to make robust artificial reefs on which corals grow at very rapid rates.
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Corals lay the foundation for underwater colonies of marine life. If the coral die out, the effects run straight up the food chain to the fish that humans depend on for food. Unless we find a way to assist the coral to recover, we will reduce the available food stock for humans from the sea.
Perhaps there is a way for humans to undo the damage we have caused and allow our foodstocks to return to sustainable levels. Bio-Rock Mineral Accretion Technology may be one way that we can put things back to normal. Biorock Technology, or mineral accretion technology is a method that applies safe, low voltage electrical currents through seawater, causing dissolved minerals to crystallize on structures, growing into a white limestone similar to that which naturally makes up coral reefs and tropical white sand beaches. This material has a strength similar to concrete. It can be used to make robust artificial reefs on which corals grow at very rapid rates.
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Labels: Electrical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Saving the Coral Reefs with BioRock Mineral Accretion Technology posted by Ecacofonix : 9:15 AM
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Cooling Blankets from Kalb Corp. Could be Used by US DoD
You need not come from a big town or a big company to develop a hot idea.
The Kalb Corp., run by Mike Kalb and his son, Rob, in the tiny town of Oneida, about 12 miles northwest of Galesburg, is a perfect example. Their specialty, which is to throw a cooling blanket over an overheated exhaust, has some people at the Pentagon hot and bothered.
The Kalbs design custom fabricated blankets that go over diesel engine exhaust pipes. They are designed to shield hot exhaust from areas where people might touch it or where random debris could ignite, creating a fire hazard. Their signature product, HeatBlocker, reduces exhaust temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit down to between 200 and 225.
Its primary application has been on heavy diesel equipment associated with mining, landfill and construction applications. But the Department of Defense is looking to develop a new generation Humvee-type vehicle. The Kalbs' product could both reduce the risk of fires from exhausts and dramatically reduce the thermal signature, making the vehicles less vulnerable to heat-seeking missiles.
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The Kalb Corp., run by Mike Kalb and his son, Rob, in the tiny town of Oneida, about 12 miles northwest of Galesburg, is a perfect example. Their specialty, which is to throw a cooling blanket over an overheated exhaust, has some people at the Pentagon hot and bothered.
The Kalbs design custom fabricated blankets that go over diesel engine exhaust pipes. They are designed to shield hot exhaust from areas where people might touch it or where random debris could ignite, creating a fire hazard. Their signature product, HeatBlocker, reduces exhaust temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit down to between 200 and 225.
Its primary application has been on heavy diesel equipment associated with mining, landfill and construction applications. But the Department of Defense is looking to develop a new generation Humvee-type vehicle. The Kalbs' product could both reduce the risk of fires from exhausts and dramatically reduce the thermal signature, making the vehicles less vulnerable to heat-seeking missiles.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Cooling Blankets from Kalb Corp. Could be Used by US DoD posted by Ecacofonix : 7:59 AM
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Sewage-Based Fertilizer (Biosolids / Sludge) Safety Doubted
It was a farm idea with a big payoff and supposedly no downside: ridding lakes and rivers of raw sewage and industrial pollution by converting it all into a free, nutrient-rich fertilizer. Then last week, a federal judge ordered the Agriculture Department to compensate a farmer whose land was poisoned by sludge from the waste treatment plant here. His cows had died by the hundreds.
The Associated Press also has learned that some of the same contaminants showed up in milk that regulators allowed a neighboring dairy farmer to market, even after some officials said they were warned about it.
About 7 million tons of biosolids - the term that waste producers came up with for sludge in 1991 - are produced each year as a byproduct from 1,650 waste water treatment plants around the nation. Slightly more than half is used on land as fertilizer; the rest is incinerated or burned in landfills. Giving it away to farmers is cheaper than burning or burying it, and the government’s policy has been to encourage the former.
In 1999, the agency awarded a $12,274 grant to the University of Georgia to study the problem of sludge's negative impacts on the environment. That research would result in a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Environmental Quality finding that the city’s sludge was safe and that EPA’s regulations were working.
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The Associated Press also has learned that some of the same contaminants showed up in milk that regulators allowed a neighboring dairy farmer to market, even after some officials said they were warned about it.
About 7 million tons of biosolids - the term that waste producers came up with for sludge in 1991 - are produced each year as a byproduct from 1,650 waste water treatment plants around the nation. Slightly more than half is used on land as fertilizer; the rest is incinerated or burned in landfills. Giving it away to farmers is cheaper than burning or burying it, and the government’s policy has been to encourage the former.
In 1999, the agency awarded a $12,274 grant to the University of Georgia to study the problem of sludge's negative impacts on the environment. That research would result in a study published in 2003 in the Journal of Environmental Quality finding that the city’s sludge was safe and that EPA’s regulations were working.
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Labels: Agricultural-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Sewage-Based Fertilizer (Biosolids / Sludge) Safety Doubted posted by Ecacofonix : 7:51 AM
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Processor Heat Converted to Electricity - Orest Symko
Perhaps AMD and Intel should not have abandoned the Gigahertz-race and bunsen-burner processors after all: Scientists from the University of Utah today said that they can convert waste heat into sound and electricity.
Physicist Orest Symko and his research team at the University of Utah said they succeeded in building small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity.
According to Symko, most of the heat-to-electricity acoustic devices are housed in cylinder-shaped "resonators" that fit in the palm of a hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a "stack" of material with a large surface area – such as metal or plastic plates, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel wool – placed between a cold heat exchanger and a hot heat exchanger.
When heat is injected, the heat builds to a threshold and moving air produces sound. The sound is then converted into electricity by using "piezoelectric" devices that are squeezed in response to pressure, including sound waves, and change that pressure into electrical current. Only about 20% of the sound energy is lost when pressure is converted to electricity, Symko said.
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Physicist Orest Symko and his research team at the University of Utah said they succeeded in building small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity.
According to Symko, most of the heat-to-electricity acoustic devices are housed in cylinder-shaped "resonators" that fit in the palm of a hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a "stack" of material with a large surface area – such as metal or plastic plates, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel wool – placed between a cold heat exchanger and a hot heat exchanger.
When heat is injected, the heat builds to a threshold and moving air produces sound. The sound is then converted into electricity by using "piezoelectric" devices that are squeezed in response to pressure, including sound waves, and change that pressure into electrical current. Only about 20% of the sound energy is lost when pressure is converted to electricity, Symko said.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Processor Heat Converted to Electricity - Orest Symko posted by Ecacofonix : 7:40 AM
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"Instant Water Boiler" Invention Uses Sound Waves - by Peter Davey, NZ
Ninety-two-year-old Peter Davey of New Zealand says he invented a unique water boiling gadget 30 years ago. He claims it uses sound waves, not a heating element, to boil water in seconds. Davey noticed as he played the saxophone at home that everything resonated at a different frequency.
"The glasses will tinkle on one note. Knives and forks in the drawer will tinkle on another note and I realised that everything has its point of vibration," he said. "In the same way, a component in the ball is tuned to a certain frequency."
A retired engineering professor, Arthur Williamson, was invited to look at the boiler in action. He said:
"I don't know enough about sound to know whether you can transfer that amount of energy via soundwaves. I doubt it," said Williamson. He did remember an alternative kettle years ago that had two perforated metal plates inside. The power ran between the plates, through the water. "The resistance through the water provided the load. I wonder if it isn't working like that? Without taking it to bits, you can't tell."
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"The glasses will tinkle on one note. Knives and forks in the drawer will tinkle on another note and I realised that everything has its point of vibration," he said. "In the same way, a component in the ball is tuned to a certain frequency."
A retired engineering professor, Arthur Williamson, was invited to look at the boiler in action. He said:
"I don't know enough about sound to know whether you can transfer that amount of energy via soundwaves. I doubt it," said Williamson. He did remember an alternative kettle years ago that had two perforated metal plates inside. The power ran between the plates, through the water. "The resistance through the water provided the load. I wonder if it isn't working like that? Without taking it to bits, you can't tell."
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Physics, Sciences
PermaLink - "Instant Water Boiler" Invention Uses Sound Waves - by Peter Davey, NZ posted by Ecacofonix : 7:37 AM
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Humans Causing New Extinction Event: Australian Scientist
Australian National University scientist says the planet is losing species at a similar rate to the period when the dinosaurs were wiped out. Will Steffen from the Fenner School of Environment says the planet is in the midst of a new geological age, the Anthropocene, in which humans are causing mass species extinction. He says the era began with the industrial revolution and accelerated in the 1950s as humans began burning more fossil fuels and consuming more resources. Professor Steffen says the current levels of species extinction are at least a hundred times greater than natural loss rates.
Professor Steffen says the Anthropocene age will continue for some considerable time."Even if we cut down emissions to zero or close to zero tomorrow, there would be significant amounts of extra CO2 up there for centuries into the future, and I think also in terms of biodiversity loss, there is what some people call committed biodiversity loss, or species that are on their way to extinction and there probably isn't much we can do to turn them around," he said.
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Professor Steffen says the Anthropocene age will continue for some considerable time."Even if we cut down emissions to zero or close to zero tomorrow, there would be significant amounts of extra CO2 up there for centuries into the future, and I think also in terms of biodiversity loss, there is what some people call committed biodiversity loss, or species that are on their way to extinction and there probably isn't much we can do to turn them around," he said.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Geo-Sciences
PermaLink - Humans Causing New Extinction Event: Australian Scientist posted by Ecacofonix : 4:33 AM
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Nanosieves to Remove Water Out of Biofuels & Save Energy
A new type of membrane, developed by scientists of the University of Twente in The Netherlands, can stand high temperatures for a long period of time. This ‘molecular sieve’ is capable of removing water out of e.g. solvents and biofuels. It is a very energy efficient alternative to existing techniques like distillation. Even after testing during 18 months, the new membranes prove to be highly effective, while having continuously been exposed to a temperature of 150 ºC. Existing ceramic and polymer membranes will last considerably shorter periods of time, when exposed to the combination of water and high temperatures. The scientists managed to do this using a new ‘hybrid’ type of material combining the best of both worlds of polymer and ceramic membranes. The result is a membrane with pores sufficiently small to let only the smallest molecules pass through.
Manufacturing the new hybrid membranes is simpler than that of ceramic membranes, because the material is flexible and will not show cracks.
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Manufacturing the new hybrid membranes is simpler than that of ceramic membranes, because the material is flexible and will not show cracks.
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Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Material-Sciences
PermaLink - Nanosieves to Remove Water Out of Biofuels & Save Energy posted by Ecacofonix : 12:14 AM
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Lifesaver Bottle by Michael Pritchard - Filters Impure Water, Lightweight
The water in Michael Pritchard's fishtank came straight from his garden pond and it showed. The greenish gunk looked and smelled like it ought not to go anywhere near a human digestive system. But after pumping it through his lightweight, handheld device it came out crystal clear and he even persuaded some onlookers to taste it. The Lifesaver bottle was one of several inventions at a show of military technology hosted by the National Army Museum in Chelsea recemtly.
Once a hurricane or earthquake hits, one of the most pressing logistical needs is to provide clean drinking water to the victims. A transport plane can typically hold enough bottled water for 800 people for a month. The same plane can carry 125,000 Lifesaver bottles. At one bottle per family, that's enough to keep half a million people in drinking water for 16 months. The bottle works by using a handheld pump mechanism to force water from the outside to the inside of a narrow coiled tube inside the device. The polymer that makes up the tube has pores in it that are 15 billionths of a metre in diameter - small enough to filter out bacteria and viruses
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Once a hurricane or earthquake hits, one of the most pressing logistical needs is to provide clean drinking water to the victims. A transport plane can typically hold enough bottled water for 800 people for a month. The same plane can carry 125,000 Lifesaver bottles. At one bottle per family, that's enough to keep half a million people in drinking water for 16 months. The bottle works by using a handheld pump mechanism to force water from the outside to the inside of a narrow coiled tube inside the device. The polymer that makes up the tube has pores in it that are 15 billionths of a metre in diameter - small enough to filter out bacteria and viruses
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Society
PermaLink - Lifesaver Bottle by Michael Pritchard - Filters Impure Water, Lightweight posted by Ecacofonix : 12:09 AM
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008
iPod Operated by the Wink of Eye Created by Taniguchi
A Japanese researcher says he has developed a system that will soon let people run their iPods with the flick of an eye.
The system, comprising a single-chip computer and a couple of infrared sensors, monitors movements of the temple and is so tiny that it can be built into the side of a pair of eyeglasses. Closing both eyes for one second starts an iPod, while blinking again stops the machine. A wink with the right eye makes the machine skip to the next tune while with a wink of the left eye it goes back. As a person does not have to move either hand, the system can serve as "a third hand" for caregivers, rock-climbers, motorbike drivers and astronauts, as well as people with disabilities.The Kome Kami Switch is also capable of operating television sets, air conditioners, room lighting and other household electronics.
The inventor Taniguchi hopes the system can eventually be adapted to run cellphones, wheelchairs and robots as "an ultimate remote control" used in everyday life
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The system, comprising a single-chip computer and a couple of infrared sensors, monitors movements of the temple and is so tiny that it can be built into the side of a pair of eyeglasses. Closing both eyes for one second starts an iPod, while blinking again stops the machine. A wink with the right eye makes the machine skip to the next tune while with a wink of the left eye it goes back. As a person does not have to move either hand, the system can serve as "a third hand" for caregivers, rock-climbers, motorbike drivers and astronauts, as well as people with disabilities.The Kome Kami Switch is also capable of operating television sets, air conditioners, room lighting and other household electronics.
The inventor Taniguchi hopes the system can eventually be adapted to run cellphones, wheelchairs and robots as "an ultimate remote control" used in everyday life
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Labels: Design-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - iPod Operated by the Wink of Eye Created by Taniguchi posted by Ecacofonix : 8:18 AM
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Waste Heat, Sound into Electricity - Orest Symko
Scientists from the University of Utah today said that they can convert waste heat into sound and electricity. Physicist Orest Symko and his research team at the University of Utah said they succeeded in building small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity.
According to Symko, most of the heat-to-electricity acoustic devices are housed in cylinder-shaped "resonators" that fit in the palm of a hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a "stack" of material with a large surface area – such as metal or plastic plates, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel wool – placed between a cold heat exchanger and a hot heat exchanger. When heat is injected, the heat builds to a threshold and moving air produces sound. The sound is then converted into electricity by using "piezoelectric" devices that are squeezed in response to pressure, including sound waves, and change that pressure into electrical current. Only about 20% of the sound energy is lost when pressure is converted to electricity, Symko said.
More from here
Keywords: Orest Symko, resonators, steel wool, heat exchanger
According to Symko, most of the heat-to-electricity acoustic devices are housed in cylinder-shaped "resonators" that fit in the palm of a hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a "stack" of material with a large surface area – such as metal or plastic plates, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel wool – placed between a cold heat exchanger and a hot heat exchanger. When heat is injected, the heat builds to a threshold and moving air produces sound. The sound is then converted into electricity by using "piezoelectric" devices that are squeezed in response to pressure, including sound waves, and change that pressure into electrical current. Only about 20% of the sound energy is lost when pressure is converted to electricity, Symko said.
More from here
Keywords: Orest Symko, resonators, steel wool, heat exchanger
Labels: Electrical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Waste Heat, Sound into Electricity - Orest Symko posted by Ecacofonix : 5:30 AM
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Greek HydroSol Group Produces Solar Energy from Water
A solar platform in Almeria, Spain, produces hydrogen from renewable resources by means of a reactor made by the HydroSol team, coordinated by Athanassios Constantopoulos.
An important step toward a hydrogen society was made on March 31, 2008 by a Greek research team from Thessaloniki working in Spain which held its first official demonstration of a pilot-scale solar reactor at Spain’s Almeria Solar Platform. The project produces clean energy in the form of hydrogen exclusively from water and the sun without emitting any pollutants or greenhouse gases.
The efficiency of converting the solar energy is as high as 70 percent and appears to be the answer to the difficult problem of producing economically efficient hydrogen from renewable energy sources. It is the largest solar reactor in the world, producing 100 kilowatts, and has therefore attracted the attention of researchers and investors from around the world
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Keywords: Almeria, solar extractor, HydroSol team, Athanassios Constantopoulos, Thessaloniki, Descartes Prize, Thessaloniki, oxygen-deficient ferrite structures
An important step toward a hydrogen society was made on March 31, 2008 by a Greek research team from Thessaloniki working in Spain which held its first official demonstration of a pilot-scale solar reactor at Spain’s Almeria Solar Platform. The project produces clean energy in the form of hydrogen exclusively from water and the sun without emitting any pollutants or greenhouse gases.
The efficiency of converting the solar energy is as high as 70 percent and appears to be the answer to the difficult problem of producing economically efficient hydrogen from renewable energy sources. It is the largest solar reactor in the world, producing 100 kilowatts, and has therefore attracted the attention of researchers and investors from around the world
More from here
Keywords: Almeria, solar extractor, HydroSol team, Athanassios Constantopoulos, Thessaloniki, Descartes Prize, Thessaloniki, oxygen-deficient ferrite structures
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Greek HydroSol Group Produces Solar Energy from Water posted by Ecacofonix : 5:29 AM
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Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Plant Cellulose to "Green Gasoline" - George Huber, James Dumesic
A simple (one step) direct conversion process from plant cellulose into gasoline components.
Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of "green gasoline," a liquid identical to standard gasoline yet created from sustainable biomass sources like switchgrass and poplar trees. Reporting in the April 7, 2008 issue of Chemistry, Sustainability, Energy, Materials, chemical engineer George Huber from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and his graduate students Torren Carlson and Tushar Vispute announced the first direct conversion of plant cellulose into gasoline components.
In the same issue, James Dumesic and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced an integrated process for creating chemical components of jet fuel using a green gasoline approach. While dumesic's group had previously demonstrated the production of jet-fuel components using separate steps, their current work shows that the steps can be integrated and run sequentially, without complex separation and purification processes between reactors.
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Researchers have made a breakthrough in the development of "green gasoline," a liquid identical to standard gasoline yet created from sustainable biomass sources like switchgrass and poplar trees. Reporting in the April 7, 2008 issue of Chemistry, Sustainability, Energy, Materials, chemical engineer George Huber from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and his graduate students Torren Carlson and Tushar Vispute announced the first direct conversion of plant cellulose into gasoline components.
In the same issue, James Dumesic and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced an integrated process for creating chemical components of jet fuel using a green gasoline approach. While dumesic's group had previously demonstrated the production of jet-fuel components using separate steps, their current work shows that the steps can be integrated and run sequentially, without complex separation and purification processes between reactors.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Plant Cellulose to "Green Gasoline" - George Huber, James Dumesic posted by Ecacofonix : 5:16 AM
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Motorcycle MPG - Best Mileage Motorcycles, Motorbikes Fuel Economy
This post was originally about an innovative Homemade Kawasaki Motorcycle that gave an equivalent of 300 MPG. Since then, we have had thousands visit this page looking for motorcycle and scooter MPG in general. As a result, we decided to focus this page on motorcycles and scooter MPG web resources. We have kept the original post as well...it is at the very end :-)
In these days of super-high fuel costs, we hope you find this resource useful.
Motorcycle MPG Resources
Found a lot of folks visiting this page for the key word "motorcycle mpg" so decided to add a list of useful web resources for these visitors. I don't like to disappoint my visitors :-)
Can MPG Alone Get You on a 250 Cruiser? - An interesting article on the mysterious world of motorcycle MPG data and why there is no major fuss by the motorcycle manufaturers about their MPGs, something their four-wheel counterparts never tire of doing. And oh, while you are here, do not miss reading the comments. There are as many interesting inputs and points raised in the comments (perhaps more) than in the article itself.
Here's a discussion on the MPG you can get from Honda bikes. Most of the numbers discussed are in the 35-60 range.
100 MPG Diesel Motorcycle - Diesel Alternatives - Combat-Tested Diesel Motorcycles Get Ready For The Asphalt Jungle
"I'm curious why fuel economy of motorcycles is relatively poor compared to that of a car. For instance, several of the honda 750cc models get approx 45 mpg. Now a car that's several times heavier with twice as many wheels (greater rolling resistance), a much larger frontal area, and an engine twice as big can get the same mileage. Based on the car's fuel economy, you'd expect a motorcycle with an engine half the size and much less rolling resistance and smaller frontal area could do much better.
Are motorcycles tuned drastically differently -- like for high revs and hp? Can they be re-tuned for improved fuel economy?" - Interesting question, doubtless many of you have asked this yourself - see the discussion on this topic here
What's Your Best Motorcycle MPG? You can bet a question such as this will have many tongues wagging and much data being thrown about, and you are right. See a lively discussion on this topic here
The Measure of Motorcycle's MPG - A Los Angeles Times article
Motorcycle Fuel Economy Guide - from Total Motorcycle
Total Motorcycle Fuel Economy Guide
Guide to Motorcycle Fuel Consumption - tips and suggestions on how to get better mileage from your motorcycle
Motorcycle Fuel Consumption & Real World Performance Guide
Craig Vetter's Streamlined High Mileage Luxury Touring Bike
Fuel Economy in Honda Motorcycles - a good discussion @ Fireblades
Sportbike, Motorcycle Weight, Horsepower, Fuel Economy - Numbers for every sportbike tested by Sport Rider from 1997 to the present.
Honda Announces Next Generation Powertrain Fuel Efficiency Targets for Motorcycle and Automobiles
The Designs & Inventions of Craig Vetter
How to Save Gas with an I-Scooter
The Measure of Motorcycles' MPG - "There's no standardized test for bikes' fuel economy, so where are figures coming from? Hint: the EPA emissions test is involved." So says this LA Times article.
Motorcycle Fuel Economy Should Spike Sales - a brief 2004 news report, has a nice graph from the Honda Environmental Annual Report that shows the improvement in motorbikes' fuel economy in the previous few years.
Motorcycle Fuel Economy Discussion - a forum discussion at Motorcycle Smack discussion board
What Kind of Fuel Economy Does Your Motorbike Get? - some answers and numbers to this question @ Yahoo Answers
The Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Contests - 1980 through 1985
Motorcycle Fuel Consumption & Real World Performance Guide
Sport Bike Motorcycle Weight, Horsepower, Torque and Fuel Economy
Jay Leno's Eco-friendly Custom Bike
Motorcycle Fuel - Flex-fuel, Will You Bite?
Motorcycle Fuel Consumption Real-world Guide - from Motorcycles KMPL
Some useful web resources for saving gas - this is in general, not specific to motorbikes or scooters
101 Ways to Use Less Gas
Thirty Gas Saving Tips
29 Tips on How to Save Money on Gas
Top 15 Ways to Save Money on Gas
11 Car Care Tips that Save Gas
Seven Interesting Ways to Save Gas
13 Ways to Significantly Reduce Your Gas Costs
Nine Ways to Save Gas & Money
66 Ways to Save Money on Gasoline
Other Interesting Motorcycle Articles & Links
Inexperienced Motorcyclists, in Search of Fuel Economy - these folks might pose dangers on the road, says this post
15 Motorcycle Tips for Riding in Traffic
Motorcycle Riding Tips in the City
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Original Blog Post
Homemade Electric Kawasaki Motorcycle Gives 300 MPG - Ben Nelson
If you are a frequent motorbike rider, you know the kind of MPG that will make you pleased - 70, 80? How about 100 MPG? That must be awesome, right?
Now what would you say if someone tells you he can make your motorbike give an equivalent of 300 MPG? You would of course dismiss it as fanciful thinking. You'd dismiss it even faster when you come to know that the chap who tells you this is an amateur who tinkers around in his sparetime and who buys his spares on Craigslist and eBay.
But it is a fact that this homemade electric motorcycle gets the gas price equivalent of 300 miles per gallon. Its speeds hit 40mph within its modest 15 mile range. And yes, the engine runs silently with zero vibration.
Well, Ben Nelson did spend some good amount of time in producing his beauty. He spent $100 for a Kawasaki rust bucket with a broken tranny, a seized engine, no clutch, a detached seat and a badly dented gas tank. Following instructions from forum folk, he methodically converted the gas motorcycle into a purely electric one.
What followed was a proud accomplishment for Nelson: "It goes 38 miles an hour and it's a 'hot rod!" he's fond of saying. And the topper: Using a meter to measure the amount of electricity that flows from an outlet to the cycle's battery charger, Nelson calculates the machine gets the equivalent of about 300 miles per gallon. That includes $6 a month extra he pays a utility for "green" electricity. So his machine gives you a more than 400% higher returns on your spending (300 MPG vs 60 MPG), and it is green!
Nelson admits frankly that he doesn't even own any power tools other than a drill, doesn't know how to weld and only took one metal shop class in high school. But he loves to learn new things. Now that's DIY ethics for you!
Sources: Gizmodo, TreeHugger, Kawasaki Fuel Efficiency Guide
In these days of super-high fuel costs, we hope you find this resource useful.
You might like some of these useful stuff that could contribute to fuel economy.
Motorcycle MPG Resources
Found a lot of folks visiting this page for the key word "motorcycle mpg" so decided to add a list of useful web resources for these visitors. I don't like to disappoint my visitors :-)
Can MPG Alone Get You on a 250 Cruiser? - An interesting article on the mysterious world of motorcycle MPG data and why there is no major fuss by the motorcycle manufaturers about their MPGs, something their four-wheel counterparts never tire of doing. And oh, while you are here, do not miss reading the comments. There are as many interesting inputs and points raised in the comments (perhaps more) than in the article itself.
Here's a discussion on the MPG you can get from Honda bikes. Most of the numbers discussed are in the 35-60 range.
100 MPG Diesel Motorcycle - Diesel Alternatives - Combat-Tested Diesel Motorcycles Get Ready For The Asphalt Jungle
"I'm curious why fuel economy of motorcycles is relatively poor compared to that of a car. For instance, several of the honda 750cc models get approx 45 mpg. Now a car that's several times heavier with twice as many wheels (greater rolling resistance), a much larger frontal area, and an engine twice as big can get the same mileage. Based on the car's fuel economy, you'd expect a motorcycle with an engine half the size and much less rolling resistance and smaller frontal area could do much better.
Are motorcycles tuned drastically differently -- like for high revs and hp? Can they be re-tuned for improved fuel economy?" - Interesting question, doubtless many of you have asked this yourself - see the discussion on this topic here
What's Your Best Motorcycle MPG? You can bet a question such as this will have many tongues wagging and much data being thrown about, and you are right. See a lively discussion on this topic here
The Measure of Motorcycle's MPG - A Los Angeles Times article
Motorcycle Fuel Economy Guide - from Total Motorcycle
Total Motorcycle Fuel Economy Guide
Guide to Motorcycle Fuel Consumption - tips and suggestions on how to get better mileage from your motorcycle
Motorcycle Fuel Consumption & Real World Performance Guide
Craig Vetter's Streamlined High Mileage Luxury Touring Bike
Fuel Economy in Honda Motorcycles - a good discussion @ Fireblades
Sportbike, Motorcycle Weight, Horsepower, Fuel Economy - Numbers for every sportbike tested by Sport Rider from 1997 to the present.
Honda Announces Next Generation Powertrain Fuel Efficiency Targets for Motorcycle and Automobiles
The Designs & Inventions of Craig Vetter
How to Save Gas with an I-Scooter
The Measure of Motorcycles' MPG - "There's no standardized test for bikes' fuel economy, so where are figures coming from? Hint: the EPA emissions test is involved." So says this LA Times article.
Motorcycle Fuel Economy Should Spike Sales - a brief 2004 news report, has a nice graph from the Honda Environmental Annual Report that shows the improvement in motorbikes' fuel economy in the previous few years.
Motorcycle Fuel Economy Discussion - a forum discussion at Motorcycle Smack discussion board
What Kind of Fuel Economy Does Your Motorbike Get? - some answers and numbers to this question @ Yahoo Answers
The Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Contests - 1980 through 1985
Motorcycle Fuel Consumption & Real World Performance Guide
Sport Bike Motorcycle Weight, Horsepower, Torque and Fuel Economy
Jay Leno's Eco-friendly Custom Bike
Motorcycle Fuel - Flex-fuel, Will You Bite?
Motorcycle Fuel Consumption Real-world Guide - from Motorcycles KMPL
Some useful web resources for saving gas - this is in general, not specific to motorbikes or scooters
101 Ways to Use Less Gas
Thirty Gas Saving Tips
29 Tips on How to Save Money on Gas
Top 15 Ways to Save Money on Gas
11 Car Care Tips that Save Gas
Seven Interesting Ways to Save Gas
13 Ways to Significantly Reduce Your Gas Costs
Nine Ways to Save Gas & Money
66 Ways to Save Money on Gasoline
Other Interesting Motorcycle Articles & Links
Inexperienced Motorcyclists, in Search of Fuel Economy - these folks might pose dangers on the road, says this post
15 Motorcycle Tips for Riding in Traffic
Motorcycle Riding Tips in the City
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Original Blog Post
Homemade Electric Kawasaki Motorcycle Gives 300 MPG - Ben Nelson
If you are a frequent motorbike rider, you know the kind of MPG that will make you pleased - 70, 80? How about 100 MPG? That must be awesome, right?
Now what would you say if someone tells you he can make your motorbike give an equivalent of 300 MPG? You would of course dismiss it as fanciful thinking. You'd dismiss it even faster when you come to know that the chap who tells you this is an amateur who tinkers around in his sparetime and who buys his spares on Craigslist and eBay.
But it is a fact that this homemade electric motorcycle gets the gas price equivalent of 300 miles per gallon. Its speeds hit 40mph within its modest 15 mile range. And yes, the engine runs silently with zero vibration.
Well, Ben Nelson did spend some good amount of time in producing his beauty. He spent $100 for a Kawasaki rust bucket with a broken tranny, a seized engine, no clutch, a detached seat and a badly dented gas tank. Following instructions from forum folk, he methodically converted the gas motorcycle into a purely electric one.
What followed was a proud accomplishment for Nelson: "It goes 38 miles an hour and it's a 'hot rod!" he's fond of saying. And the topper: Using a meter to measure the amount of electricity that flows from an outlet to the cycle's battery charger, Nelson calculates the machine gets the equivalent of about 300 miles per gallon. That includes $6 a month extra he pays a utility for "green" electricity. So his machine gives you a more than 400% higher returns on your spending (300 MPG vs 60 MPG), and it is green!
Nelson admits frankly that he doesn't even own any power tools other than a drill, doesn't know how to weld and only took one metal shop class in high school. But he loves to learn new things. Now that's DIY ethics for you!
Sources: Gizmodo, TreeHugger, Kawasaki Fuel Efficiency Guide
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Motorcycle MPG - Best Mileage Motorcycles, Motorbikes Fuel Economy posted by Ecacofonix : 5:16 AM
1 Comments
AEG Carbon Fib6er-elastomer Composite Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cells
Fuel cells constitute one of the most promising sources of environmental friendly energy for the future. A proton exchange membrane (pem) fuel cell is a stack of electrochemical cell systems (figure) placed in series.
American engineering group (aeg, akron, oh) has developed a new elastomer-carbon fiber composite bipolar plate for pem fuel cells with high electrical conductivity, high strength, light weight and very low permeability. This new unique composite bipolar plate is a less-expensive and light-weight alternative to graphite and steel. The use of highly conductive elastomer compound and multi-stage molding technology enables the fabrication of bipolar plates with high carbon fiber content. This composite bipolar plate is a promising solution, and this plate has the potential for being produced at low cost. The plate is produced using short carbon fiber structure with elastomer impregnation into pre-form uncured structures.
More from here
Keywords: Carbon fib6er-elastomer, proton exchange membrane (pem), electrochemical cell systems, mass-production technologies, fuel cell system assembly, elastomer-carbon fiber, multi-stage molding technology
American engineering group (aeg, akron, oh) has developed a new elastomer-carbon fiber composite bipolar plate for pem fuel cells with high electrical conductivity, high strength, light weight and very low permeability. This new unique composite bipolar plate is a less-expensive and light-weight alternative to graphite and steel. The use of highly conductive elastomer compound and multi-stage molding technology enables the fabrication of bipolar plates with high carbon fiber content. This composite bipolar plate is a promising solution, and this plate has the potential for being produced at low cost. The plate is produced using short carbon fiber structure with elastomer impregnation into pre-form uncured structures.
More from here
Keywords: Carbon fib6er-elastomer, proton exchange membrane (pem), electrochemical cell systems, mass-production technologies, fuel cell system assembly, elastomer-carbon fiber, multi-stage molding technology
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Material-Sciences
PermaLink - AEG Carbon Fib6er-elastomer Composite Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cells posted by Ecacofonix : 5:16 AM
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Volvo Hybrid Refuse Trucks in Final Trials - Uses I-SAM System
Volvo has launched two hybrid refuse trucks into trials in regular daily operations in sweden with refuse collection firms renova and ragn-sells.
Although both trucks use a charge-sustaining hybrid system for motive power, one of the trucks is equipped with a second, grid-charged battery that powers the refuse compactor. The hybrid system used in the refuse truck is a version of volvo’s i-sam (integrated starter, alternator, motor) parallel hybrid system. The i-sam system comprises a starter motor, drive motor and alternator fit between the clutch and the i-shift automatic transmission.
Full report here
Keywords: Renova, Ragn, Charge-sustaining, Hybrid system, Grid-charged battery, I-SAM (integrated starter, alternator, motor).
Although both trucks use a charge-sustaining hybrid system for motive power, one of the trucks is equipped with a second, grid-charged battery that powers the refuse compactor. The hybrid system used in the refuse truck is a version of volvo’s i-sam (integrated starter, alternator, motor) parallel hybrid system. The i-sam system comprises a starter motor, drive motor and alternator fit between the clutch and the i-shift automatic transmission.
Full report here
Keywords: Renova, Ragn, Charge-sustaining, Hybrid system, Grid-charged battery, I-SAM (integrated starter, alternator, motor).
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Volvo Hybrid Refuse Trucks in Final Trials - Uses I-SAM System posted by Ecacofonix : 5:16 AM
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Monday, April 7, 2008
Boeing Plane Flies on Hydrogen, Fuel Cells
Engineers from across Europe have successfully developed and flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen and fuel cells — a first in history and a step towards cleaner and more energy-efficient aviation, Boeing announced recently.
The breakthrough is "full of promises for a greener future," Boeing Chief Technology Officer John Tracy told reporters at the company's research center in Ocana, Spain, where the aircraft was on display.
Given rising fuel costs and concerns about climate change, the air industry is keen to find ways to cut energy bills and emissions tied to global warming. While hydrogen is still expensive to produce as an energy carrier, it emits no pollutants.
More from here
The breakthrough is "full of promises for a greener future," Boeing Chief Technology Officer John Tracy told reporters at the company's research center in Ocana, Spain, where the aircraft was on display.
Given rising fuel costs and concerns about climate change, the air industry is keen to find ways to cut energy bills and emissions tied to global warming. While hydrogen is still expensive to produce as an energy carrier, it emits no pollutants.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
Free Flow Power Corp Installing Turbines in Mississippi Bed to Generate Electricity
For more than a century, the Mississippi River has been one of the nation’s most important transportation corridors, a muddy, winding pathway for moving bulk commodities such as grain and coal and other goods.
Now, a New England startup company wants to harness the mighty river for a secondary purpose — generating electricity. The company, Free Flow Power Corp., is pursuing a $3 billion plan to install thousands of small electric turbines in the river bed, reaching from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, that would collectively generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 1.5 million homes.
Gloucester, Mass.-based Free Flow Power is among a number of developers of so-called hydrokinetic projects, defined as those that produce electricity from river currents or ocean waves and tides — not dams.
Like the dozens of young companies building wind farms across the Great Plains or putting solar panels on roofs in California, interest in hydro-kinetic projects is a response to a growing appetite for renewable energy as the nation tries to wean itself off crude oil and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.
More from here
Now, a New England startup company wants to harness the mighty river for a secondary purpose — generating electricity. The company, Free Flow Power Corp., is pursuing a $3 billion plan to install thousands of small electric turbines in the river bed, reaching from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, that would collectively generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 1.5 million homes.
Gloucester, Mass.-based Free Flow Power is among a number of developers of so-called hydrokinetic projects, defined as those that produce electricity from river currents or ocean waves and tides — not dams.
Like the dozens of young companies building wind farms across the Great Plains or putting solar panels on roofs in California, interest in hydro-kinetic projects is a response to a growing appetite for renewable energy as the nation tries to wean itself off crude oil and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Free Flow Power Corp Installing Turbines in Mississippi Bed to Generate Electricity posted by Ecacofonix : 11:41 AM
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Invention Scrubs 90% of Coal Plant Pollutants for Fraction of Cost
Let's face it. For all the big nice talk about alternative energy, it’s not realistic to eliminate fossil fuels in the next 50 years, unless you can afford to shut down the world economy!
The US Department of Energy’s 2008 energy outlook estimates the use of renewables will increase by only 2.5 percent in the next 23 years.
By 2030, it estimates that the use of coal will constitute 55 percent of the nation’s fuel, up from 49 percent last year. The chief reason? There’s an estimated 300-year supply of coal in known reserves in the United States alone, the Energy Department said.
So it looks like coal is going to be a very popular fuel having phenomenal growth. But with that growth will come a surge of roughly 500 million metric tons of emissions, the Energy Department predicts.
All these mean that the urgent need of the hour is a method of removing carbon and other polluting emissions so that coal becomes an acceptable long-term fuel source.
Which is exactly a US scientist has thought up!
A Colorado scientist David Neumann has teamed up with Colorado Springs Utilities to test an invention that could revolutionize the power industry and save the planet at the same time.
Air Force Academy graduate Neumann, who holds a doctorate in physics, has developed a process he says he believes will scrub 90 percent of pollutants spewed by the city’s coal-fired electric plants for a fraction of the cost of other processes under development. If successful, the new chemical treatment would mean thousands of coal-burning plants worldwide could sharply curtail power plant emissions.
So far, there is no proven technology for removing carbon from the emissions, but Neumann said he believes his invention will handle carbon as well as the other pollutants. He also said his unit would be 20 times smaller than other versions being tested, which can cover acres.
The testing of Neumann's process, which has just begun, will start on a small scale.
It is hoped that the test will lead to a way to reduce the cost of retrofitting coal plants. Some analysis suggest a market potential of $700 billion pollution control market worldwide for existing coal plants alone. So, well, Neumann is perhaps not doing it out of just altruism alone, but he deserves the returns if he is successful, doesn't he?
Neumann, after retiring from Space Command in 1994, he started Neumann Systems Group Inc. has done research and development on high-powered lasers for defense contractors. He and his associate, Tom Henshaw decided to work on a way to adapt their laser business to pollution control, and they ended up with a much more powerful (and possibly far more remunerative) idea than their original one!
The US Department of Energy’s 2008 energy outlook estimates the use of renewables will increase by only 2.5 percent in the next 23 years.
By 2030, it estimates that the use of coal will constitute 55 percent of the nation’s fuel, up from 49 percent last year. The chief reason? There’s an estimated 300-year supply of coal in known reserves in the United States alone, the Energy Department said.
So it looks like coal is going to be a very popular fuel having phenomenal growth. But with that growth will come a surge of roughly 500 million metric tons of emissions, the Energy Department predicts.
All these mean that the urgent need of the hour is a method of removing carbon and other polluting emissions so that coal becomes an acceptable long-term fuel source.
Which is exactly a US scientist has thought up!
A Colorado scientist David Neumann has teamed up with Colorado Springs Utilities to test an invention that could revolutionize the power industry and save the planet at the same time.
Air Force Academy graduate Neumann, who holds a doctorate in physics, has developed a process he says he believes will scrub 90 percent of pollutants spewed by the city’s coal-fired electric plants for a fraction of the cost of other processes under development. If successful, the new chemical treatment would mean thousands of coal-burning plants worldwide could sharply curtail power plant emissions.
So far, there is no proven technology for removing carbon from the emissions, but Neumann said he believes his invention will handle carbon as well as the other pollutants. He also said his unit would be 20 times smaller than other versions being tested, which can cover acres.
The testing of Neumann's process, which has just begun, will start on a small scale.
It is hoped that the test will lead to a way to reduce the cost of retrofitting coal plants. Some analysis suggest a market potential of $700 billion pollution control market worldwide for existing coal plants alone. So, well, Neumann is perhaps not doing it out of just altruism alone, but he deserves the returns if he is successful, doesn't he?
Neumann, after retiring from Space Command in 1994, he started Neumann Systems Group Inc. has done research and development on high-powered lasers for defense contractors. He and his associate, Tom Henshaw decided to work on a way to adapt their laser business to pollution control, and they ended up with a much more powerful (and possibly far more remunerative) idea than their original one!
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Invention Scrubs 90% of Coal Plant Pollutants for Fraction of Cost posted by Ecacofonix : 2:10 AM
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Cloncurry Solar System Stores Energy in Graphite in Australia
In what is believed to be a world first, purified graphite is being used for energy storage in systems being installed at Lake Cargellico in New South Wales and Cloncurry in Queensland. The Queensland installation will make Cloncurry, which has a population of about 2,400, the first town in Australia to rely exclusively on solar power.
The purified graphite technology was invented by Australian Scientist, Bob Lloyd.
The Cloncurry system, which relies exclusively on a concentrated solar power , will have the mirrors guide the sun’s rays into holes in the bases of 54 elevated graphite blocks, heating them to 1800 degrees celsius. The stored heat will be used to produce steam which will drive turbines on demand.
For more information: www.lloydenergy.com
Via: Aussie Renewables
The purified graphite technology was invented by Australian Scientist, Bob Lloyd.
The Cloncurry system, which relies exclusively on a concentrated solar power , will have the mirrors guide the sun’s rays into holes in the bases of 54 elevated graphite blocks, heating them to 1800 degrees celsius. The stored heat will be used to produce steam which will drive turbines on demand.
For more information: www.lloydenergy.com
Via: Aussie Renewables
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Cloncurry Solar System Stores Energy in Graphite in Australia posted by Ecacofonix : 2:09 AM
0 Comments
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Paper-Thin, Bendable Batteries from Thin Battery Technologies Inc.
The idea of having a flexible, paper-thin battery that powers your mobile devices is not that far-fetched. As a matter of fact, this technology is currently being used in smaller applications, and newer and more powerful thin batteries are in development as we speak. Keep reading to find out more!The possibilities for a flexible, lightweight battery are seemingly endless. Of course, it will take further development to get to the point where we can throw away our bulky cell phone or PDA batteries and replace them with a paper thin one.
A company by the name of Thin Battery Technologies Inc. (TBT) was founded in 2003. This Ohio-based company began producing paper-thin batteries back in 2005 after about five years of research and development. They currently produce these tiny, paper-like batteries for applications such as RFID tags, trans-dermal drug delivery patches, data loggers, sensors, and displays. They produce Carbon-Zinc electrolyte based batteries that are "green" compliant, and in turn are safe for the environment.
More from here
A company by the name of Thin Battery Technologies Inc. (TBT) was founded in 2003. This Ohio-based company began producing paper-thin batteries back in 2005 after about five years of research and development. They currently produce these tiny, paper-like batteries for applications such as RFID tags, trans-dermal drug delivery patches, data loggers, sensors, and displays. They produce Carbon-Zinc electrolyte based batteries that are "green" compliant, and in turn are safe for the environment.
More from here
Labels: Design-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Paper-Thin, Bendable Batteries from Thin Battery Technologies Inc. posted by Ecacofonix : 10:38 PM
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Electric Hybrids for Off-road Vehicles - Aggressor, Renegade
Think of an “off-road” vehicle, and billy goat four-by-fours usually come to mind — the ones that chug along using muscular John Deere-style powerplants or diesel engines.
Electric motors? They’re for golf carts, or sissified urban commuter boxes and not for brawny rock crawlers, right?
The leading off-road manufacturers beg to differ. Judging by the concept cars shown by Jeep and Land Rover at this year’s Detroit auto show, they think electric motors do have a future in their vehicles.
The Army agrees on the potential of electrically driven vehicles and has a contract with Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide to develop a diesel-electric Alternative Mobility Vehicle, or “Aggressor.”
Like civilians, the Army wants to cut fuel use, because fuel constitutes 70 percent of the materiel it moves into combat zones
Jeep’s Renegade concept, shown for the first time at this year’s Detroit show, examines the possibility of the company making the logical step into dune buggy-style vehicles — small, open vehicles with fat tires pushed to the far corners
Electric power is perfectly suited for off-roaders, according to Doug Quigly, executive engineer for Jeep’s environmentally responsible vehicles.
More from here
Electric motors? They’re for golf carts, or sissified urban commuter boxes and not for brawny rock crawlers, right?
The leading off-road manufacturers beg to differ. Judging by the concept cars shown by Jeep and Land Rover at this year’s Detroit auto show, they think electric motors do have a future in their vehicles.
The Army agrees on the potential of electrically driven vehicles and has a contract with Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide to develop a diesel-electric Alternative Mobility Vehicle, or “Aggressor.”
Like civilians, the Army wants to cut fuel use, because fuel constitutes 70 percent of the materiel it moves into combat zones
Jeep’s Renegade concept, shown for the first time at this year’s Detroit show, examines the possibility of the company making the logical step into dune buggy-style vehicles — small, open vehicles with fat tires pushed to the far corners
Electric power is perfectly suited for off-roaders, according to Doug Quigly, executive engineer for Jeep’s environmentally responsible vehicles.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Electric Hybrids for Off-road Vehicles - Aggressor, Renegade posted by Ecacofonix : 10:38 PM
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Dr Richard Pike of Royal Society of Chemistry Warns of Biofuel 'Dead End'
Biofuels may be a "technological dead end" with no practical future, one of Britain's leading chemists has said.
Just one flight to New York would use up a year's yield of biofuel from land equivalent to 30 football pitches, said Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Pressure from farmers and manufacturers as well as muddled planning by decision makers could be leading the country up an energy supply blind alley, he added.
Dr Pike urged restraint on the promotion of biofuel as the simple answer to Britain's future fuel demands, and called for "clear debate and sounder legislation" to ensure future energy challenges were met the right way.
More from here
Just one flight to New York would use up a year's yield of biofuel from land equivalent to 30 football pitches, said Dr Richard Pike, chief executive of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Pressure from farmers and manufacturers as well as muddled planning by decision makers could be leading the country up an energy supply blind alley, he added.
Dr Pike urged restraint on the promotion of biofuel as the simple answer to Britain's future fuel demands, and called for "clear debate and sounder legislation" to ensure future energy challenges were met the right way.
More from here
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Dr Richard Pike of Royal Society of Chemistry Warns of Biofuel 'Dead End' posted by Ecacofonix : 9:22 PM
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Why US Automakers Don't Sell a 50 Mpg Car
Just hop on a plane and fly to Europe, where all new cars average 43mpg, or Japan, where the average hits 50mpg. In the United States, people are stuck at 25mpg in our considerably larger and more powerful cars, trucks and SUVs. So why can't they do better? Here's the dirty little secret: they can. "If you want better fuel economy, it's just a question of when auto companies want to do it and when consumers decide they want to buy it," says Don Hillebrand, a former Chrysler engineer who is now director of transportation research for Argonne National Labs. "Auto companies can deliver it within a year."
A 50mpg car would certainly put a tiger in the tank of the moribund U.S. auto industry. But don't get your checkbook out quite yet. The reality is that you won't see a car on a showroom floor in America with 50mpg on the window sticker for at least three years and maybe longer. Sure, all auto companies are focusing on jacking up fuel economy, especially since Congress just mandated that all new autos sold by 2020 must average 35mpg. The new mileage mantra also is motivated by the fact that car sales are weak, partially because of panic at the pump. But putting out a 50mpg car any time soon is daunting even to the maker of America's mileage champ, the 48mpg Toyota Prius. "We're close enough to spit at that now," says Bill Reinert, Toyota's national manager of advanced technologies. "It's not an incredible stretch, but it's an incredible stretch to do it on a mass-market basis."
More from here
A 50mpg car would certainly put a tiger in the tank of the moribund U.S. auto industry. But don't get your checkbook out quite yet. The reality is that you won't see a car on a showroom floor in America with 50mpg on the window sticker for at least three years and maybe longer. Sure, all auto companies are focusing on jacking up fuel economy, especially since Congress just mandated that all new autos sold by 2020 must average 35mpg. The new mileage mantra also is motivated by the fact that car sales are weak, partially because of panic at the pump. But putting out a 50mpg car any time soon is daunting even to the maker of America's mileage champ, the 48mpg Toyota Prius. "We're close enough to spit at that now," says Bill Reinert, Toyota's national manager of advanced technologies. "It's not an incredible stretch, but it's an incredible stretch to do it on a mass-market basis."
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
Remote Server Farms Powered by Wind, Solar to Cut Carbon Footprint
Remote hi-tech outposts where computers are housed in 'server farms' and powered by wind and solar energy could slash the carbon footprint of business-related IT, a Cambridge computer guru believes.
Professor Andy Hopper, who heads up the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, said it was the belief "that we can help save the planet and provide a sustainable future for generations to come" that was driving exciting new research at the Computer Laboratory. He said: "Computing power can be moved around the world and can be done anywhere in the world where the energy is available."
Professor Hopper said that the energy needed to power computers was extremely portable and therefore could be created from solar or wind energy in one location and transferred to computers in another, faraway place.
Since it was easier and more efficient to transfer information than to transfer power across great distances, Professor Hopper suggests moving server centres closer to the source of the energy. He is championing 'server farms' located in remote areas with ample wind or solar energy, connecting to computers around the country.
http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/2008040231707/computing/computer-laboratory-working-toward-a-greener-future.html
Professor Andy Hopper, who heads up the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, said it was the belief "that we can help save the planet and provide a sustainable future for generations to come" that was driving exciting new research at the Computer Laboratory. He said: "Computing power can be moved around the world and can be done anywhere in the world where the energy is available."
Professor Hopper said that the energy needed to power computers was extremely portable and therefore could be created from solar or wind energy in one location and transferred to computers in another, faraway place.
Since it was easier and more efficient to transfer information than to transfer power across great distances, Professor Hopper suggests moving server centres closer to the source of the energy. He is championing 'server farms' located in remote areas with ample wind or solar energy, connecting to computers around the country.
http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/2008040231707/computing/computer-laboratory-working-toward-a-greener-future.html
Labels: Computer-Science, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Remote Server Farms Powered by Wind, Solar to Cut Carbon Footprint posted by Ecacofonix : 9:33 AM
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Arctic Oil & Gas Lays Atrocious Claim to All Arctic Ocean Oil
Las Vegas-based Arctic Oil & Gas has controversially laid claim to nearly all of the Arctic Ocean's undersea oil , and has said that new geological data suggests a "potentially vast" petroleum resource of 400 billion barrels. That figure is backed by some professional research. The world consumes about 26 billion barrels per annum, so that's 15 years of world demand.
According to the US Geological Survey, the region may contain 25 percent of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves. Global warming is melting much of the Arctic's ice cover, and this has raised the possibility of increased shipping and oil and gas exploration. Now you can understand why there is such a rush of action to lay claim to this territory.
The Las Vegas company has raised eyebrows around the world with its bid to lock up exclusive rights to extract oil and gas from rapidly melting areas of the central Arctic Ocean, currently beyond the territorial control of Canada, Russia and other polar nations. The company has filed a claim with the United Nations to act as the sole "development agent" of Arctic seabed oil and gas.
While acknowledging that the Arctic's petroleum deposits are the "common heritage of mankind," the firm has argued that the polar region requires a private "lead manager" to organize a multinational consortium of oil companies to extract undersea resources responsibly and equitably. The Canadian government is not amused, and has dismissed the company's claim as having no force in law, but experts are still concerned the firm's actions.
All these concerns have not deterred the Las Vegas company from forging ahead on its ambitious explaoration plans. The company recently announced that it expects its success in locating hydrocarbons to focus on Marine Magneto-Tellurics (MMT), a form of electromagnetic (EM) data acquisition technology. The MMT data will be combined with seismic data to produce a hydrocarbon map or model of the targeted region.
It also recently invited major oil companies from Canada, Norway and Denmark to join the Arctic Consortium to explore and develop the Arctic Commons Abyssal property.
You can find some more on this from here , here, here, and here
For those wanting to know more about the Arctic Ocean, here is the resource from our beloved Wikipedia
According to the US Geological Survey, the region may contain 25 percent of the world's remaining oil and gas reserves. Global warming is melting much of the Arctic's ice cover, and this has raised the possibility of increased shipping and oil and gas exploration. Now you can understand why there is such a rush of action to lay claim to this territory.
The Las Vegas company has raised eyebrows around the world with its bid to lock up exclusive rights to extract oil and gas from rapidly melting areas of the central Arctic Ocean, currently beyond the territorial control of Canada, Russia and other polar nations. The company has filed a claim with the United Nations to act as the sole "development agent" of Arctic seabed oil and gas.
While acknowledging that the Arctic's petroleum deposits are the "common heritage of mankind," the firm has argued that the polar region requires a private "lead manager" to organize a multinational consortium of oil companies to extract undersea resources responsibly and equitably. The Canadian government is not amused, and has dismissed the company's claim as having no force in law, but experts are still concerned the firm's actions.
All these concerns have not deterred the Las Vegas company from forging ahead on its ambitious explaoration plans. The company recently announced that it expects its success in locating hydrocarbons to focus on Marine Magneto-Tellurics (MMT), a form of electromagnetic (EM) data acquisition technology. The MMT data will be combined with seismic data to produce a hydrocarbon map or model of the targeted region.
It also recently invited major oil companies from Canada, Norway and Denmark to join the Arctic Consortium to explore and develop the Arctic Commons Abyssal property.
You can find some more on this from here , here, here, and here
For those wanting to know more about the Arctic Ocean, here is the resource from our beloved Wikipedia
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Arctic Oil & Gas Lays Atrocious Claim to All Arctic Ocean Oil posted by Ecacofonix : 6:28 AM
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Timber Housing, Ty Unnos Modular Building Suggested for Future Homes
Timber housing is the future for better homes
Timber housing can help the UK to catch up on the shortage of new homes, construction industry leaders have been told. A conference in North Wales, Sustainable Construction: The Business Benefits and Natural Materials in Construction, was told there is a need to use timber housing if Wales is to meet sustainability targets.
Greater collaboration is needed across the building sector to make the most of new techniques and practices, the briefing told. The Ty Unnos system of modular building, using standard section Welsh Sitka spruce, was cited as another example of systems which offer the opportunity to use locally-sourced timber to meet the construction needs of Wales.
Full report here
Timber housing can help the UK to catch up on the shortage of new homes, construction industry leaders have been told. A conference in North Wales, Sustainable Construction: The Business Benefits and Natural Materials in Construction, was told there is a need to use timber housing if Wales is to meet sustainability targets.
Greater collaboration is needed across the building sector to make the most of new techniques and practices, the briefing told. The Ty Unnos system of modular building, using standard section Welsh Sitka spruce, was cited as another example of systems which offer the opportunity to use locally-sourced timber to meet the construction needs of Wales.
Full report here
Labels: Civil-Engineering, Design-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Timber Housing, Ty Unnos Modular Building Suggested for Future Homes posted by Ecacofonix : 11:47 PM
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Samsung, Toshiba Lead Electronics Cos' Race to Get Green - Greenpeace
Environmental group Green-peace recently came up with good news: two Asian consumer electronic companies figure at the top of the rankings in Greenpeace's Guide to Green Electronics.
The group first launched its guide in August 2006, as a challenge to electronic companies to "green" their products from production to disposal. The volume of toxic waste from production processes and management of waste and discarded products were points of concern in Greenpeace's guide. The group claimed that since the guide was launched, the world's leading consumer electronic brands have greatly improved in their policies on toxic chemicals and e-waste.
This year, Greenpeace has named Korea's Samsung and Japan's Toshiba as two Asian electronic companies that have shown great improvement in their production process to keep the world green. It said Samsung is consistent in its practices and policies, keeping the company's top ranking with a score of 7.7 out of 10. Toshiba climbed from sixth rank last year to join Samsung at the top by improving its score on electronic waste management. Greenpeace said Toshiba has taken care of its own branded discarded products.
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The group first launched its guide in August 2006, as a challenge to electronic companies to "green" their products from production to disposal. The volume of toxic waste from production processes and management of waste and discarded products were points of concern in Greenpeace's guide. The group claimed that since the guide was launched, the world's leading consumer electronic brands have greatly improved in their policies on toxic chemicals and e-waste.
This year, Greenpeace has named Korea's Samsung and Japan's Toshiba as two Asian electronic companies that have shown great improvement in their production process to keep the world green. It said Samsung is consistent in its practices and policies, keeping the company's top ranking with a score of 7.7 out of 10. Toshiba climbed from sixth rank last year to join Samsung at the top by improving its score on electronic waste management. Greenpeace said Toshiba has taken care of its own branded discarded products.
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Labels: Electronics-Communications-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Samsung, Toshiba Lead Electronics Cos' Race to Get Green - Greenpeace posted by Ecacofonix : 11:47 PM
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Wal-Mart Supercenter in Las Vegas Uses New Tech to Cut Energy Use
Skylights will provide most of the daytime interior lighting at the new Wal-Mart Supercenter. Fluorescent lights that either dim or turn off when the sun is shining will complement the skylights.
The new Wal-Mart Supercenter in southwest Las Vegas, which the retailing giant calls its most efficient yet, uses new adaptations of old technology to cut energy use by 45 %. Soon, most of the technology will be incorporated into traditional Wal-Mart store features. Some of those features include heat-soaking floors that will help cool the 210,000-square-foot store's interior and pipes that run through the concrete floors every six inches. The pipes carry cold water from indirect evaporative coolers on the roof and keep the floor temperature at 67 degrees to 68 degrees.
Wal-Mart has said it is the world's biggest private user of electricity and has huge potential to cut back on greenhouse gases from fossil fuels burned to create electricity
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The new Wal-Mart Supercenter in southwest Las Vegas, which the retailing giant calls its most efficient yet, uses new adaptations of old technology to cut energy use by 45 %. Soon, most of the technology will be incorporated into traditional Wal-Mart store features. Some of those features include heat-soaking floors that will help cool the 210,000-square-foot store's interior and pipes that run through the concrete floors every six inches. The pipes carry cold water from indirect evaporative coolers on the roof and keep the floor temperature at 67 degrees to 68 degrees.
Wal-Mart has said it is the world's biggest private user of electricity and has huge potential to cut back on greenhouse gases from fossil fuels burned to create electricity
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Wal-Mart Supercenter in Las Vegas Uses New Tech to Cut Energy Use posted by Ecacofonix : 11:29 AM
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Johnathan Goodwin - an Auto Mechanic Does What Detroit Says is Impossible
This is an interesting story. It centers on Kansas City auto mechanic and inventor Johnathan Goodwin.
Two years ago, Goodwin got a rare chance to show off his tricks to some of the car industry's most prominent engineers. He was driving a converted H2 to the SEMA show, the nation's biggest annual specialty automotive confab, and stopped en route at a Denver hotel. When he woke up in the morning, there were 20 people standing around his Hummer. Did I run over somebody? he wondered. As it turned out, they were engineers for GM, the Hummer's manufacturer. They noticed that Goodwin's H2 looked modified. "Does it have a diesel engine in it?"
"Yeah," he said.
"No way," they replied.
He opened the hood, "and they're just all in and out and around the valves and checking it out," he says. He'd filled it up with grease from a Chinese restaurant the day before and was worried that the cold morning might have solidified the fuel. But it started up on the first try and ran so quietly that at first they didn't believe it was really on
And they're like, 'Is it running? Yeah, you can hear the fan going.'" One engineer turned and said, "GM said this wouldn't work."
Remember -- Detroit tells us it's impossible to increase gas mileage without taking a hit on horsepower. Yet here's Goodwin -- with an eight-grade education -- able to design motors that blow the doors off the conventional wisdom.
More from here
Two years ago, Goodwin got a rare chance to show off his tricks to some of the car industry's most prominent engineers. He was driving a converted H2 to the SEMA show, the nation's biggest annual specialty automotive confab, and stopped en route at a Denver hotel. When he woke up in the morning, there were 20 people standing around his Hummer. Did I run over somebody? he wondered. As it turned out, they were engineers for GM, the Hummer's manufacturer. They noticed that Goodwin's H2 looked modified. "Does it have a diesel engine in it?"
"Yeah," he said.
"No way," they replied.
He opened the hood, "and they're just all in and out and around the valves and checking it out," he says. He'd filled it up with grease from a Chinese restaurant the day before and was worried that the cold morning might have solidified the fuel. But it started up on the first try and ran so quietly that at first they didn't believe it was really on
And they're like, 'Is it running? Yeah, you can hear the fan going.'" One engineer turned and said, "GM said this wouldn't work."
Remember -- Detroit tells us it's impossible to increase gas mileage without taking a hit on horsepower. Yet here's Goodwin -- with an eight-grade education -- able to design motors that blow the doors off the conventional wisdom.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Johnathan Goodwin - an Auto Mechanic Does What Detroit Says is Impossible posted by Ecacofonix : 10:35 AM
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Coal Emerging as Feedstock for Plastics - Bad News for Environment?
We all know that crude oil isn't just used to fuel our cars and heat our homes - it is also used to make a range of chemicals, including those in plastics, lubricants and fertilisers. With dwindling oil reserves, coal is emerging as an easy alternative. This could be true for the chemical applications as well.
Why is this a concern? Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel. One megawatt hour of electricity produced from coal produces 974 kg CO2 versus 726 and 469 for oil and natural gas.
Coal becomes an economically attractive option for making plastic when oil sells for $50 per barrel. It ceases to be attractive below $35 per barrel.
So why is coal not already being used? In part because of environmental concerns. Coal gets bad press, and countries that have signed the Kyoto protocol may not be able to "afford" the additional emissions of CO2. Not surprising, then, that coal's potential as a raw material for making chemicals is greatest in China, India and the US -- as yet, none of them have any obligations to reduce their emissions and together, they are home to about half the world's coal reserves.
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Why is this a concern? Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel. One megawatt hour of electricity produced from coal produces 974 kg CO2 versus 726 and 469 for oil and natural gas.
Coal becomes an economically attractive option for making plastic when oil sells for $50 per barrel. It ceases to be attractive below $35 per barrel.
So why is coal not already being used? In part because of environmental concerns. Coal gets bad press, and countries that have signed the Kyoto protocol may not be able to "afford" the additional emissions of CO2. Not surprising, then, that coal's potential as a raw material for making chemicals is greatest in China, India and the US -- as yet, none of them have any obligations to reduce their emissions and together, they are home to about half the world's coal reserves.
More from here
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Coal Emerging as Feedstock for Plastics - Bad News for Environment? posted by Ecacofonix : 9:45 AM
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It's No Longer Zero Carbon, Now Carbon Negative is the Goal
If the world is going to sharply reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by midcentury, then many businesses will have to go carbon neutral, bringing their net emissions of the greenhouse gas to zero.
But some could go even further by removing more CO2 than they produce. Instead of carbon neutral, how about carbon negative?
In academic and industrial labs worldwide, researchers are working on technologies to reach that goal. Success could create the ultimate green business — for example, one that produces fuel whose emissions are more than offset by carbon dioxide stored during production. The businesses would be successful if, as anticipated, Congress puts a tax on emissions or starts a trading plan that makes carbon credits valuable.
For some experts, it’s not a question of whether businesses will go carbon negative but when.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions was necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. But capturing the gas from coal plant smokestacks or switching to fuels that produce less of it when burned goes only so far.
While much engineering work would have to be done to make a business carbon negative, the outlines are clear.
More from here
But some could go even further by removing more CO2 than they produce. Instead of carbon neutral, how about carbon negative?
In academic and industrial labs worldwide, researchers are working on technologies to reach that goal. Success could create the ultimate green business — for example, one that produces fuel whose emissions are more than offset by carbon dioxide stored during production. The businesses would be successful if, as anticipated, Congress puts a tax on emissions or starts a trading plan that makes carbon credits valuable.
For some experts, it’s not a question of whether businesses will go carbon negative but when.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions was necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. But capturing the gas from coal plant smokestacks or switching to fuels that produce less of it when burned goes only so far.
While much engineering work would have to be done to make a business carbon negative, the outlines are clear.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - It's No Longer Zero Carbon, Now Carbon Negative is the Goal posted by Ecacofonix : 7:23 AM
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Using DNA Shuffling, E.coli Gives Hydrogen from Sugar
Texas A&M Professor Thomas Wood and his research team have successfully genetically manipulated Escherichia coli to produce hydrogen fuel from common sugar.
E. coli is commonly associated with food poisoning from uncooked meat, but the bacteria is also found naturally in the human body. Wood said that the average person has eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of bacteria in their body at any given time. This bacteria naturally produces hydrogen to increase the pH of its surroundings for survival.
Wood has spent the previous 17 years manipulating the bacteria to do different things. Wood said that his research group initially started out with the wrong assumptions, but once the research settled its focus on E. coli, progress began moving along rapidly.
"We have used a process called DNA shuffling, in which we separate and re-splice E. coli genes in random sequences. We eventually found a combination which produced more hydrogen," Wood said
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E. coli is commonly associated with food poisoning from uncooked meat, but the bacteria is also found naturally in the human body. Wood said that the average person has eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of bacteria in their body at any given time. This bacteria naturally produces hydrogen to increase the pH of its surroundings for survival.
Wood has spent the previous 17 years manipulating the bacteria to do different things. Wood said that his research group initially started out with the wrong assumptions, but once the research settled its focus on E. coli, progress began moving along rapidly.
"We have used a process called DNA shuffling, in which we separate and re-splice E. coli genes in random sequences. We eventually found a combination which produced more hydrogen," Wood said
More from here
Labels: Bio-engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Using DNA Shuffling, E.coli Gives Hydrogen from Sugar posted by Ecacofonix : 7:22 AM
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Soild Hydrogen Storage System by Stanford Ovshinsky
Hydrogen Solutions to Replace Gasoline Inventor will Keynote nanoTX USA’08
World-famed pioneer in nanostructures, who was once named Time Magazine’s “Hero of the Planet,” is greatly anticipated in the scientific and business community with exciting new advances
Stanford R. Ovshinsky has become a living legend in the scientific and business communities, having once been profiled in a one-hour PBS program on NOVA entitled “Japan’s American Genius.” The most recent exciting advancement is his solid hydrogen storage system, a metal hydride solid which can be stored in a granular, inert form in compact tanks. It's as easy to fuel up a vehicle with this solid hydrogen as it is to gas up a conventional car. When the car needs fuel, a little energy from the battery system heats up the solid and releases hydrogen gas. Solid hydrogen is currently powering some internal combustion engines on modified Toyota Priuses, and the future looks promising for fuel cell implementation.
Full story here
World-famed pioneer in nanostructures, who was once named Time Magazine’s “Hero of the Planet,” is greatly anticipated in the scientific and business community with exciting new advances
Stanford R. Ovshinsky has become a living legend in the scientific and business communities, having once been profiled in a one-hour PBS program on NOVA entitled “Japan’s American Genius.” The most recent exciting advancement is his solid hydrogen storage system, a metal hydride solid which can be stored in a granular, inert form in compact tanks. It's as easy to fuel up a vehicle with this solid hydrogen as it is to gas up a conventional car. When the car needs fuel, a little energy from the battery system heats up the solid and releases hydrogen gas. Solid hydrogen is currently powering some internal combustion engines on modified Toyota Priuses, and the future looks promising for fuel cell implementation.
Full story here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering, Material-Sciences
PermaLink - Soild Hydrogen Storage System by Stanford Ovshinsky posted by Ecacofonix : 7:20 AM
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) - The Future of Motoring?
Automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin is convinced that his New York-based company, Visionary Vehicles, will introduce a globally sourced, Chinese-built plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to the US market in 2009. According to Bricklin, the car will achieve fuel efficiency of at least 100 mpg, boast a level of detail to rival Mercedes, and roll into consumer’s driveways for $35,000. Bricklin sees it as a no-compromise automobile that will embarrass the Prius in the areas of mileage, luxury, and desirability. “This 35-mpg garbage is going to be history,” says Bricklin. “If I have the opportunity to change this industry, I’m going to. And I do have the opportunity to change this industry. So I will.”
The claim brings Bricklin head-to-head with the world’s biggest automakers as they race to develop a technology many are heralding as the future of motoring.
Full story here
The claim brings Bricklin head-to-head with the world’s biggest automakers as they race to develop a technology many are heralding as the future of motoring.
Full story here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering, Mechanical-Engineering
PermaLink - Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) - The Future of Motoring? posted by Ecacofonix : 1:42 AM
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Monday, March 24, 2008
The 25 Potential Technology, Environment Threats to UK
These are the 25 technological advances and environmental changes that could pose a potential threat to Britain, according to scientists.
1. Nanotechnologies
2. Invasive impacts of artificial life and biomimetic robots
3. Unintended consequences of pathogens developed by modern biotechnology
4. Direct impact of novel pathogens
5. Impacts of control efforts for novel pathogens
6. Facilitation of non-native invasive species through climate change
7. Large-scale restoration for iconic wildlife and habitats
8. Action to facilitate species range change in the face of climate change
9. Frequency of extreme weather events
10. Geo-engineering the planet to mitigate the effects of climate change
11. Implications for biodiversity of the adoption of an ecosystem approach
12. Increased fire risk
13. Increasing demand for biofuel and biomass
14. Step change in demand for food and hence pressure on land for agriculture
15. Ocean acidification
16. Reduction of coldwater continental shelf marine habitats
17. Significant increase in coastal and offshore power generation
18. Extreme high-water coastal events
19. Sea level rise resulting in loss of coastal and intertidal habitats
20. Dramatic changes in freshwater flows
21. Nature conservation policy and practice may not keep pace with environmental change
22. Internet and new e-technologies connect people with information on the environment
23. Decline in engagement with nature
24. Adoption of monetary value as the key criterion in conservation decision-making
25. Public antagonism towards wildlife due to perceived human health threat
Source: Telegraph, UK
Related blogposts
25 environmental threats of the future
1. Nanotechnologies
2. Invasive impacts of artificial life and biomimetic robots
3. Unintended consequences of pathogens developed by modern biotechnology
4. Direct impact of novel pathogens
5. Impacts of control efforts for novel pathogens
6. Facilitation of non-native invasive species through climate change
7. Large-scale restoration for iconic wildlife and habitats
8. Action to facilitate species range change in the face of climate change
9. Frequency of extreme weather events
10. Geo-engineering the planet to mitigate the effects of climate change
11. Implications for biodiversity of the adoption of an ecosystem approach
12. Increased fire risk
13. Increasing demand for biofuel and biomass
14. Step change in demand for food and hence pressure on land for agriculture
15. Ocean acidification
16. Reduction of coldwater continental shelf marine habitats
17. Significant increase in coastal and offshore power generation
18. Extreme high-water coastal events
19. Sea level rise resulting in loss of coastal and intertidal habitats
20. Dramatic changes in freshwater flows
21. Nature conservation policy and practice may not keep pace with environmental change
22. Internet and new e-technologies connect people with information on the environment
23. Decline in engagement with nature
24. Adoption of monetary value as the key criterion in conservation decision-making
25. Public antagonism towards wildlife due to perceived human health threat
Source: Telegraph, UK
Related blogposts
25 environmental threats of the future
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Society
PermaLink - The 25 Potential Technology, Environment Threats to UK posted by Ecacofonix : 7:43 AM
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Energy Saving National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office in Las Vegas Energy
From the outside, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s administrative office in Las Vegas looks like any other concrete building dotting the landscape of most American cities. But inside a technological revolution has occurred, putting the 1980s building on a path to become the greenest facility in Nevada and one of the greenest in the country. By using state-of-the-art automation to monitor and control lighting, heating, cooling and air quality — and making other ecologically smart choices, such as buying recycled office furniture and planting desert-friendly landscaping — the once-nondescript office building should serve as a model for energy-efficient building design across government. “This is going to be what I consider a demonstration building. It’s going to be one of the most technological buildings of its kind,” said Gillian Silver-Rodis, community relations manager for National Security Technologies, the NNSA contractor that works out of the facility. NNSA’s 3,000 contractor employees and 100 federal employees who work in Nevada manage the Nevada Test Site, a restricted-access location larger than Rhode Island where nuclear weapons were once tested and where experiments now are conducted on conventional weapons, hazardous materials and environmental technologies.
The overhauled building is just the type of green workspace the Energy Department has pledged to deliver throughout its bureaus and program offices in a quest to become the energy-efficiency leader in government. All agencies are under orders by Congress and the Bush administration to cut overall energy use and water consumption and increase their use of renewable energy.
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The overhauled building is just the type of green workspace the Energy Department has pledged to deliver throughout its bureaus and program offices in a quest to become the energy-efficiency leader in government. All agencies are under orders by Congress and the Bush administration to cut overall energy use and water consumption and increase their use of renewable energy.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Energy Saving National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office in Las Vegas Energy posted by Ecacofonix : 3:15 AM
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Metal Hydrides, Alanates, Borohydrides & Hydrogen Cars’ Efficiency
Hydrogen-powered cars seem to be the best solution to the problem of fossil fuels pollution.
David S. Sholl, a professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is conducting a new research to identify a new class of materials to be used in making hydrogen engines more efficient than ever.
“We are currently studying the use of metal hydrides, such as alanates and borohydrides, to find materials that could ultimately improve the efficiency of hydrogen cars and curb pollution,” said Sholl.
They’re trying to create new materials that are able to store large amounts of hydrogen in a compressed gas tank and then release it to power the fuel cells of the future cars.
Full report here
David S. Sholl, a professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is conducting a new research to identify a new class of materials to be used in making hydrogen engines more efficient than ever.
“We are currently studying the use of metal hydrides, such as alanates and borohydrides, to find materials that could ultimately improve the efficiency of hydrogen cars and curb pollution,” said Sholl.
They’re trying to create new materials that are able to store large amounts of hydrogen in a compressed gas tank and then release it to power the fuel cells of the future cars.
Full report here
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Metal Hydrides, Alanates, Borohydrides & Hydrogen Cars’ Efficiency posted by Ecacofonix : 3:15 AM
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ecoNEW Program Recycles / Resells Electronic Waste, E-waste to Cash
Leave it to the gadget industry to turn concern over electronic waste into a sales opportunity. Simply put, they're offering to buy back old devices to recycle or resell, in return for cash or in-store credit.
Coming to consumer electronic retailers nationwide this spring is the ecoNEW program from NEW Customer Service Cos., the company that provides extended warranty plans and protection programs for such retailers as Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
Under the program, consumers can return any electronics products they own to participating retailers (which have not yet been announced) -- even if they weren't purchased at the store. In return they'll receive an in-store credit gift card for a predetermined amount based on the type and condition of the device. EcoNEW handles all the collection and evaluation details and issues the gift cards directly.
Full report here
Coming to consumer electronic retailers nationwide this spring is the ecoNEW program from NEW Customer Service Cos., the company that provides extended warranty plans and protection programs for such retailers as Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
Under the program, consumers can return any electronics products they own to participating retailers (which have not yet been announced) -- even if they weren't purchased at the store. In return they'll receive an in-store credit gift card for a predetermined amount based on the type and condition of the device. EcoNEW handles all the collection and evaluation details and issues the gift cards directly.
Full report here
Labels: Electronics-Communications-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - ecoNEW Program Recycles / Resells Electronic Waste, E-waste to Cash posted by Ecacofonix : 3:15 AM
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US Auto Makers Getting Aggressive on Hybrids, Fuel-efficient Cars
While vehicle sales and economic growth in the North American automotive industry remain strong, the automotive sector landscape is also fundamentally changing. Escalating gasoline prices and growing environmental concerns are facilitating a shift in vehicle needs among consumers, creating demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles such as gasoline-electric hybrids. According to the Electric Drive Transportation Association, sales of hybrids increased to over 330,000 in 2007, up from over 9,000 in 2000.
Toyota has been the most successful company to tap into this eco-trend. In 2006, a decade after the first Prius went on sale, Toyota’s global sales of hybrid vehicles hit one million. Targeting another market, Toyota is releasing its A-BAT, a hybrid truck with an oversized grill and rugged body, this year.
This type of innovative thinking is part of the reason Toyota surpassed Ford in U.S. auto sales to become the second largest car producer in the world, not far behind GM, the current global automotive leader. It has also driven U.S. automakers to launch aggressive plans, focusing on innovation, to help boost sales. Ford and GMC launched their first hybrids, and other carmakers, including Dodge, have revealed plans to produce their own lines of hybrids. Saturn is releasing a 2009 Vue Green Line “two-mode” hybrid, which combines towing capacity with fuel savings.
Many experts believe that the automotive industry will see continued growth and sales in other types of fuel-efficient vehicles.
More from here
Toyota has been the most successful company to tap into this eco-trend. In 2006, a decade after the first Prius went on sale, Toyota’s global sales of hybrid vehicles hit one million. Targeting another market, Toyota is releasing its A-BAT, a hybrid truck with an oversized grill and rugged body, this year.
This type of innovative thinking is part of the reason Toyota surpassed Ford in U.S. auto sales to become the second largest car producer in the world, not far behind GM, the current global automotive leader. It has also driven U.S. automakers to launch aggressive plans, focusing on innovation, to help boost sales. Ford and GMC launched their first hybrids, and other carmakers, including Dodge, have revealed plans to produce their own lines of hybrids. Saturn is releasing a 2009 Vue Green Line “two-mode” hybrid, which combines towing capacity with fuel savings.
Many experts believe that the automotive industry will see continued growth and sales in other types of fuel-efficient vehicles.
More from here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - US Auto Makers Getting Aggressive on Hybrids, Fuel-efficient Cars posted by Ecacofonix : 3:15 AM
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
Hydrogen on Demand Using Aluminium & Gallium
Purdue professor Jerry Woodall, center, and researchers Charles Allen and Jeffrey Ziebarth display hydrogen gas created by adding water to an alloy of aluminum and gallium.
A Purdue University engineer and National Medal of Technology winner says he's ready and able to start a revolution in clean energy.
Professor Jerry Woodall and students have invented a way to use an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water — a process that he thinks could replace gasoline as well as its pollutants and emissions tied to global warming.
Woodall says the method makes it unnecessary to store or transport hydrogen — two major challenges in creating a hydrogen economy. The hydrogen is generated on demand. So instead of having to fill up at a station, hydrogen would be made inside vehicles in tanks about the same size as today's gasoline tanks. An internal reaction in those tanks would create hydrogen from water and 350 pounds worth of special pellets.
Read the full story from here
Related blogposts
New Aluminum-Rich Alloy Produces Hydrogen On-Demand
Hydrogen On Demand
A Purdue University engineer and National Medal of Technology winner says he's ready and able to start a revolution in clean energy.
Professor Jerry Woodall and students have invented a way to use an aluminum alloy to extract hydrogen from water — a process that he thinks could replace gasoline as well as its pollutants and emissions tied to global warming.
Woodall says the method makes it unnecessary to store or transport hydrogen — two major challenges in creating a hydrogen economy. The hydrogen is generated on demand. So instead of having to fill up at a station, hydrogen would be made inside vehicles in tanks about the same size as today's gasoline tanks. An internal reaction in those tanks would create hydrogen from water and 350 pounds worth of special pellets.
Read the full story from here
Related blogposts
New Aluminum-Rich Alloy Produces Hydrogen On-Demand
Hydrogen On Demand
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering, Sciences
Genetically Engineered E.coli Bacteria a Future Source of Energy?
For most people, the name “E. coli” is synonymous with food poisoning and product recalls, but a professor in Texas A&M University’s chemical engineering department envisions the bacteria as a future source of energy, helping to power our cars, homes and more.
By genetically modifying the bacteria, Thomas Wood, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has “tweaked” a strain of E. coli so that it produces substantial amounts of hydrogen. Specifically, Wood’s strain produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created in a naturally occurring process, according to an article in “Microbial Biotechnology,” detailing his research.
Though Wood acknowledges that there is still much work to be done before his research translates into any kind of commercial application, his initial success could prove to be a significant stepping stone on the path to the hydrogen-based economy that many believe is in this country’s future.
Full report here
Related blogposts
Engineered E. Coli strain boosts biohydrogen production from sugar 140 times compared with wild type
By genetically modifying the bacteria, Thomas Wood, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has “tweaked” a strain of E. coli so that it produces substantial amounts of hydrogen. Specifically, Wood’s strain produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created in a naturally occurring process, according to an article in “Microbial Biotechnology,” detailing his research.
Though Wood acknowledges that there is still much work to be done before his research translates into any kind of commercial application, his initial success could prove to be a significant stepping stone on the path to the hydrogen-based economy that many believe is in this country’s future.
Full report here
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Engineered E. Coli strain boosts biohydrogen production from sugar 140 times compared with wild type
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Genetically Engineered E.coli Bacteria a Future Source of Energy? posted by Ecacofonix : 4:59 AM
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
Cooling Computers Through Biochemistry
Bruno Michel has experienced climate change firsthand. As a mountaineer who treks up snow-capped peaks in the Swiss Alps on skis covered with goat skins, he has watched the famed Aletsch Glacier shrink year after year. That's a prime motivator for his work as a researcher at IBM's (IBM) Zurich Lab.
Michel, who has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Zurich, uses biological principles to deal with the problem of heat in computing. He is designing devices that cool chips using liquid delivered through capillary-like circulation systems—much as the human vascular system cools our bodies.
Full report here
Michel, who has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Zurich, uses biological principles to deal with the problem of heat in computing. He is designing devices that cool chips using liquid delivered through capillary-like circulation systems—much as the human vascular system cools our bodies.
Full report here
Labels: Computer-Science, Energy-Environment-Engineering
Energy from "Tornadoes"?
Retired scientist Louis Michaud has plans to generate tornadoes near power plants that could provide a 40% increase in the plants' power output. If the concept works, it could dramatically cut down on the need for building new power plants, instead creating energy from the waste heat of existing plants.
His "atmospheric vortex engines" are large cylindrical structures with an open top, and works similar to a fireplace and chimney. To create a tornado, warm air mixes with cold air. In Michaud's set-up, the warm air comes from the waste heat of a coal plant - but heat could also conceivably come from the sun or other ambient heat source.
When the hot air enters the large cylinder, it rises through the central chamber due to convection. As it rises, the hot air passes through angled ducts that cause the air to rotate like a tornado. Turbines positioned on the sides of the chamber convert the upward wind into electricity.
Because the conditions can be tightly controlled, the energy that could be produced by a tornado vortex would be much greater than the energy from normal winds captured by wind turbines. In fact, Michaud predicts, the cost of electrical energy produced with a vortex engine could be just half the cost of any other alternative energy system.
Full report here
His "atmospheric vortex engines" are large cylindrical structures with an open top, and works similar to a fireplace and chimney. To create a tornado, warm air mixes with cold air. In Michaud's set-up, the warm air comes from the waste heat of a coal plant - but heat could also conceivably come from the sun or other ambient heat source.
When the hot air enters the large cylinder, it rises through the central chamber due to convection. As it rises, the hot air passes through angled ducts that cause the air to rotate like a tornado. Turbines positioned on the sides of the chamber convert the upward wind into electricity.
Because the conditions can be tightly controlled, the energy that could be produced by a tornado vortex would be much greater than the energy from normal winds captured by wind turbines. In fact, Michaud predicts, the cost of electrical energy produced with a vortex engine could be just half the cost of any other alternative energy system.
Full report here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
Salt Energy - Is Salt the Next Energy Source?
Salt power is a tantalising if distant prospect as high oil prices make alternative energy sources look more economical.
Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water - one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake - are due on stream this year and may point to a new source of clean energy in estuaries from all over the world.
The experiments, which seek to capture the energy released when fresh and salt water are mixed, build on knowledge that has been around for centuries. The science at the heart of the projects is the fact that when salt and fresh water mix at river mouths, they are typically warmed by 0.1 degree Celsius. Dutch scientists say such energy at all the world's estuaries is equivalent to 20% of world electricity demand.
Full report here
Two tiny projects to mix sea and river water - one by the fjord south of Oslo, the other at a Dutch seaside lake - are due on stream this year and may point to a new source of clean energy in estuaries from all over the world.
The experiments, which seek to capture the energy released when fresh and salt water are mixed, build on knowledge that has been around for centuries. The science at the heart of the projects is the fact that when salt and fresh water mix at river mouths, they are typically warmed by 0.1 degree Celsius. Dutch scientists say such energy at all the world's estuaries is equivalent to 20% of world electricity demand.
Full report here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Geo-Sciences, Sciences
PermaLink - Salt Energy - Is Salt the Next Energy Source? posted by Ecacofonix : 10:26 AM
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Hydrogen Energy from H2 Stored in Buckyballs
Rice University have discovered that it's possible to store hydrogen inside buckyballs. Hydrogen can be an excellent power source, but it is notoriously difficult to store. The buckyballs can contain up to 8% of their weight in hydrogen, and they are strong enough to hold it at a density that rivals the center of Jupiter.
Using a computer model, a research team has tracked the strength of each atomic bond in a buckyball and simulated what happened to the bonds as more hydrogen atoms were packed inside. The model promises to be particularly useful because it is scalable, that is it can calculate exactly how much hydrogen a buckyball of any given size can hold, and it can also tell scientists how overstuffed buckyballs burst open and release their cargo.
Full report here
Related blogposts
Top Energy Advances from 2007
Using a computer model, a research team has tracked the strength of each atomic bond in a buckyball and simulated what happened to the bonds as more hydrogen atoms were packed inside. The model promises to be particularly useful because it is scalable, that is it can calculate exactly how much hydrogen a buckyball of any given size can hold, and it can also tell scientists how overstuffed buckyballs burst open and release their cargo.
Full report here
Related blogposts
Top Energy Advances from 2007
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
Electricity from Waste Heat Now A Reality
A company has been formed to commercialize the thermoelectric research. Researchers at Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of technology have found a way to more efficiently convert electricity from heat, a breakthrough they claim could make a wide range of products more energy-efficient.
The thermoelectric effect has been understood for a long time, but the researchers were able to use nanotechnology to make the process of generating electricity from heat far more efficient. The company's first product is a material that can withstand temperatures of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit used in a range of industrial products. Cars that are partly powered from the heat of their exhaust systems are a good application of the technology, but the company intends to first target utility-scale power plants, which give off a great deal of waste heat.
Full report here
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Recent Advances and Potential Synergies for a Technology-based approach to Fighting Global Warming (CCS, HAS, ZIFs and CHP)
The thermoelectric effect has been understood for a long time, but the researchers were able to use nanotechnology to make the process of generating electricity from heat far more efficient. The company's first product is a material that can withstand temperatures of about 400 degrees Fahrenheit used in a range of industrial products. Cars that are partly powered from the heat of their exhaust systems are a good application of the technology, but the company intends to first target utility-scale power plants, which give off a great deal of waste heat.
Full report here
Related blogposts
Recent Advances and Potential Synergies for a Technology-based approach to Fighting Global Warming (CCS, HAS, ZIFs and CHP)
Labels: Electrical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
Emission-free Cars Thanks to Carbon Recyling Technology
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a strategy to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles to prevent the pollutant from finding its way from a car tailpipe into the atmosphere. Georgia Tech researchers envision a zero emission car, and a transportation system completely free of fossil fuels.
Technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions from large-scale sources such as power plants have recently gained some impressive scientific ground, but nearly two-thirds of global carbon emissions are created by much smaller polluters — automobiles, transportation vehicles and distributed industrial power generation applications (e.g., diesel power generators).
The Georgia Tech team’s goal is to create a sustainable transportation system that uses a liquid fuel and traps the carbon emission in the vehicle for later processing at a fueling station. The carbon would then be shuttled back to a processing plant where it could be transformed into liquid fuel.
Full report here
Technologies to capture carbon dioxide emissions from large-scale sources such as power plants have recently gained some impressive scientific ground, but nearly two-thirds of global carbon emissions are created by much smaller polluters — automobiles, transportation vehicles and distributed industrial power generation applications (e.g., diesel power generators).
The Georgia Tech team’s goal is to create a sustainable transportation system that uses a liquid fuel and traps the carbon emission in the vehicle for later processing at a fueling station. The carbon would then be shuttled back to a processing plant where it could be transformed into liquid fuel.
Full report here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Emission-free Cars Thanks to Carbon Recyling Technology posted by Ecacofonix : 6:27 AM
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Random Nanostructure Boosts Thermoelectric Power
Engineers and scientists in Massachusetts have managed to greatly boost the efficiency of a common material used for thermoelectric cooling that has not been improved upon in 50 years. The researchers at Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who reformulated the material—bismuth antimony telluride, or BiSbTe—say that not only will the change boost the efficiency of current uses but it will also open the way to operating automobile systems on waste heat from the engine and possibly provide an alternative to solar cells for converting the sun's energy to electricity.
The team, Zhifeng Ren and Gang Chen, reported on their work in today's Science Express. They say that by breaking the bulk material into tiny chunks—from 5 to 50 nanometers across—they've increased a key measure of thermoelectric conversion, called the ZT of the alloy, from 1 to 1.4.
The relationship between the ZT of a material and the conversion efficiency of a device based on it is not linear, so that translates into an improvement in thermoelectric conversion efficiency of between 15 percent and 30 percent...
Full report here
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Nanotechnology provides a cost-effective way to improve performance of thermoelectric materials
The team, Zhifeng Ren and Gang Chen, reported on their work in today's Science Express. They say that by breaking the bulk material into tiny chunks—from 5 to 50 nanometers across—they've increased a key measure of thermoelectric conversion, called the ZT of the alloy, from 1 to 1.4.
The relationship between the ZT of a material and the conversion efficiency of a device based on it is not linear, so that translates into an improvement in thermoelectric conversion efficiency of between 15 percent and 30 percent...
Full report here
Related blogposts
Nanotechnology provides a cost-effective way to improve performance of thermoelectric materials
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Material-Sciences
PermaLink - Random Nanostructure Boosts Thermoelectric Power posted by Ecacofonix : 6:16 AM
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Energy We Consume and What To Do About It
The average American uses 11400 Watts of power continuously. This is the equivalent of burning 114 x100 Watt light bulbs, all the time. The average person globally uses 2255 Watts of power, or a little less than 23 x100 Watt light bulbs.
What are the consequences of us all using this much power?
What is the implied challenge of global warming in terms of how we produce power?
What are the things we do as individuals in terms of using power that we might change?
Wattzon.org hosts a document that gives us a framework for thinking about these challenges, and how we might change our behaviours as individuals as well as our collective behaviour as societies and global citizens, if we are to meet the great challenge of the 21st century - how to live in a world where we increasingly understand the resources to be finite, and the consequences of our actions complex & inter-twined.
Via: O'reilly
What are the consequences of us all using this much power?
What is the implied challenge of global warming in terms of how we produce power?
What are the things we do as individuals in terms of using power that we might change?
Wattzon.org hosts a document that gives us a framework for thinking about these challenges, and how we might change our behaviours as individuals as well as our collective behaviour as societies and global citizens, if we are to meet the great challenge of the 21st century - how to live in a world where we increasingly understand the resources to be finite, and the consequences of our actions complex & inter-twined.
Via: O'reilly
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Society
Nanotechnology Conductors - Clean & Efficient
By crushing a widely used semiconductor into nanoparticles, researchers said on Thursday they have created a compound that could lead to cleaner, more efficient refrigerators, solar power plants and other devices.
The crushed material makes it possible to conduct electricity without conducting so much heat, solving a problem that has baffled engineers for 50 years.
Writing in the journal Science, the teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College said their method provides a cheap way to achieve a major increase in thermoelectric efficiency.
Full report here
Related blogposts
Cheap, Efficient Thermoelectrics
The crushed material makes it possible to conduct electricity without conducting so much heat, solving a problem that has baffled engineers for 50 years.
Writing in the journal Science, the teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston College said their method provides a cheap way to achieve a major increase in thermoelectric efficiency.
Full report here
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Cheap, Efficient Thermoelectrics
Labels: Electrical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering, Material-Sciences
Small Battery-powered Electric Cars Could Catch On Soon
Within four years, at least two Japanese automakers plan to have all-electric cars on American roads. Several other automakers from around the world, including Ford Motor Co., are mulling similar vehicles.
When they arrive, the new electrics won't be big or inexpensive, and they won't go far -- probably no more than 90 miles without recharging. But with better battery technology, tougher environmental laws and growing demand for oil-free forms of transportation, auto executives say there's a niche for electric cars to thrive.
Full report here
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Battery powered cars
When they arrive, the new electrics won't be big or inexpensive, and they won't go far -- probably no more than 90 miles without recharging. But with better battery technology, tougher environmental laws and growing demand for oil-free forms of transportation, auto executives say there's a niche for electric cars to thrive.
Full report here
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Battery powered cars
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
PermaLink - Small Battery-powered Electric Cars Could Catch On Soon posted by Ecacofonix : 5:51 AM
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Blending Pest Control with Green Buildings
Pest control is often ignored by architects who design green buildings - those certified under the Leadership in Energy Environmental Design rating system, Merchant said. But it shouldn't.
As interest in green architecture grows, architects should consider including pest management features in their plans, said Michael Kawecki, chair emeritus with the U.S. Green Building Council North Texas Chapter, the group that certifies green buildings.
Some experts in pest management, architecture and engineering agreed at a three-day seminar recently hosted by AgriLife Extension in Dallas. These experts discussed how integrated pest management concepts could be blended with green-building designs.
Full story here
As interest in green architecture grows, architects should consider including pest management features in their plans, said Michael Kawecki, chair emeritus with the U.S. Green Building Council North Texas Chapter, the group that certifies green buildings.
Some experts in pest management, architecture and engineering agreed at a three-day seminar recently hosted by AgriLife Extension in Dallas. These experts discussed how integrated pest management concepts could be blended with green-building designs.
Full story here
Labels: Civil-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
Friday, March 21, 2008
Automotive Opportunities in a Green Economy
Many experts believe that the automotive industry will see continued growth and sales in many types of fuel-efficient vehicles. This is due in part to stiff emission standards proposed by several U.S. states and continued investment in other types of advanced technology. This includes one of the most exciting new developments in U.S. car manufacturing: Tesla Motors’ new, revolutionary all-electric sports car. Innovations like this point to a changing, yet continuously growing and competitive industry, with doors opening for new opportunities.
Locations across North America are trying to seize these opportunities, and are often willing to dole out generous incentives to get a piece of this attractive industry. After all, investments by automotive companies mean prodigious economic growth for an area. Here’s a look at some locations that are helping to shape the future of the automotive industry.
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Automotive Opportunities in a Green Economy
Locations across North America are trying to seize these opportunities, and are often willing to dole out generous incentives to get a piece of this attractive industry. After all, investments by automotive companies mean prodigious economic growth for an area. Here’s a look at some locations that are helping to shape the future of the automotive industry.
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Automotive Opportunities in a Green Economy
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Logistics-Transportation-Engineering
Adhesives research used for solar photovoltaic modules
Adhesives and sealants products manufacturer for industry sectors Henkel is investigating and testing a number of options to increase energy efficiency with solar panels and associated adhesives worldwide.
Henkel is active in energy- saving technologies and has a global solar team that deals with solar technologies and renewable energy.
Some of the solar-related initiatives include solar modules on steel frames, development of flexible solar modules and thin-film technology as well as crystalline silicone cell modules.
Full report here
Henkel is active in energy- saving technologies and has a global solar team that deals with solar technologies and renewable energy.
Some of the solar-related initiatives include solar modules on steel frames, development of flexible solar modules and thin-film technology as well as crystalline silicone cell modules.
Full report here
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Adhesives research used for solar photovoltaic modules posted by Ecacofonix : 10:28 AM
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Green Datacenters - Datacenter Archtecture for Environmental Sustainability
In the past, the cost of physical space was a primary consideration in data center design. More recently, the cost of power and cooling has risen to prominence. Data center managers now must prioritize investment in efficient power and cooling systems to lower the total cost of operating (TCO) of their facilities.
Microsoft responded to this shift by adopting the following top 10 best practices for energy efficiency in Microsoft data center operations:
* Engineer the data center for cost and energy efficiency
* Optimize the design to assess multiple factors
* Optimize provisioning for maximum efficiency and productivity
* Monitor and control data center performance in real time
* Make data center operational excellence part of organizational culture
* Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE)
* Use temperature control and airflow distribution
* Eliminate the mixing of hot and cold air
* Use effective air-side or water-side economizers
* Share and learn from industry partners
Learn more details on each of these practices from this report
Microsoft responded to this shift by adopting the following top 10 best practices for energy efficiency in Microsoft data center operations:
* Engineer the data center for cost and energy efficiency
* Optimize the design to assess multiple factors
* Optimize provisioning for maximum efficiency and productivity
* Monitor and control data center performance in real time
* Make data center operational excellence part of organizational culture
* Measure power usage effectiveness (PUE)
* Use temperature control and airflow distribution
* Eliminate the mixing of hot and cold air
* Use effective air-side or water-side economizers
* Share and learn from industry partners
Learn more details on each of these practices from this report
Labels: Computer-Science, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Green Datacenters - Datacenter Archtecture for Environmental Sustainability posted by Ecacofonix : 5:13 AM
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Is Geoengineering the Solution for Global Warming?
For most environmentalists, the answer to reducing global warming is to keep pushing the same message harder: cut carbon and cut it now. But a few scientists are beginning to quietly raise the possibility of cooling the planet's fever directly through geoengineering. The principle behind it is straightforward — compensate for an intensified greenhouse effect by reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth — but the techniques seem like pure science fiction. Just a few: using orbital mirrors to bounce sunlight back into space, fertilizing the oceans with iron to amplify their ability to absorb carbon and even painting roofs white to increase solar reflection.
Geoengineering has long been the province of kooks, but as the difficulty of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions has become harder to ignore, it is slowly emerging as an option of last resort.
Read more from this Time article
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Geoengineering as a Solution to Global Warming
Can We Offset Global Warming By Geoengineering The Climate With Aerosols?
Geoengineering has long been the province of kooks, but as the difficulty of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions has become harder to ignore, it is slowly emerging as an option of last resort.
Read more from this Time article
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Geoengineering as a Solution to Global Warming
Can We Offset Global Warming By Geoengineering The Climate With Aerosols?
Labels: Energy-Environment-Engineering, Geo-Sciences
PermaLink - Is Geoengineering the Solution for Global Warming? posted by Ecacofonix : 4:58 AM
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Some Japan Homes Run on Fuel Cells
Some 2,000 homes in Japan get electricity and heat water — with power generated by a hydrogen fuel cell. The technology is more commonly seen in futuristic cars with tanks of hydrogen instead of gasoline, a key culprit in pollution and global warming.
Developers say fuel cells that use natural gas to get hydrogen produce one-third less of the pollution that causes global warming than conventional electricity generation does.
So is this trend of fuel cells in homes that has started in Japan likely to spread to the rest of the world? Read on...
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2,200 homes in Japan run by fuel cells
Developers say fuel cells that use natural gas to get hydrogen produce one-third less of the pollution that causes global warming than conventional electricity generation does.
So is this trend of fuel cells in homes that has started in Japan likely to spread to the rest of the world? Read on...
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2,200 homes in Japan run by fuel cells
Labels: Electrical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
Coal as Chemical Feedstock for Oil and Polymers?
Dirty solutions to the price of oil are beginning to ramp up. A troubling new article in the chemical industry trade mag, Chemical and Engineering News, reports that coal is making in-roads as a feedstock for bulk chemical production.
Running directly counter to “green chemistry” companies like one funded in November Novomer, some in the chemical industry are exploring gasifying coal into methanol, which is a step away from the building blocks of bulk chemicals, ethylene and propylene. The economics seem to indicate that crude oil over $50 a barrel will make coal an economical option.
Full story here
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Coal tar is a versatile feedstock
Running directly counter to “green chemistry” companies like one funded in November Novomer, some in the chemical industry are exploring gasifying coal into methanol, which is a step away from the building blocks of bulk chemicals, ethylene and propylene. The economics seem to indicate that crude oil over $50 a barrel will make coal an economical option.
Full story here
Related blogposts
Coal tar is a versatile feedstock
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Coal as Chemical Feedstock for Oil and Polymers? posted by Ecacofonix : 12:36 AM
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Busting Ethanol - Here Come Butanol and Second Gen Biofuels
In 2007, ethanol fuel production rose more than 34% in the United States, reaching a record-high of 6.5 billion barrels. Industry groups expect similar growth rates for this year. The ethanol industry should savor the time, however--this could be as good as it gets.
A handful of small companies, including Pasadena, Calif.-based start-up Gevo, are scrambling to commercialize second-generation biofuels such as butanol that they believe will be cheap and clean enough to put ethanol out of business. These new fuels are even designed to be produced by the same refineries that are cranking out ethanol now.
Full story here
A handful of small companies, including Pasadena, Calif.-based start-up Gevo, are scrambling to commercialize second-generation biofuels such as butanol that they believe will be cheap and clean enough to put ethanol out of business. These new fuels are even designed to be produced by the same refineries that are cranking out ethanol now.
Full story here
Labels: Chemical-Engineering, Energy-Environment-Engineering
PermaLink - Busting Ethanol - Here Come Butanol and Second Gen Biofuels posted by Ecacofonix : 12:24 AM
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