Monthly Archives: August 2010
Researchers at the University of Michigan have published an article in Nature Communications describing an optical film that promises to boost the overall efficiency of LCDs by more than 400 percent. Normally, LCDs use several layers of optical devices, such as prisms, to colorize, polarize, and shutter light from a backlight,. Inefficiencies in each layer mean that even the best LCD screen only emit about 8% of the light produced by their backlights. The new color filter is a three-layer sandwich of an insulating material between two layers of aluminum. The entire stack is less than 200 nanometers thick and … Continue Reading
According to a survey carried out for the British insurance company, Shiela’s Wheels, the average British male motorist drives an extra 444 kilometres a year, and the average female motorist drives an extra 412 kilometres a year, as a result of being lost. The company calculated that motorists waste an average of about 1,660 litres of petrol costing about £2,000 ($3,500) in their lifetime. More than a quarter of men (26 per cent) surveyed wait at least half an hour before asking for directions, with 12 per cent of male motorists refusing to ask a stranger for help at all. … Continue Reading
"Dry water" is actually tiny droplets of normal wet water coated in silica. The result is a powder that resembles fine sugar but is 95% water. It was discovered in 1968 and has been used in the cosmetics industry. Scientists at Liverpool University have found that "dry water" has a powerful ability to absorb gases. For example, "dry water" can absorb up to 180 times as much methane as normal water in the same time. One possible use is to store methane gas for transportation. In principle, a pressurised tank of "dry water" containing methane could be used to fuel … Continue Reading
The California Energy Commission has about a dozen large-scale solar thermal energy projects seeking approval before the end of 2010. Many companies are in a scramble to get approval for their solar projects started this year in order to take advantage of a Treasury grant program and the Department of Energy’s renewable-energy loan-guarantee program, both of which are both expire at the end of 2010. The California Energy Commission has already approved plans for a 250-megawatt solar thermal farm near the Mojave Desert. The Beacon Solar Energy thermal solar plant would be built at the western edge of the Mojave … Continue Reading
Peugeot has announced that the world’s first diesel/electric hybrid car, based on its 3008 model, will go on sale in the next European spring. The car has a 163-horsepower 2.0-litre diesel engine and a 37-horsepower electric motor. Claimed fuel consumption is 3.8 litres per 100 kilometres. The car has four modes of operation: Auto – the system automatically operates the diesel or electric motor as required; ZEV- only the electric motor is used (providing the batteries are sufficiently charged); 4WD – both motors are used – the diesel motor drives the front wheels and the electric motor drives the rear … Continue Reading
A Japanese company, Blest, has developed a small machine that it claims can convert several types of plastic back into oil. The machine is able to process polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene but not PET bottles. The result is a crude gas that can fuel things like generators or stoves and, when refined, can fuel a car, a boat or motorbike. The company says that one kilogram of plastic produces almost one litre of oil. To convert that amount takes about 1 kilowatt of electricity, which is approximately ¥20 or 20 cents’ worth. The conversion technology is said to be very … Continue Reading
Dust significantly reduces the effectiveness of solar panels. This is particularly a problem in deserts which often have very good sunlight but also a lot of dust and not much water for cleaning the panels. A team at Boston Unoversity, led by Dr Malay K. Mazumder, has suggested a solution using technology developed for the Mars rovers. A transparent, electrically sensitive material is deposited on a glass or a transparent plastic, sheet covering the panels. Sensors monitor the dust level on the surface of the panel. When the dust concentration reaches a critical level, an electric charge sends a dust-repelling … Continue Reading
The Californian environmental group Heal the Bay has released this BBC nature file-style mockumentary:
The Universities Corporation for Atmospheric Research has released new modelling software which will allow scientists to study climate change in far more detail. The software is available free from the Community Earth Systems Model web site. The Community Earth System Model will be one of the primary climate models used for the next assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The new model’s advanced capabilities are expected help scientists shed light on some of the critical mysteries of global warming, including: What impact will warming temperatures have on the massive ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica? How will patterns … Continue Reading
Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage. Bacteria from biowaste such as sewage are placed in an anode chamber, where they form a biofilm, consume nutrients and grow. In the process they release electrons. The sewage is literally the fuel for electricity production. The engineers found that by coating graphite the anodes with a nanoparticle layer of gold, the production of electricity increased 20 times. Coatings with palladium produced an increase, but not nearly as much. The researchers believe that other nanoparticle coatings, such as iron could produce electricity increases similar to … Continue Reading
Videos
Renewables News- Dysol Aiming to Print Storage with Solar CellsAustralia's Dyesol Limited has acquired an equity stake in Printed Power Pte Ltd, a spinoff company of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Printed Power is focussing on integrating dye solar cell technology with printed storage and power management systems to … Continue Reading → […]
- CSIRO Printer Makes 10m of Solar Cells a MinuteCSIRO researchers have built a gigantic printer that spits out solar cells at a rate of about ten metres a minute. The printer system uses existing technology to embed polymer solar cells (also known as organic solar cells) in thin … Continue Reading → […]
- New Aussie Technology to Clean Polluted WaterScientists from Deakin University, together with French colleagues, say that they have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes, while repelling … Continue Reading → […]
- Dysol Aiming to Print Storage with Solar Cells
