Monthly Archives: December 2010
Northern Europe and northern parts of the United States and Asia are currently experiencing extreme cold and, particularly, heavy snow falls. We have long been told that this sort of thing is just a weather variation that can happen even if the climate as a whole is getting warmer. But new research from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Science suggests that the cold is not just an anomaly but is actually the result of warming. The warming from climate change is greatest at Poles. This is causing Arctic ice to melt, so that the air above the Arctic is warmer … Continue Reading
Experts estimate that 25% of the world’s remaining fossil fuel reserves lie under the Arctic seabed. Melting of Arctic ice has allowed access to parts of the Arctic Ocean and seabed that have been blocked for centuries. As a result, several countries are trying to lay claim to parts of the Arctic in the hope of getting some of the oil and gas. The leading claimants are, of course, the current inhabitants of the area. Spokesman for the group, Mr Santa Claus, confirmed his interest in the area’s resources but denied rumours that he would be changing his name to … Continue Reading
A study by researchers from the U.S. Energy Department’s Ames Laboratory has shown that wind turbines may benefit surrounding crops. The aim of the study was to see if wind farms have any impact on crops growing nearby. The researchers found that there are suble effects – and they are beneficial to the crops. Firstly, the turbines direct airflow downward towards the crops. This can help the crops stay cooler on hot days and warmer on cold nights. The more constant temperature around the crops can help prevent frost and extend the growing season. The increased airflow can also help … Continue Reading
A Stanford geophysicist, Mark Zoback, has warned that "underground storage of carbon dioxide may trigger earthquakes which could allow the gas to seep back into the atmosphere, rendering the emissions mitigation approach ineffective." The problem is that burning coal produces so much carbon dioxide that the volume is too great to be stored safely underground. For carbon sequestration to make a significant contribution, massive volumes of the gas would need to be injected into the ground at thousands of sites around the world. According to Professor Zoback, injecting such massive amounts of carbon dioxide would inevitably trigger faults and cause … Continue Reading
Game to Be Green is a renewable energy strategy game where players seek to become the renewable the energy moguls of the future. Players buy and manage business assets to replace the Main City’s coal-fired power generation with renewable energy and energy efficiency. The winner is the player with the most income-producing assets (measured in “Energy Tokens”) and cash when the game ends. It is designed for 2 to 6 players aged from 7 to 107. For younger players, an adult mentor is recommended to guide this younger player. Not that the very young have been left out – there’s … Continue Reading
The Florida Institute of Technology is testing a new technology to convert the energy produced by waves into electricity, The so-called Wing Waves work by tapping the elliptical motion of waves 20 to 30 metres beneath the surface and converting it into mechanical energy that can be used to generate power. Each trapezoid-shaped wing of the device is 2.5 metres in height and 5 metres wide. They can sway 30 degrees from side to side and complete the arc in 8 to 10 seconds. An aluminium prototype is now working off the Florida coast. Operational models would be built out … Continue Reading
At the Future of Electric Vehicles USA 2010 conference, experts answer the question: "What still needs to happen before electric vehicles can become the dominant form of transportation?"
Ten European countries bordering the North Sea have agreed to the joint construction of a new offshore electricity grid. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the governments of the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The new grid would be used to connect European grids to large offshore windfarms currently being planned for the North Sea. Initial estimates are that the North Sea could be producing 150 gigawatts of electricity by 2030 – that’s 16% of Europe’s electricity consumption and more than the energy equivalent of Middle Eastern oil production. By 2050, the … Continue Reading
The hybrid systems research team at GE Global Research has announced a significant breakthrough that could help accelerate the electrification of bus fleets, delivery trucks and other larger, heavy-duty vehicle fleets. The research team has successfully demonstrated a dual battery system on hybrid transit a bus that pairs a high-energy density sodium battery with a high-power lithium battery. Each type of battery, by itself, focuses on one of the two principal needs for electric vehicles – power and driving range. Lithium batteries deliver high power but are less optimized to store large amounts of energy. Sodium batteries, however, can store … Continue Reading
Researchers at the University of Maryland are harnessing and exploiting the "self-renewing" and "self-assembling" properties of viruses: to build a new generation of small, powerful and highly efficient batteries and fuel cells. The rigid, rod-shaped tobacco mosaic virus is a well-known and widespread plant virus that devastates tobacco, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetation. But the researchers have discovered that they can harness the characteristics of the virus to build tiny components for lithium ion batteries. They modify the virus’ rods to bind perpendicularly to the metallic surface of a battery electrode and arrange the rods in orderly patterns on the … 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
