Monthly Archives: November 2010
Researchers led by Associate Professor Shriram Ramanathan at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have reported signiificant breakthroughs in making fuel cells practical and affordable. Fuel cells operate by converting chemical energy from hydrogen, or a hydrocarbon fuel such as methane, into an electric current. Until now, fuel cells required electrodes coated with platinum, which is expensive and unstable over long periods of use. The Harvard team has succeeded in producing an all-ceramic fuel cell which uses no platinum. Their fuel cell uses methane, rather than the hydrogen which is commonly used, as its fuel. Methane is more … Continue Reading
Universities in Japan and Algeria have commenced a project which aims to provifde half of the world’s electricity by 2050. Called the "Sahara Solar Breeder Project", the plan is to build manufacturing plants around the Sahara Desert to extract silica from sand. The silica would be used to make solar panels to build solar power plants in the desert. The power generated by the initial plants would be used to “breed” more manufacturing facilities to produce more silica for solar power plants, and so on. According to the plan, by 2050 there would be enough solar power plants to meet … Continue Reading
It is estimated that around 2.6 billion people have no proper sanitation. A group of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a low cost, modular sanitation solution which they call "Sanergy". The project, which would be operated and maintained by locals and the waste transported to nearby processing plants, through a network of "micro-franchises". Biogas produced from the waste will be used to create electricity and what’s left of the human waste turned into fertilizer. The group has set up a pilot project in the slums of Kenya where more than 10 million live without proper sanitation.
Back in 2008, we wrote about the discovery by Dr Frank Fish that the bumps on humpback whale flippers gave the whales more power and manouverability (see Frank Fish’s Fin Fans) and the possibility of this being applied to the design of wind turbines. Now the US Navy has taken up the idea. US Naval Academy researchers have shown that underwater turbine blades with bumps are more effective in extracting energy at low speeds. The blades do not degrade performance at high flow speeds or increase the mechanical complexity of the turbine. Naval Academy Professor Mark Murray explained that “We … Continue Reading
According to a report published in Nature, although coal is plentiful, cheap coal may run out within a few decades. The article points out that the current large investments in carbon capture and storage are based on the assumption that coal will remain cheap for many decades but this may not be the case. It is impossible to get an accurate, up-to-date picture of the world’s economically recoverable coal reserves. The United States, for example, has not updated its reserve estimates since 1974. However, there are reasons to think that the price of coal is likely to rise. Some coal … Continue Reading
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a lighting control system which they say can reduce power usage by 65 to 90% beyond the savings made by switching to efficient light sources, such as LEDs. The system consists of control devices, about the size of a business card, that can be placed on users’ desks. These contain light sensors which monitor the light falling on the workspace, as well as controls to adjust both the intensity and the color balance of the light. The sensors can also identify how much light comes from different fixtures and measure any … Continue Reading
Naji Khoury, an Assistant Professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, has developed a cement-like material, called "Plastisoil", made from discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles which is mixed with soil. The mixture is then blended with a coarse aggregate and heated. The result is a hard yet non-watertight substance, similar to porous asphalt. With traditional concrete and asphalt paving, rainwater stays on the surface and runs into the stormwater drains. With Plastisoil, water is able pass through the paving into the soil below. This reduces the amount of pollutants entering waterways. Professor Khoury says that it takes less energy to … Continue Reading
Styrofoam is made from petroleum and is said to make up 25% of landfills. We recently wrote about a biodegradable styrofoam substitute made from mushrooms (see Are Mushrooms the New Plastic?). Now, scientists have created another biodegradable styrofoam-like material using mostly milk and clay. The research began with an accidental discovery at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A student of Professor David Schiraldi freeze-dried clay and got something intriguing enough to warrant a closer look. So, the team started mixing the clay with a variety of materials. When they added a cow’s milk protein called casein, they ended up … Continue Reading
Buses on city routes waste a lot of energy stopping and starting. One way of capturing some of that energy is by using a flywheel. The UK’s Technology Strategy Board has formed a consortium to test the idea. Construction has begun on the first “Flybus” prototype vehicle, It is estimated that the Flybus system could deliver up to 20% savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in stop-start city center operation. The bus will be fitted with a compact high-speed flywheel which will act as an energy store, recycling the kinetic energy that would otherwise be wasted whenever the vehicle … Continue Reading
A New Zealand-owned company has launched the world’s first wireless technology which allows parked or moving electric cars to charge automatically without being "plugged in". The technology was developed by the University of Auckland’s Power Electronics Group HaloIPT, a UK based company, owned by Auckland UniServices Ltd and Ove Arup & Partners, is the first in the world to bring to market "inductive power transfer" technology which allows cars fitted with a receiver pad to charge automatically when parked over transmitter pads buried into the ground. Inductive power transfer systems can be configured to power any road-based vehicles from small … Continue Reading
Videos
Renewables News- Vic Council Approves Wind Farm with Community SharesBuloke Shire has approved a planning permit for a five-turbine wind farm spanning 5.t hectares at Coonooer Bridge, west of Bendigo..It is the first wind farm planning permit approved since 2011 when the Victorian Government introduced tough planning laws that … Continue Reading → […]
- NZ Electricity Co Offers Solar PV with BatteryVector Limited, the largest electricity and gas distribution company in New Zealand, is offerring a "home solar power solution", incorporating intelligent battery storage into a traditional solar PV system. In the introductory phase of the programme, a limited number of … Continue Reading → […]
- Sydney City Revises Trigen Power PlanThe City of Sydney has decided not to pursue its plan for a trigeneation power precinct at Green Square at this time but has re-affirmed its commitment to cutting carbon emissions using trigeneration, among other technologies, The decision to halt … Continue Reading → […]
- Vic Council Approves Wind Farm with Community Shares
