A new type of natural-gas electric power plant, which has been proposed by MIT researchers, could provide electricity with zero carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, at costs comparable to or less than conventional natural-gas plants, and even to coal-burning plants.

Postdoctoral Associate Thomas Adams and Paul I. Barton, the Lammot du Pont Professor of Chemical Engineering, have proposed a system that uses solid-oxide fuel cells, which produce power from fuel without burning it. The system does not require any new technology but combines existing components or ones that are already well under development, in a novel configuration.

According to Thomas Adams, unless a price is placed on carbon emissions, "the cheapest fuel (for  generating electricity) will always be pulverized coal." But as soon as there is some form of carbon pricing at more than about $15 per tonne of emitted carbon dioxide "ours is the lowest price option."

Although no full-scale plants using this system have yet been built, the basic principles have been demonstrated in a number of smaller units including a 250-kilowatt plant. Prototype megawatt-scale plants are planned for completion around 2012.

Utility-scale power plants would be on the order of 500 megawatts but because fuel cells, unlike conventional turbine-based generators, are inherently modular, once the system has been proved at small size it can easily be scaled up. "You don’t need one large unit," Adams explains. "You can do hundreds or thousands of small ones, run in parallel."

He says that practical application of such systems is "not very far away at all" and could be ready for commercialization within a few years.

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Sandia National Laboratories scientists have developed tiny "glitter-sized" photovoltaic cells which they say could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used.

The solar particles, made of crystalline silicon, are 10 times thinner than conventional 6-inch-by-6-inch cells, yet perform at about the same efficiency. As a result, 100 times less silicon generates same amount of electricity.

The micro-cells are expected eventually to be less expensive and have greater efficiencies than current photovoltaic collectors.

Sandia lead investigator Greg Nielson said “Eventually units could be mass-produced and wrapped around unusual shapes for building-integrated solar tents and maybe even clothing. This would make it possible for hunters, hikers or military personnel in the field to recharge batteries for phones, cameras and other electronic devices as they walk or rest."

Photovoltaic modules made from these microsized cells for rooftops could have intelligent controls, inverters and even storage built in at the chip level. Such an integrated module could greatly simplify the cumbersome design and integration process necessary with current solar cells.

Solar concentrators can be placed directly over each micro-cell to increase the number of photons arriving to be converted into electrons. The small cell size means that cheaper and more efficient short focal length microlens arrays can be used for this purpose.

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An analysis by atmospheric scientists at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, has shown that, in the Arctic, aircraft vapour trails have caused 15–20% of surface warming.

Globally, commercial aircraft vapour trails have been responsible for 4–8% of surface warming since records began in 1850 - equivalent to a temperature increase of 0.03–0.06°C.

Previously, it had been assumed that the impact of aircraft emissions was the same everywhere. The new analysis, led by Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, reveals that aircraft emissions increase the fraction of cirrus clouds where vapour trails are most abundant but, in other locations, the main effect is to decrease temperatures in the lower atmosphere, thereby reducing relative humidy and reducing the fraction of cirrus clouds.

Black carbon emission from aircraft also play an important role in determining whether cirrus cloud formation occurs. The researchers concluded that, If black-carbon emissions from aircraft could be reduced 20-fold, the warming resulting from vapour trails would be halted and a slight cooling would occur.

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The United States and China have agreed on a plan for future co-operation on renewable energy.

The main elements of the agreement are:

• Establishment of a US-China Clean Energy Research Centre to facilitate joint research and development of clean energy technologies by teams of scientists and engineers from the United States and China, as well as to serve as a clearinghouse to help researchers in both countries.
• Establishment of a  US-China Electric Vehicles Initiative including joint standards development, demonstration projects in more than a dozen cities, technical roadmapping and public education projects.
• Development of a new US-China Energy Efficiency Action Plan under which the two countries will work together to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, industrial facilities, and consumer appliances including working together to develop energy efficient building codes and rating systems, benchmark industrial energy efficiency, train building inspectors and energy efficiency auditors for industrial facilities, harmonize test procedures and performance metrics for energy efficient consumer products and exchange best practices in energy efficient labeling systems.
• Development of a US-China Renewable Energy Partnership which will develop roadmaps for wide-spread renewable energy deployment in both countries and provide technical and analytical resources to support renewable energy deployment and facilitate partnerships to share experience and best practices.
• Co-operation on cleaner uses of coal, including large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects. 
• Launching a new US-China Shale Gas Resource Initiative under which the U.S. and China will use experience gained in the United States to assess China’s shale gas potential, promote environmentally-sustainable development of shale gas resources, conduct joint technical studies to accelerate development of shale gas resources in China, and promote shale gas investment in China.
• Establishment of a US-China Energy Cooperation Program which will leverage private sector resources for project development work in China across a broad array of clean energy projects. The program will include collaborative projects on renewable energy, smart grid, clean transportation, green building, clean coal, combined heat and power, and energy efficiency.
  

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Nine countries have signed up to develop an integrated offshore grid in the North and Irish Seas.

England, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland have agreed to co-operate on the development of offshore wind infrstructure which is intended to make supplies of electricity more secure for the participating countries by making it easier to optimise offshore wind electricity production. It will also help the EU as a whole to meet its renewable energy target for 2020.

Lord Hunt, the UK Minister for Energy and Climate Change said that "We’re already the world leader in offshore wind here in the UK and today’s announcements bring new funding and expert direction to grow this vital new industry. They also mean we can work with other countries in the EU to increase our renewable energy supplies.”

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